Google has rude awakening in China

Now Google is having a rude awakening. China’s authoritarian government, caught up in a trial of strength with internet users over censorship, has opened a witch hunt on Google China.

On Thursday, it accused the search engine of “severely endangering China’s youth” by linking to pornographic content – a search for the word “son” in Chinese would curiously turn up some results referring to incestuous sexual relationships.

An invention that could change the internet for ever

The biggest internet revolution for a generation will be unveiled this month with the launch of software that will understand questions and give specific, tailored answers in a way that the web has never managed before.

The new system, Wolfram Alpha, showcased at Harvard University in the US last week, takes the first step towards what many consider to be the internet's Holy Grail – a global store of information that understands and responds to ordinary language in the same way a person does..

www.independent.co.uk