Inteltrax: Top Stories, October 3 to October 7
October 10, 2011
Inteltrax, the data fusion and business intelligence information service, captured three key stories germane to search this week, specifically, how analytic technology is helping the average worker beyond the IT department.
Those in the auto sales industry were boosted by the news found in “Kelly Blue Book Learns the Real Value of Analytics” http://inteltrax.com/?p=2514 which showed how the venerable bible of automotive value is getting more accurate with its big data software.
The up and down world of high fashion looks a little more balanced after reading “Microstrategy and Tukatech Forge Fashion Business Intelligence” http://inteltrax.com/?p=2496which showcases how runway walkers and designers are embracing this technology.
Newspapers, too, are getting into the act, trimming already tight budgets, according to “Reporters Digging Deeper with Big Data” http://inteltrax.com/?p=2507 with research analytics, but also possibly ruining the institution of journalism by using data analytics to compose stories.
Big data analytics is trickling down to the everyday workforce. Whether selling a car or picking next season’s fashion trend, these tools are becoming indispensible. However, it’ll never replace a trained reporter’s eye. Expect us to watch the workplace dynamics shift with these new tools.
Follow the Inteltrax news stream by visiting http://www.inteltrax.com/
Patrick Roland, Editor, Inteltrax October 10, 2011
Google Opens Retail Store: Search Engine Identity Crisis
October 9, 2011
After the huge release of Google+, a pretty direct attack on Facebook, Google is now going directly after the Apple giant in the form of retail outlets.
A spokesperson claims it is just something the company is playing around with, but we learn in Business Insider’s article,“Google Just Opened Its First Retail Outlet In London,” there is plenty of room for this “experiment” to grow:
…this is exactly how Microsoft got into the retail game a few years ago: by creating ‘Microsoft stores’ within big outlets like Circuit City, Best Buy, and — yes — PC World in 2008. It learned what it needed to know…Google doesn’t have enough products to sell to justify its own line of retail stores. Yet. But by the time it does, look for a gleaming chain ofGoogle Stores to sell whatever it comes up with.
Is this experiment in retail sales really a core competency of Google? I think not. Search engines seem to be having a major identity crisis these days, with Google in the lead. Attempts to tackle every market available may leave major areas of search engine systems weak. I assume rectifying the realm of search should be at the top of the agenda, but I remain wrong.
Andrea Hayden, October 09, 2011
Paving Stones of Good Intentions
October 9, 2011
Even Orwell didn’t foresee this, not specifically. From Kindergarten through college, students are now subjected to more forms of monitoring than I could have conceived of when I was a little rabble rouser. From cameras to RFID badges, it’s an entirely different world.
Now Michael Morris, is a lieutenant with the University Police at California State University-Channel Islands, is calling on universities to take surveillance to a whole new level. NetworkWorld reports on this in “Privacy Nightmare: Data Mine & Analyze all College Students’ Online Activities.” That’s right, the good lieutenant recommends recording every little thing college students do online and analyzing the data to predict and prevent “large-scale acts of violence on campus.” What’s more, it would be easy enough to do with today’s data management tools. Wrote Morris,
Many campuses across the country . . . provide each student with an e-mail address, personal access to the university’s network, free use of campus computers, and wired and wireless Internet access for their Web-connected devices. Students use these campus resources for conducting research, communicating with others, and for other personal activities on the Internet, including social networking. University officials could potentially mine data from their students and analyze them, since the data are already under their control. The analysis could then be screened to predict behavior to identify when a student’s online activities tend to indicate a threat to the campus.
Take a moment to reflect on the side effects of such a large-scale invasion of privacy. What other behavior, unrelated to potential violence, will be “predicted?” And how will those predictions be acted upon? The possibilities are endless.
Look, I get it. I once attended Virginia Tech, after all, and now I have a child in college myself. Not much scares me more than visions of some nut-job with guns descending on that campus. But I also realize that throughout history, fear has been the key to gaining citizen acceptance of the unacceptable. And now we have technology that allows the unacceptable to reach heights like never before.
Cynthia Murrell October 9, 2011
Bing Offers Airport Map Services: Search Engines Compete Over New Niche
October 9, 2011
For those who travel in today’s lousy economic climate, no need to look beyond your friendly neighborhood search engine; Bing comes to your rescue. Microsoft’s search service Bing has announced the launch of airport maps for 42 major airports across the U.S. with plans for expansion and additions.
We learn more about the feature, which allows users to “see” inside airports to located terminals, baggage claim areas, restrooms and more, in Tech Crunch’s article, “Bing Launches Airport Maps For 42 US Cities.”
The addition comes shortly after Google’s release of its new Google Flight Search feature, made possible through its acquisition of flight data company ITA – a move that Microsoft and others had fought. Flight and travel-related search had been one of Bing’s advantages, thanks to earlier integrations from travel price finder Farecast, acquired back in 2008.
Google already offers a form of airport maps as well as Street View shots inside businesses, but isn’t this a map niche? I find the competition over airports between the two search engines rather odd and surprising. It seems the new norm is to attempt to tackle every possible online niche and abandon the seemingly simple “seek and find” method of search. Search is broken.
Andrea Hayden, October 09, 2011
Craigstant Not So Helpful to Job Seekers
October 8, 2011
If you haven’t figured it out, Craigstant is the combination of Craigslist and Instant. You can search any Craigslist location simply by typing what you want. That’s about all there is to it. The downside of using Craigstant instead of proper search is that you’ll miss out on things like picture previews and additional search filters, but if you just want pure speed it can deliver.
Oracle Text Circa 2005, Still Relevant?
October 8, 2011
Oracle Text, formerly known as interMedia Text, is Oracle’s enterprise software that uses SQL to search, index, and analyze information stored in the database, in files, and on the web.
Their website provides a plethora of links on technical information related to this program.
The most basic FAQ’s section, for those folks who may not know the intricacies of what Oracle means when they say ‘Document Services,’ expands on topics such as how this feature simplifies application development.
For the seasoned user, they provide a section on Oracle Text in Oracle Database 11g which links to a PDF describing all the new features. However, it, in addition to White Paper, was created in 2007.
In terms of the actual technical stuff, Oracle does provide comprehensive overviews by version of their previous Oracle Text 10g all the way back to interMedia Text 8.1.5. Prefacing with a disclaimer in the introduction that these summaries are not for a newbie, Oracle has definitely considered their audience in developing this page.
Despite the fact that new versions are released, Oracle recognizes the relevance of maintaining information about previous versions—not everyone wants to keep up with the Joneses of text mining. They still have XML Features, from the 9 version ready and available for reading.
A draw to their website for those in this field is their section devoted to selected papers and presentations from Oracle. They quite a few, ranging from powerpoints on Text Mining with Oracle to a how-to-guide for Search Enable a Website and even a primer on Text Retrieval Quality.
Additionally, they link to multiple customer presentations and case studies such as the ones on Motorola or World Bank. The main drawback is that these are mostly from the early years of the last decade. Updates would be much appreciated from a company that Forbes reported as “Heading to $40 with Strength in Software.”
Megan Feil October 8, 2011
Legal Eagle Dropping: Google Sues Itself Sort of
October 8, 2011
Short honk: I don’t really understand “Google-Backed Patent Troll Sues Motorola.” The idea is that Google invested a firm’s investment holdings. The property was intellectual. Google’s fund is part of a firm which is suing Motorola Mobility which soon will be owned by Google. Lawyers are so clever. In high school, Ms. Sperling taught us about Ouroboros. The idea which was filched from somewhere by Plato was that this serpent or dragon ate its own tail. According to trusty Wikipedia:
The Ouroboros often represents self-reflexivity or cyclicality, especially in the sense of something constantly re-creating itself, the eternal return, and other things perceived as cycles that begin anew as soon as they end (the mythical phoenix has a similar symbolism).
Maybe Google is this mythical creature? No wonder there is a Googzilla on the Google campus. Mythology is real. Do snakes eat legal eagles or just hire them?
Stephen E Arnold, October 8, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Google Snatches Newspaper Circular Revenues
October 8, 2011
Who would you bet on between old-school print advertisers and Google circulars? Our money is on the Goog, who is developing a “web-based circular,” as Search Engine Journal reports in “Google to Battle Traditional Media for Advertising Revenues.” The company, you see, is working with large retailers on something akin to the sales inserts we are used to seeing. (Well, those of us who still occasionally encounter physical newspapers.)
Like print circulars, the ads will accompany marketing copy with eye-catching images. These, though, will also have the advantage of being tied to your search query subjects. Google’s VP of product management Nick Fox says this is the company’s answer to retail advertisement in the digital age.
Writer David Angotti elaborates,
According to EMarketer, Google is expected to capture approximately 76% of the U.S. search marketing revenues in 2011 and increase that percentage to 78% in 2012. The new web-based circular ads could provide earnings boost that enables Google to meet or even exceed those projections. If Google can provide retailers with additional traffic to the brick-and-mortar stores, not just the sites, the new circular ads should be widely popular with a large variety of offline retailers.
That’s an understatement. Angotti closes his story with a point of irony: Google is advertising the web circular project in major newspapers. Lest anyone doubt, Google has guts.
Cynthia Murrell October 8, 2011
New Kindle Fire Continues to Burn Book Retailers and Now Libraries
October 7, 2011
When Amazon first came out with the Kindle there were concerns that e-books would take the place of paper books and would force book stores to close their doors. It’s safe to say that these concerns were valid as Barnes and Noble and other book retailers are slowly going out of business despite attempts to hop on the e-book bandwagon. Now the impending release of the Kindle Fire, a $199 Android-based 7-inch touchscreen device, this week may be the nail in the coffin for our public libraries as well.
In addition to all of it’s exciting new apps, streaming, web access, and cross-platform compatibility, one of the Kindle Fire’s biggest selling points may be the rumored unlimited access to an e-book library (for $80 a year) which would include free access to over 3,000 Fox TV shows and free two day shipping.
In the article, The Birth of the Kindle Fire and the Death of the Public Library Sebastian Anthony says of the Kindle Fire e-book library feature:
This maneuver is as close to perfect as it gets. It has already overcome the biggest stumbling block to digital e-books — coming to terms with never holding/fingering/sniffing a paper book ever again — and now it’s moving in for the coup de grâce. The Kindle has flown off the shelves since its release in 2007, and while exact figures aren’t given, there could be 10 to 20 million Kindle users — and every single one of them would kill for an Amazon Digital Library. After all, even when you buy an e-book, you never really owned the book — Amazon can remotely delete books from your Kindle at any time — so why not rent?
While $199 purchasing cost and $80 yearly rental fees are a great deal, no amount of convenience can beat something that’s free.
Jasmine Ashton, October 7, 2011
Panda Strikes Again
October 7, 2011
What a surprise! Panda, the Google algorithm that punishes the unworthy and elevates the noble among Websites, rewards its own services. These Google-owned beneficiaries include YouTube and Android.com, both of which gained a 10% increase with the latest Panda release, according to “Google Panda Punishes Some, Boosts YouTube.” The ReadWriteWeb article, penned by Jon Mitchell, notes:
Google maintains that the Panda updates are conducted meticulously with solely the users’ interests at heart, and it backs that up with an extensive list of criteria. But eyebrows always raise when Google makes an adjustment to search that benefits its own sites.
Raised eyebrows? But surely, this must be a coincidence. No “cooking” of search results here, right?
Other results of the recently implemented Panda 2.5 update include bad news for such sites as consumeraffairs.com, savings.com and, interestingly, prnewswire.com. Some consumer sites and tech blogs are also at a new disadvantage. (Uh-oh.) Also, some big names like Myspace, the Huffington Post, and even Amazon have fallen behind.
Some non-Google affiliated winners are Last.fm, Zappos, and the Washington Post. Interesting.
No need to fear, fellow searchers, the Panda has everything under control.
Cynthia Murrell October 7, 2011
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