Pay a Fee To Get Early Trade Info
July 8, 2013
According to CNBC in the article, “Thomson Reuters Gives Elite Traders Early Advantage,” Thomson Reuters and the University of Michigan are cashing in on early trade information. Here is how it works: Thomson Reuters collects data via its news agency and the University of Michigan applies its well-known economic statistic to the data. Together they sell the information to an elite group of traders two seconds before it is officially released. There is more than enough time in the digital age for traders to respond and take appropriate action. Reuters does have to pay Michigan a bit to a cool million a year.
The information package is also tiered, so another client still has the advantage over another.
“’I worry that there’s both a fairness and a disclosure issue,’ said former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Harvey Pitt. “’f I’m paying a lot of money, I should know whether I have the best deal possible. If there was no disclosure of the tiered structure, that would be a serious problem.’”
Reuters has not responded on how much its clients are paying for the package. Even if the deal is legal, it sounds like a bunch of insider trading. How long before these bought seconds do become illegal?
Whitney Grace, July 08, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Judge The Work By Its Quality
July 8, 2013
Let us stroll down the laurelled lanes of academia for a moment and gaze at the mountains of published articles in academic journals. If you have ever stepped into a university library or searched through an academic database, you will realize that most of these articles probably do not get read. The purpose of being published is being read, correct? The technical answer is yes, but really the answer is no. William M. Briggs takes a jab at academic publishing in his blog post, “Scientists Discover Way To Increase Publication.” Being published is a means as survival for many academics, but there is an overwhelming (and alarming) status quo: only good news hits the ink.
This methodology causes false facts to be considered truth. Briggs brings up the “Trust In Science Would Be Improved By Study Pre-Registration” signed by more than eighty signatories and for the scientific community to require pre-registration for publishing before results are in. The idea is that journals would publish whatever the results and reduce the amount of “making a piece publishable” thought processes.
Briggs does not think that is the solution:
“There will be a minor flood of papers pre-registering sketchy theories, and these will be all that is remembered. Some authors will publish their negative results, but many will forget them and move on to more fertile grounds. The bulk of these maybe-so works will be taken as positive evidence even if positive effects are never found or if negative effects are published.”
More papers will be published, but the rate of them being read is even lower because there will be too many. Briggs wants people to judge a paper by its quality and not the quantity. How often have we heard this before? An idealist hope, but not impossible—almost though. What questions can we draw about integrity? Just remember to always question and do research on your own.
Whitney Grace, July 08, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Flawed Enterprise Information Solutions
July 8, 2013
It can be hard to get any insider information out of Microsoft, but Ahmet Alp Balkan is a young software engineer working at the aforementioned company. He started working at Windows Azure as an intern and he was hired right after college. Since working there he was learned a lot, much of which he did not glean from college. He tells what he learned about the business world in, “8 Months In Microsoft, I Learned These.” Some of the items he learned are quite startling and others will not even make you blink. For instance, everyone learns at some point that they are working for someone else to earn their paycheck, they also have to step outside their specialty comfort zones, getting the job done, is the most important, and the latest upgrades are usually skipped.
What is alarming is this:
“Expect no documentation in corporations. I have seen the knowledge inside the company is mostly transferred by talking and hands-on sessions. Some parts of knowledge base generated are only emailed and not saved anywhere permanent. This is not how the information flows in the digital world. There are certain people, if they got hit by a bus, nobody can pick up their work or code. And it is okay. If this would have been my own company there would be tons of wiki pages.”
Also the mentality that it is more about what you sell rather than what you do that matters. Money speaks and makes the world go around. This mentality demonstrates how corporate America has the blinders on. Is this an explanation about why there are some enterprise information solutions that are flawed? Or maybe why some search applications suck? Can anyone else say narrow-minded and lack of the big picture?
Whitney Grace, July 08, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Hack Day with Grant Ingersoll
July 8, 2013
This spring and summer LucidWorks has been involved in some exciting professional development and training experiences, large and small scale. Another opportunity is coming up as LucidWorks hosts a “Hack Day” for Apache Lucene/Solr in Cambridge, England on July 26, 2013. Read more about the upcoming event on Meetup.com in, “Lucene/Solr Hack Day with Grant Ingersoll of Lucidworks.”
The summary of the event begins:
“We’re very happy to announce we’ll be running a ‘hack day’ based on the Apache Lucene/Solr search engine – a chance for developers using this technology to get together, chat, network and most importantly try out some ideas or projects in a friendly and collaborative environment! Our very special guest will be Grant Ingersoll, Chief Scientist and co-founder of LucidWorks, our US partner – Grant is a Lucene/Solr committer, long standing Apache Foundation member, co-founder of the Apache Mahout project and a renowned information retrieval expert.”
Charlie Hull of Flax is the organizer, a tremendous expert on open source enterprise search in his own right. This is an event not to be missed. Spots are limited, so register for yours today, courtesy of LucidWorks.
Emily Rae Aldridge, July 8, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Another Big Data Startup With Big Money
July 7, 2013
How many times have we heard about big data startups getting a massive funding investment in the past year? The number is so high it almost reaches the amount of funding these companies are received. Taking a look at the Wall Street Journal Digits Blog we have another one, “Stealth Data Startup RelateIQ Raises $29 Million.” After a cunning pun about being hidden for two years, the article explains how RelateIQ is becoming a big name in big data:
“The startup, which is now valued at $100 million, is backed by Accel Partners, an early investor in Facebook, Allen & Co., Battery Ventures, and others part of Facebook’s network, including co-founder Dustin Moskovitz. It also is being advised by technology gurus including Bill Campbell, the former executive coach of Steve Jobs, and DJ Patil, the former chief scientist of LinkedIn.”
RelateIQ is part of the new wave of big data startups that specialize in enterprise companies. Enterprise companies are interested in managing the data from old storage towers to social networks with the hopes for better business relationships. RelateIQ’s funding is a major leap for a small startup. Just wait for more money to poor in less well-funded outfits.
Whitney Grace, July 07, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Here Is a Hint Invest In STEM Workers
July 6, 2013
Have you ever heard of a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) worker? Probably not, but Brookings.edu reports in the article, “The Hidden STEM Economy” that 20% of the twenty-six million jobs in the US are in the STEM field. Since the economic downfall, recovery has been concentrated on workers with at least a bachelor’s degree. Most STEM jobs do not require a four-year college degree and have a high payout. Even if a worker has a degree in a STEM field the pay grade is much higher.
In a STEM based economy, job growth, wages, patenting, exports, and employment rates are much higher. Another positive factor is a larger concentration of these jobs means less income inequality. Where is the government in all of this?
“Of the $4.3 billion spent annually by the federal government on STEM education and training, only one-fifth goes towards supporting sub-bachelor’s level training, while twice as much supports bachelor’s or higher level-STEM careers. The vast majority of National Science Foundation spending ignores community colleges. In fact, STEM knowledge offers attractive wage and job opportunities to many workers with a post-secondary certificate or associate’s degree. Policy makers and leaders can do more to foster a broader absorption of STEM knowledge to the U.S workforce and its regional economies.”
What can we learn from this? Invest in this end of the workforce! It also points to technology being on the growing side (again), which means new innovation in information retrieval.
Whitney Grace, July 06, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Mobile: Has Spreadsheet Fever Hit Samsung?
July 5, 2013
As far as I know, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd has only dabbled in mobile search. The investment in research and development facilities in Korea and Silicon Valley caught my attention. The company has been riding high on mobile sales, winning in spats with Apple, and knocking out customers with a range of products. The days of the microwave as the defining Samsung technology are long gone. See, for example, “Samsung Looks to the Future with $4.5 Billion Investment in Five New R&D Centers.”
Mobile phone R&D is going in some surprising directions. We have heard that Google [x] Labs (don’t you love the spelling which obfuscates finding information about the whizzy new Google facilities difficult) is poking into some pretty esoteric stuff. We know this low profile activity is underway because we have discovered two instances of key [x] Labs’ professionals publishing information under different versions of their given names. What’s up with that? Typographical errors. I plan to release a report similar to my dataspaces and Guha analyses in the near future. Keep in mind that the investment in Motorola is not making headlines. The acquisition may become a business school case study, but the mobile world seems to be exploding. Even Apple is poking into advanced materials, different types of interfaces, and new services. Will there be low cost phones, new online information services, and premium priced hardware? My bet is yes.
Now I learned in “Samsung Electronics’ Second Quarter Misses Forecast as Smartphone Worries Deepen” that the Korean giant is troubling some of the MBA crowd. The Reuters news story — presumably accurate — states:
Now investors fear Samsung may also follow in the footsteps of Apple and other once-mighty players that are struggling with shrinking margins, in an industry where companies live and die by their ability to stay ahead of the innovation curve.
What’s going on?
I see some parallels with the revenue-itis which has been plaguing search and content processing companies for two years.
First, the mobile market seems to expanding. The business school hockey stick curve is alive and well for Apple, Google, and Samsung. MBAs know that hockey sticks do not have infinite handles. But when cranking out financials, it is oh-so-easy to let Excel predict continued growth. The search and content processing vendors know that growth is pretty much over in some search sectors. I have a list of words that search vendors use to disguise the fact that the firms are selling technology which has not changed significantly in years. The Samsung alarm suggests that mobile may not have the lift it did before. Ergo: interface, services, bioengineering, and other “new” ways to keep that revenue pumping. Like search, mobile phone dependent companies may have their work cut out for them. The value adds do not come easy.
Second, the reality of most high-tech markets is that the economic downturn is continuing to affect companies big and small. The reason is that the customers are either short of cash and spending for cost reductions or suffering from “technology fatigue.” The barrage of “new and improved” is just not sticking in organizations in which people are worried about their jobs. Why make a decision when that decision may cause people to get fired. Isn’t it better to do nothing? Is that mobile phone worth the extra money and hassle to relearn a gadget? I think fatigue and resistance to change are significant factors. The rise of Chinese manufacturers offering multi SIM phones is becoming a big deal. Have you looked at products produced by Huawei Technologies or ZTE?
Third, the datasphere is reeling from the privacy and security issues which are hanging around. At a dinner party last night, a 70 year old asked, “Should I stop using my mobile phone?” I just listened and what I heard was a serious concern that the online magic of the last 20 years may be morphing into a trick. I never believed in magic, but a 70 year old who is worried about calls to her grandchildren is something new in the mobile world. If this type of concern escalates, what happens to mobile online advertising and uptake of new gizmos? What happens to the projections the MBAs bet their BMWs on?
Net net: I think the Samsung forecast, if accurate, is important. If Samsung turns around the negative outlook, I will breathe a sigh of relief. If not, will the high flying mobile sector with its predictive search and mobile advertising revenues head down downwards?
Search and content processing vendors are in serious financial quicksand. Nokia like other smaller mobile outfits is struggling to pull its hip boots out of the muck. Microsoft is exerting a great deal of effort to get to solid ground tool. Will Apple, Google, Samsung, and a handful of others avoid the perils of spending many quarters in the revenue swamp?
I will be watching this adventure from dry land I might add.
Stephen E Arnold, July 5, 2013
Sponsored by Xenky
Churnalism Invades The US And UK Press
July 5, 2013
For those who cannot tell by the nifty combination of churn and journalism, churnalism refers to reporters “churning” out pieces that regurgitate press releases and other prior existing content into a news story. The problem with churnalism is that it only pulls from one resource, which is contrary to good journalism that requires research and fact checking. MakeUseOf.com focuses on churnalism in the US and across the pond in the United Kingdom in the article, “Churnalism: Find Out When Reporters Re-Print Press Releases.”
There are two ways to figure out if an article has been “churnaled” or not. There are two search engines that churn articles (one for each country) and matches results against press releases. The databases only check a few databases by default, but more can be added based on the user’s preference. Also there are web browser extensions to check articles as you surf the web.
Keep in mind, however, that even though too much churnalism is bad that does not mean all articles are unoriginal:
“Churnalism warning you about an article doesn’t mean it’s “bad” – much of the time the only thing you’ll see in an article is a quote from the release. This probably means the reporter didn’t talk to the people in question, but it’s up to you to determine whether this matters.”
Remember to use the one feature developers have not been able to program yet: human judgment. Only an inquiring mind can decipher schlock from gems.
Whitney Grace, July 05, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
The Duck Is Gaining Over the Google Goose
July 5, 2013
Remember the old child game “duck duck goose?” It is now time to play “duck duck Google” with the top search engine chasing DuckDuckGo around in a circle. The privacy-based search engine may still end up being in the metaphorical pot, but Search Engine Journal reports, “DuckDuckGo vs. Google (Impressive New Stats)” that will make anyone quack with enthusiasm. According to new statistics released by DuckDuckGo, the tiny search engine has peeked at passing the two million searches in one day.
“It’s not compared to the billions daily that Google, Bing, or Facebook have but it’s a really good start. What’s most impressive is the HUGE increase and triple in traffic since January of this year!”
In February, DuckDuckGo hit its first one million web searches in a single day and only four months later they were able to double it. It is amazing news considering the billions of searches that are conducted via Google, Bing, and Facebook everyday. The underdog is coming out to show its thunder. Take note big engines, people do not like to have their searches tracked. DuckDuckGo is a metasearch engine, so it aggregates its results from other tools. However it does keep the results anonymous!
Whitney Grace, July 05, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Literal Cloud Wipes Out Virtual Cloud at Facebook
July 5, 2013
Something strange happened on the way to Facebook’s first data center, as reported by The Register in the article titled Facebook’s First Data Center Drenched By Actual Cloud. The “humidity event” that Facebook mentioned was caused by the modern air conditioning system in place in the facility. The actual indoor cloud stole all the attention from the cloud that powered the social network. The cloud and rain caused panic and damaged many servers. The article explains,
“Consumer internet giants such as Google, Facebook, and others have all been on a tear building facilities that use outside air instead.
In Prineville’s first summer of operation, a problem in the facility’s building-management system led to high temperature and low humidity air from the hot aisles being endlessly recirculated though a water-based evaporative cooling system that sought to cool the air down – which meant that when the air came back into the cold aisle for the servers it was so wet it condensed.”
With new protective rubber seals around Facebook’s server’s power supply, the social media network is prepared to weather whatever storms may come, inside or outside. Facebook also made changes to its building-management system, making their facility one of the most efficient in the industry, even beating out Google in some cases.
Chelsea Kerwin, July 05, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
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