Over the past few months, cybercriminals have been using blackhat SEO techniques to manipulate search rankings. When it first began, they were marginally successful at following Google Trends to find buzzy search queries and elevating a newly created targeted webpage.

But after a short period of time, these same gangs appear to have become disturbingly effective. Last week, when researching a news story, I found the top five results all led to fake scareware pages.

Obviously if Google fails to do something about this manipulation, users will lose trust and the good ole days of Google will be over fast. A Googler speaking on condition of anonymity told WebProNews a ranking change is pending that tackles spam of this kind. Once the change goes live, users shouldn’t see it “nearly as often.”

A report from security company PandaLabs identified over a million links targeting malicious webpages ranking for auto part searches. Google noted that many of the phrases mentioned in the report were rare. A phrase like [1989 Nissan Pickup Truck Engine Check Light Troubleshooting], for example, only appears on attack sites set up by spammers, which explains why Google brought back so many attack sites in response to it and similar queries.

Google’s response seems also an admission of how difficult it is to provide fresh, timely search results while simultaneously combating spammers. Part of the appeal of Twitter to many people is the platform’s ability to provide real-time information; the live Web works remarkably well there so far because Twitter’s set up isn’t very conducive to spam (yet). At least Twitter has to some extent control over accounts.

Google, on the other hand, cannot control for content appearing on the Web at large, and historically its famous algorithm performed better than any other at weeding out spammy webpages and malicious results. Unfortunately, that was a version of the Web that was more static. The live Web presents entirely new challenges manifesting as the first major weakness the search engine has faced.

The company naturally didn’t have a comment on the recently pondered “link velocity” ranking factor. Search engine optimization experts have identified the speed at which organic links appear as a possible important influence.

Link velocity therefore aids in explaining how blackhatters were able to manipulate search results by dropping enormous amounts of link spam into comment and discussion areas of social sites. The freshness or buzzy nature of a query also aided in this pursuit, and cybercriminals merely have to follow Google Trends and Google News to know which keywords and phrases to target.

Meanwhile, American Express Co. became the first major financial institution to formally request permission to return federal bailout money provided under the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP.

Wells Fargo & Co. said it’s seeking to raise $6 billion by offering common stock to investors. The San Francisco-based bank announced the plans after the government’s stress test results showed that Wells Fargo needs $13.7 billion in new capital to withstand a deeper recession.

The stress test results showed that Morgan Stanley needs $1.8 billion in fresh funds. Minutes after their release, the New York-based investment bank said it’s seeking to raise $2 billion through a public stock offering.

It said it will also try to raise $3 billion through an offering of senior debt that won’t be guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Raising capital without federal guarantees is a requirement for banks that want to return TARP funds.

Wells Fargo shares closed down nearly 8 percent at $24.76 on heavy trading volume. In after-hours trading, the stock fell 2.4 percent to $24.17.

Morgan Stanley shares ended 4.8 percent lower at $27.14. The stock fell 0.7 percent to $26.95 in after-hours trading.

Separately, Citigroup Inc. said it’s planning to convert an extra $5.5 billion of preferred shares into common stock after the stress tests determined it needs an equal amount in fresh capital.

A conversion would not actually give Citigroup more cash, but it would increase Citi’s “common equity,” a yardstick being used by the government to measure a bank’s ability to absorb losses.

The aim of the stress tests was to see how the nation’s 19 biggest banks would manage if the economy gets worse. Officials hope the tests will restore investors’ confidence in the battered banking sector. They have said none of the 19 banks will be allowed to fail.

Besides Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley, banks requiring additional capital are: Bank of America Corp. ($33.9 billion); Citigroup Inc. ($5.5 billion); Fifth Third Bancorp ($1.1 billion); GMAC LLC ($11.5 billion); KeyCorp ($1.8 billion); PNC Financial Services Group Inc. ($600 million); Regions Financial Corp. ($2.5 billion); and SunTrust Banks Inc. ($2.2 billion).

The 10 banks will have until June 8 to develop a plan to raise capital and have it approved by their regulators.

Sung Won Sohn, an economics professor at California State University, Channel Islands, said the moves to raise funds by Wells Fargo and other banks could leave them overcapitalized, “assuming the economy continues to recover.”

Meanwhile, American Express and eight other companies won’t need new capital. Immediately after the release of the results, American Express chairman and chief executive Kenneth I. Chenault announced the credit card lender has filed a request with the Federal Reserve and the Treasury to repay its $3.4 billion in TARP funds.

American Express chief financial officer Daniel Henry said talks with regulators to return the TARP funds could begin Friday.

“We’ll take whatever action we need to take” to pay back the money, Henry said in a conference call with analysts.

Chafing under a litany of government restrictions, major banks including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley have said they want to return their share of the $700 billion TARP program. Twelve smaller banks have already repaid funds.

Speaking to analysts Thursday evening JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon reiterated his desire to repay TARP funds.

“Obviously, we’ll be in that process as soon as we can, and hopefully we’ll be allowed to pay it,” Dimon said.

Congress approved the TARP program in October as the worsening credit crisis threatened to cause a collapse of the banking system. A service of YellowBrix, Inc. (Associated Press/AP Online) By: Stevenson Jacobs.

The final Space Shuttle flight to NASA’s orbiting Hubble Space Telescope is set for blast off on May 11 at 2:01PM EDT from Launch Pad 39 A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This will be NASA’s 5th and final shuttle mission to service and upgrade Hubble. The stakes could not be higher for this action packed, dauntingly complex and long delayed mission. It’s certain to be “High drama at the High Frontier” for this flight designated as SM-4 (Servicing Mission 4).

Hubble has suffered “significant deterioration” in its science capabilities since the last servicing mission (SM-3B) conducted in March 2002, according to Ed Weiler, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, DC. The seven year gap between servicing missions is “twice what it should be”, says David Leckrone, Hubble project scientist at NASA Goddard in Greenbelt, MD. “We need surgery to get back to 100%”.

On average NASA dispatched servicing missions to Hubble at roughly three year intervals. The long delay is a direct consequence of the destruction of Space Shuttle Columbia on re-entry in February 2003 and the death of the entire seven person crew of men and women. Indeed this final servicing mission was outright cancelled in 2004 as “too risky” by then NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe in the wake of the Columbia tragedy. The subsequent NASA Administrator Mike Griffin reinstated the mission in 2006 after exhaustive further analysis and development of a new plan which includes simultaneously placing a back-up shuttle on Launch Pad 39 B if required to mount a quick response ‘launch on need’ rescue mission.

The overriding goal plain and simple for the SM-4 astronaut crew launching aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis is to save Hubble from near term death and extend the operational science gathering lifespan by around 5 years to about 2014 and perhaps even a few years longer if critical components continue to function says Preston Burch, Hubble Program manager at NASA Goddard. NASA hopes for some overlap in operations with Hubble’s successor, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) set for launch on 2013.

Hubble has set “A Standard of Excellence” says Ed Weiler since the first servicing mission (SM-1) in 1993 when astronauts installed new instruments and corrective optics for the flawed primary mirror. Now however, “Hubble currently has only 3 working science channels. The Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC-2) is 15 years old and getting a little bit long on the tooth and will be replaced on this mission” adds David Leckrone. After SM-4, Hubble will have 14 channels, 11 of them new. Weiler stated that if all goes well, “Hubble will be at the apex of its science capabilities and will never have been better”.

During the scheduled 11 day flight, four highly trained astronauts will conduct 5 back-to-back spacewalks (or EVAs) in a bold attempt to repair, refurbish, and replace science instruments and vital equipment to ensure that Hubble is at the cutting edge of science discoveries into the next decade.

The mission will put in place state-of-the-art technology that improves the telescopes discovery power by 10 to 70 times. Astronauts will install two new science instruments and repair two inactive ones, install new thermal insulation blankets and batteries, replace all 6 gyroscopes, perform maintenance on critical subsystems and components and attach a docking mechanism for a potential future de-orbit mission or Orion capsule docking. The result will be six working, complementary science instruments with discovery capabilities far beyond what is now available and that will contribute significantly to the expansion of human knowledge.

The seven member astronaut crew for STS-125 is a mix of veterans and first time space flyers for what will be the 126th shuttle flight. Indeed, three of the astronauts flew together on the last Hubble servicing mission including repeat Shuttle Commander Scott Altman, lead space walker John Grunsfeld (an astronomer on his 3rd trip to Hubble), and fellow Hubble spacewalker Mike Massimino.

This will be the first spaceflight for Shuttle pilot Gregory Johnson and Mission Specialist Megan McArthur who’s job is to grab Hubble with the robotic arm on Flight Day 3 and berth it safely and securely in the cavernous shuttle cargo bay. Rookie Mission Specialists Michael Good and Andrew Feustel round out the team of 4 spacewalkers who will work in alternating teams of two.

SM-4 blast-off was suddenly postponed from last October 2008 when a circuit in the crucial data handling unit which commands and controls all the science instruments and communications relay unexpectedly failed barely two weeks prior to blast-off. Due to the ensuing lengthy launch delay NASA officials opted to destack the shuttle components and I was fortunate to be on hand and photograph the rollback of Atlantis off Launch Pad 39 A and back into the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB).

Hubble cannot function without the data unit known as the Science Instrument Command & Data Handling Unit (SIC &DH). Luckily the team was able to switch Hubble operations over to the built in back-up redundant “B” side command unit. In fact as Ed Weiler pointed out, it was quite fortunate that the unit malfunction occurred before the launch attempt or the entire repair effort could have been for naught. This allowed the team to check and certify a partially disassembled ground spare SIC &DH unit which actually had never been flight qualified. And it has taken a Herculean effort by all involved to conduct performance testing and get the data handling unit ready and primed for installation on this mission as one of the top priority goals.

NASA managers gave the ‘Go’ for STS-125 launch following the customary Flight Readiness Review (FRR) last week on April 30 after assessing the risks of the mission and determining that the shuttle’s equipment and support systems are ready for flight. The back-up shuttle Endeavour sits on standby at Pad 39 B ready to fly within about a week in the unlikely event an emergency rescue mission is necessary due to irreparable damage to the heat shield tiles or other problems. Atlantis cannot fly to the International Space Station as a ‘safe haven’ for the human crew and has limited life sustaining supplies.

With Atlantis lift off now just 4 days away, launch and training preparations are in their final stages and the crew has entered the standard pre-launch quarantine. The crew is scheduled to arrive in Florida on Friday afternoon May 8 and the launch countdown begins at 4 PM, events which I hope to report on.

Now, however, a new study in the Journal of the Geological Society throws all of that into question. The asteroid impact and the dinosaur extinction, argue the authors, may not have been simultaneous, but rather may have occurred 300,000 years apart. That’s an eye-blink in geological time, but it’s a relevant eye-blink all the same, one that occurred at just the right moment in ancient history to have sent the extinction theory entirely awry. (See pictures of meteors striking the earth.)

The controversial new paper was written by geoscientists Gerta Keller of Princeton University and Thierry Addate of the University of Lausanne, in Switzerland — and both researchers knew that challenging the impact doctrine would not be easy. The asteroid charged with killing the dinosaurs, after all, left more than the Chicxulub crater as its calling card. At the same 65-million-year depth, the geological record reveals that a thin layer of iridium was deposited pretty much everywhere in the world. Iridium is an element that’s rare on Earth but common in asteroids, and a fine global dusting of the stuff is precisely what you’d expect to find if an asteroid struck the ground, vaporized on impact and eventually rained its remains back down. Below that iridium layer, the fossil record shows that a riot of species was thriving; above it, 65% of them went suddenly missing. (Read about China’s dinosaur fossils.)

But Keller and Addate worried that we were misreading both the geological and fossil records. They conducted surveys at numerous sites in Mexico, particularly at a spot called El Peñón, very near the impact crater. They were especially interested in a 30-ft. layer of sediment just above the iridium layer. That sediment, they calculate, was laid down at a rate of about 0.8 in. to 1.2 in. per thousand years, meaning that the entire 30 feet took 300,000 years to settle into place. (See pictures of Mexico’s swine flu outbreak.)

Analyzing the fossils at this small site, they counted 52 distinct species just below the iridium layer. Then they counted the species above it. The result: the same 52. It wasn’t until they sampled 30 feet higher — and 300,000 years later — that they saw the die-offs.

“The mass extinction level can be seen above this interval,” Keller says. “Not a single species went extinct as a result of the Chicxulub impact.”

Keller’s and Addate’s species samplings are not, of course, conclusive, and plenty of other surveys since 1978 do tie the extinctions closely to the asteroid. But since the new digs were so close to ground zero, the immediate species loss ought to be have been — if anything — greater there than anywhere else in the world. Instead, the animals seemed to escape unharmed. Other paleontologists, however, believe that the very proximity of El Peñón to the impact site makes the results not more reliable, but less. Earthquakes and tsunamis that resulted from the collision could have wrought havoc on the sedimentary record, causing discrete strata to swirl together and completely scrambling timelines. Keller disagrees, pointing out that the slow accretion of sediment she and Addate recorded is completely inconsistent with a sudden event like a tsunami. (See pictures of animals in space.)

“The sandstone complex was not deposited over hours or days,” she says. “Deposition occurred over a very long time period.”

So if the Chicxulub asteroid didn’t kill the dinosaurs, what did? Paleontologists have advanced all manner of other theories over the years, including the appearance of land bridges that allowed different species to migrate to different continents, bringing with them diseases to which native species hadn’t developed immunity. Keller and Addate do not see any reason to stray so far from the prevailing model. Some kind of atmospheric haze might indeed have blocked the sun making the planet too cold for the dinosaurs — it just didn’t have to have come from an asteroid. Rather, they say, the source might have been massive volcanos, such as the ones that blew in the Deccan Traps in what is now India at just the right point in history. (See pictures of the space race.)

For the dinosaurs that perished 65 million years back, extinction was extinction and the precise cause was immaterial. But for the bipedal mammals who were allowed to rise once the big lizards were finally gone, it is a matter of enduring fascination. By: Jeffrey Kluger

With the swine flu having already spread to at least six other countries besides Mexico, authorities around the globe are like firefighters battling a blaze without knowing how far it extends.

“At this time, containment is not a feasible option,” said Keiji Fukuda, assistant director-general of the World Health Organization, which raised its alert level on Monday.

New Zealand reported Tuesday that 11 people who recently returned from Mexico contracted the virus. Tests conducted at a World Health Organization laboratory in Australia had confirmed three cases of swine flu among 11 members of the group who were showing symptoms, New Zealand Health Minister Tony Ryall said.

Officials decided that was evidence enough to assume the whole group was infected, he said.

Those infected had suffered only “mild illness” and were expected to recover, Public Health Director Mark Jacobs said. There are 43 more suspected cases in the country, officials said.

The Israeli Health Ministry on Tuesday confirmed the region’s first case of swine flu in the city of Netanya. The 26-year-old patient recently returned from Mexico and had contracted the same strain, Health Ministry spokeswoman Einav Shimron.

Dr. Avinoam Skolnik, Laniado Hospital’s medical director, said the patient has fully recovered and is in “excellent condition” but will remain hospitalized until the Health Ministry approves his release.

Another suspected case has been tested at another Israeli hospital but results are not in, the ministry said.

Meanwhile, a second case was confirmed Tuesday in Spain, Health Minister Trinidad Jimenez said, a day after the country reported its first case. The 23-year-old student, one of 26 patients under observation, was not in serious condition, Jimenez said.

With the virus spreading, the U.S. prepared for the worst even as President Barack Obama tried to reassure Americans.

At the White House, a swine flu update was added to Obama’s daily intelligence briefing. Obama said the outbreak is “not a cause for alarm,” even as the U.S. stepped up checks of people entering the country and warned U.S. citizens to avoid nonessential travel to Mexico.

“We are proceeding as if we are preparatory to a full pandemic,” said Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

The European Union health commissioner suggested that Europeans avoid nonessential travel both to Mexico and parts of the United States. Russia, Hong Kong and Taiwan said they would quarantine visitors showing symptoms of the virus.

Mexico, where the number of deaths believed caused by swine flu rose by 50 percent on Monday to 152, is suspected to be ground zero of the outbreak. But Mexican Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova late Monday said no one knows where the outbreak began, and implied it may have started in the U.S.

“I think it is very risky to say, or want to say, what the point of origin or dissemination of it is, given that there had already been cases reported in southern California and Texas,” Cordova told a press conference.

It’s still not clear when the first case occurred, making it impossible thus far to determine where the breakout started.

Dr. Nancy Cox of the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said she believes the earliest onset of swine flu in the United States happened on March 28. Cordova said a sample taken from a 4-year-old boy in Mexico’s Veracruz state in early April tested positive for swine flu. However, it is not known when the boy, who later recovered, became infected.

The World Health Organization raised the alert level to Phase 4, meaning there is sustained human-to-human transmission of the virus causing outbreaks in at least one country. Monday was the first time it has ever been raised above Phase 3.

Putting an alert at Phases 4 or 5 signals that the virus is becoming increasingly adept at spreading among humans. Phase 6 is for a full-blown pandemic, characterized by outbreaks in at least two regions of the world.

Fifty cases — none fatal and most of them mild — were confirmed in the United States. Including the New Zealand, Israeli and new Spanish reports, there were 92 confirmed cases worldwide on Tuesday. That included six in Canada, one in Spain and two in Scotland.

Symptoms include a fever of more than 100, coughing, joint aches, severe headache and, in some cases, vomiting and diarrhea.

Amid the alarm, there was a spot of good news. The number of new cases reported by Mexico’s largest government hospitals has been declining the past three days, Cordova said, from 141 on Saturday to 119 on Sunday and 110 Monday.

In a bid to prevent mass contagion, Mexico canceled school nationwide until May 6, and the Mexico City government is considering a complete shutdown, including all public transportation. The Cinco de Mayo parade celebrating Mexico’s defeat of a French army on May 5, 1862 and Mexico City’s traditional May 1 parade were canceled. More than 100 museums nationwide were closed.

At Mexico City’s international airport, families grimly waited for flights out of the capital or country, determined to keep their masks on until they touched ground somewhere else.

Three games involving Mexico City soccer clubs were played with no spectators over the weekend. Decio de Maria, secretary general of the Mexican soccer federation, said plans for future matches would be announced on Wednesday.

“The idea is to look for the fewest number of games that have to be played behind closed doors,” he said. “If it’s necessary, we’ll play all the matches behind closed doors. We don’t foresee canceling any games.”

Many residents of Mexico City wore blue surgical masks, though the CDC said most masks offer little protection. Many victims have been in their 30s and 40s — not the very old or young who typically succumb to the flu. So far, no deaths from the new virus have been reported outside Mexico.

It could take four to six months before the first batch of vaccines are available, WHO officials said. Some antiflu drugs do work once someone is sick.

Napolitano, the U.S. Homeland Security chief, said Washington is dispatching people and equipment to affected areas and stepping up information-sharing at all levels of government and with other nations.

Richard Besser, the CDC’s acting director, said his agency is aggressively looking for evidence of the disease spreading and probing for ways to control and prevent it.

Flu deaths are nothing new in the United States. The CDC estimates that about 36,000 people died of flu-related causes each year, on average, during the 1990s in the United States. But the new flu strain is a combination of pig, bird and human viruses that humans may have no natural immunity to.

Besser said that so far the virus in the United States seems less severe than in Mexico. Only one person has been hospitalized in the U.S.

“I wouldn’t be overly reassured by that,” Besser told reporters at CDC headquarters in Atlanta, sounding a cautionary note.

The best way to keep the disease from spreading, Besser said, is by taking everyday precautions such as frequent handwashing, covering up coughs and sneezes, and staying away from work or school if not feeling well.

WHO spokesman Peter Cordingley singled out air travel as an easy way the virus could spread, noting that the WHO estimates that up to 500,000 people are on planes at any time.

Governments in Asia — with memories of previous flu outbreaks — were especially cautious. Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines dusted off thermal scanners used in the 2003 SARS crisis and were checking for signs of fever among passengers from North America. South Korea, India and Indonesia also announced screening.

Teams of doctors, nurses and government officials boarded flights arriving in Japan from Mexico, the U.S. and Canada to check passengers for signs of the flu, Japanese Health Ministry official Akimori Mizuguchi said.

World stock markets fell Tuesday as investors worried that any swine flu pandemic could derail a global economic recovery.

AP writers Mark Stevenson in Mexico City, Mike Stobbe in Atlanta, Ray Lilley in Wellington, New Zealand, Aron Heller in Jerusalem and Pan Pylas in London contributed to this report.

One is “Similar Images” which uses the colors and shapes of one image to become the basis for a subsequent search on similar images. For example, I searched for “Jerusalem” and two clicks later on pictures that are closest to the view I want, and I have about 600 pics simply of the Temple Mount viewed from the Mount of Olives.

The other new release is Google News Timeline. It is mainly intended for more recent history, and one can specify a view (day/week/month/year/decade), a date, and then apply additional filters either by search term or news source. (Click on “Add More Queries” to include additional Wikipedia items, a number of newpapers [Pittsburgh Post and St. Petersburg Times] or magazines [Time, Baseball Digest, Popular Science, and Vegetarian Times: go figure!], and other options with varying degrees of accessible material.) It appears that one can only go back to 1400 to find material.

For more ancient events, the other option you have is to use one of the Google Labs Experimental projects and enable “Alternate views for search results.” Google also updated their Google Labs page, and you can have some fun checking out some of their other projects.