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SAN FRANCISCO — Google is introducing a new tool, designed to make its search engine smarter.

The new feature debuting Wednesday draws from a Google-built database of more than 500 million people, places and commonly requested things to provide a summary of vital information alongside the main search results.

Mountain View-based Google. spent the past two years poring through online encyclopedia Wikipedia, the CIA Factbook and other sources to expand a database of 12 million items that it picked up as part of its 2010 acquisition of Metaweb.

The information warehouse, which Google calls a “Knowledge Graph,” is an attempt by the Internet’s dominant search engine to provide answers as quickly and concisely as possible so users don’t have to sift through a hodgepodge of Web links displayed on the main results page.

The nuggets of information will appear in boxes to the right of the main search results. Google will gradually roll out the feature to its logged-in users in the U.S. during the next few days before extending it to a wider audience.

The changes come as one of Google’s biggest rivals, Internet social networking leader Facebook, prepares to complete an initial public offering of stock that is dominating

Colin Graves

COLIN Graves has resigned as chairman of Costcutter, the business he founded 26 years ago

Mr Graves said he stepped down from the business, based in Dunnington, near York, which was bought out by Bibby Line Group last year, after the company wanted him to take a back seat in the business

When the deal was announced in November, Mr Graves was to remain chairman, but he said that in January, the business tried to change his role to that of a non-executive chairman, which he described as “unacceptable”

He said: “I’m very much hands on as an operator, and being a non-executive chair wasn’t acceptable to me”

Mr Graves will take on a new role as executive chairman of Yorkshire County Cricket Club with immediate effect, taking on the responsibilities of chief executive, a position unfilled since Stewart Regan left for a similar role at the Scottish Football Association in 2010

Costcutter said that Mr Graves left Costcutter Supermarkets Group in a position of real strength Nick Ivel, chief executive of Costcutter Supermarkets Group, said: “I would like to personally thank Colin for the support he has given me over the last 15 years at Costcutter and I wish him the very best for the future”

ASHLAND, OH, March 31, 2012 /24-7PressRelease/ — Researchers at Ashland University, Miami University , and the National Institutes of Health have used a novel approach to show how evolutionary changes in the protein alpha A-crystallin have altered its ability to protect other proteins from damage during periods of physiological stress.

Alpha A-crystallin is a member of the small heat shock protein family, which plays a role in the prevention of human diseases such as Alzheimer’s, lens cataracts and cancer. By comparing alpha A-crystallins from six different fish species, the researchers were able to identify two small changes in the protein’s structure that affected its stability and ability to buffer other proteins from stress.

The findings provide a unique perspective on the function of these ‘stress proteins’ and suggest ways that they could be altered to modify their protective abilities, said lead author Dr. Read Full Article…

When it comes to building the “next Silicon Valley,” Steve Geiger is an old hand.

Before his current gig, which involves trying to hitch Russia’s economy to the high-tech wagon, Geiger spent several years trying do the same for Abu Dhabi. Then, 14 months ago, he became chief operating officer for the Skolkovo Foundation, a government-backed organization charged with building a whole high-tech city in Russia and a robust innovation ecosystem around it.

Brimming with the requisite optimism, Geiger also knows the reality. Every region these days seems to be trying to replicate the Silicon Valley. All of them fall short.

“It’s foolish to think you can come and cut-and-paste Silicon Valley,” he said. “Silicon Valley is not a place. It’s a culture. It’s an attitude.”

But don’t write off Russia. Not yet. Because besides a clear-eyed approach to the challenges, this effort has something else: A gobsmacking barrel of money courtesy of the Russian government.

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COMPUTER games retailer Game has closed its York stores after the business went into administration

Game, and Gamestation, the brand which was founded in York in 2007 and later bought by Game, appointed Mike Jervis and Stuart Maddison of PwC as joint administrators

The business suspended its shares on the stock exchange on March 21 after revealing losses for the year ended in January 2012 would be £18 million

A number of stores have already closed, including the York branch on Spurriergate, which employed 19 people, and the Monks Cross store, which employs seven people is also to close The Gamestation store on Church Street will close too, although the exact number of redundancies is unknown

The group, which had a turnover of £16 billion in the year to 31 January and operations in the UK and Ireland, Spain, Portugal, France, Czech Republic and Australia, has 609 stores throughout the UK and Ireland, employing 5,136 people, as well as 385 employees based in the group’s head office in Basingstoke

Mike Jervis, joint administrator and partner at PwC said: “The group has faced serious cashflow and profit issues over the recent past It also has suffered from high fixed costs, an ambitious international roll-out and fluctuating working capital requirements

“Despite these challenges, we believe that there is room for a specialist game retailer in the territories in which it operates, including its biggest one, the UK As a result we are hopeful that a going concern sale of the business is achievable”

The administrators said that stores that had closed may or may not reopen in the event of a sale

INTERNATIONAL. Last week, all markets were fixated upon the news of both the Euro-area and China PMI falling from the February level. Gold futures dropped US$28 to an intra-week low of US$1,627.5 last Thursday before recovering to US$1,662.4, down only US$6.6 for the week.

As of Asia opening on Wednesday, gold futures recovers to around US$1,680, helped by Fed’s Bernanke’s remarks this week that the U.S. needs more growth to reduce the unemployment rate, recovery is not yet on a firm path and the Fed considers all options to stimulate growth.

Monday’s U.S. data also showed that both consumer confidence and home prices are slipping. The fact that Bernanke did not rule out QE3 bodes well for gold as an inflation hedge.

VIX retraced back to the level as of July 2007 at 14.26, SP reached a 3-year high on Monday at 1,416.51 while on Tuesday Euro/dollar bounced to this month’s high at 1.3386 and the Dollar Index slumped 2% from the high in mid-March.

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