Italian mathematician, Massimo Marchiori, prepares to challenge Google. Massimo played a key role in helping create Google’s search algorithm but is preparing to launch his own search engine…Volunia!

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9222018/Italian_mathematician_prepares_to_challenge_Google?taxonomyId=12

The website allows visitors to sign up for a chance to become “power users,” who will test the beta version of the search engine, which is to be launched in 12 languages. Here’s Massimo telling us all about it…

All Hail Berlusconi
“The Roman emperors knew that the secret to exercising peaceful rule over the people was to provide them with bread and circus. Well, Berlusconi owns the circus, pretty much all of it - the TV, the football, the magazines, the books. And as a head of government, who also happens to own Italy’s biggest supermarket chain, he also controls, in the widest sense of the word, the bread.”

This comes from an article by John Carlin that was published in The Observer 7+ years ago but provides good analysis of how Berlusconi managed to stay in power for 17 years!

Full article at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/jan/18/italy.features

“Italy has one of the lowest levels of press freedom in Europe. A 2009 report by Freedom House classified Italy as “partly free”, the only country in western Europe, also ranking it behind most former communist states of eastern Europe. Censorship is applied in television such as in press for several reasons.” - wikipedia

Pop Art was introduced to Italy in around 1964. One of the great Italian pop artists was Mimmo Rotella. His preferred medium was décollage carfted from torn posters. Awesome stuff that, when seen today, stilll seems fresh and relevant. He passed away in 2006.

Napolitano! Here’s a fun, learning video on the Italian dialect spoken in Naples, Italy.