Hello Siri Google is Coming for You
November 14, 2012
Google has been trying to come out with a rival to Apple’s Siri for months now. While those who have new Android products are able to utilize Google Now, until now, there has not been a Google app to bring instant information to non-Google smartphones. LifeHacker.com recently published the article, “Chat with Google Guru to Get Google Now Style Answers on Any Device.”
According to the article, for those who want Google Now style data but do not have an Android product, there is now an easy solution. All you have to do is add guru@googlelabs.comto your contact list on your smartphone. Then ask Google Guru what you want to know and receive instant replies.
The article explains:
“Granted, this works best with Android devices, since Android has a built-in GTalk client. iOS users will have to use a third party app, like our favorite, Imo, to get the same features. Once Guru is in your contacts list, commands like “weather: city” will give you the current conditions in that location, and “score: team” will help you find the score of a game you’re interested in, or the last game your favorite team played. Here are all of the commands guru understands as far as we can tell:
- Score: team
- Weather: city
- Define: word
- Translate: word
- Web: query (performs a Google web search)
- Calculate: formula”
While it doesn’t have all of the features of Siri or Google Now, Google Guru could lead to some potential competition for Apple if more non-Android smartphones begin using it.
Jasmine Ashton, November 14, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
How Phone Records Correlate to Pace of Life
November 6, 2012
It has often been said that those who dwell in cities live a faster paced life than their country-living counterparts, the MIT Technology Review article, “Phone Call Data Reveals How Pace of Life Accelerates in Cities” is now able to prove it.
According to the article, Markus Schläpfer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge has figured out a way to prove that humans in cities interact more often and with a greater number of other people than those who live in smaller conurbations.
The study is based on 440 million anonymous mobile phone calls made in Portugal over a period of 15 months and almost 8 billion landline calls made in Britain during a single month. What they discovered was, people who live in larger cities not only have more contacts but they also accumulate them faster.
The article states:
“Schläpfer and colleagues say the results imply that during the 15-month observation period an average urban dweller in the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, accumulated about twice as many reciprocated contacts as an average resident of Lixa, a rural town.
‘The results presented here constitute the first extensive empirical evidence of the acceleration of human interactions in cities,’ they say.”
While this is not the first study to argue that people who live in larger cities have a more fast paced life, it is one of the first to have such a large sample size and connect data sets to human interactions. This could very well be the first of many studies.
Jasmine Ashton, November 06, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Motorola Restructuring Proves to be More Complex Than Anticipated
October 29, 2012
The Inquirer recently published a piece that leads us to believe Motorola is a stickier wicket than Google predicted, called “Google Revises Cost of Motorola Mobility Restructuring.”
According to the article, after Google’s initial acquisition of Motorola, the restructuring has proved to be more costly and difficult than initially anticipated. One example of this is the fact that the search giant planned to cut Motorola’s workforce by 20 percent. However, after examining figures for severance charges, the number has been changed to 9 percent.
The article states:
“Motorola was bought for its considerable patent portfolio, with Google hoping that the 16,000 or so patents will help it fend off potential patent lawsuits by other firms like Apple and Microsoft. However Google bought not only 16,000 patents but also a company that was far from being the mobile phone market leader, with financials to match its lacklustre products.
Google said in a statement to Reuters, ‘Motorola has continued to refine its planned restructuring actions and now expects to broaden those actions to include additional geographic regions outside of the US.’”
We are still unsure of Google’s true motivations for buying Motorola. Whether it was patent related or hardware, Google’s next Nexus design should bring some clarity to the issue.
Jasmine Ashton, October 29, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Smart Firms Look to Business Intelligence that Delivers Information
October 25, 2012
When there is more than enough new data types to warrant new methods of analysis, you know there must be a paradigm shift at play. SAP certainly is not the first to point out the juncture we currently sit at, but nonetheless they threw in their hat to the number of firms presenting research on the subject. CMS Wire reported on the matter in “Report: ‘New Paradigm’ of Data for the Social Enterprise.”
The report is titled Rethinking Analytics for the Social Enterprise and it makes the case that social businesses are in a new generation of analytics where data is collected, analyzed and often used socially. That is, the data is disseminated through mobile platforms in near real-time.
One of the characteristics of the new paradigm is the social collection of structured and unstructured data from sources both inside and outside a company, including interactions with customers and prospects. That data is analyzed socially in a collaborative fashion throughout enterprise, using mobile tools and generating results that are more visual, more current and immediately actionable.
The looming question is which vendors will pull through as the big players in shaping this new arena of software solutions and more. There is no doubt that keeping an eye on PolySpot‘s information delivering business intelligence solutions is a smart move.
Megan Feil, October 25, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Delivering Information Must Precede Presenting it in a Pretty Way
October 24, 2012
We have heard it before and CITE World will tell us again: mobile is the platform of the future. Mobile business intelligence vendor Roambi directed the conversation towards the new platform everyone wants a piece of in the article, “Roambi Lets You Visualize Enterprise Data On Your iPhone or iPad.”
The Roambi app is integrated with Roambi Analytics back-end. This allows for data to be drawn from existing sources and turns it into engaging and very useful visualizations on mobile devices. There are even ten different views possible to see enterprise data appear in.
We learned more about the app:
The functionality here is impressive: Roambi doesn’t just put a new coat of paint on your enterprise data—it fully commits to the mobile experience, with each visualization easily controlled by screen gestures like double-taps and swipes. Part of that laudable functionality comes from listening to customers: company reps say that enterprise buyers wanted access to their data anywhere. That’s why Roambi downloads data directly to your device. Even without an internet connection, you still have access to your latest reports.
If there is a gem of mobile business intelligence out there, it may be Roambi. However, in order to deal with the cross usage of mobile with traditional devices so that no data is left behind, another solution must be in place. We are talking about something in the vein of PolySpot solutions, they deliver information across multiple devices in a secure manner.
Megan Feil, October 24, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Information Delivery for Mobile Workers: A Big Data Need
October 17, 2012
In the beginning of the Big Data craze, there was always the impending potential of tiny mobile devices, tablets and Wi-Fi connections bringing even more data to the table. Now, massive amounts of data repositories from all the user activity on exists, but the question of analyzing it effectively and quickly still remains on the table.
With the consistent boasting of the benefits of Big Data, it is no surprise that the TechCrunch article “Telefonica Wants To Turn Its Mobile Data Into A Big Data Business, Launches Dynamic Insights Unit” states the mobile industry is ready for their piece of Big Data action:
Big data is one of the key building blocks of the digital economy. Approached in a smart and responsible way it has the potential to transform every part of business and society. Telefónica says that Dynamic Insights’ first product will be called “Smart Steps” and will be aimed at companies and public-sector organizations to “measure, compare, and understand what factors influence the number of people visiting a location at any time. Presumably, it will combine not just user numbers over given periods but also track movements at particular locations.
Having access to all that data does no good without a reliable information management platform to allow enterprise wide access to relevant data swiftly and securely. We’ve got our eyes on PolySpot information delivery solutions.
Jennifer Shockley, October 17, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
New App Mila Applies Semantics to Sales
October 15, 2012
The “micro-entrepreneur” movement has taken off in recent years, and now there’s now an app for that. Semanticweb describes how enterprise resource planning company Core Systems has employed technology from Knowledge Hives to craft the new tool in its piece, “Mobile App Mila Uses Semantics to Match Micro-Entrepreneurs to Social Media Customer Leads.”
Mila is free, though premium services are expected to be added later. Unfortunately, the app is so far only available to users in Switzerland. That could change, though, if it proves successful. Besides serving up social media leads, the software also helps users set up their (micro)businesses. Upon registration, entrepreneurs answer a series of questions designed to help the app “understand” their company and products. Writer Jennifer Zaino reports on comments from Mila’s Sebastian Kruk:
“That [understanding] feeds into its social media monitoring capability for lead generation. Currently, it supports only Twitter, but Kruk says other social outlets will be on the way. ‘Whenever we see there is some potential interesting lead or tweet, we try to find the companies in our database that sell that product or that are in categories that match the lead, and then send the lead to the company,’ says Kruk. Mila uses natural language processing technology and Knowledgehives’ Civet service, which extracts meaning from text, to help with analyzing the tweets, fixing on their most important keywords and also user locations.”
Interesting. We would like to see some user feedback on how well this process works.
Founded in 2002 and based in Windisch, Switzerland, CoreSystems strives to be the world’s top business app provider. Systems and consulting firm Knowledge Hives makes its home in Gdynia, Poland. Its solutions are underpinned by its semantic Web and social networking technologies.
Cynthia Murrell, October 15, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Amazon versus Apple: Is Amazon Stoppable
September 26, 2012
Technology News recently reported on Amazon’s presentation of the new Kindle Line and how it may just take over the tablet market in the article, “How Amazon Stole the Tablet Market.”
According to the article, it looks like Amazon is taking a page from Apple’s book and may be taking over the tablet market. Since Amazon is an online retailer it has been able to turn every Kindle owner into a dedicated Amazon buyer. Since Apple and Microsoft are built around the old IBM model where hardware leads and software and service follows, the competition is unable to compete.
Another way that Amazon is schooling Apple, is through its lower price points:
“Once Amazon figured out the benefits of having a dedicated product pointed at its store and knew how much it could gain from such an offering, it had a subsidization model that would work, and you saw the result last week: two 7-inch tablets priced below where Apple likely can afford to sell product, and a 9-inch tablet that is a whopping $200 less than the comparable iPad.
The products actually have better connections to services and content — that is Amazon’s business, after all — and while they fall short on apps, the price savings during a gift-giving time of the year could have Amazon exit the fourth quarter — at least in the U.S. — as the market leader. (The Kindle won’t be much of an event outside the U.S. this year.)”
So is Amazon stoppable? Since the online retail giant is obviously learning from the mistakes of Microsoft and implementing some industry best practices, it seems that the answer is no.
Jasmine Ashton, September 26, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Google Reaches New Milestone for Android
September 25, 2012
With the launch of the sixth generation iPhone upon us, it seems only natural that Google would feel a little neglected. So in order to give Google’s Android a little love, CNET News has covered a milestone worth noting in the article, “Google: 500 Million Android Devices Activated.”
According to Hugo Bara, Android’s director of product management, as of September 12, 500 million Android devices have been activated globally. That is 1 million more than the number that had been activated as of June at the rate of 1 million per day.
When looking towards the future of what Google has in store for Android 4.0, the article states:
“Indeed, the transition to Android 4.0 aka Ice Cream Sandwich is still grinding along slowly, with the earlier Android 2.3 aka Gingerbread still claiming 57 percent share of usage. Gingerbread is looking more and more like Windows XP: an operating system whose wide use means developers will have to support old technology for a long time. Ice Cream Sandwich has 20.9 percent of usage, now finally increasing steadily after months of little movement following its 2011 debut. Jelly Bean is at 1.2 percent, according to Google’s measurements.”
We are interested to see what Google has in store for the next generation Android, but for now we will just congratulate them for achieving this feat.
Jasmine Ashton, September 25, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Menu and Hours: A New App for Your Appetite
September 23, 2012
Recently Mark Wilson, in his piece over at the Fast Company blog, “This (Perfect?) Restaurant App Offers Just The Menu And The Hours,” covered a new, sleek and efficient restaurant review app and was kind enough to share with the rest of us. Frustrated with her own experiences as a hungry Louisvillian fumbling through her phone for suggestions, developer Michelle Jones decided to re-think the overcooked apps she’d come to hate. She started by trimming the fat. Menus and Hours is a food app that gives you just that: the menu and the hours of your city’s eateries. By removing so many of the industry’s superfluous garnishes from its design, Menus and Hours delivers only what you need and exactly how you need it.
As Wilson states in his post:
“While apps like Urbanspoon are designed with a gimmick at the core–a like button, restaurant randomizer…a way someone might want to interact with something–Menu and Hours is scaffolded around the root functions it’s meant to serve, to give someone very specific data. And at the end of the day, pretty pictures are nice, but that discernibility of information is always what’s most important.”
The only draw back: Jones’ database only contains info on restaurants in Louisville, Kentucky, the only city currently supported by Menus and Hours. Although the app is only available to the famished and indecisive of the Blue Grass State, it’s easy to see the mass appeal of such a finely tuned piece of programming. Hopefully the rest of us will not have to wait too much longer; it is almost lunchtime.
Michael Ison, September 23, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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