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The Internet giant strikes another blow. Google announced an update to its search engine in the U.S. who will soon be extended to the world, to refine and contextualize his responses. To make, in short, more in tune with reality, according to the ambition of the group. So you type "taj mahal"? Google offers, in a box right, to limit the results to the famous Indian monument, a singer using this pseudonym or a casino in New Jersey of the same name. Also new is learned as well as the results page of Google as the Taj Mahal is a white marble mausoleum located in Agra, India, it opened in 1648 and it is 174 meters high. Research "Taj Mahal" is associated with that of "Ustad Ahmad Lahauri," the name of the architect of the monument.

"This is not just a catalog of objects is a presentation of the relationships between them. One is understanding between these different elements is the key, "says Amit Singhal, Google's vice president. To add to these changes a lighter note, Google will also offer information on the unusual subject of research. Consequence: the user can get answers to their questions without leaving the Google page.

Behind these new features lies a technology: the "graph of knowledge," or "knowledge graph", "built to understand the real things of the world," says an official from Google, Ben Gomes payday advances. The group has worked there since the acquisition in 2010, the company specializes in managing Metaweb database of movies, books, companies or celebrities. Thus, Google has learned, and quickly: from Freebase, Wikipedia or the CIA World Factbook, the giant has registered 500 million objects, places, characters and memorized some 3.5 billion relations between them.

Update Bing last week

In parallel, the group has expanded his knowledge on user searches. Google has announced in January new privacy policy to share user accounts on all its sites (like Gmail and Youtube). A change that is controversial and will be subject, in France, a meeting with the CNIL next week to clarify the new rules.

The goal for Google is taking another step ahead to face competing search engines, starting with Bing Microsoft announced last week its largest update since its launch three years ago. Among the new Bing strengthens its integration within the social network Facebook, which Microsoft is a shareholder. According to the firm Comscore, Google has widened its lead over its competitors, concentrating 66.4% of online searches in the U.S. in April, against 65.7% a year earlier. Well ahead of the 15.3% posted by Bing and 13.7% for Yahoo!.

One of the smartest ways in which you can search for low priced insurance covers for your vehicle is through online aggregator sites or independent sites for car insurance. In other words, the Internet is the best avenue for cheap price car insurance quotes.

 

Five months after the launch of Autolib ', the system self-service vehicles do not meet again a great success, far from it. Although the number of subscribers grew, but it remains inadequate. It rises this month to 15,000 people, 00 of which only 5 signed an annual subscription, others have chosen packages in the week or day. The cars were used 118,000 times since December.

The businessman Vincent Bollore, whose group provides vehicles and charging stations, expects 30,000 annual subscribers at the end of the year. But to be profitable, Autolib 'must have 80,000 users on the car twice a week for a period of just under an hour. The group has indeed invested 100 million euros starting in the device, plus 100 million annual operating costs (including 900 people have been recruited to the call center and stations).

Financial side, the businessman Breton is optimistic. At the launch of this system of electric cars, self-service in the Paris region, beginning in December 2011, he estimated it would take seven years to break even. "It is possible that this is earlier," he said Wednesday. The infrastructure can be rapidly deployed in 46 communities of Ile-de-France, including Paris, while the number of stations has doubled since the start, reaching 500 stations in May. It must still be multiplied by two (1050), by October. The number of electric cars is made available to him from 250 to 1740 and is expected to climb to 3,000 by the end of the year.

In late April, the Bluecar Bolloré also ranks the leading electric car registrations in France (982 copies), before Nissan and Mia, a market it is true stammering (1595 cars). Bolloré would however expect a year of operation to take a real first assessment, but also business technology fast payday loan no faxing. Electric batteries, particularly temperature sensitive, "have passed the severe cold, but not yet the hot summer," he says.

For now, this service attracted a rather young audience: half of subscribers between 18 and 35. Unsurprisingly, 70% of users have no car. More difficult to explain: 75% are men.

Little vandalism

Degradation related vehicles, hiccups were encountered the first time, "but we managed to eliminate the defects of youth," he assured Vincent Bolloré. The bumpers have been replaced by such material more resistant. The precedents décrochaient easily as motorists unaccustomed to automatic transmissions, may tend to confuse the brake and accelerator. Mirrors, knobs of power windows and door loading were also changed. Moreover, the cars have yet to paint, which avoids the risk of scratches and lighten the car by 5 kilos (an economy that enhances autonomy). In total, Autolib 'account from 20 to 25 claims per day.

So far, however, "very little" acts of vandalism have been deplored, welcomes Vincent Bolloré, contrary to what was observed for self-service bikes Velib '. The most spectacular incident, three cars were burned in Créteil in the Val de Marne.

To attract new subscribers, Autolib launches a monthly fee of 30 euros plus 6 euros per half hour of use. The annual fee amounts to 144 euros plus 5 euros thirty minutes of driving.

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Even at age 20, Mickey is still not profitable in France. While the festivities celebrating the 20th anniversary of Disneyland Paris are in full swing, the company operating the theme park never ceases to sink into the red. In the first half ended March 31, 2012, Euro Disney SCA posted a loss after minority interests of 100.8 million euros. Last year at this time, this loss amounted to 82.9 million euros.

The 2012 vintage, however, is not lost. It is now that he plays. "The group's business is seasonal and annual results depend significantly on the activity of the second half of the year, which is traditionally the busiest season for Disneyland Paris," says Euro Disney. Depending on the success of its summer season, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company still manages to erase a part of twelve months more or less consistently the deficit incurred in the first half. Still, in five years, ever the operator had also started the year badly.

However, against this outperformance is assumed. It is explained by a surge in costs, with nearly 20 million of additional operating costs of a semester to another. "We have significantly increased our investments," said Philippe Gas, President of Euro Disney, citing "the introduction of new products and offers entertainment and construction of improvements targeted in both parks and hotels."

Many efforts to mark the twentieth anniversary, Euro Disney sees as a great growth opportunity. "We expect a significant impact of these investments this year," says management. "We are already seeing encouraging signs for the second half with an increase in bookings in hotels," says Mark Stead to AFP, the Deputy Director General.

European ghost

This gamble is to counterbalance the gloom throughout Europe. In the first half, at least, attendance has plummeted by 1% to 6.8 million visitors. Italian, Dutch, Belgians, or Spaniards are rarer in the twirling teacups and ghost trains Marne-la-Vallee.

Meanwhile, Italians and Britons shunned hotels, who billed 33,000 fewer room nights compared to the first half of 2011. The operator has managed, however, to partially offset this drop in price increases, allowing boost of 43.24 to 44.11 euros average spending per visitor.

To fund these developments in lean period, Euro Disney had to draw 136 million in its treasury, which reached 230 million at end-March. If the situation worsened, the group has the right to postpone deadlines royalties or interest owed to Disney and other creditors.

Note also that, by dint of being planed by the losses, shareholders' equity went into the red at – 15.5 million euros. Danger? The group expects to be back above the waterline at the close of its fiscal year to September 30.  

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For once it is not Airbus which organizes the festival, but ATR, the second aircraft manufacturer based in Toulouse, in the shadow of European giant. Equal subsidiary of EADS and Italy's Finmeccanica, the manufacturer of regional aircraft propeller book on Thursday, Air Nostrum, Iberia subsidiary of Spanish, the thousandth machine out of its assembly site.

A symbolic milestone for ATR's plans to increase its production by 60%, to 54 aircraft per year in 2010 to 70 this year to reach 80 to 90 per year by 2014. At the same time, its turnover has to go from 1.3 to 2 billion.

Consequently, extensions are underway on the site and "hundreds of jobs will be doubled," said Filippo Bagnato, ATR CEO. ATR employs 1,000 people in Toulouse and in 6000 made working in France and Italy with subcontracting. Sitting on a record backlog representing three years of delivery, ATR new ambitions: "it is possible to reach the 2,000 aircraft delivered within ten to fifteen years," says the president.

China threat

To listen, you almost forget that the company, founded in 1981 with the launch of the ATR 300, narrowly escaped death in 2004 with a backlog of five aircraft. The manufacturer was the victim of the craze for jets that, throughout the 1990s, have conquered the regional aviation market while surfing a bit expensive oil.

"Our shareholders have been clear. They did not put the key under the door but had to hold ATR not to lose money, be in equilibrium. We therefore reduced the size of the company. It was that or death, "recalls Filippo Bagnato. ATR gathers her remaining strength to attract new customers. "We had to sell the plane three times to the airline, to subcontractors who were reluctant to invest and banks." ATR increases its range and benefits of soaring oil prices which increase operating costs of a regional jet. Propeller airplanes take their revenge. This is the slaughter. Only Canada's Bombardier and ATR survive, but not Saab, Fokker, Dornier, Jetstream, Fairchild … The airlines have their accounts: in the same journey, the "turboprop" consumes two times less fuel than a jet.

Despite its success, the manufacturer remains vigilant. The turboprop market is promising – with a projected delivery of 3,000 units from 50 to 90 seats in the next 20 years. It arouses desires. ATR expects a reaction which should give Bombardier a successor to its Q-400. He is also concerned about competition from China. "China has had limited success with the M 60 which is nothing more than an evolution of a Russian aircraft. But it launched a 70-seat aircraft and is considering a 90-seat aircraft, "said Filippo Bagnato. The M 700, a copy of ATR according to experts, is being developed. It is expected on the market within three to four years.

To stay ahead, ATR continues "feasibility analysis" on a larger aircraft with 90 seats. The development of a new propeller device costs twice cheaper than a jet – less than $ 2 billion. But the decision belongs to EADS and Finmeccanica.

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Roman Lucazeau, Chargé de Mission in the Business Institute, details the mechanisms at work in the test programs.

THE FIGARO.FR. – Why submit programs of candidates for this test?

Roman Lucazeau. – Although, compared to the 2007 presidential campaign, the programs of the two main candidates are more accurate, they still gray areas and are based on slightly different economic scenarios. This makes comparison difficult. So we tried to apply the same economic variables: growth rate, inflation, unemployment rate, by 2017. We also wanted to discover what happened to the public finances if the programs were implemented with, notably, lower growth than that provided by the candidates, for example, that France has known, on average, over the past decade.  

Originally, this type of exercise is applied by the financial authorities to banks. These are subject to economic scenarios degraded to assess their strength in case of economic crisis. We use a similar method to test the ability of candidates to achieve their stated goal (zero deficit in 2016 for Nicolas Sarkozy in 2017 for Francis Holland).

But in a crisis, a candidate can always abandon its initial program

.

Absolutely. We test the strength of their roadmap, as defined during the election campaign, in a worse position than they anticipate cheap business cards. We evaluate today's promises and do not prejudge the future president of the reactions in case of contingencies.  

How does this model?

We leave the bases nominee programs (eg growth rate, the level of taxes and public spending …) and against which they built their proposals. These assumptions are public and have been developed by their campaign teams. We determine how the deficit and debt change if we change some parameters on the basis of data and public reporting, the INSEE, the Court of Auditors and of Bercy. The details of our methodology is available on our website.

How do you ensure objectivity of your approach?

We submitted the candidates' platforms to the same constraints: same inflation, even growth, even drift government spending or health insurance, etc.. The differences between results are explained by the differences between the programs themselves. Debt strategy of the two candidates based on both on growth, tax increases and budget savings. But Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande do not intend to use these levers to the same extent. Their programs do not react the same way a change of parameters.

Presidential in major cities Paris | Leeds | Lyons | Toulouse | Leeds | Sheffield | Liverpool | Bordeaux | Lille

 

A rating agency on three, Standard & Poor's, has already withdrawn its prestigious AAA to France. One of his rival, Moody's, could soon follow, warned the Socialist candidate for president Francois Hollande. In the days following the presidential election.

Moody's placed under the supervision of the French debt rating earlier this year, he said in an interview with Journal du Dimanche. It "will make a decision on May 12, he argued. It will not be a consequence of the May 6 vote of the French. I warn, already, for our fellow citizens that there is no confusion (…) For now, I ask in any case to be assessed by the French and not by markets. "

How the candidate can know the date on which the decision will fall on Moody's France? Rating agencies maintain absolute secrecy about the content of their deliberations and their timing, until the publication of their decision. To predict the date of May 12, the candidate is based on the deadline set by the agency between his warning to the country concerned and the actual announcement. Moody's placed its ratings on negative watch on Feb. 14. It must give its verdict, probably too negative for the French-AAA before May 15  

Francois Hollande tried to clear the ground, should he be elected, and while his main opponent, Nicolas Sarkozy, waved the threat of an attack against France markets where Socialist victory no fax payday loan. Today, has defended the PS candidate, turbulence affecting Spain and Italy but not France. "It is particularly irresponsible for the incumbent to use the threat of speculative movements to persuade voters to abandon the alternation," he pleaded.

The first week of the next president, whoever he is, ahead eventful. First Moody's should actually decide before May 15 the fate of AAA it has issued so far in France. Then the Commission will publish its opinion on the stability program of France. This document, sent to Brussels last week, details how the government intends to restore the balance of public finances by 2016. Problem: it takes into account neither the promises of the outgoing president, nor those of his socialist opponent.

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As of Wednesday, the tourists interested in tours visiting the Louvre will be surprised to see Nintendo equip a DS3. The largest museum in the world decided to replace its old audio guides by video game in relief. Good news for visitors, they will be leased 5 euros, against 6 for an audioguide. In addition to the traditional explanations cassettes, game consoles allow three-dimensional views of some exhibits, like the Winged Victory. A way to contemplate angles unreleased until now. Initially, the Louvre has commissioned 3DS and 1500 should have 5000 consoles eventually. Connected, consoles can be geolocated. We did lose more in the maze of the Louvre, while 70% of visitors come for the first time!

The comments are available in seven languages ​​and include 700 works low interest rate personal loans. Several trips are also avail-able. Agnes Alfandari, head of multimedia at the Louvre, has highlighted the ease of use consoles, equipped with touch screens. An explanation becomes a breeze. The museum should also be able to more easily perform upgrades explanations and evolve. Thus, pathways for people with disabilities should be developed.

This is not the first time the museum opens in new technologies. The Louvre, as the Quai Branly Museum, has its application on the iPhone. Some 200 works are presented. A way for museums to increase their attractiveness to a young audience while increasing their revenue streams.

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The egg hunt, chocolate bunnies or chickens will be open Sunday. Easter is indeed a special time to eat chocolate. A strong tradition since last year 12,500 tons of chocolate were sold at this time.

"We realize 20% of our turnover on this occasion. Easter with Christmas are the two highlights of the year for our business, "says Jean-Paul Burrus, president of Salpa, known for the brand Marquise de Sevigne.

The offensive of dark chocolate

The trend remains the great classics. "The most popular products are the egg, the chicken or the bells, with one exception in Alsace: the rabbit, a custom from Germany," says Jean-Paul Burrus. "After the eggs or square pyramidal and chickens conceptualized, the market returns to more traditional things," says Sylvain Quidel, head of Leonidas, whose bestsellers are topped with fried egg or rabbit. Dark chocolate is also continuing its offensive. At De Neuville, accounting for 40% of annual sales.

The chocolate does not seem to fear the consequences of the economic downturn, convinced that from twenty euros – the value of the average basket – it is a pleasure that is accessible. In addition, this year, consumption should be boosted by a calendar and a very favorable weather.

 

Seen from France, in its presidential campaign when it comes to rescue of ailing industrial sites, the remarks by Sergio Marchionne, the boss of Fiat-Chrysler, on the European car should react. For him, there is no alternative but to radically reshape the European car factories.

"The industry faces overcapacity of about 20%, especially on small cars, pulling prices down: this is why almost nobody makes money in Europe. This inability to sell all the products we sell, that's exactly the problem faced by the United States in 2007-2008. But there, American manufacturers have closed 20% of their capacity and, now, they win money, "says Le Figaro who is this year president of the Association of European manufacturers (ACEA).

The same evils, the same remedies. The boss of Fiat-Chrysler considers it necessary to remove the 20% in Europe of excess production capacity, more than 3 million cars, which could, according to experts, lead by a dozen plant closings. "We have no choice, launching this adjustment process and then start again from scratch on a sound basis. It will be painful for twelve months, but let's do it! "

The picture that Sergio Marchionne to the situation of the European car is "horrible". He expects this year the market fell for the fifth consecutive year, "5%". And sees no recovery before 2014, and again, at a speed not "crazy." "Meanwhile, we must build on this interval to restructure and get the full benefits of the restructuring when the market recovers."

"It would be the best thing that could happen" because the area in 2008 missed a "huge opportunity" to "streamline" its operations.

According to him, "it is for Europe to support this transition, because, individually, the governments of various countries will not do." Sergio Marchionne noted that in France the state has helped manufacturers provided they do not close plants, while the "U.S. has rather pushed to restructure two groups during their bankruptcy." We must now a "coordinated effort" at European level so that "the pain is shared" so "rational".

With redundancies

"If Europe stops this restructuring, the manufacturers will not invest enough to modernize their production and move upmarket," he says.

Europe could also establish a "financial support mechanism" to cope with redundancies. Anyway, it will take a "social welfare system provides the transition," so as to give the "care and attention" to the employees concerned. Leaves, he hopes, that the industry gets back to hire when it will be healthier.

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