Alacra Pumps Up Its Information Heartbeat
July 24, 2009
Alacra, http://www.alacra.com, a technology company that aggregates content online, is extending its reach into real time information access and dispersal by adding Twitter and social bookmarking functions into Alacra Pulse. The Pulse portal, http://pulse.alacra.com, gathers and sorts investment industry news and blogs from the open web, tags key business events, and presents the information in an easy-to-use format at a single access point. The new features, Tweet This and Share This, assist in distributing information out of Pulse. They are designed to make it easier for users to share and track links to information on the site. Tweet This facilitates Twitter pre-programming, and a one-click integration with StockTwits, an open, community-powered investment idea and information service, gives users access to right-now announcements, tips, and even insider info while dispersing their own news that much faster. The Share This plugin punches right into big social sites like Facebook or business networks like Linked In. It also taps all those bookmark sites like delicious, digg, etc.
By expanding further into social media, Alacra is strengthening its search finger’s grip on the “pulse” of the business world. Real time information is the name of the game, and this dive into immediate feed data is, in our opinion, pushing Alacra a step ahead of similar services offered by Yellowbrix, Connotate, and Relegence. As the Internet moves even further into a dynamic business environment, tools like Alacra Pulse will be even more critical to those who need to be in the know.
Jessica Bratcher, July 24, 2009
SAP: Inspiration or Desperation
July 24, 2009
I received a spam message from my favorite enterprise software vendor to watch. If the spam is any indicator, SAP either has inspiration or desperation at work. The idea of a “hidden stimulus” baffles me. I can, according to the spam, attend a seminar to teach me “strategies and tools to uncover the “hidden” stimulus in your business.” Hmmm. I thought SAP licensed enterprise software. Guess SAP wants prospects to learn about “obamanomics” so these outfits get dough to license SAP. The addled goose thinks 70 percent desperation, 30 percent inspiration.
Stephen Arnold, July 24, 2009
Network World Discovers Vanity Publishing
July 24, 2009
If you don’t know about self-publishing, you will want to read Mark Gibbs’s rundown of online vanity press outfits. The story was called “Net Makes Getting Publisher Easier”. Sorry, I don’t like to put apostrophes as the first word of a headline. Indexing by Web spiders is important and the apostrophe is not content rich. The addled goose’s view is that vanity publishing has been around a long time. The key point not addressed in this write up is marketing. Getting a book written and published is 90 percent of the battle. The deal breaker is marketing. In fact, book and monograph marketing is sufficiently difficult for established firms with legions of underpaid, recent Ivy League graduates. What happens when an online giant (no names, of course) gets into the publishing business AND has its own smart advertising system? Answer: game changes. For me the question is now when an online giant will make that move. I think there is quite a bit of network news and information in this topic, but a run down of a handful of vanity publishers is not the important angle.
Stephen Arnold, July 23, 2009
Google: Discovering the Health Care Way
July 23, 2009
Years ago I was working in Washington, DC, as a SETA on an IV&V project. If you don’t know the acronyms, no matter. Sergey Brin came to town one day and set off a wave of Potomac buzzing. He was visiting power mongers on Capitol Hill in a T shirt and sneakers. Horrors. A couple of years later, a colleague of mine and I ran into one of Google’s DC reps. We suggested that T shirts were not the way to make the high and mighty coo with pleasure. I recall that we were told to mind our own business. Okay, flash forward to 2009, about five years later. The Google is in the spotlight and facing probes into everything from how it deals with the faltering publishing sector to its impact on the hearts and minds of its competitors in sectors from telecommunications to digital plumbing. You can imagine the happy quacks that I emitted when I read “Facing Scrutiny, Google Steps Up Lobbying.” The once powerful New York Times has reported that Google is spending more money on lobbying. In my view, Google has discovered the way of the health care industry’s standard operating procedure for decades. My mirth comes from two different touches to my funny bone. First, the Googlers who told my colleague and me to go pound salt have realized the errors of their T shirt method. I doubt if Googlers admit errors, but my colleague and I noted the eureka moment. Second, the New York Times has figured out that Google has been increasing its footprint in DC. My research suggests that the Google has been adding to its presence brick by brick for the last two years. Hardly news in the view of the goslings. Two issues, however. Google is already under the microscope. More dough will be needed, lots of dough. And the New York Times has to get in front of this story. For example, what’s the MO of the people Google is hiring?
Stephen Arnold, July 23, 2009
Elsevier and Its Article of the Future
July 23, 2009
I write a column for Information World Review for money. As an addled goose blogger, I want to call your attention to an item that appeared with the headline “Elsevier Releases Article of the Future Prototypes.” For me, the most interesting comment in the story was:
IJsbrand Jan Aalbersberg, vice president of content innovation for Elsevier science & technology journal publishing said: “These tools will enhance the presentation of scientific results and improve the interpretation and speed of results analysis. They are central to driving innovation in scientific publishing and represent our investment in the future of research, enabling scientists all over the world to access, interpret, and create better science more efficiently.”
I will not put up pointers to my Web log posts about sponsored articles or other material that may not be exactly what readers expect from certain sci-tech publishers. I hope that the Article of the Future does not drag along some methods from the not-to-distant past. I hope legitimate publishers regardless of type find ways to generate revenue without hip hopping over content accuracy. Alas, unlike the addled goose, some publishers are human.
Stephen Arnold, July 23, 2009
Connotate Emulates SAP and SAS
July 23, 2009
Students in statistics in the US learn using a stats program that works like training wheels. Once the eager learner gets into upper level statistics classes, SAP and SAS become the weapons of choice. The idea is that “real serious” statistics students will thrive when given industrial strength tools. One of the addled goose’s colleagues is a SAS person. When we crunch numbers for subrogation purposes, we use SAS. The wizard is hooked and chooses not to switch to an alternative tool.
Connotate is now moving in the same marketing direction. The idea is to hook students early in their information science careers and make Connotate the weapon of choice for near real time content processing. Connotate has a deal with Penn State’s College of Information Sciences and Technology. You can read the full story “Penn State’s College of Information Sciences and Technology Selects Connotate” here.
The addled goose thinks this is a good idea and other content processing outfits may want to explore this approach to hooking prospective customers early.
Stephen Arnold
Vivisimo ASG Deal
July 23, 2009
ASG is an infrastructure management company. I le3arned that ASG has inked a deal with Vivisimo for its search and content processing technology. ASG will use Vivisimo’s technology in the ASG into its ASG-ViewDirect® E-mail Manager, which enables organizations to search, view, retain and expire corporate e-mails, along with other enterprise content. You can get more information from the write up “ASG Software Solutions to Embed Vivisimo in its ASG-ViewDirect E-mail Manager Solution” on Vivisimo’s Web site. ASG may use Vivisimo’s search and content processing in its other products as well. A happy quack to Vivisimo.
Stephen Arnold, July 24, 2009
Autonomy Keeps Growing
July 23, 2009
The growth may not be organic, but Autonomy’s combination of acquisitions and upselling existing customers is making it possible for Autonomy to make its stakeholders smile. Trading Markets’ headline tells the tale: “Autonomy Corporation plc Records Increased Profit of US$50.9m in Q2 2009”. Autonomy has morphed into an enterprise software vendor of broad scope. In addition to search, the company has video asset management, eDiscovery, and content management systems on offer. “Pure” search vendors may have to face the music and follow in Autonomy’s footsteps. What the company has proved to me is that trying to hit a billion in revenue with “pure” search is probably next to impossible. What will happen to “pure” search vendors? Interesting question to ponder as attendance at search-related shows continues to soften Microsoft Fast and Google may bundle basic search with other products. Creative thinking is needed. Failing that, some vendors may walk the same path that Autonomy has followed.
Stephen Arnold, July 23, 2009
The Future of Newspapers
July 22, 2009
Location: Belfast. When: July 14, 2009. Look at the photograph I snapped from a large vehicle below. The advert explains that a small Belfast Chronicle is better than a big, thick, ad-stuffed Belfast Chronicle. Now look at the missing letters on the newspaper’s building. Not too prosperous.
Grim in my opinion.
Stephen Arnold, July 22, 2009
Microsoft and Video Search
July 22, 2009
Bing.com received kudos for showing frames of videos on a search results page. Google does not provide this feature. For a short time, I thought Microsoft was gearing up to deal with Google on a service-by-service basis. I was wrong. I learned from Cnet’s “Microsoft Closing YouTube Rival” that Soapbox would be reinvented in nano scale. What about video search at Microsoft? I am confident that it will be positioned at the cat’s pajamas. Oh, cats don’t wear pajamas. YouTube.com may be a money loser and controversial, but the Google has oodles of patent applications for monetizing video. If the Googlers crack the code, Microsoft may be forced to play catch up. Traffic is the issue. Monetizing is an interesting problem but one which may have a solution. Just my opinion.
Stephen Arnold, July 22, 2009
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