Google and Europe: Google and Some No So Best Buds
April 28, 2015
I read “Google Antitrust Case: 19 Complainants Named Including Microsoft.” The write up identifies companies complaining about Google:
- 1plusV (Ejustice.fr)
- Eurocities
- Expedia
- Foundem
- Hot Map
- ICOMP
- Microsoft
- Streetmap
- Trip Advisor
- Yelp
Yep, 19 but only 10 are listed in the write up. Well, close enough for legal reporting V3.com style.
I spotted some of the other 19, but I am not a real journalist, of course. Real journalists work in a different way. Here are some other grousers:
- BDZV
- Elfvoetbal
- Nextage and Guenstiger
- NNPT.it
- Odigeo
- Twenga
- VDZ
- Vft
- Visual Meta (Axel Springer which owns a chunk of the woiuld be Google killer Qwant (Pertimm).
Well, imagine that. Nineteen outfits unhappy with the GOOG.
Stephen E Arnold, April 28, 2015
Google and Its New Best Buds in Europe from Publishing
April 28, 2015
I read “Google Offers Cash Support to Europe’s News Groups.” The idea is that Google will invest $163 million in journalism start ups. The write up points out that “The Financial Times, the Guardian, Spain’s El Pais and Germany’s Die Zeit are among those backing the initiative.”
The BBC, an organization with some experience in conflicts, points out:
Google has also pledged to:
- work with European publishers to discuss ways to boost revenues via the use of ads, apps, paywalls and analytics data
- pay for three of its own workers – based in Paris, Hamburg and London – to provide digital skills training to journalists
- fund research to investigate how people consume news and find new techniques to crowdsource information
Is there any connection between Google’s European challenges and this action? Google set up a similar program in France. Google and France have an interesting relationship with regard to digital information and services. Like Google’s new patent purchase service, there is probably some other motive operating other than helping out start ups. I will leave it to you, gentle reader, to speculate on the “value” of strategic investments.
Stephen E Arnold, April 28, 2015
SharePoint Release Delayed and Criticized
April 28, 2015
SharePoint was lauded earlier in the year for committing to a new on-premises version of SharePoint Server 2016. However, since then the rollout has been beset by delays and criticism that on-site installations will continue to play the ugly stepsister to the cloud. The United Kingdom’s The Register provides a cynical assessment of the latest news in their article, “SharePoint’s Next Release Delayed Until Deep into 2016.”
The article begins:
“Exchange Server 2016 will be not much more than a rollup of features already deployed to cloud Exchange . . . Redmond’s also revealed that SharePoint server won’t get another refresh until the second quarter of 2016. There won’t even be a beta – or technical preview as Microsoft likes to call them these days – to play with until 2015’s fourth quarter . . . But all those cloudy bits may not be so welcome for the many smaller organisations that run SharePoint, or for organisations waiting for an upgrade. SharePoint 2013 was released in October 2012, so such users are looking at nearly four years between drinks.”
Every SharePoint rollout seems to be plagued by trouble of some variety, so the delay comes as little surprise. The test will be whether tried and true on-premises customers will settle for what increasingly seems to be little support. We will withhold ultimate judgment until the release is made available. In the meantime, head over to ArnoldIT.com to keep up with the latest news. Stephen E. Arnold has made a career out of following all things search, and his dedicated SharePoint feed keeps you informed at a glance.
Emily Rae Aldridge, April 28, 2015
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
How do You use Your Email?
April 28, 2015
Email is still a relatively new concept in the grander scheme of technology, having only been around since the 1990s. As with any human activity, people want to learn more about the trends and habits people have with email. Popular Science has an article called “Here’s What Scientists Learned In The Largest Systematic Study Of Email Habits” with a self-explanatory title. Even though email has been around for over twenty years, no one is quite sure how people use it.
So someone decided to study email usage:
“…researchers from Yahoo Labs looked at emails of two million participants who sent more than 16 billion messages over the course of several months–by far the largest email study ever conducted. They tracked the identities of the senders and the recipients, the subject lines, when the emails were sent, the lengths of the emails, and the number of attachments. They also looked at the ages of the participants and the devices from which the emails were sent or checked.”
The results were said to be so predictable that an algorithm could have predicted them. Usage has a strong correlation to age groups and gender. The young write short, quick responses, while men are also brief in their emails. People also responded more quickly during work hours and the more emails they receive the less likely they are to write a reply. People might already be familiar with these trends, but the data is brand new to data scientists. The article predicts that developers will take the data and design better email platforms.
How about creating an email platform that merges a to-do list with emails, so people don’t form their schedules and tasks from the inbox.
Whitney Grace, April 28, 2015
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Juvenile Journal Behavior
April 28, 2015
Ah, more publisher excitement. Neuroskeptic, a blogger at Discover, weighs in on a spat between scientific journals in, “Academic Journals in Glass Houses….” The write-up begins by printing a charge lobbed at Frontiers in Psychology by the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease (JNMD), in which the latter accuses the former of essentially bribing peer reviewers. It goes on to explain the back story, and why the blogger feels the claim against Frontiers is baseless. See the article for those details, if you’re curious.
Here’s the part that struck me: Neuroskeptic supplies the example hinted at in his or her headline:
“For the JNMD to question the standards of Frontiers peer review process is a bit of a ‘in glass houses / throwing stones’ moment. Neuroskeptic readers may remember that it was JNMD who one year ago published a paper about a mysterious device called the ‘quantum resonance spectrometer’ (QRS). This paper claimed that QRS can detect a ‘special biological wave… released by the brain’ and thus accurately diagnose schizophrenia and other mental disorders – via a sensor held in the patient’s hand. The article provided virtually no details of what the ‘QRS’ device is, or how it works, or what the ‘special wave’ it is supposed to measure is. Since then, I’ve done some more research and as far as I can establish, ‘QRS’ is an entirely bogus technology. If JNMD are going to level accusations at another journal, they ought to make sure that their own house is in order first.”
This is more support for the conclusion that many of today’s “academic” journals cannot be trusted. Perhaps the profit-driven situation will be overhauled someday, but in the meantime, let the reader beware.
Cynthia Murrell, April 28, 2015
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Google Expands Patent “Service”
April 27, 2015
Have you followed Google’s patent application flow? Well, it continues to creep up. Have you explored Google’s free online patent search? Well, it does not get too many upgrades.
What is getting attention is a new service explained in the Googley manner in “Announcing the Patent Purchase Promotion.” According the write up, you can participate in an experiment that will send your intellectual property to Mother Google. I read:
today we’re announcing the Patent Purchase Promotion as an experiment to remove friction from the patent market. From May 8, 2015 through May 22, 2015, we’ll open a streamlined portal for patent holders to tell Google about patents they’re willing to sell at a price they set. As soon as the portal closes, we’ll review all the submissions, and let the submitters know whether we’re interested in buying their patents by June 26, 2015. If we contact you about purchasing your patent, we’ll work through some additional diligence with you and look to close a transaction in short order. We anticipate everyone we transact with getting paid by late August. By simplifying the process and having a concentrated submission window, we can focus our efforts into quickly evaluating patent assets and getting responses back to potential sellers quickly. Hopefully this will translate into better experiences for sellers, and remove the complications of working with entities such as patent trolls.
I flagged this as a quote to note:
We’re always looking at ways that can help improve the patent landscape and make the patent system work better for everyone. We ask everyone to remember that this program is an experiment (think of it like a 20 percent project for Google’s patent lawyers), but we hope that it proves useful and delivers great results to participants.
With a Xoogler in the PTO and trolls on the defensive, I am confident there may be some deeper, economic thinking behind this “experiment.” I love the Google. I am confident that it will add more patent documents to its patent service. I am confident that Google will continue to be Google even as it faces some financial challenges.
Stephen E Arnold, April 27, 2015
Google and Its Fashion Forward Strategy
April 27, 2015
Enough with the advanced technology. The Google is getting into the Project Runway world. I learned a couple of days ago that the fascinating Google Glass is making a comeback. I mean a fashionable comeback. I think the phrase is fashion forward. None of the Glasshole stuff. Like New Coke, the fashionable Glass will be a winner from the Italian outfit. You can read about the new Glass or Glass 2.0 in “Luxottica Working on Intel Powered Google Glass 2.0.” Curious about Lexottica. Here’s some background information:
I see you.
Another fashion-tastic announcement hit my Overflight system. Here is the write up which snagged my attention: “The Latest Fashion, Trending on Google.” I learned:
…Consumers are Googling tulle skirts, midi skirts, palazzo pants and jogger pants, according to the company, which plans to start issuing fashion trend reports based on user searches twice a year. The new trend aggregations are part of the company’s bid to become a bigger player in e-commerce and fashion beyond its product search engine or advertising platform. In its inaugural report, Google distinguishes between “sustained growth” trends, like tulle skirts and jogger pants; flash-in-the-pan obsessions like emoji shirts and kale sweatshirts; and “seasonal growth” trends, or styles that have come back stronger every spring, like white jumpsuits. It makes similar distinctions among sustained declines (peplum dresses), seasonal ones (skinny jeans) and fads that are probably over and done (scarf vests).
My reaction to the announcement was anticipation. I believe that one or more of the fashionistas at Google will soon be booked to appear on Project Runway. Perhaps the Style cable channel will cover Google on campus lectures. Is there a Marie Claire photo spread about Googlers wearing the latest in Silicon Valley fashion. There are some flashy dressers at the various GOOG offices. A certain Robert W. attended a meeting with me in London in a quite sporty outfit. My recollection is that the person from a certain government agency asked me, “Is that the type of stuff Mr. Brin wore to his initial meetings with Washington DC’s movers and shakers.” I replied, “No, I think that Mr. Brin wore a T shirt with sneakers.”
I am so excited about this festive development. I will set my video recorder so I don’t miss a single episode of Project Runway. Imagine. Tim and Heidi in Google Glass 2.0. I have to take a deep breath. Will the designers use Google to make certain their one day wonders are right in step with the bpm of the style makers?
Stephen E Arnold, April 27, 2015
Big Data Debunkers Arise, Unite, Question Value
April 27, 2015
I enjoy reading the “analyses” of Blue Chip consulting firms. I have had a brush or two with the folks at these outfits over the years. I seem to recall working for one of them and doing consulting for a couple of others. At age 70, who knows?
I read “To Benefit from Big Data, Resist the Three False Promises.” Just three, I thought. To learn the truth, I sucked in the bits and learned:
Gartner recently predicted that “through 2017, 60% of big data projects will fail to go beyond piloting and experimentation and will be abandoned.” This reflects the difficulty of generating value from existing customer, operational and service data, let alone the reams of unstructured internal and external data generated from social media, mobile devices and online activity.
Zounds. A Blue Chip firm citing an Azure Chip firm. That, to me, is like the Cleveland Cavaliers tapping into a talent from a middle school basketball team. I assumed there was an intellectual gap between the Blue Chip consultants and the second tier outfits. Guess I was wrong. Another possibility is that the folks behind the article were plucking low hanging research fruit in order to make their case.
I learned that the three “false promises” were ones that just never, ever crossed my mind. The article states that there are three, count ‘em, three items of information about Big Data which are not true. Not true equals a lie, does it not?
- The “technology” singular of Big Data will automatically discover and present business opportunities. Shucks, I though magic happened, particularly when dissimilation was involved.
- “Harvesting more data” automatically generates “more value.” There’s that magic again. I was stunned to learn that collecting information does not automatically equal much of anything. If there is one thing easy to collect, it is digital information.
- “Good” data scientists similar those who work at Blue Chip and Azure Chip consulting firms? No matter. The “good data scientists” cannot “find value” for a paying customer. Is this a hedge to prevent consulting firm clients from alleging that the Big Data services did not yield a pot of gold?
Big Data, like most of the technology buzzwords, short circuit harried executives’ prudence. The silver tongued are able to invoke MBAisms and close deals. The benefits of those deals are often very difficult to pinpoint, quantify, or understand.
Write ups that are blunt tips on probing questions are amusing. I wonder if there is Big Data to make clear how many Big Data projects end up like other digital information silver bullets; that is, shooting blanks. Bang. Bang. Bang. That’s value.
Stephen E Arnold, April 27, 2015
Attensity’s Semantic Annotation Tool “Understands” Emoticons
April 27, 2015
The article on PCWorld titled For Attensity’s BI Parsing Tool, Emoticons Are No Problem explains the recent attempts at fine-tuning the monitoring and relaying the conversations about a particular organization or enterprise. The amount of data that must be waded through is massive, and littered with non-traditional grammar, language and symbols. Luminoso is one company interested in aiding companies with their Compass tool, in addition to Attensity. The article says,
“Attensity’s Semantic Annotation natural-language processing tool… Rather than relying on traditional keyword-based approaches to assessing sentiment and deriving meaning… takes a more flexible natural-language approach. By combining and analyzing the linguistic structure of words and the relationship between a sentence’s subject, action and object, it’s designed to decipher and surface the sentiment and themes underlying many kinds of common language—even when there are variations in grammatical or linguistic expression, emoticons, synonyms and polysemies.”
The article does not explain how exactly Attensity’s product works, only that it can somehow “understand” emoticons. This seems like an odd term though, and most likely actually refers to a process of looking it up from a list rather than actually being able to “read” it. At any rate, Attensity promises that their tool will save in hundreds of human work hours.
Chelsea Kerwin, April 27, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
EnterpriseJungle Launches SAP-Based Enterprise Search System
April 27, 2015
A new enterprise search system startup is leveraging the SAP HANA Cloud Platform, we learn from “EnterpriseJungle Tames Enterprise Search” at SAP’s News Center. The company states that their goal is to make collaboration easier and more effective with a feature they’re calling “deep people search.” Writer Susn Galer cites EnterpriseJungle Principal James Sinclair when she tells us:
“Using advanced algorithms to analyze data from internal and external sources, including SAP Jam, SuccessFactors, wikis, and LinkedIn, the applications help companies understand the make-up of its workforce and connect people quickly….
“Who Can Help Me is a pre-populated search tool allowing employees to find internal experts by skills, location, project requirements and other criteria which companies can also configure, if needed. The Enterprise Q&A tool lets employees enter any text into the search bar, and find experts internally or outside company walls. Most companies use the prepackaged EnterpriseJungle solutions as is for Human Resources (HR), recruitment, sales and other departments. However, Sinclair said companies can easily modify search queries to meet any organization’s unique needs.”
EnterpriseJungle users manage their company’s data through SAP’s Lumira dashboard. Galer shares Sinclair’s example of one company in Germany, which used EnterpriseJungle to match employees to appropriate new positions when it made a whopping 3,000 jobs obsolete. Though the software is now designed primarily for HR and data-management departments, Sinclair hopes the collaboration tool will permeate the entire enterprise.
Cynthia Murrell, April 27, 2015
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
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