Mobily Attempts to Intercept Saudi Arabian Terrorists
June 21, 2013
The article on the thoughtcrime blog titled A Saudi Arabia Telecom’s Surveillance Pitch reads more than anything like a plea to the humanity of hackers. The author (Moxie Marlinspike) relates his communications with a Mobily agent. He learned from the agent of the telecom operating in Saudi Arabia that they were attempting to gain interception technology for mobile application data. Mobile Twitter, Viber, Line and WhatsApp were several focuses. The article relates,
“What’s depressing is that I could have easily helped them intercept basically all of the traffic they were interested in (except for Twitter – I helped write that TLS code, and I think we did it well). They later told me they’d already gotten a WhatsApp interception prototype working, and were surprised by how easy it was. The bar for most of these apps is pretty low.”
Eventually when Marlinspike refused to help the company, they accused him of terrorism (or at least terrorism by negligence). They claimed that terrorist groups were using these apps to communicate, and that they only intended to monitor them due to the inherent threat. Obviously it is naïve to believe that any government or company will have the moral compass to restrain themselves, as has been proven in the past. The article goes on to ask his fellow hackers to rethink their priorities. It may be an interesting way to collect information, but where will it end?
Chelsea Kerwin, June 21, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
LucidWorks a Big Data Startup to Watch
June 21, 2013
Big Data is a big market, and everyone either has an eye out toward investment or toward adoption of one of the up and coming solutions. CIO has highlights the best of the best in their latest article, “10 Hot Big Data Startups to Watch.”
We were pleased to see that LucidWorks makes the list, as we happen to think their solutions and services are some of the best. Read what the article has to say about LucidWorks:
“LucidWorks Search is designed to help developers build highly secure, scalable and cost-effective search applications, while providing a simple and comprehensive way to access open-source search technologies. LucidWorks Big Data is an application development platform that integrates search capabilities into the foundational layer of Big Data implementations . . . LucidWorks Big Data and LucidWorks Search work hand-in-hand to accelerate and simplify the building of highly secure, scalable and cost-effective search applications.”
The LucidWorks enterprise search tools help users navigate Big Data. Ease of navigation is essential for any Big Data solution, because if it is not intuitive, it is not going to be used. Also setting LucidWorks apart is their industry leading support and services offerings. Big Data can be daunting, but LucidWorks does it right and makes it doable.
Emily Rae Aldridge, June 21, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Predictors of Search Success
June 20, 2013
I learned that a traditional commercial database company has revised some of it sales person training. The shift has been from value based selling to something much more basic — getting organized. Will “getting organized” help this company move from its moribund library market into the high flying world of the organic growth toward $800 million or more? Nah. Not a chance.
But the “back to basics” shift is not an anomaly.
I read “Organizational Skills Beat Algorithmic Wizardry.” The main point is that creating useful software is more dependent on one’s ability to be organized than working fancy math in one’s head. If that were not enough, I read “Google Admits Those Infamous Brainteasers Were Completely Useless for Hiring.” I included some of the questions in one of my Google monographs.
I recall this screening question even though I am not smart enough to be a full time Googler. Maybe a rental? But even then I am a dull normal in a pond of 160+ IQ types. Here’s the question:
In your opinion, what is the most beautiful math equation ever derived?
An acceptable answer, as I have heard, is
My answer of 1 + 1 = 3 was unacceptable. My reasoning was that one Googler plus one bonus for social innovation yields a great social media service like Google Plus Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Such a dunce am I. The key attribute is knowing how to generate revenue and then increasing that revenue.
Here’s what the “revelation” reported in the Quartz asserted:
Google has admitted that the head scratching questions it once used to quiz job applicants (How many piano tuners are there in the entire world? Why are manhole covers round?) were utterly useless as a predictor of who will be a good employee. “We found that brainteasers are a complete waste of time,” Laszlo Bock, senior vice president of people operations at Google, told the New York Times. “They don’t predict anything. They serve primarily to make the interviewer feel smart.”
Too bad I am to dumb to know much about anything. Euler. He probably pronounced his name like “oil” as in “oiler.” For my US readers, some knowledge of math is helpful in unpacking this analysis.
Stephen E Arnold, June 20, 2013
Sponsored by Xenky
Excluding Business Services: LinkedIn Deletes a Content Space
June 20, 2013
Is this censorship? It is difficult to search for something when the content is not in the index. NBC News reports, “Frisky Business? LinkedIn Evicts Little-Known ‘Red Light District’.” The media hubbub began with what a representative calls a small clarification in the site’s policy statement: “Even if it is legal where you are located, [don’t] create profiles or provide content that promotes escort services or prostitution.”
We sympathize. Understandably, LinkedIn does not want to be confused with Craigslist. Still, if a profession is legal where practiced, should the site really bar its practitioners from its hallowed pages? Writer Helen A.S. Popkin consulted brothel-owner Dennis Hof of Nevada, where the vocation is aboveboard:
“‘What’s the problem? We have a license to do this,’ said Hof, whose employees also have LinkedIn accounts. ‘Our business is as legal as theirs. . . .'”
Hof hopes LinkedIn doesn’t try to remove his account, or the accounts of his employees. ‘If it’s OK to do that, is it OK to drop Dairy Queen too because it serves too much fat and calories? Is LinkedIn going to be the moral arbiter, and drop Coca-Cola or anybody who works for a cigarette company? Where do you stop with that?'”
I think LinkedIn is actually pretty clear on where it, specifically, stops with that. I’m sure the site is simply protecting its reputation and working to maintain what it considers a professional tone. Still, barring a law-abiding businessperson just because the company doesn’t like the occupation. . . . Hmm.
Cynthia Murrell, June 20, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
SAP to Set All Cloud Products on HANA Foundation
June 20, 2013
Data firm SAP is rightly proud if its in-memory platform HANA. Things are going so well that ComputerWorldUK now reports, “HANA to Fully Underpin SAP Cloud Products Within ‘One or Two Years’.” The company is using the platform as the basis for all of its cloud solutions, including recent acquisitions like SuccessFactors and Ariba. Writer Derek du Preez tells us:
“Enterprise software giant SAP has unveiled a ‘unified’ cloud strategy this week, which will see its cloud products supported by its in-memory database technology, HANA, within one or two years.
“The move indicates SAP’s dedication to the HANA platform and complements its announcement last week that HANA will now be offered as a third-party managed cloud service. In recent years SAP’s focus on HANA has been the ability to run analytics in real-time, but has since revealed capabilities to run full ERP, CRM and SCM apps in-memory.”
At the top of our minds: How will SAP search stuff in HANA? Which of the second-tier search vendors will the company embrace now that Autonomy, Brainware, Exalead, Fast, Isys, and Vivisimo are off the table? Hmm. . .Trex, perhaps?
SAP supplies enterprise software to over 238,000 customers. Founded 1972 by five former IBM workers, the company is headquartered in Walldorf Germany and maintains locations in over 130 countries.
Cynthia Murrell, June 20, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Data Ownership in the Cloud
June 20, 2013
Another voice cautions us about oversharing in the cloud. Will we listen? SC Magazine ponders “Online Ownership.” Writer Verity Sleeman laments that users of social sites from Facebook to Soundcloud continue to upload more and more personal information to the servers of others without considering who, exactly, retains legal rights to that data. In fact, for many the sharing begins long, long before they can have anything to say about it. The article charges:
“This is happening right now; devoted mothers are posting pictures of their children on social media sites. What rights will the children have to remove these pictures later in life? The law is very unclear on this point; for example Facebook ‘owns’ everything posted to it.”
It does not help that the pace of modern technology far, far outstrips the plodding of legislation and bureaucracy. Sleeman observes:
“Unfortunately for them, the people that make the rules are basing them on old paradigms, when the risks were different or non-existent. Pity the child who’s entire life is in the public domain and who was never made aware of the consequences.”
Of course, kids are not the only ones for whom personal data strewn through the cloud can be a problem. Sleeman is wise, and practical, enough to know there is no escaping the cloud now. She wouldn’t want to, she says, for she finds the technology useful. We just have to put some thought into the ways we use it. And the ways we let it use us.
Cynthia Murrell, June 20, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
ThoughtWorks Technology Radar Reports Highlights Open Source
June 20, 2013
The ThoughtWorks Technology Radar report was recently released, and it is recommending Elasticsearch as an enterprise search platform. MarketWatch covers the news in its article, “Elasticsearch Platform Recommended as ‘Adopt’ by ThoughtWorks in Its Latest Technology Radar Report.”
The article begins:
“Elasticsearch, the company behind the popular real-time search and analytics open source project, was highlighted by ThoughtWorks, the global technology consultancy, as a leading go-to search platform in its bi-annual Technology Radar report. Read by thousands of technology leaders, this inclusion is validation of Elasticsearch, which has more than 2.5 million downloads to date. Companies around the world are using Elasticsearch to explore and understand large sets of data easier and more cost effectively than with other solutions.”
But Elasticsearch has encountered some known reliability issues when deployed on a large scale. In addition, their download count can be misleading, as each update is released and counted as a separate download, instead of an update of an existing user. Lastly, cost effectiveness is more than just monetary; there is also the cost of time and expertise in order to implement the solution. For the reasons above, LucidWorks, a value-added Apache Lucene Solr solution, may be a better option for many enterprises. LucidWorks fully supports their solution and its out-of-the-box capability, saving time, money, and heartache over the long term.
Emily Rae Aldridge, June 20, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Vietnamese Startup Challenges Google
June 19, 2013
Some veterans of Russia’s Internet scene perceived a unique opportunity in Vietnam. “Russians Attempt to Topple Google in Vietnam,” declares The Economic Times of India. Those observers recently helped found an Internet search company in that country called Coc Coc (“Knock Knock” in English). Their workers’ fundamental understanding of the language and culture, they say, make for a more effective Vietnamese algorithm that could unseat Google there.
Google’s situation is complicated by the government’s position on censorship; it is currently working on laws that would further strangle free expression online. It might even require foreign companies to maintain servers within their borders. As we saw in China, Google will (wisely) lose business rather than play ball with a repressive regime. Coc Coc, however, may be more willing to cooperate with its host government.
The article relates:
“‘When I came here, I had some understanding why Vietnam was a good market to beat Google,’ said Mikhail Kostin, the company’s chief search expert and like others in Coc Coc, a veteran at Russia’s largest Internet company, Mail.Ru. ‘But after living here for one year, I understand the language and market much more deeply. I’m sure it’s right.’
“Close to a third of Vietnam’s 90 million people are online and men and women browsing phones and tablets are a common sight in the cafes of its towns and cities. The country’s potential for growth, its young population and good Internet infrastructure have made it an attractive destination for regional and international investors and startups in online content, e-payment and other services.”
Coc Coc also has an advantage over other local startups—plenty of cash. The company will not identify investors, but says it will have over $100 million to spend over the next five years. For its part, Google simply says it welcomes the competition.
Cynthia Murrell, June 19, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Striking a Balance Between Human and Machine
June 19, 2013
Math is on the march, as computer algorithms are poised to take over everything from driving cars to granting parole to inmates. Aeon takes a thoughtful look at the phenomenon in, “Slaves to the Algorithm.” The article asks whether the trajectory will leave a place for human judgment. Writer Steven Pool ponders:
“What lies behind our current rush to automate everything we can imagine? Perhaps it is an idea that has leaked out into the general culture from cognitive science and psychology over the past half-century — that our brains are imperfect computers. If so, surely replacing them with actual computers can have nothing but benefits.”
I recommend checking out the article. It is full of developments that have already taken place (some startling), as well as strong indicators of where we are headed with our increasingly algorithm-managed world. The central issue is the degree to which we will allow the math to take over. Example questions include: How would, and should, an automated driver react to an out-of-control school bus full of kids? Or to what extent do automatic content filters hamper free speech? Will news aggregators continue to narrow our personal windows onto the world? Issues that stand in the way of transparency in these decisions are also examined.
There is hope. Unsurprisingly, money is the motive for the first evidence Pool sees of a check to the algorithm’s power grab. Now that high-frequency trading algorithms have shown (more than once) that they have the power to bring the market to its knees, regulators are beginning to impose checks on the use of these tools. The article observes:
“Here, then, are the first ‘algorithmic auditors’. Perhaps their example will prompt similar developments in other fields — culture, education, and crime — that are considerably more difficult to quantify, even when there is no immediate cash peril.”
Perhaps, but I suspect it will take more to spur such “auditors” outside of finance. Meanwhile, now is the time to have a discussion about what we want our future to look like, and how much control we humans wish to retain.
Cynthia Murrell, June 19, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Scientific American on How to Avoid Creeperdom
June 19, 2013
We were a little surprised to see this guide come from Scientific American: “How to Keep from Being a ‘Creeper’ on Social Media.” Writer Leslie Meredith consulted the closest social media expert, her teen daughter, on how to investigate a potential flame without setting off the stalker bells. For example, she writes:
“Instagram has replaced Facebook as the top social network to post photos of your activities, friends and interests. And it’s easy to find people on Instagram because searching by real name brings up a person’s account even if they use a catchy screen name. But it’s easy to slip up.
‘Be careful when scrolling through an Instagram profile,’ 15-year-old Elizabeth said. ‘It’s easy to accidentally double tap [a shortcut to liking a photo], then everyone knows you scrolled all the way down to pictures posted 42 weeks ago.'”
The advice continues like this, detailing the mechanisms of certain social sites and the common reactions to certain actions. Practical advice that can keep many out of trouble, I suppose. See the write-up for more cringe-avoiding tips.
Cynthia Murrell, June 19, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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