New York Times States Obvious about Google TV
November 24, 2010
Short honk: I am a subscriber to the gray lady in print too. Over the years, I have chuckled at the pontifications. I even argued with a former famous New York Times writer—former as in no longer there—about the vapidity of the write ups about Google. I noted a rubber spatula daub in “How To Watch The Daily Show on Google TV.”
That [Viacom’s and other TV outfits’ blocking of Google TV] represents an interesting dilemma for Google TV: The platform needs a critical mass of users to have an impact on viewership numbers for sites like Comedycentral.com — but it may have a hard time getting to that level if most of the TV content available on the web today is blocked.
Quite an insight. Be still my heart.
Stephen E Arnold, November 24, 2010
Freebie
The Search Conference Wars
November 24, 2010
I was in Washington, DC last week for the Mark Logic Government Summit. I estimated that there were between 450 and 550 people at the Tyson’s Corner-area event.
I learned from a colleague at a conference across town that there were 1,200 people at the Information Today multi-part search, knowledge management, and digital everything conference at the Renaissance Center in the District of Columbia.
Sys-Con’s “Endeca Government Summit: Important Context on a Key Mission Area” reported:
The Endeca Government Summit was yesterday. The agenda included some fantastic presentations from customers who have used Endeca to address issues requiring incredible scale (billions of records) and incredible scope (including the need to discover meaning in data in milliseconds) and human-focused interfaces (including, in every solution I saw, an ability to enable humans to interact with data in ways that search never enables).
I heard that there were “hundreds” at the Endeca event.
I don’t doubt that the encomia in the Sys-Con write up is accurate. The Mark Logic Conference was excellent, but I was a captive participant and anything in which I get involved looks great from my vantage point. I think Mark Logic’s speaker line up from the military was more timely than Endeca’s but that’s my opinion.
The Information Today event yielded little feedback, and I assume that like its other conferences, the Information Today event was like previous Information Today events.
My views on these competing events are as follows:
- Vendors definitely like to target November for conferences
- Stacking up search and content processing conferences at about the same time is like the medieval practice of grouping shoe makers on the same street
- There must be a heck of a lot of people in Washington, DC with an unquenched thirst for information about finding information.
What’s this tell me?
I think there will be more piling on. An anchor conference—say, for instance, the Information Today road shows with their predictable line up of topics and speakers—pulls attention to a window of time. Then the savvy vendors target a conference at the same time, offering possibly more compelling programs. The result is a conference competition.
Who wins?
My view is that the magnet conference is carrying much of the marketing cost burden. Once the anchor event publicizes what it is doing, it becomes somewhat easier for other organizers to offer another venue to customers and prospects.
What happens when the magnet loses some of its pulling power? Interesting question. For now, the conference wars are minor skirmishes in the fight for the hearts and minds of information access. What’s ahead? Interesting question.
Stephen E Arnold, November 24, 2010
Freebie
Big Data: A Corporate Addiction
November 23, 2010
Corporations across the globe are facing a 21st century problem–having too much data, but needing more, and faster.
According to a the results of a Kelton Research global study referenced in “UK Companies are addicted to ‘Big Data’”, UK executives are often overwhelmed by the high volumes of data regularly presented to them. Further, these same executives find decision-making more difficult due to too much information, and collaboration with coworkers undesirable due to the threat of receiving any more information.
The oddity is that despite this fact, these same executives state they crave even more data at higher speeds, believing it would facilitate them to do their jobs better. While it may seem apparent that executives understand the value added by the data, mainly leading to decreased risk, the contradictory responses don’t make the survey outcome any easier to interpret. The write up said:
Despite the increasing volume of data, pressure to keep up with customer expectations and focus on technology investments, today’s companies are still struggling to see big data as a driver of real business value.
We appreciate that today’s companies feel that way, but it doesn’t mean this issue will resolve itself any time soon.
What we know for sure is that the demand for data is only increasing and with this demand comes challenges, including the speed of content processing, cost of required infrastructure and the ability to sift through enormous piles of records without initial human intervention. Looks like the future’s most successful companies must find ways to tackle these obstacles with cost-effective technology solutions, enabling executives to get their undeniable data fix.
Sarah Rogers, November 23, 2010
Freebie
Entity Relationship Search
November 23, 2010
A reader in Israel alerted me to an Entity Relationship search demo. Here’s what the Web site said:
Entity-Relationship Query (ERQ) is an entity-centric, structured query mechanism. You can query named entities by telling what kinds of entities you want and what are the relations among them.
The University of Texas – Arlington combines in one interface different types of access methods; specifically:
ERQ supports SQL-like structured queries, consisting of multiple predicates. On the other, the predicates are defined by keywords as in IR queries. We acknowledge that, the effectiveness of our approach partially relies on the user’s capability in providing proper keyword constraints, just like in IR queries. Some related works (e.g., EntityRank) is similar to ERQ in the sense that their queries are composed with keywords (as single-predicate queries in ERQ, not as narrative descriptions in INEX or TREC). However, those systems do not support multi-predicate queries. Besides, they only focus on precisions at top-few ranks, while in ERQ we attempt to maintain good precisions in longer range.
The demo runs on a chunk of Wikipedia. Worth a look.
Stephen E Arnold, November 23, 2010
Freebie
OpenText Turns to an Oracle
November 23, 2010
According to a news story in IT Channel, Open Text has worked a deal to integrate more closely with Oracle. “Open Text et Oracle renforcent leur partenariat” said:
Open Text has a technological license and of specific distribution for Oracle Universal Online Archive Content Management SDK which enables him to embark Oracle technology in its solutions. Open Text will be able to optimize the integration of Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g and other functionalities of the Oracle platform.
Open Text has been taking some heat from Autonomy and Mark Logic. Both companies have demonstrated an ability to compete in markets where Open Text has gained traction. Open Text’s angle seems to be “information governance”, which I find a somewhat nebulous concept.
Open Text, as you know, has a pushcart filled with search technology. The properties are mostly stand alone; for example, the SGML search function dating from Tim Bray’s tenure, Fulcrum, BRS, IDI Basis, the Nstein tools, and other bits and pieces from the various acquisitions. I think RedDot arrives with an Autonomy stub.
Will this tie up work? Both Autonomy and Mark Logic have more refined marketing and sales methods. Open Text will have to innovate, and I am not sure that Oracle’s middleware or database will provide much more than a license to hunt for deals among organizations with Oracle database administrators eager to protect their sinecures.
Stephen E Arnold, November 23, 2010
Freebie
Android: A Success with Some Weaknesses
November 23, 2010
“Android Fail? 25% Worldwide Market Share Says “Not So Much” is one of those write ups that puzzle me. The author references another blog on the ZDNet service, sort of disagrees, but focuses on poobahing from the Harvard Business Review. I think the HBR has a great reputation, but have you check the US economy lately. Harvard has contributed some “greed is good” types who seem to have muffed Business 1.0 and are on the path to degradation for Business 2.0.
The idea is that Google has a 25 percent market share for its open source mobile operating system Android. That is a big chunk of a market. No argument. Here’s the passage that caught my attention:
Sure, open sourcing Android has and will result in some collateral damage. And Google is going to have to begin exerting some control over upgrade cycles with carriers to reduce fragmentation, which I frankly think is a far bigger problem than Baidu remaining dominant in Chinese search (this is nothing new). However, millions and millions of handsets, emerging tablets and similar devices, and now Google TV, all running Android, mean that Google shouldn’t be losing too much sleep over the Motorola Citrus.
My thought is that once the horse is out of the barn and galloping down Open Source Lane, getting the horse back in the barn may be difficult, if not impossible. Mobile advertising will be a big deal, and the fact that Baidu and Microsoft have wiggled on phones as search providers is interesting. More interesting to me is that Google has blown off China, and some of the telcos may use Android and leave some of the other Googley services buried deep in obscure menus.
But back to the Harvard reference. Maybe these Harvard Business Review assertions are correct. Google will learn tout de suite how Oracle will deal with the Java open source issue. Google may win, leaving Oracle an also ran. Google has some analysts in check, but I think fragmentation, China, and the telcos are going to be another cluster of challenges no matter how much money Google has.
Stephen E Arnold, November 23, 2010
Freebie
Useful Oracle Schema Information
November 23, 2010
DBAsoul.com, a blog dedicated to providing Oracle Database knowledge sharing, just released some useful information about Oracle default schema in a recent post “11g Default Schema”.
The document provides “an overview of the schema’s purpose and function and, should the functionality not be required, whether they can be safely deleted or not without compromising the fundamental operation of the database. Additionally, having been removed, if a schema is required again, there are details of which script(s) are required to be run in order to recreate it.” Furthermore, an administrative section details features that are not installed by default, giving the schema’s purpose and creation script.
Oracle’s reach is widespread, making this information valuable. Our suggestion: download, read, and tuck away for later use.
Christina Sheley, November 23, 2010
Freebie
Access Innovations Aligns with MarkLogic
November 22, 2010
Looks like MarkLogic users are in luck. “Access Innovations Announces a New Series of Enhancements for Data Harmony Suite For MarkLogic Server Users” explains to us exactly that, and just in time for the MarkLogic Government Summit on November 17, 2010, in Washington, DC.
Like other semantic platforms, the Data Harmony tools create and integrate metadata based on controlled vocabulary, but it’s Access Innovation’s trademarked Machine Aided Indexer (M.A.I) adding a human element to the search process, that sets the company apart. After 31 years of experience, it isn’t surprising they’ve found a way to give customers a productivity boost in the realm of 700 percent.
A few of the latest enhancements discussed in the article include:
- Improving website navigation by enabling users to brows the full “tree” of broader, narrower, and related terms in the taxonomy;
- Unlocking the value of “long-tail” content by increasing discovery within deep archives;
- Enabling visualization and interactive functionality, including enriched “Tag Clouds” – a map of concepts extracted from a set of documents – a gateway to further discovery; and
- Providing users with easy-to-use current awareness tools that alert them to new content in their specific areas of interest.
Access Innovations is not kidding around. Next week at the summit, varied representatives of Government agencies will be privy to these improvements too. There’s little doubt this will be the first step in implementation across the board for existing customers.
Sarah Rogers, November 24, 2010
Endeca Powered Interhome Goes Live
November 22, 2010
I visited Interhome’s newly relaunched website this afternoon at the urging of “Interhome.com: Easily find holiday homes (Guided Navigation)”. After a few minutes on the site it is no surprise that Endeca had a mouse click in this venture; Interhome.com is in fact sporting Endeca’s Guided Navigation search experience.
Drawing from a URL database and providing a faceted search, it takes mere minutes for any user to find a posh chalet in the perfect Swiss location and ensure it offers a dishwasher. Search is enabled through several different criteria including region, price, availability etc. One notable feature is that each offered home gains its own customized URL based on the user’s search terms. The real magic happens behind the scenes. The article said:
The URL of each page is rewritten based on user input and based on importance of the given refinement. i.e. someone may start browsing by not so search engine relevant terms such as say ‘dishwasher’. The URL will reflect that and show ‘dishwasher’ as variable. But if the next refinement is say ‘Switzerland’, a term that is way more relevant for Interhome’s search engine optimization efforts, the URL will be adapted accordingly and ‘Switzerland’ will be placed before ‘dishwasher’ in the result page’s URL.
I find the functionality to be nice, but not explicitly novel. Integrating the map aspect into the search does allow a break from having to cross-reference websites in the pursuit of the best getaway home locale, but it wasn’t enough to overcome some personal aversions. I actively avoid Facebook, and with the same hackneyed color scheme and “profile” layout, Interhome.com is the Facebook of vacation houses. But because I do love a good travel website and I recognize the profile format is useful in this application, my hope for Interhome is the search speed, precision, versatility and general lack of contest keeps others interested.
Sarah Rogers, November 22, 2010
Freebie
Exalead CloudView Joins the US Army
November 22, 2010
In an effort to increase both efficiency and productivity, the U.S. Army’s Combined Arms Center (CAC) has selected Exalead CloudView as the new search engine in concert with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server. According to Dassault Systemes: U.S. Army Combined Arms Center Implements Exalead CloudView to Access Critical Military Information,
“This announcement is another illustration of the continuous commitment of Exalead to the government sector, where 100 percent accurate, comprehensive, secure and instant access to huge volume of both structured and non structured information is required.”
Exalead, acquired by Dassault Systemes in June 2010, is the front running search-based application provider to both the public and private sectors. The faceted navigation, improved speed and effectiveness of searches, multiple security controls and integration readiness are just a few of the reasons the CAC has chosen Exalead CloudView as its primary search engine. The CAC provides the US Army with access to thousands of documents, spanning decades. Users often logged hours searching for documents within the SharePoint Server, yet with the addition of the Exalead application these same searches can be executed in seconds.
This earns some decided congratulations for Exalead, who is carving out a niche among both security stringent government applications and Microsoft SharePoint users looking for a boost. Further opportunities with both markets should be inevitable in the future.
Sarah Rogers, November 22, 2010
Freebie
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
