YAGG: Webmaster Tools Not 100 Percent
February 26, 2009
Search Engine Roundtable reported on February 25, 2009, that Googzilla’s Webmaster tools are working for some. The story “Google Webmaster Tools Link Report Bugs Still an Issue” here. The short article points to observations by those who get revved up over Webmaster tools. From the addled goose’s point of view, just another YAGG (yet another Google glitch). Maybe a T shirt with this message would be a big seller among those who rely on Google only to experience a YAGG. Now that I am looking for these YAGGs, I must say the pesky bugs are easy for an old goose to spot. Most bugs (real and in code) don’t scurry away either quickly either.
Stephen Arnold, February 26, 2009
ChaCha Boogies Past Google SMS
February 26, 2009
Forbes Magazine makes a big deal of data that assert ChaCha.com is the “fastest growing SMS search provider.” The story seems to be a news release on the Forbes Web site. No matter. You can read the item here. The firm generating the data is the Nielsen Company. The quote in the write up is alleged to be that of David Gill, Director of Mobile Media. He opined:
ChaCha is a company to watch within the SMS space. When we look at the leading SMS brands today, we’re not surprised to see Twitter and Facebook in the top 10, but the rapid growth of ChaCha in just one year is impressive. Certainly the trended data shows them headed to the front of the pack for SMS search.
I believe this. Google is not pulling its cart too quickly in the mobile messaging space. I would point out that the outfit to watch in SMS mobile search or whatever the sector is may not be ChaCha.com. What’s Twitter’s footprint? When I think of real time search, I think Twitter first. Run queries on both systems. Let me know which is more useful in your view.
Stephen Arnold, February 26, 2009
San Diego: Finally Showing Muscle
February 26, 2009
I had heard that San Diego had some issues with its enterprise software and systems. San Diego has some interesting characteristics. There are some interesting high-tech outfits in the city; the giant SAIC comes to mind. San Diego also has lots of McMansions with brutal vacancy rates and a light rail line to Mexico. I read Michael Krigsman’s “San Diego Fires Axon over ERP Implementation Problems” here. I wonder if other governmental agencies will take this type of alleged action. In my experience, there are some interesting cost estimation and contractual practices afoot in some governmental entities. Combine experienced government massagers with overworked and understaffed government agencies, and you get a recipe that spells “cost overruns”. One of the comments that caught my attention was:
Axon has submitted incomplete work product for acceptance and payment.
If accurate, this sentence is a model of clarity. Most government “good bye, dear” memos are more jargon filled. How will San Diego resolve is enterprise software mess? Easy. Hire SAP. I am delighted because I know a follow up story will be possible in a year, maybe less. Wow.
Stephen Arnold, February 27, 2009
Aster Going Faster
February 26, 2009
Aster Data Systems, http://www.asterdata.com, just received $5 million in funding venture capital firm Institutional Venture Partners, http://www.ivp.com/. That money allows Aster to close its latest round of fundraising, bringing the total to $17 million. Not too shabby. Aster provides analytic databases for frontline data warehousing and analyzes huge amounts of data on clusters of commodity hardware. More information about their products is at http://www.asterdata.com/product/index.php. IVP said they put up the money because of Aster’s great technology, increasing market share and growing customer base. Aster’s thrilled to have a new major investor because the money, according to their CEO, “will help us continue to innovate and grow aggressively, with a nice cushion to ride the economic waves.” We think this is a big deal and a great example of wheelin’ and dealin’ on Aster’s part. Raising money is the name of the game for technology companies. Keep on eye on Aster, they’re planning for the future.
Jessica W. Bratcher, February 26, 2009
Microsoft: The RCA Analogy
February 26, 2009
When I worked at Booz, Allen in the late 1970s, I was quite impressed with Harvard MBAs who could explain certain business events with aplomb. Most of these examples had a punch line, almost as if Bob Hope or Groucho Marx had gone into business, not vaudeville. The punch line was often delivered by these glossy, sleek, confident masters of the universe with a rising tone. Like a question except you were supposed to be floored by their brilliance.
I recall one afternoon in a class at the Harvard Business School where my boss (William P. Sommers) was giving a lecture about technology to the 100 people jammed into a lecture hall. After his prepared remarks, several students and the faculty member (I think it was the fellow from RCA who headed the laser research at RCA at one time) asked if Dr. Sommers and I would look at a new case. The case as it turns out concerned the laser technology applied to data storage. The reason I remember this was a fluke of memory. The article here by Joe Wilcox “Ballmer: RCA Is Our Role Model” took me back in time.
The dog Nipper was a great image in RCA’s salad days. By 1979, Nipper was a dog for sure.
By 1979, RCA was a loser in my opinion with Discovision and helium neo laser tubes which gave way to the wonderful infrared semiconductor laser diodes. Think a foot in diameter and bulky. The other charming feature was laser rot. I had been working on two projects. One was the study of world economic change. Former secretary of the treasury William Simon was one of the fine, friendly folks on that project. My lowly job was to analyze the relationship between R&D expenditures and forecast orders across several high tech sectors. I don’t remember the exact numbers, but my analysis suggested that RCA was not just falling behind. RCA was a goner. The other study was about innovation in 10 high tech firms scattered around the world. RCA was not one of the companies we were studying, but I do recall interviewing a number of executives from RCA who had moved to Thomson (the French outfit, not the newspaper Thomson), Hitachi, and eight other big guns. My recollection is after three decades was the departure of smart people who seemed to know which way the wind was blowing.
Which did you want in your auto for music?
Now, sitting with the Harvard prof and a handful of well fed, glossy MBAs to be, I was reading about RCA and its bumbling of its laser opportunity. To make a long story short, RCA did not pursue the data path, leaving the field wide open to other companies who leapfrogged hapless RCA. RCA had the technology and the market share. RCA was swallowed by GE and then sold to Thomson-Brandt SA, which became Thomson SA. For most people, RCA is a second tier, maybe a third tier brand. RCA and laser technology don’t line up in most folks’ mind I would assert.
Amazon Data Sets
February 25, 2009
A reader of Google patent documents will be aware of the company’s nudging forward in content delivery. Amazon has an uncanny ability to stay one step ahead of Googzilla. Google might want to bite the bullet and buy Amazon. In my opinion, the wizards headed by the world’s smartest man could end the embarrassment. Amazon has expanded beyond eCommerce. Amazon has crafted a handhold in cloud services. Now Amazon has pushed into content delivery or, more accurately, content access. You can read about the public data sets available via Amazon Web services here. Who cares about these data sets? Well, frankly, not the folks who search for “Perez Hilton”. The key point is that Amazon moves more quickly than Google into spaces that Google’s technical papers and patent documents suggest Google itself finds interesting. A year ago, I held the view that Google was biding its time. Now, I’m not so sure. I think Google is unable to find the right sequence of key presses to unlock some opportunities. Google is now facing three competitors who no longer worry too much about the Mountain View crowd: Amazon, Facebook, and Twitter. As search shifts to real time, Google is beginning to look less agile in my opinion. Add to Google’s inability or unwillingness to respond in this content sector, the YAGG (yet another Google glitch) like the Gmail meltdown and the pfishing issue I noted yesterday, 2009 is shaping up to be quite exciting. Amazon, Facebook, and Twitter are far from perfect. But — count ’em — three companies finding traction where Googzilla’s paws are slipping.
Stephen Arnold, February 25, 2009
Microsoft and Experimental Search
February 25, 2009
Microsoft has a massive research and development operation. I learned in Industry Standard here that Microsoft will roll out an “experimental search site called Viveri.” The idea, said Industry Standard, is “to allow the company’s researchers to easily roll [sic] out new search ideas.” For me, the most interesting comment in the write up was:
One technology aims to better deliver search results from vertical search engines. When a user types a search item into the field, a typical list of results pops up. But on the right hand side of the screen several boxes appear. Each box contains results from within a specific domain that is relevant to the search term. The domain could be, for instance, Amazon.com, Craigslist, Consumer Reports or WebMD, depending on relevancy.
The “containerized” interface is a growing trend. These assisted navigation interfaces can be of significant benefit. However, some usability tests in which I have been involved suggest that most users are confused about what’s in a container and how the information differs from information elsewhere on the page. I look forward to giving Viveri a try. Microsoft needs to leap frog Google. Maybe “several boxes” will do the trick? Maybe not?
Stephen Arnold, February 25, 2009
Google News: Spiffed Up
February 25, 2009
I may be late to the party, but my Google News Alert has a snappy new look today. I am seeing a cleaner layout, more images, and a tidier layout. I’ve been a fan of Google Alerts for quite a while. Compared to the Yahoo Alerts, Googzilla delivers fewer false drops and is not prone to the trip on slugs and decks in articles which has befuddled Yahooligans for years. Here’s a screen shot of what I saw this evening. If this is old news to you, no problemo. The look is fresh to me.
Stephen Arnold, February 24, 2008
Autonomy Ad
February 25, 2009
This is a small item, but I found it interesting. I flipped through the January / February 2009 issue of CIO Insight, I noticed that the publication had 34 pages. Autonomy bought a full page ad with the catchy headline “Autonomy Dominates Enterprise Search.” I also noted that dtSearch bought a full page ad with the headline “Instantly Search Terabytes of Text.” Two search engine vendors accounted for 1/17th of the content of CIO Insight. Is search becoming the next major source of ad revenue for hard copy publications? CIO Insight may need to make more ad sales calls on search and content processing vendors because the magazine seems to be shrinking with each issue. Too bad. I enjoyed the financial analyses of information systems even if the numbers were plucked from the wild blue yonder.
Stephen Arnold, February 25, 2009
Information Must Be Destroyed
February 25, 2009
Another ComputerWorld story caught my attention. This one is the work of Ben Rothke. Either he or his editor came up with an interesting headline: “Why Information Must Be Destroyed” here. When I hear about a Draconian action that could endanger my cybergoose life, I twitch my feathers. Partly in fear. Partly in annoyance. If we live in an information age, nuking zeros and ones strikes me as an interesting notion. I was not aware that information could be destroyed. Once I know something under this mandate, the way to get rid of the information is to put this goose in the roaster. Not a happy thought for the goose in my opinion.
Mr. Rothke, like other fun loving ComputerWorld scribes, wrote about deleting data in an organization. He acknowledged that there are rules and regulations about information. He noted that paying a fine for destroying information might be preferable to a perp walk. After I worked my way through the seven part article, I reread my notes; to wit:
- I think that organizations need to obtain legal counsel about what to keep and what methods to follow
- The notion of mixing records management, eDiscovery, and mandated information retention may benefit from a requirements analysis
- In a bad economy, litigation can be troublesome. Government inquiries can be troublesome. Disgruntled employees releasing information can be troublesome.
A concerned manager will want to use the ComputerWorld write up as a thought starter, not a road map. Destroy information? Well, you need to make sure you get it all and button up anyone who knows the information. There are many ways to qualify for a perp walk. The ComputerWorld article sidesteps some of the more interesting facets of destroying information. The task is easier said than done in my experience.
Stephen Arnold, February 25, 2009
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