Dassault: Lowered to Hold and Doing the Foundation Thing
November 13, 2015
Dassault Systèmes owns Exalead, one of the search companies forged in the white hot crucibles of the late 1990s. I did a quick check on the fortunes of Exalead, which was purchased by Dassault in 2010. I don’t hear much about Exalead, which had at the time of its acquisition some interesting technology.
What I learned in my quick check was two things. Both struck me as interesting.
First, in “Dassault Systemes Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages,” I noted the “hold.” That’s one way of saying, “Yikes, we need to watch this outfit.” Some might argue that this is a vote of confidence. I, on the other hand, believe that this is one more signal that companies which have bet big on search are going to face some lean times in the months ahead. I noted this passage in the write up:
Berenberg Bank reissued a “sell” rating on shares of Dassault Systèmes in a report on Friday, September 25th. Credit Suisse restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Dassault Systèmes in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Finally, Zacks cut shares of Dassault Systèmes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday.
Second, Dassault is doing what Thomson Reuters did; that is, morph into foundationville. I am not sure what the tax advantages of this are and I am not too curious. I read in “La Fondation” that:
La Fondation Dassault Systèmes will provide grants, digital content and skill sets in virtual technologies to education and research initiatives at forward-thinking academic institutions, research institutes, museums, associations, cultural centers and other general interest organizations throughout the European Union. This support will provide greater access to 3D content, technology and simulation applications that have long been used by industry for the design, engineering and manufacturing of most of the products society relies on today. Such access can help create new learning experiences and encourage greater interest in science, math, engineering and technology disciplines among students.
From my crumbling office in rural Kentucky, this looks like a reprise of the “old” Lexis effort of providing “free access” to the Lexis online system in the hopes that future attorneys will continue to use Lexis. The free stuff goes away when the aspiring lawyer or future Uber driver passes the bar. How is that free stuff working out?
My thought is that neither of these news items does much to boost my confidence that Exalead is becoming a big revenue player at the upscaliest of the upscale French corporations.
The Exalead folks did know how to provide a great box lunch before the acquisition.
Stephen E Arnold, November 13, 2015
SLI H116 and Related Info Swizzles
November 13, 2015
I read an item produced by a research outfit called Edison. What’s interesting is that the “news” refers to SLI Systems, a New Zealand based outfit which sells eCommerce search software. The company has been going through some choppy water and has two new executives. One is a president, Chris Brennan. The more recent appointment is Martin Onofrio’s taking the job of Chief Revenue Officer. Prior to joining SLI, Mr. Onofrio was, according to the Edison news item, the chief revenue officer at Attensity. That’s one of the sentiment oriented content processing outfits. (Attensity has been a low profile outfit for a while.)
In that “report” from Edison which you can read at this link, I noted a reference to H116 revenue. The report did not explain what this type of revenue is. I did a quick search and learned that H116 does not seem to be a major revenue type. H116 is a type of aluminum, a motorized stepper, and a string of characters used by a number of different manufacturers.
After some thinking whilst listening to the Jive Five, I realized that Edison and SLI Systems are using H116 as a token for “revenues for the first half of fiscal 2016.” There you go.
Another write up adds this color, which I think the Edison experts could have recycled when they made clear what H116 means:
Revenue is forecast to rise to $17.3 million in the six months ending December 31 from $13.6 million a year earlier when sales accelerated at a 27% pace, the Christchurch-based company said in a statement.
Here’s the important part in my view:
The software developer missed its sales forecast for the second half of the 2015 year, and has hired Martin Onofrio as its new chief revenue officer to drive revenue growth.
A couple of quick thoughts before I go watch the mist rise from the mine drainage pond:
- SLI might want to make sure that its experts output “news” which is easy to understand
- Inclusion of revenue challenges is probably as important, if not more important, than opining about the future. The future is not yet here, so, like picking the winner of the Kentucky Derby, touts are different from which nag crosses the finish line first.
- Attensity, in my opinion, has faced its own revenue head winds. I wonder if a chief revenue officer can generate revenue in a world in which there are open source and low cost eCommerce search systems?
A word to Edison: Please, do not write to complain about my nagging about the H116 thing. You offer a two page report which is one page. What’s up with that? Friday the 13th bad luck or a standard work product?
Stephen E Arnold, November 13, 2015
Microsoft: We Can Do Smart Software Just Like Google
November 13, 2015
I read “Microsoft Open-Sources DMTK, a Distributed Machine Learning Library.” I was not surprised. The folks in Redmond have had some serious Google envy for more than 15 years. After Google made some of its smart software available as open source, I assumed that Microsoft would want to do the me-too thing as well.
According to the write up:
Microsoft today announced the release of a new open-source machine learning toolkit that goes by the name DMTK. The toolkit contains a framework for training models on multiple servers, a topic modeling algorithm, and a word-embedding algorithm for natural language processing. It’s all out on GitHub under an MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) license. Using these tools, developers can handle machine learning at scale with fewer servers.
If I were teaching at a university, I would have to decide whether to embrace the Google or the company that provides SharePoint. I would be torn. Do I side with the Hatfields or the McCoys?
The write up points out that Facebook released a few of its smart software toys as part of its Torch program.
The idea is that developers can use these nifty new tools to create smart applications. I look forward to more systems like LinkedIn’s. These can determine how much spam to send me about people who are looking for work or who want to thought leaders. Useful stuff. Good for students to use as they make their way to the booming world of smart dust and slow going self driving autos.
Keep in mind that Microsoft can transform your business with SharePoint. Now that’s a software galaxy in need of some refurbishment. Perhaps the Facebook or Google smart software libraries can help?
Stephen E Arnold, November 13, 2015
Expect Disruption from Future Technology
November 13, 2015
A dystopian future where technology has made humanity obsolete is a theme older than the Industrial Revolution. History has proven that while some jobs are phased out thanks to technology more jobs are created by it, after all someone needs to monitor and make the machines. As technology grows and makes computing systems capable of reason, startups are making temporary gigs permanent jobs, and 3D printing makes it possible to make any object, the obsolete humanity idea does not seem so far-fetched. Kurzweilai shares a possible future with “The SAP Future Series: Digital Technology’s Exponential Growth Curve Foretells Avalanche Of Business Disruption.”
While technology has improved lives of countless people, it is disrupting industries. These facts prove to be insightful into how disruptive:
- In 2015 Airbnb will become the largest hotel chain in the world, launched in 2008, with more than 850,000 rooms, and without owning any hotels.
- From 2012 to 2014, Uber consumed 65% of San Francisco’s taxi business.
- Advances in artificial intelligence and robotics put 47% of US employment — over 60 million jobs — at high risk of being replaced in the next decade.
- 10 million new autonomous vehicles per year may be entering US highways by 2030.
- Today’s sensors are 1 billion times better — 1000x lighter, 1000x cheaper, 1000x the resolution — than only 40 years ago. By 2030, 100 trillion sensors could be operational worldwide.
- DNA sequencing cost dropped precipitously — from $1 billion to $5,000 — in 15 years. By 2020 could be $0.01.
- In 2000 it took $5,000,000 to launch an internet start-up. Today the cost is less than $5,000.
Using a series of videos, SAP explains how disruption will change the job market, project management, learning, and even predicting future growth. Rather than continuing the dystopia future projections, SAP positions itself to offer hope and ways to adapt for your success. Humanity will be facing huge changes because of technology in the near future, but our successful ability to adapt always helps us evolve.
3DWhitney Grace, November 13, 2015
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Product Hunt Adds Collections to Its Search Results
November 13, 2015
Product Hunt is a website for the cutting-edge consumer, where users share information about the latest and greatest in the tech market. The Next Web tells us, “Product Hunt Now Lets You Follow and Search for Collections.” A “collection” can be established by any user to curate and share groups of products. An example would be a selection of website-building tools, or of the best electronic-device accessories for charging electronic devices. The very brief write-up reveals:
“Product Hunt, the Web’s favorite destination to discover new apps, gadgets and connected services, has updated its Collections feature, allowing users to follow and search for curated lists. You can now follow any collection you find interesting to receive notifications when new products are added to them. Collections will also show up in search results alongside products. In addition, curators can add comments to products in their collections to describe them or note why they’ve included them in their list.”
So now finding the best of the latest is even easier. An important tool for anyone with a need, and the means, to keep in front of the technology curve. Launched in 2013, Product Hunt is based in San Francisco. Their Collections feature was launched last December, and this year the site also added sections specifically for books and for games.
Cynthia Murrell, November 13, 2015
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Crazy, Wild Hadoop Prioritization Advice
November 12, 2015
I read “Top 10 Priorities for a Successful Hadoop Implementation.” A listicle. I understand. Clicks. Visibility. Fame. Fortune. Well, hopefully.
I wanted to highlight two pieces of advice delivered in a somber, parental manner. Here are two highlights from the write up intended to help a Hadoop administrator get ‘er done and keep the paychecks rolling in.
Item 2 of 10: “Innovate with Big Data on enterprise Hadoop.” I find it amusing when advisors, poobahs, and former middle school teachers tell another person to innovate. Yep, that works really well. Even those who innovate are faced with failure many times. I think the well ran dry for some of the Italian Renaissance artists when the examples of frescos in Nero’s modest home were recycled. Been there. Done that. The notion of a person innovating with an enterprise deployment of Hadoop strikes me as interesting, but probably not a top 10 priority. How about getting the data into the system, formulating a meaningful query, and figuring out how to deal with the batchiness of the system?
Item 9 of 10: “Look for capabilities that make Hadoop data look relational.” There is a reason to use Codd type data management systems. Those reasons include that they work when properly set up, and they require data which can be sliced and diced. Maybe not easily, but no one fools himself or herself thinking, “Gee, why don’t I dump everything into one big data lake and pull out the big, glossy fish automagically.”
I am okay with advice. Perhaps it should reflect the reality with which open source data management tools present to an enterprise user seeking guidance. Enterprise search vendors got themselves into a world of hurt with this type of casual advice. Where are those vendors now?
Stephen E Arnold, November 12, 2015
The Guardian Recycles Binney and Seems to Omit Reddit Link to Original Content
November 12, 2015
I am not a subscriber to the Guardian. Perhaps the online article I viewed a moment ago is spoofed in some way. Anyway, navigate to “NSA Whistleblower Reveals Details of American Spying during Reddit AMA Session.” You can read a recycling of the Reddit Ask Me Anything. The link to the source on Reddit is here. Information has a way of disappearing, so if the link the AMA is a goner, there’s not much I can do.
The Guardian does take the time to provide links to its articles and to USA Today, an outstanding publication. Heck, yes, that “real” journalism stuff is just better than the original source.
Quick question: I find it interesting that real journalists are aggressively recycling social media content. Why not include an explicit link? Oh, I know. Pride, haste, a misplaced sense of providing “real” information. Pick one.
Stephen E Arnold, November 12, 2015
Semantics and the Web: The Bacon Has Been Delivered
November 12, 2015
I read and viewed “What Happened to the Semantic Web.” For one thing, the search engine optimization has snagged the idea in order to build interest in search result rankings. The other thing I know if that most people are blissfully unaware of what semantics are supposed to be and how semantics impacts their lives. Many folks are thrilled when their mobile phone points them to a pizza joint or out of an unfamiliar part of town.
The write up explains that for the last 15 years there has been quite a bit of the old rah rah for semantics on the Web. Well, the semantics are there. The big boys like Google and Microsoft are making this happen. If you are interested in triples, POST, and RDF, you can work through the acronyms and get to the main points of the article.
The bulk of the write up is a series of comparative screen shots. I looked at these and tried to replicate a couple of them. I was not able to derive the same level of thrillness which the article expresses. Your mileage may vary.
Here’s the passage I highlighted in a definitely pale shade of green:
As you can see, there is no question that the Web already has a population of HTML documents that include semantically-enriched islands of structured data. This new generation of documents creates a new Web dimension in which links are no longer seen solely as document addresses, but can function as unambiguous names for anything, while also enabling the construction of controlled natural language sentences for encoding and decoding information [data in context] — comprehensible by both humans and machines (bots). The fundamental goal of the Semantic Web Project has already been achieved. Like the initial introduction of the Web, there wasn’t an official release date — it just happened!
I surmise this is the semantic heaven described by Ramanathan Guha and his series of inventions, now almost a decade old. What’s left out is a small point: The semantic technology allows Google and some other folks to create a very interesting suite of databases. Good or bad? I will leave it to you to revel in this semantic fait accompli.
Stephen E Arnold, November 12, 2015
Google Books Is Not Violating Copyright
November 12, 2015
Google Books was controversial the moment it was conceived. The concept is simple and effective though: books in academic libraries are scanned and snippets are made available online. People have the ability to search Google Books for specific words or phrases, then they are shown where it is contained within a book. The Atlantic wrote, “After Ten Years, Google Books Is Legal” about how a Second Circuit judge panel ruled in favor of Google Books against the Authors Guild.
The panel ruled that Google Books fell under the terms of “Fair Use,” which as most YouTubers know, is the ability to use a piece of copyrighted content within a strict set of rules. Fair usage includes works of parody, academic works, quotations, criticism, or summarization.
The Authors Guild argued that Google Books was infringing upon its members copyrights and stealing potential profits, but anyone knows that too much of a copyright is a bad thing. It places too many limitations on how the work can be used, harming the dissemination of creative and intellectual thought.
“’It gives us a better senses of where fair use lies,” says Dan Cohen, the executive director of the Digital Public Library of America. They “give a firmer foundation and certainty for non-profits…Of all the parts of Judge Leval’s decision, many people I talked to were happiest to see that it stressed that fair use’s importance went beyond any tool, company, or institution. ‘To me, I think a muscular fair use is an overall benefit to society, and I think it helps both authors and readers,’ said Cohen.”
Authors do have the right to have their work copyright and make a profit off it, which should be encouraged and a person’s work should not be given away for free. There is a wealth of information out there, however, that is kept under lock and key and otherwise would not be accessed with a digital form. Google Books only extends a book’s reach, speaking from one who has relied on it for research.
Whitney Grace, November 12, 2015
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Google Takes Aim at Internet Crime
November 12, 2015
Google has a plan to thwart Internet crime: make it too expensive to be worth it. The company’s Online Security Blog examines the issue in “New Research: The Underground Market Fueling For-Profit Abuse.” The research was presented last June at the Workshop on the Economics of Information Security 2015; I recommend those interested check out the full report here.
The post describes the global online black market that has grown over the last ten years or so, where criminals trade in such items as stolen records, exploit kits, scam hosting, and access to compromised computers. The profit centers which transfer the shady funds rest upon an infrastructure, the pieces of which cost money. Google plans to do what it can to increase those costs. The write-up explains:
“Client and server-side security has dominated industry’s response to digital abuse over the last decade. The spectrum of solutions—automated software updates, personal anti-virus, network packet scanners, firewalls, spam filters, password managers, and two-factor authentication to name a few—all attempt to reduce the attack surface that criminals can penetrate. While these safeguards have significantly improved user security, they create an arms race: criminals adapt or find the subset of systems that remain vulnerable and resume operation.
“To overcome this reactive defense cycle, we are improving our approach to abuse fighting to also strike at the support infrastructure, financial centers, and actors that incentivize abuse. By exploring the value chain required to bulk register accounts, we were able to make Google accounts 30–40% more expensive on the black market. Success stories from our academic partners include disrupting payment processing for illegal pharmacies and counterfeit software outlets advertised by spam, cutting off access to fake accounts that pollute online services, and disabling the command and control infrastructure of botnets.”
Each of the links in the above quote goes to an in-depth paper, so there’s plenty of material to check out there. Society has been trying for centuries to put black markets out of business. Will the effort be more successful in the virtual realm?
Cynthia Murrell, November 12, 2015
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
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