I just wanted to let regular readers know that the Technology Lounge has moved to a new domain and can be found here.

Please bookmark the new site and I look forward to seeing you over there and continuing to discuss the latest technology news and gadgets.

Thanks,

Danny.

New search engine Cuil is coming under heavy fire from webmasters everywhere, less than a week after its official roll-out. Despite the claims of the ex-Google employee owners behind Cuil, whose tagline is "Cuil is an old Irish word for knowledge. For knowledge, ask Cuil", the new search engine is definitely not as knowledgeable as it would like to think.

Apart from the fact that the servers had a decidedly bad first day performance - although I'll cut them some slack with that - the main problem with Cuil is the use of images that accompany their search results. Far from representing the company in question, Cuil's search engine has images that have nothing whatsoever to do with many of the actual listed search results.

Even worse, because the images are linked to the company that they come from, many webmasters are reporting a drop in traffic as Cuil users click on an image and get taken to a completely different site from the actual website they were hoping to get taken to.

Aside from this major cock-up, Cuil's search engine is also coming under fire from webmasters who are questioning the legality of using an image without proper license, particularly if that image leads to a 3rd-party website. You can imagine how a company would feel if their hard-earned online status was suddenly ruined by Cuil sticking a nice image that led to a porn site or worse.

While it's early days for the new Cuil search engine, I can't help but feel that they've messed up royally from the start. Whether they can recover in time and remedy these hugely important issues will be down to whether or not users already blase about the new search engine will try Cuil again after the early mess.

I read a news post that came from last month's What Teens Want conference in Manhattan, announcing their findings from "in-depth research". According to the informed heads at the likes of Buzz Marketing, "Technology is starting to define what's cool in a way that fashion used to define what's cool." Well blow me down...

Pardon my blase approach, but technology is not the new cool for teenagers - teens have always thought technology was cool. Heck, when I was a teenager (many moons ago, I can tell you!) I was after the latest LaserQuest home system or Atari 5200 (see, told you it was many moons ago!). Even before that, teenagers thought that colour movies were cool; vinyl records were cool; even Rubik's Cubes were cool!

While I agree that teenagers are more up-to-date on what's happening in the tech world before others, I just can't see the reasoning or the value behind these findings. Of course, I guess the researchers have to validate their funding some way or other...

SEO specialists and Internet marketers using Google Page Rank are in for a fun ride over the next few days when Google updates its page ranking system. The leading search engine provider uses the Page Rank tool to show (allegedly) how popular a website is on its engine. The Page Rank is based on a score from 1-10, depending on authority links in, visitors, SEO, etc.

However, many webmasters, SEO specialists and Internet marketers have begun to doubt the effectiveness of Page Rank as it frequently rates sites higher than ones that are obviously more popular. This has led to less relevance being placed on a website's Page Rank - something that Google obviously wants to address as it continues to become the de facto standard for online presence. 

No doubt Google's new scores will be monitored closely when the new Page Rank update is released later this week.

According to a leaked letter, illegal file sharing in the UK is about to be hit hard by the British government. Following similar crackdowns in North America, where the likes of Torrentspy and others have had to close doors, illegal file sharing sites are about to come under the scrutiny just as intensively.

UK newspaper The Guardian claims to have a letter from UK Business Minister Baroness Vadera, which cites a proposed agreement between the UK entertainment industry, the major internet service providers and the Government. According to the agreement, a target of 80% has been set as far as cutting down of illegal file sharing by 2011.

With an estimated 7 million users of illegal file sharing sites in the UK alone, it would mean each ISP would have to send out  an average 1,000 letters per week to customers that are known to use file sharing sites to download movies and music illegally. To further combat the problem, the Government are also proposing a $60 yearly licensing fee to allow legal downloads.

With the shambolic situation of current UK ISP's, there must be some doubt over how effective these new proposals will actually be, and how it would affect customers who already use alternative methods to get online.

The new OS 2.0 update for the 3G iPhone has been cracked already, with the Pwnage tool download from hackers extraordinaire the iPhone Dev Team. With the new 3G iPhone in stores worldwide now, the OS 2.0 update is meant to offer owners of previous generation iPhones some of the newer features such as push mail. This hasn't put off the iPhone Dev Team nor their Pwnage tool.

Although it could be argued that Apple has tried to negate any type of hacking by releasing the newer iPhone in more countries than its older sibling, downloaders of the official OS 2.0 update have complained about compatibility problems. Stories about crashing applications and resetting hardware have been flooding Internet forums since the OS 2.0 release, with claims that the OS 2.0 update wasn't even meant for the older phones and that Apple rushed it out to combat this type of hacking.

Whether there's any truth in these claims, one thing is for certain - the problems that previous generation iPhone users are experiencing with the OS 2.0 update has merely played into the hands of the iPhone Dev Team, and there is already a huge buzz surrounding the Pwnage tool and its possibilities. 

As any webmaster and SEO expert will tell you, keywords and Google go hand in hand for bringing traffic to a website. You want to get first page rankings on Google? Simple - have great unique content with strategically placed keywords. Although this can often lead to sterile web pages that have simply been tailored for search engine rankings, sometimes there is a great deal of fun to be had with Google, keywords and a little imagination. So I decided to have a little experiment.

Wanting to know about some of the most obscure and ridiculous things that I could find, I set about typing in some random keywords and phrases into Google (and I was interested in seeing whether the leading search engine had an answer for everything) to discover what came back as the all-important #1 result. So, in no particular order, I present the findings of the inaugural Lounge Great Google Experiment - feel free to add your own findings.

The Most Boring Page on the Internet
I thought this might be a good place to start, so in it went. The result - a blog post from Pushmind Publishing that actually describes and links to "the most boring page on the Internet". So, technically, there are two results, although I find the linked result from Pushmind the worthier winner. But, my thanks go to Pushmind for bringing the most boring page on the Internet to everyone's attention!

What is the Weirdest Ear Wax Story Ever?
Now I'm not one of these people that have a fetish for ear wax (and yes, they DO exist!) but this seemed like a rather innocuous question. According to the #1 result on Google, it's using ear wax as a remedy for cold sores, as found on the Remedicated website, under "15 of the Weirdest Home Remedies and Folk Treatments Ever". So now you know.

Who has the Biggest Head in the World?
Admittedly, this could have gone either way, and I'd get some scientific fact about a large, oversized cranium owner, or a silly answer about Hollywood egos. As it turned out, it was neither - although it was still entertaining in its own right. Thank you Hippie, for sharing your nugget of useful information with us!

Could Fred Flintstone take Captain Caveman?
Two of the cornerstones of my childhood years were the cartoon characters Fred Flintstone and Captain Caveman. I couldn't really separate them either - Fred had the cool leg-powered car, and Cavey had his awesome trademark yell. So who would win in a fight to separate them for me? Surprisingly, there's an answer - even better, it's a Youtube video! Thanks for this, Youtube user inspectorclouseau.

Did Jesus Ever Get Laid?
Now, before everyone starts about blasphemy and mocking the Lord, let me just say here and now that I have no religious views either way - I'm neither a believer nor an anti-Christian. However, I am a bit curious as to whether Jesus ever got the jiggy on - after all, a charismatic tall guy with a neat trick in everlasting wine had to have been a hit with the ladies, right? Well, according to the #1 result on Google, the guys at The Skeptics Society Forum seem to think so, with a whopping 45% claiming "Oh yes!". You sly old dog, JC...

Where can I find the Best Hairless Baboons?
I have no idea how my mind works at times, but this was my final question for Google in this first part of my experiment. Quite why I was interested not only in hairless baboons, but the BEST hairless baboons at that, escapes me. However, the result is quite possibly even more abstract than the query that started it all! Salut, Homo Sapientropy!

So there you have it - some of the more obscure questions I could come up with, yet not once did Google falter. You have to hand it to their tech whizkids that can program the engine to find the sites listed here - and, of course, thank the posters of the results as well! I'll be popping back to drop some more results from time to time - in the meantime, please feel free to list your own results! 

With the phenomenal success of the first Rock Band game, developers Harmonix were always likely to release a sequel to the innovative multiplayer game. What may be slightly surprising is that Rock Band 2 will debut on Xbox 360 first, and then move over to the Playstation 3, Playstation 2 and Nintendo Wii later in the year.

The announcement by Harmonix will obviously be music to the ears of the Xbox team over at Microsoft, especially with the comments made by President of MTV Music Networks Group, Van Toffler. "Microsoft has been a great partner for Rock Band. It's just so easy to download the content using the Xbox 360 system. It's evolved into a great marketing partnership as well. They'll really blow it out for us."

When the original Rock Band debuted last year, it was with a simultaneous release for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, with later releases for the PS2 and Wii. This decision to open exclusively with Xbox 360 this time around is another blow for Sony and the problems it's encountered with its PS3 system, which saw the "father" of the Playstation brand, Ken Kutaragi, leave his position as President of Sony Computer Entertainment in 2006, following the poor reception of the PS3 console.

Rock Band 2 itself promises to build on the innovation of last year's inaugural title and offer players yet more reasons to rock out. Any songs that you've purchased and downloaded will automatically transfer over to the new game - the first time this "retro approach" has happened in a game of this type. Additionally, there will be a new drum set and a faux wood Fender Stratocaster available.

With a new Guitar Hero on the way, as well as Rock Revolution from Japanese developer Konami, this Fall looks set to be a great time to be an Xbox 360-owning wannabe rock star. My pre-order will be going in soon!  

After the recent Associated Press debacle, Internet censorship continues to be a hot potato for bloggers and websites alike. Whereas there are set “rules” to follow in the offline world when it comes to what you can and can’t say, censorship on the Internet has always been a gray area. And with employees being sacked by companies for posting opinions on the likes of Blogger.com and Facebook, as well as incidences of online censorship taking a very real and violent stance in the offline world, the question is raised – where next for Internet censorship?

While there’s no denying that internet censorship has its place – protecting our children from unsuitable sites or online predators, for one – it’s also being abused by government agencies and ruling powers. This can range from prohibiting certain websites being accessed from schools (more to stop cheating at exams than anything else) to draconian measures that would seem absurd if they weren’t scarily true.

In the year of the Olympic games, for example, that well-known bastion of free speech China is probably the worst offender of Internet censorship. International media has been obstructed at every step when it comes to reporting on China’s human rights (or lack of) policy, and the furore over the Olympic torch is virtually unknown by China’s residents. And, although not officially linked to the Chinese government, the case of US citizen Peter Yuan Li is a prime example of both China’s Big Brother presence and Internet censorship coming into the real world.

Li was a key activist against censorship and the Communist party in China – so much so that in 2006 he was attacked in his Atlanta home, where his assailants tried to force him to part with the details of where he stored all his information. When Li refused to talk, he was beaten violently and had two of his laptops stolen – Li believes that the attack was a direct order from the Chinese government.

As disturbing as the attack on Li is, sadly Internet censorship and its effects are not restricted to China. Reporters Without Borders, an excellent organization that promotes free expression as well as the safety of international journalists, has published a comprehensive list of some of the worst violators when it comes to Internet censorship. While the list is fairly obvious – China, Cuba, Iran and North Korea to name just a few – what is alarming is the lengths some of these countries will go to.

For example, in Cuba you can only access the Internet from a public connection – no private connections are allowed. And the government in Myanmar – recently in the news after being hit by a devastating cyclone – is allegedly so paranoid about what’s being said that it (again, allegedly) has a program in place that takes screenshots every few minutes of whatever web page a user is on.

Yet before we get all smug and sanctimonious in the West, we suffer from Internet control as well, even if the threat of violence against us isn’t there. While there is the basic type of Internet censorship – restricted sites and online time during working hours – there is also a further reaching type of censorship.

Whereas employees could bitch about their bosses during lunch hours or a social drink at a bar with colleagues after work without any real recourse, try the same approach online and be prepared to lose your job. With the likes of Facebook and Twitter allowing constant updating of a user’s status, write a post about how your job sucks and the company you work for are idiots and you could be disciplined or sacked by your employer for bringing them into disrepute. If you think that’s over the top, employment tribunals obviously disagree – most recent cases of this type have gone in favor of the employer.

Moving into the wider arena, governments are also censoring us, albeit more discreetly. One of the (inevitable) results of 9/11 has been the monitoring of people’s emails. Now, if you use the wrong type of keyword in a private email to your friend, there’s a good chance that you’ll pop up on some government agency’s radar – as a poor teenage kid in the US did when discussing terrorists in the latest Splinter Cell video game. So have we moved into an age where we can no longer speak our minds, despite the Free Speech Act? Not necessarily – and the opponents of Internet censorship may just surprise you.

While the powers that be may try and convince us that Internet censorship is for our own good, there are many that disagree. Perhaps one of the best examples is Families Against Internet Censorship, or FAIC. While the authorities cite that censorship is to protect our families and family morals, the FAIC make a wonderful (and relevant) point – parents should be the ones that know what their kids should and shouldn’t be looking at. It’s worked ever since humanity has been on this planet – why shouldn’t it work now? After all, parents are the ones who raise their kids and spend every day with them – who better to decide what is suitable for them and at what age? And if other families share this mindset, why do those in power try to enforce their beliefs – wouldn’t it be more beneficial to listen to those “on the frontline”?

There’s no denying that the Internet has opened up a whole new world for anyone with online access, and there will always be individuals and companies that try to take advantage of this. One of my fellow bloggers, Alex D at Happening Now, posted an interesting blog about how Google may be the next big company to strip away our online privacy and play into the hands of the Internet censors via the new tools they’re implementing. While no-one is suggesting that Google is in bed with the Government, the blog makes some excellent points about how some of Google’s tools could be misused.

So what lies ahead? Will it get to the stage where social networks like Twitter, Digg et al are used to gather information that could lead to blocked access or points of view being shared? Or are we all being too paranoid? Who can say – after all, there are valid points for both pro and anti-censorship. One thing is clear, though – saying what you feel will never be the same again.

Okay, so technically a Star Wars dance-off isn't really the kind of technology-led news that I'd cover here. BUT... Since Star Wars is full of cool technology, and Youtube is part of the new technology that's now part of our everyday lives, I figure this Star Wars dance-off can be allowed a showcase here.

Enjoy!