Italian is the 4th language used in blogs

According to the "State of the Blogosphere" by technorati, Italian language is doing very well on blogs, reaching the 4th place worldwide, after Japanese, English and Chinese, but beating Spanish, French and German (maybe because Italians like to write and discuss more than other Europeans?)

Quote: "Additionally there was movement in the middle of the top 10 languages, highlighted by Italian overtaking Spanish for the number four spot."

Lost in Google Maps!

Google Maps works very badly in Italy. Don't rely on it, otherwise you might end up lost. I have got bad results a few times.

Query for corso garibaldi 19, Milano, Italy.


Corso garibaldi is an avenue downtown Milan, really in the heart of the city. There is really no possible ambiguity, since we specify the city and the country.

Instead, what Google locates is a street in a small town called Corbetta some 50km away. That's really incredible! (the same result is given by stating Milan, Italy instead Milano, Italy - and even by providing the local post code)



Try it yourself query for "corso garibaldi 19, milano, Italy" on Google Maps
Use Viamichelin or some other tools for your directions in Italy!

Microsoft adCenter Labs Demonstration

This demo from Microsoft adCenter Labs lets people query a term and give back a geographical identification. I guess it works by looking at cooccurance of words with geo terms.

For instance, it can tell you where the Colosseo or the Uffizi museums are (well, everybody should know that!)

Colosseo --> Coliseum, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Uffizi --> Location: Florence, Tuscany, Italy

(You also get the same answer if you mispell the name, as uffizzi, with two z)

I tried some more difficult queries, like asking where is Rovigno (it is the italian name of a town in the Istria county, Croatia)

Rovigno --> Location: Rovinj, Croatia

You can also query for things other than monuments, like people

Francesco Totti --> Location: Italy

However, if you ask for "George Bush" you will get "No location detected".

TRY IT!
Microsoft geographical locator

Many years after nucreal withdrawal in Italy, radioactive waste sill a big risk

Many years after Italy's withdrawal from nuclear power, the wastes still a big headache and a risk for incidents and terrorist actions. And citizens are supposed to pay so much money for many decades still.. Who said nuclear energy is economic?

Sommersi dai veleni radioattivi | L'espresso (ITALIAN ONLY)

Milan-Manchester 3-0! Sego-Sarko at penalty kicks ?

In a superb match yesterday the "black-red devils" of AC Milan outperformed the "red devils" of Manchester 3-0, with nice goals and play. Midfilder Gattuso (aka "Ringhio" or the gadiator) is like always the hear of the team. The British, that were trailing after the home victory 3-2 did basically nothing. Cristiano Ronaldo was just vanished in the rain. And Manchester lost also fair play: after Gattuso and Kaka felt prey to cramp, Milan puts the ball off but Manchester doesn’t return it. I wish Platini, who loves speaking about fair play might reconsider opinion about Italian teams.

In another match, more boring I would say, "Sarko" and "Sego" fighted for convincing undecided voters. Top France's job will be assigned on Sunday. I only saw the last part of this debate (after the footbal match was finished of course) but I can say that I am quite impressed by Miss Royal. From what I had heard and read before, I didn't like it very much. But yesterday she really looked like someone who knows what's the temper needed to be a President. She attacked strongly the opponent at the right time, and assure the voters

Mr. Sarkozy, instead, looked to me too much relaxed - at some point I imagined him like he was just chatting while taking a coffee in a bistrot in Paris ...
I don't know France problems in such details to say who is better - perhaps by the economic point of way Sarko has better idea to make things move on, but from the social point of view I have the impression it will a catastrophe. Anyway, let's see Sunday what's happen.. I would not give for grant the pools: 52% in a pool is no more than a one goal lead. And Miss Sego might just has found some "Ringhio" Gattuso style play.
Maybe it will be just as close as penalty kicks.

AAAI 2007 - Vancouver, British Columbia

This summer I will be a delegate at the AAAI (former American Association for Artificial Intelligence, now Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence) Conference that this year takes place in Vancouver, Canada, 22-26 July.

I will present a paper about Preference-based search in Configurable Catalogs at the workshop about Configuration.