Google Books: All Society Benefits
November 15, 2013
You can read the news about the Google win in many places. I wanted to capture a quote from the New York Times’s story “Siding with Google, Judge Says Book Search Does Not Infringe Copyright.” You can find the story on page B7 of the rural Kentucky edition of the paper or you can try this link. (If it is dead, hey, don’t complain to me. Ring up Google’s SEO help desk.)
Lots of juicy quotes. Here’s the keeper:
Judge Chin wrote in his ruling, “Indeed, all society benefits.”
If Google benefits “all society” in this instance, will there be further drift so that Google’s action are okay in other spheres. With Amazon enlisting the US Postal Service to deliver talcum power and Kindles, what part of the government will Google tap. The key is the “all society.” I wonder how folks in other countries feel about the “all society” phrase?
Stephen E Arnold, November 15, 2013
Social Media and News: Amazing Graphic
November 15, 2013
“News Use across Social Media Platforms” confirms what I have suspected for a while. The mobile generation has some interesting behavior patterns with regard to news. Among the factoids that the Pew outfit has boiled down to numbers are:
ITEM: YouTube viewers are not using the service to get news. Maybe that explains why experiments with Thomson Reuters proved to be somewhat disappointing.
ITEM: Google Plus is less popular than Reddit, Twitter, and Facebook as a source of news. The push back about Google Plus as a prerequisite for YouTube comments may have more importance than some realize.
ITEM: Facebook is an important source of news. As the demographics of Facebook shift, the importance of news may suggest that Facebook has morphed into a more mature service.
The most interesting “fact” in the report is the apparent importance of Reddit, a service which points to public posts on a range of issues. The Reddit service offers a search function, but I find consistently disappointing. In fact, most of the unusual collections of links and comments are essentially unfindable.
Another interesting facet of the report is the inclusion of some trendy graphics. The diagram below is my favorite.
In my opinion, the good news in the report appears in this passage:
Social media news consumers still get news from a variety of other sources and, in some cases, even more so than the general public does. YouTube, LinkedIn and Google Plus news consumers are more likely than Facebook and Twitter news consumers to watch cable news. Twitter news consumers are among the least likely to turn to local and cable TV. And nearly four-in-ten LinkedIn news consumers listen to news on the radio, compared to about a quarter of the general population.
For now, the digital services cannot celebrate total victory. Publishers of traditional news media live to fight another day. For now.
Stephen E Arnold, November 15, 2013
Google Falls Short Of Total Employee Satisfaction
November 15, 2013
Google has created a name for itself as the dream IT employer. This can be attributed to its prominence, zero to little professional dress code, inspiring office design, etc. Blind praise from those not working there is what Google relies on to help its corporate image, but Business Insider dug up a Quora thread where current and former Google employees vent their frustrations. Check out the dirt in, “Google Employees Confess The Worst Things About Google.”
Many of the complaints from the Googlers make the search giant sound like a prestigious private school filled with rich brats. Case in point is that everyone who works there is the best of the best and immature hot air blocks out any of the chilling oxygen. Google likes to come off that it still maintains the atmosphere of being an “ultra cool” startup but that mentality faded away with AOL download discs. Middle management is afraid to break the status quo and mediocrity/mundane-ness is daily chore Poor temps are treated as inferiors and working remotely is a lost in the Internet dregs. Even worse is that creativity is stifled, because product and visual designed are ignored of engineering. Check out the list of abandoned Google projects over the past few years.
Here is the funniest and worst offense:
“ ‘In Zurich there is a quiet room where people go to relax, or take a nap. There are very nice looking fish tanks there and you can waste as much of your work time there, watching the fish do fishy things. There was a 100+ emails thread about removing the massage chairs from that room because some people allegedly were being kept from sleeping because the massage chairs were too noisy.’ “
I cannot even get my work to provide me a chair with proper lumbar support and Google Zurich has massage chairs and naptime. Millions of dollars flushed away in that sector. These observations prove that while Google may be doing state of the art work, they have fallen into the hole that most of corporate America is trying to get out of.
Whitney Grace, November 15, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Pretty Graphics For Big Data Experience
November 15, 2013
TechCrunch makes a big deal about this headline: “ClearStory Data Designs An Analytics Platform That Is About The Experience As Much As The Technology.” ClearStory Data is one of the first companies to launch an analytics platform that can offer rich visuals and sharing capabilities. The graphics and sharing come out on the user interface, but behind the pretty graphics and social media graces there is something else.
The article states:
“On the back-end, ClearStory has a platform for integrating a company’s internal and external data using an in-memory database technology, said CEO Sharmila Shahani-Mulligan in a phone interview this week. This can be relational or NoSQL data, point-of-sale information or demographic statistics from external sources. Its advantage is in the ability to process multiple types of data on the fly and then combine that with a modern user interface.”
Not a bad new way to use analytics, especially when the idea behind it is that users will be able to manipulate their data like a story rather than a boring data report. Think about it. What would you rather do, read a griping novel or the latest user agreement for iTunes? Turning shopping or Internet browsing into a story. Maybe this could be a new form of writing or even blogging where social media turns into a giant events catalog of how people shop.
Whitney Grace, November 15, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
The Toy Elephant Hadoop Saves A Real Elephant
November 15, 2013
Hadoop was named after a toy elephant, so it is only appropriate that as a form of charity the company is donating money to saving elephants from poachers. nature and technology have often been perceived to be at odds with one another, constantly battling for dominance over the planet. Technology can save nature and analytical data techniques have been used to solve problems according to the recent Gigaom article, “Buy Datameer’s Hadoop Application, Save An Elephant.”
The article states:
“We’ve written before about applying big data techniques to help solve societal problems, and now we have a case of applying the revenue from big data software sales directly to a cause. In this case Datameer, a startup that applies a spreadsheet interface to Hadoop, is selling a “charity edition” of its product for $49 and donating all the proceeds during the month of November to a conservation charity called Pro Wildlife.”
Some cynics may view this gesture as a marketing ploy to buy a product that meant to solve the big data problem. (Actually, it only allows users to download to a single desktop and analysis 10 GB, so it is more like big data for the single data-obsessed user). On the bright side, you get to help save the largest, living land mammal. Who does not like elephants?
Whitney Grace, November 15, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Search Boundaries. Explode.
November 14, 2013
I read a quite remarkable news release. The title? Grab your blood pressure medicine because you may “explode.”
Expertmaker: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Explodes the Boundaries of Enterprise Search
I expect a sign to warn me off. Was it safe to read about such a potentially powerful technology?
Expertmaker Info
Straightaway I poked through my information about search vendors. I did not recall the name “Expertmaker.” I think it is catchy, echoing the Italian outfit Expert System.
Expertmaker is located at www.expertmaker.com. The company offers the following products:
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Consulting
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Products that are “an online solution and/or mobile solution.”
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Big Data Anti Churn. I am not exactly sure what this means, and I did not want to contact Expertmaker to learn more.
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Flow, a virtual assistant platform.
The technology is positioned as “artificial intelligence.” The description of the company’s technology is located at this link. I scanned the information on the Expertmaker Web site. I noted some points that struck me as interesting, particularly in relation to the news release that triggered my interest. (Who says news releases are irrelevant? Expertmaker has my attention. I suppose that is a good thing, but there are other possible viewpoints too. My attention can be annoying, but, hey, this is a free blog about going “beyond search.”)
First, the label “artificial intelligence” is visible in the description. The AI angle is “machine learning and evolutionary computing.” The point is that the system performs functions that would be difficult using an old fashioned database like DB2, Oracle, or SQL Server. (I assume that the owners of these traditional databases will have some counter arguments to offer.)
Second, the system makes it possible to build search-based applications. (Dassault Exalead has been beating this tom tom for six or seven years. I presume that the Cloud 360 technology is relegated to the user car lot because Expertmaker has rolled into the search dealership.)
Third, a development environment is available, including a “Desktop Artificial Intelligence Toolkit.” There are “solvers.” There are various AI technologies. There is knowledge discovery. There is a “published solution.” And there is this component:
Semantic, value based, meta-data structures allow high precision understanding and value based searches. With the solution you can create your own semantic structures for handling complex solutions.
Okay, this is pretty standard fare for search start ups. I am not sure what the system does, but I looked at examples, including screenshots.
Whither Hewlett Packard and Autonomy Search?
November 14, 2013
I have not heard much about Hewlett Packard Autonomy search. In the pre-buy out deals, I was seeing announcements about IDOL. The flow of information about Autonomy search has slowed. For example, I navigated to NewsNow.co.uk and ran a query for HP Autonomy. Here is the list of “hits” displayed for me for the last four weeks:
HP Autonomy Releases HP Qfiniti 10 with Deeper HP IDOL Integration TMCnet.com 17:14 Tue, 22 Oct 2013HP Autonomy Powers Up the Contact Center With Release of HP Qfiniti… Marketwire (Press Release) 07:56 Mon, 21 Oct 2013
Autonomy was one of the most ferocious marketers of its search technology. What jumps out at me is that Hewlett Packard is pitching jargon for customer support, education, and marketing. Augmented reality, perhaps Google Glass envy, makes an appearance as well.
I don’t know how HP will generate sufficient revenue from these products to pay off the $10 billion Autonomy purchase price. I find it interesting that search seems to be a second or third class citizen in the new HP world. I assume HP has its vision. Too bad that search has been marginalized in the stream of “news” in the last four weeks.
Stephen E Arnold, November 14, 2013
The Big Data Costume Contest
November 14, 2013
Halloween may be over, but pictures of costumes are still being uploaded to the Internet waiting to be judged. What if someone decided to make a big data costume or dress up as a data analyst? It may be hard to visualize, but Attivio wanted to get into the Halloween fun by asking people what costume best suits their big data initiatives. The idea is that people are personifying a project—everything is alive these days. So Attivio ran a poll and the results are in the article, “Trick Or Treat-Enterprise Information Looks More Like Frankenstein Than Superman.”
What is scary about the results is that a lot of people are dealing with projects as slow as a zombie limp with only 3% saying they have a good return investment.
What are some other scary results?
· “Only 5 percent say they have no big data issues and are as happy as a witch in a broom factory;
· 40 percent complain that they have too many coffins where data goes to die;
· 55 percent admit that combining data and content sources requires a team of mad scientists.”
Ow! Talk about taking a vampire bite and becoming a slave to data slag. If a data implementation is not going as it should, because the plan is way too slow, Attivio suggests a switch to a UIA strategy. They have to throw that last bit of advertising in there. The poll results show a general lack of understanding when it comes to big data.
Whitney Grace, November 14, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Arm Yourself with Statistics Knowledge
November 14, 2013
So many of the world’s big decisions are based on statistics, yet the discipline remains mysterious or misunderstood by many. Alex Reinhart, a statistics PhD student at Carnegie Mellon, aims to rectify that situation with “Statistics Done Wrong: the Woefully Complete Guide.” Hey, everyone needs more math. Well, except search engine optimization experts. They are all set.
The description reads:
“Statistics Done Wrong is a guide to the most popular statistical errors and slip-ups committed by scientists every day, in the lab and in peer-reviewed journals. Many of the errors are prevalent in vast swathes of the published literature, casting doubt on the findings of thousands of papers. Statistics Done Wrong assumes no prior knowledge of statistics, so you can read it before your first statistics course or after thirty years of scientific practice. Dive in: the whole guide is available online!”
Yep, go to the link above to access this helpful text—the clickable table of contents is right there on that page. Reinhart notes that this work is constantly being improved, and you can sign up for updates through a box on the right of the page. The guide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Check it out, and be ahead of the crowd when statistics rears its unwieldy head.
Cynthia Murrell, November 14, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Yandex Islands Introduces Unique Functionality
November 14, 2013
Russia’s dominant search engine, Yandex, has developed an interesting feature, now in beta. Search Engine Journal reports, “Yandex Islands: Markup Issues and Implementation.” I think the name “Islands” alludes to patches of solid ground in the metaphorical sea that is the Internet. Nice imagery.
Writer Roman Viliavin explains:
“[Yandex] ended up with idea to show to the user website functionality right into the search results. This way the search engine decreases the number of actions users have to perform to receive the answer to what interests them. Yandex says its islands will be able to find solutions for complicated search tasks. For example, the user fills in the form to call a taxi, he writes ‘Place of departure’ and ‘Place of arrival,’ then Yandex sends request to the website and receives the information about costs and time for this particular case. . . . In short, with the help of Yandex Islands users can order, buy a product, make an appointment or perform many other types of actions without leaving search results page.”
That sounds pretty handy from the users’ point of view. There are currently four types if Islands each more complex than the last: Categories, Category + checkbox, Category + checkbox+ prices, and Category + checkbox+ prices+ search. The article gives a good rundown of the functionality, complete with screenshots.
Viliavin spends the bulk of the article, though, diving deep into ways websites can make themselves Islands-friendly, including coding examples and more screenshots. Finally, he shares the Yandex link through which webmasters can test their markups. Check out the article for a more complete view Yandex’s new archipelago.
Cynthia Murrell, November 14, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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