Google: Communicating Differently, Maybe Less?
August 5, 2012
There was an interesting “official” Google Blog post on August 3, 2012. Google slipped in a zinger with its usually run down of terminated products I never heard about. Here’s the killer passage in “Giving You a Better Google,” which is a heck of an Orwellian title in my opinion:
Google maintains 150+ blogs and other communications channels about our products and services, and so over time we’ll also be closing a number of Google-created blogs that are either updated infrequently, or are redundant with other blogs. This doesn’t mean that we’ll be sharing any less information—we’ll just be posting our updates on our more popular channels.
When online content disappears, how does one know what was there? One doesn’t. Does the Wayback Machine or the Library of Congress tweet project captures the information? I don’t think so. Are the data in these blogs potentially useful going forward? I can’t answer the question. I do know that if content is not online, it does not exist.
George Orwell allegedly said:
All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome.
Stephen E Arnold, August 5, 2012
Sponsored by Augmentext
Open Source Wars
August 5, 2012
Is the open source community losing its civility? The Register declares, “Oracle Hurls MySQL at Microsoft Database Wobblers.” It seems Oracle hopes to win over Microsoft SQL Server users by touting the financial advantages of MySQL. The company also vows that migration will be a breeze. The article reveals:
“Oracle claimed the migration tool would also shift database tables and data to MySQL and ‘quickly’ convert existing apps.
“Pushing its case for conversion, Oracle claimed MySQL would reduce total cost of ownership for database customers by up to 90 per cent when compared to Microsoft’s SQL Server 2012.
“Oracle is also pushing its database as a back-end to Microsoft’s Excel.
“With the migration tool Oracle is also offering a MySQL for Excel plug-in, which it said would allow data analysts to play with data in Microsoft’s spreadsheet without needing to know MySQL.”
Will the promotion of MySQL result in a coup for Oracle? Perhaps, but currently Microsoft SQL Server 2012 is doing very well as one of Microsoft‘s fastest-growing projects. That platform only runs on Windows, though, which could be a big point in Oracle’s favor.
Cynthia Murrell, August 4, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Public Domain Ebooks Now Harder to Find at Amazon
August 5, 2012
Would Amazon hide free content? Nah, never. . . except that TechDirt reports, “Amazon Hides Classic Free Public Domain Ebooks.” It seems that Amazon recently changed its site so that these free ebooks are now much harder to locate. The article cites a blogger’s account:
“The explanation, by Morris Rosenthal, is a bit confusing, but apparently Amazon reassigned ASINs (identification numbers) for most of the public domain classics that were available on the site. In doing so, all of the historical sales info, reviews, comments, etc., were lost. That means that the works, no matter how popular, get pushed way down in searches and in ‘related’ items. It also means tons of links are now dead. . . .
“Rosenthal doesn’t think there’s anything nefarious going on here — just a sign of a company that doesn’t much care about these public domain works.”
Oh, well that’s a relief. Rosenthal may be willing to give Amazon the benefit of the doubt, but it is worth noting that the change could result in users being directed to fee-based versions of an author’s work over public-domain ones. I somehow doubt Amazon would be sorry to see that happen.
So, what’s a lover of classic works to do? Well, you could use that magnificent Amazon search engine to locate them. Just a thought.
Cynthia Murrell, August 5, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Short Honk: High Value Podcast about Solr
August 4, 2012
If you are interested in Lucene/Solr and have a long commute, you will want to check out Episode 187 of the IEEE’s Software Engineering Podcast. You can find the podcast on iTunes. Grant Ingersoll, one of Lucid Imagination’s experts in open source search and a committer on the Apache Lucene/Solr project, reviews the origins of Lucene, explains the features of Solr, and covers a range of important, hard to get search information. According to IEEE, the podcast offers a:
dive into the architecture of the Solr search engine. The architecture portion of the interview covers the Lucene full-text index, including the text ingestion process, how indexes are built, and how the search engine ranks search results. Grant also explains some of the key differences between a search engine and a relational database, and why both have a place within modern application architectures.
One of the highlights of the podcast is Mr. Ingersoll’s explanation of vector space indexing. Even a high school brush with trigonometry is sufficient to make this important subject fascinating. Highly recommended.
Stephen E Arnold, August 4, 2012
Sponsored by Augmentext
Is There a Stalking App?
August 4, 2012
This next article is not about search. . . it is about stalking. CNet News reports, “Stalkbook: Stalk Anyone, Even if You’re Not Facebook Friends.” The dodgy service, developed by MIT grad Oliver Yeh, starts with a simple concept: cache the login information of Facebook friends to see friends’-of-friends pages that would otherwise be hidden. Yeh is building on this idea to develop a roster of such logins so that, eventually, pretty much anyone will be able to see anyone else’s Facebook pages. Oh, great!
Writer Emil Protalinski observes:
“Technically speaking, it is possible to do. He would have to build a very large network of individuals willing to use his app for such purposes, cache all the information he can, all while avoiding Facebook’s wrath as more and more users start using Stalkbook.
“Unfortunately for Yeh and fortunately for Facebook’s users, Stalkbook goes against Facebook’s terms of service (Statement of Rights and Responsibilities). In the Safety section of Facebook’s TOS, point number five clearly states: ‘You will not solicit login information or access an account belonging to someone else.'”
The app is not yet live, and Facebook officials are aware of its existence. When Protalinski asked the social networking site for comment, a spokesperson pointed him to their Data Use Policy. Yes, Facebook’s terms-of-use shout at someone like Yeh, “you must not do this!”
What a relief! There’s no way this thing could get off the ground illicitly, right?
Cynthia Murrell, August 4, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Vertical Searches for User Manuals
August 4, 2012
Makeuseof presents a handy collection of vertical search sites in “Can’t Find a User Manual for Your Gear? Search These Specialist Websites.” Writer Saikat Basu observes that, in the excitement of a new purchase, most of us stuff our user manuals into some corner and forget about them—until we need them! He comments:
“User manuals – those thick (or thin) soft covered sheaf’s of paper with multi-lingual instructions and weird hieroglyphics that we don’t bother to read. . . . We all have rummaged through the house looking for the user manual we ‘misplaced’. No luck.
“Here’s where a bit of smarts comes in. The meticulous guy with foresight will either scan it and keep a softcopy in his computer, or look for a softcopy that’s usually available as PDF on the manufacturer’s site.
“There’s a third option – a bunch of specialist websites which does the hard work for us lazybones, and stockpiles user manuals for us to search and download.”
So, instead of combing through the filing cabinet or, worse, those paper-piles every office seems to collect, turn to this list of sites that can put the desired information at your fingertips at the speed of, well, of your Internet connection. Basu details six sites, describing the purpose behind each, how it works, and what he values most about each one. For example, he likes the forums on Safe Manuals, and appreciates the teardown diagrams at iFixit.
The other four sites that made the list include Retrevo, Manuals Online, eSpares, and Free Manuals (aka TheManuals.com). I recommend tucking the article away for your next manual-related urgency. At the end of the article, Basu puts out the call for reader recommendations, so check the comments section for similar sites.
Cynthia Murrell, August 4, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Research and Development Innovation: A New Study from a Search Vendor
August 3, 2012
I received message from LinkedIn about a news item called “What Are the Keys to Innovation in R&D?” I followed the links and learned that the “study” was sponsored by Coveo, a search vendor based in Canada. You can access similar information about the study by navigating to the blog post “New Study: The Keys to Innovation for R&D Organizations – Their Own, Unused Knowledge.” (You will also want to reference the news release about the study as well. It is on the Coveo News and Events page.
Engineers need access to the drawings and those data behind the component or subsystem manufactured by their employer. Text based search systems cannot handle this type of specialized data without some additional work or the use of third party systems. A happy quack to PRLog: http://www.prlog.org/10416296-mechanical-design-drawing-services.jpg
The main of the study, as I interpret it, is marketing Coveo as a tool to facilitate knowledge management. Even though I write a monthly column for the print and online publication KMWorld, I do not have a definition of knowledge management with which I am comfortable. The years I spent at Booz, Allen & Hamilton taught me that management is darned tough to define. Management as a practice is even more difficult to do well. Managing research and development is one of the more difficult tasks a CEO must handle. Not even Google has an answer. Google is now buying companies to have a future, not inventing its future with existing staff.
The unhappy state of many search and content processing companies is evidence that those with technological expertise may not be able to generate consistent and growing revenues. Innovation in search has become a matter of jazzing up interfaces and turning up the marketing volume. The $10 billion paid for Autonomy, the top dog in the search and content processing space, triggered grousing by Hewlett Packard’s top executives. Disappointing revenues may have contributed to the departure of some high profile Autonomy Corporation executives. Not even the HP way can make traditional search technology pay off as expected, hoped, and needed. Search vendors are having a tough time growing fast enough to stay ahead of spiking technical and support costs.
When I studied for a year at the Jesuit-run Duquesne University, I encountered Dr. Frances J. Chivers. The venerable PhD was an expert in epistemology with a deep appreciation for the lively St. Augustine and the comedian Johann Gottlieb Fichte. I was indexing medieval Latin sermons. I had to take “required” courses in “knowledge.” In the mid 1960s, there were not too many computer science departments in the text indexing game, so I assume that Duquesne’s administrators believed that sticking me in the epistemology track would improve the performance of my mainframe indexing software. Well, let me tell you: Knowledge is a tough nut to crack.
Now you can appreciate my consternation when the two words are juxtaposed and used by search vendors to sell indexing. Dr. Chivers did not have a clue about what I was doing and why. I tried to avoid getting involved in discussions that referenced existentialism, hermeneutics, and related subjects. Hey, I liked the indexing thing and the grant money. To this day, I avoid talking about knowledge.
Selected Findings
Back to the study. Coveo reports:
We recently polled R&D teams about how they use and share innovation across offices and departments, and the challenges they face in doing so. Because R&D is a primary creator and consumer of knowledge, these organizations should be a model for how to utilize and share it. However, as we’ve seen in the demand for our intelligent indexing technology, and as revealed in the study, we found that R&D teams are more apt to duplicate work, lose knowledge and operate in soloed, “tribal” environments where information isn’t shared and experts can’t be found. This creates a huge opportunity for those who get it right—to out-innovate and out-perform their competition.
The question I raised to myself was, “How were the responses from Twitter verified as coming from qualified respondents?” And, “How many engineers with professional licenses versus individuals who like Yahoo’s former president just arbitrarily awarded themselves a particular certification were in the study?” Also, “What statistical tests were applied to the results to validate the the data met textbook-recommended margins of error?”
I may have the answers to these questions in the source documents. I have written about “number shaping” at some of the firms with which I have worked, and I have addressed the issue more directly in my opt in, personal news service Honk. (Honk, a free weekly newsletter, is a no-holds-barred look at one hot topic in search and content processing. Those with a propensity to high blood pressure should not subscribe.)
A Different Take on Google and Its Cost Problem
August 3, 2012
How much pressure are the Googlers feeling? You can get details about the looming financial crunch in the Honk’s feature “Google’s Revenue+Cost Problem.” The ArnoldIT analysis is not available in any of ArnoldIT’s Web logs. To get this analysis, you need to sign up to receive the opt—in, limited distribution personal newsletter from Stephen E Arnold. To get your copy each Tuesday, write thehonk@yandex.com. The information in the newsletter represents the personal views of Stephen E Arnold, and it is intended to provide a view of important subjects not available in his lectures, for-fee articles, and public writings.
Donald C. Anderson, August 3, 2012
Sponsored by Augmentext
Brief Recap of Office 2013 Preview Features
August 3, 2012
In “Capturing the Highlights of Office 2013,” some of the main features from the recently released Office 2013 preview are discussed. The author has this to share on new social capabilities:
Microsoft has enhanced the social networking capabilities in SharePoint 2013 and plans to integrate Yammer’s enterprise social networking capabilities when that acquisition closes. Microsoft announced a $US1.2 billion purchase of Yammer in June. There are new social networking features in SharePoint 2013 that provide Facebook-like ways to follow, “like”, and reply to the status of files, sites, tags, and users. The software will suggest items to follow and can aggregate outside feeds from Facebook and LinkedIn.
SkyDrive Pro, team folders, and Case Management site features set for SharePoint 2013 are also discussed. The brief read may be worth a glance to keep up with the new features coming in Office 2013 suite.
SharePoint is a powerful and complex system, and new features are exciting. But an out-of-the-box system is rarely comprehensive. For a lean and complete solution in your SharePoint environment, check out Fabasoft Mindbreeze. Here you can read about the power of information pairing.
Fabasoft Mindbreeze:
. . . smoothly integrates itself into your website so that the user doesn’t even realize that Cloud services are working in the background. Furthermore, InSite always knows what a user is interested in. Navigation behavior on the website serves as the basis for recognizing their interests. If the user finds themselves on one of your sub-pages on the topic mobility for example, even at this level Fabasoft Mindbreeze InSite still displays further information such as blogs, news, Wikipedia etc. on the relevant topic.
Check out the full suite of solutions at Mindbreeze to see what works for you.
Philip West, August 3, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Duolingo Offers Free Language Learning as Crowd-Sourcing Project
August 3, 2012
An interesting approach to language learning recently caught my attention as I was browsing the Web: part crowd-sourcing project to translate the Web and part language-learning site.
Duolingo is a free service using real-world content to help users learn and practice a new language as they simultaneously help translate Websites and other online documents. The project was started by Professor Luis von Ahn, creator of reCAPTCHA, and currently only offers support for Spanish and German, as well as English for Spanish speakers.
The company website shares more about the service:
“The Service allows users to learn or practice a language while they translate content from the Web. Users are presented with different types of educational activities; while they perform these activities, they also generate valuable data such as translations of Web content.”
The service currently offers a beta version for learning French and there are reports that Portuguese, Italian, and Chinese are on the way. The company also announced on its Facebook page in July that a mobile version would be added soon.
We think this free service may be as good as commercial alternatives because of the tremendous features that it offers that work surprisingly well. I tried out the Spanish version and was pleasantly surprised and how fun and useful the service was. Now I’m eagerly awaiting the Italian service to really get involved in the site.
Andrea Hayden, August 3, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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