Google: Clever Cost Cutting
October 18, 2022
Most web searchers do not make it past the first page or two of Google results. But even if one has the patience to go all the way to the end, it seems one can only see a fraction of the results promised at the top of each page. According to a blog post from web scraper SerpApi, “Google’s ‘Millions of Search Results’ Are Not Being Served in the Later Pages Search Results.” Writer Justin O’Hara reports:
“A misconception regarding Google’s search results is that all of the results are being served to the user conducting that particular search. Those 2 billion search results can’t be gotten through Google’s pagination, and it seems that this number is somewhat arbitrary to the search, or commonality of the keyword. I rarely go past the 2nd or 3rd page of Google’s search results for any kind of query anymore, but these rankings of results are big business with Search Engine Optimization. I wanted to do a little case study on the actual amount of searches that get served to users for a couple different searches.”
O’Hara experimented by searching for his company’s name and could see only 146 results out of the 166,000 Google said it found. Repeating the search with omitted results included, as Google offers, garnered only 369 results. But why? Cost cutting? Or perhaps information shaping? We may never know. Not surprisingly, O’Hara emphasizes SerpApi’s Google Search API can scrape the results Google itself does not deign to pass on to users.
Cynthia Murrell, October 18, 2022
Internet Archive: Maybe a Goner?
October 14, 2022
We conceptualize the Internet is an unobstructed entity. The Internet relies on a high-tech, interconnected network of servers and wires that requires an unknown amount of energy. If there are any power outages or the servers breaks, then the Internet is gone. Unfortunately, it could mean the Internet Archive, an online archive of digital media, could disappear due to a lawsuit brought on by authors and publishers.
Slate explains why authors and publishers are upset with the Internet Archive in: “Could The Internet Archive Go Out Like Napster?” In March 2020, the Internet Archive allowed users to check out more than one item from its scanned book collection due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The event was called the National Emergency Library, but publishers and authors claimed this was piracy and harmed their profits. Lawsuits were filed and the National Emergency Library was shut down. The lawsuits are still ongoing, but authors, librarians, and other organizations are worried the Internet Archive could disappear:
“One thing hasn’t changed: fears that the vagaries of this case could cripple the archive and, subsequently, the myriad services it offers the 1.5 million people who visit it every day. In addition to lending books digitally, the Internet Archive hosts the Wayback Machine, a tool that has chronicled internet history since 1996; the concern is that if legal costs drain the archive of its funds, all of its services could be affected. Users of the site and digital archivists have compared the potential loss of the archive’s services to the burning of the Library of Alexandria. Yet book companies also view the stakes here as existential for their business model; the International Publishers Association stated that this case is of “global significance” to its members.”
If the problem was only about the National Emergency Library, then the lawsuits would be over. The bigger picture surrounds how publishers want to block controlled digital lending. There are many ways libraries allow users to check out digital media, popular methods include securing licenses through an app like Libby. Publishers and some authors want to block controlled digital lending, because they only make profits from the first purchase. The use of ebook loans, however, allows them to charge per read. Librarians love controlled digital lending, because it would save them money.
The Internet Archive uses controlled digital ending and states its book collection falls under fair use. The Internet Archive allows users access to a multitude of books that are in copyright limbo: they are out of print, no one knows who owns the copyright, or physical copies are scarce.
Publishers could work with the Internet Archive, but profits always win over the decency of keeping a non-profit (that actually does something good) up and going. So much for the free, digital utopia, the Internet was supposed to be.
Whitney Grace, MLS, October 14, 2022
Elastic: Bouncing Along
October 12, 2022
It seems like open-source search is under pressure. We learn from SiliconAngle that “Elastic Delivers Strong Revenue Growth and Beats Expectations, but Its Stock is Down.” For anyone unfamiliar with Elastic, writer Mike Wheatley describes the company’s integral relationship with open-source software:
“The company sells a commercial version of the popular open-source Elasticsearch platform. Elasticsearch is used by enterprises to store, search and analyze massive volumes of structured and unstructured data. It allows them to do this very quickly, in close to real time. The platform serves as the underlying engine for millions of applications that have complex search features and requirements. In addition to Elasticsearch, Elastic also sells application observability tools that help companies to track network performance, as well as threat detection software.”
Could it be that recent concerns about open-source security issues are more important to investors than fiscal success? The write-up shares some details from the company’s press release:
“The company reported a loss before certain costs such as stock compensation of 15 cents per share, coming in ahead of Wall Street analysts’ consensus estimate of a 17-cent-per-share loss. Meanwhile, Elastic’s revenue grew by 30% year-over-year, to $250.1 million, beating the consensus estimate of $246.2 million. On a constant currency basis, Elastic’s revenue rose 34%. Altogether, Elastic posted a net loss of $69.6 million, more than double the $34.4 million loss it reported in the year-ago period.”
Elastic emphatically accentuates the positive—like the dramatic growth of its cloud-based business and its flourishing subscription base. See the source article or the press release for more details. We are curious to see whether the company’s new chief product officer Ken Exner can find a way to circumvent open-source’s inherent weaknesses. Exner used to work at Amazon overseeing AWS Developer Tools. Founded in 2012, Elastic is based in Mountain View, California.
Cynthia Murrell, October 12, 2022
The FCC Springs into Action Regarding IS Ps
October 10, 2022
The easiest way to describe the COVID-19 pandemic is that it sucked. People died, paychecks were cut, pandemic pets were returned to shelters, and now no one wants to leave their houses. An even worse side effect is that bad actors filed false claims with US government offices to receive relief funds. Light Reading explains how bad actors took advantage of of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP): “FCC Inspector General Says ‘Dozens’ Of ISPs Claimed Fraudulent ACP Funds.”
The FCC Office of Inspector General (OIG) noted that a dozen broadband providers (ISPs) fraudulently enrolled for ACPs. The bad-acting ISPs enrolled a single individual multiple times for ACP reimbursements amounting to thousands of dollars. The scams were conducted in Texas, Ohio, Alabama, and Oklahoma; the latter turned out to be the worst offender. ISPs are responsible for ensuring which households are eligible under the ACP rules. The government is cracking down on fraud:
“Following the release of the report, the Wireline Competition Bureau published a public notice outlining new steps it’s implementing to “limit opportunities for waste, fraud, and abuse” with the ACP. As per the notice, the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) is improving the measures it uses to verify BQPs [benefit qualifying person] as well as instituting processes to hold payments and de-enroll households that used the same BQP.”
A total of $14.2 billion was allotted to the ACP, but less than half of that amount is reaching those who truly need the assistance:
“According to an ACP dashboard from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) and Community Networks, just 13 million qualifying households in the US are enrolled out of an eligible 37 million, or 36.5% of the population. That includes 40% of eligible Oklahomans, where the FCC report cites its most egregious example of ACP fraud.”
ACP funding is predicted to run out by March 2025 and if enrollment is boosted by 50% that money is gone by April 2024.
The ACP needs more funds and needs to weed out fraudulent claims. At the rate the US government acts, it is going to take a long time to do either. It will probably be faster than Mexico’s, France’s, and India’s notoriously slow governments.
Whitney Grace, October 10, 2022
Amazon Strategy: Just Prime the Pump with Low Grade Fuel
September 30, 2022
Have you pulled into a filling station in rural Missouri, filled your tank, and driven into the beauty of the state? Enjoyable, right. At least it was fun until the motor died because the fuel you purchased won’t run in your whale killing, dolphin destroying vehicle with a giant V8 and oversized wheels.
Bummer.
I think that’s how some Amazon employees feel after reading an email explaining that Amazons payroll department is not very good at math. You know. The hard math of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Strike that: Amazon has subtraction and division (maybe divisiveness) under control.
“Oops, Amazon Emails Staff with News It Miscalculated Their Compensation” reports what may be “real news”:
A one-time bonus that was part of their compensation package had been miscalculated due to a software error and would be lower than what they had been told … The bonuses had initially been calculated using older, higher stock prices and about 40% of promoted employees this quarter were affected by the error.
No biggie. Just 40 percent of the Amazon happy tribe of Bezos bulldozer drivers.
The lower pay tier workers at the joyful Amazon money factory heard some bad news earlier, according to the write up:
Earlier this month, CEO Andy Jassy said that a $25 minimum wage is unlikely.
Interesting. Perhaps this ineptitude explains why Amazon has been less than revealing in some of its financial reports. The term for this is either inepticity, duplicity, or innumeracy, but that’s just my personal opinion.
What happened to my next day delivery?
Stephen E Arnold, September 30, 2022
Google and Its Smart Software: Marketing Fodder and Investment Compost
September 29, 2022
Alphabet Google YouTube DeepMind is “into” smart software. The idea is that synthetic data, off-the-shelf models, and Google’s secret sauce will work wonders. Now this series of words is catnip for AGYD’s marketing and sales professionals. Grrrreat, as Tony the Tiger used to say about a fascinating cereal decades ago. Grrreat!
However, there may be a slight disconnect between the AGYD smart software papers, demonstrations, and biology-shaking protein thing and the cold, hard reality of investment payback. Keep in mind that AGYD is about money, not the social shibboleths in the stream of content marketing.
“Google Ventures Shelves Its Algorithm” states:
Google Ventures has mothballed an algorithm that for years had served as a gatekeeper for new investments… GV [Google Ventures] still relies heavily on data. After all, this is the corporate venture arm of Google. But data has been relegated to its original role as aide, rather than arbiter.
I interpreted the report to mean: Yikes! It does not work and Googley humans have to make decisions about investments.
The spin is that the algos are helpful. But the decision is humanoid.
I wonder, “What other AGYD algos don’t deliver what users, advertisers, and Googlers expected?”
Google listens to those with lots of money at risk. Does Google listen to other constituencies? Did Google take the criticism of its smart software to heart?
My hunch is that the smart software is lingo perfect for marketing outputs. Some of the outputs of the smart software are compost, rarely shown to the public and not sniffed by too many people. Will Tony the Tiger inhale and growl, “Grrreat”? Sure, sure, Tony will.
Stephen E Arnold, September 29, 2022
Meta: The Efflorescence of Zucking
September 19, 2022
Years ago a colleague of mine and I spent a couple of days with Pat Gunkel. Ah, you don’t know him? Depending on whom one asks, he was either an interesting person or a once-in-a-generation genius. I have in front of me a copy of “The Efflorescent World View.” (Want to buy a copy handed to me by Mr. Gunkel? Just write us at benkent2020 at yahoo dot com. It’s a collectible because only a few of Mr. Gunkel’s books are findable in our wonderful, search-tastic online world.) The image below shows what an actual Gunkel book from his office looks like:
I thought about Mr. Gunkel when I read “Meta Shares Plunged 14% This Week, Falling Close to Their Pandemic Low.” Mr. Gunkel’s method involved creating lists. Lots of lists. I think he would have found the challenge of cataloging Mr. Zuck’s impressive achievements; for example:
- The reference stock plunge
- Implementing an employee management technique in which employees learn that some of them should not be Zuckers
- The “make friends with your neighbors in Hawaii” actions
- The elimination of personal cubes and work spaces in Meta’s offices
- The renaming of the company to celebrate the billions invested in what eGame developers have been doing for — yeah, how long — for decades
- Thinking about charging for its unpopular clone of a really popular app. (Genius with a twist of Zuck? Yes!)
But what’s an “efflorescence”? Some may ask. I have a big fat book on the subject. Let me summarize: One might say a gradual flowering. Others might suggest that it represents a culmination.
My hunch is that the year 2022 marks the efflorescence of the Zuckbook, the knock off of TikTok, and the push to make WhatsApp a superapp for good and evil.
The efflorescence of Zucking. Too bad Mr. Gunkel is no longer with us to undertake this project. He was, I must say, very interesting.
Stephen E Arnold, September 19, 2022
Captive Audience, Required Purchase: Surprised Professional Publishers Are Hiking Prices?
September 16, 2022
Before college textbooks are an annoyance because they are heavy and mean homework. Once college comes around, however, they are akin to the devil. Textbook publishers can charge hundreds of dollars for a single textbook, adding more fees to already astronomical education costs. One way to save money is purchasing used or digital textbooks, but that could change Bloomberg wrote in: “Pearson Says Blockchain Could Make It Money Every Time E-Books Change Hands.”
Pearson Plc. Is one of the world’s largest textbook publishers and the CEO wants to use blockchain and non-fungible tokens to make a profit off the secondary and digital market. The digital tokens would allow Pearson to track ownership of a book file, then take a cut if it is sold more than once:
“’The move to digital helps diminish the secondary market, and technology like blockchain and NFTs allows us to participate in every sale of that particular item as it goes through its life,’ by tracking the material’s unique identifier on the ledger from “owner A to owner B to owner C,’ said [Andy] Bird, a former Disney executive.’
By moving entirely to digital, Pearson would save on printing costs but would lose profits off its already sky-high books. Pearson is developing a textbook subscription service instead of individual fees for books. If the service saves students money and works similar to a digital library, then Pearson should go for it! And students, get a loan.
Whitney Grace, September 16, 2022
Yacht Costs: One Trivial Omission
September 8, 2022
I read “Breaking Dow the Cost of an Oligarch’s Yacht.” Interesting stuff. I noted that the rule of thumb calculation for operating a super yacht was included in the write up:
Keeping a yacht in operation costs around 10 percent of its original price.
There’s not much detail, but I think the 10 percent may be low, and it certainly does not include legal fees if the yacht sinks or gets caught playing footloose and fancy free with its transponder gizmo. Then the yacht has to be upgraded because trendy interiors look untrendy after a year or so in the bling world. Furthermore the 10 percent number does not include recovery in the event the yacht sinks or burns — accidentally, of course.
Now what about that trivial omission?
I noted that the cited article does not include the bound phrase “money laundering.” Gee, I wonder why.
Stephen E Arnold, September 8, 2022
Forget Cyber Fraud. Fungible Fraud Is Missed Too
September 8, 2022
Though cybercrime continues to grab headlines, it seems the old-fashioned kind is still a thing. Eight months after a Canadian heist was executed, reveals Smithsonian Magazine, “Hotel Discovers Its Famous Churchill Portrait Was Swapped with a Fake.” Readers may recognize the Roaring Lion as the much-reproduced photograph taken by Yousuf Karsh in 1941. The iconic image even made it onto England’s five-pound note in 2016. One of Karsh’s original, signed prints was proudly displayed at Ottawa’s Fairmont Château Laurier until some grinch replaced it with a forgery around last year’s winter holidays. It was the frame that, eventually, gave the imposter away. Reporter Ella Feldman writes:
“On the night of August 19, an employee at the hotel, the Fairmont Château Laurier, noticed that the frame containing their prized print did not match the other frames on the wall. The hotel called Jerry Fielder, director of Karsh’s estate, who requested a photo of the signature. ‘I’ve seen that signature for 43 years. So it took me just one second to know that someone had tried to copy it,’ Fielder tells the Guardian’s Leyland Cecco. ‘It was a fake.’ Hotel officials say that the photograph was stolen about eight months ago. Genevieve Dumas, the hotel’s general manager, tells CTV News that based on images submitted by the public, they’ve narrowed down the date of the heist to somewhere between December 25, 2021 and January 6, 2022. The hotel is asking anyone who has images of the photograph taken around that time to send them in.”
To put the loss in economic perspective, another signed original print of the portrait sold at auction for $62,500 in 2020. But it is about much more than money for the venerable hotel, which had close ties with Karsh. The photographer held his first exhibition there in 1936 and, in 1972, moved his photography studio to the site. Eight years later the Fairmont became home to Karsh and his wife Estrellita, who gifted the original print to the hotel after her husband’s death in 2002. An investigation into the theft is under way. We hope the eight-month trail has not grown too cold.
Cynthia Murrell, September 8, 2022
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