Google Search, 1 – Chinese Search Engines, 0
December 22, 2015
Google is number one in search. The company may not be the top of the Chinese government’s Hit Parade, but the firm’s Web search is the premier’s pajamas.
Need proof? Navigate to “Chinese Search Engines Still No Match for Google.” The write up explains:
At the moment, there is no better search engine than Google. But the company refused to abide by China’s Internet management system, and it decided to withdraw from the mainland in 2010, leaving Chinese Internet users behind. In the past five years, a possible comeback has been investigated, but so far the company’s China focus only seems to be on its Google Play Store for the Android operating system. Google still appears to be reluctant to reboot its search business in China, even though this is what would benefit the majority of domestic Internet users the most. The major consideration as far as Google’s decision makers are concerned is the company’s interests, rather than users’ needs.
Okay, that’s sort of substantive in a subjective way.
The write up continues:
To ensure that China’s Internet users enjoy better search options, relevant laws and regulations should be implemented to restrict the over-commercialization of domestic search engines; and the fairness and neutrality of the search engines should be strengthened so that the search results they offer are not molded by commercial considerations. For instance, search results should not be allowed to be mixed with content from ad auctions. In this way a separation between regular search results and commercial ad content can be ensured.
There you go.
I once liked www.jike.com. The service now redirects to www.chinaso.com. The results are reasonably useful but there was no jump out at me English language option.
For now, let’s assume that Chinese information retrieval systems are not up to the Google standard. You know what that means: Filtered resells, advertising, and silos of indexed information so one can enjoy the thrill of looking for indexed blog content. Hint: Look on the Google News page. The holiday is here so you, gentle reader, can explore the wonder of the Google News interface.
Stephen E Arnold, December 22, 2015
Caution about NoSQL Databases
December 22, 2015
I read “Exasol and Birst Join In-Memory Database to ‘Networked’ BI to Aid Mutual Expansion.” Another day, another marketing tie up. But the article contained a very interesting statement, attributed to a Birst big dog:
NoSQL databases are great for atomic storage and retrieval, and for elastic scaling over a distributed [server] environment, but when it comes to doing aggregations with joins – and that’s what analytics is about – it is just not what they are built for.”
I wonder if that shot is aimed at outfits like MarkLogic. Worth watching this partnership.
Stephen E Arnold, December 22, 2015
Microsoft Drops Bing from Pulse, Adds Azure Media Services
December 22, 2015
The article on VentureBeat titled Microsoft Rebrands Bing Pulse to Microsoft Pulse, extends Snapshot API ushers in the question: is Bing a dead-end brand? The article states that the rebranding is meant to emphasize that the resource integrates with MS technologies like Power BI, OneNote, and Azure Media Services. It has only been about year since the original self-service tool was released for broadcast TV and media companies. The article states,
“The launch comes a year after Bing Pulse hit version 2.0 with the introduction of a cloud-based self-service option. Microsoft is today showing a few improvements to the tool, including a greatly enhanced Snapshot application programming interface (API) that allows developers to pull data from Microsoft Pulse into Microsoft’s own Power BI tool or other business intelligence software. Previously it was only possible to use the API with broadcast-specific technologies.”
The news isn’t good for Bing, with Pulse gaining popularity as a crowdsourcing resource among such organizations as CNN, CNBC, the Aspen Institute, and the Clinton Global Initiative. It is meant to be versatile and targeted for broadcast, events, market research, and classroom use. Dropping Bing from the name may indicate that Pulse is moving forward, and leaving Bing in the dust.
Chelsea Kerwin, December 22, 2015
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
New Years Resolutions in Personal Data Security
December 22, 2015
The article on ITProPortal titled What Did We Learn in Records Management in 2016 and What Lies Ahead for 2016? delves into the unlearnt lessons in data security. The article begins with a look back over major data breaches, including Ashley Madison, JP Morgan et al, and Vtech and gathers from them the trend of personal information being targeted by hackers. The article reports,
“A Crown Records Management Survey earlier in 2015 revealed two-thirds of people interviewed – all of them IT decision makers at UK companies with more than 200 employees – admitted losing important data… human error is continuing to put that information at risk as businesses fail to protect it properly…but there is legislation on the horizon that could prompt change – and a greater public awareness of data protection issues could also drive the agenda.”
The article also makes a few predictions about the upcoming developments in our approach to data protection. Among them includes the passage of the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR) and the resulting affect on businesses. In terms of apps, the article suggests that more people might start asking questions about the information required to use certain apps (especially when the data they request is completely irrelevant to the functions of the app.) Generally optimistic, these developments will only occur of people and businesses and governments take data breaches and privacy more seriously.
Chelsea Kerwin, December 22, 2015
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
When the Data Cannot Be Trusted
December 22, 2015
A post at Foreign Policy, “Cyber Spying Is Out, Cyber Lying Is In,” reveals that it may be more important now than ever before to check the source, facts, and provenance of digital information. Unfortunately, search and content processing systems do not do a great job of separating baloney from prime rib.
Journalist Elias Groll tells us that the experts are concerned about hacking’s new approach:
“In public appearances and congressional testimony in recent months, America’s top intelligence officials have repeatedly warned of what they describe as the next great threat in cyberspace: hackers not just stealing data but altering it, threatening military operations, key infrastructure, and broad swaths of corporate America. It’s the kind of attack they say would be difficult to detect and capable of seriously damaging public trust in the most basic aspects of both military systems and a broader economy in which tens of millions of people conduct financial and health-related transactions online….
“Drones could beam back images of an empty battlefield that is actually full of enemy fighters. Assembly robots could put together cars using dimensions that have been subtly altered, ruining the vehicles. Government personnel records could be modified by a foreign intelligence service to cast suspicion on a skilled operative.”
Though such attacks have not yet become commonplace, there are several examples to cite. Groll first points to the Stuxnet worm, which fooled Iranian engineers into thinking their centrifuges were a-okay when it had actually sabotaged them into over-pressurizing. (That was a little joint project by the U.S. and Israel.) See the article for more examples, real and hypothesized. Not all experts agree that this is a growing threat, but I, for one, am glad our intelligence agencies are treating it like one.
Cynthia Murrell, December 22, 2015
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
How Multitasking Alters Our Brains
December 22, 2015
An article at Forbes, “Is Technology Making Us Dumb and Numb?” brings neuroscience to bear on the topic, and the conclusion is not pretty. Contributor Christine Comaford, who regularly writes about neuroscience in relation to leadership, tells us:
“Multitasking reduces gray matter density in the area of the brain called the Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC)…. The ACC is involved in a number of cognitive and emotional functions including reward anticipation, decision-making, empathy, impulse control, and emotion. It acts like a hub for processing and assigning control to other areas of the brain, based on whether the messages are cognitive (dorsal) or emotional (ventral). So when we have reduced gray matter density in the ACC due to high media multitasking, over time we see reduced ability to make sound decisions, to modulate our emotions, to have empathy and to connect emotionally to others.”
Hmm, is that why our national discourse has become so uncivil in recent years? See the article for a more detailed description of the ACC and the functionality of its parts. Maybe if we all kick the multitasking habit, the world will be a slightly kinder place.
Cynthia Murrell, December 22, 2015
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Bye-Bye Paid Reviews
December 22, 2015
One has to admit that this sounds like a sweet way to make a few quick dollars: write a fake online review about a product or service highlighting good points and sellable features, post it on your social media accounts, Amazon, your blog, Yelp, TripAdvisor, and then collect a few bucks. While Twitter might slowly be losing the social media race against Facebook and Instagram, the UK Telegraph says that the social network has another useful purpose: “Has Twitter Finally Killed The Mess Of The False Online Review?”
Fake reviews cost consumers millions of dollars each year, because they believe that first hand accounts from regular people trump a corporate advertising account. However, it spawned a big market for people to spend a few dollars to pay someone write a fake review and give a product/service a positive spin. The consumer is getting tired of fake reviews, as are online retailers like Amazon and the US government, which has even drafted the Consumer Review Freedom Act.
Twitter is jumping into action using big data moves like real time data sentimental analysis, location-based apps that search social media content for content, and algorithms to analyze tweets
“Chief executive Giles Palmer believes that apps such as Twizoo are only the start of how products and businesses are evaluated, especially as social media continues to evolve. ‘Until recently, social media monitoring has been a listening business where companies and brands have kept an eye on what their customers are doing, but not doing too much about it…But with mobile customers are after products and goods where they want to make an instant decision based on instant data. What’s more they want that data to be reliable and to be truthful; Twitter provides that.’”
Consumers are being more discerning about the products and services they purchase, but they also trust reviews to help them evaluate them so they will not be duped. High praise for Twitter for proving how social media is valuable as a learning tool and also for proving it is still a worthwhile network.
Whitney Grace, December22, 2015
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Use the Sentiment Analysis Luke
December 22, 2015
The newest Star Wars film is out in theaters and any credible Star Wars geek has probably seen the film at least twice. One theme that continues to be prevalent in the franchise is the use of the mystical, galactic power the Force. The Force gives the Jedi special powers, such as the ability to read a person’s mind. Computer Weekly says that data will be able to do the same thing in: “Sentiment Analysis With Hadoop: 5 Steps To Becoming A Mind Reader.”
While the article title reads more like a kit on how to became a psychic cheat, sentiment analysis has proven to predict a person’s actions, especially their shopping habits. Sentiment analysis is a huge market for companies wanting to learn how to reach their shoppers on a more intimate level, predict trends before they happen, and connect with shoppers in real-time. Apache Hadoop is a tool used to harness the power of data to make anyone with the right knowledge a mind reader and Twitter is one of the tools used.
First-data is collect, second-label data to create a data dictionary with positive or negative annotations, third-run analytics, fourth-run through a beta phase, and fifth-get the insights. While it sounds easy, the fourth step is going to be the biggest hassle:
“Remember that analytic tools that just look for positive or negative words can be entirely misleading if they miss important context. Typos, intentional misspellings, emoticons and jargon are just few additional obstacles in the task.
Computers also don’t understand sarcasm and irony and as a general rule are yet to develop a sense of humor. Too many of these and you will lose accuracy. It is probably best to address this point by fine-tuning your model.”
The purpose of sentiment analysis is teaching software how to “think” like a human and understand all our illogical ways. (Hmm…that was a Star Trek reference, whoops!) Hadoop Apache might not have light sabers or help you find droids, but it does offer to help understand consumers spending habits. So how about, “These are the greenbacks you have been looking for.”
Whitney Grace, December 22, 2015
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Watson Weekly: More on the Weather Channel
December 21, 2015
IBM owns the Weather Company data, not the TV show. The write up “The Future of Cognitive Computing Is Now: Advanced Analytics Is Already Saving Lives and Driving Efficiencies at Airbus and The Weather Company” is an interesting IBM Watson content marketing effort.
When IBM bought the flagging Weather Company, I was curious how the tie up would fly. This article explains that the duo are performing some pretty serious good deeds; for example, saving lives. The argument is interesting to those who want airlines to be more efficient in ways beyond treating customers like cattle and feeding them meals which are very similar to what is in Old Yeller dog food.
The airline angle is explained this way:
The Weather Company utilizes the connected sensors of aircraft from over 200 airlines (which adds up to a combined total of over 50,000 flights a day) to measure atmospheric pressure and wind speed. Drones and even smart phones are used to take measurements closer to the ground, while satellites collect data from high above the globe. This amounts to a vast amount of data, Kenny explains.
The data help pilots avoid turbulence.
Also the write up explains:
Harnessing the power of the IoT and cognitive computing isn’t just about saving lives, important as that is. That data is analyzed to provide better customer services, something that Laurent Martinez aims to do at Airbus by improving digital operations in two ways. “First is what I call gate-to-gate operations… There’s also a second, productivity-boosting goal that comes with connected aircraft: allowing passengers to use the internet while on flights, something which would be especially useful for long haul.
My take on this deal with IBM is that the Watson tendrils are being hydroponically force fed into business niches.
Will these tendrils take root and flourish? Will these tendrils die and be absorbed into the datasphere? IBM is betting big money that from a tiny acorn, giant Watson revenues will grow.
Great idea. We have to wait to find out what Mother Nature does. I would not try to fool Mother Nature or stakeholders when revenue is involved.
Stephen E Arnold, December 21, 2015
Proprietary Enterprise Search: False Hopes and Brutal Costs
December 21, 2015
At lunch the other day, the goslings and I engaged in what I thought was a routine discussion: The sad state of the enterprise search market.
I pointed out that the “Enterprise Search Daily” set up by Edwin Stauthamer was almost exclusively a compilation of Big Data articles. Enterprise search, although the title of the daily, was not the focal point of the content.
Enterprise search is a cost black hole. R&D, support, customization, and bug fixes gorge on money and engineers. Instead of adding value to an enterprise system, search becomes the reason the CFO has a migraine and why sales professionals struggle to close deals.
I said, “Enterprise search has disappeared.”
One of the goslings asked, “What’s happened to the proprietary search systems acquired by some big companies?”
We were off an running.
The goslings mentioned that Dassault Systèmes bought Exalead and the brand has disappeared from the US market. IBM bought Vivisimo, and the purchase was explained as a Big Data buy, but the company and its technology have disappeared into the Great Blue Hole, which is today’s IBM. Hummingbird bought Fulcrum, and then OpenText bought Hummingbird. Open Text owns Information Dimension’s BASIS, BRS Search, and its own home brew search system. Oracle snapped up Endeca, InQuira, and RightNow in a barrage of search binge shopping. Lexmark—formerly a unit of Big Blue—bought ISYS Search Software and Brainware. Then there was the famous purchase of Fast Search & Transfer by Microsoft and the subsequent police investigation and the charges filed against a former executive for fancy dancing with the revenue numbers. And who can forget the $11 billion purchase of Autonomy by IBM. There have been other deals, and the goslings enjoyed commenting on this.
I called a halt to the lunch time stand up comedy routine. The executives of these companies were trying to do what they thought was best for their [a] financial future and [b] for their stakeholders. Some of these stakeholders had suffered through revenue droughts and were looking for a way out of the sea of red ink enterprise search vendors generate with aplomb.
The point I raised was, “Does the purchase of a proprietary enterprise search system?” make a substantive contribution to the financial health of the purchasing company.
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