Exalead and Mobile Search
July 5, 2010
Podcast Interview with Paul Doscher, Part 4
Exalead’s Paul Doscher talks about Exalead and mobile search on the July 5, 2010 ArnoldIT Beyond Search podcast. Exalead, now part of the large French software and services company Dassault, continues to ramp up its search, content processing, and search enabled applications. (Now part of Dassault, one of the world’s leading software and services engineering firms acquired Exalead earlier this year. You can read about the acquisition in “Exalead Acquired by Dassault” and “Exalead and Dassault Tie Up, Users Benefit.”
In the July 2010 podcast, Mr. Doscher talks about Exalead and mobile search, one of the hottest sectors in information retrieval. Exalead has assisted one of its clients (Urbanizer.com) has developed an innovative method of locating information.
The Exalead user experience approach makes it possible to deliver access via a range of mobile devices for consumer and special purpose access.
You can listen to the podcast on the ArnoldIT.com Web site. More information about Exalead is available from www.exalead.com.
The ArnoldIT podcast series extends the Search Wizards Speak series of interview beyond text into rich media. Watch this blog for announcements about other rich media programs from the professionals who move information retrieval beyond search.
Stephen E Arnold, July 5, 2010
This one is a freebie
Mobile Factoid: Bad News for the Moderate
July 4, 2010
Point your browserooni at “50% of All Mobile Data Is Consumed by 6% of Users.” Some interesting factoids reside within the write up. Too bad there is an annoying and fatuous “all” because the data are decidedly narrow. Here’s the passage I noted:
Even for those who have a plan, the majority are paying for a service that they’re not even really using. “About 20 million current smartphone users are hardly using data,” said Nielsen SVP Roger Entner in an Information Week story. Entner [azure chip expert] said that the 6% of smartphone owners who use the most mobile data are using 50% of all mobile data.
The azure chip crowd loves these type of data, however. My view is that telcos will fiddle the numbers and possibly move along this dotted line:
- Heavy data users will pay lots for their habit
- The tiering can extract more money from the mid tier users
- The base rate can go up justified by the heavy data users of the addicts.
In short, save your pennies.
Stephen E Arnold, July 4, 2010
Freebie, unlike mobile rates and fees
Quote to Note: The Price of Success Is Death
July 3, 2010
Quote to note: A classic popped out of “Google chief: Nexus One Was ‘So Successful, We Killed It’. What a Load of Schmidt.” No, that is not the quote. The “load of Schmidt” is part of the source’s headline.
Here’s the quote:
It [the Google Nexus One phone] was so successful, we didn’t have to do a second one. We would view that as positive but people criticized us heavily for that. I called up the board and said: ‘Ok, it worked. Congratulations – we’re stopping’. We like that flexibility, we think that flexibility is characteristic of nimbleness at our scale.” His words are even further removed than an earlier explanation from Android project lead Andy Rubin, who said the company killed its Googlephone webstore because running the thing was just too complicated.
A keeper.
Stephen E Arnold, July 3, 2010
Freebie
Apple vs Google: Is It Darth Vader vs the Math Club
June 29, 2010
Apple operates with a controlling idea: make lots of money and control as much as possible. If I remember the Star Wars film series, Darth Vader operated in a similar way. I recall one scene in which he choked some hapless underling for not doing what Mr. Vader wanted. Google, on the other, hand operates in an iterative fashion. The company’s approach relies on pushing out products, services, and technologies and then adapting. The two methods are fascinating to watch, and I am not sure which is more effective. When it comes to control, Apple has the upper hand. When it comes to doing lots of things and making changes in near real time, Google is the clear winner.
When I read “Google’s Mismanagement of the Android Market,” I thought of the differences in management methods at these two companies. Whatever Google learned when it was pals with Apple did not spill over into marketing in my opinion. The write up in Nanocr.eu said:
Earlier this week, CNET ran an article critical of the permission model of the Android Market. Google’s response to the criticism was that “each Android app must get users’ permission to access sensitive information”. While this is technically true, one should not need a PhD in Computer Science to use a smartphone. How is a consumer supposed to know exactly what the permission “act as an account authenticator” means? The CNET opinion piece “Is Google far too much in love with engineering?” is quite relevant here.
Yes but isn’t Apple in love with engineering as well. The description of how the iPhone was designed and built is a case study in engineering. If you have not read about the Apple design-build method, navigate to “Core77 Speaks with Jonathan Ive on the Design of the IPhone 4: Material Matters.”
For me, the killer comment in the write up was:
Developers and users are getting fed up and it’s time for Google to clean up the house.
No one is more surprised than I at the strong uptake for the iPad and now the iPhone 4. The message is that consumers are looking for products that are easy to use and pretty much do a few things well. Darth Vader may not have been the homecoming king, but he sure seems to know how to move product in a way that is understandable to consumers. The Math Club may have to rethink its iterative approach to products and services if the Darth Vader approach continues to work despite its flaws.
Apple’s search is now Bing. The Darth Vader approach may be good enough for Apple and a real boost for Microsoft.
Stephen E Arnold, June 29, 2010
Freebie
EMC Beefs Up Its Content Processing
June 27, 2010
Data collection agency EMC, http://www.emc.com, has moved to build a platform for expanding business in the future, thanks to a recent partnership inked with low-profile legal discovery company Applied Discovery. Rumor has it that EMC learned about search via a marriage and divorce with the Fast Search & Transfer technology. The most recent move is to create a comprehensive service by blending SourceOne eDiscovery-Kazeon with the case discovery review power of Applied Discovery’s process and review engine. EMC started out as large storage vendor, and they bought Kazeon.Will the result be a complete solution for indexing and searching large data stores? EMC hopes this is the findability fix.
Patrick Roland, June 27, 2010
Freebie
Google and Its Pals: Similar to the Handling of Countries?
June 24, 2010
Developers are not countries. No armies, police, or bureaucracy. I read “Google Risks OEM Wrath for Unified Android UI Plan” and locked on the word “risk”. There is little short term risk in changing rules on the fly that leave developers with rising blood pressure. Open source can “fork”; that is, shatter into many little pieces. The notion of “unified” is what one allegedly gets when buying a commercial software system. The idea is that there is “one throat to choke.” According to the write up,
the top priority for the next Android update, codenamed Gingerbread, is to homogenize the user experience and address criticisms of fragmentation. This could severely curtail the freedom of licensees to create their own user interface overlays – most famously, Motorola’s Motoblur and HTC’s Sense.
What happens if Google forces developers to row the canoe in a cadence called by Google? What happens if a rower wants to set his or her own pace? Apple has never been shy about making it clear that there is one way to play the Apple game. Google seems to be discovering the wisdom of Jobs on the fly.
Some countries find Google’s facile behavior worthy of some attention. Developers can only complain. The question is, “Will the benefits of getting invited to a Google shindig be worth the costs, uncertainty, and figure-it-out-as-we-go approach that emerges from a 10 year old company trying to act like a start up?”
The “rogue coder” Wi Fi cuteness and the Bing-bang-gone splash page are just two examples of controlled chaos being more chaotic and less controlled. Apple and Microsoft may have Google unwittingly helping each company in the mobile space. Just my opinion. I really liked the unilateral image, the slow loading time, and the direct imitation of Bing. The action defines Google 2010, right? Minimal risk with unification, right? Android is open, right? (Lots of “rights”, right?)
Stephen E Arnold, June 24, 2010
Freebie
Google and the Wi Fi Mess
June 24, 2010
I have been trying to avoid writing any more about the Wi Fi harvesting mess. I am working on my for fee columns, and I am avoiding legal hassles. I feel obligated to document that although I am ignoring the dust up, others are not. I read in PCWorld “Google Under Multistate Privacy Microscope: How We Got Here” that now there is an alleged mutli state investigation gaining steam. That’s a big deal in my opinion. I am going to have to insert a reference in my columns to the issue. The problem continues to grow and seems to have taken on a life of its own. Here’s the passage in the PCWorld write up that caught my attention:
Google’s Wi-Fi data snooping brouhaha just got worse. Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal on Monday announced his office is leading a multistate investigation into Google’s Wi-Fi data snooping gaffe. More than thirty U.S. states have already indicated interest in Blumenthal’s investigation.
With Google pushing aggressively into the enterprise, challenging Apple and Microsoft, and expanding its presence in mobile computing, this Wi Fi mess strikes me as Google’s oil spill. Instead of sea turtles, how many deals will die? As this Wi Fi spill spreads to multiple countries and now states in America, I thought about those Greek tragedies. I never understood how those at the top could find themselves in circumstances beyond their control.
Ah, lives of men! When prosperous they glitter – Like a fair picture; when misfortune comes – A wet sponge at one blow has blurred the painting. – Aeschylus
Remarkable turn of events.
Stephen E Arnold, June 24, 2010
Mashable Seems to Highlight Weaknesses in Google Search
June 19, 2010
Short honk: I have a twitch in my goose brain that says, Mashable wanted to help Android phone users find applications. The write up spoke to me a different way. I read “7 Ways to Find Amazing New Android Apps” and realized that Google’s own search system is not delivering the goods. Maybe Google is distracted? Maybe Google’s Math Club perceives native Android app search as the omega. Read the Mashable story and decide for yourself. Excellent search, it seems, requires one to use multiple services. How about a metasearch system?
Stephen E Arnold, June 8, 2010
Freebie
EasyAsk eCommerce Mobile
June 18, 2010
“EasyAsk Introduces Easy Ask eCommerce Mobile Edition” revealed that the search vendor has gone mobile. EasyAsk describes itself as an industry leading provider of natural language search and analysis software for ecommerce Web sites. The Mobile Edition delivers such key features as:
- Customized mobile web pages, integrating ecommerce search, navigation and merchandising directly into these pages. Mobile visitors are automatically detected and routed to the mobile version of the site, delivering a unique experience.
- An optimized experience to the specific handset by detecting the model of the phone, matching it with a database of thousands of handsets, and uniquely optimizing the user experience to the capability of the consumer handset.
- Integration with the services from the main website for cross promotions, such as finding specific items in the brick-and-mortar store where customers can touch and feel products. It also enables delivery of discount or cross-sell offers to the phone, enticing immediate, and even larger, in-store purchases.
The Mobile Edition taps the EasyAsk Commerce Studio so licensees can tailor product presentation, offers and other merchandising attributes. The Mobile Edition provides analytics to provide insight into customer behavior.
You can get more information about EasyAsk at www.easyask.com. A quick search of the Progress Software Web site did not return information about EasyAsk eCommerce Mobile Edition. Interesting.
Stephen E Arnold, June 18, 2010
Freebie
Google Logic and Authorities
June 14, 2010
I chuckled when I read “Google Seeks Consolidation of Wi-Fi Snooping Cases.” The story said:
Seeking consolidation is a logical move that the plaintiffs and courts would likely also welcome, said Eric Goldman, associate professor of law at Santa Clara University’s School of Law. A less clear but more interesting issue will be in which court the consolidated case gets heard, he said. It’s no surprise that Google is requesting California’s Northern District. Judges there are comfortable with technology matters and familiar with the company and the importance of its services, Goldman said. “It’s very favorable for Google to be in a place where the judges understand what’s at stake,” he said.
I wonder if the legal eagles involved in this unhappy situation will take kindly to a “logical” request. Probably not.
On a related matter, I found “Google Tells Lawmakers It Never Used Wi-Fi Data” intriguing. The article said:
“Google now confesses it has been collecting people’s information for years, yet claims they still do not know exactly what they collected and who was vulnerable,” [Rep Joe Barton of Texas, the top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee] said in a statement. “This is deeply troubling for a company that bases its business model on gathering consumer data.”
I don’t think Rep. Barton buys Math Club thinking. Much ado for something that is “no harm, no foul” in my opinion.
Stephen E Arnold, June 14, 2010
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