From Jeopardy to Cancer Treatment: An IBM Story
February 10, 2013
I read “IBM Supercomputer Watson to Help in Cancer Treatment.” I am burned out on the assertions of search, content processing, and analytics vendors. The algorithms predict, deliver actionable information, and answer tough questions. Okay, I will just believe these statements. Most of the folks with whom I interact either believe these statements or do not really care.
Watson, as you may know, takes open source goodness, layers on a knowledge base, and wraps the confection in layers of smart software. I am simplifying, but the reality is irrelevant given the marketing need.
Here’s the passage I noted:
A year ago, a team at Memorial Sloan-Kettering started working with an IBM and a WellPoint team to train Watson to help doctors choose therapies for breast and lung cancer patients. They continue to share their knowledge and expertise in oncology and information technology, beginning with hundreds of lung cancers, the aim being to help Watson learn as much as possible about cancer care and how oncologists use medical data, as well as their experiences in personalized cancer therapies. During this period, doctors and technology experts have spent thousands of hours helping Watson learn how to process, analyze and interpret the meaning of sophisticated clinical data using natural language processing; the aim being to achieve better health care quality and efficiency.
There you go. For the dozens of companies working to create next generation information retrieval systems which are affordable, actually work, and can be deployed without legions of engineers—game over. IBM Watson has won the search battle. Now for the optimists who continue to pump money into decade old search companies which have modest revenue growth, kiss those bucks goodbye. For the PhD students working on the revolutionary system which promises to transform findability, get a job at Kentucky Fried Chicken. And Google? Well, IBM knows your limits so stick to selling ads.
IBM is doing it all:
Manoj Saxena, IBM General Manager, Watson Solutions, said:
“IBM’s work with WellPoint and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center represents a landmark collaboration in how technology and evidence based medicine can transform the way in which health care is practiced. breakthrough capabilities bring forward the first in a series of Watson-based technologies, which exemplifies the value of applying big data and analytics and cognitive computing to tackle the industry’s most pressing challenges.”
How different is Watson from the HP Autonomy, Recommind, or even the DR LINK technology? Well, maybe the open source angle is the same. But IBM needs to do more than make assertions and buy analytics companies as the company recycles open source technology in my opinion. I thought IBM was a consulting firm? Here I am wrong again. Watson probably “knew” that after hours of training, tuning, and talking. But in the back of my mind, I ask, “What if those training data are inapplicable to the problem at hand? What if the journal articles are fiddled by tenure seekers or even pharmaceutical outfits or institutions trying to maximize insurance payouts or careless record keeping by medical staff? Nah, irrelevant questions. IBM has this smart system nailed. Search solved. What’s next IBM?
Stephen E Arnold, February 10, 2013
Biotechnology News Reports on Vital Natural Language Processing Developments
January 14, 2013
Several biotechnology companies raced to release new 2012 products and we were filled in on these new releases by Bio IT World in their recent summary. A few important briefings related to the industry were also described in December Product and News Briefs.
In addition to reporting industry news from big players like IBM and announcing job opportunities, the majority of attention has been places on new products from Linguamatics, PerkinElmer, Titan Software, SoftGenetics, and Optibrium. These were all launched in the final month of 2012; however, most notably, Linguamatics has rolled out version 4.0 of text mining software platform, I2E.
The article discusses how natural language text mining will be opened up to a variety of different users with various needs. Continuing out of this topic, the author states:
“Regardless of how many disparate data sources need to be mined, I2E now has the power to analyze and extract information and knowledge from all of them simultaneously. Linguamatics I2E can now deal with recognition of novel compounds, which will give informaticians, researchers and patent analysts the power to investigate uncharted areas of innovation.”
Overall, this website offered a nice summary of some new products with Linguamatics offering some developments worth noting in the land of natural language processing. We shall see what 2013 holds.
Megan Feil, January 14, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
EasyAsk Teams Up With Consulting Firm to Extend Fusion Beads
December 19, 2012
Explore Consulting recently published, “EasyAsk Partners with Explore Consulting to Help Fusion Beads – a NetSuite e-Commerce Site- to Improve Search and Navigation,” a news release announcing a new partnership offering e-retail customers an improved shopping experience.
According to the article, EasyAsk, a provider of natural language solutions technology, and Explore Consulting have partnered to deliver natural language e-commerce solutions to retailers using the NetSuite e-commerce platform. This platform ensures that all page content is search friendly and maintains centralized data.
The article states:
“After selecting NetSuite as a new e-commerce platform, Fusion Beads turned to Explore Consulting and EasyAsk because they wanted to make it easier for their customers to navigate the wide range of products offered through their website – more than 50,000 items. Not only does Fusion Beads offer a lot of products, but they also catalog a tremendous amount of product and project data to ensure their customers are getting what they need. With the EasyAsk solution, Fusion Beads can now configure down to the item level the product attributes that should be used for search and navigation from over 600 custom item fields they currently use.”
This new partnership allows Fusion Beads and other companies the ability to maintain website information automatically with improved search and navigation.
Jasmine Ashton, December 19, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Explanation of the RightNow Deal
November 16, 2012
The Stock Blog posts its perspective on Oracle’s purchase of RightNow Technologies in “Oracle’s RightNow Bid could Breed More SaaS M&A.” The brief write up explains:
“Companies in the software-as-a-service business were higher on speculation that Oracle‘s acquisition of RightNow announced Monday means more M&A [mergers and acquisitions]in the industry.
“Oracle (ORCL) said it would pay $43 per share, which amounts to an enterprise-value-to-revenue multiple of 5.5x compared to a 4.5x average multiple for a basket of SaaS companies, according to FBR Capital Markets. FBR says Oracle’s diversified software and hardware portfolio ‘positions the company well to weather the uncertain economic climate. We believe Oracle’s engineered systems (Exadata and Exalogic) strategy, coupled with Fusion Applications, should allow the company to take market share from its rivals, namely IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and SAP. We reiterate our Outperform rating and $38 price target.'”
Interesting. The piece goes on to note some other players in the Software as a Service and customer service markets. It also mentions that RightNow’s earnings look healthy. Well, that’s good.
But what about RightNow’s natural language processing? We want to know what Oracle ultimately plans to do with the technology behind RightNow CX, the company’s cloud-hosted customer experience suite. Currently, information about the product is available here, at Oracle’s site. RightNow was founded in 1997, and is headquartered in Bozeman, Montana.
Cynthia Murrell, November 16, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Dragon Systems Fights Back Against Goldman Sachs
August 14, 2012
The New York Times has published an extensive account of the natural-language tragedy, “Goldman Sachs and the $580 Million Black Hole.” The five page article is a very interesting read. The gist, though, is simple enough: Goldman Sachs failed to look out for their client’s best interests. What a surprise.
You have probably heard of the natural language software NaturallySpeaking, developed by Dragon Systems. Dragon Systems is, at heart, the enterprising Jim and Janet Baker, who spent almost twenty years building their innovative software and their company. In fact, their work is considered to have advanced speech technology much faster than anyone expected. Some of it might even have made its way into Apple’s Siri.
When it came time to reap their rewards, the pair turned to Goldman Sachs for advice on the over-half-billion-dollar deal. Back in 1999, it still seemed like a good idea to trust the prominent investment firm. It wasn’t. Reporter Loren Feldman summarizes the trouble:
“With Goldman Sachs on the job, the corporate takeover of Dragon Systems in an all-stock deal went terribly wrong. Goldman collected millions of dollars in fees — and the Bakers lost everything when Lernout & Hauspie was revealed to be a spectacular fraud. . . . Only later did the Bakers learn that Goldman Sachs itself had at one point considered investing in L.& H. but had walked away after some digging into the company.
“This being Wall Street, a lot of money is now at stake. In federal court in Boston, the Bakers are demanding damages, including interest and legal fees, that could top $1 billion.”
Not only did Goldman direct their own dollars away from L.& H., the suit alleges, they also failed to scrutinize L.& H. for their client when Dragon’s CFO pointed out troubling signs. I turns out that the person in charge of such investigations had left Goldman and not been replaced. Oops. That didn’t keep Goldman from keeping the $5 million consultation fee. Naturally.
Meanwhile, companies who picked up pieces of the Bakers’ technology at auction after L.& H. fell have gone on to develop them into lucrative commodities. The couple was left with neither their invention nor any fraction of the money it was worth.
The case is expected to be decided sometime this November. Feldman burrowed into the wealth of legal filings surrounding the case to craft this article. He has found eye-opening insights into Goldman Sachs’ culture and practices. The piece is worth reading for that reason alone.
It is also a moving tale about a tech- and language-savvy couple who put in the time, effort, passion, and smarts to build their business, and who are now fighting to regain what is rightfully theirs. I wish them luck.
Cynthia Murrell, August 14, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Siri or Google Voice. Experts Battle. Tears Shed.
July 19, 2012
In a recent article on Search Engine Land, self-appointed experts squabble over the capabilities and accuracy of Siri versus Google Voice.
The study mentioned in the article, “Piper Jaffray ‘Street Test’ of Google vs. Siri Misses the Point,” was completed by Piper Jaffray and gave Google a “B+” and Siri a mere “D.” However, the author of the SEL article argues that the comparison is “apples to oranges” because Siri is not a search engine and should not be judged as such. The article goes on to explain:
“Siri’s mission isn’t to ‘organize all the world’s information.’ Rather Siri has a much more narrow range of functions as an ‘intelligent assistant.’ True, one of those functions is to deliver information in certain circumstances. But nobody involved with Siri would likely argue that it’s a substitute for Google in all but a handful of situations.
That’s mainly because Siri has a quite limited range of datasets that it’s working with, which are admittedly being expanded in iOS 6.”
The arguments continue throughout the article about the fundamental errors of the study and the true capabilities purposes of the two programs.
Yikes. We thought the point of these programs was simply churning shares and getting coverage. What’s with this accuracy stuff? How quickly folks forget the Madoffs and the JP Morgan misstep.
Andrea Hayden, July 19, 2012
Sponsored by IKANOW
A Visual Way to See What is Changing Within Wikipedia
July 9, 2012
Wikipedia is a go to source for quick answers outside the classroom, but many don’t realize Wiki is an ever evolving information source. Geekosystem’s article “Wikistats Show You What Parts Of Wikipedia Are Changing” provides a visual way to see what is changing within Wikipedia.
The performance program was explained as:
“Utilizing technology from Datasift, a social data platform with a specialization in real-time streams, Wikistats lists some clear, concise information you can use to see how Wikipedia is flowing and changing out from under you. Using Natural Language Processing, Wikistats is able to suss realtime trends and updates. In short, Wikistats will show you what pages are being updated the most right now, how many edits they get by how many unique users, and how many lines are being added vs. how many are being deleted.”
Enlightenment was gained when actually viewing the chart below:
This program calculates well defined reports on Wikipedia’s traffic, and Wiki frequenters might find the above chart surprising. The report in this case shows the reality that Wikipedia is an over flowing pool of information.
We are not saying Wikipedia is unreliable, but one should never solely rely on one information source. The chart simply provides a visual way to see what is changing within Wikipedia and help users understand how data flows. This programs potential for real time use on other sites could be tremendous.
Jennifer Shockley, July 9, 2012
Inteltrax: Top Stories, June 25 to June 29
July 2, 2012
Inteltrax, the data fusion and business intelligence information service, captured three key stories germane to search this week, specifically, what’s new with some of the biggest names in the business.
One rising company is bringing bright minds together, as we found in the story, “Lexalytics Conference Tackles Future of Analytics.”
“Latest Angoss Software Targets Unstructured Data” shows how a company not used to making waves in big data is doing just that in a major way.
Finally, “Digital Reasoning Leads in Partnerships,” shows one of the brightest minds in the business teaming with other smart companies to form a big data hydra head.
Big data is moving fast and the companies within the industry look like an atom smasher at times, they are going so quick. Look here to find the breakdown of every move and news bit for analytics.
Follow the Inteltrax news stream by visiting www.inteltrax.com
Patrick Roland, Editor, Inteltrax.
July 2, 2012
Quixey Snags $20 Million in B Round Funding
June 19, 2012
Quixey, who says their cross-platform app search engine is one-of-a-kind, has just raised $20 million in Series B funding bringing total capital raised to $24.2 million, according to TNW Insider’s “Smart App Search Engine Quixey Raises $20m from Eric Schmidt’s VC Firm and Others.” Google Executive Chairman Schmidt’s investment firm Innovation Endeavors was joined by Chinese firm WI Harper Group; US Venture Partners; Atlantic Bridge; SK Planet; and TransLink Capital in supporting the young company.
Quixey has found a potentially profitable search niche—they address the problem of finding, out of millions of existing apps across numerous platforms, the app you need when you need it. Writer Robin Wauters describes the company:
“Quixey says it has invented a ‘new type of search’ that allows users to find mobile, desktop and Web apps ‘that do what they want’ based on natural language-based technology. The Palo Alto, California-based company teams up with phone makers, carriers, browser and online search companies to power app search for them, and encourages app publishers and developers to ‘claim’ their apps.”
Wauters points out that several companies do offer similar services: AppsFire, Apple’s acquisition Chomp, Mimvi and Appolicious, to name a few. Does Quixey offer something special?
Founded in 2009 specifically to fill this niche, Quixey has trademarked the term “Functional Search” to describe their app-finding engine. The company is located in Palo Alto, CA.
Cynthia Murrell, June 19, 2012
Sponsored by PolySpot
Bixtext Augments Enterprise Search with Natural Language Technology
May 7, 2012
Social media is swarming with sound bites about social media. We recently came across a bit of information about Bitext’s recent SIG brainstorming meeting, which prompted further investigation into their company. As their name implies, they are concerned with text bits. Or, as the name we know it as: unstructured content.
There event was a big success with attendance turning out to be double what they expected. Social media and business strategies were discussed, in particularly in relation to their primary concern of semantics.
Amongst several solutions, consulting services and research and development, NaturalFinder stood out as having value on par with other semantically enriched search technology:
“NaturalFinder is the essential complement for any Internet or intranet search engine as it allows users to query in natural language (Spanish, English, French…) without using Booleans or wildcards. Thanks to its linguistic technology, users can focus on typing their queries in his/hew own words as if he/she talked to another person. NaturalFinder will return all relevant documents and more documents than traditional search engines, which are based on keywords.”
It is clear here that technology is continuing to adapt to the larger trend of pervasive informal language. First, we saw unstructured content, as opposed to traditional structured content, utilized for business analytics. Now, we are creating tools that allow search engines to mimic human intelligence.
Megan Feil, May 7, 2012
Sponsored by Ikanow
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