Quote to Note: Facebook and Open Source As a Wooden Club
February 24, 2018
I read “Serverless & GraphQL.” Here’s the passage which caught my attention because I did not know about this use of open source as a wooden club:
And I don’t know how many of you know about some of the Facebook technologies and the patents and licensing issues that are around those- they had an interesting clause, if you sue Facebook, you lose the right to use any of their stuff in any of their products and some people were really scared about it.
That’s one way to earn a “like.”
Stephen E Arnold, February 25, 2018
Froogle, Froogle, Can You Come Back?
February 24, 2018
When you are shopping for a new product, the first place you usually visit is Google. Google usually lists the top results for products and brands, but it takes a long time to sort through all of those results. (That is nothing new when it comes to search.) Google has decided to help shoppers in their consumer quest, says The SEM Post in the article: “Google Adds Research Search Feature To The Search Results.” While it sounds like Google is about to help researchers finish their homework assignments, the new feature actually adds product images to search results.
The new search feature is similar to the top stories search feature that lists the top news articles based on keyword entries. The product feature, however, lists top and popular products related to a query term. There are some drawbacks, as the article points out, when they searched for “bbq grills” One of the listings was outdated, another was a landing page that required clicking through the Web page for more information, and another only listed a partial date.
It is a good update, but it does need some revisions:
“I think this is an interesting addition, but definitely could use some tweaks to ensure that the articles they pull out are more current – such as under a year old – as well as ensuring what is linked to is useful. And it could serve as a great resource in the future for searchers, especially for those who are trying to get this type of information from third parties rather than from the retailers.”
From a business standpoint, however, this could be a new way Google could sell ad revenue. Companies can pay for their products to show up in this research feature. It is a great idea, but another thing that can be exploited. Perhaps Froogle can come home again?
Whitney Grace, February 24, 2018
Google: What We Have Here Is a Failure to Innovate
February 23, 2018
Google is one of the top technology companies in the world and their services are employed on nearly every computer, phone, and tablet. Google is at the most innovative when it comes to developing new technology, but a former Google insider said the opposite. Steve Yegge writing for Medium explains his Google experience in his article, “Why I Left Google To Join Grab.”
Yegge loved Google and still considered it to be one of the best places in the world to work, but he left for some good reasons:
“The main reason I left Google is that they can no longer innovate. They’ve pretty much lost that ability. I believe there are several contributing factors, of which I’ll list four here. First, they’re conservative…Second, they are mired in politics, which is sort of inevitable with a large enough organization; the only real alternative is a dictatorship, which has its own downsides. Third, Google is arrogant…But fourth, last, and probably worst of all, Google has become 100% competitor-focused rather than customer focused.”
Google has reached the apex of its innovative spirit and has gone the way over all corporations and, arguably, politicians. Google has grown so big and powerful, hires the top players in the field, and controls so many products/services that it does not want to lose face, its employees have ego problems, and they serve the almighty dollar. It is a repetitious pattern that has been playing out for ages. One of the greatest examples was the British Empire. The British Empire became so big and powerful that the resources were spread too thin, the ruling parties were arrogant, the subjects suffered, and those in power never wanted it to change. It sounds like Google, does it not?
Yegge then talked about the new endeavor called Grab and stresses the importance of keeping your ear to the ground in order to make and grow a business. Google has gotten too big, but it still has a lot of powerful and it will be awhile before it falls. Another company will pick up the slack. Someone always does.
Whitney Grace, February 23, 2018
Pundit Unlikes Facebook
February 23, 2018
I think the author of “The #1 Reason Facebook Won’t Ever Change” has adopted a somewhat negative view of Facebook. A Greek philosopher whom one of my slightly addled teachers said was Heraclitus who lived in Ephesus (nice place!) offered this observation:
“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.”
The point of the “Facebook Won’t Ever Change” is that Heraclitus was dead wrong. I am not sure that my wacko teacher, the deadbeats sitting around the Harrod’s Creek cast iron stove, or I believe the assertion “won’t ever change.”
Setting aside dead Greek guys who lived in a city now a must see for those on Mediterranean cruises, what’s the “logic” behind this “won’t ever change” assertion?
Well, companies have a genetic profile. Yep, how’s that working out at GE, which is a bit of a limp noodle since Neutron Jack was in charge? (Could the same degradation at Facebook take place? If the DNA is unchanged, then GE will be roaring back, right?)
The idea is that Facebook collects data, sells ads, and performs other “services” to which the Facebook community is not privy. Therefore, the quest for money means that Facebook will keep on earning money or at least trying to earn money. (Just like GE, right?)
There are quite a few graphs which illustrate that companies in the Facebook-type sector want to be like Facebook. But the point is change.
Facebook, however, “won’t ever change.” And here’s the quote to prove it, at least to the author:
Facebook is about making money by keeping us addicted to Facebook. It always has been — and that’s why all of our angst and headlines are not going to change a damn thing.
A few observations.
First, I am delighted that Marc Zuckerberg is not altruistic, a statement offered in the “won’t ever change” essay. Okay, good to know. Heraclitus’ alleged statement suggests that today’s Zuckerberg is not tomorrow’s Zuckerberg. But Facebook is immutable; Zuckerberg is. He is, however, unable to “change” Facebook. I suppose that’s why founders and senior managers are either forced out or burned out.
Second, government regulation could impose “guidelines” that Facebook might want to observe if it wishes to conduct business in countries wanting to “change” Facebook. The DNA can stay the same, but China or the European Union could move the mighty social ship.
Third, users—like the teens expressing their views about school shooting—could make another social media channel the go to system. User pressure might squeeze the social vessel into a new form or split it at its seams.
Fourth, there is the life cycle thing. Facebook was a date hunting system. Now it is, like Google, difficult to sum up. The DNA, as I understand ageing, does not work the way it did when the organism was a new born. In short, Facebook will age and, at some point, find itself wedged in a warehouse for the aged. (Where is Excite now, gentle reader?)
I understand the need to offer “thought leader” type statements. The problem is that big ideas should not be based on a view of change that does not match the reality of long dead Greek guys or common sense. That’s the number one reason I find the write up similar to the statements of my ever-so-informed teacher who championed the “step into the river” factoid.
Stephen E Arnold, February 23, 2018
Can Presscoin Keep News from Going Fake
February 23, 2018
Fake news is a topic that has everyone on all sides of the aisle concerned. However, One innovative idea merging fake news and big data might have solved the problem. We learned more from a recent The Next Web story, “PresscoinL The Largest Crowdfunding Effort to Address the News Crisis.”
According to the story:
As the GDP of the PressCoin economy grows, the value of tokens will rise.
And blockchain keeps it honest. Our hope is to grow a decentralized media network reaching 100 mln engaged ‘users/prosumers’ in five years time, and to meaningfully address 10 percent of the news media industry within a couple of years of that.
PressCoin’s business strategy rests on these legs:
- Shared Design Philosophy– Open Collaboration, Partnership, and Decentralization
- Shared Technology Infrastructure– Seamless media technology cloud, underlying big-data systems, advanced APIs for engagement and analytics
- Shared Business Services– Consumer Data Intelligence, Monetization, Enterprise Sales, Ecosystem Partnerships, Strategic Relations
- Shared Developer Network– This fertile playground for agile experiments in the news/media/journalism sphere
- Shared Fiat/Crypto Financial Services Infrastructure– Built on Cointype
- Shared Venture Arm– Foster disruption within the ecosystem
While PressCoin is just getting off the ground, big data is already sorting out whether fake news can be trusted. One interesting use has been the story of how fake news might not have had that big an impact on the 2016 election. This could be the dawn of some very insightful times.
Patrick Roland, February 23, 2018
Webflow: Another Search Option
February 22, 2018
Search is one of the basic tools people use to utilize the Internet. It is as necessary as a keyboard, reading skills, and a decent WiFi signal. Search can be personalized for close proprietary systems as well as for individual Web sites. Webflow is the newest player among companies that specialize in search software. According to the Webflow blog, the company recently added a, “New Feature: Site Search.” Site search is a very important function, especially for ecommerce sites. Webflow’s new feature allows its customers to add a search function to their Web site, customize it, and control the content in the function.
Webflow’s search function recently came out of the beta phase and is now ready for deployment. Webflow understands the basic functionality of search as well as its importance for a Web site. The company broke search down into three elements:
1 Designing the search bar
2 Designing the search results page
3 Refining the content in your search engine”
All of these elements are customizable in Webflow’s software, along with other options.
Webflow is basically a design software for your own search engine along the lines of WordPress or Wix. The user interface appears to be relatively simple and walks the user through the design process. Perhaps the most important function is the ability to control search engine content, including the ability to exclude content from search results.
Webflow is built on open source search technology:
“Behind the scenes, we built search on top of the open-source Elasticsearch, which brings industry-leading relevance and natural language processing libraries within your control. So you’re not just getting simple, database-driven search — you’re running your own instance of one of the best search technologies available on the web.”
Out of the box search engines often do not work very well, so a tool like Webflow can improve the search experience.
Whitney Grace, February 22, 2018
With Relevance Trashed, Is It Gray Unitards for Online Users?
February 22, 2018
People judge the size of Internet based on their limited experiences as well as reports search engines generate, such as Google and Yahoo. Search engines compete over users by advertising that the size of their search index, but the Internet is truly bigger than any individual search index. The Search Engine Roundtable discusses how search indices do not encompass the entire Internet in the article, “Google: You Can’t Judge Index Size By One Or Two Sites.”
One example that proves you cannot determine the Internet’s size by only two search engines is comparing the search results generated by the same keywords. Both DuckDuckGo and Bing have proven more than once that they can discover Web sites Google and Yahoo cannot. Tim Bray wrote about this particular event on his blog, then it caught the attention of another developer:
“It caught Danny Sullivan’s attention on Twitter, which Danny responded that ‘I wouldn’t make that assumption for the entire web based on what’s happening with only your site.’ Tim being respected, Danny said he would dig into it, believing it may be an issue with the two example sites he cited, even though Bing and DuckDuckGo was able to index and return the content in their search engines.”
Google and yahoo now index the page in question, but this is a reminder than the Internet is a big place. The Dark Web is not picked up by regular search engines and for the amount of Web pages generated everyday it does not come as a surprise that Google and Yahoo would miss one. Maybe there is a business opportunity to develop an AI that tracks Web sites Google and other search engines have not found yet.
Whitney Grace, February 22, 2018
Big Tech Giants Not Bulletproof
February 22, 2018
It’s safe to say that the honeymoon is over for the big tech companies that use big data to the extreme. The likes of Facebook, Apple, Google, and Amazon had a rough 2017 and things aren’t looking up, according to Forbes story, “Big Trouble for Facebook, Amazon, Google, and Apple in 2018.”
According to the story 2017 was the year:
We realized that maybe, just maybe, FAGA (Facebook, Apple, Google, Amazon) were no different from car companies, real estate brokerages, banks, insurance companies, big pharma and other technology companies – those guys. When FAGA joined the family of “regular” companies they lost some appeal. In fact, if the trend continues, FAGA might even find themselves on the list of some of the most disrespected companies!
2017 made it clear that FAGA exists for their shareholders, partners, executives and customers, in that order. What an awakening for even the love-is-blind crowd: just say it ain’t so! Just another company?
Things are not so rosy for tech companies that once claimed they would change the world. Net neutrality might cause them to drastically shift their business models, and a recent Vanity Fair story pulled back the curtain on Silicon Valley and revealed a hedonistic culture that is a drastic shift in our perception. Does this mean we are in for a tide shift in tech? Mmmmm, probably not. These giants are firmly planted, but it is proof they are not bulletproof.
Patrick Roland, February 22, 2018
AI: A Yardstick of Sorts
February 21, 2018
There has not been a standard to measure artificial intelligence’s progress in the technology field. AI has progressed so rapidly over the past two decades that a Stanford group decided to create their own standard called AI100 index that will be the comprehensive baseline for the state of artificial intelligence. Stanford’s Engineering magazine details the new standard in the article, “A New Artificial Intelligence Index Tracks The Emerging Field.”
Rich and Mary Horvitz established the AI100 in 2014 with the purpose of predicting AI’s effects on a 2030 urban environment. While working on their AI100 index, the pair discovered that there has been a dramatic increase in startups and improvement in AI’s to mimic human behavior. The AI100 is meant to be a measurement tool to chart progress and encourage conversation about the field’s potential. The AI100 pulls information for many sources:
“The AI Index tracks and measures at least 18 independent vectors in academia, industry, open-source software and public interest, plus technical assessments of progress toward what the authors call “human-level performance” in areas such as speech recognition, question-answering and computer vision – algorithms that can identify objects and activities in 2D images. Specific metrics in the index include evaluations of academic papers published, course enrollment, AI-related startups, job openings, search-term frequency and media mentions, among others.”
While the AI100 pulls information from scientific and technology communities, it also draws information from the Social Progress Index, Middle East peace index, and the Bangladesh empowerment index.
The AI index will be a historical document and could also help predict future trends in the AI field. As long as it is maintained, the AI index will more than likely become integral to the industry.
Whitney Grace, February 21, 2018
Kentucky Technology: Stick with Horse Racing
February 21, 2018
Who knows if the information in “KFC: Enemy of Waistlines, AI, Arteries and Logistics Software” is steroid infused or faux chicken.
I loved the factoids in the write up for three reasons:
- I live in Harrod’s Creek, Kentucky, where fried squirrel is almost as popular as fried chicken with those herbs, spices, and what nots.
- Kentucky Fried Chicken has, according to local legend, had some squabbles in the software barnyard. Does Taco Bell system play nice with the fried chicken outlet systems? What about restaurant management software from folks in the even deeper South down Atlanta way?
- Kentucky Fried Chicken is famous in certain circles for the perfect celebratory feast. In Chicago, so the chatter goes, the buckets are a required food stuff after an event.
Here are the factoids I noted:
- Self driving cars think the KFC logo is a stop sign. (I watched the Yandex self driving car video and it sailed right by what appeared to be fast food joints. If I spot a Yandex car braking for a bucket, I will pass along the information.)
- A software glitch nuked some important information.
- A shift to DHL from an outfit called Bidvest created a chicken shortage in some UK KFC outlets. No chicken? How does one fix this? Hit the Waitrose? Nah, shut the friend chicken shops.
Are you hungry for a two piece meal with the mandatory biscuit? Tip: Don’t tell the human at the counter to skip the biscuit. You have to wait if none are sitting on the ready line. Don’t like it? Hmmm.
Stephen E Arnold, February 21, 2018
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