Amazonia for March 25, 2019
March 25, 2019
The Bezos bulldozer has encountered a landscape with tropical weathered granite. The diesel engine is under some stress.
Amazon Brands: Not Like Costco’s
Bloomberg reported that Amazon is not batting 1.000 with its house brands. “Most Amazon Brands Are Duds, Not Disrupters, Study Finds” asserts:
Turns out most Amazon-branded goods are flops that don’t threaten other businesses at all, according to Marketplace Pulse. In a study, the New York e-commerce research firm examined 23,000 products and found that shoppers aren’t more inclined to buy Amazon brands even when the company elevates them in search results.
Unlike the “your motherboard is compromised”, this write up has a source, Marketplace Pulse. Not much information about the methodology, but that’s par for the “real news” putting course.
Why the NYC Queens’ Disintegrated
I noted this write up in the Daily Mail, a remarkable source of information:
Mayor Bill De Blasio Implies That Jeff Bezos’ High-Profile Affair with News Anchor Lauren Sanchez Was the Reason Amazon Pulled Out of Its New York Headquarters Deal
The write up states:
De Blasio hinted that the Amazon CEO’s affair with news anchor Lauren Sanchez that erupted in the public eye ruined Amazon’s plans to create a sprawling headquarters. ‘I think we can all say that unusual things were happening within the Amazon family at that time. And that was said politely. There was clearly some unusual factors happening,’ de Blasio said with a smirk on MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Friday.
I found the phrase “pulled out” and the use of the word “smirk” interesting. There was a source: another news organization’s interview.
Preparing for the Amazon Revolution
Biz Journals reported that Amazon is continuing its effort create Amazon savvy technologists. According to “Amazon Web Services Joins Capital CoLAB, an Effort to Prepare Young Workers for Tech Jobs”:
Capital CoLAB members help train students for STEM-related fields through programs and internships…The program strives to equip students with skills for areas such as data analytics, visualization and cybersecurity.
No mention appeared about getting the skills needed to work in an Amazon warehouse or driver an Amazon Sprinter delivery van. No tech skills needed I assume.
uDroppy Picks Up AWS Speed
A uDroppy executive explains how to use an AWS API call to eliminate the cost of a traditional file upload. The trick is to remember that Amazon’s S3 is a storage service, not a content delivery network. The write up explains:
The client sends the file via a PUT HTTP request to S3, and if all requirements are satisfied the file is correctly uploaded. The benefit of this approach is that our server has to handle just a simple API call where there’s no file data. The upload itself is processed by the client, leaving our server free and ready to process the next request very quickly. As you can imagine this method is very scalable, and at the same time not very expensive.
Trick or feature? The write up does not express an opinion.
Sisense: A Cyber Intel and Analytics Vendor Joins the Amazon Bandwagon
Amazon has a number of cyber intelligence and analytics companies as clients. According to “Sisense Accelerates Cloud Analytics with Amazon Web Services”:
the release of its new Elastic Data Hub, a unique offering in the BI space that allows organizations to easily connect and mashup live, real-time data with cached in-memory data on the same dashboard. This breakthrough offering leverages Sisense powerful, live data connector with Amazon Redshift from Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), a fast and powerful, fully managed, petabyte-scale data warehouse service in the cloud.
Is Amazon becoming the “roundhouse” for the cyber intelligence high speed trains?
Amazon: Squeezing Elastic
If you want a run down of Amazon’s squeezing of the Elastic open source Elasticsearch system, navigate to “With its Elasticsearch Distribution, Amazon Web Services Sends More Shockwaves Through Open-Source Software.” For many cyber intelligence companies, Elasticsearch is useful because it provides utility search and can accommodate add ins, add ons, proprietary modules, and the other enhancements. The article states:
Elastic CEO Shay Banon did not take kindly to AWS’s move, suggesting in his own blog post last week that AWS first approached Elastic wanting “preferential treatment” compared to other customers before Elastic said no and AWS released its version. “We have a commitment that we will treat a single developer contributing to our products the same as others,” he wrote.
More excitement to follow as Amazon implements its version of IBM’s approach to software lock in.
Pinterest Spend at AWS
GeekWire reported that Pinterest cut a deal with Amazon Web Services that requires it to spend $750 million by 2023.
AWS Embraces Nvidia Server Chips
Marketwatch reported that Nvidia’s latest server chips have now been adopted by AWS. Google and Alibaba also use the company’s silicon. Marketwatch stated:
The Santa Clara, Calif.,-based chip maker said its T4 Tensor Core graphics processing units, or GPUs, would be deployed to Amazon Web Services through Elastic Compute Cloud G4 in the coming weeks. While other public cloud services have been chipping away at market share over the past few years, Amazon’s AWS still ranks as a global market-share leader in public cloud services.
Stephen E Arnold, March 25, 2019
Amazonia for March 18, 2019
March 18, 2019
The Bezos bulldozer has run into some soil filled with largish granite boulders. Check out these developments.
Amazon and Elasticsearch
Elasticsearch, the open source search system, is a popular way for many companies to make content searchable. With add ons, one can perform many useful functions. Elastic, the company founded by Shay Banon, provides for fee services to the search and retrieval technology. The Elasticsearch open source community does open sourcey things.
Amazon is open sourcey, although with a twist. The firm wants to provide a ready-to-go version of Elasticsearch as a widget callable from the numerous AWS services. How does Amazon achieve that goal? One solution is to move farther away from the Elastic version of Elasticsearch. Early signs of this special approach have been document by Code 972. Datanami published an interesting view of the AWS Elasticsearch activity in “War Unfolding for Control of Elasticsearch.”
That write up states:
AWS is seizing upon Elastic’s actions in creating this three-tiered system – not to mention the merger of X-Pack into Elastic Stack proper with the version 6.3 release of the Elastic Stack last summer – in justifying the creation of Open Distro for Elasticsearch.
Amazon does not want to fork Elastic or Elasticsearch.
Datanami states:
Banon accused AWS copying code and co-opting the Elasticsearch product for its own use.
Will legal eagle fly? Will Elastic’s investors and customers complain? Will Amazon alter its course?
No answers at the moment.
DarkCyber hypothesizes that if Amazon comes calling, one should listen. If Amazon asks for something, one should find a way to cooperate. A failure to orbit Amazon can have consequences, fork or not. See the culture item below.
Amazon’s Culture
Amazon is, from DarkCyber’s point of view, a big, friendly Teddy bear of a company. Some insights into the culture of the company are revealed in “AWS CEO Andy Jassy Drills Down On Cloud Adoption And Amazon’s Culture.” Here are a couple of highlights:
- No PowerPoints allowed
- Move quickly (for example, pull out of New York, we assume)
- Speed build
- Employees build their destiny using AWS.
Sound exciting. You can apply at this link.
Virginia: Pushback and Maybe Incentive Pullback?
The Big Apple was sour. Now “Amazon’s second headquarters Faces New Blocks in Virginia Funding Vote.” Pity Crystal City stakeholders. Feel some remorse for the condo speculators. According to the real news outfit Reuters:
local [Virginia] officials vote on Saturday on a proposed financial package worth an estimated $51 million.
The JEDI deal seems to be stalled. Either the wheels of bureaucracy are in neutral, or the various legal challenges are fouling the smart automatic braking system for the billion dollar deal. The slower the processes move, the more time anti-Amazon forces have to refine their tactics.
Gogo to AWS
Gogo’s in flight service is now collaborating with Amazon. According to the ever reliable Verizon Oath Yahoo:
Gogo is set to shift its entire infrastructure to AWS is order to improvise cost structure and achieve better work efficiency by utilizing AWS storage, database, analytics and serverless services. Meanwhile, the company has already shifted its commercial and business aviation division.
Amazon landed these customers in the last year:
Amgen
Ellie Mae
Guardian Life Insurance
Korean Air
Mobileye
National Australia Bank
Pac-12
Santander’s Openbank
As one person told me, “Microsoft can sell better than Amazon.” Synergy Research Group figured out that Amazon had 34 percent of the cloud business.
Where did Amazon Yahoo Oath get this information? Zack’s.
Training Courses
Amazon offers more than 350 training courses for those interested in the Bezos bulldozer’s technology. You can find these at amzn.to/2Y3wX1V . IIT Kharagpur has added AWS courses to its curricula.
Connect with Startups
Amazon has had a mechanism for monitoring startups for years. Now anyone can tap into this flow of potential financial opportunities. “Amazon [is] testing a new program that connects outside investors with startups that use AWS.” The service is called Pro Rata.
The write up points out:
Amazon uses other programs such as the Alexa Fund and Amazon Catalyst to invest in startups.
New Partners/Providers
DarkCyber spotted these partners in the AWS news last week:
Duo World. Info here.
Manthan. Info here.
Symbee. Info here.
Wipro. Info here.
Amazon wants to provide more visibility to its partners and integrators. The company has launched AWS Digital CX Competency. (CX means customer experience.)
Volkswagen Fears Amazon?
Not sure if “fear” is the right word. But DarkCyber found this article suggestive: “In Picking Microsoft’s Cloud, Volkswagen Shows That Even Carmakers Have Some Fear of Amazon.” Could part of the reason stem from Amazon’s buying Mercedes’ vans?
Amazon Smart City Program
IBM does the Watson thing at MIT, but Amazon is putting is Smart City center at Arizona State University. You can get the details in “ASU, Amazon Web Services open Smart City Cloud Innovation Center.” What’s a “smart city”? Google’s angle is to get a piece of the tax money. What’s Amazon’s? The write up states:
…The new center is part of a long-term collaboration between ASU and AWS to improve digital experiences for smart-city designers, expand technology alternatives while minimizing costs, spur economic and workforce development and facilitate sharing public-sector solutions within the region.
Stephen E Arnold, March 18, 2019
Forget Facebook Resignations, Is Google Actually Aiding the Chinese?
March 15, 2019
Okay, okay, the source is Gizmodo. The article may be spot on or a bit like outputs from quite interesting sources from lesser known experts. The value of the write up rests in its reminding me of the duck – rabbit paradox:
Is this a duck (Peking variety) or rabbit (cute technological bunny)?
The title which caught my eye was:
Pentagon Brass Bafflingly Accuses Google of Providing ‘Direct Benefit’ to China’s Military
The “bafflingly” is an interesting word. Gizmodo cannot understand why someone from the Pentagon would “accuse Google of providing direct benefit to China.”
I noted this passage:
Dunford’s incendiary comments came during a budgetary hearing by the Senate Armed Services Committee this afternoon. During his time for questioning, freshman Senator Josh Hawley, a Republican, turned to the subject of Google’s decision to back away from projects with the Pentagon. Hawley asked the panel if he understood the situation correctly and that the men were saying, “that Google, an American company, supposedly, is refusing to work with the Department of Defense, but is doing work with China, in China, in a way that at least indirectly benefits the Chinese government.”
General Dunford is the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff.
Google has many government projects, a big office near a Metro stop, and a modest lobbying team. Nevertheless, “brass” seems to suggest that our beloved Google is not interested in working on behalf of the US. I wonder if the same could be said of Baidu, Huawei, or ZTE efforts on behalf of the Chinese government?
General Dunford is quoted as saying:
You know, senator, I’m nodding my head on exactly the point that you made: that the work that Google is doing in China is indirectly benefitting the Chinese military. And I’ve been very public on this issue as well; in fact, the way I described it to our industry partners is, ‘look we’re the good guys in the values that we represent and the system that we represent is the one that will allow and has allowed you to thrive,’ and that’s the way I’ve characterized it. I was just nodding that what the secretary was articulating is the general sense of all of us as leaders. We watch with great concern when industry partners work in China knowing there is that indirect benefit, and frankly ‘indirect’ may be not a full characterization of the way it really is. It’s more of a direct benefit to the Chinese military.
Google’s position is:
As an American company, we cherish the values and freedoms that have allowed us to grow and serve so many users. I am proud to say we do work, and we will continue to work, with the government to keep our country safe and secure.
Gizmodo’s interpretation of the baffling comments may be nestled in this paragraph:
But Dunford sent a striking message to any tech companies that might consider getting involved with the DoD in the future: If you get in bed with us and you decide you want to break it off, you might be called a traitor.
I don’t know anything about General Dunford. I know nothing about Google’s current work for the US government. However, I have heard comments from my acquaintances to the effect:
If it walks like a duck, looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck. It is a duck.
Stephen E Arnold, March 15, 2019
When the Best and the Brightest Tech Stars Fail
March 15, 2019
Two outages. Two explanations.
Google’s March 12, 2019, outage was explained this way at Google Cloud Status Dashboard.
On Monday 11 March 2019, Google SREs were alerted to a significant increase in storage resources for metadata used by the internal blob service. On Tuesday 12 March, to reduce resource usage, SREs made a configuration change which had a side effect of overloading a key part of the system for looking up the location of blob data. The increased load eventually lead to a cascading failure.
I like the phrase “cascading failure.” Sounds inevitable.
Facebook’s explanation of its one day plus outage appeared in “Biggest Facebook Outage in its History Due to Database Issues.” The explanation was:
The company’s databases were “overloaded.”
Concentration, just like in the mainframe days, can create some challenges for those downstream. If the big outfits cannot deal with failure, I don’t feel bad when my Android phone complains it cannot connect to the Google Play store where malware may still live.
Stephen E Arnold, March 15, 2019
Amazonia, March 11, 2019
March 11, 2019
Chug chug chug goes the Bezos bulldozer.
Pop Ups Go Flat
Amazon said that it will shutter 87 of its pop up stores. Source: CNBC
All Hail, Annapurna
Amazon’s AWS success is a result of an acquisition. Forbes makes the complex simple. “How an Acquisition Made by Amazon in 2016 Became the Company’s Secret Sauce.” The “sauce” is Infrastructure as a Service or IaaS. The idea is managing hardware via meta-software. The idea is to knit together diverse entities and customer chips so one can manage services more efficiently.
Going to War for JEDI
The JEDI deal has been chugging along for … too long. Amazon, according to Bloomberg, is becoming more aggressive in an old fashioned way. “Amazon Is Flooding DC with Money and Muscle: the Influence Game” reports that
Federal records show that Amazon.com Inc. lobbied more government entities than any other tech company in 2018 and sought to exert its influence over more issues than any of its tech peers except Alphabet Inc.’s Google. Last year, Amazon spent $14.2 million on lobbying, a record for the company, up from its previous high mark of $12.8 million in 2017. The $77 million that the nine tech companies in the charts below spent in 2018 to lobby Washington looks minuscule next to the $280 million spent by pharmaceutical and health-care products companies. Tech has, however, pulled ahead of the $64 million that commercial banks spent—and Amazon in particular has a cachet that allows it to punch above its weight at times. Of the nine, only the $21 million Google spent on lobbying beat Amazon’s total. Since 2012, Amazon has ramped up spending by more than 460 percent—much faster than its rivals.
Surfacing Amazon Partners Is a Little Easier
Amazon appears to be baby steps to make its partner network more visible. For some reasons, Amazon partners were not too eager to talk about their activities with the online bookstore. “Amazon Debuts AWS Digital CS Competency” includes a partial list of partners; for example, this list, edited for clarity:
Content Management: Acquia, Brightspot, Censhare, Cloudinary, Contentful, Crownpeak, Pagely, Solodev, WP Engine
Marketing Automation: Braze, HubSpot, Localytics, MoEngage, SendGrid, Sigstr, Vidyard
Digital Commerce: Magento, Skava
Customer 360: Adverity, Amplitude, Chartio, Content Square, InsideView, Looker, Manthan, Segment, Tealium, Tickr, Upshot.AI
Consulting Partners: Bulletproof, CloudHesive, G-AsiaPacific, Infosys, Megazone, Metal Toad, Mobiquity, Silver Lining, Vector IT Group.
Complete? No.
AWS Fees: Lyft Version
We noted this fact in CNBC’s headline: “Lyft Plans to Spend $300 Million on Amazon Web Services through 2021.” What’s this buy? The report included this quote from an Amazon professional:
Lyft “is leveraging the breadth and depth of AWS’s services, including database, serverless, machine learning, and analytics, to automate and enhance on-demand, multimodal transportation for riders and drive innovation in its autonomous vehicles business.”
DarkCyber understands that Uber also uses AWS.
AWS Fees: Controlling Costs
AWS makes cloud services easy. That is the viewpoint of some. However, there are nooks and crannies in which services hide or cower. Some of these are overlooked but continue to generate billing. “How to Reduce the Cost of Your Amazon EC2 Service” explains that one has to manage Amazon. The write up explains that significant charges can be accrued from EBS volumes, Elastic IP Addresses, and Snapshots. Who’s on top of these stealthy costs? A Microsoft MVP.
Comparing Cloud Services
Consultants charge big bucks for comparisons with some facts about cloud services. “Comparing Serverless Architecture Providers: AWS, Azure, Google, IBM, and Other FaaS Vendors” offers some information on an ad supported Web site featuring an ad for Microsoft Azure. The comparison is more of a two or three sentence statement of what each vendor asserts. There is a pricing comparison of FaaS offerings, but these may not fit most use cases.
Helpful? Somewhat. Readable? Nope.
N2WS does offer some cost optimization tools. More information appears in “N2WS Expands Cost Optimization for Amazon Web Services with Amazon EC2 Resource Scheduling.”
Penetration Testing Amazon Gets Easier
Is Amazon confident, or is Amazon quietly hoping its security gaps will be discovered and reported more quickly? We learned in “Amazon Web Services Will No Longer Require Security Pros Running Penetration Tests on Their Cloud-Based Apps to Get Permission First.” As cloud services like Amazon and Azure gather more customers, their systems are likely to become increasingly attractive targets.
Amazon Emits Pollution
Not a surprise. CNBC reported “Jeff Bezos Is Finally Ending Secrecy over Amazon’s Role in Carbon Emissions.” DarkCyber noted this statement from the article:
Amazon recently announced its Shipment Zero goal under which the company aims to have 50 percent of all deliveries reach net zero carbon emissions by 2030.
Amazon has been less forthcoming than some other big shippers, according to the write up.
Ignored News? Bezos Considered Buying AMI
DarkCyber is not sure if this is accurate, but capturing the headline and the link seems appropriate. The story “Jeff Bezos Considered Buying the National Enquirer’s Parent Company After Photo Leak” appeared in Town and Country Magazine. Interesting.
Stephen E Arnold, March 11, 2019
Factualities for March 6, 2019
March 6, 2019
Believe the data or not. We believe everything we read on the Internet, including the ads, Facebook PR, and statements from any online source that presents information. That’s the way it should be.
1,600. The amount of horsepower in the Koenigsegg Jesko. Source: CNet
1,600. Number of Teslas held in Chinese customs. Sources: Caixing Global
28 days. The average life of a scooter in Louisville, Kentucky. The interval is almost as long as Google’s commitment to high speed Internet in the city. Source: Oversharing
36. The number of months Moldovan developers reported flows of misinformation and fake news to Facebook. Facebook took action in February 2019. Source: Buzzfeed
23 million. Number of times Chinese nationals with a low social credit (social behavior) score were stopped from buying train or airplane tickets. Source: AP
40 percent. Number of artificial intelligence start ups in Europe which are not involved in AI. Source: The Inquirer
45 percent. The percentage of Americans who have had a brother or sister, parent, spouse or child spend time in jail or prison. Source: Cornell University
32 billion. Number of “compromised credentials” in the SpyCloud database. Source: Venture Beat
18 percent. Percentage of minors in Facebook’s for-pay monitoring service. Source: TechCrunch
$23 million. Incentives to be paid to Amazon has to take “a certain amount” of office space in the once thriving Crystal City complex. Source: Washington Post
43. The number of patents Apple was granted on January 1, 2019. Source: Patently Apple
70,000. Number of Chromecasts seized by hackers to promote PewDiePie. Source: Android Authority
Stephen E Arnold, March 6, 2019
Amazonia for March 4, 2019
March 4, 2019
Amazon continues to chug along. Perhaps the most surprising announcement from the Bezos brigade was an initiative to expand in the grocery sector. The Wall Street Journal lurks behind a paywall erected by nice people at NICE. The announcement came when Kroger, one of the large chains, revealed that it was cutting back on accepting Visa cards. Amazon does accept Visa cards and may be targeting Kroger-type outfits with its new initiative.
Other Amazonia included:
The Dash Trashed
Dash buttons are no more. Source: ZDNet
Cutting Delivery Costs
Get your Amazon deliveries on your “Amazon day.” Sounds good. But how costly is it for Amazon to send trucks to the same house twice, maybe three times a day? Amazon won’t say, but just take the cost of a one time delivery and multiple by two or three. The multiple has to be trimmed. Bundle up the deliveries and send one truck once a week. Is this a small step toward the fare thee well to next day, two day, and three day delivery for some Amazon customers? The Prime marketing angle is interesting, but there is a “green” slant as well. Fewer deliveries to the same house becomes an ecological decision, not just a convenience decision. You can learn more about the start of a mechanism for weaning customers who marvel at rapid delivery in “Amazon Sets Up Program for Weekly Scheduled Deliveries.”
Size of AWS
Andy Jassy, the CEO of Amazon Web Services revealed that the online bookstore is on target to generate $30 billion from its cloud business. Google and Microsoft covet this revenue scale. There are wannabes like HP, IBM, and Oracle who want to fly into the clouds as well. Source: CNBC
Amazon Translate
Amazon offers machine translation which complements Amazon Comprehend. To use these tools you will need knowledge of Kotlin, a cross platform programming language. Kotlin plays nice with Java. For the details about Amazon Translate, you will find the Translate API documentation the place to begin. Why’s this important? Understanding of Amazon’s tools for its policeware initiative may be useful.
Textbook Creator Subsumed into Kindle Create
Plan on writing a text book in order to make millions? If you are, you will be using Kindle Create, not Kindle Textbook Creator. Digital Reader provides some detail.
Fake Branded Products? Yes, Yes, Yes
Quartz reported that Amazon “has finally admitt3ed to investor that it has a counterfeit problem.” The online information service does not provide much information about why this problem has grown, nor why the issue exists at the world’s largest online bookstore. Amazon measures to prevent counterfeit goods are not working.
Amazon Shipping
Amazon’s unfortunate delivery malfunction is not likely to slow the firm’s push into the land of FedEx. Stamps.com’s CEO agrees. Amazon’s shipping business is likely to be a factor going forward. Stamps.com will partner with Amazon to ship packages. “Aggressive pricing” is likely to be the mechanism to take market share from the likes of FedEx and UPS. Source: The Motley Fool
Sprint Embraces Amazon for Internet of Things Play
The title of the story announcing this deal was “Amazon Web Services to Integrate Its Cloud Services with Sprint’s Curiosity IoT Platform to Bring Actionable Intelligence to the Network Edge.” The buzzword undergrowth is dense. The message is Sprint will run its IoT services on AWS. The article stated:
AWS storage and IoT services will now be integrated with Sprint’s distributed and virtualized IoT core network to provide enterprise customers with optimized traffic routing, processing, and storage of IoT data. Leveraging the AWS cloud and the Curiosity IoT native LTE core, enterprises can now process IoT data locally, distribute IoT applications, and forward data to the cloud to run analytics and get insights to make better and more accurate decisions for IoT applications and machine learning use cases.
Partners Make Announcements
Amazon continues to expand its partnering related offerings. Among the partners making announcements last week were:
- D3 Banking platform now on AWS. Source: Yahoo Finance. Note: Yahoo links go dead so be prepared.
- Infinitive is now an AWS consulting partner. Source: Business Journals
- RedHat (IBM) offers Kubernetes registry. Source: BetaNews
- Ribbon and its Session Border Control service. Source: Yahoo Finance. Note: Yahoo links go dead so be prepared.
- Symantec security integration. Source SDxCentral
- TribalScale is an AWS partner. Source: MarketWatch
- Univa HPC offers cloud solutions on AWS. Source: HPCwire
- Working Group Two offers cloud managed mobile service on AWS. Source: Yahoo Finance. Note: Yahoo links go dead so be prepared.
- Zadara storage. Source: Virtualization Review
SIM Swapping: Trust Google?
March 2, 2019
Anyone holding crypto currency should be aware by now of SIM swapping, a hacking technique that involves tricking telecom companies into redirecting the victim’s phone number to the attacker’s device. Now, The Next Web tells us, “Google’s Head of Account Security Has Fix for Crypto currency SIM-Swapping.” Note that the fix involves a physical device, not just a download. Writer David Canellis explains:
“An overt reliance on SMS-based two-factor authentication (2FA) systems has only compounded the problem. While these are regarded as an upgrade to traditional verification methods like usernames and passwords, SMS-based 2FA presents cybercriminals with a clear attack vector. If hackers can take control of a phone number, it would be them who receive the special codes, allowing instant access to sensitive information.
We also noted:
“Google is one of many tech giants to present a solution. It released its Titan Keys last August, a $50 set of hardware devices that cryptographically ties particular devices to accounts, effectively keeping anyone without a registered device at bay. Users connect the Key to a device, such as a laptop or a smartphone, and sign into the account they wish to protect. This can be done via USB, NFC, or Bluetooth. A button then is pressed on the Key which will cryptographically register the device to a user account. It’s not exactly necessary to carry around the Keys, but users will need to have at least one handy to sign in. Purchasers of Titan Keys can also enroll in Google’s Advanced Protection Platform, which provides a supplementary bundle of security measures.”
Canellis notes that crypto currency makes for a tempting target. While typical attacks net hackers a fraction of a cent per victim, a bad actor can make thousands of dollars from one successful attack. The Titan Keys work because they cut out the telecoms—there is no one for hackers to bamboozle. Navigate to the source article for more information on the device and how it works. Canellis observes what could be taken as a warning—today’s world of online banking and mobile apps makes for a less secure banking environment than we older folks grew up with.
Whom do we trust? Google? Another third party?
Cynthia Murrell, March 2, 2019
Has Search Evolved or Is It Spinning in Circles?
February 28, 2019
We have long been frustrated that search technology has changed into “we will tell you what you need to know.” Search is asking. Providing answers based on behavior is manipulation or a digital version of “mother knows best.”
Smart software or “AI” technology may fundamentally change how we find information online. Forbes asks, “Might AI Spell the Death of Search?” Writer Michael Ashley observes:
“‘This is the first time since 1994 when the search paradigm has changed,’ says David Seuss, CEO of Northern Light, a Boston-based strategic research portal provider I consult with that offers a cloud-based SaaS to global enterprises. ‘In 1994, you went to a search box, filled in a query, hit the search button, and received a list of documents. You manually reviewed these, picking the most relevant item to download. Fast forward to 2019 and it’s still the same thing. Find me one other part of the tech landscape that has not changed since the ’90s, whether it be broadband, wireless, mobile cloud computing, artificial intelligence—everything has changed. Everything except search.’”
The former consultant is doing consultant type thinking. There is a problem, and the consultant can ride to the rescue. A digital Lone Ranger can kill the useless system outputs. Well, that’s the story line.
Seuss claims it is Millennials that are pushing for change. Older users were just so happy to search from their desks instead of in the library stacks, he posits, that most of them remain satisfied with 90s-style online search.
The younger generation, though, find manually reviewing search results inefficient, and they recognize that a lot of good information tends to get buried later in the search results—especially as paid listings claim the top spots. Ashley writes:
“With the help of A.I., tasks once relegated to flesh and blood researchers can be now accomplished by computers. Drawing on the latter’s pattern-forming and predictive abilities, it can observe users’ actions, discerning their interests based on what they download, share, comment on or bookmark. Informed by this knowledge, an A.I. can proactively—and without manual prompting—recommend relevant content to users. Disrupting the traditional search model to its page ranking core, content can seek out the user instead of the other way around.”
Not surprisingly, the piece cites Northern Light’s platform as an example of the new, AI-powered possibilities: it quickly examines documents relevant to a query and presents a summary of pertinent information. The author ponders a time, close at hand, when the information we need finds us when we need it.
That sounds good, but I wonder—how can one be sure the algorithms are choosing wisely? What’s the old adage about consultants? Keep your hand on your wallet?
Cynthia Murrell, February 28, 2019
Watson Weakly: Recruitment the Smart Way
February 26, 2019
IBM is working overtime to become the cloud alternative to Amazon. IBM Watson is back to recipes, health care, and background noise. IBM, however, knows how to capture the attention of the DarkCyber and Beyond Search team in rural Kentucky.
We noted an article in the Register, an online publication, with the interesting title “IBM So Very, Very Sorry after Jobs Page Casually Asks Hopefuls: Are You White, Black… or Yellow?”
The Register asserts:
IBM has apologized after its recruitment web pages asked applicants whether their ethnicity was, among other options, the racial slurs Yellow and Mulatto.
The article describes the wording as a “baffling error.” My hunch is that either IBM Watson or one of his acolytes consumed outputs with the diligence once expects of millennials and smart software, possibly working in tandem.
An IBM professional is quoted as telling the Register:
“Those questions were removed immediately when we became aware of the issue and we apologize. IBM hiring is based on skills and qualifications. We do not use race or ethnicity in the hiring process and any responses we received to those questions will be deleted. IBM has long rejected all forms of racial discrimination and we are taking appropriate steps to make sure this does not happen again.”
Watson? What about that cancer diagnosis? What about inappropriate questions? What about those old people who used to work in personnel?
Stephen E Arnold, February 26, 2019
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