Automating Google Using Comment Based Searches

A Search Engine can include a comment based search  which works in the following way

•  Include a button through which you can make private or public searches
•  When a user performs a public search store that in the database else ignore it

Our Proposed system works in the following way                  

• When user1  searches web in public mode search his record in the database
• when user2 searches for the same thing among the search results notify him that user1 had searched for the same thing (if user1 is their in user2's contacts) and also display the page he user1 selected to view

Applications

• The main application of our system is in shopping crawlers and web sites where you cannot see or touch a commodity before you actually buy and get it in your hands.

 Explanation

                   when user1 buys an item in the public mode store it in the database and when user2 searches for the  same  item  notify him along with search results that user1 had already bought it.so user2 can ask   user1 (who exists in his contacts) about the product online so he will get the correct feedback of the item

Disadvantages of software Patents

1. Furthering Monopoly

Software patents let companies such as Oracle buy up patents on technology created by others and then launch lawsuit after lawsuit as a way to generate revenue. This is what it means to be a "patent troll," and it's of course motivated by the huge sums that have been awarded by the courts in the past. It also puts the advantage squarely in the hands of the industry's monoliths, which are the ones with deep enough pockets to acquire and assert all that intellectual property.

2. Hindering Innovation

By their very definition, patents reduce the sharing of new ideas. In the software industry--which relies on just that kind of diffusion to spur further innovation--that's particularly destructive. Software patents frequently have very broad or vague boundaries, making it highly unclear where the patented piece of a program begins and ends. Frequently, software patents cover what can be considered the equivalent of a sequence of notes in a piece of music; imagine if that were to happen in the music world!

It has also been historically very difficult for patent offices to judge patent quality, or to realize when a patent application is too broad or covers something trivial.

3. Cost and Time

Patents are extremely expensive, and the examination process takes a very long time. Not only are the costs extremely high to determine if a particular piece of software infringes any issued patents--thereby reducing the funds companies have available to spend on R&D--but the results are highly uncertain, and take a ridiculously long time. Patent applications are often not disclosed until the invention becomes widely used, so developers frequently have no way of knowing if a useful new idea may become patented in the future--potentially after they've begun to use it.

4. Harming the Little Guy

For all of the above reasons, software patents have the most deleterious effects on small and medium-sized companies, whose funds for clearance searches and licensing fees are more limited and which probably have smaller patent portfolios of their own. Yet the smaller companies are also often the ones with the most innovative new ideas. Because of the patent system, promising new ideas can be nipped in the bud or bled to death through patent litigation.

5. Harming Consumers

Consumers, however, ultimately pay the heaviest price--both in terms of the costs of the software that does make it to market (think pharmaceuticals here, and the way R&D costs are recouped through high prices), and also in terms of the potentially life-changing software that *doesn't* make it through. The software that does make it through is also likely of a poorer quality than it would be otherwise, since no one besides the patent holder is allowed to improve it. It's no wonder the Electronic Frontier Foundation maintains a list of software patents it wants to see "busted." [http://w2.eff.org/patent/]

Copyright is far preferable to patents when it comes to software. Because it applies to a written expression of an idea, it has clear boundaries; and what good, after all, is a new idea without a clever implementation of that idea? Expression is at least half the game. Copyright is also relatively inexpensive, and much more conducive to the sharing of ideas.

Copyright is, in fact, put to work in the GNU General Public License (GPL) that's espoused by the Free Software Foundation and frequently used to protect open source software. Essentially, the GNU GPL ensures that licensees share their code by stipulating that not doing so breaches the GPL and results in a loss of protection against copyright infringement claims.

If there was any doubt left that the patent system for software is profoundly broken, Oracle and Allen have surely put those concerns to rest. Allen's move, in particular, seems almost a challenge to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office -- if this isn't the time for reform, I don't known when would be.

How to Stop 11 Hidden Security Threats

Do you know how to guard against scareware? How about Trojan horse text messages? Or social network data harvesting? Malicious hackers are a resourceful bunch, and their methods continually evolve to target the ways we use our computers now. New attack techniques allow bad guys to stay one step ahead of security software and to get the better of even cautious and well-informed PC users.

Don't let that happen to you. Read on for descriptions of 11 of the most recent and most malignant security threats, as well as our complete advice on how to halt them in their tracks.

Shortened url's

Most tweets, and lots of other electronic messages, include links that have been shortened by services such as Bit.ly, Tr.im, and Goo.gl. The URL aliases are handy, but they pose a risk, too: Since short URLs give no hint of the destination, attackers can exploit them to send you to malicious sites.

TweetDeck allows you to view the details underlying a shortened URL before continuing to the destination.Use a Twitter client: Programs such as TweetDeck in clude options in their settings to display previews of shortened URLs. With such a setting enabled, clicking a shortened URL within a tweet brings up a screen that shows the destination page's title, as well as its full-length URL and a tally of how many other people have clicked that link. With this information at your disposal, you can make an in formed decision about whether to click through and visit the actual site.

Install a URL-preview plug-in: Several Web browser plug-ins and services perform a similar preview function. When you create a shortened address with the TinyURL service, for instance, you can choose an option to create a preview version so that recipients can see where it goes before clicking. Conversely, if you're considering visiting a TinyURL link, you can enable its preview service to see the complete URL. For the TinyURL previews to work, though, you must have cookies enabled in your browser.

ExpandMyURL and LongURLPlease both provide Web browser plug-ins or applets that will verify the safety of the full URLs behind abbreviated links from all the major URL-shortening services. Rather than changing the shortened links to their full URLs, however, ExpandMy URL checks destination sites in the background and marks the short URLs green if they are safe.

Goo.gl, Google's URL-shortening service, provides security by automatically scanning the destination URL to detect and identify malicious Websites, and by warning users when the shortened URL might be a security concern. Unfortunately, Goo.gl has limited ap plication because it works only through other Google products and services.

Data Harvesting of Your Profile

Some of the personal details that you might share on social networks, such as your high school, hometown, or birthday, are often the same items used in "secret" security questions for banks and Websites. An attacker who collects enough of this information may be able to access your most sensitive accounts.

You can control the privacy settings for each element of your Facebook profile.Check your Facebook privacy settings: After signing in to your Facebook account, click Settings on the menu bar and select Privacy Settings.

Facebook's privacy settings allow you to choose who may see various personal details. You can hide your details from everyone but your Facebook friends (our recommendation), allow members of your networks to view your details as well, or open the floodgates and permit everyone to see your information. In addition, you can set the privacy level for each component of your profile--for example, your birthday, your religious and political views, the photos you post, and your status updates.

Don't accept any friend requests from strangers: From time to time you may get a friend request from someone you don't know. If you're serious about protecting your personal information, you shouldn't accept such requests.

Share with caution: Consider removing valuable information such as your birth date and hometown from your profile. You should also think twice before participating in Facebook quizzes and chain lists--though it seems innocent and fun to share your favorite breakfast cereal, the first concert you attended, or where you met your spouse, an attacker armed with enough of these tidbits can assume your identity.