Swiftype Needs Engineers for Modern Site Search
September 4, 2012
Have you ever been frustrated by site searches? Do you happen to be a “full stack” engineer? Well, you just might be in luck because Swiftype recently posted a jobs ad on ycombinator.com in need of help for the development of a new site search to be used on a variety of sites. The Hacker News posting, Swiftype (YC W12) is hiring full-stack engineers to build better search software, claims their new software offers:
“An API and dashboard built with Rails 3, Rails Metal, MongoDB, Redis and Lucene. A high performance crawler capable of spidering millions of pages per hour. An easy-to-install search box with modern features like autocomplete. Search analytics and results re-ordering. An intelligent page-content analysis system for parsing websites automatically. Client libraries for Ruby, Python, PHP and jQuery. Horizontally scalable Infrastructure. A lot of happy customers.”
If you are in need of a job and think you might qualify for the position, check out the post. If it works smoothly the new site search should be a much-needed update to the many crummy site searches out there today. However, nothing is free and an update of this kind is not going to be cheap. How much will this puppy cost?
Edie Marie, September 04, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Quest Announces Dells Takeover
September 4, 2012
Dell and Quest recently went public with their plans to have Dell obtain the 15-year-old California native. Quest supplies more than 100,000 customers with support and something around 87 percent of those customers are Fortune 500 companies. According to a recent article on quest.com, “Dell to Acquire Quest Software” the prospects of the merger seem promising.
The article explains:
“The Dell Software Group will add to Dell’s enterprise solutions capability, accelerate strategic growth and further differentiate the company from competitors by increasing its solutions portfolio with Dell-owned intellectual property.
Quest’s family of software solutions and key technologies are strongly aligned with Dell’s software strategy. The acquisition provides critical components to expand Dell’s software capabilities in systems management, security, data protection and workspace management. In addition, Quest’s software portfolio is highly complementary to Dell’s scalable design approach to develop solutions that scale with customer needs.”
The article talks more about how well this agreement might play out. It appears as though this could end up being very good for both parties. Just because Quest gets to incorporate with a top tire company does not mean Dell is not going to benefit. Quest is bringing in an assorted software portfolio and high sales, $857 million done globally in 2011. If everyone plays their cards right we might be seeing some great things coming from these two. Could this deal possibly help Dell gain competitiveness with Apple?
Edie Marie, September 04, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Ohloh Code Enhances Koders.com Search Technology
September 4, 2012
Big news from Black Duck brought to you by the goose pond: Ohloh has enhanced Koders.com.
Ohloh Code, a publicly available, free code search site, has made it possible for users to immediately browse the code of projects, search for particular methods, and see Ohloh commit and LOC information all in the same place. This is an improvement upon Koders.com, which lacked an automated way to let users add and update projects or view sources and parent projects. An announcement post made on Ohloh, “Ohloh + Code = Ohloh Code,” informs us of the changes:
“The Ohloh Code search database is populated and updated from a new, automated integration with Ohloh’s project list. We’ve rebuilt the code search engine (also available for private code search: Code Sight) as an upgrade from Koders.com. We’ve migrated the entire code base from .NET to Java (our team’s language of choice).[…]
To sum up…
Ohloh (ohloh.net) + Ohloh Code (code.ohloh.net) = our vision to create the most comprehensive and free resource for developers to find and explore open source projects and code.”
We think code searchers will be pleased with Ohloh Code’s results and the enhanced technology. Kudos to the team for integrating more languages, filtering and faceting search results, including preservation of the underscore in search results, and enhancing scalability for indexing and searching. Head on over to Ohloh to learn about more of the changes.
Andrea Hayden, September 04, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Financial Services Staff Addition at Attivio Predicts Growth
September 4, 2012
An exciting staff addition at Attivio has been announced which, according to the company, will better help its banking, insurance, credit, and investment customers address financial data problems.
Attivio, a leading unified information access software provider, has named Julio Gomez, founder of Gomez Inc., the new General Manager of Financial Services. A recent article from the The Business Journals, “Attivio Appoints Julio Gomez as GM of Financial Services,” tells us more about the company’s addition. In his new role, Gomez will work with global financial institutions to extend the company’s customer base and develop the company’s technology and financial solutions.
In the article, Gomez comments on his new role:
“Having experienced the challenges of capturing, managing and deriving insight and value from the varied forms of enterprise data, I could not be more excited to play a key role in expanding Attivio’s presence in the market. Financial institutions crave elegant solutions to prickly data problems that come up in every major initiative, from cloud computing, to big data to customer experience management. Attivio offers the level of sophistication and flexibility necessary for the highly complex, demanding and large-scale data environments in this industry.”
The article also reveals that Gomez was ranked in Time Magazine’s “Fifty Most Important People Shaping Technology” and Institutional Investor’s “Fifty Most Influential People on Wall Street.” We predict the experience Gomez brings will contribute to the continued growth of Attivio, improving customer satisfaction and investment performance.
Andrea Hayden, September 04, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Hachette Oversteps to Defend DRM
September 4, 2012
BoingBoing explains how, in publishing, open is really closed in “Hachette to Tor Authors: You Must Keep the DRM on Your Ebooks.” Since Tor Books famously dropped their DRM requirements, authors who publish with both that house and Hachette Book Group find themselves in an odd position.
Hachette is, apparently, on the opposite end of the DRM opinion spectrum from Tor; the word is that it has a strict no-DRM-free-editions-of-anything-anywhere policy. Writer Cory Doctorow reveals the contents of a letter he says was sent to an author who published with each company in different territories. He tells us the letter:
“. . .explains to the author that Hachette has ‘acquired exclusive publication rights in our territories from you in good faith,’ but warns that in other territories, Tor’s no-DRM policy ‘will make it difficult for the rights granted to us to be properly protected.’ Hachette’s proposed solution: that the author insist Tor use DRM on these titles. ‘We look forward to hearing what action you propose taking.'”
As the first commenter notes, the author might just propose switching publishers; I know I would. It takes a certain kind of arrogance for a publisher to think it can bully its authors into restricting the actions of its colleagues. In foreign territories.
Cynthia Murrell, September 04, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Filters Made of Silicon: Some Humans Are Annoyances in Technology
September 3, 2012
When I lived and worked in Washington, DC, there was a jargon, a set of assumptions, and an entire way of life affected by the gravitational pull of the US government. A “belt way bandit”, for example, was not a pejorative. It was an honor shared among such firms as Booz, Allen & Hamilton, EG&G, Northrop Grumman, SRA, SAIC, and hundreds of other operations. The idea was that a “belt way bandit” knew how to land government contracts and build the space shuttle or a nuclear powered submarine. Sure, some of these outfits did Social Security calculations and assisted other “experts” with tax algorithms. It was a mixed bag. But, in general, everyone knew what the phrase meant in Shady Grove where I lived for a couple of years.
There is a similar gravitational effect operating on Wall Street, although many of the pros operate from Midtown or far off places like Harrod’s Creek. The lingo is understood by those who are in it. If you don’t know the difference between the “buy” side and the “sell” side, you may want to check out your financial advisor or do some Yandexing.
In today’s dead tree edition of the nation’s newspaper, I read “When GPS Confuses, You May Be to Blame.” If you still have a library, you may be able to read the story on page 3 of the business section in the September 2, 2012 paper. If you are a thrill seeker, you can try this link. The point of the story is that from the point of view of engineers and Silicon Valley types wherever they may reside, humans demonstrate an inability to use a digital map.
to figure out how stupid humans are, researchers studied the aberrant and concluded that humans who are not with it are the reason people follow GPS directions off cliffs or try to drive home to LA when the human is really in Haines, Alaska. Here is the passage I enjoyed:
Human error, as it turns out, was responsible for many of the problems that occurred. When a driver exited the highway to pick up cupcakes while en route to another destination and wanted to return to the highway, her passenger entered the wrong highway junction for the device to use in recalculating the route, so the turn-by-turn directions were wrong. This was not the fault of the software developers or a map deficiency, but the driver nonetheless placed the blame on the object that was most handy: “These GPS things — it’s really confusing.” (“Ahh, shut up,” the passenger said.)
Stupid humans. The write up then concluded with a spectacular description of the situation:
But no technology, however sophisticated, will ever completely eradicate the Normal Natural Troubles of Driving With Humans.
Well, the Silicon Valley filter knows what the fix is. Driverless cars. A stupid human can rely on a computer system to predict where he or she has to go, configure the auto-drive vehicle, get in, and play a video game. No traffic jams. No accidents. No stupid humans yelling at a GPS.
I have to admit that I am baffled about the interface for the three different brands of GPS which we have tested. Among the issues we have encountered are:
- Baffling methods to obtain traffic data
- Inability to pinpoint a location without blundering through layers and layers of menus
- Device’s inability to “remember” locations
- Maps, which after being updated, do not show major roads
- Mysterious blank spaces in major metropolitan areas
- Odd ball color schemes which “sense” light changes at noon
I rented a Ford Focus with GPS and Sync. I couldn’t figure out how to adjust the fan or turn on the radio. I had only one engineer with me. By the time we got the air conditioner on, we had arrived at the destination. We did not even try the GPS.
Several observations.
First, for those living in the “beltway bandit” filter, the “Wall Street” filter, or the “Silicon Valley” filter—the real world does not register. Wrong frequency. When a consultant or a banker tries to explain to a 99 percenter what he or she does, the result is confusion and a often a condescending smile. Was it my mother’s fault she did not understand my work in Washington, or was it my fault? Obviously she was the “problem.” Human=problem unless you “get it” via some shared ethos. Since her death, I have entertained the idea that perhaps I did not make much of an effort to explain what I did for Admiral Craig Hosmer in his office before a Congressional hearing.
Second, the notion that the devices are “right” is another signal that the engineering culture can make gizmos work and humans are simply too inferior to understand the elegance of the design. I am getting along in years, and I have to tell you that “understanding” is not “intuitive”. That is a crock of burned baked beans. Engineers see the world through a filter and produce outputs like Bob, STAIRS III, and the BlackBerry Bold. Each of these “engineering wonders” is unfathomable without quite a bit of effort. And after that effort, some aspects of the “engineering miracles” are dumb, weird, or plain crazy.
Third, the proliferation of smart software along with the “humans are stupid” theme is a recipe for more confusion. Don’t believe me. Try to find the Bluetooth wireless speaker setting in Mac OSX or make the desktop appear without cartoons and weird colors in Windows 8. Better yet assign a station to a 2013 Lexus radio. Try to get a dirty scanner at an airport boarding gate to “recognize” the digital boarding pass.
Humans have varying degrees of competence. People can be bad in one thing and good in another. The Silicon Valley filter is not performing as well as those equipped with the filter believe. How do I know? Buy a new mobile device and set it up. How long, inferior human, did it take you? Your fault obviously.
Technology is not a problem per se. I think technological humans wearing Silicon Valley filters are the problem.
Stephen E Arnold, September 3, 2012
Sponsored by Augmentext
IntelTrax Top Stories August 24 to August 30
September 3, 2012
This week the IntelTrax advanced intelligence blog provided readers with some interesting stories regarding the state of technology and the big data trends.
“Automation Hot Trend in Business Intelligence” discusses the growing industry of business intelligence to help organizations manage their data. Automation has been an important part of many BI solutions that are currently on the market:
“One company that’s scouring the social web specifically for business-specific data is FirstRain, a startup with Penny Herscher at the helm. Her company extracts the hard-to-find nuggets of relevant Twitter data for sales and marketing professionals. The big perk with FirstRain is the automation–the heavy lifting. It adds context to the data it’s found and packages it up for business use so a sales professional can immediately understand their customers. Working with the broad range of companies seeking big data and analytics solutions, FirstRain has clients in the pharmaceutical industry, finance, insurance and beyond.”
Another post, “VMware Acquires New Data Solutions Technology” highlights the recent acquisition of a small tech start-up as a way to continue innovating and growing.
The CEO of Pattern Insight wrote in a recent blog post:
“Ever since we started Pattern Insight, our vision has been to change how people search, mine and analyze their vast amounts of IT and Engineering data. Log Insight, a log analytics product, is the culmination of our efforts aiming at management and real time operational analytics for IT data regardless of scale. Today, I am very pleased to announce that Log Insight, together with its technology and team, have been acquired by VMware. We are very excited for the opportunity to accelerate our vision and maximize the impact of our technology.”
“Data Analytics Is the New Tech Bubble” discusses some potential issues with those involved with big data analytics. The writer fears, that like the bursting of the tech bubble, Big Data can expect a similar reaction.
According to the article:
“We’re in the middle of a Big Data and Hadoop hype cycle, and it’s time for the Big Data bubble to burst….Yes, moving through a hype cycle enables a technology to cross the chasm from the early adopters to a broader audience. And, at the very least, it indicates a technology’s advancement beyond academic conversations and pilot projects. But the broader audience adopting the technology may just be following the herd, and missing some important cautionary points along the way.”
Sometimes it is important to cut out the middleman and invest in small companies that have more flexibility for innovation. Digital Reasoning understand the importance of automation and innovation and their flagship product Synthesys reflects that.
Jasmine Ashton, September 3, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
SharePoint Customization for NonDevelopers
September 3, 2012
Customization in SharePoint is always a hot topic, as it can be difficult, costly, and non-intuitive. However, Ricardo Wilkins at the Microsoft SharePoint Blog believes it can be possible even for the non-developer. Read all of his ideas at his post, “Fake It ‘til You Make It – Alternatives to Custom Application Pages for Non-Developers.”
Wilkins begins:
SharePoint is a versatile tool meant to empower end-users. So, for me it seems such a shame when end-users feel powerless when it comes to their ability to ‘create’ in SharePoint. Sometimes for a non-developer, it can seem like the only way to make something interesting in SharePoint (besides a fancy list or some Wiki pages) is to get help from a Developer or Web Designer. But I submit that, with a little creativity (and maybe some smoke-n-mirrors), non-developers can make an ‘application’ that looks and feels like a Developer’s custom application page.
Wilkins goes on to provide a good list of not only techniques for customization, but also software add-ons and apps to make that possible. An alternative is to invest in a smart third-party solution that streamlines the customization process simply by being inherently more intuitive. One such solution is Fabasoft Mindbreeze, which boasts an entire suite of effective solutions for the enterprise. However, in regard to SharePoint, Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise can serve as a standalone alternative, or a compliment to an existing SharePoint infrastructure.
See for yourself if your SharePoint customization woes might be eased by the simple addition of Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise.
Emily Rae Aldridge, September 3, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
Big Data Not Necessarily a Wise Investment
September 3, 2012
Ed Hallen at Klaviyo‘s blog douses the big data craze with a splash of reality in “The Curse of Analytics and the Big Data Hype.” Does this presage gloom for the big data cheerleaders?
Hallen notes the wealth of advertisements and articles that have lately lauded the big data analysis trend. He encourages businesses to take a step back and question whether the technology will really serve their needs. For companies in the fields of Software as a Service or Ecommerce, the answer is probably “yes.” Otherwise, this trend may not be a wise investment. He writes:
“Here’s the problem – analytics are expensive. They take time, they take knowledge, they take investment in analysis tools and data systems, and crucially, they require we be willing to change our behavior based on what we learn.
“Moreover, analytics without purpose and no tie to decisions keep us from focusing on the most important tasks ahead of us. It’s a lot like eating a Snickers bar for lunch – it’s tasty, but it doesn’t stick with us for very long and doesn’t leave us much better off.”
Very good points. The write up suggests a few questions to ask when considering an investment in big data analysis tools. Check them out, then file them away for the day the issue comes up at your organization (if it hasn’t already).
Cynthia Murrell, September 03, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Fundamentals of Graph Theory and Network Science
September 3, 2012
We’ve run across an interesting math discussion—”Graph Theory and Network Science: The Basics” at DZone. In this article, writer Marko Rodriguez discusses the fundamentals. He begins by noting:
“Graph theory and network science are two related academic fields that have found application in numerous commercial industries. The terms ‘graph’ and ‘network’ are synonymous and one or the other is favored depending on the domain of application.”
Yes, the terms are synonyms, but here they refer to slightly different things. A branch of discrete mathematics, graph theory is the study of graphs in general. It emphasizes theories and algorithms that can be applied to such hypothetical entities. Network science, Rodriguez reminds us, extrapolates network properties from real-world examples. Its study has led to the discovery that most of these networks have a similar structure.
The write up discusses each field in further detail, and concludes with this observation:
“The tools and techniques developed by graph theorists and networks scientists has an astounding number of practical applications. Interestingly enough, once one has a general understanding of graph theory and network science, the world’s problems start to be seen as one in the same problem.”
Interesting perspective. Check out the article, and sharpen your math skills today.
Cynthia Murrell, September 03, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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