Elastic App Search Engine: Support for 13 Languages
December 23, 2018
The scorched earth of the old empire of enterprise search will no longer support crops. But the open source combine Elastic (creator of open source Elasticsearch) has found fields to harvest.
I learned from Elastic’s user success management (no, I don’t know what that means) that Elastic’s App Search engine offers English, Spanish, German, and 10 other languages.
You can learn more at this link. The write up includes the phrase “App Searchery.” I guess the winner of the search wars is entitled to reverse engineer language to make its seeds its own.
Stephen E Arnold, December 23, 2018
Facebook: WhatsApp and In App Payment
December 22, 2018
I noted two developments which Facebook may roll out.
The first is the story in Newsweek “WhatsApp Child Porn Groups Exposed.” WhatsApp is an encrypted messaging service. As pressure on “old school” Dark Web sites continues to escalate, bad actors are looking for new, easy ways to communicate, share, and locate information that is of interest to them. Encryption, according to many investigators, allows bad actors to go dark. The authorities are, therefore, blind to potentially useful information. The write up suggests that Facebook is taking some action. The article said:
Facebook said working with police may be their best option to combat the material.
The second item concerns transacting, buying, and selling within WhatsApp. I noted “Facebook Explores Blockchain Tech For WhatsApp Money Transfers.” According to the write up:
In an effort to help WhatsApp users transfer money, Facebook is reportedly creating a digital currency. Unnamed sources told Bloomberg that the company is at work on a stablecoin, which is a cryptocurrency tied to the value of the U.S. dollar, and is reportedly eyeing India’s remittance market.
How quickly will bad actors interested in salacious or illegal content embrace Facebook’s vision of seamless buying and selling?
I would suggest quickly if the system sort of works.
With Facebook’s record of fine tuning its digital compass, WhatsApp could become the new Dark Web.
On the other hand, maybe Facebook will create a positive, uplifting union of services. Yep, maybe.
Stephen E Arnold, December 22, 2018
Explainable AI: Who Will Cooperate to Make This Feasible?
December 21, 2018
i read “Capital One AI Chief Sees Path to Explainable AI.” Capital One is the company that runs the “what’s in your wallet?” campaign. The company also has made headlines like this “Compliance Weaknesses Cost Capital One $100M.”
The write up articulates a point of view that I have to admit Beyond Search has not considered possible. The idea is that the “black boxes” of artificial intelligence can be made more “interpretable.” Yes, I suppose like the discovery of the company’s compliance issues.
Here’s quote attributed to Capital One’s smart software guru:
“A good deep learning approach could give us more comfort that we know what’s happening in the system than having 1000 of these human-created rules, created over 20 years.”
“Good”, of course, is relative.
My view is that developers and some organizations do not want anyone—including certain employees—to know how some numerical procedures operate. At Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, senior managers have tried to partition information so that employees don’t go on protest marches and write critical tweets when applying smart software to war fighting.
Therefore, one can talk about transparency. One can argue that black boxes will become more open to scrutiny.
My hunch is that the idea is interesting, but it is unlikely particularly in the organizations which have the most to lose if what and how certain functions are accomplished are revealed.
What about home loan and credit policies based on numerical analysis? How much visibility do financial institutions provide when approving or rejecting a credit limit increase, a home loan, or some other credit centric financial transaction how?
What happens when smart software makes these decisions. Perhaps a look at “Weapons of Math Destruction” would be helpful?
Then consider secrecy as a business advantage. Just a couple of ideas to ponder when sipping spiked eggnog.
Stephen E Arnold, December 21, 2018
Apple and IBM Try to Defy Gravity
December 21, 2018
We find it a bit brazen for IBM to be pontificating about trust after Watson Health’s recent marketing missteps. Still, on her recent visit to Brussels, that company’s CEO joined the chorus criticizing certain other tech giants for violating users’ privacy. Fortune reports, “A ‘Trust Crisis:’ IBM CEO Ginni Rometty Joins Apple’s Tim Cook in Slamming Tech Abuse of User Data.” She even went so far as to suggest the EU strengthen its laws to hold companies responsible for all content that crosses their platforms. We are informed:
“Without naming company names, Rometty pointed to the ‘irresponsible handling of personal data by a few dominant consumer-facing platform companies’ as the cause of a ‘trust crisis’ between users and tech companies, according to an advanced copy of her remarks. Rometty’s comments, given at a Brussels event with top EU officials Monday, echoed recent statements by Apple CEO Tim Coo, who in October slammed Silicon Valley rivals over their use of data, equating their services to ‘surveillance.’…
We also noted this statement:
“Seeking to separate IBM—which operates primarily at a business-to-business level—from the troubled tech companies, Rometty said governments should target regulation at consumer-facing web platforms, like social media firms and search engines.”
Certainly, IBM executives and shareholders would be quite pleased to see regulations focus on consumer-facing companies and away from B2B entities like them. Rometty offers this statement to support her position:
“The power dynamic is very different in the business-to-business markets. Tackling the real problem means using a regulatory scalpel, not a sledgehammer, to avoid collateral damage that would hurt the wider, productive, and more responsible parts of the digital economy.”
Interesting perspective. Cook’s similar criticisms were also made in Brussels, in October. Does he hope to divert attention from Apple app store monopoly concerns? To be sure, throwing shade at the competition can redirect consumer, and regulatory, fury. The pot will always call the kettle black, it seems.
Cynthia Murrell, December 21, 2018
DIY Neural Network Could Be First Step In Big Change
December 21, 2018
The once complex is beginning to become easy.
Data scientists make a lot of comparisons between the network of neurons in our brain and the way big data search operates. We tend to think that’s a pretty good comparison. So, when we discovered someone came up with a way to build a neural network from scratch, the armchair brain surgeon in us couldn’t resist. We learned more from a recent Toward Data Science piece, “How to Build Your Own Neural Network from Scratch in Python.”
According to the piece:
“Motivation: As part of my personal journey to gain a better understanding of Deep Learning, I’ve decided to build a Neural Network from scratch without a deep learning library like TensorFlow. I believe that understanding the inner workings of a Neural Network is important to any aspiring Data Scientist.”
Neural networks have become big news lately. While some people are being encouraged to construct their own at home, other major news outlets like Forbes are writing in-depth pieces about what, exactly, they are for folks who aren’t data scientists. Is this the neural network’s mainstream moment? Will it soon become as ubiquitous as search engines? Time will tell, but putting more power like this in the hands of everyday people is never a bad thing.
Patrick Roland, December 21, 2018
Ethical Compass Update: Truth, Fiction?
December 20, 2018
I read “Google Sabotaged Edge, Hints Former Microsoft Intern.”
The question is:
Who is telling the truth?
Let’s run down the possibilities about the spin on this doctored ball.
First, Google fiddled some code to make Edge look even less appealing than Microsoft’s LinkedIn integration? Definitely possible.
Second, the “intern” is blowing smoke. Fifteen minutes of fame stuff. The inability to craft some bulletproof code maybe?
Third, the publications reporting the story are going with zippy stuff that attracts clicks.
When I read, statements like this, I wonder what’s real and what’s fake:
For all his hints about duplicitousness, Bakita doesn’t outright accuse the firm of being Machiavellian. “Now I’m not sure I’m convinced that YouTube was changed intentionally to slow Edge,” he writes. That wasn’t the case for everyone on his team, with the former Microsoft intern disclosing that “many” of his co-workers do believe this to be the case, so much so that they “looked into it personally.”
From my vantage point in Harrod’s Creek, nothing surprises me about tech giants. High school science club management methods aside, truth is difficult to discern.
Now about that 1809 update?
Stephen E Arnold, December 20, 2018
King Zuck: Above the Law? Yeah, Maybe
December 20, 2018
Though today’s major tech companies can, willingly or accidentally, make startling impacts on society, corporate executives are still primarily accountable only to their shareholders. And in the case of one of the largest and most beleaguered companies, Vox informs us, “Mark Zuckerberg is Essentially Untouchable at Facebook.”
Reporter Emily Stewart begins by recounting some recent criticisms lobbed at the company. First, the New York Times described Facebook’s deliberate efforts to downplay controversies from the Cambridge Analytica data breach to the spread of Russian propaganda on their platform. Then there is the Wall Street Journal’s report that Zuckerberg considers his company to be “at war,” and that both morale and stock prices are in decline. And yet, the digital king remains untouchable. Stewart writes:
“He reiterated the point in an interview with CNN Business this week, saying that stepping down as chairman is ‘not the plan.’ And the thing is, no one can make him. Even before the latest scandals, there have been questions about whether too much influence within Facebook has been placed with Zuckerberg and, among some investors, pushes for him to renounce his position as chair of the board. But because of the way Facebook’s shareholder structure is set up — and the number of shares Zuckerberg holds — there’s no way for anyone to force him out. Facebook may be a publicly traded company, but Zuckerberg pretty much makes the rules.”
The write-up outlines the reasons Facebook’s corporate structure means Zuckerberg always gets the most votes, and notes most corporations are set up this way. (See the article for those details.) It continues:
“That means that whatever shareholders are voting on — typically at Facebook’s annual meeting, usually in May — Zuckerberg and those closest to him are always going to win out. Bob Pisani at CNBC estimated earlier this year that Zuckerberg and the group of insiders control almost 70 percent of all voting shares in Facebook. Zuckerberg alone controls about 60 percent.”
Not that shareholders are silently accepting this status quo. A number of them have made proposals that would limit their famous CEOs power, including bringing in an “independent” board chair. Mysteriously, though, none of those proposals have received enough votes to pass.
But in the back of my mind is the sharing of private communications, the loss of private images, and the orbital sander approach to helping an ethical compass find true revenue.
Cynthia Murrell, December 20, 2018
Adding Some Zest to Statistics
December 20, 2018
We live in a world of statistics. It seems nearly everything is run on analytics, and AI, and algorithms. So, it’s no surprise, that there has never been a more important time to understand the world of numbers and computing than today. Luckily, there are resources available to users, like the recent Data Science Central story, “21 Statistical Concepts Explained in Simple English.”
According to the piece:
“This resource is part of a series on specific topics related to data science: regression, clustering, neural networks, deep learning, decision trees, ensembles, correlation, Python, R, Tensorflow, SVM, data reduction, feature selection, experimental design, cross-validation, model fitting, and many more.”
Sounds pretty good from where we’re sitting. We are living in confusing times and any way in which we can become better equipped to deal with complex theories is a plus. There is actually a really exciting subculture developing around the idea of simplifying complex statistical ideas in technology. For instance, we’ve been really hooked on these different podcasts that are aimed a individuals just beginning to learn about data science. We applaud any way that makes the world of complex computing more inviting and universal.
A brave new world indeed.
Patrick Roland, December 20, 2018
Amazon: Wheel Re-Invention
December 19, 2018
Some languages have bound phrases; that is, two words which go together. Examples include “White House”, a presidential dwelling, and “ticket counter”, a place to talk with an uninterested airline professionals. How does a smart software system recognize a bound phrase and then connect it to the speaker’s or writer’s intended meaning. There is a difference between “I toured the White House” and “Turn left at the white house.”
Traditionally, vendors of text analysis, indexing, and NLP systems used jargon to explain a collection of methods pressed into action to make sense of language quirks. The guts of most systems are word lists, training material selected to make clear that in certain contexts some words go together and have a specific meaning; for example, “terminal” doesn’t make much sense until one gets whether the speaker or writer is referencing a place to board a train (railroad terminal), the likely fate of a sundowner (terminal as in dead), or a computer interface device (dumb terminal).
How does Amazon accomplish this magic? Amazon embraces jargon, of course, and then explains its bound phrase magic in “How Alexa Knows “Peanut Butter” Is One Shopping-List Item, Not Two.”
Amazon’s spin is spoken language understanding. The write up explains how the system operates. But the methods are ones that others have used. Amazon, to be sure, has tweaked the procedures. That’s standard operating procedure in the index game.
What’s interesting is that no reference is made to the contextual information which Amazon has to assist its smart software with disambiguation.
But Amazon is now talking, presumably to further the message that the company is a bold, brave innovator.
No argument from Harrod’s Creek. That’s a bound phrase, by the way, with capital letters and sometimes and apostrophe or not.
Stephen E Arnold, December 19, 2018
Short Honk: Yahoo Is Oath, Actually, Verizon Media Group
December 19, 2018
What’s with Yahoo? Is it like something the witches in Macbeth cooked up? The curse of the Yahooligans has claimed a Hollywood mogul (whatever happened to Terry Semel?), a person who fudged a résumé, a Googler known for giving interesting holiday parties, Tim Andrews (yep, the fellow of Patch fame who saw a pot of gold in the fusion of Yahoo and America Online), a new brand called Oath, and now Verizon’s billions. Oath was almost as scintillating as TRONC in terms of zippiness.
That is a track record for a company which once was a directory of Web sites. Yahoooo!
I read “Introducing Verizon Media Group.” The main point of the write up in my opinion is that Yahoo is dead. AOL is no more. From the ashes a new online media group is rising. I noted this statement:
This quarter, we’ve made it easier for people to access our unparalleled diversity and quality of consumer products, while making it easier for advertisers and publishers to solve their business challenges with the recent launch of our unified ad platforms. We’ve built on this strong foundation and set our advertising solutions apart by introducing over 20 new features this quarter, including engaging ad formats and unique supply such as digital OOH, connected TV and programmatic audio.
Yep, unified.
So now it is VMG. Perhaps the Yahoo spell has been broken?
Stephen E Arnold, December 19, 2018
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