Digital Textbook Start Up
February 2, 2009
A textbook start up seems unrelated to search. It’s not. You can read about Flatworld, an open source variant, set up to make money with educational materials here. The company wants to offer online books for free. Hard copies carry a price tag.Glyn Moody, who wrote “Flatworld: Open Textbooks” for Open…, made this interesting comment:
It’s too early to tell how this particular implementation will do, but I am absolutely convinced this open textbook approach will do to academic publishing what open source has done to software.
Dead tree educational publishers take note. Change is coming and really fast. Gutenberg gave printing a boost. Online gives a new publishing medium a similar shove.
Stephen Arnold, February 2, 2009
Google Orkut from Calcutta’s Angle
February 2, 2009
I applied for an Orkut account but was ignored. The GOOG wants my goose cooked. Mark Ghosh was a beta tester of Orkut. he created a community which attracted more than 20,000 users. You can read his article “Et Tu Google? Then Fail, Net Safety” here. (I quite like the Shakespearian lilt to the title too.) With social systems and social search all the rage, Mr. Ghosh points out his perception of Google’s management of and commitment to Orkut. For me, the most interesting comment in the article was:
The Orkut application itself is full of holes and though Google seems to respond to major public reports of vulnerabilities, they keep coming back. Support for Orkut from Google is almost non-existent with what appears to be zero accountability. If one plows through the Google help sections to try and solicit help, they are either faced with a page not found or convoluted help screens that barely ever actually lead to a form to request support. Pleas for help and more often answered by the “Orkut hackers” than by actual Google employees. The Orkut application is so dangerous that people do not click on any links that are not Orkut generated and even then accounts and communities are compromised all the time. Hacking scripts and techniques are easily found via a simple Google search.
Google’s gaggle of genius gravitons may be pre occupied with flagging the Internet as malware and giving great Google Earth demonstrations to the Davos attendees. Orkut in general and Mr. Ghosh’s issues are of less significance in my opinion. Mr. Ghosh’s article may point out another interesting example of Google’s muffing the bunny.
Stephen Arnold, February 2, 2009
eeggi Founder Interviewed
February 2, 2009
Frank Bandach, Chief Scientist at eeggi (the acronym stands for “engineered, encyclopedic, global and grammatical identities”) is a semantic search system with a mathematical foundation. You can view demonstrations and get more information here. eeggi has kept a low profile, but Mr. Bandach will deliver one of the presentations at the Infonortics’ Boston Search Engine Meeting in April 2009. You can get more information about the conference at www.infonortics.com or click here.
Beyond Search will post Mr. Bandach’s interviewed conducted by Harry Collier on February 1, 2009. In the interval before the April Boston Search Engine meeting, other interviews and information will be posted here as well. Mr. Collier, managing director of Infonortics, has granted permission to ArnoldIT.com to post the interviews as part of the Search Wizards Speak Web series here.
The Boston Search Engine Meeting is the premier event for search, content processing, and text analytics. If you attend one search-centric conference in 2009, the Boston Search Engine Meeting is the one for your to do list. Other conferences tackle search without the laser focus of the Infonortics’ program committee. In fact, outside of highly technical event sponsored by the ACM, most search conferences wobble across peripheral topics and Web 2.0 trends. Not the Boston Search Engine Meeting. As the interview with eeggi’s senior manager reveals, Infonortics tackles search and content processing with speakers who present useful insights and information.
Unlike other events, the Infonortics Boston Search Engine Meeting attendance is limited. The program recognizes speakers for excellence with the Ev Brenner award selected by such search experts as Dr. Liz Liddy (Dean, Syracuse University), Dr. David Evans (Justsytem, Tokyo), and Sue Feldman (IDC’s vice president of search technology research). Some conferences use marketers, journalists, or search newbies to craft a conference program. Not Mr. Collier. You meet attendees and speakers who have a keen interest in search technology, innovations, and solutions. Experts in search engine marketing find the Boston Meeting foreign territory.
Click here for the interview with Frank Bandach, eeggi.
Stephen Arnold, February 1, 2009
BA-Insight Points to Strong 2009
February 2, 2009
In an exclusive interview for the Search Engine Wizards series, Guy Mounier, one of the senior managers at BA-Insight, looks for a strong 2009. The company grew rapidly in 2008. Although privately-held, Mr. Mounier said, “We are profitable and have been experiencing rapid growth.” You can read the full text of this interview here.
One of the most interesting comments made by Mr. Mounier was:
BA-Insight is the top Enterprise Search ISV Partner of Microsoft. We are a Managed Partner, a status reserved to 200 MS Partners worldwide, and a Global Alliance Member of Microsoft Technology Centers. We are also part of the Google Compete Team. Our software extends the Microsoft Enterprise Search platform, it does not replace it. In fact, our software is not a Search engine. It is a critical differentiate with other ISV’s in the information access sector. We focus exclusively on plug-and-play connectors to enterprise systems, and advanced search experience on top of MS Enterprise Search and MS SharePoint. We will support FAST in the Office 14 time frame.
BA-Insight has found a lucrative niche. The company adds a turbo boost the its clients’ Microsoft systems. With its support for Google systems, BA-Insight is poised to take advantage of that company’s push into organizations as well.
Mr. Mounier told Search Wizards Speak:
Our next major release is scheduled for end of 2009 and will target the next version of SharePoint (Office 14). We will add significant improvements in the form of automatic metadata extraction, dynamic data visualization, and on-the-fly document assembly.
On the subject of having Microsoft as a partner, Mr. Mounier said:
Microsoft is actually a great company to partner with. Their Solution Sales Professionals, responsible for technical solution sales, always reach out to the partner ecosystem, SI’s or ISV’s, to put forth a solution to the customer on top of the Microsoft platform. Microsoft is a significant contributor to our sales pipeline. We conduct regular webinars and other events with their field sales force to stay top of mind, as many partners are competing for their attention. This has been rather easy as of late, as search becomes increasingly strategic to them. The other benefit of being a top partner of Microsoft is that we get visibility into their product pipeline, typically 18 months or more, that our competitors do not have. We know of their future product investments, and can make sure we stay aligned with their roadmap, adding new features that don’t collide with theirs.
For more information about BA-Insight, navigate to the company’s Web site at www.ba-insight.com or click here.
Stephen Arnold, February 2, 2009
US Government’s Federation Challenge
February 1, 2009
I don’t think too much about the US government’s information technology challenges. Been there. Done that. I read Wired Magazine’s “Every Military Net Accessed at Once Thanks to OB1” here. US central command has 14 networks. Instead of running one query one the individual systems, now an authorized war fighter can look to a day when a single computer can provide results from more than a dozen separate systems. Quite progressive. OB1 stands for one box, one wire. No word when the system will be available. Oh, don’t tell anyone at central command that the Science.gov has been delivering federated search for more than five years. Also, keep it a secret that USA.gov (formerly FirstGov.gov) has been delivering federated search for even longer. Too much information could overload the warfighters. Zip those lips.
Stephen Arnold, February 1, 2009
Social Brands
February 1, 2009
The discovery that bits can be used for communication continues to fascinate pundits. Online interaction is now “social software”. Okay with me. A more interesting angle appears in “Top Social Brands 2008.” The article by Andrew Lyle is here. The story lists the top 20 social brands. I was surprised. I hear social and I think of azure chipped consultants shouting about Enterprise 2.0 or whimpering about their technology conference attendance. I hear the reverberation of wiki and the tintinnabulation of the tweets. Two companies on the list illustrate my lack of sophistication in things social. (I think my 7th grade teacher complained about my lack of sociality in 1956.)
- Starbucks
- Hewlett Packard
Fooled me. I thought social meant software. Nope, social means nice. Now I don’t think of Starbucks as nice. I avoid the places because of the noise. HP? You’ve got to be kidding. Ever try to get coherent driver information from this outfit? No search vendors to be found. Google did not make the top 20. Microsoft grabs #5 and #11, which is pretty darned amazing as well.
Stephen Arnold, February 1, 2009
Google Thinks Dell Support May Harm My Computer
January 31, 2009
It’s a cold sunny morning. I wonder why Google is displaying a message that Dell Computer’s support page will harm my computer. I poked around and found quite a few sites identified as harmful. I ran the query at 10 15 am Eastern. Pretty annoying because the warning page forces me to copy and paste the “offending” url into a browser address bar. Here’s the results page for my query Dell 2950 Server:
Here is the hugely annoying “warning” without a hot link to go to the page with a single click.
If I were Dell Computer, I would consider trying to get one of the world’s smartest people to look at this behavior. In a lousy economy, Dell probably wants to get referrals from Google. Handling 75 percent of the Web searches means that Google’s slapping and “unsafe” flat on Dell.com may be the digital equivalent of putting a road block in front of a bricks and mortar store.
I ran a query for PS4 crack and no warnings appeared. Is Dell irritating Googzilla? Maybe it’s just moi?
Stephen Arnold, January 31, 2009
BA-Insight Triples in 2008
January 31, 2009
The economy is wobbly. Most search and content processing vendors are working hard for double digit growth. BA-Insight just raised the bar. The company reported a tripling of its revenue in 2008. The news release summarizing the private company’s performance is here. For me the most interesting comment in the write up was:
“Our strong customer growth proves that we’re delivering value to the market,” said Guy Mounier, CEO, BA-Insight. “As a result, we have tripled staff, and opened offices in Europe to fuel growth for 2009. It’s an exciting time for BA-Insight, and we will continue to lead the market with affordable, powerful, and innovative search solutions.”
The company’s 2008 performance caught my attention. You can read an exclusive interview with Guy Mounier, the senior manager for the company in this Web log on February 2, 2009. If you want more information about the company, click here.
Stephen Arnold, January 31, 2009
Documenting the Obvious: The Google Generation
January 31, 2009
Google is 10 years old. Who cares? The company now represents the “out there” intellect and YouTube.com content package for lots of people. What’s obvious? The article “Is Technology Producing a Decline in Critical Thniking and Analysis” here in Science Daily confirmed my perception of the trophy generation’s preferred method of learning: watch a video. I prefer books and when I can find a person willing to discuss concepts, I will give that approach a whirl. The study reported by Science Daily documents how the Google Generation sucks in video, news crawls, learning from video games, and other methods I find annoying. Little wonder that a procurement teams with an average age of 30 wants a “just like Google interface,” memos that are less than one page, and analyses that can be converted to a couple of PowerPoint slides. Alexander Pope pointed out the danger of a “little learning”. I wonder what he would have thought about financial VPs, newly hired corporate executives, and venture capital wizards who exist in a cloud of unknowing, fed with a diet of information without provenance captured on the digital equivalent of animated 3×5 inch note cards.
Stephen Arnold, January 31, 2009
Google Checkout: Monetization Push
January 30, 2009
In The Google Legacy, I created a diagram that showed Google pushing its Checkout service toward several sectors. I identified merchants as an obvious target. Over the last three and a half years, Checkout has gained traction. You can see the reach when you navigate to Google Shopping and run a query for a common tech product like motherboards. Here’s a screenshot of the logo for Google advertisers:
When you view a Google Shopping results display in standard or grid form, you see a modest blue shopping basket. The blue basket identifies that the merchant accepts Google’s payment services.
“How do you want to pay? Google?” here, written by George Lekakis and Jason Bryce, is a very important write up in my opinion. The authors have made clear Google’s increased appetite for monetization of services running on the Google infrastructure, what I call the “digital Googleplex”, not to be confused with the tacky Silicon Valley buildings and the make shift cube hatcheries in other cities. Google’s taste runs to engineering, not sky scrapers at least yet.
For me, the most interesting point in the write up was that Google is probing Australia, where there has been considerable Google interest of late. My talk in 2007 at the policing conference sparked quite a bit of interest in the notion of dataspaces. Australia is moving forward with this type of technology with or without Google’s support. Google nailed the New South Wales education deal. There are other interesting “down under” activities as well. Australia has quite a few wizards and boffins, and most American companies find the markets in Chicago and Cleveland more appealing. Probably an error, but that’s another topic.
What’s going on in Australia? I don’t want to spoil your fun reading the article, but I can highlight one comment of interest to me:
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission recently issued Google Australia with an authority to provide deposit and payments services to local merchants and shoppers. While the licence does not permit Google to provide cash-based payments services to Australian clients, it will enable the group to facilitate digital or online transactions.
I know zero about banking. Oh, the one thing I do know is that the banks who were my customers seem to have disappeared. Some of the clients now wear orange jump suits, not Armani duds.
Here’s what I think is unfolding:
- The payment plumbing is in place and has been since Googzilla started doing ad sales
- The missteps of eBay have now shackled the company making it easy for the GOOG to cherry pick among buyers and sellers disaffected with eBay and PayPal
- Google has a brand that remains untarnished. What’s your view of banks, I ask? See what I mean
- Googzilla can monetize some information access. I would pay to use Google. What about you? What if you have no choice?
The regulatory approval is a nice touch, but I don’t think it matters. Google is simply playing by the rules. After all, who worries when buying an AdWord. Government regulators still don’t understand that business. When Google slaps matchmaking services into advertising, government regulators will really be in a bowl of vegetarian soup.
I dig into this monetization issue in my new Google study, Digital Gutenberg. Think of this Australian test as similar to printing money. Google bucks, anyone?
Stephen Arnold, January 30, 2009
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