Study May Zap Content King App Fantasy
September 3, 2010
The addled goose is the first to quack about lousy research. In his 66 years, the goose has seen, participated in creating, reading, and analyzing research reports. Some from the blue chip outfits meet rigorous standards. Others, usually from the azurini, would have earned a D or F when I did a short bout of teaching when I worked as a teaching assistant.
Now the former English teachers who work in azure chip consulting firms get testy when I point out that the studies often use weird methods for creating a sample, lack meaningful analyses, and offer sci-fi type conclusions. That’s okay. I know that research methods are mostly great fun, and the tidal wave of studies make clear the truth in old saws about statistics; for example: “Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are more pliable.” For folks who don’t know what to do with their work time, studies fill up the gaps.
Nevertheless, I want to point to a study. Yep, I know it’s risky. Point your browser at “Study: Music, Not Apps, Rules iTunes.” Here’s the key passage from the azure chip outfit which produces data on activities that I find mostly inscrutable:
Software apps, which enable iPhone and iPod Touch users to do everything from play games to keep track of their weight, continue to grow in popularity but music is “still central to the iTunes experience,” according to a survey from research firm, The NPD Group. NPD says in contrast with years past, “when every dollar spent at iTunes was on music and video,” apps are now vying for a chunk of that money.
Who can get nervous about this type of statement? Certainly not the goose. The write up does not provide too much data which I find interesting. And the notion that applications for mobile devices like the iPhone and iPod Touch are “vying” for a piece of the action. With a sample of 3,800, it’s clear that “free” is a plus and that where money is concerned, folks buy music.
Why mention this music – Apps issue?
Some publishers may still see the iPad and related devices as a way to get to dry land from the waves in the Great Lake of Red Ink. My take on the research summary is that free is good, music seems to open billfolds and wallets, and Apps are in the race. Will the ponies who place third win the big race? And search. Not in the race it seems. My hunch is that third place horses are long shots. Just my opinion.
Stephen E Arnold, September 3, 2010
Freebie
Are There Two Threats to Google Editions?
September 1, 2010
Google continues to have a less-than-relaxing summer. Maybe life will improve when the leaves begin to fall? Almost lost in the buzz about Google’s new approach to Net Neutrality and the aftermath of the StreetView Wi-Fi privacy issue is Google Editions. Google has the resource to chase any market it wants. The e-reader market has grown immensely.
As more companies enter the arena the competition is heating up and some brands are going to be edged out by more popular models according to the article “Apple iPad, Kindle, Nook War Could Kill Google Editions, Others.” Amazon’s Kindle, Barnes and Noble’s Nook and the new Apple iPad are currently leading the e-reader market. These brands offer customers a variety of attractive features and options as well as a large assortment of e-books. Smaller e-reader companies, such as Plastic Logic are unable to keep up with the technology and price options that are dominating the market and have been forced out of business. Sony struggles to revamp its technology and Google has yet to release its much anticipated e-reader and at this stage in the game they could be taking a hug risk. It is clear that only the strong can survive.
This goose thinks that Amazon and Apple may have an edge. Can these companies thwart Google? If Google continues to make lawyers plump with litigation, Amazon and Apple may not have to do much more than keep on keepin’ on.
Stephen E Arnold, September 1, 2010
Freebie
Send Your RSS feeds in Global Languages
September 1, 2010
Now the non-English speaking natives can get the RSS feeds in their own language. The mediacastermagazine.com recent news “RSS Feed Translation for Bloggers and Social Networking Firms” informs that the Toronto-based YYZ Translations will make available RSS feeds, translating them into 80 languages.
According to the article, the company claims about its translations, “will be more accurate, culturally correct and contextually to the point than those executed by automated machine translation systems like Google Translate”. This facility will help weblogs, RSS feed publishers, and the other social media platforms reach to a wider international audience.
This useful service will use a combination of digital technology and human translators to make the RSS feeds as powerful and accurate as the source message, after undergoing a qualitative control process of translation, editing, and review. The concept is interesting, and worth a look. The goslings see an opportunity to disseminate information is interesting ways.
Leena Singh, September 1, 2010
Tooting Tut Texts
August 27, 2010
The spirit of monitoring stretches to almost all areas of business, but nobody ever imagined it would pop up in a pyramid. While they are not using monitoring technology, we were struck with the similarities between a recent project by Oxford University and monitoring technology. Featured in a Read Write Web article, “iTut: All of Carter’s Tutankhamen Materials Now Online,” this fascinating story detailed how the mostly unseen documents of Howard Carter’s famous 1922 discovery of King Tut’s tomb are fully available online. “In 1995,” the article says, “the staff of Oxford University’s Griffith Institute of Egyptology, the custodians of Carter’s papers, started digitizing his Tut archive. The collection included all the photographs, glass negatives, reams of notes and diaries.” This now gives archeologists access to the tomb from anywhere on earth.
Pat Roland, August 27, 2010
Freebie
More Content Experimentation
August 26, 2010
It seems that each time we’re presented with new media technology, the content industry cries that the sky is falling. In reality, the sky never falls. A fascinating article by Michael Scott in Techdirt.com entitled “How Many Times Will Content Industries Claim The Sky Is Falling Before People Stop Believing Them?” outlines a paper by respected intellectual property lawyer/scholar Mark Lemley. The article outlines the pattern we’ve seen repeatedly. In the end, the new technology increases the market and creates new opportunities.
Scott asks, “Isn’t it about time that politicians, judges, and the press stopped just believing the industry every time they make this claim?” Admittedly, many of the technologies did require changes to the business models. Some legacy players went out of business. Scott emphasizes the big picture: “Failing companies and failing industries are two totally different things.”
Brett Quinn, August 26, 2010
Freebie
Adobe and Its Digital Clay Bricks: No Search Needed
August 25, 2010
Former Ziffer John C. Dvorak (the real Dvorak and podcast personality) posted “Adobe Has the Right Stuff.” In the write up, Mr. Dvorak points out that Adobe has some competition-killers like Photoshop and the company has an opportunity to roll out some interesting new money makers such as a Linux-centric content creation center.
I don’t agree.
I am not too interested in graphics, although I know that is Adobe’s cash cow. I do know that Adobe has been unable to deliver acceptable search and retrieval across its own content for as long as I can remember. The company has floundered from search vendor to search vendor and still seems unable to make a snappy, intuitive search system available. Federation across Adobe’s wacky line up of sites is not working for me. Anyone remember Lextek International in Acrobat 6? Didn’t think so?
Adobe’s patent application US2010/0185599 underscores how Adobe’s own approach to content is designed to allow other vendors to index content created by an Adobe application. Adobe has worked hard to convince publishers to standardize on the Adobe platform, not the evil empire’s Quark system or even more expensive, bespoke solutions from specialist firms.
Adobe is rooted in print production and approaches many problems from the print angle of attack. Our tests of Adobe’s rich media applications reveals unstable, buggy and unpredictable behavior. Performance problems plague Adobe products even when the applications run on zippy, multi-core processors.
How’s that Adobe Premier interface grab you? At my age of 66, I can’t read the darned labels. What happened to black text on white background. I sort of can see the color video content. I don’t need it to “jump” at me. And the state shifting controls? Those are a wonder to behold. When Sony Vegas is easier to use that an Adobe product, I know something is off center.
Our view is that Adobe is trying to maintain its position in the market, and it is going to have an increasingly difficult time. Here are the points we noted in our recent review of Adobe:
- Security. Adobe products are potential challenges for enterprise system administrators. I love PDFs with embedded excutables but after a decade no control to permit a specific number of PDF openings by a user in a password protected PDF.
- User experience. Sure, a Photoshop or Illustrator professional can use Adobe products, but this is the equivalent of learning that Oracle’s database is a piece of cake from an Oracle system administrator. Ordinary folks may have a different view of usability. I can’t even read the interface for Adobe’s new products with its wacky gray background and tiny white type. Am I alone?
- Stability. Maybe Photoshop doesn’t crash as often, but there are some exciting moments with Adobe’s video production software. Lots. Of. Exciting. Moments.
- Focus. Adobe has kicked Framemaker under the bus. I abandoned Version 9.0 for Version 7.0. Adobe has lost track of who uses what products for what purpose. The Linux version of Framemaker sucked, and Framemaker once ran natively on Solaris.
- Production. Professionals from magazine make ready shops to printers have learned to live with Postscript, InDesign, and PDFs. I am not sure I am happy with my hard won knowledge because quite a few of the issues have to do with careless programming by contractors or staff in far off lands than what is required to create a content object. Let me give one example that bedeviled me yesterday: Color matching across Adobe’s own products and into whizzy digital printers. Hello, hello. Anyone at Adobe actually do this type of work for real?
In short, search is a core function. Adobe has never gotten it right either on its Web sites, in its products Help function, or in its “content objects”. If you can make information findable, that’s sort of a core weakness, and it is a key indicator of how many “content” issues Adobe has not handled in an elegant, effective manner.
Bottom-line: Revenue growth will be an interesting challenge for Adobe’s management team. I just rolled back to Photoshop Version 7.1 on one production machine. The interface is usable, not logical, but closer to the real world in which I work. Search. Long walk ahead. Linux support. Adobe has to spend a lot of money to keep its sail boats in trim. I don’t think the company has the cash or the technical resources at this time. In short, Adobe is more vulnerable than some perceive.
Stephen E Arnold, August 25, 2010
Freebie
Google Ads and Their Limitations
August 24, 2010
Publishers are not going to be happy with the tidbit tucked into “iFive: Goggles Coming to iPhone, Google Ads Can’t Fund Magazines, Cairn Energy, Smelling Robot, Russian Criminal Life.” Here’s the factoid from Fast Company:
A British business specializing in digital versions of magazines has revealed just how much money Google Ads can make for established magazines. “Nuppence ha’penny.” Hah!
What’s this mean? First, Google Ads require lots of traffic to generate a big payoff. The tinier the topic, the less likely Google Ads will generate huge bucks. Try Tiger Woods and now you are talking.
Second, subscriptions or outright grants, donations, or government support will be needed to make some online content viable. Most vulnerable? The traditional media.
Third, as challenging as Apple’s business methods are, the iPad and its kin may become the life preserver many information companies will try to grab. The problem is that the iPad does not solve fundamental problems of readership, demand, cost of content creation, and marketing.
My take is that publishers will try to jump into rich media, which is not these firms’ core competency. The result? More losses and more opportunities for those with a core competency in new media.
Stephen E Arnold, August 24, 2010
Freebie
New Blog with ArnoldIT.com Content
August 18, 2010
A new Web log and information services débuts today (August 18, 2010). Redefining Monitoring, owned by IGear Corporation, provides news, information, and commentary about cloud-centric monitoring. IGear’s technology embraces numerically-controlled machines and production systems as well as other business processes. IGear’s cloud technology makes it possible to “take the pulse” of smart machines, systems, and complete production operations 24×7. The IGear dashboard provides an intuitive, graphical display. Access from mobile devices, netbook computers, or desktop systems is supported. You can access the Web log at www.redefiningmonitoring.com.
In a statement released by IGear today, the company said:
IGear, a leader in the monitoring industry, has launched Redefining Monitoring at www.redefiningmonitoring.com, a blog that covers news and information about monitoring and the latest in cloud computing technologies.
“We decided to launch the blog after much discussion with clients, colleagues and staff. There are many exciting issues and options which come across my desk every day, and this is a great way to share them as well as our thoughts about their impact with a broader group of people. We can add some ‘color and shading’ to the disciplines involved in monitoring a range of production equipment and manufacturing systems, among others,” explained Don Korfhage, president of IGear.
One of IGear’s principal backers said, “we are experiencing a new era in monitoring driven by advances in cloud and wireless technologies along with the desire of people to have information at their fingertips, 24×7”.
Redefining Monitoring has several standard sections, including news, features and recent posts. Anyone interested in updates can subscribe to the blog through Feedburner and comments are welcome.
IGear serves as the foundation of numerous OEM equipment builder private label offerings. Since 1986, IGear software has been the foundation of reliably collecting critical data from thousands of machines globally.
IGear provides valuable information and alerts to OEMs and their customers enabling them to make better decisions and operate in a lights-out capacity. With IGear, OEMs more proactively service equipment, isolate problems, and optimize their service technicians – the result – a quicker resolution and more satisfied end-user customer.
“I/Gear – Always On” – ushering in a new era in monitoring.
For more information, navigate to the IGear Web site at www.igearonline.com.
ArnoldIT.com provides content for this news and information service. If you are interested in focused, professional content with high impact, write seaky2000 at yahoo dot com. The ArnoldIT.com Overflight system generates content for www.taxodiary.com, www.theseed2020.com, and the Beyond Search blog. Beyond Search’s content pushes beyond SEO.
Kenneth Toth, August 18, 2010
Sponsored post
2010 Trends in Open Source Systems Management
August 17, 2010
Zenoss wanted to examine the system management trend among IT professionals in attendance at the USENIX Large Installation System Administration (LISA) conference so they conducted a system management survey in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. They were especially interested in the utilization of open source software to handle the IT management needs of large groups. Survey results were compared to data obtained from the Zenoss user community. Out of 974 survey participants over 98% of them acknowledged they use open source in their enterprises. More than 66% of the Zenoss community survey participants preferred to use open source if available. Quality of support was the main reason enterprises liked open source. In addition 50% of those surveyed were using cloud technology. Read the Zenoss blog “2010 Trends in open Source Systems Management” to find a few of the results obtained as well as view the complete results of the 2010 Open Source Systems Management Survey.
Our view is that open source is going to put search and content processing into a martini shaker and deliver James Bond’s potent cocktail to some unwitting tipplers.
April Holmes, August 17, 2010
Dictionary Files for Free
August 15, 2010
These days, we’re all involved in a research project. Check out this Greek Translation Vortal site, appropriately titled “Download English Dictionary, Download Roget’s Thesaurus.” This remarkable site was created by Spiros Diokas, who is himself a translator for hire. At this site, you can download the English dictionary for free! It’s called “Project Gutenberg’s Etext of Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary.” Other downloadables include Roget’s Thesaurus, the King James Version of the Bible, and the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations. All of which are indispensible for building term lists for research projects and general reference. The dictionary of quotations is really cool. It installs on your hard drive and runs in the background, so you can consult it only when you need it.
Bret Quinn, August 15, 2010
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