Encryption and Rap Lyrics
March 6, 2016
I read “Gang Used Rap Lyrics to Discuss Guns.” According to the write up:
Members of a gang, accused of smuggling automatic weapons into the UK by boat, used lyrics from a song by rapper the Notorious B.I.G. to discuss their arrival, a court has heard.
The write up added:
The Gimme the Loot lyrics were included in a message from Mr Defraine which read: “I’m ready to got this paper g you with me… my pockets looking kinda tight and I’m stressed yo munky let me get the vest”.
Argot can be a challenge for search and content processing. Were those $5,000 teddy bears on eBay really teddy bears?
Nope. Kinda munky maybe?
Stephen E Arnold, March 6, 2016
Alphabet Google Gets into the Corporate Storytelling Game
March 6, 2016
I read “Google’s New Site Lets Engineers Tell the Backstory of Some of Its Best Products.” Organizations crank out stories, but most of them are kept in the buildings or within the walled gardens of the minds eager to keep getting a paycheck.
According to the write up, Google has created barfoo where “engineers can tell their stories.” Okay, I expect the unvarnished truth, no editorial shaping. Well, that’s crazy. No secretive, paranoid outfit like Alphabet Google is going to do a Jerry Spring program for products and services that “emerge,” get bought and reinvented, or just me-too’ed.
The write up says:
The site currently covers four topics: collaboration in Docs, smart composing in Gmail, voice search recognition and how Google built a faster YouTube. The site also has a section for open jobs at Google, should you want to work there yourself. The topics are pretty in-depth, too. Not only does Google tell you the inspiration behind some of its products, it dives into the process of delivering them to users.
I am not sure the story of Google’s online advertising system will be revealed. There are some other interesting products and services which are likely to put on a lower priority track too.
But that GoTo/Overture/Yahoo “innovation” would be a story I would read. I would skim anything to do with the Glass, Parviz, and staff interaction activities as well. Yep, very low priority.
Palantir has its Tolkien and comic book “myths.” Google is going to do a reality show with post production I assume.
Stephen E Arnold, March 6, 2016
Microsoft Predictions for the Oscars in 2016
March 5, 2016
I know that Microsoft has a prediction system. I don’t pay much attention to Bing or other Microsoft technology. I understand that I am an analog brontosaurus.
The point, for me, is that predictive systems need to be based on numerical recipes which perform in a consistent manner. One can fiddle the definition of “consistency,” but when a predictive system is driving an autonomous vehicle, identifying a treatment for death, or identifying the worthy individuals as Oscar winners—the systems have to be pretty darned accurate.
The write up points out:
In 2015, Microsoft Bing’s prediction engine nailed the Academy Awards, guessing 20 out of 24 Oscar winners. The year before that, it did even better, going 21 for 24.
But in 2016, the Bingster, according to the write up:
only guessed 71% of the winners correctly, with 17 out of 24 correct choices.
In the real world, Bing’s predictive methods can chop out some highly probable losers. That may be quite useful for some applications like narrowing down a list of potential contractors.
For certain real world applications involving risk to life and limb in some far off war zone, I am not sure the Bing predictive engine will be number one on my list of systems upon which to rely.
The write up does not share my opinion, describing the result as “pretty okay.” Well, for me, a two thirds outcome is not pretty okay. It is below average, almost C minus or D plus territory.
The consumer angle suggests that Microsoft in terms of search and content processing may be prepping to become the next Yahoo.
Stephen E Arnold, March 5, 2016
Palantir Gets a Rah Rah from Bloomberg
March 5, 2016
I posted the unicorn flier in “Palantir: A Dying Unicorn or a Mad, Mad Sign?” I read “Palantir Staff Shouldn’t Believe the Unicorn Flyers.” I assume that the alleged fliers did exist in the Shire and were not figments of a Tolkienesque imagination. (I wonder of JRR’s classes were anchored in reality.)
The write up states:
For now, Palantir people can rest easy in the Shire, a.k.a. downtown Palo Alto, Calif. The company, which was named after the “seeing stones” from the Lord of the Rings, is not at risk of an evil wizard with preferred shares coming to vaporize workers’ share value.
The write up contains a hefty dose of jargon; for example:
During the fourth quarter of 2015, 42 percent of deals had such provisions, compared with 15 percent in the previous two quarters. Investors were also given the right to block an initial public offering that didn’t meet their valuation threshold in 33 percent of deals in the fourth quarter, compared with 20 percent in the second quarter, the study said. Palantir had neither provision.
Okay.
The only hitch in the git along is that Morgan Stanley has cut the value of its stake in Palantir.
Worth watching even if one is not an employee hoping that the value of this particular unicorn is going to morph into a Pegasus.
Stephen E Arnold, March 5, 2016
Quid Cheerleading: The Future of Search
March 4, 2016
I read “The Future of {Re}search.” (I love the curly braces.) The write up identifies the four big things in information access. Keep in mind that the write up is a rah rah for Quid, which is okay.
Here are the main points:
- Semantic search is the next big thing
- Visualization matters
- Humans are part of the search process
- Bots are the “Future of Search.” (The capitalization is from the source document.)
Quid is an interesting company. I thought that the firm was focused on analytics and nifty visualizations. Their catchphrase is “intelligence amplified,” which strikes me as similar to Palantir’s “augmented intelligence.”
If the write up is on the money, Quid is a search vendor in the same way Palantir Technologies is a search vendor.
The point about bots may catch the attention of the ever-alert Connotate folks. I think bots has been an important part of that firm’s services for many years.
So, “the next big thing”? Well, sort of.
Stephen E Arnold, March 4, 2016
Newspapers and Google Grants
March 4, 2016
I read “Google Continuing Effort to Win Allies Amid Europe Antitrust Tax Probes.” (You may have to pay to view this article and its companion “European newspapers Get Google Grants.” Hey, Mr. Murdoch has bills to pay.)
As you may know, Google has had an on again off again relationship with “real” publishers. Also, Alphabet Google finds itself snared in some income tax matters.
The write up points out:
Alphabet Inc.’s Google … awarded a set of grants to European newspapers and offered to help protect them from cyber attacks, continuing an effort to win allies while it faces both antitrust and tax probes.
I find this interesting. Has Alphabet Google “trumped” some of its early activities. I like that protection against cyber attacks too. Does that mean that Alphabet Google does not protect other folks against cyber attacks?
Stephen E Arnold, March 4, 2016
Hershey Chocolate: Semi Sweet Analytics?
March 4, 2016
I am wrapping up my profile of Palantir Technologies. I located a couple of references to Palantir’s activities in the non-government markets. One of the outfits allegedly swooned by the Hobbits was Hershey chocolate. A typical reference to the Hobbits and Kisses folks was “Hershey Turns Kisses and Hugs into Hard Data.”
When I read “The Hershey Company Partners with Infosys to Build Predictive Analytics Capability using Open Source Information Platform on Amazon Web Services,” I wondered why Palantir Technologies was not featured in the write up. Praescient Analytics, near Washington, DC, can plug industrial strength predictive analytics like Recorded Future’s into a Metropolitan installation without much hassle.
The write up makes clear that the chocolate outfit is going a new way. The path leads through Amazon Web Services to the Infosys Information Platform.
I find this quite a surprise. I have no doubt that Infosys has some competent folks on its team. But the questions flashing through my mind are:
- What’s up with the Palantir system?
- Why jump to Infosys when there are darned good outfits available in Boston and Washington, DC?
- What’s an outsourcing firm able to deliver that specialists with deep experience in making sense of data cannot?
I never understood Mars, and now I don’t understand the makers of the York Peppermint Patty.
Perhaps this is a “whopper” of a project?
Stephen E Arnold, March 4, 2016
The FBI Uses Its Hacking Powers for Good
March 4, 2016
In a victory for basic human decency, Engadget informs us, the “FBI Hacked the Dark Web to Bust 1,500 Pedophiles.” Citing an article at Vice Motherboard, writer Jessica Conditt describes how the feds identified their suspects through a site called (brace yourself) “Playpen,” which was launched in August 2014. We learn:
Motherboard broke down the FBI’s hacking process as follows: The bureau seized the server running Playpen in February 2015, but didn’t shut it down immediately. Instead, the FBI took “unprecedented” measures and ran the site via its own servers from February 20th to March 4th, at the same time deploying a hacking tool known internally as a network investigative technique. The NIT identified at least 1,300 IP addresses belonging to visitors of the site.
“Basically, if you visited the homepage and started to sign up for a membership, or started to log in, the warrant authorized deployment of the NIT,” a public defender for one of the accused told Motherboard. He said he expected at least 1,500 court cases to stem from this one investigation, and called the operation an “extraordinary expansion of government surveillance and its use of illegal search methods on a massive scale,” Motherboard reported.
Check out this article at Wired to learn more about the “network investigative technique” (NIT). This is more evidence that, if motivated, the FBI is perfectly capable of leveraging the Dark Web to its advantage. Good to know.
Cynthia Murrell, March 4, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
If You See Something, Say Something Adopts New Cybersecurity Meaning
March 4, 2016
A post-9/11 campaign for increasing security awareness will inform a similar public service announcement campaign to bring cybersecurity top of mind. See something suspicious online? Homeland Security wants to know about it published by NextGov reports on this 2016 Department of Homeland Security initiative. The decision to launch this campaign comes from an IDC recommendation; the US lacks a culture of cybersecurity concern, unlike Israel, according to the article. While $1 million is allotted for this campaign, the article describes bigger future plans,
“Last week, the Obama administration rolled out a new Cybersecurity National Action Plan, which establishes a new public commission on cybersecurity and proposes billions in new funding to upgrade hard-to-secure legacy IT systems in use at federal agencies, among several other steps.”
This year’s cybersecurity public and private sector awareness campaign was modeled after the “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign rolled out after September 11. However, this is not Homeland Security’s first attempt at educating the public about cybersecurity. The department has sponsored October as National Cybersecurity Awareness Month since 2004. As the article mentions, previous educational efforts have not appeared to influence culture. It would be interesting to know what metrics they are using to make that claim.
Megan Feil, March 4, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Google Is Taxing
March 3, 2016
I read “Google Lowered Taxes by $2.4 Billion Using European Subsidiaries.” Interesting stuff now that tax season in the US. My reaction to the headline is that Google is probably conforming to the applicable laws.
The write up points out:
Google saved $2.4 billion in worldwide taxes in 2014 by shifting 10.7 billion euros ($12 billion) in international revenues to a Bermuda shell company, regulatory filings show.
I like Bermuda. The write up referenced the method which I have noted before:
Google’s Dutch subsidiary is the heart of tax structures known as a “Double Irish” and a “Dutch Sandwich” because it involves moving money from one Google subsidiary in Ireland to a Google subsidiary in the Netherlands before moving it out again to a different Irish subsidiary, physically based in Bermuda, where there is no corporate income tax. This movement of cash enables Google parent Alphabet to keep the effective tax rate on its international income in the single digits.
The more coverage the Google sandwiches get, the more regulators will think about the Alphabet Google thing.
I am not sure that publicity with regard to tax methods is particularly helpful.
Stephen E Arnold, March 3, 2016
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