Google Street View: Priorities in Brazil Become Clearer
March 2, 2015
I used to live in the Cambui district of Campinas, Brazil. The street view of our home was snapped by Street View in 2011. Cambui is a dynamic area, but obviously not sufficiently zip zip for the GOOG to refresh its images.
However, I learned in “Google Street View Now Lets You Explore The Amazon Jungle Via Zip-Line”:
Google Street View, that brilliant service*/rabbit-hole-that-sucks-up-all-your-time-if-you-let-it* has included the world-famous rainforest since 2012, but now it has scaled the treetops after putting its Street View cameras on ziplines for the first time. That’s right. Google took its cameras and literally suspended them in the rainforest thanks to assistance from the Amazonas Sustainable Foundation (FAS).
Yep, the Amazon is fascinating. My father set up the factory which manufactured the sheep’s foot rollers that helped deforest some of the jungle and river environs in the name of progress. Hey, he worked for a company that manufactured armaments before embracing development of unspoiled lands.
Nevertheless, updating other Street View imagery might be warranted. Google has its hands full with the continued enhancement of Google+, the Loon balloons, and adjustable buildings. One can hope.
Stephen E Arnold, March 2, 2015
Google: Just the Facts, Folks
March 2, 2015
Short honk: I read “Google Wants to Rank Websites Based on Facts Not Links.” The article could be a jumping off point for some dictionary excitement. The article reports:
Google research team is adapting that model to measure the trustworthiness of a page, rather than its reputation across the web. Instead of counting incoming links, the system – which is not yet live – counts the number of incorrect facts within a page. “A source that has few false facts is considered to be trustworthy,” says the team (arxiv.org/abs/1502.03519v1). The score they compute for each page is its Knowledge-Based Trust score.
A couple of questions come to my tiny mind:
- What is a fact?
- When two documented facts conflict, which fact is more correct? Example: competing theories in physics about dark matter.
- What is knowledge?
- Will Google be able to manage knowledge is a manner that satisfies “experts”?
The PageRank thing drives so much ad cash because statistical funkiness seems to make intuitive sense for popularity rankings. Will facts generate equivalent financial excitement?
I suppose Google could license Watson and just ask IBM’s system? Here’s what the questions might look like:
Watson, what’s a fact? What’s knowledge? What’s accurate information?
And Watson’s answer, “Tamarind.”
Stephen E Arnold, March 2, 2015
The Future of Google Is Google Plus Floundering
March 2, 2015
I read “Bradley Horowitz Is Now Running Google+.” (How easy is it to search for characters like “+”?) I recall that The Seattle Times issued “3 Years In, Future of Google+ Still Unclear.” Didn’t the “founder” of Vic Gundotra seek his future elsewhere in the spring of 2014? (What happened to that Orkut social service?)
Now there’s a new Googler in charge of the “+” service, Bradley Horowitz, replacing a Googler named David Besbris. Now I am not sure who is in charge of what, but it seems that more change is afoot. The write up uses the phrase “dismantled.”
No problem. I have been told that I am a member of Google Plus. I think it is part of a automatic sign up. That’s okay with me if Google Plus was a minus like me.
Several thoughts:
- Google has a long history of social aspirations. None of the Google services has matched Facebook’s traction. Facebook employs some Xooglers, however. So maybe it is a management issue?
- Google Plus does not look so much like the future of Google as one more illustration of Google’s management expertise.
- Google has been in business for 15 years and the Googley thing depends almost exclusively on selling ads. Other great ideas do not match selling ads for revenue impact. Is it time to ask the question, “Can Google find another revenue success?”
In short, the next Google seems to look a great deal like the current Google: Ads and semi successful ancillary services.
Stephen E Arnold, March 2, 2015
A Better Use of Land: Walmart Converted into Public Library
March 2, 2015
The article titled Abandoned Walmart is Now America’s Largest 1-Floor Library on Web Urbanists discusses the transformation of an disused Walmart in McAllen, Texas into a massive library. The architecture firm Meyer, Scherer & Rockcastle (MSR), whose company philosophy “to create exceptional and enduring architecture through a leading, self-renewing practice,” can be credited for this incredible renovation, which includes beautiful workspaces, bright walls and glass partitions that make the 124,500 square foot library seem even more spacious. The article states,
“The design won the International Interior Design Association’s 2012 Library Interior Design Competition. MSR stripped out the old ceiling and walls of the building, gave the perimeter walls and bare warehouse ceiling a coat of white paint, and set to work adding glass-enclosed spaces …and row after row of books. The library even has… 16 public meeting spaces, 14 public study rooms, 64 computer labs, … self check-out units, an auditorium, an art gallery, a used bookstore and a cafe.”
Given the number of Walmart stores that have cropped up in the past twenty years, it may come as no surprise that there are hundreds of such abandoned Walmart stores, not to mention thousands of other abandoned box stores across America. The article reminds us that Walmart stores in particular have made a vast environmental impact, taking up over 698 million square feet of land in the U.S. alone.
Chelsea Kerwin, March 02, 2015
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Snapchat Unveils Huge Discovery
March 2, 2015
Snapchat recently made a change to its dashboard by adding a purple dot. According to Fusion this is a new way users can interact with the Snapchat app with the Snapchat Discover platform: “Snapchat Discover Could Be The Biggest Thing In News Since Twitter.” The Discover platform is a newsfeed/gossip channel, giving Snapchat users instant access to media. It’s very similar to Twitter when it first came onto the scene. Interestingly enough the article points out that when the Discover platform’s newness fades, it will still have a lot of users.
“Snapchat has (or had) something like 100 million monthly active users, two-thirds of whom reportedly use the app every day. Even if only five percent of those people use Discover, that’s still 3 million viewers a day. Unlike Facebook, there’s no algorithmic filter on Snapchat — all the channels are equally visible, whether you’re CNN or Warner Music Group.”
The Discover platform takes advantage of mobile devices’ touch screens to browse through different stories that a mix of videos, listicles, and news repurposed from publishers’ Web sites.
Snapchat Discover is a self-contained publishing platform that is a simpler version of most news sites. The stories refresh one everyday, but only short content is published. Making themselves stand out even more Snapchat is repackaging the stories by making custom animation, including voice over, and editing the text to fit the short format.
Whether it makes it or not, Snapchat Discover is creating a newsfeed without going overboard and making a unique place in the social media market.
Whitney Grace, March 02, 2015
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Enterprise Search: A Haunting Phrase Evokes the Ghosts of Failed Search Past
March 1, 2015
I read a practical explication about setting up SharePoint search to facilitate people search. I am okay with the approach in “More SharePoint 2013 Search Tips for Power Users.” The publisher is one focused on generating received wisdom or hoped for truths. That’s okay.
I did note one important and telling phrase. Here is is:
So how can this knowledge be used to create a real business solution?
When I read this sentence, several thoughts flitted through my mind. Here they are:
- Is this opposed to an unreal business solution.
- Are search solutions chimera?
- 3. Are search solutions false, fake, ersatz?
Am I unduly sensitive to a single statement? No. The phrase strikes at the core of search challenges, not just sticky wickets of the SharePoint variety.
Search allows individuals to “find” something in theory. The reality is that what search outputs for a user crafty enough to use the right term, phrase, or hot link is often wildly off the mark.
The fix is to layer additional controls on top of a child’s wagon, not a vehicle designed to carry the weight of today’s information access requirements.
Result? Search is an endless disappointment to users. How does one find a person in an organization who can and will answer a question? More than search is required in my experience.
Stephen E Arnold, March 1, 2015
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