Watson on the Move: Cognea
May 20, 2014
I wanted to associate Cognos with Cognea. Two different things. IBM’s Watson unit, according to “IBM Watson Acquires Artificial Intelligence Startup Cognea,” is beefing up its artificial intelligence capabilities. Facebook, Google, and other outfits are embracing the dreams of artificial intelligence like it is 1981 when Marvin Weinberger was giving talks about AI’s revolutionizing information processing. I have lost track of Marvin, although I recall his impassioned polemics, 30 years after hearing him lecture. Unfortunately I remain skeptical about “artificial intelligence” because Watson, as I understood the pitch after Jeopardy, was already super smart. I suppose Cognea can add some marketing credibility to Watson. That system is curing disease and performing wonders for the insurance industry, if I embrace the IBM public relations’ flow.
In my lectures about the Big O problem, I point out that many of today’s smartest systems (for example, Search2, to name one) implements clever methods to make well known numerical recipes run like a teenager who just gulped three cans of Jolt Cola followed by a Red Bull energy drink.
The reality is that there are more sophisticated mathematical tools available. The problem is that the systems available cannot exploit these algorithmic methods. I am pretty confident that Cognea tells a great story. I am even more confident that IBM will do the “Vivisimo” thing with whatever technology Cognea actually has. Without a concrete demo, benchmarks, and independent evaluations, I will remain skeptical about “a cognitive computing and conversational artificial intelligence platform.”
I am far more interested in the Cybertap technology that IBM acquired and seems to be keeping under wraps. Cybertap works. Artificial intelligence, well, it depends on how one defines “artificial” and “intelligence” doesn’t it?
Stephen E Arnold, May 20, 2014
The Gradual Fade of Google Plus
May 20, 2014
There is fresh news on the Google+ front; unfortunately for the underperforming social site, the story is a prediction of its demise. The Verge reports, “‘Sign In with Google’ Button Could Send Google+ to Oblivion.”
The article discusses several recent events that suggest Google may be ready to ditch the underperformer. That Google+’s creator, Vic Gundotra, has left the company is one indication. Other signs include media reports that Google+ is on the chopping block, despite company denials. The clue that cinches it for writer Casey Newton, though, is a new option that has quietly been offered to a few website developers: they can install a blue “Sign in with Google” button instead of the red Google+ button. Newton believes this is the first step in an effort to gradually fade Google+ out of existence. The article suggests:
“Since December, the single sign-on button has supported all three account types. In that sense, the blue button just offers a fuller picture of what Google’s identity platform now encompasses. But it also suggests that the company no longer wants Google+ to represent it around the web. Google’s brand is much stronger than that of its social network, and some developers may be more comfortable adding a generic Google login to their sites and apps. Given those facts, the blue button may be better for Google as it competes with Facebook, Twitter, and others for single sign-on supremacy. But rolling it out will only reinforce the perception that the best days of Google+ are behind it.”
That’s just a perception? I’d accepted it as a given. However, that doesn’t mean the whole project was a waste of time and effort. Google is successful in part because they are not afraid to fail with any one of their many experiments; they both repurpose parts that worked (or would work well for something else) and learn what not to do. Let us shed no tears for Google+.
Cynthia Murrell, May 20, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Natural Language Processing Used to Serve Up Cynicism
May 20, 2014
One tech-savvy skeptic channels his frustration with Age-of-Aquarius bromides into what he calls his “New Age [BS] Generator.” With a mouse click, the application assembles random esoteric phrases into sentences that do sound remarkably like something one might see from modern mystics. Blogger seb pearce explains he was inspired while watching Deepak Chopra debate philosophy:
“After sitting through hours of New Age rhetoric, I decided to have a crack at writing code to generate it automatically and speed things up a bit. I cobbled together a list of New Age buzzwords and cliché sentence patterns and this is the result.
“You’ll get some profound-sounding nonsense here, too.
“So, what is this for? Put it on your website as placeholder text. Print it out as a speech for your yoga class and see if anyone can guess a computer wrote it. Use it to write the hottest new bestseller in the self-help section, or give false hope to depressed friends and family members.”
Pearce admits that he was not the first to put forth such a generator. While he was working on his mockery, another page called “The Enigmatic Wisdom of Deepak Chopra” was launched; he encourages us to try both generators. The popular sites indicate that pearce is not the only one tired of philosophical clichés.
Cynthia Murrell, May 20, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Microsoft Updates Patches and Leave Some Vulnerabilities
May 20, 2014
After the most recent patch Tuesday, Microsoft has kept its word and discontinued support for Windows XP. But less known is their ending of support for Microsoft Office 2003. ZDNet covers all the details of Patch Tuesday in their article, “Microsoft Patches Office, SharePoint and Windows, Leaves XP Behind.”
The article begins:
“Microsoft issued eight security updates today addressing a total of 14 vulnerabilities in Windows, Office and SharePoint Server. This is the first Patch Tuesday since the end of support for Windows XP and Office 2003. Even though Microsoft provided an update one week ago for all Windows versions, including Windows XP, this time they followed through on policy and did not release updates for Windows XP even though one of the updates patched today is critical and likely affects Windows XP. Less well-known is that Microsoft Office 2003 also exited its support period in April.”
The most critical patch released helped resolve the Internet Explorer fiasco that has made recent headlines. All supported versions of SharePoint Server were also updated. Stephen E. Arnold is a lifelong search expert and the brains behind ArnoldIT.com. His work gives a lot of attention to the search features of Microsoft, since it is such a dominant share of the market. But SharePoint, and Microsoft in general, are slow to release updates, forcing users to turn to third parties like Arnold for the latest tips and tricks.
Emily Rae Aldridge, May 20, 2014
Google: Owning the Internet
May 19, 2014
I read “Google Is Breaking the Internet.” The write up addresses the issue of links between and among other Internet accessible content. The discussion focuses on search engine optimization. Google has a problem with relevance related to generating revenue. The pressure Google is exerting with regard to links is a logical reaction to the situation that Google has created. Once the relevance horse is out of the barn, Google has to send out search parties and take extraordinary actions to find the horse, get the horse under control, and put the horse back into its stall. Web sites desperate for traffic want to let horses out of the Google barn. An arms race for ad related relevance control is underway.
The author makes one of those statements that make sense from the point of view of a non Googler; for example:
Remember, Google doesn’t own the Internet, they just crawl and index it for profit. We own the Internet, and it’s up to us to decide when something is link worthy or not, regardless of Google’s webmaster guidelines.
Many years ago I pointed out that online services concentrate into services that deliver convenient, speedy, and good enough access to information and services. I whipped up a diagram for my 2003 monograph The Google Legacy. A version of this graphic was included in a BearStearns’ investor note:
The information I reviewed for the Google Legacy indicated that Google was using its platform to provide a common foundation for a range of other advertising-related products and services.
Google’s been around for more than a decade. Analysts just now waking up to the trajectory of Google is an indication about a lack of understanding about Google.
Changing Google in a substantive way is going to take more than “the sky is falling” approach. Europe wants to modify Google’s policy of “all the world’s information.” Good luck with that. The more traffic Google accrues from connected devices, the more impact Google has. Google may not be the Internet. The company is giving it the old college try, however. Concentrated services will lead to clashes between Google, Amazon, eBay, etc.
For now, it seems to me that quasi monopolies are the name of the game for the powerful, smart companies.
Stephen E Arnold, May 19, 2014
This is Microsoft Embracing Predictive Analysis
May 19, 2014
Now here’s a valuable use of predictive analytics. Digital Trends reports, “Microsoft to Use Bing Search Data to Predict Outcomes of Reality Shows.” Microsoft announced the initiative in this Bing blog post. It is good to see such an influential company investing its resources in issues that affect the quality of life for all humanity. Writer Konrad Krawczyk tells us:
“Beginning today [April 21], Bing will attempt to forecast the results of shows like ‘The Voice,’ ‘American Idol’ and ‘Dancing With The Stars,’ by scanning search data, along with ‘social input’ from Facebook and Twitter. For instance, if you head over to Bing right now and search ‘American Idol predictions’ like we did, the top of the page will feature a set forecasts for five singers. We’ll refrain from adding in any potential Bing-generated spoilers here, but you’re free to check out what the search engine thinks for yourself.
“‘In broad strokes, we define popularity as the frequency and sentiment of searches combined with social signals and keywords. Placing these signals into our model, we can predict the outcome of an event with high confidence,’ the Bing Predictions Team says in its blog post.
“Microsoft also says that Bing’s predictions incorporate numerous emotionally-driven factors into how it generates predictions, allegedly accounting for biases like favoritism, regardless of how a person’s favorite singer/contestant performs from one week to the next.”
While this example does sum up the gist of predictive analysis, we can think of several areas to which the technology could be better applied. To be fair, the Bing Predictions Team says reality TV is not the pinnacle of its prediction projects. Will the next initiative be aimed at similarly vacuous forecasts?
Cynthia Murrell, May 19, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Choosing Between XML and JSON
May 19, 2014
In its article, “JSON vs XML and the Impact for Design Decisions,” GCN reminds us that, when it comes to choosing between XML and JSON, one solution does not fit all. Writer Michael C. Daconta has deep roots in XML, and admits a bias toward its use in IT architectures. However, even he admits that the newer format has its advantages, primarily in the area of efficiency. So, why keep a dinosaur like XML in the toolbox? The article points out:
There are at least four situations where XML may be better than JSON. To set the stage, it is important to remember that efficiency is not always the No. 1 priority. As Donald Knuth famously stated, ‘We should forget about small efficiencies, say about 97 percent of the time: premature optimization is the root of all evil.’
First, the ‘M’ in XML stands for Markup, and XML can be used to markup or ‘tag’ text documents, which is something JSON does not do.
Second, XML schema allows users to validate whether an XML document is correct before transmission. So if validation is important, than XML may be a better choice.
Third, XML allows extension of the elements in a document via techniques like substitution groups, the extension element, and the ‘any’ element.
Fourth, there is a plethora of tools and standards that augment XML like XSLT, XPath, XQuery and many more.
So, naturally, the answer to “which is better?” is “it depends.” Daconta notes that nearly every time he’s been called to a rescue a troubled IT environment, he’s found the problems are rooted in poor design choices. Companies can save a lot of trouble (and money) down the road if they take the time to properly analyze their environments, requirements, and use cases before making a choice.
Cynthia Murrell, May 19, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Google Glass: New Direction and Fashionable Fixes
May 17, 2014
Google is tangled in the forget people mess. I noticed that the ostensible leadership of Google Glass was announced. You can read about the management tweak in “Marketing Exec Ivy Ross Is the New Head of Google Glass.” The write up states:
The Harvard-trained Ross has a rich, non-tech background, having held several high-level marketing positions at companies such as Mattel, the Gap, Disney, Coach and Old Navy.
No word on the fate of Babak Amir Parviz (aka Babak Parvis, Babak Parviz, Babak Amirparviz, and other variants). Does anyone care? Hard to say since a number of people have been identified as being in charge of Glass. The senior manager with the most involvement was Sergey Brin. Presumably he is not affected by the change.
I am not sure if anyone in Harrod’s Creek has Google Glass. Probably a good thing due to battery life and Kentuckians’ penchant for making fun of folks who are not wearing UK or Rooster Run hats.
Stephen E Arnold, May 18, 2014
Real News, Real Journalism: Decades Late
May 17, 2014
Not much to say. New York Times. Going nowhere. Internal hassles. Here’s the scoop, which I assume is sort of accurate. Enjoy this internal report. Innovation.
Stephen E Arnold, May 17, 2014
Recipe Search Tutorial
May 16, 2014
Over at SitePoint, writer Adam Bard gets into the nitty gritty of creating a site search system in, “Building a Recipe Search Site with Angular and Elasticsearch.” The article begins:
“Have you ever wanted to build a search feature into an application? In the old days, you might have found yourself wrangling with Solr, or building your own search service on top of Lucene — if you were lucky. But, since 2010, there’s been an easier way: Elasticsearch.
“Elasticsearch is an open-source storage engine built on Lucene. It’s more than a search engine; it’s a true document store, albeit one emphasizing search performance over consistency or durability. This means that, for many applications, you can use Elasticsearch as your entire backend.”
The article goes on to supply step-by-step instructions, complete with code snippets, for building a recipe search engine based on the open-source version found at OpenRecipeSearch.com. Bard has pupils begin with a download of Elasticsearch and the OpenRecipe database, proceeds to crafting an appropriate UI (that’s where the open-source Angular comes in), and concludes with a few deployment notes. Bard also points readers to his demo file repository at GitHub. Anyone with a site-search deployment in their future might want to at least bookmark this resource.
Cynthia Murrell, May 16, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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