Mongo DB Position upon Filing IPO
November 9, 2017
This article at Datamation, “MongoDB’s Mongo Moment,” suggests MongoDB is focused on the wrong foe. As the company filed for its $100 million IPO, its CEO Dev Ittycheria observed that competitor Oracle is “vulnerable” because it has lost appeal to developers. However, writer Matt Asay asserts developers never were very fond of Oracle, and that MondoDB’s real competition is AWS (Amazon Web Services). He posits:
As mentioned, however, the real question isn’t about MongoDB’s impact on Oracle, any more than MySQL had a material impact on Oracle. No, the question is how relevant MongoDB is to the growing population of modern applications. Quite simply: this is where the action is. As VMware executive (and former MongoDB executive) Jared Rosoff reasons, ‘Old workloads grew one database server at a time. New workloads add tens or hundreds of servers at a time.’
Indeed, as MongoDB vice president of cloud products Sahir Azam told me in an interview, ‘We see a higher percentage of legacy RDBMS moving to MongoDB. Tens of billions of spend that has traditionally gone to Oracle and other SQL vendors is now moving to open source RDBMS and MongoDB with app refreshes and new apps.’
Mongo has a significant advantage over AWS, writes Asay, in the flexibility it offers developers. He also notes the increased spending power developers are now enjoying within enterprises should help the company. One potential pitfall—Mongo spends way too much on marketing, which could cause investors to shy away. On the whole, however, Asay believes MongoDB is navigating a shifting market wisely. See the article for more on the company’s approach and some criticisms it has received. Founded in 2007, MongoDB is based in New York City and employs over 800 workers in locations around the world.
Cynthia Murrell, November 9, 2017
Silobreaker Digs Deeper into Dark Web
November 9, 2017
The Dark Web is small, unmonitored part of the Internet. While the Dark Web seems untraceable and unsearchable, many tech companies are making strides documenting it. Silobreaker is one of the companies and they announced a partnership with Flashpoint to take on the Dark Web: “Silobreaker Expands Its Data Coverage To Deep And Dark Web By Teaming Up With Flashpoint.” Flashpoint is a leading provider of business risk intelligence technology and they focus on uncovering Dark Web information.
Flashpoint recently released version four of their business risk intelligence API. Along with the newest release, Silobreaker and Flashpoints’ team up means that more of their clients will be able to predict, detect, and resolve unstructured data into actionable intelligence.
How will Silobreaker and Flashpoint work together?
Flashpoint’s data is being ingested by Silobreaker’s platform, where it is indexed and fully integrated for use across all analytical tools, visualizations and workflow features. When correlated with Silobreaker’s open source data, this combination empowers customers to move seamlessly between the two data-sets in a single application, expanding their analyses to include both.
The only downside is in order to take advantage of the team up, their clients must have licenses to both companies. Maybe they will offer a bundle deal if you ask nicely.
Whitney Grace, November 9, 2017
A Clever Take on Google and Fake News
November 8, 2017
I noted this story in the UK online publication The Register: “Google on Flooding the Internet with Fake News: Leave Us Alone. We’re Trying Really Hard. Sob.” The write up points out:
Google has responded in greater depth after it actively promoted fake news about Sunday’s Texas murder-suicide gunman by… behaving like a spoilt kid.
The Google response, as presented in the write up, warranted a yellow circle from my trusty highlighter. The Register said:
Having had time to reflect on the issue, the Silicon Valley monster’s “public liaison for search” and former Search Engine Land blog editor Danny Sullivan gave a more, um, considered response in a series of tweets. “Bottom line: we want to show authoritative information. Much internal talk yesterday on how to improve tweets in search; more will happen,” he promised, before noting that the completely bogus information had only appeared “briefly.”
The Register story includes other gems from the search engine optimization expert who seems to thrive on precision and relevance for content unrelated to a user’s query; for example, the article presents some “quotes” from Mr. Sullivan, the expert in charge of explaining the hows and whys of fake news:
- “Early changes put in place after Las Vegas shootings seemed to help with Texas. Incorrect rumors about some suspects didn’t get in…”
- Right now, we haven’t made any immediate decisions. We’ll be taking some time to test changes and have more discussions.
- “Not just talk. Google made changes to Top Stories and is still improving those. We’ll do same with tweets. We want to get this right.”
Yep, Google wants to do better. Now Google wants to get “this” right. Okay. After 20 years, dealing with fake content, spoofs, and algorithmic vulnerability is on the to do list. That’s encouraging.
For more Google explanations, check out the Register’s story and follow the logic of the SEO wizard who now has to explain fake news creeping—well, more like flowing—into Google’s search and news content.
Does an inability to deal with fake news hint at truthiness challenges at Googzilla’s money machine? Interesting question from my point of view.
Stephen E Arnold, November 8, 2017
Facebook Image Hashing
November 8, 2017
This is a short post. I read “Revenge Porn: Facebook Teaming Up with Government to Stop Nude Photos Ending Up on Messenger, Instagram.” The method referenced in the write up involves “hashing.” Without getting into the weeds, the approach reminded me of the system and method developed by Terbium Labs for its Matchlight innovation. If you are curious about these techniques, you might want to take a quick look at the Terbium Web site. Based on the write up, it is not clear if the Facebook approach was developed by that company or if a third party was involved. Worth watching how this Facebook attempt to deal with some of its interesting content issues evolves.
Stephen E Arnold, November 8, 2017
Smart Software: A Stupid Human Log Jam
November 8, 2017
I like the notion of Captain Obvious. For me “Captain Obvious” suggests something that is more visible than a purloined letter. Example: Where are the car keys? Obvious answer: In your hand.
I read “The Biggest Roadblock to AI Is a Lack of Skilled Workers.” Da, dah. Captain Obvious. The write up helpfully points out:
Gartner recently found that almost 60 percent of organizations surveyed have yet to take advantage these benefits. Perhaps even more surprisingly, only a little more than 10 percent of surveyed businesses have deployed or implemented any AI solution at all.
Da, dah. Drum roll.
Businesses are trying to reduce costs, generate sustainable revenues, and a few are trying really hard to make sales. Example: Consulting firms.
I noted this passage as worthy of Captain Obvious’ sibling, Lieutenant Imagine That:
We found that while organizations continue to have difficulties finding experienced data scientists for advanced analytics projects, it’s even harder to find employees skilled in AI areas, such as deep learning.
If you want more of these brilliant insights, please, consult the document cited as the source. If that’s not enough for you, I would wager than there are some consultants will explain more about the fairy land of fancy technology.
News flash: MBAs are learning about blockchains, not computational methods that require more than Excel.
Stephen E Arnold, November 8, 2017
Treating Google Knowledge Panel as Your Own Home Page
November 8, 2017
Now, this is interesting. Mike Ramsey at AttorneyAtWork suggests fellow lawyers leverage certain Google tools in, “Three Reasons Google Is Your New Home Page.” He points out that Google now delivers accessibility to many entities directly on the results page, reducing the number of clicks potential clients must perform to contact a firm. He writes:
[Google] has rolled out three products that provide potential clients with information about your law firm before they get to your site:
*Messages (on mobile)
*Questions and Answers (on mobile)
*Optional URLs for booking appointments (both mobile and desktop)
This means that Google search results are becoming your new ‘home page.’ All three products — Messages, Questions and Answers and URLs for appointments — are accessible from your Google My Business dashboard. They appear in your local Knowledge Panel in Google. If Google really is becoming your home page, but also giving you a say in providing potential clients with information about your firm, you will definitely want to take advantage of it.
The article explains how to best leverage each tool. For example, Messages let you incorporate text messages into your Knowledge Panel; Ramsey notes that customers prefer using text messages to resolve customer service issues. Questions and Answers will build an FAQ-like dialogue for the panel, while optional URLs allow clients to schedule appointments right from the results page. Ramsey predicts it should take about an hour to set up these tools for any given law firm, and emphasizes it is well worth that investment to make it as easy as possible for potential clients to get in touch.
Cynthia Murrell, November 8, 2017
A Flashing Way to Find Business Risks
November 8, 2017
Business intelligence involves many factors that range from enterprise systems to big data business analytics. Another aspect is determining the risk of business decisions. While a piece of software does not exist that can accurately predict the future, technology companies have come close. Programmable Web published the article, “Flashpoint Launches V4 Of Its Business Risk Intelligence API” that describes one company’s newest endeavors in business risk intelligence.
Flashpoint’s business risk intelligence API is officially on its fourth version. Dubbed Flashpoint API 4, the software provides a set of cybersecurity tools and the newest version includes a dataset for Risk Intelligence Observables (RIOs). RIOs dig deeper than past indicators in specified activities to deliver secure insights.
The Flashpoint API aims to deliver near to real-time access to its security services. Because of RESTful API access, Flashpoint technology is available to entry-level users and enterprises alike. Through the API, users can search across Finished Intelligence, Deep & Dark Web data, and RIOs. A key component of Flashpoint’s strategy is context surrounding threats, and the API’s customization options allow users to define and address context to suit specific needs. Contact the Flashpoint team for more information.
Perhaps the most impressive thing about version four’s release is the partner community. These include ThreatConnect, ThreatQuotient, Silobreaker, and Anomali. These four companies are part of Flashpoint’s Strategic Partner Network and all have the goal to help companies detect cybercrime and other threats.
Whitney Grace, November 8, 2017
Great Moments in Image Recognition: Rifle or Turtle?
November 7, 2017
I read “AI Image Recognition Fooled by Single Pixel Change.” The write up explains:
In their research, Su Jiawei and colleagues at Kyushu University made tiny changes to lots of pictures that were then analyzed by widely used AI-based image recognition systems…The researchers found that changing one pixel in about 74% of the test images made the neural nets wrongly label what they saw. Some errors were near misses, such as a cat being mistaken for a dog, but others, including labeling a stealth bomber a dog, were far wider of the mark.
Let’s assume that these experts are correct. My thought is that neural networks may need a bit of tweaking.
What about facial recognition? I don’t want to elicit the ire of Xooglers, Apple iPhone X users, or the savvy folks at universities honking the neural network horns. Absolutely not. My goodness. What if I at age 74 wanted to apply via LinkedIn and its smart software for a 9 to 5 job sweeping floors?
Years ago I prepared a series of lectures pointing out how widely used algorithms were vulnerable to directed flows of shaped data. Exciting stuff.
The write up explains that the mavens are baffled:
There is certainly something strange and interesting going on here, we just don’t know exactly what it is yet.
May I suggest an assumption that methods work as sci fi and tech cheerleaders say they do is incorrect?
Stephen E Arnold, November 7, 2017
HP Showed Russia Pentagons Cyberdefense Software
November 7, 2017
This is a short honk to point out a startling discovery—EtherealMind.com declares, “Reuters: HP Enterprise Let Russia Scrutinize Cyberdefense System Used by Pentagon.” Citing a recent report from Reuters, writer Greg Ferro pinpoints the problem with companies that make nothing but deals:
A sales company is one that sells products: any product, to anyone, anywhere for the right price. The technology giants have been buying products from various OEMs, bundling them up and reselling to customers for the last 20 years. HPE wanted to sell a security product, Arcsight, to a big customer who wanted to review the source code. Thats normal. But sales doesn’t care about company wide issues so they let the Russian government review the source of a product that US government uses to protect its network: ‘Hewlett Packard Enterprise allowed a Russian defense agency to review the inner workings of cyber defense software used by the Pentagon to guard its computer networks, according to Russian regulatory records and interviews with people with direct knowledge of the issue.’
Yikes. Ferro wonders whether evolutions in technology and business practices will soon render sales companies like HP, Cisco, and Dell obsolete. Perhaps.
Cynthia Murrell, November 7, 2017
More .NET Spying Issues
November 7, 2017
George Orwell, like many science fiction authors, imagined dystopian futures, but also the possibility of grander technology. In his quintessential novel 1984, Orwell discussed the consequences of a society controlled by completely by the government and how an advanced spy network allowed the entity to do so. While Orwell imagined this future, he probably could not conceive of how the technology would actually work.
Today we do and many consumers are victims of spying.
Technology companies state that the spying is unintentional, but do we really believe that? Gitbhub had a post titled, “.NET Core Should Not Spy On Users By Default” The .NET Core is a set of tools Microsoft developed and Microsoft has a history of spying on their users. Remember how Windows 10 spied on users? A Microsoft representative posted that the default spying protocol is actually a good thing, because
The data we collect does not identify individual users. We’re only interested in aggregate data that we can use to identify trends. The telemetry feature is configurable, so you can turn it on/off at any time. It is also scoped, only applying to tools usage, not the rest of the product. We think that this is a good trade-off and recognize that not everyone will like it. We do know, however, that many people will like the product improvements that will come from this insight.
Spying is spying, whether the data cannot be identified. Also everything digital leaves a footprint somehow, so the representative is more than likely misspeaking (using double think?). The spying option should never be a default unless an advisory is given to users and they allow it. At least, Apple does it with all of their users.
Whitney Grace, November 7, 2017
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