Amazon: Why Support Blockchain? To Chase IBM? Wrong.
April 30, 2018
In June 2018, I will describe Amazon’s lynch pin approach to intelligence analysis. The “play” has been ignored or overlooked by those who monitor the next generation information access market. At the Telestrategies ISS conference, I will report the DarkCyber and Beyond Search analysts’ assessment of this important Amazon service. The audience for the Telestrategies ISS programs are law enforcement and intelligence professionals. We have developed a for fee webinar which provides details of the Amazon “swing for the fences” approach to a number of intelligence-related services. Personally I was surprised by the audaciousness of the Amazon approach.
In this context, I noted a report in “Amazon’s New Blockchain Service Could Hurt IBM” which misses the main point of the Amazon “invention.” Yes, there is a patent as well as publicly accessible data about this data management play.
The write up explains that Amazon is offering BaaS or Blockchain as a Service. The spin in the write up is the threat which Amazon poses to IBM. From my analysts’ viewpoint, this is just a tiny piece of a much larger story.
What if Amazon is interested in a far larger market than one envisioned by IBM with its arm waving?
Assessing Amazon’s “invention” on the basis of this type of data might be misleading:
Amazon’s decision to launch both the Ethereum and Hyperledger Fabric services means that it wants to straddle the public and private cloud markets with its blockchain services. IBM has a firm grasp of the private on-premise cloud market, but AWS has been gaining ground with Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) services, which isolate sections of AWS’ public cloud for private use. The CIA, for example, already uses a “secret region” of AWS to host its classified data. Therefore, deploying Fabric on AWS’ VPCs could counter IBM’s deployment of Fabric on its on-premise private clouds.
Hmm. Quite a mishmash of assertions and services.
For a different point of view, catch my sessions at the Prague Telestrategies ISS program in Prague. If you want the information now, write benkent2020 at yahoo.com and request information about our online webinar. Coincident with my presentation, my team will release a story in Beyond Search, and we will post a brief video highlighting some of the main points of my presentation.
Oh, with regard to IBM, that company hired an Amazon executive to help IBM catch up. That’s more than worry. That’s reaction to a system which has been under construction since 2011. With a seven year head start, big time vendors involved, and contracts in negotiation, IBM has to do more than poach a manager.
Amazon sells books, right?
Stephen E Arnold, April 30, 2018
IBM at Bat with Blockchain
April 25, 2018
What’s the difference between innovation and desperation?
About a month ago, I read “IBM Hit With Massive Age Discrimination Charges, Undermining CEO Rometty.”
According to the story:
“The news once again will raise the question about the tenure of CEO Ginni Rometty, who has presided over the demise of IBM. The company has suffered quarter after quarter of falling revenue. She has tried unsuccessfully to make IBM a leader in cloud computing. In the meantime, its older software, services and hardware businesses have suffered.”
Is the idea is that old timers are not able to deliver the zip zip ideas that IBM needs? One of the Beyond Search team said at lunch that management has delivered another setback for IBM. A recent story said that as the company aims to positing its enterprise search for the future, it is acting as its own worst enemy in the planning stages.
I noticed a story this morning which illustrates another home run swing for Big Blue. “Blockchain Gets Real? IBM Advances Projects With Walmart & Others” explains that:
IBM has been working on blockchain technology for about three years, and it officially launched a blockchain business about 16 months ago, Gopinath [a vice president of blockchain solutions and research at IBM] says. About 1,500 IBMers are now working on blockchain products and consulting services, he says. Big Blue has developed a blockchain software platform built on open-source Hyperledger software from the Linux Foundation; IBM also helps clients set up and manage their blockchain systems. Thus far, IBM has worked on 400-plus blockchain projects spanning retail, financial services, healthcare, media, the supply chain, and more.
Watson was supposed to be a revenue game changer at IBM. Now IBM is beating the blockchain drum. Can IBM leverage open source technology to make the company a revenue and earnings engine? Let’s ask Watson. Who’s on first?
Patrick Roland, April 25, 2018
Real Time Translation: Chatbots Emulate Sci Fi
April 16, 2018
The language barrier is still one of the world’s major problems. Translation software, such as Google Translate is accurate, but it still makes mistakes that native speakers are needed to correct. Instantaneous translation is still a pipe dream, but the technology is improving with each new development. Mashable shares a current translation innovation and it belongs to Google: “Google Pixel Buds Vs. Professional Interpreters: Which Is More Accurate?”
Apple angered many devout users when it deleted the headphone jack on phones, instead replacing it with Bluetooth headphones called AirPods. They have the same minimalist sleek design as other Apple products, but Google’s Pixel Buds are far superior to them because of real time translation or so we are led to believe. Author Raymond Wong tested the Pixel Buds translation features at the United Nations to see how they faired against professional translators. He and his team tested French, Arabic, and Russian. The Pixel Buds did well with simple conversations, but certain words and phrases caused errors.
One hilarious example was when Google translated the Arabic for, “I want to eat salad” to “I want to eat power” in English. When it comes to real time translation, the experts are still the best because they can understand the context and other intricacies, such as tone, that comes with human language. The professional translators liked the technology, but it still needs work:
“Ayad and Ivanova both agreed that Pixel Buds and Google Translate are convenient technologies, but there’s still the friction of holding out a Pixel phone for the other person to talk into. And despite the Pixel Buds’ somewhat speedy translations, they both said it doesn’t compare to a professional conference interpreters, who can translate at least five times faster Google’s cloud.”
Keep working on those foreign language majors kids. Marketing noses in front of products that deliver in my view.
Whitney Grace, April 17, 2018
Leadership: The Google Way
April 14, 2018
Lead, follow, or get out of the way. Nope. Lead by keeping a low profile and tackling “projects” in a stealthy manner.
That’s how I interpreted the information in “Google is Pursuing the Pentagon’s Giant Cloud Contract Quietly, Fearing An Employee Revolt.” The write up states:
The Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI, program has since morphed into a single contract potentially worth $10 billion over a decade, to be awarded by year’s end…. Google has kept its own interest in the contract out of the press. Company leaders have even hidden the pursuit from its own workers.
Interesting Math Club / Silicon bro management method. Lead, follow, or get out of the way. Oh, don’t sign petitions asking your boss to turn down major military contracts. Trust is important in leadership.
Stephen E Arnold, April 14, 2018
IBM: Can It Revivify Itself?
April 9, 2018
IBM has been struggling to keep up in a fight with Microsoft, Amazon, Google and other tech giants more suited for twenty-first century commerce. Another bold move by the company recently got it into a ton of hot water, as we discovered from a recent 24/7 Wall Street story, “IBM Hit With Massive Age Discrimination Charges, Undermining CEO Rometty.”
According to the story:
“The news once again will raise the question about the tenure of CEO Ginni Rometty, who has presided over the demise of IBM. The company has suffered quarter after quarter of falling revenue. She has tried unsuccessfully to make IBM a leader in cloud computing. In the meantime, its older software, services and hardware businesses have suffered.”
This is a major setback for IBM atop some other unsavory setbacks. A recent story said that as the company aims to positing its enterprise search for the future, it is acting as its own worst enemy in the planning stages. That seems to be the case we see over and over with IBM, they can’t seem to get out of their own way with this disgraceful age discrimination case or with the general day-to-day, it does not seem unlikely that the behemoth will someday get absorbed into a larger competitor. But who remains a question.
Perhaps IBM can pose that question to Watson? Well, maybe not?
CyberOSINT: Next Generation Information Access Explains the Tech Behind the Facebook, GSR, Cambridge Analytica Matter
April 5, 2018
In 2015, I published CyberOSINT: Next Generation Information Access. This is a quick reminder that the profiles of the vendors who have created software systems and tools for law enforcement and intelligence professionals remains timely.
The 200 page book provides examples, screenshots, and explanations of the tools which are available to analyze social media information. The book is the most comprehensive run down of the open source, commercial, and cloud based systems which can make sense of social media data, lawful intercept data, and general text and imagery content.
Companies described in this collection of “tools” include:
- Cyveillance (now LookingGlass)
- Decisive Analytics
- IBM i2 (Analysts Notebook)
- Geofeedia
- Leidos
- Palantir Gotham
- and more than a dozen developers of commercial and open source, high impact cyberOSINT tool vendors.
The book is available for $49. Additional information is available on my Xenky.com Web site. You can buy the PDF book online at this link gum.co/cyberosint.
Get the CyberOSINT monograph. It’s the standard reference for practical and effective analysis, text analytics, and next generation solutions.
Stephen E Arnold, April 5, 2018
The AI Spy Who Photographed Me
March 29, 2018
Artificial intelligence is one of the of the tools that law enforcement is using to thwart potential terrorist attacks and other illegal activities. Applications use AI to run data analysis, scan the Dark Web, and monitor identity theft. One major use for AI is image analysis and facial recognition. IEEE Spectrum takes a look at how there is a huge demand for more accurate image AI, “Wanted: AI That Can Spy.” While fear over spy satellites is not much a plot point anymore, the US has hundreds of satellites orbiting the planet capturing photographic data. Humans are only capable of observing so many photographic data and the US government has FOMO “fear of missing out” on something important.
US intelligence officials sponsored an AI challenge to identify objects of interest in satellite images. The entire goal is to improve AI standards and capabilities:
Since July, competitors have trained machine-learning algorithms on one of the world’s largest publicly available data sets of satellite imagery—containing 1 million labeled objects, such as buildings and facilities. The data is provided by the U.S. Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA). The 10 finalists will see their AI algorithms scored against a hidden data set of satellite imagery when the challenge closes at the end of December.
The agency’s goal in sponsoring the Functional Map of the World Challenge aligns with statements made by Robert Cardillo, director of the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, who has pushed for AI solutions that can automate 75 percent of the workload currently performed by humans analyzing satellite images.
Lockheed research scientist Mark Pritt guessed that the US government wants to automatically generate maps, instead of relying on manual labor. Pritt’s Lockheed team is one of the many teams competing for the $100,000 prize to develop the best deep-learning algorithm that can recognize specific patterns and identify objects of interest in satellite images. Satellite images are more complex than other images because they are shot from multiple angles, cloud coverage is a problem, and a variety of resolutions.
Even if a deep-learning algorithm was developed it would not be enough, because the algorithm lacks the ability for refinement. Think sentimental analysis, except with images. The perfect solution for the moment is a combination of AI and human interaction. The AI does the bulk of the work, while humans examine flagged photos for further investigation.
Whitney Grace, March 29, 2018
Munich Migrates To Windows 10
March 28, 2018
Despite the superiority of other operating systems, Microsoft Windows still tops the list as a popular office enterprise tool. Windows PCs have easy user interfaces, applications for easy management, and are understood at a near universal level. It does not come as a surprise when Munich, Germany decided to implement a change to Windows 10, says Silicon: “Munich Approves 49.3 million Euro Windows 10 Migration Plan.”
Munich’s city council decided to spend over 50 million euros to migrate their computer system to Microsoft Windows 10. This is the first major overhaul the city council has had since 2004 when they implemented a Linux desktop program. Linux is the open source software of choice and the city council decided to use it to reduce their dependency on Microsoft.
The “LiMux” programme saw a customised version of Ubuntu Linux rolled out to about 14,800 of the city’s 29,000 users and LibreOffice used by more than 15,000, in a bid to reduce the government’s dependence upon Microsoft. In 2012 then-mayor Christian Ude said LiMux had saved Munich more than €4m in licensing costs. The rollout was completed in 2013, nearly 10 years after it began, but a political shift the following year saw leadership turn in favour of a return to Windows.
The transition back to Microsoft comes with a change in the city council’s leadership. Dieter Reiter pushed fo have Microsoft license and he won. The Microsoft Windows transition cost of over 49 million euros is only part of the 89 million euro IT overhaul that is in progress. The IT overhaul also includes retraining and testing staff.
The Munich city council will not be migrating to Microsoft Office, which would incur an even higher price tag. Munich will instead continue to use LibreOffice, because of the staff’s familiarity and the custom templates. The city council also hopes to implement cloud application usage.
As with anything related to politics, opposing parties are critical of the return to Microsoft and say it wastes money. Nothing new on that end and it only points to more organizational problems than a simple OS.
Whitney Grace, March 28, 2018
DarkCyber for March 20, 2018 Now Available
March 20, 2018
DarkCyber, the weekly video news program about the Dark Web, is available at www.arnoldit.com/wordpress and at www.vimeo.com/260619679. Produced by Stephen E Arnold and Beyond Search, DarkCyber covers software, systems, and applications.
DarkCyber reveals the alleged connections between Tor and the US government, why “baby data” are for sale on the Dark Web, the DarkMatter cyber intelligence firm’s capabilities and its Katim secure mobile phone, and how inmates at a Federal penitentiary ran a pornography business via mobile phones from their cells.
The featured story is a profile of DarkMatter is a company based in the United Arab Emirates. The firm is hiring specialists in a number of cyber related disciplines. The company’s capabilities span a wide range of services. The firm’s Web site suggests that the company has technology to intercept, modify, and divert traffic on IP and mobile networks. DarkMatter also sells a secure mobile phone named Katim. DarkMatter’s growth and its intelligence services make clear the technical capabilities available to customers in the Middle East and other parts of the world.
Journalist Yasha Levine made available documents about the relationship between the Tor Project and the US Central Intelligence Agency. Levine is the author of ’Surveillance Valley” published in 2018. The documents span many years and comprise a collection of more than 2,000 emails and other writings. Dark Cyber notes the relationship between among Tor, its Broadcasting Board of Governors, and the US government. The DarkCyber report includes the link to the document collection.
Personal financial information is offered for sale on the Surface Web and the Dark Web. Stephen E Arnold reports that a Baltimore based Dark Web specialist has located ’baby data’ for sale on the Dark Web. The newborns are a blank slate. With a baby’s identity, a bad actor can create obtain an income tax deduction or use the “clean identity” to set up bank accounts.
DarkCyber also reviews the eCommerce business operated by inmates at a US Federal Correctional Institution in New Jersey. Inmates were accessing the Dark Web and selling pornography business from their cells. The data were obtained via mobile phones. The content was distributed on memory cards and via the cloud.
The weekly video about the Dark Web and lesser known Internet services is available at www.arnoldit.com/wordpress.
Kenny Toth, March 20, 2018
Big Data and Smart Software: A Volatile Mixture?
March 19, 2018
For several years big data and artificial intelligence have been running on parallel tracks. Once in a while they cross over, but mostly they kept independent of one another. But that is poised to change, as we saw from a recent press release from Lucidworks, “Lucidworks Launches Fusion 4 With Operationalized AI and Portable Applications.”
According to the piece, their AI and big data are coming together because:
“Our customers are global organizations who demand a reactive and flexible platform that lets them adapt to hybrid run-time environments including on premise, private cloud, and public cloud infrastructures. With Fusion 4, we’ve brought that portability to application development so customers can create and run apps that best fit their security and operational constraints.”
This is picking up steam in a major way. Multiple companies are offering mashups of big data and AI and the results run the gamut. Forbes recently ran a list of 30 free sources for such tools. Not only are they becoming more available, there is a lot of evidence that this combo is disrupting the normal patterns of business and life. Expect more from this pairing because our world is waiting for a new explosion of AI and data.
Beyond Search wants to point out that the use of data from services like Facebook by third parties can have unexpected consequences. Those facilitating volatile compounds may find themselves walking a knife edge. Will that “work”?
Patrick Roland, March 19, 2018
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