HonkinNews for 1 August 2017 Now Available
August 1, 2017
HonkinNews noticed that minions beat the Kentucky heat by ice skating. We have a picture to document the event. A Chinese company wants to create a clone of Palantir Technologies. The technology involved includes five star ring technology plus transwarp. Beam it aboard, Scotty. Google released the results of its study of ad fraud. The surprising conclusion? Yes, there is online ad fraud. The Beyond Search goose was surprised. The program includes an update about the TechnoSecurity & Digital Forensics Conference plus a code for a 30 percent discount. Amazon’s super secret health care initiative may deliver telemedicince and a free banana to a patient’s bedside. Smartlogic announced a new semantic server and described it with a flurry of jargon. Machine learning and artificial intelligence seemed to have missed the cut. You can download this week’s video at this link.
Ken Toth, August 1, 2017.
ArnoldIT Publishes Technical Analysis of the Bitext Deep Linguistic Analysis Platform
July 19, 2017
ArnoldIT has published “Bitext: Breakthrough Technology for Multi-Language Content Analysis.” The analysis provides the first comprehensive review of the Madrid-based company’s Deep Linguistic Analysis Platform or DLAP. Unlike most next-generation multi-language text processing methods, Bitext has crafted a platform. The document can be downloaded from the Bitext Web site via this link.
Based on information gathered by the study team, the Bitext DLAP system outputs metadata with an accuracy in the 90 percent to 95 percent range.
Most content processing systems today typically deliver metadata and rich indexing with accuracy in the 70 to 85 percent range.
According to Stephen E Arnold, publisher of Beyond Search and Managing Director of Arnold Information Technology:
“Bitext’s output accuracy establish a new benchmark for companies offering multi-language content processing system.”
The system performs in near real time, more than 15 discrete analytic processes. The system can output enhanced metadata for more than 50 languages. The structured stream provides machine learning systems with a low cost, highly accurate way to learn. Bitext’s DLAP platform integrates more than 30 separate syntactic functions. These include segmentation, tokenization (word segmentation, frequency, and disambiguation, among others. The DLAP platform analyzes more than 15 linguistic features of content in any of the more than 50 supported languages. The system extracts entities and generates high-value data about documents, emails, social media posts, Web pages, and structured and semi-structured data.
DLAP Applications range from fraud detection to identifying nuances in streams of data; for example, the sentiment or emotion expressed in a document. Bitext’s system can output metadata and other information about processed content as a feed stream to specialized systems such as Palantir Technologies’ Gotham or IBM’s Analyst’s Notebook. Machine learning systems such as those operated by such companies as Amazon, Apple, Google, and Microsoft can “snap in” the Bitext DLAP platform.
Copies of the report are available directly from Bitext at https://info.bitext.com/multi-language-content-analysis Information about Bitext is available at www.bitext.com.
Kenny Toth, July 19, 2017
Darktrace Delivers Two Summer Sizzlers
July 17, 2017
Darktrace offers an enterprise immune system called Antigena. Based on the information gathered in the writing of the “Dark Web Notebook,” the system has a number of quite useful functions. The company’s remarkable technology can perform real time, in depth analyses of an insider’s online activities. Despite the summer downturn which sucks in many organizations, Darktrace has been active. First, the company secured an additional round of investment. This one is in the $75 million range. This brings the funding of the company to the neighborhood of $170 million, according to Crunchbase.
Details about the deal appear in this Outlook Series write up. I noted this statement:
The cyber security firm has raised a $75 million Series D financing round led by Insight Venture Partners, with participation from existing investors Summit Partners, KKR and TenEleven Ventures.
On another front, Darktrace has entered into a partnership with CITIC. This outfit plans to bring “next-generation cyber defense to businesses across Asia Pacific.” Not familiar with CITIC? You might want to refresh your memory bank. Beyond Search believes that this tie up may open the China market for Darktrace. If it does, Darktrace is likely to emerge as one of the top two or three cyber security firms in the world before the autumn leaves begin to fall.
Here in Harrod’s Creek we think about the promise of Darktrace against a background of erratic financial performance from Hewlett Packard. As you may recall, one of the spark plugs for Darktrace is Dr. Michael Lynch, the founder of Autonomy. HP bought Autonomy and found that its management culture was an antigen to its $11 billion investment. It is possible to search far and wide for an HP initiative which has delivered the type of financial lift that Darktrace has experienced.
Information about Darktrace is at www.darktrace.com. A profile about this company appears in the Dark Web Notebook in the company of IBM Analyst’s Notebook, Google/In-Q-Tel Recorded Future, and Palantir Technologies Gotham. You can get these profile at this link: https://gum.co/darkweb.
Stephen E Arnold, July 17, 2107
Bros Say They Are Sorry: Search Bros Exempted, Of Course
July 5, 2017
The bro-haha over Silicon Valley type males getting frisky are everywhere. Quite a surprise. Who would have thought that testosterone charged MBAs would take a proprietary approach to their interactions with people?
But where are the entrepreneurs who created the wild and wonderful world of search-and-retrieval thrills and chills. The only company which I recall as slightly frisky are the late and much missed outfits. Will I name them? No, gentle reader, alas. I am retired, and I am happy with my present status in life; to wit, a wooden shack in rural Kentucky.
The right shoes help make the “right” impression and allow a quick sprint if warranted.
I am happy to read blog posts from Uber expatriates, the revelations of the New York Times (an outfit which managed to overlook this “story” for decades), and the me culpa from former venture capitalists. Want sources? you ask. Well, here are a few to peruse:
- I’m a Creep. I’m Sorry.
- Reflecting On One Very, Very Strange Year At Uber
- Women in Tech Speak Frankly on Culture of Harassment
Are there other signs of “bro” culture? Sure, I have a handful in my memory bank. Some examples:
- The idea that one does not ask for permission. One just apologizes and moves on. Guess which company uses this method: [a] Amazon, [b] Facebook, [c] Google. [d] Palantir Technologies
- The idea that one can do end runs around established procurement procedures: [a] Amazon, [b] Facebook, [c] Google. [d] Palantir Technologies
- The idea that one can take a database management system and pitch it as a slicing and dicing machine which can “create” content from old information: [a] Hadoop, [b] IBM. [c] MarkLogic. [d] Oracle, [e] two of the previous choices
- The idea that customers and licensees are stupid: [a] Every company located between San Francisco and Fremont, [b] anyone not working at a company in Silicon Valley, [c] anyone not working for one of the big name companies located in Mountain View, [d] anyone older than 25
- The idea that laws and ethical behavior are for “other people”: [a] Anyone with a degree from Stanford, CMU, or MIT with an MBA, [b] Anyone with a degree from Stanford, CMU, or MIT with a law degree, [c] A person referred by a senior executive who has passed the “unwritten test” for certified, organic brain power, [d] your roommate.
Harrod’s Creek is also a hot bed of corruption, but our deals usually involve moonshine, questionable real estate deals, and the provision of lap dancers for athletes. I am encouraged. Silicon Valley has much to teach us here in rural Kentucky.
Stephen E Arnold, July 5, 2017
HonkinNews for 4 July 2017 Now Available
July 4, 2017
Bang, boom, sizzle. The Fourth of July HonkinNews reports that Palantir may be igniting an investor frenzy. We report that one real publishing outfit believes Google has be be more organized. But HonkinNews thinks that innovation is a bigger challenge to the online advertising giant. Is Google’s Area 120 going to share its sleep pods with Googlers from Area 51. We report that Facebook has what we think are censorship rules. Who is favored by these precepts? Hint: It is not native Americans. IBM Watson and IBM artificial intelligence are reevaluated by MIT’s Technology Review. Surprise! The Technology Review folks are now wondering if Watson is a marketing confection. HonkinNews reveals the “truth,” if there is such a thing in out fact-filled world. HonkinNews explains that the former Yahooligan Marissa Mayer may try to give Uber a “lyft.” Surprised at the idea. So was the Beyond Search goose. You can view the program at this link.
Kenny Toth, July 4, 2017
HonkinNews for 20 June 2017 Now Available
June 20, 2017
HonkinNews reminds everyone that success may be measured in the size of one’s golden parachute. We report that Yahoot (sorry, I meant, Yahoo) is now Oath with a colon. As we ponder the end of Yahoot, we mention that Yahoot’s former president is leaving the company in a cloud of purple haze with about $250 million. Yahoooo. The Dark Web presentations at the TechnoSecurity & Digital Forensics Conference seemed to be a hit. The two public lectures attracted 310 people. The special hands on session was sold out. We report that the launch of Dark Web Notebook (available at gum.com/darkweb) caught some attendees’ attention as well. This week’s program has the details. Concerned that your Big Data or content processing system is an error-generation machine? The solution is editorial controls before one starts crunching. HonkinNews reveals that using the term “data governance” is no substitute for management and planning ahead. What about Palantir? Watch this week’s program to learn that Palantir, once an outsider for some government work, is now an insider. You can find this week’s program at this link.
Kenny Toth, June 20, 2017
HonkinNews for 23 May 2017 Now Available
May 23, 2017
HonkinNews reports that summer has arrived in rural Kentucky. Ah, bourbon and mosquitoes. In this week’s HonkinNews, you will learn about Bitvore, an enterprise search company which focuses on financial markets. You can search news and other data. The company seems to be channeling Palantir but uses a patented three dimensional data structure. IBM apparently conducted research which proves that India (yep, the nation with 1.2 billion non-innovative people) is—wait for it—not innovative. IBM does understand one India-originated innovation: The number zero. IBM has reported 20 consecutive quarters of zero revenue growth. Ah, IBM. Ever innovative. Google made some waves in the goose pond behind the Beyond Search shed too. Google and its Streams data system allegedly help people with kidney diseases. Clever name, Streams. We report that the UK’s National Health Service suspects that Google pumped in data about patients and their visitors. Google will not be vacationing in Russia this year. The country now prohibits Google from restricting competition in Android-based devices. When Google and an advertiser enter into a marriage, that sickness and health stuff does not include the death do us part clause. About.com, a dead Web information service, is still running Adwords after the last rites. Advertising is important. Enjoy this week’s program. You can view the seven minute program at this link.
Bitvore: The AI, Real Time, Custom Report Search Engine
May 16, 2017
Just when I thought information access had slumped quietly through another week, I read in the capitalist tool which you know as Forbes, the content marketing machine, this article:
This AI Search Engine Delivers Tailored Data to Companies in Real Time.
This write up struck me as more interesting than the most recent IBM Watson prime time commercial about smart software for zealous professional basketball fans or Lucidworks’ (really?) acquisition of the interface builder Twigkit. Forbes Magazine’s write up did not point out that the company seems to be channeling Palantir Technologies; for example, Jeff Curie, the president, refers to employees at Bitvorians. Take that, you Hobbits and Palanterians.
A Bitvore 3D data structure.
The AI, real time, custom report search engine is called Bitvore. Here in Harrod’s Creek, we recognized the combination of the computer term “bit” with a syllable from one of our favorite morphemes “vore” as in carnivore or omnivore or the vegan-sensitive herbivore.
Does This Count As Irony?
May 16, 2017
Does this count as irony?
Palantir, who has built its data-analysis business largely on its relationships with government organizations, has a Department of Labor analysis to thank for recent charges of discrimination. No word on whether that Department used Palantir software to “sift through” the reports. Now, Business Insider tells us, “Palantir Will Shell Out $1.7 Million to Settle Claims that It Discriminated Against Asian Engineers.” Writer Julie Bort tells us that, in addition to that payout, Palantir will make job offers to eight unspecified Asians. She also explains:
The issue arose because, as a government contractor, Palantir must report its diversity statistics to the government. The Labor Department sifted through these reports and concluded that even though Palantir received a huge number of qualified Asian applicants for certain roles, it was hiring only small numbers of them. Palantir, being the big data company that it is, did its own sifting and produced a data-filled response that it said refuted the allegations and showed that in some tech titles 25%-38% of its employees were Asians. Apparently, Palantirs protestations weren’t enough on to satisfy government regulators, so the company agreed to settle.
For its part, Palantir insists on their innocence but say they settled in order to put the matter behind them. Bort notes the unusual nature of this case—according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, African-Americans, Latin-Americans, and women are more underrepresented in tech fields than Asians. Is the Department of Labor making it a rule to analyze the hiring patterns of companies required to report diversity statistics? If they are consistent, there should soon be a number of such lawsuits regarding discrimination against other groups. We shall see.
Cynthia Murrell, May 16, 2017
HonkinNews for 2 May 2017 Now Available
May 2, 2017
The HonkinNews show for 2 May 2017 features the Buzzfeed Palantir beatdown. Our intrepid researcher reveals that some Silicon Valley CEOs give talks in order to motivate employees or move the herd in a specific direction. Buzzfeed, however, sees a 2016 Palantir video as another example of Palantir Technologies’ inability to go steady with US government spy agencies. Marissa Mayer caught out attention this week. She will be leaving the Yahoo organization when the savvy Verizon outfit gobbles up an Internet dowager. But don’t feel too bad. The existing Yahooligan will be dragging a bag filled with $187 million.Yahoot! CIO Review’s remarkable analysis of “analytical engines” caught our attention. Not only were the recommendations a bit unusual, but CIO Review recommended a product no longer sold. Yep, that’s analysis analyzing analytical engines at its best. Google is working hard to ferret out hate speech and fake news. Forbes’ Magazine raises a question few wish to consider; specically, are Google’s search results declining in quality. Beyond Search is of the opinion that the more important question is, “Were Google’s search any good when compared with commercial online services’ systems?” Spoiler: Nope. Go with the commercial online databases. Editorial policy is useful in our opinion. You can view the video at this link.
Kenny Toth, May 2, 2017
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