Self Driving Bicycle Prank Points to Wider Arena
June 24, 2016
Technology companies are no stranger to making April Fools’ pranks in the form of media releases. This year, The Inspiration Room shared an article highlighting the Google Self Driving Bicycle, which was of course developed by the Dutch and launched in the Netherlands. The aspect of this story that is not fiction is how often the Dutch cycle. This short post briefs us on the media release,
“Google is introducing the Google Self Driving Bicycle in Amsterdam, the world’s premier cycling city. The Dutch cycle more than any other nation in the world, almost 900 kilometres per year per person, amounting to over 15 billion kilometres annually. The self-driving bicycle enables safe navigation through the city for Amsterdam residents, and furthers Google’s ambition to improve urban mobility with technology. Google Netherlands takes enormous pride in the fact that a Dutch team worked on this innovation that will have great impact in their home country.”
If there’s one truth this article points to, it’s that the field of search seems to be encompassing nearly everything. It is humorous how Google continues to grow new tentacles tackling more and more arenas that have seemingly little to do with search. Despite the fact this self-driving bicycle does not exist yet, it’s clearly no stretch of the imagination — if a company were to make such a product, would there be any other contenders for who would make it?
Megan Feil, June 24, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Stepes: Human Translation at Your Fingertips
June 24, 2016
Though today’s machine translation is a convenient way to quickly get the gist of a foreign-language passage, it has its limitations; professionals still turn to human translation services when it counts. A new platform, Stepes Translate, can bridge the gap (at least until algorithms catch up). Its chat-based format makes it as convenient as machine translation, but there is an actual, multi-lingual human at the other end. BusinessWire reports, “Stepes Extends Google Translate Model to Live Human Translation.” The press release explains:
“Stepes Translate uses the familiar side by side interface of machine translation platforms like Google Translate. Anyone requesting translation simply enters their text into the source field. Next, Stepes immediately identifies an appropriate translator from its network of more than 60,000 in-country translators through mobile notification. The translator begins to translate immediately on his/her smartphone while the requesting user can see their progress live. For most requests, the translation is completed within minutes and appears in the target field for the requesting user to see. … Whereas traditional translation software is overly technical and thus not easily accessible to many translators, Stepes’ mobile technology makes translation tools intuitive.”
Stepes can translate more than 100 languages, and offers a 3-tiered pricing based on quality. If you don’t mind a few awkward passages and humorous phrasings, there is the Basic, 10-cents/word plan. If you need to make a good impression, or the document has legal implications, you’ll want to spring for the Premium, 16-cents/word option.
A project of localization firm CSOFT, Stepes Translate is also known as the Social Translation Experiment Project and Eco System. The acronym is also a nod to the European steppes, the region from which sprung hundreds of the world’s major languages. Headquartered in Beijing, CSOFT (or Communications Solutions Of Foreign Trade) was established in 2003. The company attributes their global success to a strong emphasis on customer service.
Cynthia Murrell, June 24, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Palantir Technologies: Now Beer Pong and Human Augmented Intelligence?
June 23, 2016
I went months, nay years, without reading very much about Palantir Technologies. Now the unicorn seems to be prancing through my newsfeeds frequently. I read “Palantir’s Party Culture: Beer Pong, Office Pranks, and a Bad Case of the Hives.” The focus is less on how Gotham works and the nifty data management system the firm has engineered and more upon revelations about life inside a stealthy vendor of search and content processing systems.
The write up uses what appears to be company emails and letters from attorneys as sources of information. I thought that emails were the type of information not widely available. Lawyer letters? Hmm. Guess not. A former Hobbit (allegedly the Palantirians’ names for themselves in the Shire) has revealed information about a matter involving a terminated employee.
The Sillycon Valley company allegedly has or had employees who horsed around. I find this difficult to believe. Fun at work? Wow. The aggrieved individual alleges he was injured by a “drunk coworker” who was playing beer pong. And the individual with a beef allegedly had “snacks” taken from his work space. (I thought Palantir-type outfits provided food for the Hobbit-like individuals.)
The write up contains this statement:
The letter [from a legal eagle?] also makes the surprising allegation that Palantir engaged in improper business practices by using both Bloomberg data feeds and software from an IT firm called ANB without the appropriate licenses. Neither Palantir, Bloomberg, nor ANB responded to requests for comment. In the July 2010 letter, Cohen’s attorney states that his client was retaliated against for speaking out about these practices. From the letter:
Mr Cohen was retaliated against for…complaining about issues such as Palantir’s illegal use of third party copyrighted and trademarked icons and Bloomberg data feeds without adequate licenses. In addition, Mr. Cohen was retaliated against for complaining about the illegal use of open source code without crediting authors, and the illegal use of ANB software development kit without ANB’s authorization.
Yikes. From beer pong and missing snacks to the allegation of “improper business practices.” Who knew this was possible?
Please, note that the statements in the write up about “ANB” probably refer to IBM i2’s proprietary file structures for the Analyst’s Notebook product. (I dug in that outfit’s garden for a while.) What other errors lurk within these write ups about disenchanted Hobbits?
Several questions occurred to me:
- Is Palantir’s email system insecure? Have there been other caches of company email let loose from the Shire?
- Are these emails publicly available? Will those with access to the emails gather them and post them on a pastesite?
- What is the relationship between the IBM i2 proprietary file format and the Gotham system? (Wasn’t there a legal dust up with regard to i2’s proprietary technology?)
- How do commercial database content feeds find their way into systems not licensed for such access?
I find it interesting how a company which purports to maintain a low profile captures the attention of “real” journalists who have access to emails and legal letters.
I noted a couple of factoids too:
Key factoid one: Beer pong can be dangerous.
Key factoid two: People working in high tech outfits may want to check out their internal governance methods. Emails don’t walk; emails get sent or copied before, during, or after beer pong.
Stephen E Arnold, June 23, 2016
Factoid: Need a Fast Computer? Buzz China.
June 23, 2016
I read “China Makes New Supercomputing Gains.” (You may have to pay real money, not the Ethereum stuff to read the article.) The main idea is that China has the fastest supercomputer.
What I highlighted in exhaust fume puce was:
The Department of Commerce last year denied Intel’s request to export chips to four centers associated with Tianhe-2, alleging links to “nuclear explosive activities.” Chinese officials denied those charges and have used locally made chips to upgrade the system.
Does this mean that China is using silicon crafted by Shanghai High Performance IC Center.
The zippy system consists of about 41,000 chips, “each with 260 small calculating engines called processor cores.”
I learned:
… Designers [can] pack 10.65 million cores into 40 cabinets.
Yep, designers, not engineers or scientists. My wife consults a designer, but I am not sure that professional does much work in multicore silicon. Ivory paint with weird names is our expert’s core competency.
Why does this matter? The US is going mobile. Big Data is a slam dunk with the cloud computing solution which uses some graphic processors, not the Intel-type chips. The US is reluctant to admit, in Harry Shearer’s phrase, “We’re not number one.”
Like the NBA final competitions or cached Web search results, some may question the validity of the computer speed tests.
Stephen E Arnold, June 23, 2016
Stephen E Arnold, June
Peak Unicorn: Hooves of Doom
June 23, 2016
I loved the phrase “peak unicorn.” The co9mbination of mixed metaphors and a mythical horned equine is delicious. Navigate to “The Unicorn Godmother Dishes on Silicon Valley.” I find the addition of a “godmother” a bit like a 1958 Chevrolet Impala with additional chrome bolted on by an ambitious retro rod shop. Unicorns, peaks, and godmothers!
The main point of the write up in my opinion is not fruit salad metaphors. Here’s the passage I highlighted in passion fruit reddish purple:
I think we’re in a valuation-adjustment period where we’ve basically had very bullish markets both in the private and the public sectors for tech stocks over the past three to five years, and valuation multiples just got out of whack. There was too much money pouring into tech; and a perception developed that the only way to win was to offer a higher price. You know if there’s one house in a neighborhood that everybody wants, generally the way to get the house is to offer a higher price.
Yes, real estate. The “value” of a house in Holmby Hills compared to the value of a home in Pig, Kentucky.
The write up makes clear that some folks in Sillycon Valley may be getting nervous. Time to cash in and enjoy the good life. Unicorn farming in Pig, Kentucky? Search and content processing vendors are welcome too. A quick trip via flying car I hear.
Stephen E Arnold, June 23, 2016
Who Will Connect the Internet of Things to Business
June 23, 2016
Remember when Nest Labs had all the hype a few years ago? An article from BGR reminds us how the tides have turned: Even Google views its Nest acquisition as a disappointment. It was in 2014 that Google purchased Nest Labs for $3.2 billion. Their newly launched products, a wifi smoke alarm and thermostat, at the time seemed to the position the company for greater and greater success. This article offers a look at the current state:
“Two and a half years later and Nest is reportedly in shambles. Recently, there have been no shortage of reports suggesting that Nest CEO Tony Fadell is something of a tyrannical boss cut from the same cloth as Steve Jobs (at his worst). Additionally, the higher-ups at Google are reportedly disappointed that Nest hasn’t been able to churn out more hardware. Piling it on, Re/Code recently published a report indicating that Nest generated $340 million in revenue last year, a figure that Google found disappointing given how much it spent to acquire the company. And looking ahead, particulars from Google’s initial buyout deal with Nest suggest that the pressure for Nest to ramp up sales will only increase.”
Undoubtedly there are challenges when it comes to expectations about acquired companies’ performance. But when it comes to the nitty gritty details of the work happening in those acquisitions, aren’t managers supposed to solve problems, not simply agree the problem exists? How the success of “internet of things” companies will pan out seems to be predicated on their inherent interconnectedness — that seems to apply at both the levels of product and business.
Megan Feil, June 23, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
ZyLab Places eDiscovery in the Cloud
June 23, 2016
Through their Press Room site, ZyLab announces, “Zylab Introduces eDiscovery as a Service.” Billed as a cost-saving alternative to in-house solutions, the new platform allows users to select and pay for only the services they need through a monthly subscription. The press-release tells us:
“ZyLAB today announces that its eDiscovery solutions are now also delivered via the Internet in a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model in EMEA and AP via a managed service provider model. ZyLAB’s eDiscovery as a Service is introduced as the cost-effective alternative for organizations that do not have the time or IT resources to bring an eDiscovery solution in house. …
“With ZyLAB’s eDiscovery as a Service every type of company, in every industry can now easily scope the level of system they require. ZyLAB’s services span the entire Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM) so a company can select the precise services that meet the needs of their current matter. The Service Level Agreement (SLA) will outline those selections and guarantee the availability of the data, ZyLAB’s software, and ongoing maintenance from ZyLAB’s Professional Services consultants.”
We are assured ZyLab’s SaaS solutions are of the same caliber as their on-premises solutions. This approach can save a lot of time and hassle, especially for companies without a dedicated IT department. The write-up notes there are no long-term contracts or volume constraints involved,
and, of course, no new hardware to buy. If a company is willing to trust their data to a third party’s security measures, this could be a cost-effective way to manage eDiscovery.
Of course, if you were to trust anyone with your sensitive data, ZyLab’s record makes them a good choice. In fact, the company has been supplying eDiscovery and Information Government tech to prominent organizations for over three decades now. Large corporations, government organizations, regulatory agencies, and law firms around the world rely on their eDiscovery platform. The company was founded in 1983, with the release of the first full-text retrieval software for the PC. It’s eDiscovery/ Information Management platform was released in 2010.
Cynthia Murrell, June 23, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Yahoo Acquisitions: The Marissa Mayer Drama
June 22, 2016
The word “all” in “All the Startups Yahoo Bought in the Last Few Years, and What Happened to Them” turned me off. I persisted and worked my way through the shopping list of outfits purchased by Yahoo since the Xoogler seized the steering wheel. Like Hewlett Packard, Yahoo has found itself in the spotlight. HP may have the marvel of the Autonomy acquisition, subsequent write down, and legal dust up crown. But Yahoo has been more profligate on its multi year shopping spree.
The write up points me to this write up, “Here’s What Happened To All 53 of Marissa Mayer’s Yahoo Acquisitions.” Another “all.” Sigh. The upside of the Xoogler on the bridge was:
When she took over in mid-2012, employees were so enthusiastic about her arrival that one even photoshopped her face on Obama-style “hope” posters and hung them up around the company’s headquarters. Mayer did her best to live up to lofty expectations. She deployed quick fixes to solve Yahoo’s morale problems, including expanding parental leave and hiring high-profile celebrities to run the company’s media division.
The downside? I read:
But what’s clear is that the MaVeNS and acquisitions rescue strategy hasn’t been able to save the company from itself, despite Mayer’s protestations that it was successful. It’s worth looking, then, at exactly why these deals were made, and what has happened since.
Yep, PowerPoint fever, which is a variant of Excel spreadsheet fever. The problem is that the digital representations are not reality.
I learned that the Xoogler took these types of decisions:
- Shut down and “gutted” some of the acquisitions
- Rolled some companies into “existing divisions”
- A few companies are still “kicking”; for example, Tumblr.
I recommend that you work through the companies and the brief commentaries.
The way I read “Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Increased Spending after Secretly Agreeing with Investors to Cut Costs” undermines my confidence in the behavior of Xooglers. I thought ethical behavior was a core Google aptitude. Was I incorrect in this assumption?
What’s evident is that some Xooglers are outstanding PowerPoint types. The Excel expertise seems to be wanting. I assume the Board of Directors were convinced by the Xoogler’s digital confections. Savvy folks.
Stephen E Arnold, June 22, 2016
Google: The Future of Search Yet Again
June 22, 2016
The future of Web search is evident to me. Ads, ads, and more ads. For real journalists, the endless future of search is a worn carousel. Yep, it goes round and round but the results are predictable. For free rides on the ad machine.
Navigate to “Zurich Is Inventing the Future of Search.” Zurich, the home of financial gnomes and Albert Einstein’s off the reservation thinking is a numbers hot spot. Google knows this because a wizard once involved with Google search lives in a forest not too far from the exciting city of Zurich.
The write up informs me:
The new team has a distinct goal: to invent the future of Search, a voice-activated, human-like entity that can answer any query intelligently.
There you go a categorical affirmative. Sure, any query. Right.
I also learned:
During a demo of the new voice-based Google Assistant, Behzadi [Googler] showed off the AI’s understanding of context. For instance, asking “What are the rides at Europa Park?” followed by, “What are the height restrictions on Blue Fire?” and “How fast is it?” will return correct results without you having to clarify what Blue Fire, or “it” is.
And I noted this statement attributed to the former Novell exec now at the Alphabet Google thing:
“I can’t quantify our investment into AI, but it will eventually be embedded in everything,” Eric Schmidt, chairman of Google parent Alphabet, said…
Another unsubstantiated categorical.
I wonder if ETH offers night school classes in logic.
Stephen E Arnold, June 22, 2016
Palantir Technologies Challenges US Government Procurement
June 22, 2016
I was a wee lad when I read Don Quixote. I know that students in Spain and some other countries study the text of the 17th century novel closely. I did not. I remember flipping through a Classics’ comic book, reading the chapter summaries in Cliff’s Notes, and looking at the pictures in the edition in my high school’s library. Close enough for horse shoes. (I got an A on the test. Heh heh heh.)
Here’s what I recall the Don and his sidekick. A cultured fellow read a lot of fantasy fiction, mixed it up the real world, and went off on adventures or sallies. The protagonist (see I remember something from Ms. Sperling’s literature class in 1960) rode a horse and charged into the countryside to kill windmills. I remember there were lots and lots of adventures, not too much sex – drugs – rock and roll, and many convoluted literary tropes.
I still like the windmills. A Google search showed me an image which is very similar to the one in the comic book I used as my definitive version of the great novel. Here it is:
What does a guy riding a horse with a lance toward a windmill have to do with search and content processing? Well, I read “Palantir Lambastes Army Over $206 Million Contract Bidding.” I assume the information in the write up is spot on.
Palantir Technologies, a unicorn which is the current fixation of a Buzzfeed journalist, is going to sue the US Army over a “to be” contract for work. The issue is an all source information system procurement known as DCGS or sometimes DI2E. The acronyms are irrelevant. What is important is that the US Army has been plugging away with a cadre of established government contractors for a decade. Depending on whom one asks, DCGS is the greatest thing since sliced bread or it is a flop.
However, Palantir believes that its augmented intelligence system is a better DCGS / DI2E. than the actual DCGS / DI2E.
The US Army may not agree and appears be on the path to awarding the contract for DCGS work to other vendors.
According to the write up:
Palantir claims the Army’s solicitation is “unlawful, irrational, arbitrary and capricious,” according to the letter of intent Palantir sent to the U.S. Army and the Department of Justice, which was obtained by Bloomberg. The letter is a legal courtesy, which states Palantir will file a formal protest in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims next week and requests the Army delay awarding the first phase of the contract until litigation is resolved. The contract is slated to be awarded by the end of 2016.
The contract is worth a couple of hundred million, but the follow on work is likely to hit nine figures. Palantir has some investors who want more growth. The best way to get it, if the write up is accurate, is on the backs of legal eagles.
I don’t know anything about the US Army and next to nothing about Palantir, but I have some experience watching vendors protest the US government’s procurement process. My thought is that when bidders sue the government:
- Costs go up. Lawyers are very busy, often for a year or more. In lawyer land, billing is really good.
- Delays occur. The government unit snagged in the contracting hassle have to juggle more balls; for example, tasks have to be completed. When the vendors are not able to begin work, delays occur. This may not be a problem in lawyer land, but in the real world, downstream dependencies can be a hitch in the git along.
- Old scores may be hummed. Palantir settled a legal dust up with IBM which owns i2 Analysts Notebook. The Analysts Notebook is the very same software system whose file structure Palantir wanted to understand. i2 was not too keen on making its details available. (Note: I was a consultant to i2 for a number of years, and this was input number one to me from one of the founders). IBM has a pretty good institutional memory without consulting Watson.)
And Don Quixote? I wonder if the Palantirians, some of whom fancy themselves Hobbits, are going to be able to shape the real world to their vision. The trajectory of this legal dust up will be interesting to watch as it flames across the sky toward Spain and Don Quixote’s fictional library. Flame out or direct hit? The US Army and US government procurement policies are able to absorb charging horses and possibly a lance poke or two.
Stephen E Arnold, June 22, 2016
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