A Search Hum-Dinger
July 28, 2010
We all knew the day would come when we could hum an unknown melody and our computer or phone would name that tune. What is surprising is how this wondrous little gadget will populate its data. Technology Review recently broke down the frontier Tunebot is trying to conquer in the article, “Query-by-Humming Musical Search Engine Launched”. Tunebot essentially allows users to hum their song and the possible results appear, but the designers had to find a way to populate the millions of songs with a user’s inability to match key, notes, timbre and other factors. The ingenious answer, which the article considered, “an elegant solution to the problem of melody recognition,” was to have a karaoke contest where users populate all the possible hums themselves. Tunebot’s brilliant collision of search technology and online community, makes this upstart a program to watch.
Pat Roland, July 28, 2010
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Quote to Note: YouTube and Cold, Hard Cash
July 27, 2010
Here’s a quote that caught my attention. The source is “Google Exec Speaks Of YouTube, Imminent Profitability.” The Googler making the statement is allegedly Nikesh Arora, a Google executive and super smart person. Did you update your business controlled vocabulary to make Google a related term for “wizard”. I did. Anyway, here’s the alleged quote:
“YouTube is on the verge of imminent profitability.”
Okay. l think I understand. There’s the payout price for YouTube.com. The litigation. The marketing costs. The expense of making YouTube into a quality video service. Bandwidth. Staff. Yep, imminent with interest.
Stephen E Arnold, July 27, 2010
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CMS Vendors Face Old Age, Maybe Need HGH?
July 20, 2010
Content management systems and CMS consultants are an interesting mix. On the lower digit end of the CMS spectrum are the lightweight content management systems. Four years ago, the capabilities of even the vaunted Google’s Blogger.com, which seems frozen in time to me, were like Lance Armstrong’s 2010 Tour de France.
On the end of the spectrum where the big numbers are round, the industrial strength records management systems were found. The addled goose honks about IBM, but when properly configured, IBM’s FileNet can perform some nifty CMS tricks.
So the CMS spectrum ran from the citizen journalism functions to the mad scientist mode. The consultants followed suit. I don’t recall getting spam from IBM about FileNet. Sure, IBM – like any $100 billion outfit – has its weak moments, but shoving FileNet at the addled goose has never happened. Probably won’t even happen opine I.
The reason is that when you move to the double digit end of the CMS spectrum you enter a world where a document error can shut down a nuclear power plant after a US government inspection or a really friendly CEO gets to spend time with prisoners in the “yard.” The vast majority of CMS consultants trample around in the lightweight end of the CMS market.
The problem is that the lightweight systems are now looking more sophisticated, and some venture firms and corporations are taking a hard look at these former wimps.
Don’t believe me. Navigate to “Squarespace Gets $38M to Compete With WordPress and Six Apart”. The write up calls attention to three outfits with CMS that can do interesting things and seem to be growing as my son did when he was in the third grade. Every day he needed a new pair of sneakers with the French chicken on them. Le Coq Sportif for those who are not into suburban Maryland fashions. I noted this passage in the write up:
The size of the investment that Squarespace has managed to attract from Accel and Index indicates that these investors see the potential to take the company’s software and services beyond simple blogging and into the broader world of content-management systems. Although some media companies have been experimenting with open-source software such as Drupal and Joomla for web publishing, both of these are fairly complex to manage, and a hosted solution could appeal to publishers such as the Telegraph Group, which is already using a number of cloud-based services.
Squarespace is quite interesting. The company makes it dead simple to create a blog, a photo gallery, even a complete Web site. The user can drag and drop. Sure, SquareSpace allows coders to fiddle, but the company seems to draw the line with some potentially interesting live database action from its pages. Aside from that prudent step, SquareSpace is a CMS for the person or company frustrated with a traditional CMS.
Is the SquareSpace system right for managing nuclear power plant records? Probably, but I wouldn’t use the system for that purpose. Nor would I rely on SquareSpace for information likely to be probed for effective safeguards against spoliation. For other work, SquareSpace looks mighty tasty as it is.
What will happen with $38 million? Traditional content management vendors may want to pay some attention to the fun loving folks at this outfit. Also, the CMS consultants may find themselves having to work much harder to get those high-paying, wild and crazy CMS product reviews. SquareSpace makes it dead simple to play with the system any time, for free, for a couple of weeks.
Times are a’changin’ in CMS and CMS consulting I conclude.
Stephen E Arnold, July 20, 2010
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YouTube Plays Nice with Music Copyrights
July 8, 2010
Must read despite the wooden shoes title: “Add Licensed Legal Copyright Music to YouTube Videos for Free with AudioSwap”. The write explains a new service from Google. Here’s the key passage:
AudioSwap is an initiative from YouTube, owned by Google, that allows video uploaders to automatically and easily add music to YouTube videos, for free, without cost nor payment. AudioSwap, as its name implied, also allows users to swap and change the existing copyright infringed music on the video with all rights cleared audio tracks. AudioSwap contains extensive list of songs which are provided by Friendly Music. AudioSwap is probably an effort by Google to avoid many video clips been removed due to audio tracks that violate copyright. As the royalty fees for a mainstream commercial and popular songs are astronomical, so don’t expect to find your many favorite classic love songs or hits on the free catalog.
If you want to know the nitty gritty, navigate to the original.
Stephen E Arnold, July 8, 2010
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Why Is Google Reminding Us of Its Dominance in Online Video
July 1, 2010
Fresh from its 800 score on the DMCA test, Google seems to be eager to point out how much video it pumps. Navigate to “YouTube Streams 14.6B Videos, 100 Videos Viewed per User.” The numbers are interesting, but frankly I am not sure how the Google flow compares to an outfit like Insight or Time Warner on their systems. Maybe it is apples and oranges because Insight and Time Warner use different technology and make money from their video services. According the write up YouTube accounted for 43.1 percent of all videos viewed online, comScore said June 23.” The write up include some comparative information:
When people weren’t watching videos on YouTube, they were watching them on Hulu (1.2 billion videos), Microsoft Sites (642 million videos) or Vevo (430 million videos) and YouTube court buddy Viacom Digital (347 million videos).
Perhaps the key metric for me is the amount of money Google is making from YouTube. The data in the article are similar to Amazon’s method of explaining how successful its cloud services are. Where are the revenue and cost data?
Stephen E Arnold, July 1 2010
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OpenText Nstein: Confusing Information Surfaces
June 28, 2010
Update, June 29, 2010:
Quite a flurry of comments from OpenText about this post. This citation turned up in my newsreader and I could not figure it out. In fact, I pointed out that the article was confusing and probably an error in a content management system. Nevertheless, I think that vendors of content management systems need to make certain that their date and time stamp functions are operating correctly. If a crash forces a system restore, I think it is useful to put clear date markers on restored documents. If this tagging is not applied or in some way flawed, newsreaders snap up content and happily shovel it to people like me with a current date and time stamp. My suggestion is to work with the source of the write up. I don’t do “news”; I point to sources that are available in open source. My opinions are clearly marked. In this particularly article, I point out that when glitches like this occur, competitors can point to the write up and raise questions about clarity. I reproduced the content and provided a link to the source. I did not create the 2003 gobbledegook; I just alerted my two or three readers to the issue. The problem originated with an outfit doing publishing as Asset Management Software. No date but BuddyPress, identified with the source article, might be the outfit with which OpenText wishes to speak. Or, in the language of the source article I used: “New guided navigation module: navigation NretrieverNretriever is a powerful tool for research, which brings a direct connection with the search experience for end users.” Confusing in my opinion. Also, note the date in the url, gentle reader: http://asset-management-software.bloghubpage.com/2010/06/12/asset-management-software-nstein-introduces-version-3-0-of-its-award-winning-content-management-platform-nserver-suite/. I put the date in bold.
This sure seems like a current date to me.
The point is that content management vendors deliver products that can be used to generate data that lacks useful metadata and produce pages that spiders and addled geese see as “current.” When a vendor is in the content management business, perhaps looking at the cause and not the effect are useful exercises?
Original Post: June 28, 2010 below:
Two companies that strike me as pioneers in moving beyond search are Autonomy and OpenText. I don’t want to take sides. In the last two or three years, the firms have been pursuing somewhat similar strategies. Both have pushed from search into specialized markets such as eDiscovery. Both have information retrieval technologies gathered from acquisitions. Both are no longer properly classified in my opinion and search and retrieval specialists. The companies offer a wide range of information services. Both have blown past first Microsoft Fast and then Endeca. OpenText snapped up the gasping Nstein for something like $0.65 on the dollar. Under the broad wing span of OpenText, Nstein has rolled out Version 3.0 of what it calls “its award-winning content management platform.” You can get more details in the write up “Asset Management Software: Nstein Introduces Version 3.0 of Its Award Winning Content Management Platform Nserver Suite.” Quite a title and probably good spider food. But I don’t know what Nstein is * really * delivering. Customers may not know either.
For me I found this passage quite interesting:
nStein Technologies Inc…, a global leader in unstructured content management solutions, today announced at the annual conference of the Special Library Association (SLA) version 3.0 of its award-winning content management platform, September nserver concept nStein extraction, categorization, organization provides production began, seals and restart guided navigation modules.
Must be a glitch in the content management system.
I also noted:
- The use of the phrase “guided navigation”. Endeca has been closely associated with facets and “guided navigation” may catch that company’s attention
- A reference to Nretriever as a “feeding technology.” The word “Nretriever” suggests a query and a results list to me, not a feed or stream of content. Maybe the writer wanted me to think of an alert pushed to me via email?
- A description of Ncategorizer that “includes the improvement of classification.” I am not sure if the product improves a previous Nstein system or improves the performance delivered by a competitor’s system.
The write up includes some links to information for me to read. Two links date from 2002 and 2003 and not from the post acquisition period in which I have an interest. The third link is more current but I did not see any mention of Nstein. The other links are circular; that is, pointing back to the article that caught my attention.
I am baffled. I am not sure if this is a legitimate write up about OpenText / Nstein or an error due to a flawed editorial system or process.
With promotional announcements like this one, Autonomy is almost certain to lick its chops and begin to think about taking a bite out of OpenText / Nstein’s marketing messages.
Stephen E Arnold, June 28, 2010
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Podcast Interview with Paul Doscher, Part 3: Exalead and User Experience
June 28, 2010
Exalead’s Paul Doscher talks about Exalead and user experience, sometimes shortened to “UX” on the June 28, 2010, ArnoldIT Beyond Search podcast. Exalead, now part of the large French software and services company Dassault, is entering a new phase of growth. (You can read about this tie up in “Exalead Acquired by Dassault” and “Exalead and Dassault Tie Up, Users Benefit.”
In this podcast, Mr. Doscher talks about Exalead’s technical approach to enabling licensees to use a wide range of graphical user interfaces and display conventions. The Exalead user experience approach makes it possible to support iPhone-type interfaces and presentations tailored to the needs of a particular user or workgroup.
You can listen to the podcast on the ArnoldIT.com Web site. More information about Exalead is available from www.exalead.com. The ArnoldIT podcast series extends the Search Wizards Speak series of interview beyond text into rich media. Watch this blog for announcements about other rich media programs from the professionals who move information retrieval beyond search.
Stephen E Arnold, June 28, 2010
Sponsored by Stephen E. Arnold
Comcast Gears Up for Combat
June 27, 2010
Comcast, is getting aggressive in the over-the-top video market. With thePlatform, a Seattle-based Comcast subsidiary, the company announced its not-so-subtle intentions to bring the wealth of online video to several different non-computer formats.
Over-the-top means files come via traditional broadband, but do not require any of the business or technology affiliations with the underlying broadband network. “Unlike other video management systems,” the company recently said. “thePlatform’s mpx Beta allows customers to upload multiple media files simultaneously and easily distribute video to websites, mobile phones and other IP-connected devices with a few simple clicks.”
ThePlatform is already compatible with the Apple iPad, and the company also says it will work with Google TV when that launches. Comcast, who has never really been a contender in the digital video world, clearly sees an opportunity and is taking exciting steps to rise to the top, especially by looking at catching the Google wave. Hopefully, consumers will be equally intrigued.
Patrick Roland, June 27, 2010
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Bing Dinging the Google
June 26, 2010
“Bing’s New Bling: TV, Music from Microsoft Search” does a good job of explaining Microsoft’s consumer search strategy. Microsoft’s angle of attack on Googzilla is to make search solves some specific problems. Here’s the key passage in my opinion:
Microsoft is making a push into entertainment. The company has struck deals with television networks, video Web sites such as Hulu, recording labels, game makers and other content companies. When people search for a show, a song or a casual game on Bing, they’ll often be able to watch, listen or play right from the search results, without having to go to another site.
Google has some formidable rich media capabilities. Microsoft, on the other hand, has some deals in place. If the new services bring smiles to the faces of content partners, Microsoft will be able to get more. Google has not purchased a company to fill in the gaps in its rich media content offerings. Now time may be slipping away. The Google set top box takes a search approach to locating rich media. Microsoft delivers findability and, in some cases, content. Microsoft manages to provide its new service without the sun obscuring flight of legal eagles that now accompany Google wherever the company goes.
Stephen E Arnold, June 26, 2010
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CNN and AP News Shift
June 21, 2010
I read “CNN Drops AP Wire Service.” You may want to check it out as well. I am not sure if I know what to make of the report. Let’s assume the story is accurate. Why would CNN drop a source that many organizations consider “must have”? One view is that AP is no longer a “must have” source. Another view is that CNN wants to innovate with its business model and its vendors have to be sufficiently agile to make CNN comfortable. A few years ago dropping the Associated Press would have been unthinkable. Its state house coverage is tough to duplicate. Maybe CNN wants to cut costs? When i killed a couple of hours between flights last year I realized that CNN is one expensive puppy to keep healthy. With YouTube’s recent news feistiness, CNN may be preparing for battle. If the story is a hoax, the AP is secure. If true, the AP may be showing some signs of losing its magnetism.
Stephen E Arnold, June 22, 2010
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