Google and Screwups
February 24, 2010
PCWorld is certainly getting frisky. The story “2010 Is Becoming the Year of Google Screwups.” The article written by Robert X. Cringely is going to get lots of clicks. Even the addled goose exercises goose judgment when writing about Googzilla. For example, I wanted to cover the Google mistress article, but I had a tough time figuring out how to hook search into the story.
Not PCWorld. For me, the most interesting point was:
So far, 2010 is shaping up to be the year Google discovered it had feet of clay — and those feet have been spending a lot of time in Google’s mouth.
The Screwups article provides a particularly useful discussion of Google and its handling of copyright violation claims. MBAs are going to love this write up.
In my view, the year is young.
Stephen E Arnold, February 24, 2010
No one paid me to write this. Because of the reference to copyright, I will alert the Copyright Office that I am working like a beaver chewing down potentially useful raw material for paper suitable for ink jet use.
The Southwest, Smith, Social Media Storm Front
February 18, 2010
Beyond Search does not cover the social media space. Our companion Web log, Strategic Social Networking, does. You can view our new Social Media video by navigating to http://ssnblog.com and clicking on the video graphi or click the logo below:
The subject of this week’s two minute video is the storm front triggered by the interaction of Southwest Airlines, movie director Kevin Smith, and social media. Our take? Quite a mess, and most organizations are powerless because social media is moving more quickly than management. We had two emails about the carved bird featured in the video. That’s the inspiration for the SSNBlog’s logo… a social and technical term (you know, one of those social birds that flock near your restaurant table in Cassis).
Okay, I paid myself with money from my own pocket to write about my video. I am not sure how this disclosure of self compensation strikes you, but I think Ralph Waldo Emerson would probably have whipped up one of his exciting essays were he alive and fresh from penning “Compensation.” I think this type of payment to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That outfit understands zeros.
Comcast, The Platform
February 17, 2010
I just got off the phone with a person who wanted to know if I had information about the “finding and search” system used in Comcast’s Web TV publishing system. I told the caller to give another person a call. I don’t know much about Comcast beyond its owning NBC and the management gaffes visible in the Jay Leno – Conan incident.
I turned to another matter, but I decided to poke around and see what Comcast is doing in TV publishing. What surprised me was that the company has a unit called “ThePlatform”, which is an online video service. The idea is that a person in charge of a program – what I call a TV show – can use ThePlatform to transform the TV show for gizmos like the forthcoming iPad.
I located a news story in Multi Channel called “Comcast’s ThePlatform Overhauls Video System with MPX.” In the write up, this passage jumped out:
Billed as the biggest revamping in ThePlatform’s 10-year history, MPX — released initially in a “beta” version — includes a new console for managing video assets; a way to automate processes to publish large video libraries across the Web, mobile devices and set-top-boxes; and personalization features. In addition, the new publishing system is built on a new service oriented architecture (SOA), which ThePlatform says provides additional reliability and scalability. One of the key new features in MPX is the “smart publish profiles,” which lets video publishers set up profiles with specified formats, transcoding parameters, thumbnail generation, bit rates and other assets for each target platform or device, such as a Web site or Apple’s forthcoming iPad.
This makes sense. There are new distribution opportunities available to outfits like Comcast. Paying another company to repurpose video content does not sense to the Comcast analysts. Comcast has Rogers Communications in Canada using the revamped platform.
I located a screenshot for the service in Media Post. I see a search box at the top of the screen, and I wondered if Comcast was indexing the spoken component of the video or just using the metadata plugged in by the user. When I search video, I want to know who was mentioned, where the snippet is, and a link to jump to the key frame where the information allegedly is.
The Comcast service has some competition. Players include:
- Brightcove, the essential platform for every professional online video project
- Veeple, a company whose technology can “dramatically increase conversion using interactive video”
- PermissionTV, now Visible Gains which asserts: “Engage with video. Close with confidence.”
- Vimeo, which greeted me with “video sharing for you”
Media Post notes in “ThePlatform Seeks To Stay A Step Ahead Of Video Syndication Scrum With New Publishing System”: …its [ThePlatform’s] biggest competition comes from the in-house platforms that publishers decide to build themselves.” Media Post added:
Founded in 2000, thePlatform services many top video syndicators, including the BBC, CNBC, PBS and Gannett (including USA Today). About 80 companies now participate in thePlatform Framework, which spans the world of online video, including ad campaign management systems, ad sales networks, analytics and reporting, content delivery networks, content protection, media formats, transcoding engines, payment processors, syndication outlets, and video search.
My observations are:
- I wonder if this platform scales. Video poses a petascale problem. If the audio track is converted to search able text, that means even more computational load. My question is, “Does Comcast have the technical expertise to build this type of system, scale it, and then fund the R&D needed to keep pace with technology changes in certain related fields such as on the fly translation?”
- I wonder if the search system can provide a user to low latency results. As more content flows through a system and more devices must be supported in content transformation, Comcast is going to need a big honking server set up. I don’t think of Comcast as being a leader in online technology based on my experience with Comcast high speed data services. My question is, “Does Comcast have the expertise to keep the system working with low latency over time?”
- I wonder if the ease of use of the system will be given high marks by the licensees. I don’t think of Comcast’s Web site or its technical information as being much above average. My question is, “What happens if a lower cost, easier to use online service becomes available?”
I think this is an interesting subarea of search and content processing. With rich media getting more attention in various market sectors, Comcast might become a competitor to such companies as Autonomy.
In the back of my mind, I keep wondering if Google will provide such a service. Interesting thought I suppose but far beyond my wing span.
Stephen E Arnold, February 16, 2010
I was not paid to admit my ignorance. I suppose such silliness must be reported. Which Federal agency has jurisdiction? Oh, I remember. The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Great visionary, Mr. Wilson. He may have inspired Comcast.
Online Pricing: App Store Wars
February 16, 2010
Apple has figured out online pricing for music. The digital chains are attached to the children of the people at the Barcelona mobile hoe down. I am not sure Apple’s model applies as well to audio books and videos, though. I will admit that the iPhone App Store has been a bit of a surprise to me and my goslings. The iPhone was good looking and easier to use than some of the mobile clunkers I had previously owned. But the different pieces worked reasonably well with iTunes, the iTouch, the iPhone, and the App Store snapping my wrists together quickly.
A few moments ago I popped open my newsreader and saw a headline that caught me by surprise, probably not the magnitude of the surprise that the Apple vertically integrated approach to gizmos evokes, but close enough for an addled goose in the snow.
The article was “Two Dozen Carriers Worldwide Unite against Apple’s App Store.” After a bit of clicking, I noticed that dozens of comments were flashing around the Internet. The basics, according to MocoNews.net, a publication “healthily obsessed with mobile content”, reported:
Two dozen of the world’s largest mobile-phone companies, including Verizon Wireless, AT&T, NTT DoCoMo, Deutsche Telekom, China Mobile and Vodafone, are teaming up to create an “open international applications platform,” which is obviously in direct response to Apple’s success with its own iPhone App Store. Release. The announcement was made this morning at Mobile World Congress. In addition to the 24 carriers, the GSMA and three device manufacturers—LG (SEO: 066570), Samsung and Sony, Ericsson—are also supporting the initiative. All combined, the group reaches 3 billion subscribers worldwide, making it easily the largest app-store initiative.
Several observations:
- In the online monetizing wars, victory goes to the outfit who figures out how to get money and keep others out. The reason that there are a couple of big companies controlling information in certain market sectors is not an accident. The market coalesces around services that amass high value content. Music is not a must have to me, but I think Apple has done a good job of turning information about which I care not a whit into a must-have information type for its customers.
- Developers go where the money is and keep poking their heads up and honking when a potential new source of money lands in their pond. Developers are paying attention to Android because it is Google, free, and gaining support. If anyone puts a dent in Apple’s shiny vertical consumer combine, it will be Google. Then guess what. Google will be the “new” Apple. It is not Google management acumen; it is the way online markets work for certain information types. I know you don’t believe me, so take a gander (no pun intended) at the online vendors of legal content.
- The Balkans approach to battling a service-device chain is going to be an interesting management problem. Sony, for example, should have been Apple. Apple grabbed a space Sony dominated and then went at the children of Sony executives. Keep in mind that the folks running these companies united against Apple can find the root cause of Apple’s success by talking to their children. If there are any young employees around, ask them.
Now is it fair, just, and right to join together to beat up on a company that was on death’s door with a boss who was on death’s door? In today’s world, I know two dozen companies who think that this type of behavior is just ducky (no pun intended).
My thought is that the telecommunications companies have problems beyond Apple. Maybe the Balkans’ method is the new management revolution? I will keep an open mind.
Stephen E Arnold, February 16, 2010
No one paid me to write this. Since the write up is about management strategy, I will report scribbling for no dollars to the Federal Consulting Group, a very strategic operation. Do you read its reports? I think the telecommunications companies do. Check ‘em out here.
Hakia Changes Results Display
February 15, 2010
Short honk: I learned that Hakia has revamped its results display in a write up called “Hakia Servers Up Comprehensive Universal Search in a New Design.” My recollection is that Google also uses the phrase Universal Search, but I may be muddling which search vendor uses which buzzword.
Interface is getting quite a bit of attention. I think part of the push is a response to Microsoft Bing’s user experience push. The other motivating factor is that search results are not that much different to most searchers. With Google getting about 70 percent of the search traffic, the other Web search folks have to find an angle. Hakia, the semantic search company, displays text search results, images and videos. The company includes categories to allow filtering with a click. I find the new interface interesting. i ran a number of test queries and found the results useful. Now the task is marketing and building traffic. Give Hakia a spin.
Stephen E Arnold, February 15, 2010
No one paid me to write this. A couple of years ago I got a bottle of water when I visited Hakia in Manhattan. I will report this to
Google Stands Up to Australia
February 12, 2010
I am no legal eagle, but I found it interesting that Google, according to The Age’s “Google Baulks at Controy’s Call to Censor YouTube”, has another Google versus a country situation brewing. According the write up,
Google says it will not “voluntarily” comply with the government’s request that it censor YouTube videos in accordance with broad “refused classification” (RC) content rules. Communications Minister Stephen Conroy referred to Google’s censorship on behalf of the Chinese and Thai governments in making his case for the company to impose censorship locally.
Google has a big presence in Australia. Based on my experience in that part of the world, Australia does not fool around in some policy areas. My hunch is that Google will be faced with some clear instructions, backed by Australian authorities, and the Google will do what it is doing to keep its shareholders happy. The Google rich media opportunity is significant and making a misstep early in the tactical deployment of this business push is probably not a good idea in my opinion.
The gentle push back from Google makes headlines, but the actions of the company are what I find interesting after the PR dust has settled.
Stephen E Arnold, February 12, 2010
No one paid me to write this article. Next time I am in Australia I will report this to the authorities in Canberra, and I will take my pith helmet with the fly netting.
Futurist Predicts the End of Writing
February 1, 2010
You have to read “Could Written Language Be Rendered Obsolete?” and the source article “Could Written Language Be Rendered Obsolete, and What Should We Demand In Return?” Kids in Kentucky no longer learn to write cursive. That means that kids may not be able to read notes handwritten. The death of written language is a bold thought. I think it is baloney. Make you own decision, but it may be tough to search content generating text from SMS, videos, and email systems that nuked themselves. Is Google worried? Probably not too much. Am I worried? No, I don’t care.
Stephen E Arnold, February 1, 2010
A freebie. I will report this to the Railway Retirement Board.
Embedding Lucene
January 31, 2010
The goslings and I participated in a search conference call last week. One of the topics du jour is Lucene. The open source search system continues to fascinate certain government procurement teams and those looking for a low-cost way to provide users with a search-and-retrieval system. The enthusiasm for Lucene and Solr goes up as the age of the information technology professionals decreases. Whatever universities are putting in the Red Bull sold in computer science departments seems to trigger a Lucene / Solr craving.
In the course of the conversation, I mentioned embedding Lucene in commercial software. The advantages ranged from low cost to sidestepping the blow-back from customers. The blow back occurs when the users of software want a feature not in the OEM “stub” embedded in a system or gizmo. The fix is to buy the full version of the software. The “stub” is a good enough chunk of functionality, but it won’t do the fancy back flips some users want when looking for information.
© Scribovox 2009
Lucene can be extended as long as the outfit doing the embedding has some Lucene experts on staff or access to a consultant able to keep appointments, complete work on time and in budget, and writes code that works. The example I gave was the Lucene within Scribovox.com.
Scribovox is a software that performs such tricks as converting a podcast to text. You can get more information about the product at http://www.scribvox.com. The information I referenced came from a June 17, 2009 Scribovox design document called “Integration with Social Networks.” I found the information in this write up quite useful, and you can download a copy of the paper from this link.
The author of the paper is Patrick Nicholas. He discusses some interesting ideas; for example:
- Flow diagrams for processing real time content
- A useful architecture diagram
- A discussion of indexing and summarization
- Some information about Amazon EC2, MapReduce and Hadoop.
If you are serious about open source, I would tuck this document in your bag of tricks. The time estimation puts search and semantics into perspective. Useful for the azure chip crowd since most don’t have too much, if any, oil under their fingers from removing the fuel injection unit from a search system.
Stephen E Arnold, January 31, 2010
A freebie. No one paid me to write this. I will report this charitable act to the boss at the National Cathedral on Wisconsin Avenue, in Washington, DC.
Black and White Photo Search
January 30, 2010
Short honk: I wanted to let you know that “Top 5 Black & White Image Search Engines” provides a description of five photo search systems. What makes this list useful is that the angle is black and white pix.
Stephen E Arnold, January 29, 2010
A freebie. I will report this to the photo manager at the Department of Energy where there is considerable expertise in managing images.
Can Search Save YouTube?
January 26, 2010
YouTube.com has been a topic of conversation here at the goose pond today. Several of the goslings commented about the redesign. Another pointed out that the search function was a hit-and-miss affair. I described a couple of patent documents such as US2006/0080238 that I thought were designed to give Google’s grassroots media video service some lift (as in pants on the ground). I don’t think search can save YouTube.com. Money can.
Finding pants on the ground was easy. It’s not so easy finding some other videos.
When I read “You Tube Is Doomed Guy Refuses to Admit He Was Wrong (But YouTube No Longer Doomed”, I learned that YouTube.com is going to become a pay-per-view operation. The story in Silicon Alley Insider suggests that Google will emulate the Hulu.com model.
The write up presents a summary of some conflicting or maybe just fluid information about the profitability of the YouTube.com service. Google bought YouTube.com in 2006 at about the same time it was working out a deal with dMarc and lifting some other rich media barbells in the Google gymnasium.
The key passage for me was:
Google never figured out how to get advertisers excited about millions of people’s home videos. Benjamin [critic of YouTube.com and CEO of Fliqz.com] thinks Google will continue to chase after premium content, making the site more like Hulu. He also thinks eventually, Google could charge a small fee to upload video to the site. In other words, YouTube isn’t doomed.
The guts of the article is an interview with Benjamin Wayne, Fliqz and it is worth reading.
The goslings and I were uncertain about YouTube.com. On one hand, it seems to have some challenges in the search department. Finding a video is often most easily accomplished looking for a link in a write up, not by searching for a video. The ads are indeed annoying, and these may have disappointed both Google and the folks buying ads on YouTube.com videos. On the other hand, does the world need another for-fee video site. These seem to be predicated on the same assumptions one finds in the eBook reader sector. More may not yield a bigger revenue pie.
What is Google’s play in rich media? Perhaps Google has matured sufficiently to realize that there are other business models, but these may not lend themselves to the Googley style of management. Management, not emulating Hulu.com or some other for fee rich media service, may be the deciding factor for YouTube.com.
Stephen E Arnold, January 26, 2010
A freebie. Someone promised to pay me a pittance in the future, but that faint assertion had nothing to do with the plight of YouTube.com.
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
