Clouds Dissipate at HP
March 7, 2009
Hewlett Packard joined Yahoo is bailing out of the cloud storage business. You can read the ComputerWorld story “HP Shuts Down Upline Online Storage Service” here. HP has the distinction of going zero for two in the online game. First, the company muffed the bunny with AltaVista.com. When the wizards escaped the HP Compaq DEC set up, Google and other companies surged forward. Now HP pulls the plug on a service that did not work as well as Amazon’s service. HP beaten by an eCommerce company. The most interesting comment in the write up in my opinion was:
HP’s Upline service had trouble from the start. Three weeks after opening in April last year, it went down for a week. Users at the time reported problems in the client software to upload and synchronize files with the hosted service — calling Upline a good idea that was horribly executed.
HP has some big customers, one of which is alleged to be Microsoft. I thought HP was an ink company.
Stephen Arnold, March 7, 2009
iPhone and Web Use: 65% Share
March 7, 2009
I missed this March 1, 2009, story. I wanted to snag the date and the data. My hunch is that both will become useful at some point in the future. You can read the story “Apple iPhone Controls over 66% of All Mobile Web Use” here.
Net Applications’ February results show the iPhone operating system having managed over nine times the usage of its next smartphone competitor, Windows Mobile, which had just 6.91 percent of the traffic measured across tens of thousands of sites. Other smartphone platforms haven’t fared any better, according to the metrics. Google’s Android and Symbian were both locked in a tie for 6.15 percent. Research in Motion’s email-centric BlackBerry OS was used less often at just 2.24 percent and was even outmatched by PalmOS devices, which represented 2.37 percent of cellular web use last month.
To me, we have an interesting duality in two different sectors. Google in Web search mirrors Apple in mobile. The other duality is Facebook and Twitter in the social space. Will the four become three? What happens to the also rans?
Stephen Arnold, March 7, 2009
Dead Tree Update: Times Roman Edition
March 7, 2009
Robert K. Blechman’s “The Decline and Fall of the Times Roman Empire” seemed at first glance to have little to do with my interests in search, content analysis, and text processing. You will want to read the essay in BlogCritics here. The article begins with the Times’s decision to sell its building. Once this was a great MBA notion. Now it suggests moving from a Long Island mansion to a trailer park in New Jersey. My metaphor, not the cultured Mr. Blechman’s. The Times has a number of businesses that are performing in a sub par way. Mr. Blechman provides useful background information about the information environment. His analysis is sound. For me, the most important point was:
How I see traditional media working to make newspapers, broadcast radio and television, and blockbuster motion pictures money earners in the Twitter Era. Source: http://thusagricola.com/wp-content/uploads/sisyphus.jpg
Having consolidated their smaller competitors out of existence, the declining newspapers can’t use the same trick that they used in the face of broadcast journalism, that is exploiting “local advantages in providing information to readers and connecting advertisers and consumers in a city.” This opportunity has been sucked away by the Internet.
I quite liked the phrase “sucked away by the Internet.”
Good writing. Incorrect view of reality in my opinion.
My view of this situation is distorted by my interest in search and my experience in traditional and electronic publishing. Points of importance to me not referenced in the write up include:
- Electronic aggregators tried to work with established traditional media. The Business Dateline crafted by Ric Manning (Courier Journal & Louisville Times Co.) with some modest inputs from me and others on the team had to work quite hard to [a] explain what online meant as a revenue opportunity and [b] how electronic content different from print media. Believe me. We tried, and we arrived with the seal of approval of an old line monopolistic newspaper company. Didn’t matter. The mental leap was too great for those steeped in print. Sad thing is that even today, the leap is too great. Most traditional print wizards are clueless about the differences in the media.
SurfRay: Direction Becoming Clearer
March 6, 2009
A reader in Denmark asked me, “Have you read that Vaekstfonden has acquired SurfRay?” I had not read that nor had I heard the rumor. I checked the investment firm’s Web page this morning and I did not see any information about this step, which makes sense. I recall seeing Vaekstfonden’s name referenced in the documents I gathered when I started tracking the SurfRay activity. As you may know, SurfRay offers the Mondosoft, Ontolica, and Speed of Mind search and content processing technology. I located a ComputerWorld story here that appears to confirm the sale. My Danish is not too good, but I think the gist is that with the change in ownership, the Vaekstfonden sees the Danish technology as a solid. New management will be installed. The article references other SurfRay products with which I was not familiar; namely, IdleSurf. More information will be finding its way to Harrod’s Creek. If a reader has additional information, please, use the Comments section of this Web log. It’s a help to me if you have a source and can include it. With new information about old companies I need some guidance.
Stephen Arnold, March 6, 2009
Google and Its Personal Touch
March 6, 2009
You will want to navigate here, read “Why I Sued Google (and Won), and then make a copy for reference. I don’t know if the story is 100 percent accurate. My view is that this narrative provides possible insight into working with the world’s largest online ad company. Mr. Greenspan may want to create a T shirt with the statement:
But it’s not fair!–Google
I find the notion of fairness quite interesting. A happy quack to Mr. Greenspan, president of Think Computer here.
Stephen Arnold, March 6, 2009
Twitting Ain’t Search and Google Used to Suck
March 6, 2009
I am an addled goose, an OLD addled goose. I liked some of the points in “Twitter Ain’t Search” but I had some qualms about accepting the assertion that Twitter is not search. You must read the article here. For me the most interesting comment in the write up was:
I kind of view Twitter as dead simple blog platform for the masses (hence the adoption of it by the masses). Blog platforms like the one for this blog (Movable Type) can be complicated – especially for the mainstream folks who don’t know/ want to learn html commands.
My view is that Twitter is indeed micro blogging. But the significance of Twitter is in the information flows and the access thereto. Here’s why:
I have learned that electronic information generates enough paradoxes to give Epimenides a headache. Example: online information gave way to CD ROMs. The commercial online giants said, “CDs suck. Too small.” Yep, CDs then changed some unexpected sectors of the information industry and this was in the 1983 to 1985 time period. Then Lycos came along and people said, “Lycos sucks. No updates.” AltaVista.com came along, figured out the update thing and HP said, “AltaVista.com sucks.” So Google.com came online. Some people said, “Google sucks. It’s not a portal.” On and on.
Twitter is an example of the type of information opportunity that occurs when a sufficient number of users generate information flows. Who cares whether an individual Twitter message is “right” or “wrong”? Who cares if Twitter crashes and burns or whether it is bought by Verizon and turned into a subscriber only service. The US is not where the action is in information flows in case you haven’t heard.
Twitter is important because it represents a model of what one or more companies can use as an example. Google cracked Web search, but the real time SMS flows are new territory, and if you don’t understand that where information flows, money exists. Quick example: you are a law enforcement professional. You are dealing with a person of interest aged 17 in Rio de Janeiro. The person of interest coordinates a group of eight to 10 year olds. The “pack of kids” distracts a tourist, probably a complacent American pundit. Whilst engaged, the kids take the passport, billfold, and camera and scamper off. The whole deal is organized by text messages sent on disposable mobile phones thoughtfully provided by the person of interest. A system that permits searching of these SMS messages or Tweets in Twitter speak * could * be helpful to law enforcement. The messages could be baloney. But a search takes a short amount of time. If useful info0rmation becomes available, that’s a plus. If none becomes available, the law enforcement professional has learned something useful about the person of interest. I am sure one can think of other examples of the benefit of real time information flows generated by the technically hip, the permanently young, and middle school to college people who just see Twitter as another part of the everyday dataspace.
I am coming around to the view that Twitter-type systems are important and are likely to reshape the notion of real time search.
Stephen Arnold, March 6, 2009
MyRoar: NLP Financial Information Centric Service
March 6, 2009
A happy quack to the reader who alerted me to MyRoar.com. This is a vertical search service that relies on natural language processing. I did some sleuthing and learned that François Schiettecatte joined the company earlier this year. Mr. Schiettecatte has a distinguished track record in search, natural language processing, and content processing. French by birth, he went to university in the UK and has lived and worked in the US for many years. Here’s what the company says about MyRoar.com:
In today’s current political and economic environment people have never had more questions. MyRoar helps people sort through the hype to find just the answers they are looking for. Extraneous information is eliminated, while saving hours of time or abandonment of search. We provide a fun new interface that keeps users up to date on current news, which helps them formulate the best questions to ask. MyRoar is a Natural Language Processing Question Answering Search Engine. Using integrated technologies we are able to offer high precision allowing users to ask questions relating to finance and news. MyRoar integrates proprietary Question Answer matching techniques with the best English NLP tools that span the globe.
You can use the system here. The system performed quite well on my test queries; for example, “What are the current financials for Parker Hannifin?” returned two results with the data I wanted. I will try to get Mr. Schiettecatte to participate in the Search Wizards Speak interview series. Give the system a whirl.
Stephen Arnold, March 6, 2009
Facebook in Flux
March 6, 2009
The Financial Times’ Chris Nuttall wrote “Facebook’s Identify Crisis” here. I agree in general that Facebook is reacting to Twitter and other rivals. I think Facebook is a walled garden; that is, a proprietary space. Most software and online service companies are walled gardens or want to be. The principal difference among these different organizations is how many gates there are to the walled garden and what one has to do get inside. The article missed an important point; namely, Facebook is a sector leader, but it has to deal with the likes of Google and Twitter. This is a tough competitive sandwich to choke down. Google is not a Facebook, but Google wants to be Facebooky enough to snag the ad revenue, the eyeballs, the clicks, and the data. Twitter, on the other hand, is the leader in real time search and it can morph in several directions serially or just do a number of things in parallel. Facebook, therefore, has an increasingly traditional competitor that wants to move in to the Facebook market space. And Facebook has to figure out how to deal with the real time, microblogging content catnip that sets Twitter apart. I don’t think one can fault Facebook for looking confused. Compare its efforts to innovate with those of the Financial Times. Facebook looks innovative and much more aware of where the information and financial action is than most traditional information companies in general and the newspapers like the Financial Times more particularly.
Stephen Arnold, March 6, 2009
Vyre: Software, Services, Search, and More
March 6, 2009
A happy quack to the reader who sent me a link to Vyre, whose catchphrase is “dissolving complexity.” The last time I looked at the company, I had pigeon holed it as a consulting and content management firm. The news release my reader sent me pointed out that the company has a mid market enterprise search solution that is now at version 4.x. I am getting old, or at least too sluggish to keep pace with content management companies that offer search solutions. My recollection is that Crown Point moved in this direction. I have a rather grim view of CMS because software cannot help organizations create high quality content or at least what I think is high quality content.
The Wikipedia description of Vyre matches up with the information in my archive:
VYRE, now based in the UK, is a software development company. The firm uses the catchphrase “Enterprise 2.0” to describe its enterprise solutions for business.The firm’s core product is Unify. The Web based services allows users to build applications and content management. The company has technology that manages digital assets. The firm’s clients in 2006 included Diageo, Sony, Virgin, and Lowe and Partners. The company has reinvented itself several times since the late 1990s doing business as NCD (Northern Communication and Design), Salt, and then Vyre.
You can read Wikipedia summary here. You can read a 2006 Butler Group analysis here. My old link worked this evening (March 5, 2009), but click quickly. In my files I had a link to a Vyre presentation but it was not about search. Dated 2008, you may find the information useful. The Vyre presentations are here. The link worked for me on March 5, 2009. The only name I have in my archive is Dragan Jotic. Other names of people linked to the company are here. Basic information about the company’s Web site is here. Traffic, if these data are correct, seem to be trending down. I don’t have current interface examples. The wiki for the CMS service is here. (Note: the company does not use its own CMS for the wiki. The wiki system is from MediaWiki. No problem for me, but I was curious about this decision because the company offers its own CMS system. You can get a taste of the system here.
Administrative Vyre screen.
After a bit of poking around, it appears that Vyre has turned up the heat on its public relations activities. The Seybold Report here presented a news story / news release about the search system here. I scanned the release and noted this passage as interesting for my work:
…version 4.4 introduces powerful new capabilities for performing facetted and federated searching across the enterprise. Facetted search provides immediate feedback on the breakdown of search results and allows users to quickly and accurately drill down within search results. Federated search enables users to eradicate content silos by allowing users to search multiple content repositories.
Vyre includes a taxonomy management function with its search system, if I read the Seybold article correctly. I gravitate to the taxonomy solution available from Access Innovations, a company run by my friend and colleagues Marje Hlava and Jay Ven Eman. Their system generates ANSI standard thesauri and word lists, which is the sort of stuff that revs my engine.
Endeca has been the pioneer in the enterprise sector for “guided navigation” which is a synonym in my mind for faceted search. Federated search gets into the functions that I associated with Bright Planet, Deep Web Technologies, and Vivisimo, among others. I know that shoving large volumes of data through systems that both facetize content and federated it are computationally intensive. Consequently, some organizations are not able to put the plumbing in place to make these computationally intensive systems hum like my grandmother’s sewing machine.
If you are in the market for a CMS and asset management company’s enterprise search solution, give the company’s product a test drive. You can buy a report from UK Data about this company here. I don’t have solid pricing data. My notes to myself record the phrase, “Sensible pricing.” I noted that the typical cost for the system begins at about $25,000. Check with the company for current license fees.
Stephen Arnold, March 6, 2009
Yidio: Video Search
March 6, 2009
A happy quack to the reader who alerted me to Yidio, a video search system that indexes 200 million videos. The search system is powered by Truveo. Here’s what Yidio said about itself:
Yidio is owned and operated by 2ten Media LLC, based in San Diego, California which also owns Sportsnipe.com, a sports news aggregator that combines sports news from thousands of sources around the world. It is 2ten Media’s mission to provide an Internet experience to users that is not only simple and efficient, but employs the highest technology available while adding value to every user. We are constantly expanding our Internet properties, so be on the look out for good thing’s in the near future from 2ten Media.
Here’s what Truveo said about itself:
Today, Truveo is one of the largest video search engines on the Web. Truveo is the search engine that powers many of the Web’s most popular video destinations. Truveo currently powers video search for AOL, Microsoft Corporation, CNET’s Search.com, Brightcove, Qwest, Kosmix, CSTV, Infospace, Excite, and hundreds of other applications worldwide. Across the network of websites it powers, Truveo reaches an audience of over 40 million users every month. The Truveo video search engine is widely recognized as being the most comprehensive and up-to-date video search service on the Web.
I am not a video consumer. If you can help me understand these two services, let me know. I am also trying to map these services to Blinkx, which bills itself as a big video search system. And YouTube.com? Check out Yidio.
Stephen Arnold, March 6, 2009
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