Corporate Security Concerns Addressed with Intelligence API
August 15, 2013
One of the byproducts of departmental organization in the enterprise has been the invariable occurrence of competing needs between different departments. An article from Exterro, “Aligning E-Discovery Software and Data Management with Enterprise Security Requirements,” presents one of these cases where ideas are at odds.
IT security controls and e-discovery technologies, while they both involve sensitive electronically stored information (ESI), have evolved independent of each other — according to the article.
While IT security has mainly been concerned with protecting networks from unwanted access or tampering, e-discovery systems have been designed with access in mind. Different groups – mostly comprised of legal professionals – need to analyze and manage large volumes of documents. As one analyst recently described, data security has always been the ‘elephant in the e-discovery living room.’
For organizations dealing with this struggle, we recommend implementing a component like Cogito Intelligence API that offers businesses concerned with avoiding risks the confidence in using a solution already embedded with corporate security measures. Expert System has over a decade of experience with semantic technology and creating solutions for businesses that emphasize security concerns while still extending access to appropriate users.
Megan Feil, August 15, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Aunt Bertha Helps Us Find Social Service Programs
August 15, 2013
We all know that Google Search is a wonderful tool, especially those of us old enough to remember trekking to the (physical) library to research any little thing. It is not, however, especially good at directing one to government or charitable services. One consultant with a programming background decided to pick up the slack with a tailored search service, we learn from Fast Company‘s piece, “Fixing Google Search’s Social Services Gap.”
Creator Erine Gray was working as a consultant for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission when he was frustrated by existing search engines’ deficiencies in this area. Writer Stan Alcorn explains his approach to the innovative solution:
“Where Aunt Bertha looks more revolutionary–and where it actually makes money–is in its promises for the social service providers themselves. For those that pay to receive applications through Aunt Bertha, search results go straight to an online form that saves the basic, repeated information–80% of most forms, according to Gray–for future use.
“This means less work for the applicant. Bringing up a housing program called the Children’s Home Initiative, Gray says, ‘If I apply to this program in January and then maybe a health insurance program in March, it’s going to remember how I answered that question.’ It also has the potential to provide charities with information they’ve never had about what social services people are asking for and where.”
Upon landing on the comparatively uncluttered site, I am greeted by Aunt Bertha’s friendly visage. I enter my zip code in the prominent box, then proceed to a well-designed page that sports user-friendly, color-coded categories like “food” and “education.” Under each of these icons is displayed the number of programs in that category (that the site knows of) in my zip code. My city seems to have a lot of healthcare and education resources, for example, but is low on food, housing, and legal help. Hmm.
The clean design continues on the results page, where I can easily see what each program provides and whom it is designed for. On tabs for each service, I find details about it as well as (if available) a link to the program’s website. And, of course, if the provider has contracted with Bertha, I can submit an application right there. Handy!
I would highly recommend this site to anyone researching social service options. The only caveat will, I hope, soon be overcome: Aunt Bertha is still in beta, and so far has only attracted a few customers (that is, service providers themselves.) She could also use some more folks to go by and tell her about programs in their areas, especially in rural locations and smaller cities.
I hope readers will spread the word, and programs receive a slew of requests to join. If the site takes off, Aunt Bertha could make life that much easier for millions of Americans.
Cynthia Murrell, August 15, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Compressor Contest
August 15, 2013
If you want to squish text, here’s a useful resource. Blogger and tech strategist Matt Mahoney hosts a contest that puts lossless data compression programs to the test. Using a particular text dump, the English version of Wikipedia from March 3, 2006, he examines the compressed size of the data‘s first billion bytes. He explains the reason for the initiative:
“The goal of this benchmark is not to find the best overall compression program, but to encourage research in artificial intelligence and natural language processing (NLP). A fundamental problem in both NLP and text compression is modeling: the ability to distinguish between high probability strings like recognize speech and low probability strings like reckon eyes peach. . . .
“Compressors are ranked by the compressed size of enwik9 (109 bytes) plus the size of a zip archive containing the decompresser. Options are selected for maximum compression at the cost of speed and memory. Other data in the table does not affect rankings. This benchmark is for informational purposes only. There is no prize money for a top ranking.”
Still, bragging rights themselves will be worth it for the winner. See the write-up for all the technical details, including a detailed rundown of each compressor.
Cynthia Murrell, August 15, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of
Long Awaited Updates to Desktop Search Tool Everything
August 15, 2013
Everything has been updated. That may sound like a reductive philosophical stance, but I am actually referring to the desktop search utility named Everything, which has been in beta for the last five years. Betanews informs us of the platform’s sudden leap forward in, “Aging Desktop Search Tool Everything Now Receives Major Update.” Writer Mike Williams informs us about this apparently underappreciated tool:
“Five years have passed since the search tool Everything first appeared, and the program’s amazing speed gets it fans ever since. It’s easy to see why, too — there’s no fuss, no complexity, just enter part of a file or folder name and results appear just as quickly as you can type.
“What is a little more surprising, though, is that the program’s last stable release was back in March 2009. But there’s no need to worry, Everything isn’t dead, just ‘resting’, and a series of betas released this year show that the developer is determined to make up for lost time.”
It is important to note that Everything only runs on NTFS-formatted drives, and that it searches data by name, not by content. Still, if you know the name of what you are looking for, it might be the most efficient choice. A few of the improvements include: increased ease of locating files of a specified type; an expanded search syntax; the option to run the program as a service; a search history and bookmarks; and context menu customizations. See the write-up for more information.
Cynthia Murrell, August 15, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Hortonworks Parts Ways with CoFounder
August 15, 2013
Eric Baldeschwieler, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer at Hortonworks, is parting ways with the company. There is some ambiguity as to why the leader of the major Apache Hadoop distributor is leaving. ZDNet covers the story in, “Hortonworks Confirms Co-founder and CTO’s Departure.”
The article begins:
“CEO Rob Bearden confirmed the news in a blog post on Tuesday, acknowledging he was following up on a GigaOM report on Monday already suggesting Baldeschwieler’s departure. The co-founder of the Apache Hadoop distributor appears to be leaving on good terms, but where he is going (and why) remains a mystery. While thanking Baldeschwieler in his remarks, Bearden’s only other comments were dedicated to the short history of the company with an optimistic outlook on where the market is going.”
There has been a lot of shake-up in open source leadership already this year. However, most of it is expansion, as open source companies need the manpower and expertise to fuel the continuing open source boom. But one thing is clear – open source adoption is not slowing down and does not suffer under leadership changes. LucidWorks is a company that uses Hadoop technology in their Lucidworks Big Data solution, and they have brought several new staff on board to bolster the ranks recently. Their industry-leading support coupled with the innovation and efficiency that open source is known for makes LucidWorks a leading contender in the market.
Emily Rae Aldridge, August 15, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Inter Gator: Federated Search from Germany
August 14, 2013
Short honk: We learned about Industrie Consulting. At this link, the inter:gator enterprise search system is explained briefly. What are the “unique” propositions for this search system? The Web page mentions in German (English translation below):
- A system which searches “all” information. (Isn’t this a categorical affirmative?)
- Access controls
- Semantic functions
- A navigator results viewer (hyperbolic map)
- A dashboard. Widgets display search results in different forms on the dashboard.
- “Attractive” price.
The company opened its doors about a decade ago it appears. The system appears to be related to TextDog if the Wikipedia entry is accurate. The system may be based on Lucene. You can download white papers and marketing materials which explain the system. Point your browser to a page with a SharePoint-centric url: http://goo.gl/87ULSW
You may want to brush up on your German. I did not spot any English language information on the firm’s Web site. When you search for information about the company, be aware that the spelling “inter:gator” can produce results with the string in quotes changed to “integrator.” The use of special characters and seemingly innocuous misspellings can have an impact on the relevance of the results of the query.
Stephen E Arnold, August 14, 2013
Sponsored by Xenky
The Year of the Smartwatch
August 14, 2013
Switzerland, rejoice! Wrist-based technology may be about to boom again. Quartz tells us that “Almost Every Major Consumer Electronics Manufacturer is Now Working on a Smart Watch.” Could this be the way to shake the traditional mobile phone? It seems like the logical next step toward the implantation of chips in our heads. (Really, can that be more than a decade or two away?)
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Right now, wrist-mounted tech seems to be the next big thing in hardware. Writer Christopher Mims explains:
“Competition among makers of smartphones and the endless quest for the next big thing has nearly every major consumer electronics manufacturer working on a smart watch or at least contemplating it. The latest is Dell, whose global VP of personal computing just told The Guardian that the company is thinking about a smart watch despite ‘challenges in cost, and how to make it a really good experience.’ Analysts are declaring 2013 the year of the smart watch, and seem sure that an entirely new product category is about to be born.”
The article examines projects at eleven companies from Acer to Toshiba, some complete with pictures. Most remind me of digital watches circa 1980. The only major electronics companies not (yet) rumored to be developing such a device are HP, HTC, Lenovo and Nokia.
Though most of these products are slated for launch either next year or in the nebulous future, the list does include the Kickstarter-funded Pebble, produced by Allerta and now available at Best Buy. (The development of the Pebble was informed by production of BlackBerry’s InPulse, which BlackBerry had outsourced to Allerta. The InPulse was launched in 2010, but may have been a few years too early—it was shortly discontinued.)
So, is this the next thing in convenient technology, or will consumers reject the impulse to strap our phones to our wrists? There are those of us would prefer to skip straight to the HUD approach of Google Glass. In the long run, both seem to me just stepping stones on the road to cyborg-dom. . . . Hmm, is it possible that I consume too much science fiction? I suppose only time will tell.
Cynthia Murrell, August 14, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Russian Mail.ru Drops Google for Homegrown Platform
August 14, 2013
Now, Yandex is not the only web search engine nipping at Google’s heels in Russia. Mail.ru (aka My.com) just ditched their Google contract, relying instead on their own recently completed platform. The Next Web announces the development in, “Russian Internet Giant Mail.ru Drops Google to Power All Search Engine Queries Itself.”
Writer Paul Sawers reminds us that there were some rumors to this effect last November. He also notes:
“Russia is among Europe’s largest Internet markets measured by number of users, with Mail.ru Group’s sites reaching around 86% of Russian Internet users each month, and Search Mail.Ru notching up 39.5 million monthly users. So dropping Google entirely for its own service is a major move not only for the company itself, but for users across the region. . . .
“Mail.ru may be a big player in Russian-language countries, but it has been looking to expand into international markets too, under the name My.com, but no word yet on how these efforts are paying off.”
An interesting shift. Is Russia becoming another lost market (like China) for Google? It may even be that, as enterprises like Mail.ru expand, Google will face more stiff competition around the globe. That would be interesting.
Cynthia Murrell, August 14, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Organic Results on Google a Shrinking Commodity
August 14, 2013
The free ride is over. Google seems to have decided it is time to make the most of AdWords, the Tutorspree Blog illustrates in, “How Google is Killing Organic Search.” The post begins by praising the Google of the past which, writer Aaron Harris accurately observes, “won search by providing the best organic results users had ever seen.” Since then, though, the company’s profit motive has been slowly strangling unpaid, organic search results.
The post begins with an visual presentation. Harris took screen shots of some different Googley searches and calculated the percentage of each results page devoted to organic results. The low numbers (all under 15 percent) are particularly galling, he says, for local business owners who bought into Google’s promises that well-structured pages would mean high visibility. The post concludes:
“Google is building a new version of the search engine that made it great. This time, however, it is a search engine exclusive to the garden of Google products. If you compete with Google in any way, you’re in its crosshairs. Your chances of ranking high enough to garner traffic are virtually nil and getting smaller.
“The scariest part of this is that, if you sell something using the internet, regardless of whether or not you see yourself as a ‘local’ business – or think you’re competing with Google – Google sees you as competition. Searching for ‘Camera’ or ‘Buy a Dress Shirt’ gets you a nearly identical split of screen real estate as that of ‘local’ searches. Nearly everything leads back to a Google product except for an ever-decreasing amount of ‘Organic’ real estate.”
I wish I could say I was surprised, but Google is in business to make money, after all. They do seem to be more directly focused on that goal lately. Will the approach pay off, or will users turn to other search alternatives?
Cynthia Murrell, August 14, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Elasticsearch Brings on Additional Leadership
August 14, 2013
Open source companies are announcing expansions and broadening leadership teams at a rapid pace. Elasticsearch is joining that trend with their latest announcement. Read more in the MarketWatch article, “Elasticsearch Names Kevin Kluge Vice President of Engineering.”
The article begins:
“Elasticsearch, the company behind the popular real-time search and analytics open source project, today announced the appointment of Kevin Kluge as vice president of engineering. Kevin has a history of leading engineering teams for companies that have changed the dynamics of their markets, including Citrix, Cloud.com and Zimbra. He will play a critical role in extending the value of Elasticsearch.”
Elasticsearch has been a bit embattled in the last year but there is not doubt that they are part of the larger trend of a growing open source search market. However, they are not quite up to the standard that LucidWorks and others have set. LucidWorks is considered the industry leader in customer support and training, and they build upon what is arguably the strongest open source search infrastructure and community, Apache Lucene Solr.
Emily Rae Aldridge, August 14, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
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