YouTube Doldrums?
February 20, 2012
Can YouTube break out of its doldrums? GigaOM examines the question in “YouTube & Its Content Discovery Paradox.” The site recently invested big bucks on 100 channels of professionally produced video content that it hopes will improve its image. However, improved content is no good if people don’t know it’s there.
YouTube acknowledged this problem, and has implemented a redesign that serves relevant content to users who have selected channels in the past. However, that approach still limits discovery to channels users already know they like. Channel suggestions are on the page, but are not featured prominently. Highlighting those recommendations would be a start, but more innovative discovery tools would be even better.
Writer Ryan Lawler summarizes:
YouTube is the second-biggest search engine in the world, behind parent Google. But it’s one thing to serve up the right video when a viewer searches for it. It’s a whole other thing to anticipate what a viewer wants to see and help them find it. That’s something YouTube will need to get better at, especially as it tries to increase the average session time that users are staying online for.
Our view is that Google is the cat’s pajamas when it comes to easily findable video and an enhanced Google TV experience.
Cynthia Murrell, February 20, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Yandex Expands Map Service
February 20, 2012
Our favorite search engine is one the road again.
Russian search engine Yandex is growing its map catalog, Search Engine Watch reveals in “Yandex Extends Map Capabilities to 4 More Continents.” Writer Thom Craver explains,
Yandex, the leading search engine in Russia, has expanded its mapping capabilities by purchasing a license for digital maps from NAVTEQ, the leading location provider service. In yet another move expanding their worldwide search services, Yandex has purchased a license for highly detailed maps of Europe, North America, Australia, and developed countries in Asia to expand their Yandex.Maps product. The maps are licensed to show intercity motorways and highways, urban traffic networks, streets, and buildings.
Maps will be available in both the desktop version and mobile apps. Also, Web sites will be able to embed these maps into their pages.
Mapping results on Yandex was limited to Russia and Ukraine until last year, when the service added Turkey to its purview. The recent moves expand the company’s reach significantly.
Our view: Yandex is on the move now because the company sees the incumbents in the field as vulnerable.
Cynthia Murrell, February 20, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Google Plus Functionality X Rayed
February 18, 2012
Why hasn’t Google+ taken off more than it has? ZDNet asserts, “Google+ Numbers Would Be Higher. . . if It Worked.” Writer Tom Foremski has been having trouble with his Google+ and, while he’s at it, Gmail and Google Contacts, too. What’s worse, Google’s famously inadequate support has failed him time and again.
Google’s problem is the company’s lack of participation in social networks, maintains Foremski. Google should be using social media to engage users and to provide some sort of organized support system. The article asserts:
I know that Google wants desperately to have a large social network but it clearly doesn’t get it, because it doesn’t use social networks in providing customer support!. . . . Google will fail at G+ and other social network ventures if it doesn’t fully engage in those networks, and others, with its customers and users. You have to be in it to get it. That’s how things work and there’s no short cuts.
Foremski suspects he is not the only one with Googley problems. He also suspects the company has little interest in fixing his or other users’ issues. The man may just be right.
I noted that Google itself used Facebook to publicize during the week of February 12, 2012, its “major” Google TV and YouTube announcement this week. Interesting. I guess marketers go where the eye balls are, not where the bonus plan suggests.
Cynthia Murrell, February 18, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Autonomy: Ready to Disrupt Again
February 17, 2012
When Hewlett-Packard (HP) purchased the enterprise software company Autonomy for a hefty 10.3 billion last August, the world was left wondering what would come of this new partnership. While HP has the hardware, Autonomy’s unique software allows enterprises to provide insight and structure to electronic data, including unstructured information, such as text, email, web pages, voice, or video.
Now, six months after the acquisition, word has broken and Business Insider’s Julie Bort has written “HP Finally Explains Its Big Plans for its $10 Billion Purchase, Autonomy” which shares some of the new products that HP has planned for Autonomy.
According to the article, HP is working on several hardware appliances that will power enterprise search and ideally out compete Google’s Search Appliance. HP also unveiled a new Autonomy video application.
In addition to this, Bort writes:
“HP is working on mobile Autonomy applications that will let you view images of physical world objects such as a movie poster and interact with them online. That’s nothing special, as lots of companies are working on similar technology, known as “augmented reality.” But this type of thing hasn’t gone mainstream yet, so there’s plenty of room for a big player like HP to own it if it ever does.”
While HP many not be using Autonomy to create the most innovative products right off the bat, HP’s extensive resources and purchasing power paired with Autonomy’s software make a duo that will be difficult to compete with.
Jasmine Ashton, February 17, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Nestoria Abandons Google Maps
January 27, 2012
With Google Maps dominating the online map market since its creation last decade the unthinkable (that Google should be replaced) is in the process of happening. Nestoria, an online real estate listings company with growing ranks in Europe, Australia and India, recently announced their departure from Google Maps for OpenStreetMap in a blog post titled, Why (and How) We Switched Away from Google Maps.
Nestoria listed four primary reasons for their switch each with equal merit. First, OpenStreetMap provides maps at the same quality as Google Maps. That was not always the case. For a long time (up until very recently) Google Maps dominated because they were the best.
Next, the tools necessary to switch away from Google Maps were not available making the process difficult at best. That is not the case anymore. A good chunk of the blog post is devoted to explaining how the transition was technically done.
Third in the reasons, and perhaps the key motivator, is that Google has begun charging for the use of Google Maps. As the blog post points out the price to use the maps would bankrupt Nestoria making OpenStreetMap even more appealing.
Lastly, Nestoria lists a dedication to all things open source as a motivating factor in the switch:
Our service does nothing more (and nothing less!) than aggregate data from many different sources and present it in an easy to use format. We benefit greatly from open data, and as such we want to do our part (within the limited resources of a start-up) to help the open data movement.
The reasons considered seem to add up to a compelling case against Google Maps. For years Google was untouchable and the idea that a start-up could steal users away from the mighty Google giant was unthinkable. Time for a rethink?
Catherine Lamsfuss, January 27, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
New Image Search Service
January 19, 2012
Marco Vanossi is a young entrepreneur who has been creating quite a buzz thanks to his image recognition technology. According to The Next Web.com article “This 24 Year Old Brazilian Entrepreneur Wants to Disrupt Image Search” this young entrepreneur has already left his footprint in the business world. Vanossi asserts:
“Since I was only 14, my dad came along to the meeting, and Yahoo’s executives initially thought he was the “Marco Vanossi” they had scheduled a meeting with. Little did they know Marco was me, a teenager!”
Recently Marco has been working on an image recognition technology known as Clickpic. “Clickpic is an iOS app that lets users take pictures with their iPhone, which the app is able to recognize.” A new update allows Clickpic to also power face recognition apps. Another attractive option is that the Clickpic technology can also be utilized to recognize sound. Clickpic sounds like it could be useful technology but can’t make a clear cut decision. While the article praises Vanossi and his achievements which are impressive, it barely scratches the Clickpic surface.
April Holmes, January 19, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Google TV Love: Buy Affection
January 9, 2012
I am documenting this story, but I do not have confidence that it is 100 percent accurate. The posting appeared in Slashgear and “Google Reportedly Paying Smart TV Vendors to Use Android.” The point of the write up is financial. On Google’s side, if the story is true, distributing some of Google’s cash hoard to consumer product manufacturers is as American as allowing members of the House and Senate to play squash with lobbyists or engage in some stock trading not permitted others.
If this statement is accurate, then we are racing toward lowest possible cost:
Exactly how much Google is paying manufacturers to use Android rather than their own smart TV OS is unknown, though the decision to switch to ARM-based chipsets likely means the actual hardware costs are minimal.
Three observations:
First, buying love works, and it is less messy that “real” love. “Real” love is like “real” consulting provided by failed home economics majors.
Second, in a race for least cost, the winner is the person who finds away around certain hurdles. These may be technical, procedural, financial, or legal. Excitement ahead may trigger memories of Cisco Systems’ adventures with router manufacturing in a far off land.
Third, what if US consumers don’t want lots of applications on a TV. I, for instance, am happy if I can find a current episode of Lizard Lick Towing, a fine example of modern reality television. It reminds me of the spate of predictions from Gartner, Forrester, Ovum, and others about technology. Excellence makes find bed fellows. “Find” equal “search” to me.
Here in the goose command center in Harrod’s Creek, we will be “watching” for news at 11.
Stephen E Arnold, January 9, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Social Media Analytics Podcast Availalbe
January 9, 2012
Text Analytics News has posted the podcast of their insightful Social Media Analytics Panel. Check it out for a taste of what you can expect at April’s inaugural Social Media Analytics Summit.
The panel brings together Bill Touhig of J.D. Power & Associates, Robin Seidner of Radian6, and Beyond the Arc’s Steven J. Ramirez. The social media analytics experts share their insights in the 55 minute podcast. The description describes the discussion content:
- Analytic technologies and techniques being used to make business sense of the flood of user-generated content
- The cutting edges of social media and sentiment analysis – what works, where improvements are being made, and which platforms are leading the way
- The comparison between proprietary and do-it-yourself tools for social media analysis
- Effective ways for leveraging social media information to get a leg up on your competition
The most memorable points from this podcast for me hinge on the unexpected. Social media is still a very new field that continues to supply surprises. For example, Touhig shared a discovery his company made for a major cosmetics company: trying to stay ahead of the curve, generation Y women were using skin care products made for older women. The company then had to find a way to communicate that using products for their skin type will actually be more effective for these customers.
Another surprise—Ramirez pointed out that, with social media data, more is not better. This may seem obvious to some, but it is not the case with other data types, where more volume produces more accurate results. Instead, analysts find that they need to narrow the data to exclude the vast amounts of irrelevant input that social media provides. As Ramirez commented, “people will say anything!”
It may be no surprise that text analytics is experiencing a talent gap. As Ramirez quipped, if you know young people just starting out, advise them to go into this young field. Yes, general business users are usually capable of analyzing data, but they need a leg-up. It is best to develop a program and invest in tools and training before expecting results from non-specialized employees.
There is much more to this podcast than I can fit here, so be sure to check it out for yourself. Then, plan to attend the Social Media Analytics Summit next spring.
Cynthia Murrell, January 9, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Search Technology Evolves to Encompass Sound
December 6, 2011
Lockergnome reported on the evolution of search technology this week in the article “In Search Of Sound With MediaMined.”
As a way to continue to evolve search technology beyond searching for text and images, audio engineers at Imagine Research in San Francisco have been working on what they call “the world’s first sound object recognition Web service.”
The service is called MediaMined, and is driven by artificial intelligence that is able to “listen” to sound files — whether they’re properly labeled, mislabeled, or not labeled at all — and analyze what they actually are.
Writer Robert Glen Fogarty states:
“Musicians, podcasters, radio broadcasters, and audio engineers would obviously benefit from this kind of technology, but some other unexpected applications could make use of it, as well. Mobile devices could use a MediaMined type of system to detect their surroundings and present new ways to interact with their users based on this incoming data (think augmented reality cranked up to 11). Medical professionals might be able to use this technology in order to gather data based on sounds made by patients — such as sneezing, snoring, coughing, and wheezing — to help with more keenly diagnosing their condition.”
Here at beyond search we believe that this new search technology is definitely a step in the right direction. The experts at Search Technologies can provide organizations with search
solutions–text or talk.
Iain Fletcher, December 6, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Microsoft and Video Search
November 29, 2011
the revolution in video search continues to arrive, just slowly. Google’s video search continues to improve. The Google TV findability function is due for enhancement. The first go-round was a baffler to many people. Now Engadget reports that “Microsoft Acquires VideoSurf, Promises to Bring Better Video Search and Discovery to Xbox Live.”
VideoSurf, founded in 2006, discovers and analyzes content by focusing on frames of video. Microsoft plans to use its technology to drive search on its Xbox 360’s entertainment platform, accessed via XboxLIVE.
This bid for speedier, more efficient search comes as Microsoft continues to push its console into the center of the living room. We learned from the write up:
In the coming months, Microsoft will bring nearly 40 world-leading TV and entertainment providers to Xbox LIVE. . . . With Kinect, users will be able to easily search and discover content across multiple entertainment providers within Xbox LIVE and then interact with and enjoy content in extraordinary ways using voice search powered by Bing on the Xbox 360.
I have to wonder whether success on the console will spur growth of video search in other quarters. I don’t like video search myself, but it is a big deal for the non-reading, attention deficit crowd. We have to accommodate them, right? Video is a serial information experience. Search is tricky in text. Toss in moving images, and task becomes harder. Text search remains a baffler for many. Video is a step beyond. We’re hopeful.
Channel surfing may not be productive, but it is easy to explain. Finding a specific program remains a challenge. Getting a specific program to display without payment hassles, start and stop rendering, and without time consuming dead ends are hurdles which must be overcome. Maybe Microsoft can resolve the issues which are evident to me.
Cynthia Murrell, November 29, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
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