The Consumerization of Enterprise File Sharing
May 13, 2013
TechCrunch ran a story on a new enterprise file sharing tool, Docurated, which launched at Disrupt NY during Startup Battlefield. “Docurated is an Enterprise Service to Search and Collect the Data You Need From Your Files” tells us that this technology moves beyond the file and folder metaphor and focuses on searching for the documents needed and collecting them.
This new enterprise search tool is poised to compete with the likes of Sharepoint and Autonomy in addition to Google Drive in a way. Interestingly, they have integrative capabilities with Dropbox, another potential competitor. A notable difference that the article points to is that Docurated only crawls content to make it searchable but does not actually host any files.
We looked a little further into the technology on their website and learned the following about their positioning:
“While storage boxes in the cloud have created the ability to amass more files, we still have to find and consume what we need when we need to tell our story. Docurated is your go-to destination for all of your content. No more files or folders. It turns all your documents into useable materials for your content dashboards, presentations, meetings, pitches, etc. in PowerPoint or PDF formats. Docurated provides you with the ability to turn every one of your documents into individual pages that are then presented to you based on relevance to your topic search…”
The branding and utmost focus on the user experience signal that Docurated is looking to make a name for itself through bringing the consumerization of enterprise search around to home plate. We will be on the look out to follow how distruptive this technology turns out to be; Coca-Cola and Netflix are both using it already.
Megan Feil, May 13, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Watson Tries to Understand Creativity
May 13, 2013
IBM’s Watson has already conquered Jeopardy, but now he aims to conquer the kitchen in inventing new culinary delights. Fast Company notes the endeavor in“Try The First Recipe Devised By IBM’s Supercomputer Chef.” Taking on cooking is part of IBM’s goal to master the art of creativity. Unlike chess and trivia questions, cooking has billions of random decisions that have a positive or negative impact on the dish, not to mentioned one person might enjoy it, but another may not. Lav Varshney, the project head, is aware of this conundrum and he does not let it hold him back.
“‘We’ve been interested in pushing computing to a new direction, computational creativity. We’re trying to draw on data sets, not just to make inferences about the world, but to create new things you’ve never seen,’ Varshney says.”
To experiment with creative cooking, the cyberchef AI references three databases: cooking basics, hedonic psychophysics, i.e. flavor compounds, and chemoinformatics-a combo of the prior two. The AI already has created new dishes, but it ranks the ones that are most flavorful and novel at the top of the list. The ranking exists to maximize creative potential. IBM has stated that unlike its previous creations Deep Blue and Watson, the cyberchef AI is made to be a collaborative system. IBM’s deep-set idea is that robots will not replace humans, but rather save it, i.e. combating obesity. If humans cannot find the solution why not turn to an objective source. It may prove to work.
Whitney Grace, May 13, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Upgrade To A Brain Computer
May 13, 2013
The New York Times explores “Brain computers Inch Closer To Mainstream.” Engineers are already tweaking the Google Glass so that simple movements control it, but eventually thoughts will power it. Thoughts could even complete small home tasks or inform robot assistants of needs. Samsung’s Emerging Technology Lab is working on tablets that can be controlled by the brain, but it is less than a fashion statement with a ski hat and attached electrodes. People with paralysis and other disabilities can benefit the most as robotic arms and other machines will be able to be controlled with a simple thought.
There are already some products on the market, but eventually these will look like relics from an ancient society:
“’The current brain technologies are like trying to listen to a conversation in a football stadium from a blimp,’ said John Donoghue, a neuroscientist and director of the Brown Institute for Brain Science. ‘To really be able to understand what is going on with the brain today you need to surgically implant an array of sensors into the brain.’ In other words, to gain access to the brain, for now you still need a chip in your head.”
Projects are already underway to make a computer chip for the head, but even that could get old. The Obama Administration is funding the Brain Activity Map that will enhance the human’s knowledge of its own mind deeper than anything ever done. The hope is that brain computer interfaces will be viable. These ideas are still rooted in the world of science-fiction, but so were smartphones in 1970s. Time changes and advances technology.
Whitney Grace, May 13, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Daily Voice: There Is Twitter
May 12, 2013
I read “Daily Voice Bankruptcy Is a Setback for Hyperlocal News.” The key is “hyperlocal.” The idea is that people in a locale want news and information about that particular area. Sounds good and makes sense. I live in Harrod’s Creek, Kentucky, and I don’t know what’s going on at the local college. After the fact, I might learn about a lecture or a musical event.
Monetizing good ideas is tough unless a person or an institution just gathers the information and posts it on a Web page which few may see. Hyperlocal doesn’t work where folks don’t read all that much (rural Kentucky) or where there isn’t much news because there is no local college (again Harrod’s Creek). But New York and Connecticut? Slam dunk. Smart people like those who work at Bloomberg and Goldman Sachs and similar outfits. Lots of real universities.
According to either Fortune or CNN Money:
Tucker blames the bankruptcy filing on a lawsuit filed last year by some former reporters who claim they were incorrectly classified as “exempt” from being paid overtime. The company, formerly known as Main Street Connect LLC, “does not have the financial wherewithal” to continue fighting the lawsuit,” and that it is scaring off potential investors, Tucker said in court papers. The company says its legal costs are already at $500,000, and that it is relying on debt to finance operations. Tucker says he has lent the company $250,000 of its $550,000 of secured debt. Its total debt is $867,000, and its assets are worth less than $400,000. Its remaining local sites drew about 437,000 unique visitors in March, for an average of less than 11,000 each.
Yep, staff and readers – definitely a potential problem. A setback for sure.
My view? There’s Twitter.
Stephen E Arnold, May 12, 2013
Sponsored by Augmentext which is not a two way service like some real information systems headquartered in the same region as the Daily Voice
Facebook Loses Social Media Traction
May 12, 2013
It still remains that if you are not on Facebook you might as well not have a digital identity, but according to Yahoo Finance, “Facebook Is Losing Millions Of Users In The Us And Other Mature Markets.” Facebook has been preparing to inform its investors on performance in the US, UK, and other major European countries and the data shows that users have peaked for these areas, despite a 36% revenue gain on last year. In the last six months alone, Facebook has lost 9 million US visitors and 2 million in the UK.
“’The problem is that, in the US and UK, most people who want to sign up for Facebook have already done it,’ said new media specialist Ian Maude at Enders Analysis. ‘There is a boredom factor where people like to try something new. Is Facebook going to go the way of MySpace? The risk is relatively small, but that is not to say it isn’t there.”’
As the newness wears off, many users are turning to alternative networks like Instagram, Path, Pininterst, StumbleUpon, etc. Americans may be keeping their Facebook accounts, but they are spending less and less time on the Web site. This has been linked to the growing usage of tablets and smartphones. Mobile is almost a quarter of Facebook’s advertising income in 2012 and there is a steady stream of continued mobile usage. To maintain its relevancy, Mark Zuckerberg is digging for new initiatives. MySpace and Livejournal tried the same thing. Does Facebook have the capacity to outlive the zeitgeist? For a little while anyway.
Whitney Grace, May 12, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Bloomberg and Alleged Two Way Systems
May 11, 2013
Just a small thing, the Bloomberg privacy breach allegations. There are far weightier matters in search; for example, are evaluations and ratings of search vendors objective? Someone on the LinkedIn Enterprise Search Engine Professional Group even raised the possibility that vendors “pay” for coverage in some consultants’ evaluations of technology.
Well, on to the smaller thing which is labeled this way in the New York Times: “Privacy Breach on Bloomberg’s Data Terminals.” You can located the story in the May 11, 2013, edition of the newspaper. If you look online at http://goo.gl/oeMqA you may be able to view the news story. (Google, no promises because I know how you want every blog post to have continuously updated links, but that’s another issue.)
The main idea seems to have originated with a real journalism operation called The New York Post. This point appears in paragraph six, so it is definitely a subordinate point.
As I understand the allegation, Bloomberg tradition terminals had a function which allowed “journalists to monitor subscribers were promptly disabled.” I think that Bloomberg terminals generate some sort of report which allegedly allowed a journalist to determine if someone had used the terminal. The idea is that no use of a terminal suggests that the person has either moved on, lost his or her hands, or experienced an opportunity to find his / her future elsewhere.
How secure are secure systems. Image source: Sandia.gov at http://goo.gl/NaEBE. Modern methods for accessing digital information are difficult to depict. Paper is tangible. Digital data are just “out there.” Humans assume that if it cannot be seen, the problems associated with what’s “out there” are no big deal. Is this an informed viewpoint?
The Atlantic Wire covered the alleged breach in a story called “Why Billions Are at Stake in the Bloomberg Terminal Privacy Problem.” What I found interesting was that the Atlantic Wire pointed out that the breach allegedly allowed a journalist to determine the “news habits” of Bloomberg terminal users. Is this similar to the type of information which online services extract from users’ Web search histories?
They Are Appearing on IP Radar
May 11, 2013
Being out at sea is isolating and requires a person with a certain personality capable of handling that mindset, but ARS Technica points to something interesting that may shave off some of that feeling, “Good Morning, Captain: Open Ports Let Anyone Track Ships On Internet.” It is not surprising that everything is connected to the Internet and Rapid7 Lab researchers discovered during a census of the entire Internet that there was a lot of data from ships’ Automated Identification System receivers. The receivers allow people to track ships’ movements and are placed on ships, buoys, and other navigation markers. They are used to prevent collisions, the H2O equivalent of air traffic controllers. When the researchers discovered the data, within two hours they collected more than two gigabytes on ships, including military and law enforcement.
Before you ask the question, yes it does post a security risk, because everything from safety messages to casual greetings were picked up. The alarming factor is what type of ships they came from.
“As the Rapid7 report points out (and as numerous readers have pointed out as well) the data from AIS is openly published via AIS itself and a number of websites in any case. The data is public by nature—otherwise it wouldn’t be effective in preventing collisions at sea. But the information collected from the AIS system itself is a vulnerable asset—the US Coast Guard counts on AIS in combination with other, secure data sources as part of its Nationwide AIS, a maritime security system.”
Attackers could spoof the data and feed misinformation to cause terror and panic. The weakness has been noted and someone is on the case, per usual. The main question is when?
Whitney Grace, May 11, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Open Source Trends for CMS in 2013
May 10, 2013
CMS Wire does a great job of providing a monthly update of the latest in CMS news and releases. In their latest edition for the month of May, open source software is taking the spotlight. Read all the details in their article, “Alert: What’s Coming Up for Open Source CMS in May 2013.”
Here is a portion of the many new releases, updates, and products they cover:
“Every month we like to serve up a little open source CMS roundup, and like most months in this busy segment, May is packed with interesting tidbits . . . Content, portal and collaboration expert Liferay has announced an integration with Tibco this week, and the two companies have developed a combined product that will itself integrate with multiple systems. Liferay Portal will begin offering several enterprise Connectivity Adapters that use Tibco’s ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks starting in the third quarter, the company announced.”
Liferay is definitely up to good things as they seek to round out their portal offerings. But the emphasis on open source offerings should encourage users with enterprise needs to explore offerings outside of the realm of CMS. For instance, LucidWorks offers all-encompassing enterprise search for organizations that need a solution ready to go, but can choose to do some customization as desired. The best part is that solutions like LucidWorks are built upon the best of open source strength (in their case Apache Lucene/Solr) but are fully supported with training and customer service.
Emily Rae Aldridge, May 10, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Useful Source of Open Books
May 10, 2013
The good folks at O’Reilly Media offer a roster of Open Books for your inner programmer. O’Reilly has not only navigated the open license landscape to offer these publications, but also got them digitized into e-books so they can be available to anyone with an Internet connection. Though the publisher has offered books under various open copyrights for years, it now has a concerted focus in this area.
The write-up makes sure to give credit where credit is due:
“We’re happy to have partnered with two innovative nonprofits, Creative Commons and the Internet Archive, to solve the licensing and digitizing challenges involved in bringing Open Books to readers.
“While the books listed here use various open licenses, since 2003 we’ve focused on using the licenses created by Creative Commons. O’Reilly has adopted the Creative Commons Founders’ Copyright, which we’re applying to hundreds of out-of-print and current titles, pending author approval.
“Through its Open Library project, the Internet Archive is scanning and hosting PDF versions of our open books. We posted the first book, the original edition of The Whole Internet User’s Guide & Catalog in October of 2005, as part of the launch of the Open Content Alliance (we and the Internet Archive are among the founding members of the alliance).”
O’Reilly expresses gratitude to Creative Commons and the Internet Archive, and suggests users consider donating to these initiatives. (We concur.) Check out the generous list—you might just pick up some crucial information for free.
Cynthia Murrell, May 10, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
IBM Dominates Enterprise Social Software Market
May 10, 2013
How can a company become big in social media? Well, it helps to start by be big in general. We learn from eWeek that “IBM Tops Social Business Software Market Four Years in a Row.” The ranking was bestowed by research firm IDC, which also found that the worldwide enterprise social market grew by 25 percent from 2011 to 2012.
It is no surprise that this huge, proven global company is able to reel in the plum social clients. More than 60 of the current Fortune 100 companies rely on IBM’s social solutions, writer Darryl K. Taft tells us, including eight of the top 10 banks and retailers. The article notes:
“As this demand [for enterprise social networking] grows, organizations are looking to introduce social capabilities into all key areas, from marketing and research innovation to sales and human resources. The challenge is that many lack the ability to capture and share the unique insights from each employee and use it to help drive real value to the business. . . .
“At an event in January, Big Blue explained how IBM’s Lotus legacy has evolved into a new company focus on delivering software that helps organizations better collaborate and become more social enterprises. At the IBM Connect 2013 conference in Orlando, Fla., IBM pulled off the transformation from using its Lotus brand to herald its set of technologies that enable enterprise users to better work together and innovate based on that collaborative process.”
So there you go—size equals social. IBM is uniquely positioned to take advantage of any tech trend, and they are to be commended for recognizing the opportunity in enterprise social software (and for leveraging Lotus.) We are not surprised to see the company continue to lead the pack in this segment.
Cynthia Murrell, May 10, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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