USA.gov Not Enough? Now GovInfo.gov Tries to Mind the Gap
February 15, 2016
I love it when US government indexes proliferate. The consultants enjoy the fruits of their duplicative labor. The folks looking for information have another choice. I thought that USA.gov, produced by the ever reliable GSA outfit, was the portal to US government information. There are some caveats; for example, classified information is not on USA.gov and there may be some servers’ content which is either not indexed or scrubbed. Where are the public documents related to health care contractors who assist the various agencies in rooting out fraudulent medical claims? Good question.
I learned that I can “discover US government information” at www.govinfo.gov. I did a quick check of the site, ran a couple of queries, and browsed documents in alphabetical order. I like alphabetical ordering.
Several observations:
- The query “CIA budget” returned an eclectic list of documents. The top hit was a privacy act. I expected no less.
- The browse list revealed a category approach. Clicking the “plus” sign allows drill down. Lots of drill down.
- A number of links directed me to another Web site so I could order documents.
- I ran the federal budget query on USA.gov and was directed to yet another US government Web site, not the GPO Web sites.
When I browsed the site, response time seemed a bit sluggish. A small banner reminded me that the site was in beta. At some point the GovInfo.gov site will replace the Government Printing Office site.
I have no strong opinion about these government “find information” sites. There are a number of them. Redundancy is good for jobs, good for contractors, good for consultants, and good for those who know which US government site to consult for which specific document.
Now about those vendors supplementing investigations of medical fraud? I know the documents were available. I downloaded them from www.cms.gov a couple of years ago. Poof.
Stephen E Arnold, February 15, 2016
A Russian Signal: Alphabet, Apple, and Microsoft: Are These Outfits Tuned In?
February 15, 2016
I read “Russian Official Says Google And Apple Have Hit ‘Point Of No Return’.” If accurate, the information presented in the write up is bad, bad news for the giant American outfits selling in Russia. I learned:
Speaking to Bloomberg, Russia’s “Internet Czar” German Klimenko said that Google and Apple will need to pay higher amounts of taxes to the Russian government.
I noted a wonderful quote, although the US companies might not think the statement is worthy of a motivational poster:
“We are breeding the cow and they are milking it,” Klimenko [Russia’s Internet tsar] told Bloomberg. He added, “When you buy an app from Google Play or the App Store anywhere in Europe, VAT is charged at the place of payment, but not here in our banana republic.”
I like the cow reference. Cash cow from the BCG star, dog, and question mark thing which harkens back to General Eisenhower and forward to the azure chip consulting crowd.
Worth monitoring along with the flight reliability of the SU 35, the Russian military drills, and the Russian tax authorities’ approach to some cash generating US outfits.
The write up points out:
Klimenko also alleged that companies like Google can track “everything” and responded to 32,000 requests a year from U.S. law-enforcement agencies but won’t help Russian agencies with similar requests.
Imagine life without Windows. No Apple hardware. No Google. Maybe there is more to the tax move than just hard cash.
Stephen E Arnold, February 15, 2016
LinkedIn and Its Alleged Dark Pattern GUI
February 15, 2016
I am a no pay user of LinkedIn. I don’t pay much attention to the service. I noticed that I no longer receive automatic notifications when one of the few groups I “follow” post new items. My hunch is that LinkedIn does not find my sense of humor in line with the firm’s revenue goals and its efforts to boost its stock price.
I read “LinkedIn Dark Patters or Why Your Friends keep Spamming You to Sign Up for LinkedIn.” (Note if the link does not work, you will have to deal with the publisher.) I did not give LinkedIn permission to suck up my address book. I do receive wonky emails from people I don’t know thanking me for my “anniversary.” Hey, LinkedIn, I am retired, and I am not into the anniversary thing. Send me a Hallmark card. That’s really sincere.
In the write up there was a reference to a phrase which I found interesting. The phrase is “dark pattern.” The idea is that LinkedIn allegedly uses interface tricks and confusing links to get “permission” to send email to people.
I am not sure what LinkedIn hopes to accomplish with this trick. Maybe the outfit needs new customers of a service which is mostly a job hunting and data collection system? Maybe LinkedIn is helping people reunite with contacts who are stranded in an unused corner of an address book? Maybe LinkedIn is desperate to irritate people? I am not sure.
I quite like the phrase “dark pattern.” I noticed that Google is going to take action when “download” buttons do not perform as expected. Hey, what’s the hurry.
After reading the write up, I noticed that when people want to be my LinkedIn pal, I no longer can reply to that person. I have the choice of accept or reject. I don’t click any buttons, but it seems reasonable that if someone wants to be my pal, I should be able to ask, “Why?”
Who wants to buddy up to a 71 year old who spends his time thinking about the sad state of the online industry, the quasi monopolies that crush innovation, and the services which try hard to make their spreadsheet fevers disappear with actual revenues?
Interesting question. I love the “dark pattern” thing. But the idea offends me. I will continue to make the links on my pages do what the user expects. I am one of a almost extinct species. If you want to buy CyberOSINT, you have to navigate to an info page and then click a link that asks you to buy. That click displays the purchase page. No trickery. You can depart at any time without fear of spam.
Stephen E Arnold, February 15, 2016
The UK Government Invests in Secure Startups
February 15, 2016
The UK has been criticized as being one of the most invasive countries when it comes to monitoring individuals and having security cameras everywhere, even on garbage cans. While the question, “how much is too much?” runs around people’s heads, there is also a concern about the lax of security developments. The UK is much like its former colony the United States in that is interested in beefing up security technology InfoSecurity says in the article, “Government Start-up Support Creates A ‘Very Exciting Time.’”
Government support for UK security tech start-ups is one of the main driving forces in the industry. It demonstrates that the UK government is invested in advancing new ideas and help new companies get the leg up they need to develop the best possibly product before it is delivered to a bigger market. It also proves that the government is taking cybersecurity as a very serious risk that needs bolstering to counteract actions taken by terrorists and rogue nations.
“This week, the UK government announced a £250,000 Early Stage Accelerator Programme to help start-ups in the space get advice, support and funding to develop their products and services and bring them to market. It will be run by Cyber London—described as “Europe’s first cybersecurity accelerator and incubator space”—and the Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT) at Queen’s University Belfast.”
While venture corporations are usually the first place start-ups turn to for investments, the government plays a crucial role in regulating the technology and helping companies grow beyond their initial roots. It also allows the new security start-ups to make important connections with the right government officials to build strategic relationships.
It is wonderful that western governments are taking cyber threats more seriously and take preemptive action against dangerous threats. It would be even better if smaller law enforcement agencies at the city and state level in the US were more capable of handling cyber attacks.
Whitney Grace, February 15, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
EasyAsk Unveils Mobile Shopping Solution Through Semantic Search
February 15, 2016
The announcement on PRWeb titled EasyAsk Introduces EasyAsk Voice Shopper Uniting Voice and Mobile for a Revolutionary Shopping Experience pairs shopping with semantic technology. According to the article, users will be able to hold a conversation with the EasyAsk search engine that will lead to the relevant and ideal product for the user. The article says,
“EasyAsk Voice Shopper creates a new paradigm for mobile shopping by allowing customers to have a conversation with a mobile commerce site or app, just like speaking with a sales associate. Having evolved from over 15 years of natural language research and development, the EasyAsk conversational search engine powers the conversation with the customer, combining an understanding of the shopper’s intent with the deep knowledge of retailer’s products and merchandising objectives to deliver the right products.”
The emphasis on mobile shopping is due to the research showing the low mobile shopping conversion rate of only 0.80%, most likely due to the pain-in-the-neck that is mobile shopping! Who hasn’t switched from their phone to their computer after clicking an email link for a cute pair of sneakers? In a perfect world, this new service would be like speaking to a real person. But unless I am mistaken, it will probably feel more like any number of voice menus that people find themselves shouting at to be understood.
Chelsea Kerwin, February 15, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Wrangle That Data: Trifacta Receives $35 Million
February 14, 2016
When I read “Data Cleaning Software Company Trifacta Raises $35 Million,” I realized that the notion of automating the clean up of disparate data was an unsolved problem. Odd. I have been operating on the assumption that tools from Lexmark Kapow and Palantir had tamed that stallion years ago. Wrong.
According to the write up:
New investor Cathay Innovation and existing investors Accel Partners, Greylock Partners, and Ignition Partners participated in the new round. To date, the company has raised more than $76 million, including the $25 million round announced May 2014.
That’s a reasonable chunk of change for a function many search and content processing vendors suggest is a no brainer. Trifacta has a pocketful of cash to provide some evidence that the belief that cleaning up data remains a big, big problem.
Will Trifacta surge to the top of the data clean up pile. If one takes a peek at the azure chip consulting firm reports on this housekeeping sector, there are quite a few vendors chasing customers in this sector.
Now returning to the question about incumbents like Kapow and Palantir. Where are these companies? I can understand why Kapow has slipped from some folks’ radar, but the Palantir operation is active in the commercial sector and seems to have helpers, wizards, and smart software which allows a person with little or no training to import, process, and extract insights from disparate data.
Do those funding Trifacta perceive Kapow and Palantir as companies unable or unwilling to tackle the problems Trifacta addresses? Good question.
Stephen E Arnold, February 14, 2016
Gartner and Business Intelligence Magic Thing
February 14, 2016
I love consultants, especially mid tier consultants. The idea is that folks who are reasonably pleasant can become experts in various market sectors is a signal that optimism is alive and thriving in a sketchy economic swamp.
The mid tier consultants are a fave. These outfits provide more tradition than the webmaster or Visual Basic programmer who is out of a job. The ease with which one can become a consultant lends a certain squishiness to Lone Rangers offering expertise for hire.
The blue chip outfit are just too expensive for many folks who know they need help. Think of the difference between someone who jets to Lyon for lunch and the person who grabs a slice in Midtown.
Thus, blue chip outfits (the top drawer firms), the azure chip firms (companies either on their way up or down in the expertise Great Chain of Being), and the gray chip folks. The gray chip folks are the disaffected middle school teacher who decides to become a self appointed expert in sponsored content for search engine optimization.
The write up “Critiquing the Gartner BI and Analytics MQ” will not elicit much of a response from the mid tier outfit responsible for the “analysis.” Legal eagles slap when the actual quadrant thing is reproduced.
But the write up hits some nerves in the sagging neck of the azure chip services firm; for example:
- Companies excluded for no apparent reason. (Maybe these outfits rejected the azure chip firm’s blandishments to buy services and be better understood?)
- A “kitchen sink” approach. (Maybe this means dumping stuff into a container and binge watching Happy Days on Hulu? Stuff breaks when hasty hands place dirty dishes in a sink.)
- Products are mixed up. The example is Design Studio. (Aren’t these software components pretty much the same? Sure they are, gentle mid tier consultant getting smart by searching Google for info. Sure they are.)
- Inconsistency. (The write up displays actual, high value, super secret, for some eyes only magic thingies. I looked at each graph and was confused in terms of what was presented and how the classifications changed in the span of one fiscal year. Aren’t I the dunce?)
The write up is not about hell fire and brimstone. Here’s the peace offering after the carpet bombing:
To be fair on Gartner, they have made a solid effort at explaining their rationale and, given there are some 500 vendors globally, vying for attention, narrowing down to this selection is a valiant effort. The care with which Gartner has made its understanding known is also commendable, even if some of those explanations are questionable. Another problem with the report is that it is static. It is a snapshot at a point in time that is biased in favor of one constituency and which does not, in my view, adequately recognize the necessary and sometimes difficult tensions that exist between IT and lines of business when it comes to rationalizing or consolidating BI tools in an enterprise setting. I think Gartner has done the industry a major favor by decoupling the reporting element and focusing upon the modern approach to BI. But that’s not enough.
Maybe another azure chip outfit will leap into this opportunity. A mere 500 vendors. The number seems low to me. I eagerly await the next intellectual semi-truck load of insights from the azure chip sector. Yes, eager am I.
Stephen E Arnold, February 14, 2016
Short Honk: Time Inc Allegedly Buys MySpace in an AOL Moment
February 13, 2016
I read “Time Inc Acquires Viant, Owner Of Myspace And A Vast Ad Tech Network.” According to the write up, the plan is:
to combine Viant’s business with its own, creating a big data, ad targeting powerhouse. Specifically, Time says it will “merge its premium content, subscriber data, and advertising inventory with Viant’s first party data and programmatic capabilities to bring substantial value to customers of both platforms.”
Ah, synergy. Just like year 2000?
Stephen E Arnold, February 13, 2016
Byline: Crowd Funded Journalism
February 13, 2016
I encountered Byline.com, a crowd-funded journalism site. I have noticed that the “news” is not what I remembered when I was a sprout. The idea is that readers will provide money, and the site operators will do “news.” You should check it out. The title of the Byline.com news page is Haystack, which may be a response to some legal eagle flapping.
I noticed that the site has raised about 6 percent of the money the site wants to raise. That works out to about US$15 million. Real journalism outputting real news is expensive. One can become a Byline journalist at this link. If Byline requires office space in the US, the former Pearson Education space is available in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. My hunch is that the real estate folks handling the space will wheel and deal.
Worth a look.
Stephen E Arnold, February 13, 2016
Venture Backed Search Vendors Face Exciting 2016
February 12, 2016
I read “The State of Venture Capital.” I thought, “Oh, ho, here comes the tightening of the thumbscrews. The idea is simple. Insert fingers and turn the crank. My hunch is that the device will focus the attention of person whose fingers are in the business end of the gizmo.
In the write up, I learned that in the next two years, folks should expect:
- Increased loss ratios
- Most flat rounds
- More down rounds
- More structured rounds
- Relatively harder to raise capital
- VCs marking-to-market showing some movements south
I like the reference to the movement south.
How does this relate to the search and content processing outfits which have sucked in tens of millions in venture funding? Three items for which I will be watching:
- More market repositioning. Think predictive analytics, data lakes, cloud solutions, and artificial intelligence. Talk is cheap. If talk generates a license deal, that’s the upside.
- Downsizing. I know that growth is all the rage, but I think that some vendors will have no choice except cutting back on expenses. Full time hires become contract workers. Trade show participation becomes a webinar which is archived and the promoted as a resource.
- Dance card shuffling. In an effort to generate leads and from the leads some real license deals, companies will join up. Others will departner and find another entity with which to dance.
Which search vendors will survive? The last big shake out winnowed the likes of Convera, Delphes, Entopia, and Siderean. The acquisition boomlet moved Autonomy, Exalead, ISYS Search, and Vivisimo into the safe havens of larger organization. Who will buy today’s market leaders? Other vendors will have no choice but go quiet. The last time I checked Dieselpoint it was still in business. Sophia Search? Intrafind? X1?
Which company is the next Autonomy? Elastic, Recommind, IBM Watson?
My view is that 2016 will be exciting for some folks.
Stephen E Arnold, February 12, 2016
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