Google to block

Google to block access to unofficial autocomplete API

Google has decided the autocomplete API it informally offers will no longer be available for “unauthorised” users as of August 10th.

The company says its autocomplete API has found an audience among “a number of developers” who have used its ability to predict a query before a user finishes typing for uses other than Google's intended application of predicting users' search queries. But Google says those coders did so with “a non-official, non-published API that also had no restrictions on it.” Those who used the API also did so for purposes other than Google Search.

To those developers, Google says that if you live by unpublished, unofficial APIs, you die by them as well.

Or as Google puts it:

However, there are some times when using an unsupported, unpublished API also carries the risk that the API will stop being be available. This is one of those situations.

“In the interest of maintaining the integrity of autocomplete as part of Search,” Google writes, “we will be restricting unauthorized access to the unpublished autocomplete API as of August 10th, 2015. We want to ensure that users experience autocomplete as it was designed to be used -- as a service closely tied to Search. We believe this provides the best user experience for both services.”

Those who want to retain an autocomplete feature on their sites can do so if they sign up for Google's Custom Search Engine.

The company points out that it does offer more than 80 official APIs developers are free to use.

There's irony in that position because developers reverse-engineering Google Maps to create de facto APIs were an important factor in the service's rise to popularity. Autocomplete isn't as widely applicable as a mapping service, nor as likely to build a new stream of users and revenue for Google.

orignal found herhttp://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/07/27/google_to_block_access_to_unofficial_autocomplete_api/

China woman

China woman dies after falling into escalator.

A woman was killed after falling into an escalator in a shopping centre in central China, local media report.

Surveillance footage from Sunday's incident shows a metal panel at the top of the escalator giving way, causing the woman and her toddler to stumble.

The woman, identified by local media as Xiang Liujuan, 30, was able to push her child to safety as she fell in.

The incident in Jingzhou, in Hubei province, has sparked widespread anger at the department store.

The woman fell into the escalator at 10:09 local time (02:09 GMT) on Sunday, state broadcaster CCTV and newspaper Wuhan Evening News reported.

Employees standing at the top of the escalators tried to pull the woman to safety, but were unable to stop her from being pulled in.

It took until 14:00 for rescuers to retrieve her body, CCTV said.

original found her:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-33672037

Duchess of Cambridge

Duchess of Cambridge wears large goggles for sailing simulator.

to see more click link her http://reut.rs/1MQG21y

Whitney Houston's daughter

Whitney Houston's daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, dead at 22.

Bobbi Kristina Brown, the only child of late singer Whitney Houston, died on Sunday at the age of 22, some six months after suffering irreversible brain damage in an incident at her suburban Atlanta home, her family said in a statement.

Brown, whose father is R&B singer Bobby Brown, was found face down and unresponsive in a bathtub in her home by her partner and a friend on Jan. 31. She was moved by her family to hospice care on June 24.

"She is finally at peace in the arms of God," her family said. "We want to again thank everyone for their tremendous amount of love and support during these last few months."

As news of her death became public, media crews and some fans gathered on a darkened cul de sac in the Atlanta suburb of Duluth, where ornate street lamps illuminated the ivy-covered brick nursing home where Brown died.

"We just wanted to show our respect," said Ali Joyner, 15, who persuaded her mom and a neighbour to drive the 20 miles from their home in Dacula, Ga. "I just loved her mom, Whitney. And Bobbi is part of that."

origina post found herhttp://uk.reuters.com/article