Yandex Outpaces Microsoft in Search Traffic
February 27, 2013
We knew Yandex was one to keep an eye on. Now, Search Engine Watch announces, “Yandex Just Passed Bing to Become 4thLargest Global Search Engine.” According to comScore‘s recent qSearch report analyzing traffic from last November and December, Yandex processed 4.844 billion queries to Microsoft’s 4.477 billion. This despite the fact that the report lumps together traffic from Bing with that of other Microsoft properties like MSN and Windows Live. (Google, of course, is still way, way, way ahead with 114.73 billion search queries.)
Writer Michael Bonfils notes that we cannot be sure what drives this Yandex lead. He observes, though, that the pool of Russian users is still growing and evolving, while the Western markets where Microsoft processes the most traffic seem to be approaching saturation. The article concludes:
“You can speculate all day about what’s happening here. Do Russians just search more? Are Russians searching more because they don’t like the results? Are they gaining market share in countries like Turkey or the Ukraine? Who wins with unique users?
“Regardless of all that, I wasn’t expecting to see Yandex, which doesn’t have nearly the marketing budgets of Microsoft, surpass them in global search queries by the end of 2012. Nothing better than seeing incredibly talented underdogs race past one of the biggies.”
Though we find this development less of a surprise, we join Bonfils in cheering for the underdog. What will the future bring for the formidable Yandex?
Cynthia Murrell, February 27, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Power of Information: Saving Money And Exceeding Expectations
February 27, 2013
Many organizations have a hard time managing large amount of information across business systems from a variety of sources both in and out of their enterprise. Enterprise Content Management (ECM) and Customer Experience Management (CEM) are the answer for those businesses finding it hard to cope.
In both “ECM:Governing The Power Of Information” and “CEM:Experiencing The Power Of Information” we find that good companies find a way to make it work. The results of good content management are cost reduction, better time management, improved records retrieval, and better file processing.
“Information is a critical enterprise asset. The effective management of enterprise information has become a key differentiator in today’s competitive market. Unmanaged business information can be risky and drive up costs. Well-governed information, on the other hand, provides a path to success by reducing risk and uncovering opportunities to drive business value.”
Systems that work and an interoperability between systems is key to customer satisfaction at this juncture in the road. It seems that CEM can help businesses reach markets and customers by creating consistent digital presence across platforms and continues to grow as business priorities change.
Leslie Radcliff, February 27, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Ontos Launches News Portal Merges Info Across Sources
February 27, 2013
The Ontos News Portal is really pushing diverse news gathering to a new level with its utilization of its developed semantic technology. The Ontos News Portal, according to their website, filters through the vast amounts of data available from documents, mail and websites that your company works with on a regular basis.
“Our software solutions provide competent and cost-effective support in the central processes of decision-making and knowledge gathering, as well as knowledge management. Furthermore, Ontos products reinforce the improvement of your company’s entire value creation chain and help to speed up sales, marketing and support processes.”
Ontos, developed in 2001, uses its semantics tech to solve a plethora of requests. Generating semantic annotation from unstructured text, summarizing large volumes of annotated texts, maintaining metadata, and triplet technology are all within the realm of Onto’s to deliver.
The new Ontos Live is a sleek and easy way to personalize your feed, kind of like personalizing your homepage for Yahoo! News, only easier and more mature in search ability. All the answers, none of the mumbo jumbo you didn’t ask for.
Leslie Radcliff, February 27, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Google and Samsung: The Light Bulb Clicks On
February 26, 2013
I live in rural Kentucky. I am semi retired, and I don’t fiddle with gadgets like Google Glass which seems like a sure fire way to get hit by a mule drawn cart here in Harrod’s Creek. I noted in January 2013 that the poobahs monitoring Google and its various antics seemed to be happy with Samsung’s surge in mobile gizmos. You can find “Android Analysis Misses a Consideration” in my archive.
Imagine my surprise when I saw “Samsung Sparks Anxiety at Google.” My hunch is that there will be even more lip flapping on this topic when one basic fact is processed: Samsung is not Google’s pal. Samsung, with its blue chip consultants and Silicon Valley pretentions, wants to get as much money as possible from mobile devices.
Google has created its own problems with Samsung. First, it tossed out a good enough open source mobile operating system called Android. Every Chinese clone phone I have examined runs some version of Android. More importantly, Amazon showed the world that it is possible to just take Android and do one’s own thing. Samsung has not be indifferent to these Chinese and Bezos tutorials. Who needs Google’s official Android? Good question.
Second, Google in a crazy weekend bought the Motorola thing. Now there have been many Wall Street wizards who interpreted Google’s action as one more example of Google’s business acumen. My view is that Google stuck a needle in the eye of hardware outfits. How can a company making a “free” operating system and selling ads ensure a level playing field for other mobile manufacturers. Microsoft is trying this hardware thing with Surface. How has that play worked out at Hewlett Packard? How will Google’s Motorola play work out for the Google Glass crowd?
Here’s the passage I found interesting:
Google executives worry that Samsung has become so big—the South Korean company sells about 40% of the gadgets that use Google’s Android software—that it could flex its muscle to renegotiate their arrangement and eat into Google’s lucrative mobile-ad business, people familiar with the matter said.
“So big.” That’s an understatement.
Now what’s Google going to do about this situation? More controlled chaos? I am not sure that will work against the Samsung method. Even Apple is finding Samsung sort of an annoyance. What happens if Samsung goes its own way, showing a digital backside to the savvy Americans?
My hunch is that Samsung will keep on selling gizmos, making chips, and moving aggressively to exploit those who figure that Samsung operates like our Harrod’s Creek farmers’ market. I think Samsung is much, much more. Getting hit by a mule is less risky than tangling with a chaebol which rhymes with mule.
Stephen E Arnold, February 26, 2013
New Terminology Does Not Change Power of Data Delivery Solutions
February 26, 2013
Many venture capitalists were chomping at the bit to fund big data start ups not too long ago. However, according to a recent article from Venture Beat it is time to move on. This venture capitalist chasing news source tells us, ‘Big Data’ Is Dead. What’s Next?
The article goes on to discuss who killed it. Everyone from media sources to industry leaders to marketing experts all the way down to the vendors themselves had a hand in the death of big data, according to this piece. Instead of the big data deluge, this article warns against a big data headache. The only cure: a big data Advil.
Writer John De Goes states:
As the industry matures, there won’t be a single term that replaces the big data moniker. Instead, different tools and technologies will carve out different niches, each more narrowly focused and highly specialized than the universal sledgehammer that was big data.I’m going to talk about some of the niches you’re going to hear about again and again. Alas, some of these will be spun into buzzwords that, like big data, accumulate so much “momentum” they eventually lose meaning.
Life after big data will involve smart data, data science, NewSQL and predictive analytics according to this article. If one thing can be certain it is that there will be new terminology to apply to new vendors in the big data game as time goes on. However, big data as a term will always be able to quickly and simply capture the essence of solutions from data delivery vendors to enterprise infrastructure solutions.
Megan Feil, February 26, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search.
LucidWorks Launches New Online Service
February 26, 2013
In the growing Big Data market, education and training is at a premium. Developers would do well to learn all they can about this quickly emerging technology. In light of that need, LucidWorks has created a new online destination, Big Data Central. Virtual Strategy hosts the press release from PR Wire, “LucidWorks Launches Big Data Central.”
After detailing the growing need of Big Data, the author continues:
“To address this need, LucidWorks, the company transforming the way people access information, is pleased to announce the launch of Big Data Central. Big Data Central is an online destination that provides success stories, educational materials, and other curated content to help executives understand current Big Data trends and shape their data strategies. The go-to site offers valuable information about Big Data collected from a wide variety of reputable sources.”
Big Data Central continues the trend of investment that LucidWorks makes in the industry, and in particular open source search. This is not the first web portal they have established in the name of education and training. Check out SearchHub.org for another open resource devoted to Lucene and Solr developers. LucidWorks’ value-added software is a good solution for many applications and is built on trust, experience, and a strong open source foundation.
Emily Rae Aldridge, February 26, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
MarkLogic Takes Olympic Coverage From Probable Nightmare to Practical Success
February 26, 2013
Most people never really think about how news organizations transmit data across continents when there is a big event. For the Summer Olympics in 2012 The Press Association relied on MarkLogic’s XML repository’s ability to store and query hundreds of thousands of pieces of metadata per second.
In “How PA Cleared The Big Data Hurdle At The London Olympics” the Press Associations director of technical architecture, John O’Donovan, gives consumers an in depth look at how the office was able to cope with more than 50,000 requests per second.
“The problem with that is having to sit down and design a relational database model that can represent everything that’s in the XML. That takes quite a lot of time, you have to build all of your input/output extenders and map XML objects into relational stores.”
At first look it seems like an impossible task, organizing all of the photos, biographical information, statistics, and competition results for thousands of athletes and beaming it to televisions, phones and computers everywhere, but, by removing the relational database the PA made it possible.XML store instead of storing it in the relational database and then retransferring the data back to XML.
It simplified the delivery system from 100 to 34 man hour days to get off the ground and was so successful that The Press Association will be utilizing the new system for all of its wire and output communications.
Big thumbs ups to MarkLogic’s ability to handle the process and to the PA for finding a new way to utilize an already reliable resource.
Leslie Radcliff, February 26, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
How Does That Make You Feel: Excel Gets Sentiment Analysis Add-In
February 26, 2013
Semantria LLC has announced the launch of its sentiment analysis add-in for Microsoft Excel. This is important because it brings a new facet to the already worldwide software by adding not only sentiment analysis but query based categorization to the fold.
“Semantria Introduces The Unique Excel Add-In 2.0 With Advanced Functionality and New Capabilities,” pretty much lays it on the line for consumers. Powered by Lexalytics technology, Semantria’s text analysis REST API will be able to identify the polarity of a document as well as break it down for separate sentiment signals for each theme, keyword, category and query.
“David Henzel, VP Marketing at NetDNA, explains “We use Semantria’s sentiment analysis for our customer survey and social media analytics, and get great results back in seconds.” And, he adds, “The best part is it runs in one of the world’s most common user environments: Microsoft Excel.””
Sentiment analysis is a pretty cool concept that has already been utilized by many well known social media sites, perhaps none so much as Twitter. Sentiment analysis allows for an intelligence analysis of human feeling through a document.
The question is how well will this add-in translate with Excel? Will it be a match made in heaven or will it be a disaster on a platter? I tend to lean toward the former. Being able to utilize sentiment analysis for query purposes is unique and appealing to mass audiences.
Leslie Radcliff, February 26, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
IBM Launching New Collaborative Communications Products Including Upgrade to Connections
February 26, 2013
The IBM announcement that it will be rolling out new communication products and new upgrades for its existing social networking product, Connections hasn’t really come as a big shock to many. IBM has spent time and money acquiring new technologies and working to integrate those technologies.
CIO’s “IBM To Beef Up Content Management, Analytics In Connections Enterprise Social Product,” takes consumers through some of the basic changes they can expect to see when the products are unveiled on Monday at Connect 2013.
“At a press conference after the session, Mike Rhodin, senior vice president of IBM’s Software Solutions Group, said that the impact of enterprise social technologies in collaboration and front-office business processes like HR and marketing amounts to a “generational shift” that is transforming how companies function, and will do so for the next two decades.”
We aren’t really told which acquisitions are responsible for which upgrades and integrations but if IBM’s dreams come true, the new content management function of Connections will rival that of Microsoft’s SharePoint, a big assertion for sure.
The IBM Employee Experience Suite is one of the few newly designed products that fully explains where the new upgrades came from, in this instance, the human resource management apps are courtesy of the $1.3 billion acquisition of Kenexa.
While still a little cloudy on the content, it will be interesting to keep an eye on IBM over the next year and not just at its product reveal early next week. It’s a sink or swim time in business technology with so many up and coming developers and technologies just waiting in the wings for an opportunity. We’ll see how IBM continues to stack up.
Leslie Radcliff, February 26, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
ApacheCon North America Begins This Week
February 25, 2013
ApacheCon North America begins tomorrow, one of the most exciting events in open source each year. An annual event since 1999, this year’s conference is in Portalnd, Oregon. LXer gives a preview in their story, “ApacheCon North America 2013 Only a Few Days Away.”
The article begins:
“The main conference and expo takes place 26 February-28 February 2013. The conference theme is “Open Source Community Leadership Drives Enterprise-Grade Innovation. Conference highlights include keynotes (http://na.apachecon.com/keynotes/) by open source authorities:
• 26 February @9:15am: Theo Shlossnagle, OmniT – Scaling: Lessons Learned and Their Applications to Apache Culture • 27 February @9:15am: Steve Holden, The Open Bastion – Building New Communities • 28 February @9:00am: Luke Kanies, Puppet Labs – Growing Authentic Communities”
In addition to the keynotes listed above, there will be hands-on trainings and conference sessions to cover topics such as Big Data, Hadoop, CloudStack, and the Apache HTTP Server. To view the complete schedule, visit http://na.apachecon.com/schedule/. LucidWorks is a major sponsor of this important annual event. Follow @ApacheCon on Twitter for live happenings.
Emily Rae Aldridge, February 25, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
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