Google Blocked from Indexing a UK Newspaper
June 2, 2010
Short honk: I may have missed the item “Murdoch Blocks Google from Indexing London Times Articles.” News Corp. may be testing different approaches to making content available to search robots from the Google. The Wall Street Journal approach seems more stringent that the London Times approach. My view is that traffic will drop. The revenue from for-fee sign ups will take time to ramp up. The margins enjoyed in the salad days of newspapers may be difficult, expensive, and time consuming to rebuild. This will be interesting to watch. Google has time on its side, however. On the side of News Corp. are the many legal hassles that Google faces. Legal eagles may change Google’s methods helping to make News Corp. the winner again. On the other hand, Google may win and the News Corp. end up in a worse mess than its management envisioned.
Stephen E Arnold, June 2, 2010
Freebie
Some Microsoft Cloud Pricing
June 1, 2010
Search in the cloud has been available from Blossom.com for years. Other search and content processing vendors will or have already followed this trajectory. Amazon’s cloud service offers a broad range of services and what strikes me as quite aggressive price points—if you can locate them. Some of Amazon’s prices for EC2 are clearly stated. Others, like AWS, are more difficult to pin down.
A mystery to me was Microsoft’s pricing for its cloud services. Some information may appear in “Windows Azure Content Delivery Network Pricing Details.” Here’s the key passage:
“We’re announcing pricing for the Windows Azure CDN for all billing periods that begin after June 30, 2010. The following three billing meters and rates will apply for the CDN: $0.15 per GB for data transfers from European and North American locations. $0.20 per GB for data transfers from other locations. $0.01 per 10,000 transactions,” a member of the Windows Azure team revealed.
I am not sure how these prices compare to other vendors’. For example, what’s a “transaction”? And what is a “location”? Updates as we find information. The March 2010 information here may provide some context.
Stephen E Arnold, June 1, 2010
Freebie
Video World Cup Final: Google versus Viacom
June 1, 2010
Short honk: “Viacom, YouTube Suit Attracts More Heavyweights” does a good job of explaining the teams for the Google versus Viacom match. Google’s line up includes Yahoo, Facebook and eBay. Impressive in terms of Internet traffic. The Viacom team includes Warner Bros., NBC Universal, Disney, the Screen Actors Guild and the Directors Guild of America. The referees may determine the outcome of the match. Coming to a pay per view outlet near you.
Stephen E Arnold, June 1, 2010
Freebie
Oracle Search, Just Rebuild the Index
June 1, 2010
Yep, big flows of unstructured content. Stuff the information into Oracle. Index. What could go wrong? To get some insight, navigate to “Using Oracle to Search Text Documents”. For me the most interesting comment in the write up is:
Also, remember to rebuild the index every time you add docs to the table.
Yep, job security for an Oracle database administrator. As the tables get larger and content flows go up, big money to deal with performance associated with real time index rebuilding.Wow. Every time I add a document!
Stephen E Arnold, June 1, 2010
Freebie
Apps Versus Browsers for Content
June 1, 2010
Fred a VC’s “I Prefer Safari to Content Apps On The iPad” triggered some thoughts about search and findability. The main point of the write up is that some content is better when consumed through a browser. The write up identifies a number of reasons, including:
- Content as images
- Link issues
- A page at a time.
There are other reasons and you will want to read them in the original document.
I agree with most of these points, but there is a larger and I think more significant issue standing out of the spotlight. Those who create content as Apps may be making it difficult for a person looking for information to “find” the content. With the surge of interest in charging for “real” journalism or “real” essays, will search engines be able to index the content locked in Apps? The easy answer is, “Sure, you silly goose.”
But what if the publishers balk at playing ball with a Web indexing company? The outfit could be big and threatening like you-know-who in Mountain View or small and just getting its feet wet like Duck Duck Go.
Locked up content creates problems for researchers and restarts the cycle of having to have a bunch of accounts or waiting until an appropriate meta-index becomes available.
Stephen E Arnold, June 1, 2010
Freebie
Super Computer List
June 1, 2010
I like rows and columns. If you like a snazzier interface to a list of the top 500 supercomputers, you will want to spend some time with the BBC’s “In Graphics: Supercomputing Superpowers.” You will have pop ups, colors, and tabs. Which outfit has the biggest and fastest super computer? Well, not Google. Enjoy looking for you favorite supercomputer. I find this Top 500 list easier to digest. Sort by application and search is tough to spot. Graphic processors become a force.
Stephen E Arnold, June 1, 2010
Freebie
Kill Facebook Day, Ho Hum
June 1, 2010
Short honk: I like the use of the word “kill” when talking about services available via the Internet and much loved by those younger than I. If the story “Quit FB Day Goes Bust” is accurate, the anti Facebook crowd will need to find another way to tame the Facebook juggernaut. The privacy card did not seem work based on the Facebook Day report. Let me be clear. I am not sure if Facebook will survive. There are too many unpredictable currents in the digital atmosphere. Look at Google. The company behaves as it did before the WiFi problem. Countries are trying to put leg irons on Googzilla and not have much luck. Facebook may be an even more significant disruptive force if you are a believer in social media as the next big thing.
If the story is accurate, privacy is not the issue the change a deep and fast moving current of user activity. Perhaps aggressively monetizing Facebook may be the environmental factor that erodes the foundations of Google? On the other hand, Orkut and Diaspora may displace Facebook with alternative that behaves in a similar manner? Will the behavior of those who operate the service be different from Facebook’s actions?
Stephen E Arnold, June 1, 2010
Freebie
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
