Intellectual Property Protection Program Announced by ZyLAB
January 15, 2014
The article ZyLAB Launches Intellectual Property Protection Program For Big Data on MetroCorpCounsel discusses the announcement by software developer ZyLAB only a few months after their thirtieth anniversary. The new program contains components of eDiscovery and Information Risk Management along with libraries that users can customize to protect and localize intellectual property. It is intended for use mainly by commercial enterprises in safeguarding their often-unprotected IP.
The article explains:
“The ZyLAB Intellectual Property Protection Program has been developed to support commercial organizations in protecting these important assets.
With ZyLAB’s eDiscovery and Information Risk Management System companies can locate Intellectual Property on their computer systems and actively prevent leakage or theft of this sensitive and valuable information. A user-installable library containing best practice methodology for eDiscovery enables the automatic identification of files that may contain IP. The library is available as an add-on to the ZyLAB platform.”
This process makes it much easier to notice those employees storing large amounts of IP in their emails or other personal locations, because it recognizes information that includes IP automatically. The prevention of data leakage ensures that companies will not have to face the loss of revenue, but also helps them to avoid lawsuits. As in so many areas, prevention beats cleanup when it comes to IP, according to chief strategist at ZyLAB Johannes Scholtes.
Chelsea Kerwin, January 15, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Add Mobility to SharePoint with Box
January 15, 2014
Many devoted SharePoint users are turning toward mobile access and mobile solutions. But SharePoint is a big ship and it is having a hard time turning in the direction of mobile. So many organizations are turning toward add-on solutions that can help SharePoint stay current in the mobile age. Information Week Digital Library offers a white paper on the topic in their article, “Five Ways Box Makes SharePoint Better.”
The article says:
“Box, the leader in Enterprise Content Collaboration, helps customers extend their SharePoint environments, quickly and easily meeting employees’ needs for mobile productivity and secure external sharing with customers and partners. This whitepaper describes the top five ways that businesses are adding mobility and collaboration to SharePoint with Box.”
Stephen E. Arnold is a longtime leader in search and devotes much attention to SharePoint on his information service, ArnoldIT.com. He has spoken of Box before and its benefits not only for mobile, but also for Mac users who historically have suffered under the dominance of SharePoint.
Emily Rae Aldridge, January 15, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Buzzword Blizzard: The Storm Approaches
January 14, 2014
I marveled at the buzzword to English ratio in “Your 2014 Heat Map for Enterprise Technology.” You must read the article yourself. My focus is upon the jargon in the InfoWorld article. I must admit I don’t have the faintest idea what some of the terms mean, but I would bet 25 cents that most of the azure chip consultants, unemployed middle school teachers, and recent spate of unemployed grads with JD degrees don’t know either. You, gentle reader, are in full command of Baloneyglish. You will have no problems using and defining these terms. The alphabetical selected list of 2014 hoohah is:
analytics
application lifecycle
auto-scaling
back ends for cloud services
Big Data
cloud baseline
cloud data integration
Cloud IDE
cloud operating systems
cloud scale hairball
cloud services
cloud test infrastructure
configuration management
consumerization of IT
control logic
core application code base
data layer technologies
deep layer technologies
deployment solutions
dynamic enterprise systems
event stream processing
ground zero of enterprise innovation
Hadoop frameworks
HAWQ
hydra-headed personal computers
hyper connected cloud
infrastructure technologies
inventive technology
mobile app lifecycle Mobile back end as a service mobile computing
native wrappers
NoSQL
Notifications one large distributed cache
orchestrating data centers
platform as a service or PaaS
public cloud
real time
responsive UI
save state
semi structured data
SDN
SDx (You may want to think of CxO)
server side storage caching
siloed enterprise
social networking
software defined infrastructure
software defined storage
software defined data center
Squoop
switches into drones
systems of engagement
systems of record
the third platform
virtualized infrastructure resources
vsualization
YARN.
What’s my favorite?
Cloud scale hairball.
I might even be able to define that concept with a few references to HealthCare.gov and the UK Ministry of Defense’s Recruitment Partnering Project.
Stephen E Arnold, January 14, 2014. You can read more at < href=”Google+</a>
Data Broker Offered Sensitive Lists for Sale
January 14, 2014
Now this is downright creepy. The Wall Street Journal’s tech site Digits notifies us that “Data Broker Removes Rape-Victims List After Journal Inquiry.” As the headline states, the list has now been removed, but yikes! Medbase200 offered this tragic roster for sale, along with ones listing victims of domestic violence, HIV/AIDS patients, and “peer pressure sufferers”, until an inquiry from the Wall Street Journal prompted them to remove them all. This looks like a very large hole in our HIPPA protections.
Writer Elizabeth Dwoskin reports:
“The rape-victims list was first disclosed by Pam Dixon, executive director of the World Privacy Forum, at a Senate hearing Wednesday about the data-broker industry. Ms. Dixon could not be reached for comment after her testimony.
The hearing was part of a Senate Commerce Committee investigation into the data-broker industry. In a report Wednesday, the committee said marketers maintain databases that purport to track and sell the names of people who have diabetes, depression, and osteoporosis, as well as how often women visit a gynecologist. The report said individuals don’t have a right to know what types of data the companies collect, how people are placed in categories, or who buys the information.
Medbase200, a unit of Integrated Business Services Inc., sells lists of health-care providers and of people purportedly suffering from ailments such as diabetes and arthritis to pharmaceutical companies.”
I will leave alone for now the whole issue of who owns an individual’s health data, because that is a rant for another day. Sam Tartamella, president of the parent company here, seems to have been unaware of what Madebase200 was up to; he denied the list’s existence until presented by the Journal with a link to the division’s “rape sufferers” page.
Why, in the name of all that is holy, did the company offer these mailing lists for sale? Apparently, the cash they could make by vending the vulnerable trumped any sense of human decency. At least the target market was not predatory individuals (though is it a stretch to think such creatures could gain access?) Rather, it was pharmaceutical companies who could drop just $79 and get information on 1,000 folks who had been through a specific hardship. I can only imagine, but I think if I were in any of those categories, every instance of targeted marketing would be like a kick to the gut. Not to mention the distressing questions; how did they know? who else knows? These unanswered questions could haunt someone for years, since “individuals don’t have a right to know” what these companies have done with our most personal information.
Welcome to the dark side of the data-driven society.
Cynthia Murrell, January 14, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Microsoft Committed to Bing
January 14, 2014
ZDNet takes us inside a recent investor call with Microsoft’s CFO Dave O’Hara about his company’s online services strategy in, “Microsoft: Bing is Not a Bottomless Money Pit (Any More).” For about six years, the company has poured money into building the infrastructure behind Bing‘s datacenter. Now the foundation has been laid, and Microsoft is poised to start seeing its investment pay off.
Reporter Mary Jo Foley explains:
“In keeping with Microsoft management’s claims that Bing isn’t an asset it would make sense to sell at this point, O’Hara stressed that Bing is no longer ‘just’ a Web search engine and that Microsoft has integrated it into an increasing number of its products, such as Windows and Xbox. He said Bing also has given Microsoft a leg up in creating ‘one of the best data sets in the industry,’ which Microsoft will leverage increasingly in future products and services.
Though O’Hara didn’t cite any of these products specifically, a couple of examples of areas where Microsoft’s big-data prowess will come into play are offerings like its cloud-based business intelligence service bundle, Power BI, and the coming ‘Cortana’ personal assistant technology expected to debut first in Windows Phone 8.1 next year.”
Foley is wary of drawing any conclusion about Bing’s profitability, now or in the future, because changes in the way Microsoft reports revenue obscure the value of any particular online product. She notes that, as a whole, the online services division lost $321 million on revenues of $872 million in the most recent quarter. Still, she seems to accept O’Hara’s point: After all that investment, now is the time to go forward with Bing rather than heed calls to sell it off. We shall see whether the strategy pays off down the road.
Cynthia Murrell, January 14, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
DCL Tapped for Library of Congress Digitization Project
January 14, 2014
The U.S. Library of Congress has enlisted the help of conversion-services firm Data Conversion Laboratory (DLC), we learn from “Library of Congress Signs Deal for Digital Content Services” at GCN. The firm will help implement standards for content in both the Library of Congress and the U.S. Copyright Office.
GCN editor Paul McCloskey tells us:
“The Copyright Office wants to set up a small number of standard formats, for itself and other institutions to preserve, ‘expand and maintain its collections as more and more journals are being published solely digital formats,’ DCL said. Since 2010, the U.S. Copyright Office has started to issue mandatory deposit requirements for files and metadata associated with electronic periodicals that are published online only and are to be added to the Library of Congress collection. DCL says it has met all of the Library’s specs in carrying the publishing mandates out, including having expertise with the PubMed Central Journal Article Tag Suite (JATS) specification for institutional repositories.”
Founded in 1981, Data Conversion Laboratory is a veteran in the digitization field. They pledge they can convert complex content from any format to any format, while offering related services like editorial support and conversion-project management. DCL is located in Fresh Meadows, New York.
Cynthia Murrell, January 14, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Printing for SharePoint from Unbounded Solutions
January 14, 2014
Anyone who uses SharePoint knows how tedious some of the most mundane tasks can be. Printing is chief among them. Unbounded Solutions hopes to solve the problem and unveils their offering in the press release, “Unbounded Solutions Releases Printing Services for SharePoint 2013.”
The release begins:
“Unbounded Solutions today announced the availability of Printing Services for Microsoft SharePoint 2013. Completely rewritten to take advantage of the enhancements found in the latest version of SharePoint, the product joins compatible versions for SharePoint 2010 and SharePoint 2007 to give SharePoint users the ability to print a folder full of documents, or selected documents with just a few clicks of the mouse.”
This is the type of solution that Stephen E. Arnold often covers through is Web service, ArnoldIT.com. A longtime leader in search, Arnold spends a lot of attention on SharePoint and SharePoint alternatives. For those organizations that do use SharePoint, higher satisfaction is found among those who customize and streamline, and simple solutions like this one by Unbounded Solutions can help.
Emily Rae Aldridge, January 14, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Branded Content at the New York Times
January 13, 2014
I did not think I would see the day. Bloomberg Businessweek informs us that the “New York Times Grudgingly Embraces Branded Content.” Though other news outfits have adopted the controversial money-making trend, it somehow seemed like the Times would prefer to shutter its doors before blurring the line between articles and ads. I guess not.
Reporter Felix Gillette describes the sneaky marketing trend:
“Branded content is a newish form of digital advertising in which marketers create story-like units that live among a publisher’s editorial products and share the same underlying aesthetic, tone, and technology. In recent years a growing number of online publishers and advertisers have embraced the change, in part because it allows brands to create ideas and messages specifically tailored for an audience, the sort of content that can live at the heart—rather than the periphery—of the publication. Brands are willing to pay higher rates for the opportunity to do just that. The downside of the format is that it comes with some risk of blurring the line between a publisher’s editorial voice and a brand’s—and, on occasion, has become the source of hand-wringing among journalistic watchdogs and ethicists who worry it can undermine integrity.”
Well, yes, those are the concerns. In an unenthusiastic memo to employees, the paper’s publisher insists it will be clear which content is advertising and which is real reporting. The branded-content pages will, after all, be surrounded by a blue border. See, it’s the essence of clarity. What could possibly go wrong?
Cynthia Murrell, January 13, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
A Call for Level Heads Only in Climate Change Discussions
January 13, 2014
Perhaps the false equivalence that has pervaded the media for years now is finally on the way out. The Guardian raises the issue in its article, “Should Newspapers Ban Climate Deniers Like Reddit’s Science Forum?” Written by one of the moderators of r/Science, chemist Nathan Allen, the piece explains why the normally free-speech-loving site chose to ban climate change deniers in that forum, and why other sources should do the same. Whether you agree or disagree with the move, the brief article is worth a read.
Allen begins by describing the science forum as largely a space for academics, with attendant norms like the citation of peer-reviewed research and a basic level of decorum. Some threads, however, attracted a much less civil sort of commenter, most especially anything having to do with climate change.
Allen writes:
“Rather than making thoughtful arguments based on peer-reviewed science to refute man-made climate change, contrarians immediately resorted to aggressive behaviors. On one side, deniers accused any of the hard-working scientists whose research supported and furthered our understanding of man-made climate change of being bought by ‘Big Green.’ On the other side, deniers were frequently insulted and accused of being paid to comment on reddit by ‘Big Oil.’ After some time interacting with the regular denier posters, it became clear that they could not or would not improve their demeanor.”
That’s because those commenters are “true believers,” as Allen calls them, so devoted to their misinformation that they are unwilling to even tolerate, much less consider, another (better supported) point of view. Moderators realized that the only way to facilitate civil discourse was to, after a warning, ban dogmatic climate deniers. The backlash was lower than they expected, and the result was a vast improvement to the forum’s tone. Now, the distinct lack of paranoia and delusion makes way for productive discussions between scientists and non-scientific folks honestly trying to understand this complex issue.
What does this change at Reddit’s Science forum have to do with newspapers and other media? Allen writes:
“Like our commenters, professional climate change deniers have an outsized influence in the media and the public. And like our commenters, their rejection of climate science is not based on an accurate understanding of the science but on political preferences and personality. As moderators responsible for what millions of people see, we felt that to allow a handful of commenters to so purposefully mislead our audience was simply immoral. So if a half-dozen volunteers can keep a page with more than 4 million users from being a microphone for the antiscientific, is it too much to ask for newspapers to police their own editorial pages as proficiently?”
No. No, it is not too much to ask. And, by the way, the problem is far from limited to editorial sections. My father always told me to “consider the source” of any information. In fact, that was once a common adage. Why, in pursuit of a warped concept of “objectivity,” do so many publications refuse to follow that advice?
Cynthia Murrell, January 13, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Beta of Open Source LogicPull Available
January 13, 2014
Here is an open-source solution for the search crowd: check out the beta version of LogicPull, available at GitHub, for some content magic. The tool lets one create advanced interviews for end users, then feeds their answers to document templates.
The description elaborates:
“LogicPull was initially developed to save time and money creating the many legal documents needed for a court proceeding. It has since expanded to handle the assembly of PDF, DocX, RTF and XML documents for any project. It is a cloud based automated document assembly service. We give you the tools to quickly create an advanced question and answer interview to be completed by an end user, which in turn creates an answer set to be combined with a template to produce documents.
*Multiple Document Formats Supported
*Create Complex Branching Logic
*Keep your Data and Documents in the Cloud
*Save Progress on Client Interviews
*Attach Custom Templates to Guided Interviews
*Preview your Work Before it Goes Live
*Send Processed Documents Automatically”
Naturally, the GitHub entry lists system and software requirements for running LogicPull, as well as a links to demos, an installation tutorial, and an article on building the solution logically. You can also look through the FAQs, known issues, envisioned improvements, and other key info. One point to note: in order to use the full version of LogicPull, one must register. However, at the time of this writing, the site is a victim of its success—so many folks have registered recently, that sign-up is currently disabled. Let us hope it will re-open soon.
Cynthia Murrell, January 13, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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