Microsoft SearchTogether (Beta) April 24, 2008: SearchTogether is now available for download! See below for details on how to install and use SearchTogether. <!–If you are a Microsoft employee looking for the internal SearchTogether site, you can access it here.–>     <!– –> What is SearchTogether? Microsoft SearchTogether is a free Internet Explorer plug-in that allows groups of people to collaborate on Web searches. Where do I download SearchTogether? SearchTogether is available for download here. To use SearchTogether, you will need to have a Windows Live ID. It’s fast and easy to create one if you don’t already have one: click here to create a Live ID now. SearchTogether runs in the Internet Explorer 7 browser; you can click here to download IE7. If you want to invite your friends to join you in a SearchTogether session, you will need to add them to your buddy list in Live Messenger. Who can benefit from using SearchTogether? SearchTogether can benefit any group of people who are interested in investigating a topic together, such as students working on a group report, colleagues working on a joint project, or friends planning a shared vacation or other social activities. SearchTogether supports both synchronous and asynchronous collaboration styles. How does SearchTogether facilitate collaboration? SearchTogether’s collaboration features include group query histories, split searching, page-level rating and commenting, automatically-generated shared summaries, peek-and-follow browsing, and integrated chat. For a more complete discussion of SearchTogether’s features, check out the tutorial. How do I learn to use SearchTogether? A preview of the SearchTogether tutorial, which describes SearchTogether’s features in-depth, is available here. Does SearchTogether require me to use a specific search engine? SearchTogether allows each group member to customize their search preferences; choices include Windows Live Search, Yahoo!, and Google. Where did SearchTogether come from? SearchTogether is a project from Microsoft Research; it is part of Meredith Ringel Morris’s research project on collaborative Web search. The original SearchTogether concept was presented in this UIST 2007 paper and video. Thanks to the efforts of developers Piali Choudhury, Matt Maddin, and ThuVan Pham, the original prototype was transformed into an IE plug-in. I have a question about SearchTogether / I have a bug to report . . . who do I contact? Feel free to send feedback, questions, or bug descriptions to Meredith Ringel Morris. If you’re reporting a bug, please try to include as much relevant information as possible, such as the steps you took that led to the buggy behavior, and screenshots of any error messages. The SearchTogether Discussion Forum is a place where you can post comments or feedback, and where you can meet and connect with others with whom you might want to collaborate on Web searches. Privacy Policy SearchTogether allows you to share your web search results and activity with others. When you join a SearchTogether session, your profile, search queries, results, and web site navigation, along with how you use the SearchTogether tool will be sent to Microsoft for research purposes. In addition, this information will be shared with all the people in that session, regardless of when they join. For more information, read our

Auctions misc.

Aall Stamps Collectibles USA United States, worldwide. AB Philea Sweden Auctions. Academy Stamp Autograph USA British Empire/Commonwealth, Japan, Spain and Colonies, United States, want lists. A D Stamps UK Stamps from Europe (not including GB), early to modern, mint and used. AEROPHIL Aerophilatelic Commercial Aviation Literature Crash Covers USA Ken Sanford is an aerophilatelist and a part-time dealer inaerophilatelic and commercial aviation books and literature, and aircrash covers. He has the world’s largest stock of aerophilatelic books- both new and used, and a large stock of air crash covers AJH Stamps Ltd UK Mixtures, kiloware. Alan E. Cohen USA Premium quality United States postage stamps, plate blocks, essays and proofs. Albany Stamp Co. USA Asia, French Colonies. Albion Stamps USA Worldwide stamps, and topicals. All Nations Stamp Coin Canada Canada, worldwide, weekly auctions. Allstamp.net USA US and German classic stamps and covers. All Stamps UK British, Commonwealth and Foreign stamps in either mint or used condition (www.atozee.com….ers/a.html)

Don Tocher USA U.S. classics, stamps postal history. Downtown Stamp Company USA US classics, worldwide. Dunedin Stamp Centre NZ New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Falklands, British Antarctic, GB Commems. Dutch Country Auctions USA Auctions, Appraisals, Buyers, Collections, Covers, Postcards, United States, Worldwide. (www.atozee.com….ers/d.html)

There are approximately 20,000 paperweight collectors worldwide. Several collectors associations hold national or regional conventions, and sponsor activities such as tours, lectures, and auctions. (www.search.com….aperweight)

ArtcomCollectors Corner: museums, antiques, art, travels. Major exhibitionsand auctions worldwide. This art site is remarkably graphic sensibleand quick loading. (www.lonvig.dk….canada.htm)

Us sellers should simply accept the fact that until some earth-shattering event takes place to dramatically change the landscape of the world of online auctions, we have lost all of the key battles as well as the war . We are simply biding our time, trying to survive, trying to remain profitable and intact, until a service to replace eBay comes along. A competing service, run by a competitor. eBay, through its management has perverted the original eBay mission of being the biggest and best worldwide garage sale into a very scary, extremely arcane beast which the English language lacks adequate words to describe. (www.icwt.us….p/2007/04/)

From the auction page: A lovely real mouse preserved with love and care, posed on a bracelet, fixed. All my animals are bought from a local pet store located in Essex, frozen as pet feed for large reptiles. I do taxidermy as a hobby, I like the idea these little creatures will live on forever rather than being eaten by pets or thrown away. I also preserve large rats, hamsters, guinea pigs and rabbits so watch my ebay for future auctions on other rodents. Any questions please feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer them fully. I also do commissions, so if you miss out on this auction, please feel free to get in touch about making you one either exactly the same, your choosing, or I’ll send you some other examples to choose from. contact me on amandasautopsies@googlemail.com I will only ship to the UK for now, but keep me in your favourites for future auctions of worldwide postage. This little mouse will last for a lifetime if you look after him well, preserved using traditional taxidermy techniques, he will make a lovely addition to any unusual collection (www.unknownhighway.com….61_0_1_0_C)

It’s a convenient option for our customers whocan’t make it to the auction in person.” Eagle, Colorado-based Nexgen Constructors Inc. sold more than 20 trucksand heavy equipment items in the unreserved auction as part of an overallfleet upgrade. It was their first time selling at a Ritchie Bros. auction. “We were very satisfied with the prices we achieved on auction day,especially for the heavy equipment,” said Ed Woodland, Nexgen CFO. “I hadattended numerous Ritchie Bros. auctions and felt confident that they couldhelp us realize the best possible returns for our equipment. With RitchieBros. you know that you are reaching a worldwide market, not just the Denvermarket people who can’t come to the auction in person can bid over theinternet and you have the certainty that everything will be sold on auctionday.” LAS VEGAS , NEVADA Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers conducted the largest LasVegas auction in Company history on March 13, 14 & 15, 2008, selling more than1,500 lots for total gross auction proceeds of almost US$54 million (www.newswire.ca….c4522.html)

solar electricity roof panels elster v ringkolbenz hler mor electricity water and learn about static electricity would electricity run out if the sun went dark.Highlights of electricity rate bill salt water electricity nstar electricity “volts are a measure of what characteristic of electricity” cost of electricity per watt how solar power is used for electricity electricity auctions making electricity with magnets ! the brain emotions and electricity how to prevent static electricity on clothing au electricity supply athority victoria regulations electricity gams neptune undersea electricity generation cable pipeline. electricity at work peltier electricity generation domestic electricity supply watt a diagram with label of a n electricity power substation .Electricity science fair experiments for kids santa monica apartments will generate own electricity electricity saudi arabia coal consumed to generate electricity worldwide static electricity award research paper about static electricity osmoses and electricity electricity prices usa (www.justblya.info….ity14.html)

5,845,265 is a transformation patent that combines used good and collectible shops and auction systems with low-cost WANs and servers. Consignment stores and auctions exist for centuries. People were probably selling and buying used goods and auctioning more often one century ago than today for several reasons (income, long-lasting goods.). So at the beginning of 1995 consignment stores and auctions were disorganized small businesses unable to operate complex products. The Web was developed precisely to create a worldwide village and information highways were created to open up small business. The essential idea of MercExchange was in the air. Collectors were desperately looking for better ways to communicate with each others and early adopters of Internet facilities like newsgroups. So there were users with the skills and motivation to use the new system. This is fair to say that online auction sales were independently invented by MercExchange, eBay and many others. (www.pagebox.net/bm3.html)

Peter Senge said, a learning organisation, “is continually expanding its capacity to create its future”.

Senge’s message is that organisations obtain competitive advantage (see article) from continuous learning, both individual and collective. Learning new ways of doing things, however, also necessarily involves a continuous process of unlearning, of forgetting old ways of doing things. The technology of the information age is radically changing the way in which such processes take place.

Senge rose to prominence with the publication in 1990 of “The Fifth Discipline”, the book in which he laid out his thoughts about organisational learning. There he described the five essential ingredients (“disciplines”) of the learning organisation:

1. Personal mastery—continuous learning by each individual, “expanding the ability to produce the results we truly want in life”.

2. Mental models—to develop awareness of the acquired patterns of thinking within organisations, and to constantly challenge them.

3. Shared vision—creating “pictures of the future” that all members of a group can identify as their own.

4. Team learning—learning together through dialogue and discussion so that the members of a team are more effective than they would be as solitary individuals.

5. The “fifth” discipline, the ability to see the organisation as a whole, as something with its own behaviour patterns separate from those of the individuals who are its constituent parts.

Organisations work as a set of interconnected sub-systems, says Senge, so decisions made in one part of the business have implications for the other parts.                                                              Managers, therefore, need to embrace the complexity of organisations rather than embracing what he calls “the pervasive reductionalism” of Western culture, whereby simple answers to complex questions are always sought. Senge says that a non-threatening dialogue needs to be carried out among the employees of an organisation in which some sort of consensus is reached as each employee comes to see the points of view of all the others, and begins to learn from them.