Samuru from Stremor
April 20, 2013
We learned about Samuru, a new Web search systems. You can use the system by navigating to www.samuru.com.
The search system is powered by Liquid Helium, a language heuristics engine for the future of content. The company which developed Samuru is Stremor, whose tag line is “comprehending language.” The company asserts that it offers a “foundation layer that interprets language to evaluate content context, value, authority, sentiment, meaning, and relationships. Instead of text search, the system “enables the future of online media.”
According to the Stremor Web site, Liquid Helium is Stremor’s:
language heuristics engine. The first language analysis engine of its kind. It converts written content into mathematical values and algorithms for predictable analysis, extraction, and manipulation. Liquid Helium factors information about sentence and paragraph structure, word usage, parts of speech, grammar, writing style, punctuation, and inherent bias through a vast collection of proprietary rules, filters, and custom language libraries. As overwhelming as this may sound, Stremor has injected this technology into simple, approachable consumer offerings that demonstrate the ability of Liquid Helium to close the gap between information and knowledge in three verticals: content discovery, creation, and consumption.
The company offers a product sheet which provides more information. The product sheet reveals that Stremor “was created to provide technology solutions that enable content platforms to effectively support the evolution of online media towards an array of connected devices and systems.”
The product sheet says:
An intelligent content-aware foundation is necessary for the needs of multiple screens in varying contexts and use-cases. To this end, we raised capital at an $8M valuation in March 2012.
- The management consists of: Bill Irvine, CEO, “a successful entrepreneur in the fields of digital marketing emerging media, and online community”
- Stephen Melzer, CFO, “a finance professional with deep startup and fundraising experience
- Brandon Wirtz, CTO, “a pioneer in video analysis, search engine exploitation, and content development”
- Greg Rewis, VP of User Experience, who is “a Web standards guru, published author, veteran creator of Web technologies, and former chief evangelist for Adobe.”
We will run queries and monitor the firm.
Stephen E Arnold, April 20, 2013
Sponsored by Augmentext
British Streetmap Takes Google to Court
April 20, 2013
I hope Google’s lawyers appreciate their job security. Another push-back about Google search results has sprung up in the U.K., this time from mapping company Streetmap. The Verge reports, “Google Sued for Burying ‘Streetmap’ Search Results.” The complaint follows a familiar refrain: The company alleges that Google purposely buried their site in its results pages. If true, the charge has troubling implications for “objective search results.”
Writer Russell Brandom reminds us:
“The suit comes on the heels of an antitrust probe conducted by the European Union into whether Google is using its Search service to actively promote its other products, spurred by a similar suit from British shopping-comparison site Foundem. EU commissioners have said that ultimate goal of the probe will be to secure ‘legally binding commitments’ that their search results are unbiased. A similar probe in the U.S. found no evidence the company’s actions were harmful to consumers.”
Yes, well, European officials tend to take a more strict line on such issues than their counterparts in the U.S. Several times now, Google has found itself in hot water across the pond. Will the company decide that its lavish success is worth continuing to prod these legal boundaries?
Cynthia Murrell, April 20, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Video Search: Will It Get Better Post Viacom?
April 19, 2013
I know there’s a push to make sense out of Twitter. I know that millions of people post updates to Facebook. I know about text. Searching for text is pretty lousy, but it is trivial compared to video search. Even the remarkable micro-electronics of Glass are child’s play compared to making sense out of digital video flooding the “inner tubes” of the Internet.
This issue is addressed in part in “Why Video Discovery Startups Fail.” Startup video search and discovery systems do face challenges. The broader question is, “Why doesn’t video search work better on well funded services such as Google YouTube or in governmental systems where “finding” a video needle in a digital hay stack is very important?”
The article says:
Video discovery startups are flawed products and even worse businesses. Why? Because they don’t fit into a consumer’s mental model.
The article identifies some challenges. These range from notions I don’t understand like “context” to concepts I partially grasp; namely, monetization.
My list of reasons video search and discovery fails includes:
- The cost of processing large volumes of data
- The lack of software which minimizes false drops
- The time required for humans to review what automated systems do
- The need for humans to cope with problematic videos due to resolution issues
- The financial costs of collection, pre processing, processing, and managing the video flows.
What happens is that eager folks and high rollers believe the hype. Video search and indexing is a problem. If we can’t do text, video remains a problem for the future. Viacom decision or no Viacom decision video search is a reminder that finding information in digitized video is a tough problem which becomes more problematic as the volume of digitized video increases.
Stephen E Arnold, April 19, 2013
Sponsored by Augmentext
DataStax Hosts Big Data Days
April 19, 2013
DataStax is a leader in NoSQL database solutions, particularly based on Cassandra. They have made recent headlines as DataStax, and others like them, are slowly chipping away at the historically overwhelming market share of Oracle. Now they are making headlines for hosting some upcoming professional development opportunities. Read more in the article, “DataStax Announces Big Data Days by the Bays — Hosts Cassandra Summit in San Francisco and Sponsors Bloomberg Next Big Thing Summit in Half Moon Bay.”
The article begins:
“DataStax, the company that powers the big data apps that transform business, today announced two major events taking place in the Bay Area during June, the Cassandra Summit 2013 and the Bloomberg Next Big Thing Summit. Big data is today’s defining technology trend, transforming industries ranging from retail and finance to media and health care. As a leading big data platform provider, DataStax is hosting the Cassandra Summit and sponsoring the Bloomberg Summit.”
But in addition to DataStax, many value-added open source leaders offer great customer service and training opportunities. LucidWorks is another known for setting the industry standard for development support as well as customer support and training.
Emily Rae Aldridge, April 19, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Google Outperforms Bing and Others in Blocking Malware
April 19, 2013
Oh, my. PCMag declares, “Bing Delivers Five Times as Many Malicious Websites as Google.” The charges stem from an 18-month study [PDF] by security firm AV-Test. Google emerged as the safest Internet search option, with Yandex and Bing the worst offenders (in that order), in a field that also included Blekko, Faroo, Teoma, and Baidu.
Though all of these engines take measures to keep malware-infested sites out of their top rankings, the villains make headway using methods perfected by others. Writer Max Eddy explains:
“To move their malware-ridden spawn to the top of Google’s search results, the bad guys are using tried and true search engine optimization tactics—the very same used by corporations and bloggers. According to AV-Test, the attackers use a very simple trick, ‘they first create a multitude of small websites and blogs before selecting the most frequently used search terms from top news stories and using backlinks to optimise these terms for search engines.’
“The study went on to say that users ‘are the least suspicious’ when they see a search result attached to a hot news story. More troublingly, AV-Test reports that sites with Trojans or other malware are returned as ‘top’ results.”
If these results are accurate, we wonder whether a shift to a “walled garden” approach to the Internet might be a solution. The article does note that, whichever search engine you use, your chances of suffering a malware attack through it are slim. Still, it is wise to be careful what you click on, even in top results from trusted search engines. Eddy also recommends a measure many of us wouldn’t leave our routers without—security software. Even the anti-malware measures in the latest browsers, he says, can help.
Cynthia Murrell, April 19, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Interesting Approach to Quashing Open Source
April 19, 2013
Like many legal terms burdened with inconvenient meanings, the word “predatory” is being redefined. According to Microsoft, Oracle, and other FairSearch members, giving away free software is a predatory move, one that justifies hauling a competitor to court. Ars Technica posts: “Opinion: Antitrust Complaint Against Android is an Attack on Open Source.”
Yes, the anti-Googlers at FairSearch object to the inclusion of free Google apps on Android phones. Writer Timothy B. Lee objects to their position:
“That stance would have sweeping implications for the software industry because so many software companies distribute software for free. Red Hat gives away its version of Linux (in source code form, at least) as a way to generate interest in its subscriptions and support services. Other popular software packages, such as the Eclipse development environment and the OpenOffice productivity suite, have been maintained at times by commercial sponsors. Indeed, Oracle itself is a major distributor of free software.”
Indeed. Lee goes on to point out that Microsoft, with its history of lukewarm support for open-source projects, has the most to gain from a ruling against software largess. However, the rest of the industry would suffer; releasing free software is a standard, and crucial, practice that promotes brand recognition and attracts paying customers.
The article concludes:
“Competition laws are supposed to benefit consumers, not a company’s competitors. It’s easy to see how Microsoft and Nokia might have been harmed by Google’s decision to price its mobile operating system at zero. But there’s no reason to think the strategy is harmful to consumers.”
I hope the courts will keep that distinction in mind as they consider this complaint.
Cynthia Murrell, April 19, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Expert System Boosts U S Efforts
April 19, 2013
Interesting. While some budgets are struggling with sequestration, semantic tech outfit Expert System is increasing its U.S. presence, we learn from the company’s press release, “Expert System Opens Washington, D.C. Metro Area Office and Appoints New Director of Federal Sales.” The move seems to be a natural response to the company’s considerable success in 2012. The new director of federal sales will be one Charlie Breeding. The write-up tells us:
“Located in Rockville, Maryland, the office will serve as the company’s technology headquarters, and reinforces its long-term commitment to serving a growing customer base in both the enterprise and Federal sector with semantic-based solutions for information management, business intelligence and customer service.
“Charlie Breeding brings a depth of Federal and enterprise business development experience that will support the company’s continued growth in strategic markets. He is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and joins Expert System from Autonomy where he served as Director of Sales for Federal Civilian Agencies. In his new role as Federal Sales Director, he will manage the development of Federal and Fortune 1000 accounts with a focus on expanding the benefits of the Cogito semantic platform to enterprise and government agencies.”
Prominent businesses and government organizations around the world rely on tools from Expert System for data management, collaboration, and customer relationship management. Cogito is the company’s semantic analysis engine that underpins their roster of solutions.
Cynthia Murrell, April 19, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
LucidWorks Honored in CRN Big Data 100 List
April 18, 2013
The data-management pioneers at LucidWorks are receiving some well-earned recognition, we learn from “LucidWorks Named to Inaugural CRN Big Data 100” posted at the Wall Street Journal. The roster, the first in what is to be an annual list, highlights the very best of the many vendors flooding the big data field. The press release informs us:
“The inaugural list recognizes innovative technology vendors that offer products and services to help businesses manage ‘Big Data’ – the rapidly increasing volume, speed and variety of information being generated today. The list covers three categories: business analytics, data management, infrastructure and services. Vendors on this list are industry stalwarts leveraging their products and services to meet the Big Data challenge, as well as a wave of startups developing a new generation of products to help businesses address their Big Data needs.
“Since its launch in 2008, LucidWorks has redefined the way people search for information. The LucidWorks product suite consists of two development platforms: LucidWorks Search and LucidWorks Big Data. Users conducting searches powered by these platforms can uncover real-time insights from any data source, structured or unstructured, regardless of its location. The company’s rich portfolio of enterprise-grade solutions is based on the Apache Lucene/Solr open source technology.”
Hooray, open source! Part of why we love LucidWorks is their support of these community-built projects. Not only do their products enhance open source solutions instead of competing with them, the company directly contributes to the Apache Software Foundation.
LucidWorks (formerly Lucid Imagination) is the commercial company for Lucene search and its server Solr. The company crafts robust, scalable search solutions that make the most of this open source technology. LucidWorks prides itself on making open source search accessible and easy to learn. These search gurus are headquartered in Redwood City, CA.
Cynthia Murrell, April 18, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Tougher Times for Cash Hungry Content Processing Vendors?
April 18, 2013
I read the troubling write up “Q1 Venture Capital Spending And Number Of Deals Down, M&A Activity Drops 44 Percent And Pre-Money Valuations Plummet”. Try as I might, I could not see much good news in the data presented.
The main point of the write up was in my opinion:
Deals in Information Technology (IT), Healthcare, Energy and Utilities, and Industrial Goods all declined, and deals in Business and Financial Services, Consumer Goods, and Consumer Services investment increased from the previous quarter.
For companies in the search, content processing, and analytics sector with a consumer angle, the good news is that money may continue to flow and may, in some cases, spike.
For other types of outfits, money may become more difficult to get. If a funding source is available, my hunch is that investors may be taking increasingly critical looks at the companies ingesting money. How does one age a Type A 35 year old senior manager? My thought is, “Ask for actions that deliver revenue, not marketing puffery.” I am probably off base, but the Techcrunch story suggests that a downward trend may be upon us.
One cannot forget that the investors’ expectation is a return. For companies in the old “search” space, revenues are going to be needed to avoid one of those legendary investor actions: Top management replacement, fire sale, forced merger, intellectual property auction, shut down, or some similar step.
Going forward, search, content processing, and analytics vendors are going to have to generate more revenue. In short, the squeezable days of the last three years may be going away.
Can the search, content processing, and analytics vendors which have taken sums ranging from a few million (BA Insight, Digital Reasoning) to tens of millions (Attivio, Coveo) to hundreds of millions (Palantir) deliver significant top line growth and demonstrate a here-and-now value proposition? One or more of these companies will definitely perform. The ones which do not? Well, that’s what makes search and content processing so darned interesting.
One of my financial clients has asked me to poke around with some numbers and market appetite. No results in hand yet. The project is interesting.
Stephen E Arnold, April 18, 2013
Sponsored by HighGainBlog
Oracle Sees Cuts as the Hands of Startup Rivals
April 18, 2013
Oracle is a company that has made a name for its self in information storage, primarily databases, and ranks third in the country as a software makers behind only Microsoft and IBM. But the tables may be turning for Oracle. Read how in the article, “Oracle Is Bleeding At The Hands Of Database Rivals.”
The article sums up the issue:
“Something is seriously wrong in Larry Land. Oracle does not command absolute control like it once did. You can see this clearly with the earnings the company posted last week and the growth that startups like Datastax are witnessing as more customers seek alternative databases for online applications.”
Startups are indeed taking a chunk out of the proprietary vendor market. Not only is this a trend in the world of content storage and management, but also in terms of enterprise search. SharePoint is the solution that developers and users are least excited about. Instead, talk turns to the up and coming open source initiatives that are more scalable, efficient, intuitive, and cost-effective. Take LucidWorks for instance. Not only does it provide open source based enterprise search on par with any proprietary solution, but it boasts award winning support and training and the power of Apache Lucene/Solr. Most companies are seeing open source value-added software as a no-brainer solution to their information needs.
Emily Rae Aldridge, April 18, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
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