Algorithmic Transparency: Are You Concerned Too?
October 24, 2015
I read “FTC Chair Edith Ramirez Outlines Concerns about Big Data.” The write up contained a stunning quote to note; to wit:
The agency is concerned about “algorithmic transparency,” she said, and how “algorithms can be manipulated.”
Wong asked about connected health devices. “We are very concerned about this,” Ramirez said, adding: There is this flow of health information that is happening outside of the regulatory space. We want to make sure that very sensitive information is being protected.
Interesting. Will vendors reveal what their numerical recipes are doing? A better question: If the vendors revealed their algorithms, would most people know what the algorithms were doing? Asking for transparency and understanding are, in my opinion, two different activities.
Stephen E Arnold, October 24, 2015
Quote to Note: What Animal Defines Yahoo?
October 23, 2015
Short honk and quote to note: Navigate to “Portal to Nowhere.” Here’s the keeper:
Marissa Mayer has failed to revive the Internet sloth.
Wow, a sloth which is defined as ‘the quality or state of being lazy”. I would have used a different animal. Something purple maybe?
Stephen E Arnold, October 23, 2015
IBM Revenues: Watson Cookbook Does Not Ring the Cash Register
October 23, 2015
I read “IBM Revenue Falls More Than Expected, Cuts Profit Forecast.” The news about the 14 consecutive quarter of declining revenue speaks loudly about Big Blue. I have documented the silliness of the billion dollar bet on Lucene, acquired technology, and home brew scripts. I try to document the F____d acronym which means face detection, one of the Watson capabilities. I amuse myself by thinking about the cookbook based on Watson-crafted recipes.
Here’s the passage I noted:
Revenue from what the company calls “strategic imperatives,” which include cloud and mobile computing, data analytics, social and security software, rose about 17 percent in the third quarter ended Sept 30.Yet the new businesses have so far failed to make up for revenue lost to divestitures. The company known as ‘Big Blue’ has been selling low-margin businesses such as cash registers, low-end servers and semiconductors to focus on high-growth areas such as security software and data analytics, besides cloud-based services.
I interpret this to mean that IBM seems to have some broken bits which its managers cannot turn into sustainable, high growth, organic revenue. Watson? Well, the IBM ad and PR agencies know it is a winner. The financials, well, financials are not PR people.
Stephen E Arnold, October 23, 2015
What Does Connotate Deliver to Licensee?
October 23, 2015
If you have asked yourself this question, you will find the answers in “The Most Asked Questions About Connotate.” Connotate was founded in year 2000 and has ingested about $12.5 million from four investors, according to Crunchbase. That works out to 15 years.
Here are two questions which I highlighted:
One question is, “Is Connotate Web scraping?” Here’s the answer:
No. Web scrapers parse HTML code on web pages, searching for markers to identify which data elements to extract. While web scrapers may be alright for one-off extractions, they’re not sustainable when it comes to regularly extracting and monitoring large parcels of content. Also, web scrapers require programmers to create and maintain them. Connotate’s solutions rely on machine learning to reach and maintain optimal resiliency.
In my experience, Connotate offers a type of Web scraping.
The other question I noted was “Who uses Connotate’s solutions?” And the answer:
Connotate’s solutions can be harnessed by anyone who is looking to turn the vast scope of data on the Web into usable data. Chief Content Officers, Data Operations Managers and Product Managers are just a few examples of the kind of professionals who could readily benefit from Connotate’s solution.
I was hoping for some specific customer references. I know there are Connotate customers.
For further information about Connotate, the company offers a “complete online FAQ.”
Stephen E Arnold, October 23, 2015
Binging in the Rain. It Is a Wonderful Feeling
October 23, 2015
I read “Microsoft’s Bing Search Business Finally Is Profitable.” The question is, “Will it remain a money spinner for Microsoft?” Bing became available to those seeking an alternative to the Google in 2009. The history of Microsoft Web search reaches farther back in time. Remember MSN Search circa 1998. I do. I wonder if Microsoft’s financial wizards have included the costs of Microsoft’s Web search activities from 1998 to the present. Probably not. The reason is that the fully loaded costs plus any other financial odds and ends like the cost of money or opportunity would give the CPAs headaches. Bad headaches.
According to the super wonderfully positive write up:
Microsoft isn’t simply relying on Yahoo to grow Bing and search, however. Microsoft has been building Bing into more and more of its products over time.Microsoft officials said during its October 21 first quarter FY 2016 report that its search revenue, excluding traffic-acquisition costs, grew 29 percent, driven by higher revenue per search and search volume.
This is a nice way of saying that we can put a nice spin on this Bing thing. I immediately thought of the hit Singing in the Rain and the lyrics:
So dark up above
The sun’s in my heart
And I’m ready for love
Let the stormy clouds chase
Everyone from the place
Come on with the rain
I’ve a smile on my face
Yes, happy. Will the Jive Aces, the hit musical act, not the Microsoft cheerleaders get a contract to do the music video for this wonderful news?
The loss of the Yahoo almost exclusive for search, the use of Baidu for search results in China, and the deal with Yandex suggest that Bing may be drifting from its Microsofty technology roots. That is actually okay.
Bing’s index consistently seems to omit results which I can locate in lesser beasts, including Qwant and Unbubble.eu.
I noted this passage as well:
Microsoft has been working to streamline its search and advertising business business for months.
The Bing search system is now an information access portal. Search is important, but the wrappers now differentiate information retrieval from information access. Will the revenues from the new Bing payback previous investments in search? Ask a Microsoft accountant.
Stephen E Arnold, October 28, 2015
Alphabet Google: The Beat Goes On
October 23, 2015
Even in a remote part of the world, the news of Google’s financial results for the third quarter of 2015 banged the drum for the online advertising giant. I read “Alphabet Announces Third Quarter 2015 Results of Google.” The headline puzzled me. I thought Alphabet was Google, but it seems that Alphabet has no significant revenues, so the money comes from the Google. Got it. The objective is to generate revenue and profit, not explain why after 15 years, the “search giant” has essentially a single revenue stream.
The write up says:
“Our Q3 results show the strength of Google’s business, particularly in mobile search. With six products now having more than 1 billion users globally, we’re excited about the opportunities ahead of Google, and across Alphabet,” said Ruth Porat, CFO of Alphabet and Google.
I wonder if this “strength” is a weakness. Amazon, the digital Wal-Mart, does the online thing but seems to have different revenue streams. Facebook also appears to have some revenue diversity. I do not want to dim the excitement over Google’s impressive financial results.
The beat goes on. Loon balloons will float. Self driving cars will perform more reliably than human guided vehicles. Death will be solved. Well, that’s the theory as long as online advertising pumps money into the Alphabet Google thing.
Stephen E Arnold, October 23, 2015
Libraries Failure to Make Room for Developer Librarians
October 23, 2015
The article titled Libraries’ Tech Pipeline Problem on Geek Feminism explores the lack of diverse developers. The author, a librarian, is extremely frustrated with the approach many libraries have taken. Rather than refocusing their hiring and training practices to emphasize technical skills, many are simply hiring more and more vendors, hardly a solution. The article states,
“The biggest issue I see is that we offer a fair number of very basic learn-to-code workshops, but we don’t offer a realistic path from there to writing code as a job. To put a finer point on it, we do not offer “junior developer” positions in libraries; we write job ads asking for unicorns, with expert- or near-expert-level skills in at least two areas (I’ve seen ones that wanted strong skills in development, user experience, and devops, for instance).”
The options available are that librarians either learn to code in their spare time (not viable), or enter the tech workforce temporarily and bring your skills back after a few years. This option is also full of drawbacks, especially that even white women are marginalized in the tech industry. Instead, the article stipulates the libraries need to make more room for hiring and promoting people with coding skills and interests while also joining the coding communities like Code4Lib.
Chelsea Kerwin, October 23, 2015
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Xendo, Can Do
October 23, 2015
While it would be lovely to access and find all important documents, emails, and Web sites within a couple clicks, users usually have to access several programs or individual files to locate their information. Stark Industries wanted users to have the power of Google search engine without compromising their personal security. Xendo is a private, personal search engine that connects with various services, including email servers, social media account, clouds, newsfeeds, and more.
Once all the desired user accounts are connected to Xendo, the search engine indexes all the files within the services. The index is encrypted, so it securely processes them. After the indexing is finished, Xendo will search through all the files and return search results displaying the content and service types related to inputted keywords. Xendo promises that:
“After your initial index is built, Xendo automatically keeps it up-to-date by adding, removing and updating content as it changes. Xendo automatically updates your index to reflect role and permission changes in each of your connected services. Xendo is hosted in some of the most secure data-centers in the world and uses multiple layers of security to ensure your data is secured in transit and at rest, like it’s in a bank vault.”
Basic Xendo search is free for individual users with payments required for upgrades. The basic search offers deep search, unlimited access, and unlimited content, while the other plans offer more search options based on subscription. Xendo can be deployed for enterprise systems, but it requires a personalized quote.
Whitney Grace, October 23, 2015
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Alphabet Google: Our Survival As an Idea
October 22, 2015
I read an interesting item in Slashdot. Here it is:
Speaking at the Wall Street Journal’s WSJD Live Conference, Google’s senior vice president of adverts and commerce Sridhar Ramaswamy has said (paywalled) that advertisers need to address the shortcomings of online ads within ‘months’. “This is essential to our survival” said Ramaswamy. “We’re talking about getting this in a time frame of months rather than years. We need to get going on this.” Ramaswamy was referring to recent commitment from the advertising industry to halt the rise of adblocking services by addressing common reader annoyances such as autoplay video, overly complex and slow-loading content, and excessive tracking.
Three thoughts:
- Note the phrase “our survival.” Alphabet Google thinking about failure in its only significant revenue stream?
- Note the absence of reference to search and, of course, objectivity in search results
- Note the refreshing omission of references to home automation, Loon balloons, and “solving” death.
Is Google thinking about old age, the retirement option, and its limitations? With YouTube subscriptions and differential pricing for the Apple crowd, a new phase of the Alphabet Google thing takes shape.
Stephen E Arnold, October 22, 2015
Technical Debt: Maybe Real but Let It Go
October 22, 2015
I read “Letting Go Of Technical Debt.” The argument makes sense to a person developing software or other high technology product or service. The conclusion to the write up is, “Let it go.”
Is the conclusion rock solid?
The answer depends on one’s point of view. Google has a handful of staff who think about technical debt in terms of high interest credit card charges. The idea is that if you don’t accelerate your payments, the debt just keeps on growing. Bad for the debtor. Bad for the credit card company.
There is an interesting variant to the notion of non financial debt. Consider intentional debt. The idea is that a marketer hypes a product or service. The reality is different. The customer and the company end up in the hole.
When I think of search and content processing, a number of case examples come to mind. These range from HP’s and IBM’s assumption that by betting big on information access, these ageing businesses can generate substantial, sustainable, organic revenue to search start ups funded by friends and family.
The challenge is to produce enough money from whatever sources are available to:
- Create, bug fix, enhance, and support the search product or service. The costs incur what I believe should be called technical debt. Do search vendors get out of the red? The trials and tribulations of Fast Search and HP Autonomy warrant some study. I think this is technical debt.
- Market the product so that sales and revenues flow so that continuous transfusions of cash are not required for the search vendor to operate. I call these and related money issues financial debt.
- Build a consistent message for prospects, customers, employees, and stakeholders. Search vendors flip flop from keyword search to Big Data search to customer support services. The lack of a consistent, meaningful presentation of the company and its products or services underscores what I call credibility debt.
Net net: Search and content processing companies incur several types of debt. It is easy to say, “Let it go.” Is that approach fair to investors, ethical in the sense of trying to build a sustainable business, and practical in today’s somewhat soft economy?
For me, I think dealing with debt is essential. Obviously some folks do not agree.
Stephen E Arnold, October 22, 2015
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