JantaKhoj: People Search for India
September 9, 2010
The Internet was founded to network the computers, with an aim to easily facilitate and access knowledge and information. Over the years this network has become immensely massive and an unbelievable repository of facts and figures. Important amongst them is the data about the people. The reasons to know the information about any particular person might be personal or related to business, but this has become a popular activity on the Internet.
Many people search sites are popular in America and other countries, and now India has its own first and largest people search portal JantaKhoj, the literal Hindi translation of ‘People Search’. The site states its aims to “Power the most comprehensive People Search service covering the residents of India, and democratize the background verification process and being it within easy reach of every individual.” Further as stated on its site, they claim to apply “the data aggregation technologies to solve the complex problems in People Search and Background Checks that are unique to Indian scenario.”
It is indeed unique and challenging for a country of 1.17 billion people, “where there is still a long way for the public databases to come online and become accessible to the search engines,” says Tarun of JantaKhoj.com. The site with the punch line ‘Search People, Research Background’ has extended its services to include online and offline background checks on prospective domestic help, servants, maids, drivers, tenants, life-partners or employees. The search results are programmed to include the blogs and patents, apart from the court records, social profiles, pictures, videos, book results, web links, news, and personal address or phone number details.
JantaKhoj demonstrates similarities with the Cluuz Search Engine platform, where the results are displayed through semantic graphs. Just over a year old, it has a long way to go to bring the entire Indian population on to the electronic database.
Leena Singh, September 9, 2010
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Another Thrust at Lexis and Westlaw
September 7, 2010
A thrust is not a akinakes in the liver, but “Bootstrapping Band of Brothers Raise $30M for People Search Engine Inflection” is more than shaking a finger at Lexis and Westlaw. The article describes two brothers who want to provide legal eagles with for fee services. Among those planned are for fee searching of public records. Others range from feet on the street who dash around delivering documents necessary for legal matters to for fee searching. The Lexis and Westlaw duo face a number of challenges. The legal profession is faced with clients who won’t spend at pre-crash levels. Junior attorneys are losing their jobs or getting partial pay and vacation days. Recent graduates are filing claims against the law schools that recruited them and painted a glorious picture of the job market for graduates. What this means is that Lexis and Westlaw have to find a way to generate growth and deal with upstarts with $30 million. Google’s approach had promise but like many Math Club ideas, execution has been less scintillating than the ideation process. Government entities continue to crank out content with more and more becoming available online. Will Inflection become the next big thing? The idea seems interesting, but I think it is likely that Lexis or Westlaw will just buy the outfit. That approach may be easier than revamping the dinosaur-like business models that worked when lawyers were flying high. Now eagles have landed, just in a run down area outside of Piscataway. In the parking lot are the Inflection folks, and they are armed and dangerous.
Stephen E Arnold, September 7, 2010
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Dragon Search Now Available for Medical Professionals
September 2, 2010
One of my “real”, for-fee columns is about voice search. However, I wanted to capture this news item because it shows the niche influenza that is infecting search vendors at this time.
Dragon Search is a handy and popular iPhone search tool that allows users to use their voice to perform online searches. Users speak their search choice can receive results from several top search engine. According to “Dragon Search Now Available for Medical Professionals” Dragon Search creator Nuance Communications has released a medical version called Dragon Medical. Like the name hints it is geared towards physicians and other health care professionals and gives them the ability to search a variety of medical publications using their voice. Other information available includes current medical news, diagnoses and drug interactions. Users can also perform Google searches. Dragon Medical is being offered for free for a limited time. This is an Apple application so it can only be used on the iPhone, iPad or iPod touch and users must have OS 3.1 or later. It can be downloaded from the Apple App Store iTunes. It’s like having the help of the best doctors in the palm of your hand.
April Holmes, September 2, 2010
Amazon and A9: Still Kicking
August 15, 2010
Be sure and check out Jeff Dalton’s blog. A recent entry, entitled “Jeff’s Search Engine Caffe: SIGIR 2010 Industry Day: Lessons and Challenges from Product Search” recaps some valuable lessons on search engines.
A9‘s Daniel Rose presents a “buying funnel,” and relates this to Elias St. Elmo Lewis’ 1898 AIDA model: “awareness is followed by interest, then desire, and finally action.”
We need different tools for different stages, and not one facet fits all. Amazon is a marketplace, so the search must be designed for real time.. Zero clicks indicates the search result contained all the information necessary.
We need to satisfy user needs before the user knows he has a need. We can offer different interaction mechanisms (not one facet fits all), and let the type of content influence the way the search works.
Bret Quinn, August 16, 2010
Iron Mountain/Stratify Get an Azurini T Shirt
August 10, 2010
“New Iron Mountain Consulting Arm Combines Records Management and eDiscovery Expertise to Help Clients Cut Information Costs and Risks” interested me. Iron Mountain, a company with lots of trucks that move paper from Point A to Point B, has jumped into consulting services. Readers of this blog know that I find the folks donning azurini T shirts an interest.
According to the news story which looked to me like a public relations-type write up:
[Iron Mountain] announced the formation of a new consulting practice, which combines the company’s long-established practice in records and information management and its electronic discovery management team. Iron Mountain Consulting advises customers around the world on how to lower the cost of managing information and records, meet complex industry regulations, prepare for eDiscovery, manage complex litigation and avoid data or IT systems disasters. By combining its deep knowledge in hardcopy records, electronic information management, litigation readiness and legal process into one consulting practice, Iron Mountain can better advise and offer customers integrated solutions for consistently managing all of their information with less cost, risk and complexity.
What will be the new pecking order at Iron Mountain? [a] Records retention, [b] software licenses, consultants who sell big jobs and want to use another firm’s solutions? Image source: http://www.tigersoft.com/TigerSoft-Practical-Psychology/T01.htm
Three observations:
- Other blue chip and azure chip consultants will have to make certain each knows something about records retention policies, archival storage, and search. Iron Mountain has lots of experience with paper and digital content. A company with “real” clients and “real” experience may win engagements that the amateurs once viewed as their Jus primae noctis.
- Iron Mountain will have to figure out how to make the human resources, travel, and bonus stuff work. There is a big difference in accounting when one sells a monthly hauling service, licenses to software systems, and brain power. In my experience, those jumping into an azure colored pool often find that upon exiting their bathing trunks are tinted in a color not too different from red ink.
- Management will have its hands full. In an outfit like Iron Mountain the technical folks have been gaining influence. Senior management at a firm like Iron Mountain is not going to be toting and iPad and attending Defcon. When a consultant nails a big job, the pecking order is going to change or the azure chip person is going to hike right on over to a “real” consulting firm. Consultants sell clients and their loyalty (such as it is) is for the client. If the client wants a solution from a third party firm, the consultant will get that best-of-breed solution and the money. The Iron Mountain folks are likely to be really annoyed to have an azure chip person sell a competitor’s product. If Iron Mountain does not deliver objective solutions to a consulting client, that’s an exciting situation to consider.
This will be interesting to watch. Stratify complements other search and retrieval technology at Iron Mountain. Will Stratify the azurini?
Stephen E Arnold, August 9, 2010
ZyLAB: Marketing Since 1994
August 10, 2010
A reader sent me a link to “ZyLAB Old Promotion Video from 1994.” The theme was “tides of change”, and the discipline was scanning and optical document management, character recognition, and search. One of the customers highlighted was Wang Federal. ZyLAB is still with us. Wang? I’m not so sure. Another fellow said, “Imagine carrying a CD-ROM with thousands of documents.” The video worked nautical, high speed rail, and the OJ Simpson trial into description of ZyLAB technologies.
Three points struck me:
First, with modest editing an a few image shifts, the marketing video could be used today. I am not sure what this says about the progress made in search and content processing since 1994 or about the difficulty of communicating the benefits of digital instances of information.
Second, ZyLAB, like Brainware and a handful of other companies, has an umbilical to paper documents. The 16 years between the 1994 ZyLAB video and the stack of Google patent applications piled next to my desk makes clear to me that much work needs to be done. Search, therefore, may be less important than solving more obvious problems. Search could be viewed as an add-on to a more robust set of functions. If accurate, search is no longer the main event. Maybe search is like a bag of popcorn, a commodity, a consumable?
Third, the metaphors used to communicate the nature of the problem, the value of a solution, and the benefits of that solution don’t do the job. Anyone who thinks that a system can steer an organization has not looked at the challenges petascale flows of data pose to large companies or the inconsistencies and technical problems that make a comprehensive store of an organization’s content available in digital form. Transformation can chew up an information technology budget more quickly than Tess can nibble on a dog biscuit.
Keep in mind that my comments are not directed at ZyLAB. I am including most search and content processing vendors. Not much has changed in 16 years. That was a surprise conclusion for me.
Stephen E Arnold, August 10, 2010
Is Google Your Next Online Store?
July 25, 2010
Maybe?
One of the more senior search experts at Google is predicting that in the near future searching without searching will become the way that we organize our lives. Google’s
Amit Singhal is keen on pointing out the fact that search is progressing although there is a need for transparency and the ability for people to control the flow of information as it pertains to their privacy in Google expert outlines future of search.
Singhal has stressed that all the components are there to offer the information that people want without the need for them to search for it. The premise of this seems simple enough once you break it down as it involves both cloud computing and the calendars that are ubiquitous today.
Singhal uses the example of a do to list that can work together with a calendar and a GPS enabled phone to tell you when you have a bit of free time and where you need to go to get rid of one of the things on your do to list.
This premise is about the technologies working together to help people manage their time. As the article progresses , Singhal’s additional examples point to what he envisions as a kind of electronic butler that can tell you where to go ,what you need and when you need it based on your input.
There are a few issues here that need to be addressed. For example, hasn’t Google fallen behind in this due to their interest in the social network approach? It’s also important to remember that talking about search is different than driving search….’talking’ is today, ‘driving’ was ten years ago.
It all begs the question as to the fates of names like Brin and Page. All of a sudden mobile and ‘now’ search have been delegated it appears.
Beyond Search wants to see the old faces with the eyes squinting into the wind and their hands on the technology tiller.
Stephen E Arnold, July 25, 2010
Vertical Search: Music and the Potential for a Stubbed Toe
July 9, 2010
“Search Engines Turn to Music” presents a very post modern view of vertical search. A vertical search system would have been in 1980 a commercial database with an editorial policy. The idea was that a particular database like Investext would have information in it that was homogeneous. Investext, for instance, contained analysts reports chopped into 3 Kb pages. When I needed information from an investment firm’s analyst reports, I would use Investext. I liked the product so much, ABI/INFORM teamed with Investext to explain when to use each commercial database. Today, search engines have rediscovered an editorial policy. As the write up in Stuff makes clear, the 2010 approach includes some new wrinkles.
For me, the most interesting comment in the write up was:
According to Microsoft, 10 percent of all Internet search queries are entertainment-related, with music lyrics alone accounting for 70 percent of those searches.
Where there are users, there will be monetization opportunities in the post Napster world. I also noted this segment:
BPI, the trade group representing UK record labels, raised the stakes in June by issuing a takedown notice to Google, demanding it remove links to 17 songs from third-party websites it deems infringing, such as RapidShare and MegaUpload.
Yikes. More legal hassles for the Google. What’s clear is that cloud based, for fee music and rich media services are the future.
Useful article, but I am not sure that search engines have turned to music. My view is that search engines are finding that some of the old tricks still have the capacity to interest users. The vertical angle is important. A copyright misstep could lead to a bone crushing collision with the pavement. And what about the bruises when giants collide in the contentious rich media market?
Stephen E Arnold, July 9, 2010
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Fwix and the Local Web
July 7, 2010
I read a tweet about some load balancing problems at Fwix.com today. Before the craziness of my whirlwind trip to Spain and the 4th of July weekend, I received a link to a story in EarthTimes. “Fwix Begins Indexing the Local Web” reported:
SAN FRANCISCO, CA — 06/03/10 — Fwix, the local information company, today launched the first-ever hyper local and local information index. Fwix is the fastest-growing local news network, as well as a top-rated iPhone and iPad news app for more than two hundred markets in the English-speaking world. With today’s launch, Fwix expands its content to include not only real-time local and hyper local news, but crime information, real estate, tweets, check-ins, deals and more.
The service operates in near real time. The content consists of blog content and other news from various sources. In June 2010 PaidContent.org said that Fwix was moving beyond news. For me, the key passage in the write up “Fwix Moves Beyond News, Indexing Everything Local” was:
In addition to Twitter and Foursquare, Fwix’s local index will come from a variety of sites, such as Flickr, Yelp, Gowalla, Trulia, Groupon, Citysearch, Oodle and other sources, including local governments and police blotters with information tied to 30,000-plus neighborhoods.
What’s interesting is that one of the founders worked at Xoom.com, where the chief gosling labored along with the chief goose’s partner, Chris Kitze worked.
In a browser, the service sniffs the user’s location and displays news for that city. You can select from ore than 120 cities in the US and a growing number of cities in Canada and the UK. The service is expanding to Australia and New Zealand as well.
The ads on Fwix on July 6, 2010, were provided by Oneriot. Ads were not obtrusive.
The basic Louisville splash page provides search box, ads, and hot links to recent stories, top stories, the weather, and stories by category. A user can register. When we tried to sign up today, we received a “server unavailable” message.
The service is available on the iPad. If you are running around a city with your iPad connected to the network, the service provides a swipeable display. Here’s what that listing in the App Store shows for the interface:
The service has more than 130 US cities and some major cities in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland. Canada listings include the major metro areas.
The company has raised more than $6.0 million in two rounds of financing. Worth a look because the New York Times has signed on to syndicate some of its content via Fwix.
Worth a look.
Stephen E Arnold, July 7, 2010
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Alibaba Vendio: Probing Endeca and Google in eCommerce
June 29, 2010
Hong Kong-listed Alibaba.com, the business-to-business unit of Alibaba Group, is one of China’s okay Internet companies. I don’t think too much about China because it is a long, long way from the pond filled with mine run off here in Harrod’s Creek. My hunch is that the eCommerce companies don’t think too much about Alibaba either. That may change. Navigate to “Alibaba.com to Acquire Vendio,” and you will learn that Alibaba is going to acquire “a multi-channel e-commerce company providing a one-stop solution for small businesses that are selling online across multiple channels.” If this is the same Alibaba with which I am familiar, the tie up with Vendio could give those looking for a scalable eCommerce solution another option. The new story said:
The company says that from the Vendio Platform, merchants can source products from its supplier network and sell through channels such as eBay, Amazon, and their own Vendio-supported store. It adds that this platform is offered on Software as a Service (SaaS) cloud-computing model to help businesses increase their sales while managing costs to enhance their profit margin.
The implications of this deal range from price competition to more integrated back end functions. Google may be able to move forward without much concern. Google’s eCommerce solution is a recent innovation. Google’s ability to glue components together may allow the juggernaut to push Alibaba and Vendio to the curb. Endeca, working with somewhat different methods, may find itself having to deal with Amazon and the Alibaba Vendio duo. Yahoo remains a potential player in this eCommerce sector. My recollection is that Yahoo owns or owned a stake in the company. Amazon is an aggressive player, and it may have to adapt to Alibaba Vendio as well.
Alibaba has search technology, so this deal if it goes through will deliver what I call “search enabled processes.” I know that process is one of the words that put people to sleep. But despite the notion’s lack of sizzle, SEPs are going to be an increasingly important in the world beyond search. In fact, at the October Lucene Revolution, there will be some interesting sessions on this very topic.
Stephen E Arnold, June 29, 2010
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