Equifax Hack Has Led to Oracle Toughening Up
October 19, 2017
According to a timely piece in SearchOracle, its parent company has muscled up in response to its recent troubles, according to the article, “Machine Learning and Analytics Among Key Oracle Security Moves.”
This comes on the heels of the infamous Equifax hack, which was made vulnerable due to a weakness in Apache Struts. To their credit, Oracle has owned up to the problem and made it public that they are not going to wilt in the face of criticism. In fact, they are doubling down:
Oracle’s effort to help IT teams reprioritize their defenses, he said, takes the form of a new unified model for organizing data, rolled out as part of an updated Oracle Management Cloud suite. Advanced machine learning and analytics will enable automated remediation of flaws like Struts…
The story continues:
(Oracle’s) approach to machine learning is uniquely its own, in the sense that it is being delivered as a core enhancement to existing offerings, and not as a stand-alone technology that is personalized by a mascot or nickname — a la Einstein from Salesforce or Watson from IBM.
We like that Oracle isn’t trying to throw the baby out with the bathwater, here. We agree, there are a lot of things to like and overhauling would not be the solution. Via analytical improvements, we suspect that Oracle will recover from the Equifax snafu and be stronger for it. They certainly sound like their focus is on that.
Patrick Roland, October 19, 2017
Google Eyes AI in China
October 19, 2017
Google wants to elbow its way into Chinese markets. As the most populous country in the world, China is more or less an untouched by Google and it is a big, potential market for the technology company. The South China Morning Post shares that Google is trying to get another foothold in the country: “Google Looking To Build Its Own Team Of Artificial Intelligence Specialists In China.” Google wants to build an artificial intelligence team in China as the country plans to become the world leader in AI by 2030. It is not unthinkable that China could obtain this title as the country is making advances in other technology fields.
Google wants a piece of the Chinese profit pie and their job postings Web site lists several opportunities in the Middle Kingdom. Google has been posting AI job postings based in China since May. China is not only a populous country, it is also one of the most powerful countries in the world and is stretching its wings in order to compete with more technological heavy countries such as the United States, Canada, Western Europe countries, South Korea, and Japan.
With new technological innovations comes the potential for big profits and China is ready to invest and earn. China’s artificial intelligence market is predicted to grow 50% each year, which is much higher than the 20% the world market is expected to grow. Google has plans to be part of that picture:
The timing of Google’s recruitment drive for artificial intelligence specialists on the mainland coincided with its creation in May of a business division, called Google.ai, dedicated solely to that field. At Google’s annual developer conference held in San Francisco that same month, company executives announced a range of artificial intelligence initiatives. These included adopting machine learning to enhance Google Search and enabling Google Maps to automatically detect street signs.
Google has pressured China in the past to change its policies or the company would not conduct business with it. Google, however, has caved to China’s demands and has changed itself. It does not come as a surprise because Google is profit and research driven and China is an untapped market for it. Emphasis on the profit portion.
Whitney Grace, October 19, 2017
Palantir Technologies: Valuation Doubts?
October 18, 2017
i read “Palantir Will Struggle to Hold On to $20 Billion Valuation, Study Says.” Interesting stuff because beating up on hapless Silicon Valley companies is becoming a mini-trend. Facebook is in the dog house because it sells ads. Google is in the kennel because Europe finds its business practices less than Euro-cool. Twitter. Poor Twitter. Its part time boss is going to improve controls on the Wild West of short messages.
Now it is Palantir, the software company which offers an alternative to the IBM Analyst Notebook system. I thought Palantir was in the cat bird seat to provide technology that would deliver certain functionality to various US government agencies, financial institutions, and other organizations wanting to make sense of data.
I learned from the Bloomberg write up:
If Palantir Technologies Inc. pursues plans for a public offering and follows through by 2019, it will need to rein in spending and woo corporate customers just to be able to hang on to a $20 billion valuation it was awarded two years ago, according to a new study. It could also be worth a lot less.
Bloomberg cites a “study” which reveals that Palantir technology needs some set up and configuration before the users can make sense of digital information processed by the system.
This apparently comes as a surprise to Bloomberg and the SharesPost research team.
The reality of next generation information access systems is different from an iPhone or Android app one downloads and uses immediately. I know this is a surprise to many “experts,” but next generation information access systems are complicated. I explain why in my 2015 CyberOSINT: Next Generation Information Access Systems.
What’s interesting is that instead of putting the Palantir systems in a meaningful context, the report and apparently Bloomberg want to make another Silicon Valley outfit look like a bent penny.
Valuation is in the eye of the beholder and the Excels generated by whiz kids who want to buy a new Porsche.
Bloomberg quotes the report as a way to wrap up the news story with a stomp on Palantir’s foot; to wit:
Palantir “is currently valued much higher than its peers in the big data and analytics space,” Kulkarni wrote, adding that he believes Palantir will maintain the rich valuation if it keeps adding corporate clients and expedites cost cutting. He wrote that Palantir remains an attractive acquisition target – Oracle weighed the option last year but demurred – and estimated Palantir’s low-end value in 2019 at $13.8 billion.
Is there another view of Palantir? Guess not.
Stephen E Arnold, October 18, 2017
IBM: A Roll Downhill?
October 18, 2017
I read “IBM Reports Marginal Dip in Quarterly Revenue.” I think the headline qualifies as politically correct information. I don’t have the energy to point out that Big Blue is making some stakeholders blue. I highlighted this passage from the Reuters’ news story:
IBM’s revenue has declined for nearly six years as the company continues to exit some legacy businesses, while bolstering its cloud services.
Yep, six years. No, I don’t want to ask Watson anything.
Stephen E Arnold, October 18, 2017
Listen Notes: A Podcast Search Engine
October 18, 2017
I read “This Podcast Search Engine Helps You Discover New Shows You’ll Love.” The search engine is called Listen Notes. The content pool is 350,000 podcasts and about 20 million episodes. I ran a query for the popular Twit.tv podcast Security Now. No hits. I then ran a query for the unpopular HonkinNews program which I did for one year. No hits. Your mileage may very. As horrible as the iTunes search system is, it sort of works for podcasts. I am still in search of a good enough podcast search tool. Maybe Listen Notes should just use one of the remarkable enterprise search systems which handle “all” content. Yeah, that will work.
Stephen E Arnold, October 18, 2017
Big Data Might Just Help You See Through Walls
October 18, 2017
It might sound like science fiction or, worse, like a waste of time, but scientists are developing cameras that can see around corners. More importantly, these visual aids will fill in our human blind spots. According to an article in MIT News, “An Algorithm For Your Blind Spot,” it may have a lot of uses, but needs some serious help from big data and search.
According to the piece about the algorithm, “CornerCameras,”
CornerCameras generates one-dimensional images of the hidden scene. A single image isn’t particularly useful since it contains a fair amount of “noisy” data. But by observing the scene over several seconds and stitching together dozens of distinct images, the system can distinguish distinct objects in motion and determine their speed and trajectory.
Seems like a pretty neat tool. Especially, when you consider that this algorithm could help firefighters find people in burning buildings or help bus drivers spot a child running onto the street. However, it is far from perfect.
The system still has some limitations. For obvious reasons, it doesn’t work if there’s no light in the scene, and can have issues if there’s low light in the hidden scene itself. It also can get tripped up if light conditions change, like if the scene is outdoors and clouds are constantly moving across the sun. With smartphone-quality cameras the signal also gets weaker as you get farther away from the corner.
Seems like they have a brilliant idea in need of a big data boost. We can envision a world where these folks partner with big data and search giants to help fill in the gaps of the algorithm and provide a powerful tool that can save lives. Here’s to hoping we’re not the only ones making that connection.
Patrick Roland, October 18, 2017
Social Media Should Be Social News
October 18, 2017
People are reading news more than ever due to easy information access on the Internet. While literacy rates soar, where people are reading news stories has changed from traditional news outlets to something comparatively newer and quite questionable. According to Pew Research, “News Use Across Social Media Platforms 2017,” people are obtaining their news stories from social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and others. The Pew Research survey discovered that 67% of Americans get some of their news from social media, which has grown from 62% in 2016. The growth comes from people who are older, nonwhite and are less educated. That is an interesting statistic about American social groups:
Furthermore, about three-quarters of nonwhites (74%) get news on social media sites, up from 64% in 2016. This growth means that nonwhites1 are now more likely than whites to get news while on social media. And social media news use also increased among those with less than a bachelor’s degree, up nine percentage points from 60% in 2016 to 69% in 2017. Alternatively, among those with at least a college degree, social media news use declined slightly.
The information is different from what Pew Research has recorded in the past and there are two ways to interpret the data: compare the share of each social media’s users that get news on that specific Web site and the total percentage of Americans that get news on social media sites. Twitter, Snapchat, and YouTube she a significant growth in user shared news and these directly correspond to investments the companies made to in developing their usability. Facebook remains the number one social media Web site that distributes news, while YouTube is a close second. The data also shows that users visit multiple social media sites to read the news, but that they also rely on traditional news platforms as well.
Social media is a major component to how people communicate with the world around them. Perhaps traditional news outlets should look at ways to incorporate themselves more into social media. Will Facebook, YouTube, and/or Twitter hire journalists in the future?
Whitney Grace, October 18, 2017
Google Management: Technology and Managment Wobbles
October 17, 2017
Bloomberg has another “Google is a bum” story. Remember the cheerful days of 2002 when Google was the cat’s pajamas. 23 skidoo now invokes the bum’s rush.
Navigate to “Google Has Made a Mess of Robotics.” Google bought robotics companies. Bloomberg seems to delight is offering this observation:
None of the acquired companies have robots in use beyond the offices of Google’s now-parent company, Alphabet Inc. At least three key robotics chiefs who joined in that 2013 wave left the company in the last few months…
I must admit I like the Boston Dynamics robot reindeer. Tiny children marveled at these devices. Ho ho ho. Santa uses “Terminators” to deliver goodies.
Google may not be doing robots designed the “thrill” children. Bloomberg notes:
For the last year it’s [Google has] also operated what has come to be referred to as the “arm farm,” a room somewhere at its Mountain View, Calif., headquarters where at least 10 robotic limbs are being refined to grasp and manipulate various objects.
Yes, a disembodied limb. Perfect for a K-3 field trip.
The subtext to the Bloomberg write up is that Google’s management is not very good at managing. Come on. It’s the Google. Ease off.
Stephen E Arnold, October 17, 2017
Artificial Intelligence Will Make Humans Smarter at Work
October 17, 2017
Relatively no industry has been untouched by the past decade’s advances in artificial intelligence. We could go on and make a laundry list of which businesses in particular, but we have a hunch you are very close to one right now. According to a recent Enterprise CIO article, “From Buzzword to Boardroom: What’s Next for Machine Learning?” human intelligence is becoming obsolete in certain fields.
As demonstrated in previous experiments, no human brain is able to process as much data at comparable speed and accuracy as machine-learning systems can and as a result, deliver a sound, data-based result within nanoseconds.
While that should make you sit up and take notice, the article is not as apocalyptic as that quote might lead you to believe. In fact, there is a silver lining in all this AI. We humans will just have to work hard to get there. The story continues:
It must also leave room for creativity and innovation. Insights and suggestions gained with the aid of artificial intelligence should stimulate, not limit. Ultimately, real creativity and genuine lateral thinking still comes from humans.
We have to agree with this optimistic line of thinking. These machines are not exactly stealing our jobs, but forcing humans to reevaluate their roles. If you can properly combine AI, big data, and search for your role, chances are an employee, like yourself, will become invaluable instead of obsolete.
Patrick Roland, October 17, 2017
CEOs AI Hyped but Not Many Deploy It
October 17, 2017
How long ago was big data the popular buzzword? It was not that long ago, but now it has been replaced with artificial data and machine learning. Whenever a buzzword is popular, CEOs and other leaders become obsessed with implementing it within their own organizations. Fortune opens up about the truth of artificial intelligence and its real deployment in the editorial, “The Hype Gap In AI”.
Organization leaders have high expectations for artificial intelligence, but the reality is well below them. According to a survey cited in the editorial, 85% of executives believe that AI will change their organizations for the better, but only one in five executives have actually implemented AI into any part of their organizations. Only 39% actually have an AI strategy plan.
Hype about AI and its potential is all over the business sector, but very few really understand the current capabilities. Even fewer know how they can actually use it:
But actual adoption of AI remains at a very early stage. The study finds only about 19% of companies both understand and have adopted AI; the rest are in various stages of investigation, experimentation, and watchful waiting. The biggest obstacle they face? A lack of understanding —about how to adapt their data for algorithmic training, about how to alter their business models to take advantage of AI, and about how to train their workforces for use of AI.
Organizations view AI as an end-all solution, similar to how big data was the end all solution a few years ago. What is even worse is that while big data may have had its difficulties, understanding it was simpler than understanding AI. The way executives believe AI will transform their companies is akin to a science fiction solution that is still very much in the realm of the imagination.
Whitney Grace, October 17, 2017
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