Alphabet Google: Wonky PR but PR Nevertheless
December 13, 2016
I read with some discomfort “Google Employees Confess All the Things They Hated Most about Working at Google.” The slight nausea was not caused by the word “all” in the headline. I admit that the word “all” did contribute to my vexatiousness, but the black light focused on the Google sent me for the Nauzene.
Unwarranted criticism of Alphabet Google fuels my need to Nauzene and its four minute formula. Relief cannot come quickly enough.
Imagine. Google employees expressing negative opinions about the company that handles more than one trillion queries per year, makes oodles of money selling highly relevant advertisements delivered to knowing customers, and inventing tomorrow every day. What would the world be like without the Loon balloon, the amusing Google self driving automobile, and the maps which deliver information about where to buy pizza.
I highlighted five items from the laundry list of complaints. Here are the ones which spark my engine to turn the winch that will pull these wizards from Googzilla’s maw and put them to work at a company which values talent; for example, Amazon. Amazon allows its employees to sleep in efficient tents outside of the company’s warehouses. Google tolerates a few Googlers who live in campers in a company parking lot or under desks in cubicles on in beanbag chairs.
Here you are:
- Honest criticism is not part of the ethos. Who needs honesty when everyone is awesome at an awesome company producing awesome products and services? Answer: No one. What’s the problem, Googler?
- Google is disorganized. Impossible. The ads appear as planned. Well, there may be some missteps, but most of the ads work really well. Confusing applicant names or encouraging an employee to remain in the same job without a stroke or two are two examples of understandable process failures. No biggie.
- Data, not human functions, fuel decisions. If it cannot be counted, “it” cannot exist. What’s the problem here? Google is into data. Get into data or get out of Google. Anyone can make a career mistake, but don’t blame others for one’s lack of objective, logical, mathematical ability.
- Some employees are not used to their potential. Hey, this is a problem with you, buttercup. Do something significant or apply for a job with the Salvation Army or Wal-Mart. Perhaps the potential of some Googlers cannot be realized because of faults with the individual with the self perception problem, not Mother Google?
- Google doesn’t follow through? What’s this? Google delivers. The proper data driven analysis reveals that Google files patents, handles electronic mail, and tweaks the Android mobile operating system. The notion that Google does not deliver required legal documents to the European Commission when the European Commission wants them is a problem that the European Commission has, not my beloved Google. No large company can deliver perfection, unless it is in the area of objective, on point search results.
For more reasons why some benighted souls are not getting with the Google program, read the original write up. Better yet, get hired as a Googler or become a consultant to Google. Enter the land of milk and money.
Stephen E Arnold, December 13, 2016
DuckDuckGo Makes Search Enhancements by Leveraging Yahoo Partnership
December 13, 2016
The article on Duck.co titled New Features from a Stronger Yahoo Partnership relates the continuation of the relationship between DuckDuckGo and Yahoo. DuckDuckGo has gained fame for its unique privacy policy of not tracking its users, which of course flies in the face of the Google Goliath, which is built on learning about its users by monitoring their habits and improving the search engine using that data. Instead, DuckDuckGo insists on forgetting its users and letting them search without fear of it being recorded somewhere. The article conveys some of the ways that Yahoo is mingled with the David of search engines,
In addition to the existing technology we’ve been using, DuckDuckGo now has access to features you’ve been requesting for years: Date filters let you filter results from the last day, week and month. Site links help you quickly get to subsections of sites. Of course our privacy policy remains the same: we don’t track you. In addition, we’re happy to announce that Yahoo has published a privacy statement to the same effect.
Paranoid internet users and people with weird secretive fetishes alike, rejoice! DuckDuckGo will soon be vastly improved. The article does not state an exact date for this new functionality to be revealed, but it is coming soon.
Chelsea Kerwin, December 13, 2016
Ten Search Engines That Are Not Google
December 13, 2016
Business-design firm Vandelay Design shares their 10 favorite alternatives to Google Search in their blog post titled, “Alternative Search Engines for Designers and Developers.” Naturally, writer Jake Rocheleau views these resources from a designer’s point of view, but don’t let that stop you from checking out the list. The article states:
New intriguing search engines frequently pop up as a replacement to the juggernaut that is Google. But it’s tough to find alternative search engines that actually work and provide real value to your workflow. I’d like to cover a handful of alternatives that work well for designers and developers. These aren’t all web crawler search engines because I did throw in a few obscure choices for design resources too. But the sites in this list may be better replacements for Google no matter what you’re searching for. …
All 10 of these search engines are viable choices to add into your workflow, or even replace existing sites you already use. Designers are always looking for new tools and I think these sites fit the bill.
Rocheleau describes his selections and gives tips for getting the most out of each. He leads with DuckDuckGo—come for the privacy, stay for the easter eggs. StartPage also promises privacy as it pulls results from other search engines. Designers will like Instant Logo Search, for locating SVG vector logos, and Vecteezy for free vector designs. Similarly, Iconfinder and DryIcons both offer collections of free icons.
For something a little different, try The WayBack Machine at the Internet Archive, where you can comb the archives for any previously existing domain. Rocheleau suggests designers use it to research competitors and gain inspiration, but surely anyone can find interesting artifacts here.
We are reminded that one can get a lot from WolframAlpha if one bothers learning to use it. Then there is Ecosia, which uses ad revenue to plant trees across the globe. (They have planted over four million trees since the site launched in December of 2009.) The final entry is Qwant, another engine that promises privacy, but also offers individual search features for categories like news, social-media channels, and shopping. For anyone tired of Google and Bing, even non-designers, this list points the way to several good alternatives.
Cynthia Murrell, December 13, 2016
Add Free Search to the Free Tibet Slogan
December 13, 2016
China is notorious for censoring its people’s access to the Internet. I have heard and made more than one pun about the Great Firewall of China. There is search engine in China, but it will not be in Chinese, says Quartz: “How Censored Is China;s First Tibetan Language Search Engine? It Omits The Dalai Lama’s Web Site.”
Yongzin is the first Tibetan language search engine. It is supposed to act as a unified portal for all the major Tibetan language Web sites in China. There are seven million Tibetan people in China, but the two big Chinese search engines: Baidu and Sogou do not include the Tibetan language. Google is banned in China.
Yongzin rips off Google in colors and function. The Chinese government has dealt with tense issues related to the country of Tibet for decades:
The Chinese government wants the service to act as a propaganda tool too. In the future, Yongzin will provide data for the government to guide public opinion across Tibet, and monitor information in Tibetan online for “information security” purposes, Tselo, who’s in charge of Yongzin’s development, told state media (link in Chinese) at Monday’s (Aug. 22) launch event.
When people search Yongzin with Tibet related keywords, such as Dalai Lama and Tibetan tea, China’s censorship shows itself at work. Nothing related to the Dalai Lama is shown, not even his Web site, and an article about illegal publications.
China wants to position itself as guardian of the Tibetan culture, but instead they proffer a Chinese-washed version of Tibet rather than the true thing. It is another reason why the Free Tibet campaign is still important.
Whitney Grace, December 13, 2016
Tor Phone to Take on Google
December 13, 2016
Tor users have nil or very limited options to surf Underground Web anonymously as Android-powered phones still manage to scrape user data. The Tor Project intends to beat Google at its own game with Tor-enabled smartphone.
An article that appeared on arsTechnica and titled Tor Phone Is Antidote to Google “Hostility” Over Android, Says Developer, says:
The prototype is meant to show a possible direction for Tor on mobile. We are trying to demonstrate that it is possible to build a phone that respects user choice and freedom, vastly reduces vulnerability surface, and sets a direction for the ecosystem with respect to how to meet the needs of high-security users.
The phone is powered by custom-made CopperHead OS and can be run only on Google Nexus or Pixel hardware phones. Of course due to high technicalities involved, it is recommended only for Linux geeks.
For voice calls, according to the article:
To protect user privacy, the prototype runs OrWall, the Android firewall that routes traffic over Tor, and blocks all other traffic. Users can punch a hole through the firewall for voice traffic, for instance, to enable Signal.
Google’s Android is an Open Source platform that OEMs can customize. This creates multiple security threats enabling hackers and snoopers to create backdoors. CopperHead OS, on the other hand, plugs these security holes with verified boot and also stops Google Play Store from overriding native apps. Seems the days of mobile Tor are finally here.
Vishal Ingole, December 13, 2016
Smart Software and Bias: Math Is Not Objective, Right?
December 12, 2016
I read “5 Unexpected Sources of Bias in Artificial Intelligence.” Was I surprised? Yep, but the five examples seemed a bit more pop psychology than substantive. In my view, the bias in smart software originates with the flaws or weaknesses in the common algorithms used to build artificially intelligent systems. I have a lecture about the ways in which a content creator can fiddle with algorithms to generate specific results. I call the lecture “Weaponizing Information: Using Words to Fiddle with Algorithms.” (Want to know more? Write benkent2020 at yahoo dot com. Be aware that this is a for fee presentation.)
This “5 Unexpected…” write up offers these ideas:
- Data driven bias. The notion is that Stats 101 injunctions are happily ignored, forgotten, or just worked around. See what I mean? Human intent, not really mathy at its core.
- Bias through interaction. The idea is that humans interact. If the humans are biased, guess what? The outputs are biased, which dominoes down the line. Key word: Human.
- Emergent bias. This is the filter bubble. I view this as feedback looping, which is a short cut to figuring out stuff. I ran across this idea years ago in Minneapolis. A start up there was explaining how to let me do one thing to inform the somewhat dull system about what to present. Does this sound like Amazon’s method to you?
- Similarity bias. Now we are getting close to a mathy notion. But the write up wanders back to the feedback notion and does not ask questions about the wonkiness of clustering. Sigh.
- Conflicting goals bias. Now that puzzled me. I read the paragraphs in the original article and highlighted stereotyping. This struck me as a variant of feedback.
Math is sort of objective, but this write up sticks to some broad and somewhat repetitive ideas. The bias enters when thresholds are set, data are selected, processes structured to deliver what the programmer [a] desires, [b] ze’s boss desires, [c] what can be made to run and sort of work in the time available, or [d] what the developer remembers from a university class, a Hacker News post, or a bit of open source goodness.
The key to bias is to keep the key word “human” in mind.
Stephen E Arnold, December 12, 2016
Factoids of Fear: Mobile Devices and Usage
December 12, 2016
If you depend on old fashioned desktop computers, life is going to difficult. The lackluster Apple desktops are one example. The miserable margins for Hewlett Packard’s desktop and laptop spin out are another. But if you are [a] Google or [b] a Web site designed for traditional Web users sitting in an office at a desk, bad news. “Mobile Is Eating the World” contains what I enjoy calling “factoids of fear.” Why fear? Revenues, gentle reader. The good old days of stuffing ads into generous screen real estate and sitting on the sidelines as the AdSense system puts money spinning ads are gone. Farewell, Oingo or Applied Semantics which contributed to the magic of the good old days of search and ad matching. It’s been swell.
Isn’t that HAL? Does my mobile phone sing “Mary had a little lamb?” Of course it does, silly goose. But doesn’t that mean HAL did not work as Dave expected? Hey, don’t fret over details like “working,” “accurate,” or “reliable”, please.
You will want to read the original post, of course. However, I noted several points which help support my notion of “factoids of fear”; that is, objective information which undermines the way life used to be.
For example: The mobile S curve is passing the PS S curve. I think this means that mobile devices are more widely used than boat anchor computers. (Let’s assume these data are spot on, okay?)
For example: GAFA (Chill. The acronym means Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon) are three times the scale of Intel and Microsoft. (No problem. Let’s believe this number.) Scale means “more investment” and “more people.”
For example, Smart software is really good. Here’s a chart which “proves” that image and speech recognition are much better than in days of yore. (An error rate means only seven out of a 100 images recognized are wrong and four words out of a 100 are wonky. Close enough for horseshoes unless a “yes” becomes a “no” or the image recognized is your brother with a top secret clearance, not a bad actor.)
For example, a Yandex executive quote becomes a Google executive’s quote. But, hey, this is not a high school term paper when I learned “We will move from mobile first to AI first.”
The net net is that a new age of computing is here. The new age is “frictionless computing.” If you think in terms of search, you no longer have to use words. How antediluvian. Computers do things for you. It’s magic. Many disruptions here with more coming. But “the biggest changes are unknowable.”
I concluded that the factoids of fear translate to fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Unless one invests with a far sighted, capable, robust, and successful outfit in Silicon Valley. I usually write “Sillycon Valley” but because stability, peace, and tranquility have been decimated, I will remain serious.
What about the Alphabet Google thing? Well, revenue is likely to become a problem going forward. That’s the boat anchor business model: Big screens, mindless surfing, etc.
What about the Web sites depending on AdWords? Yikes. Move over Mary, there’s a new deck-meister in town.
Stephen E Arnold, December 12, 2016
Algorithmic Selling on Amazon Spells Buyer Beware
December 12, 2016
The article on Science Daily titled Amazon Might Not Always Be Pitching You the Best Prices, Researchers Find unveils the stacked deck that Amazon has created for sellers. Amazon rewards sellers who use automated algorithmic pricing by more often featuring those seller’s items in the buy box, the more prominent and visible display. So what is algorithmic pricing, exactly? The article explains,
For a fee, any one of Amazon’s more than 2 million third-party sellers can easily subscribe to an automated pricing service…They then set up a pricing strategy by choosing from a menu of options like these: Find the lowest price offered and go above it (or below it) by X dollars or Y percentage, find Amazon’s own price for the item and adjust up or down relative to it, and so on. The service does the rest.
For the consumer, this means that searching on Amazon won’t necessarily produce the best value (at first click, anyway.) It may be a mere dollar difference, but it could also be a more significant price increase between $20 and $60. What is really startling is that even though less than 10% of “algo sellers,” these sellers account for close to a third of the best-selling products. If you take anything away from this article, let it be that what Amazon is showing you first might not be the best price, so always do your research!
Chelsea Kerwin, December 12, 2016
How Big a Hurdle Is Encryption Really?
December 12, 2016
At first blush, the recent Wiretap Report 2015 from United States Courts would seem to contradict law enforcement’s constant refrain that encryption is making their jobs difficult. Motherboard declares, “Feds and Cops Encountered Encryption in Only 13 Wiretaps in 2015.” This small number is down from 2014. Isn’t this evidence that law enforcement agencies are exaggerating their troubles? The picture is not quite so simple. Reporter Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai writes:
Both FBI director James Comey, as well as Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, argued last year that the Wiretap Report is not a good indicator. Yates said that the Wiretap Report only reflects number of interception requests ‘that are sought’ and not those where an investigator doesn’t even bother asking for a wiretap ‘because the provider has asserted that an intercept solution does not exist.
Obtaining a wiretap order in criminal investigations is extremely resource-intensive as it requires a huge investment in agent and attorney time,’ Yates wrote, answering questions from the chairman of the Senate’s Judiciary Committee, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA). ‘It is not prudent for agents and prosecutors to devote resources to this task if they know in advance that the targeted communications cannot be intercepted.
That’s why Comey promised the agency is working on improving data collection ‘to better explain’ the problem with encryption when data is in motion. It’s unclear then these new, improved numbers will come out.
Of course, to what degree encryption actually hampers law enforcement is only one piece of a complex issue—whether we should mandate that law enforcement be granted “back doors” to every device they’d like to examine. There are the crucial civil rights concerns, and the very real possibility that where law enforcement can get in, so too can hackers. It is a factor, though, that we must examine objectively. Perhaps when we get that “better” data from the FBI, the picture will be more clear.
Cynthia Murrell, December 12, 2016
Google Aims to Try Social Media Again with YouTube
December 12, 2016
One of the biggest problems that Google faced in social media was that it was trying to compete against Facebook. Ever hear the saying, “don’t fix it, if it is not broke?” It is not that Google was trying to fix Facebook, but it was trying to offer a solution to something that was not broken to begin with. What was broken? We are still trying to figure that out, but rest assured it was more than likely Google selling a Facebook knockoff.
Google, however, already owns one of the largest social media Web sites, if not the most popular: YouTube. Google might open a new section of YouTube called Backstage that allows users to communicate, share links, share links, videos, and polls. Does that not already sound like Facebook?
There is more:
Backstage will introduce new types of posts to YouTube. Google plans to differentiate between regular videos and Backstage videos. The latter allows channels to push videos only to subscribers and not to users discovering the channel through search or other means. Backstage is an internal project currently and it is unclear if and when it will be made available. While YouTube is highly popular when it comes to video publishing and watching, it lacks in the social department. While users may post comments under videos or channels, there is little in terms of communication going elsewhere.
People already socialize on YouTube through the comments section. Backstage might simply add more order to an already chaotic comments block.
Whitney Grace, December 12, 2016
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
