Thumbs Up for ReadCube Web Reader
December 14, 2011
Google’s new news reader, which strikes us as a “me too” type product, is getting lots of attention.
We’ve found a nifty tool that lets you interact with your PDFs. Designed for researchers, ReadCube Web Reader lets you highlight and add notes to PDF documents. It also helps you find articles through a search feature that accesses Google Scholar, PubMed, or any library of documents that you import. I could wish for more search options, but perhaps they’re on the way; it’s still in beta, after all.
The application learns your interests over time, and will suggest online articles published within a specified time frame. It will even go find more information about your article, if it’s available.
The folks at Labtiva, who developed the software, aim to “make the world of research more accessible and connected.” On the startup’s about page, we learned from the write up:
Our mission is to improve the pace of scientific discovery. ReadCube was started by a researcher and a computer scientist to address the challenges faced by scientists. What started in a Harvard College dorm room as a tool to help organize and find scientific papers quickly turned into something rather more.
Now the team has expanded beyond the Boston area and hopes their innovation will help researchers around the globe.
I downloaded the beta version and played with it a bit. It’s intuitive and sports a clean design. I’m curious to see what it will decide my interests are after I’ve imported some more articles. It’s definitely handy to be able to highlight and make notes right on the PDF, rather than creating a separate Word document.
Kudos to the Labtiva team; let’s see where they go from here.
Cynthia Murrell, December 12, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Search Is a Distraction
December 8, 2011
You probably know that the Pew research outfit has revealed that most people go online for what I would describe as “displacement activities”. What’s a displacement activity. My recollection is that it is non directive activity which distracts an unemployed English major, a failed Webmaster, or a self appointed expert from deep thinking about one’s existential condition. In other words, goofing around.
Google’s search app for the iPad has picked up an unwelcome feature. Well, unwelcome to me, not to Google; ZDNet reports, “Google adds instant previews to iPad search app.”
This annoyance is just one new feature included in the recent Google Search update for Apple’s iPads running iOS 4 or iOS 5. The release has several enhancements that should make it more competitive with the built-in Safari. I hope most are more helpful than the instant preview; we learned from the write up:
The app now includes Google Instant, so that search results stream in as people type. Google has coupled this with its Instant Preview technology, giving users a quick look at a destination site without having to load it. These results show up in a string of previews, similar to Google’s overhauled image search carousel, which lets people swipe through images much like music albums in Apple’s cover-flow view.
Some folks must find this feature useful, but for me, it’s just distracting. I start to type “pecan pie” and get botany lessons on my way to a recipe? Thanks, but no thanks. I have enough trouble staying on task without my app offering tempting tangents. Great platform for a business model: distracted clicking. Surf’s up.
Cynthia Murrell, December 8, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
DataExplorers and Why Financial Information Vendors Fear a Storm
December 4, 2011
I am still amused that my team predicted the management shift at Thomson Reuters weeks before the news broke. Alas, that 250 page analysis of the Thomson Reuters’ $13 billion a year operation is not public. Shame. However, one can get a sense of the weakening timbers in the publishing and information frigate in the Telegraph’s story “DataExplorers Looks for £300m Buyer.”
DataExplorers is a specialist research company. The firm gathers information about the alleged lending of thousands of institutional funds. I am not familiar with the names of these exotic financial beasties. The aggregated data are subjected to the normal razzle dazzle of the aggregation for big money crowd. The data are collected, normalized, and analyzed. The idea is that an MBA looking to snag an island can use the information to make a better deal. Not surprisingly, the market for these types of information is small, only a fraction of those in the financial services industry focus on this sector.
DataExplorer’s revenues reflect this concentration. According to the write up, the company generated less than £15 million in annual revenues in 2010 with a profit of about £3 million. The margin illustrates what can be accomplished with a niche market, tight cost controls, and managers from outfits like Thomson Reuters. That troubled outfit contributed the management team at DataExplorers.
Now here’s the hook?
The company is for sale, according to the Telegraph which is a “real” journalistic outfit, for £300 million. That works out to a number that makes sense in the wild and crazy world of financial information; that is, 100 times earnings or 20 times revenue. The flaw, which I probably should not peg to just Thomson Reuters, has these facets:
- The global financial “challenge” means that there may be some pruning of information services in the financial world. Stated another way, MBAs will be fired and their employers may buy less of expensive services such as DataExplorers
- If the financial crisis widens, the appeal of “short” information may lose a bit of its shine. Once a market tanks, what’s the incentive for those brutalized by the sectors’ collapse to stick around
- Thomson Reuters is pretty good at cost cutting. Innovating is not part of the usual package. This means that DataExplorers may be at the peak of its form and sea worthy for a one day cruise in good weather, and once a deal goes down, the new owners may have a tough time growing the business because marketing and research will require infusions of capital to keep the vessel from listing.
Net net: DataExplorers is an example of an information property which may be tough to get back into growth mode. The buyer will be confident that it knows how to squeeze more performance from a niche information product. And that assumption is what contributes to the woes of Thomson Reuters, Reed Elsevier, and many other high end professional content producers. Optimism is a great quality. Realism is too.
Stephen E Arnold, December 4, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
France: Getting Open-Sourcey, Mais Oui
December 2, 2011
The H announces, “French government tenders for open source support.” This is an interesting shift; there are very high quality commercial software companies in France. We learned from the write up:
“The authorities are looking for a three-year support contract, worth two million euros and covering two-thirds of the country’s twenty-two ministries as well as the Court of Audit. According to Le Monde Informatique, this will include departments ranging from the Office of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Justice and Freedom to the Ministry of Sports and Ministry of Culture and Communication.”
The list of software to be supported is extensive, including infrastructure, operating systems, desktop applications, and development environments. The ones that peaked our interest are the enterprise applications like Lucene, Alfresco and Nuxeo and databases such as PostgreSQL and MySQL.
It will be interesting to see who the French government selects to cover all these open source bases.
Cynthia Murrell, December 2, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
The State of the Library Debated
December 1, 2011
Joho the Blog recently reported on a meeting regarding the history and future of libraries in the November 22 post “Physical Libraries in a Digital World” by using the Harvard Library as a case study.
According to the article, As more and more books accumulated at Harvard there became a need to find other places to store them. One, initially unpopular, option became to store unused books in an off site repository known as the Harvard Depository (HD).
The article states:
“Now more than 40% of the physical collections are at HD. The Faculty of Arts and Sciences started out hostile to the idea, but soon became converted. The notion faculty had of browsing the shelves was based on a fantasy: Harvard had never had all the books on a subject on a shelf in a single facility… Shelf browsing is a waste of time if you’re trying to do thorough research. It’s a little better in the smaller libraries, but the future is not in shelf browsing. Open and closed stacks isn’t the question any more. It’s just not possible any longer to do shelf browsing, unless we develop tools for browsing in a non-physical fashion.”
The task force predicted that within 40 years over 70% of physical books would be off site. Several of the people in the meeting suggested moving the majority of the physical books to be accessed digitally as a way to save money.
As unfortunate as it may be to lose the books that have been salvaged for up to 500 years, we also need to come to terms with the fact that libraries are no longer being used the way they have in the past so why take the extra time and money to salvage them?
Jasmine Ashton December 1, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
China: Quite a Market Despite a Softening Economy
November 29, 2011
My recollection is that Facebook and Microsoft are working to find a way to tap into the China market. Other outfits—for example, Google—tried to change China’s policies. I wonder how well that is working out. Why the interest in China. The Economist reported that the country’s ecommerce sector seems to be chugging along. I read the dead tree version of the story “The Great Leap Online”, The Economist, November 26, 2011, page 78. The authoritative sounding super capitalistic machine shop asserted:
In a new report, the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) calculates that every year for the foreseeable future another 30 million Chinese will go online to shop for the first time. By 2015, they each will be spending $1,000 a year—about what Americans spend now. BCG calculates that ecommerce could rise from 3.3 percent of China’s retail sales today to 7.4 percent by 2015—a jump that took a decade in America.
You may be able to find a free digital version of the information at either www.bcg.com or www.economist.com. Finding a way to work with the political realities of China may be of more utility in the economics sense than trying to get the koala to knock off the nocturnal leaf munching. I can see a zoo keeper lecturing a koala, but the koala may be disinterested.
Stephen E Arnold, November 29, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Books Evolve. Publishers? Maybe Not.
October 30, 2011
The publishing industry is one of the main fields that has changed drastically in recent years. With mobility leading the way in technology sales, this will only change more. Publishing Perspectives notes this trend in their article, “What Publishers Look For When They Buy a Company.”
This article chronicles the history of the industry. Acquisitions have been a profitable component of publishing businesses since the 1960s because they offered the ability to diversify and combine functions.
Since 2007, when the first iPhone was released in addition to the Kindle later that same year, the characteristics that publishers seek in a company have changed with the times.
The article shares the following inside information:
First and foremost, they are looking for another seat at the table. Every one of the top 20 companies has a strong technology component and are active buyers of independent companies with creative technology programs. Hundreds of smaller publishers use Constellation, a service offered by Perseus, to make use of electronic readers, digital book search, print on demand, and other digital formats.
Apparently some smaller companies looking to merge are holding out for the publisher who sees their long histories of profit in their specific niche. The current trajectory does not bode well for them in our opinion.
What it comes down to, historical context aside, is that publishers need companies that stand a chance in rivaling the big dogs like Google and Amazon who essentially may monopolize the current market. Disintermediation, anyone?
Megan Feil, October 30, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Online Literacy Makes Information Warfare Easier
October 21, 2011
If you are a fan of information warfare, disinformation, and weaponized data—you will find that opportunities for “shaping” content are going to become more plentiful.
Common Dreams reported on a thought-provoking study about just the opposite of that. The article entitled, “Study: Many College Students Not Learning to Think Critically,” provides an overview of research that once again says U.S. education isn’t making the grade.
New York University Sociologist Richard Arum conducted a study which followed 2,322 traditional-age students from the fall of 2005 to the spring on 2009 from 24 different colleges and universities–all ranging in selectivity. He took into account their testing data and survey responses.
Fort-five percent did not have any significant improvement in critical thinking, reasoning, or writing skills after the initial two years. Even after four years the percentage held strong at thirty-six percent remaining stagnant.
These depressing results are not because the curriculum has stayed the same in changing times: a common misconception. In fact much of education theory centers around collaborative learning. However, Arum’s study shows that independent students make more gains.
The article states:
I’m not surprised at the results,” said Stephen G. Emerson, the president of Haverford College in Pennsylvania. “Our very best students don’t study in groups. They might work in groups in lab projects. But when they study, they study by themselves.
The fact that this is the first study that has followed a cohort of undergraduates to determine if they are learning specific skills is meaningful in and of itself. We as a society don’t feel the need to analyze and research what we perceive to be successful. Everyone from teachers, taxpayers, politicians, to students are spending too much time criticizing and analyzing our education system instead of investing in it–emotionally and financially.
Interesting and somewhat disconcerting. But since we don’t do news and are owned by an addled goose, the Beyond Search staff wouldn’t know good information if it fell in the goose pond. That’s okay for us in rural Kentucky. For others, hmmmm.
Megan Feil, October 21, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Baidu Gains International Ground
October 16, 2011
Baidu, the leader in Chinese search, is launching itself into the international market. Quietly but surely, the Asian giant is gaining international ground. “Baidu Launches International Marketing Efforts,” explains more.
The article provides details:
Last month the company branched out to Egypt and Thailand, in addition to their presence in China and Japan. Now it appears they are reaching further abroad, looking to get advertisers to buy paid search and “Brand Zone” advertising.
Brand Zone is their partner product, aimed at allowing brands the opportunity to advertise in China with Baidu. Online advertising is clearly an emerging market in China. With both internet access and personal income growing exponentially, China is expected to be an investors playground in the coming years. Baidu and its newest venture could be worth a look for investors interesting in tapping China’s potential.
Emily Rae Aldridge, October 16, 2011
Can the Sum of Digital Media be Classified?
October 13, 2011
The ALRC Discussion Paper released today contains 44 proposals relating to a proposed new National Classification Scheme. It suggests that at its heart will sit a new Classification of Media Content Act. It will identify what content needs to be classified, who should do it, and who has responsibility for breaches of the guidelines.
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