Predicting Tech Failures: Asking for Push Back
January 19, 2009
Nicole Ferraro is tougher than this old goose. She wrote “Troubled Technologies: An ’09 Watch List” here in Internet Evolution. She refers to “this report” and I am not sure if the article is the report or if the article is summarizing the report. I did figure out that she has arrived at a list that contains six items. I don’t want to reproduce the full list, but I want to highlight two of the technologies on “watch” and offer a couple of observations.
She taps targeted advertising as ripe for failure. Google, based on my examination of its patent applications, has done some thinking about targeting ads. Now the way patent applications are written, the method can apply to operations “one skilled in the art” will note. Google has taken the trouble to file for a patent for a number of targeted advertising methods. I am not willing to bet against the GOOG. Ms. Ferraro may know something Google doesn’t know.
She also identifies enterprise social networking as a potential flop. I personally don’t trust social networks anywhere. But that’s just my familiarity with how these social systems can be spoofed. Whether it is Belkin paying for positive product reviews or Reddit users ganging up on an unpopular poster, social means spoofable or manipulable. But I recognize that anyone younger than 24 probably has social Web sites hard wired into their spinal column. When these folks arrive at work, social networks arrive. Done deal. Like it or not, the enterprise will have to adapt to the demographic reality when young employees walk in each morning.
I have some comments about the other four technologies on watch, but you will enjoy looking at the list and determining if you agree strongly, agree, disagree, or disagree strongly with her selections. For a subjective whack at making quite a few vendors eager to buttonhole the writer, I am on the fence and will remain firmly anchored in that spot.
Oh, search and content processing, business intelligence, and text mining are not on her list. I can name one technology that is a definite for life support. But I am not putting that information here.
Stephen Arnold, January 19, 2009
eeggi at Infonortics Search Conference
January 19, 2009
The Boston Search Engine Meeting, operated by Infonortics Ltd., continues to be a must-attend event. Several of the search-related conferences have fallen on their nose. One is a marketers’ dream. SEO (search engine optimization) experts explain how to get a high Google ranking. A few non-marketers attend but find the audiences indifferent to anything but short cuts to Google goodness. Another conference confuses attendees so no one knows who is speaking where or when. Not much hope for shows like that, I fear. Another floundering fish is a huge event focused on everything from scanning to search. Last year, before the meltdown, attendance at most sessions was–ah, how shall I say–sparse. Another candidate for retirement as well. But the Infonortics show keeps on delivering a solid program, attracts motivated attendees, and thankfully does not run a carnival of booths. At one show in the fall, Google pulled its staff and left an empty booth for half of the trade show’s hours. Now that’s a nice site. An empty Google booth. The saving grace was the fact that few people were in the exhibit hall. This addled goose flapped through and then went to a client’s office. The show was underwhelming.
I just learned that the Infonortics conference in April (more information is here) will feature a presentation by eeggi’s “advisor” Frank Bandach. eeggi has an interesting PowerPoint making the rounds of people who cover search and content processing. I viewed it and want to get more information about this company.
eeggi said here:
eeggi is the world’s first mathematic-based search engine, capable of finding results based on CONCEPT instead of just Text. Text-based engines treat words such as “photo” and “photograph” as if they meant completely different things; and yet words such as “banana” (fruit), and “banana” (crazy) as if they meant absolutely identical things. But eeggi’s concept-driven allows it to retrieve superior and conceptually equivalent results such as: 1-Synonyms (identical meaning), 2-Similarities (similar meaning), 3-Conclusive and deductive results, 4-Multiple languages, 5-Tabulates words with multiple meanings, 6-Directional conceptuality 7-Less irrelevance, 8-User controls to search magnitude.
The eeggi Web site is understated. You can find it here. Some canned demos are here. I will learn more in April 2009. Infonortics publishes my Google monographs. I will be on the program as well, and I am doing a tutorial in which some of the new Google technology will be discussed.
Stephen Arnold, January 19, 2009
Semantico CEO Interviewed
January 19, 2009
Richard Padley is an engaging information, content and search wizard. I visited with his technical team at the Semantico exhibit at the Online London show. Unlike the US search conferences, the team working on the London show for Incisive does a much better job of attracting interesting speakers and exhibitors. Semantico works with organizations producing content. Mr. Padley helps these organizations make better use of staff time and prepare content so that it can be quickly and economically repurposed. I followed up with him in early January 2009 and managed to convince him to participate in a Search Wizards Speak interview. You can find the full text of that interview here.
One of the intriguing comments, Mr. Padley made was:
Because of the sort of company we are, it’s less about technology invention for us than about adaptation and selection. Open source is very important to us, for instance, and we’re strong believers in using the best tool for the job. In the past 18 months we’ve started using the Mark Logic database to build the publishing platforms we deliver – which is a very innovative platform. It allows us to put different kinds of content together and query them in ways that allow publishers to build new kinds of products, while still respecting the different sizes and shapes that content comes in. ‘Content in context’ is a phase I hate, but it does provide a way of getting a handle on this for the layman: it’s about providing small snippets of contextualized information within the workflow. Say you’re a vet – we can build a platform that can integrate reference information about veterinary medicine with available drugs and your own patient records, and so on.
What’s interesting is that MarkLogic has carved out an interesting niche providing a flexible, robust data management system. Now an ecosystem is beginning to form around that MarkLogic platform. Search, while a key function in Semantico’s arsenal, is secondary to solving information problems. As companies like Microsoft chase the search dream with questionable technologies that are getting long in the tooth, Semantico is helping create a new approach to content processing. Note: you can read the interview with Mark Logic’s top executive here.
You can get more information about Semantico here.
Stephen Arnold, January 19, 2009
Google: Behind the Lava Lamp Glow
January 18, 2009
Smalltalk Tidbits, Industry Rants pointed me to Michael Arrington’s "Why Google Employees Quit". The write up here (assuming the documents are not spoofs) is an interesting glimpse of life inside the cubicles lit by lava lamps at Google. Some Googler provided Mr. Arrington with what are alleged to be articles about the Google’s drift toward big company management. Some of the themes are familiar: inefficiency and long decision cycles. For me the most interesting comment attributed to a Googler was:
I also left Google after only 5 months. As soon as I got inside, I had the feeling of being swallowed by a giant borg.
I think you will enjoy reading these snippets. Next time the New York Times or one of the other dead tree outfits begins a story with a reference to the fun atmosphere and free lunch, recall these posts. After a decade, the Google reality may replace the soft stage lighting that many pundits prefer to floodlights shining on Googzilla.
Stephen Arnold, January 18, 2009
Google’s Knol Milestone
January 18, 2009
Everyone in the drainage ditch in Harrod’s Creek, Kentucky, thinks Knol is a Wikipedia clone. This addled goose begs to differ. This addled goose thinks Knol is a way for the Google to obtain “knowledge” about topics and the experts who contribute to a Knol (a unit of knowledge). Sure, Knol can be used like Wikipedia, but the addled goose thinks the Knol is more, much, much more.
At any rate, the Google announced on January 16, 2008, after the goose tucked its head under its wing for the week that there are now 100,000 Knols. What this goose found interesting was the headline: “100,000th Knol Published.” I love that word “published”. Google emphasizes that it is not a publisher, but it is interesting to me how the word turns up. You can read the story here.
The blog post contains some interesting insights into Knol; for example, people from 197 countries visit Knol “on an average day.” The interface is available in eight languages. Visitors are editing Knols.
Now how long will it take Knol to reach one million entries?
Stephen Arnold, January 18, 2009
Customize Search in Windows 7
January 18, 2009
We have Windows 7 running on a wee netbook. When a reader sent us a link to this ZDNet blog post “Windows 7: Search Your University Library from Your Desktop” here, we took a look. In the shifting sands of search, Windows 7 may become more of a factor. Early reports are mostly positive, even if some people call it Vista, Version 2. Google has its eye on university search as well. Check out the company’s Book Search and you can see that the GOOG wants to put for fee library research services between a hard place and the incisors of Googzilla. Don’t believe me. Here’s the future of periodical indexes.
Back to the ZDNet article by Zack Whittaker who said he wears pink socks and attends the University of Kent. Whatever his inspiration, his write up was quite useful. He provides a template that can be used to aim Windows 7 search at a specific resource. The idea is to search “Your university library” or some other specified resource. Mr. Whittaker provides a template and links to other resources.
If Microsoft were to make this type of customizing a point-and-click service, there might be some pushback for the GOOG if Windows 7 gets more lift than Vista. A happy quack to the reader who alerted us to Mr. Whittaker’s write up and two quacks to Mr. Whittaker (pink socks and other accoutrements) as well.
Stephen Arnold, January 18, 2009
Dot Net Caution
January 18, 2009
Here in the mine run off pond, we geese heard a rumor that Windows 7 has no Dot Net code. That sounded good to us. Now comes a disturbing news item on MSMobile.com, which if true adds another log to the Dot Net fire. There article “Warning to Developers: A Monkey with Its Eyes Closed Can Disassemble Microsoft .Net” here seems to be a bit harsh. The lead paragraph asserts that Microsoft inhabits its “own reality distortion field.” We thought the RDF was an Apple speciality. The most important part of the article is this snippet:
.Net is great in so many ways but for commercial apps? No way! Anybody can just look at your source code. A high end obfuscation will help a lot but any determined hacker will fix your code in less than a day. I know this from sad experience despite spending $1000s on anti-piracy and obfuscation tools. Unless you wish to make your code ‘open source’ then maybe give .Net a wide birth.
The conclusion to the article is pointed: “If you intend to develop commercial software for Windows Mobile, then forget Dot Net.” The geese will watch for more Dot Net intel to validate or invalidate this point.
Stephen Arnold, January 18, 2009
Cognition Technologies: Gospels Demo Available
January 18, 2009
Cognition Technologies has put up a new demo that allows users to search the Gospels of the Bible. The system has processed the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. You can find the demo from the Cognition Technologies’ home page at http://www.cognition.com or here.
The company selected this corpus to showcase Cognition Technologies’ ability to deal with metaphorical language. The natural language processing system permits queries by words, phrases, and questions. The company said:
We have worked very hard to show companies interested in semantically-enabling their technologies that Cognition’s technology understands language and concept nuance.
Biblical texts are difficult to parse and tag. Keep this in mind when you look at the demo. The easiest content to process is tidy, scientific, technical, and medical content chock full of jargon. Texts like the Gospels are stuffed with fuzziness, concepts, and metaphors.
For more information about the Cognition Technologies’ system, you can explore the firm’s Web site or you can read an analysis in the Gilbane Group’s study “Beyond Search” here.
Stephen Arnold, January 18, 2009
Ami Software
January 18, 2009
I have been updating my files. I was looking for search vendors who had dealings with the UK Ministry of Defence. That organization had some email trouble, and I was curious from which vendor the MoD was licensing software. My files contained a reference to Ami Software, a company based in France when I last looked at the system in 2007.
It’s been a couple of years since I looked at Ami Software (doing business as Albert in France), founded in 1999. The Web site for the company is here. The company has site for OEM partners here. The search and content processing company positions itself as “enterprise intelligence in action.” The company says that its professionals “specialize in developing software solutions to access and manage online information, turning unstructured data, wherever it resides, and in whatever form into usable knowledge.”
File shot of the AMI interface.
The most recent news on the company’s Web site here dates from September 2008. That news story asserts growth in 2008 and identifies customer wins in engineering and trade publishing. In December 2007, the company released AMI Enterprise Intelligence Version 4.0. According to my file data, Version 3 of the system came out in late 2006. The release includes “knowledge modelling [sic], RSS publication, advance search capability, and [a] new analysis engine. Other details of the system from my files said:
- The core system was developed in C++
- Functions are accessed via htpp services in POST or GET via XML
- The company developed a higher level scripting language called albScript
- Higher level components are developed in albScript which is close to JavaScript
- The system runs on Windows or Apache Web servers.
The company’s Web site points out that the company’s total research and development investment was €23 million. Two investment companies have supported the company: France Ile Development and OTC Asset Management. In my notes, I found a reference to the company’s location in Switzerland, but I can’t determine if that’s accurate.
In France the company does business as Albert France SA. In the UK, it is Albert UK. In North America, the company works with Propelion Internet Solutions Inc.
The company identifies Alain Beauvieux as the president of the company, Eric Fourboul as general manager of products, Phillippe Albert as services director, Remy Carron as sales director in France, and Mike Alderton as UK sales manager.
Mr. Beauvieux worked at IBM and LexiQuest. His most recent blog posting here was in July 2008. That same month, Ami (Albert) announced two job openings. There’s a useful write up here about the company.
What’s peculiar is that information about the company seems to have tapered off by October 2008, and I can’t determine if the search and content processing company is still open for business. With the problems at such companies as Lycos and SurfRay on my mind, I am curious. If anyone has information about the status of this company, please, use the comments section of the Web log to post the information.
Stephen Arnold, January 18, 2009
Google TV and the Vatican
January 17, 2009
I put the finishing touches on the monetization section of my new Google study. I reference Google’s television plans in that write up. I saw a news item on the Washington Post Web site and I wanted to pass it along. The article’s title was “Pope to Have Own Google Channel with Video”. I will not quote from an AP story. You can find the item here. How long before the broadcast industry asks, “Is Google competing with us?” Sooner rather than later in my opinion. The telco crowd was late to its rendezvous with the GOOG. Traditional media doesn’t understand Googzilla in my opinion. You will be able to read about this perception issue in my new study in April 2009, maybe a bit sooner.
Stephen Arnold, January 17, 2009
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