Posts tagged Towards
In a Bold Move Towards Accountability, Road Casualty Data Published Online in UK
Sep 10th
The UK government has published 5 years of nation-wide road safety and casualty data freely online on a map that anyone can view in a web browser. It’s a remarkable instance of data-driven public accountability; presumably citizens will use this newly accessible data to apply pressure on government agencies regarding safety improvements. Citizens and researchers will also be able to cross-reference the location of troubled roadways with race and class demographic analysis to illuminate any inequitable allocation of infrastructure resources. It’s a bold and enabling action to take online.
The statistics were gathered by independent researchers and put online using eSpatial OnDemand GIS and Open Street Map. Open Street Map is like the Wikipedia of world and local maps, but it’s also a popular data platform that many other applications make use of. Map nerds should watch the OpenStreetMap annual conference, State of the Map, for more exciting map and geodata news. The conference opened this morning in Denver, Colorado.
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Geodata industry writer Matt Ball published an eloquent, in-depth explanation this morning of how the geo industry is moving away from domination by legacy commercial software providers and toward a future where extensive value and opportunities are created by open source and open data communities working together on the web.
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Google’s New Traveler Recommendations Point Towards an Age of Algorithms
Aug 2nd
Google’s Places today expanded its offerings to include restaurant and place recommendations in cities neither you nor anyone you know has recommended before. Recommendations to date have been because “you rated a place like this highly.” They now include places “rated highly by people like you.”
That might sound simple, but it’s important and, if the recommendations prove good, there’s probably some complicated math going on behind the scenes to determine what you’re like. Google leadership has said for months that its future lies not in serving up results in response to your search queries, but in telling you what you want to do before you even ask. There’s something about this news that brings that promise to mind for me.
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The new recommendations will be served up in Google Maps search results, both on the desktop and in Google’s mobile apps.
Recommendation-as-a-service service Hunch began experimenting with efforts to point its “taste graph” technology at local venues last Spring (If You Like Men With Mustaches, You’ll Love These Restaurants) but the battle for effective recommendation technologies around real-world activity is likely just beginning.
The Age of the Algorithm
Some people argue, in fact, that this kind of taste detection and recommendation technology is part of a larger trend that will become a key part of the technology industry of the near-term future.
Dr. András Faragó, Computer Science Professor at the University of Dallas, said in an interview last week that we’re entering the Age of the Algorithm.
“While no one questions the value of software today, the underlying intellectual content, the algorithms, are still viewed by many as something without hard value. The value is still typically assigned to the implementation, not the algorithm. In a sense, algorithms up until very recently have had the same relationship to software implementation as software previously had to hardware: icing on the cake.
“On the other hand, there are more and more situations, as signified by the Heritage Provider Network’s $3 million prize (for early detection of people at high risk of later hospitalization), where the really hard part is finding the right algorithm. Once it is found, the implementation can be done by any skilled team, and I believe this may show the emergence of a trend in which in which the industry starts recognizing the real, hard value of sophisticated algorithms.”
In many cases, that hard-fought battle will end up looking to end users like low-key, smart recommendations of new restaurants in new cities.
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Towards a SQL-like Query Language for NoSQL Databases: UnQL
Jul 29th
A few months ago we told you about a paper by Microsoft researchers, Erik Meijer and Gavin Bierman which argued that non-relational data stores will need to create a standardized database query language in order to achieve widespread adoption.
Today a new potential standard for document databases (and possibly other NoSQL databases) was announced: UnQL.
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UnQL
UnQL (“Unstructured Query Language”) comes from the Couchbase and SQLite teams with the explicit aim to create a standard for NoSQL database queries. It’s a SQL-like syntax for manipulating document databases. Presumably, if implemented correctly, it could eventually be used across several databases, including CouchDB, Riak and MongoDB.
“The work we’ve done on UnQL has been very gratifying. UnQL stems from our belief that a common query language is necessary to drive NoSQL adoption in the same way SQL drove adoption in the relational database market. I look forward to continuing my work alongside SQLite to push this new language forward,” Couchbase CTO Damien Katz said in an announcement.
In the same announcement, Meijer was quoted saying: “One of the main arguments in our
recent CACM article on coSQL was the industry needs a common query language and data model to feed the ecosystem for key-value stores. The UnQL language presents an important practical next step in this process. We are looking forward to working with Couchbaseand other industry leaders in the noSQL space on taking the design to the next level.”
You can check out the spec here.
CQL
Last month DataStax announced Cassandra Query Language (CQL), its own SQL-like implementation for Apache Cassandra. Cassandra is radically different architecturally than CouchDB, and DataStax isn’t positioning CQL as a standard across NoSQL databases. But thinking about this in the context of UnQL makes me wonder if it would be possible to make CQL and UnQL compatible at a very high level.
Alternative Languages for Hadoop/HBase
Apache Hive has been providing a SQL-like interface for Apache Hadoop and its data store HBase for years.
However, Cascading from Concurrent provides an alternative Java API for manipulating Hadoop data and it’s gaining some traction through a partnership with MapR (the distribution used in EMC’s Hadoop appliance), and just closed a new round of funding. This suggests that there’s room for approache to big data that aren’t SQL-like.
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Inching Towards Enterprise 2.0
Jun 30th
When I started professionally covering the enterprise 2.0/social business space just over a year ago it was all very exciting. I had personally witnessed how valuable a workplace microblog/activity stream could be, and I loved learning about all the different companies and the ideas floating around.
But it’s easy to get bored. Despite all the talk about the consumerization of the enterprise, things still move slowly (heck, things don’t really change that much day to day, week to week in the consumer space either). The same few problems seem to be discussed again and again: adoption, security, process, semantics etc. As Dennis Howlett recently wrote: “much of what we are hearing in the social space we’ve heard repeated for at least the last three years. In other words, precious little real progress.”
So it’s always nice to see some incremental progress, and this week brought at least two noteworthy product updates: one from Harmon.ie and one from tibbr. Each company was already doing something interesting, and each has taken its products to the next level.
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Harmon.ie Goes Beyond SharePoint in Outlook
We’ve covered Harmon.ie a couple of times. It had a straight forward appeal: end attachment ping pong and get people to actually use SharePoint by bringing SharePoint into Outlook.
Now it’s taking it a step further, and making Harmon.ie into a full social network within Outlook or Lotus Notes by adding users profiles (with info pulled from SharePoint MySite) and activity streams. It’s also fully compatible with Office 365, and can integrate with unified communications tools like Lync.
Adoption is one of those issues we all keep coming back to when we talk about social software in the enterprise. You know that workplace microblog I mentioned earlier? It fell apart. People liked it at first, but it quickly fell into disuse. It was just one more thing to keep track of, one more thing to do. It was on its own page in SharePoint, and it was out of sight and out of mind.
So solutions that try to bring social elements into existing applications, into existing workflows and contexts are the most interesting to me. Besides Harmon.ie, some of these include Qontext, Socialcast and Simplybox. Salesforce.com is trying to pull this off with Chatter (which CA just integrated with its Project and Portfolio Management product), as are SAP with Sales OnDemand and Netsuite with its Qontext and Yammer integrations.
Harmon.ie is even considering how to bring outside social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter into the e-mail client and generate profiles for people outside the company. This would brings it in line with e-mail plugins like Rapportive, Xobni and Microsoft’s own Social Connector. And if it started expanding beyond that by incorporate social media monitoring and engagement tools you could have a full social business solution living right inside your safe, familiar e-mail client that you already use every day.
The danger in Harmon.ie’s approach is that it may end up being a little too safe and comfortable, letting users stay in outdated applications and shoehorning social experiences into platforms ill suited for it.
Harmon.ie’s representatives couldn’t say whether the company is expanding into any other areas, like a stand-alone Web app or the ability to embed into CRM systems, but he Harmon.ie is releasing a mobile app that breaks its activity stream free of Outlook.
tibbr Brings Action to the Activity Stream, and Takes the Activity Stream to Other Apps
TIBCO tibbr, which I covered here, was already pretty interesting. Instead of taking social to existing apps, it tries to aggregate all apps in one stream. It’s going after the universal inbox, a sort of holy grail in digital communications. Another company trying to solve this particular problem is my former employer Attensa.
TIBCO has existing enterprise chops. It also came with an “app store” of various enterprise integrations (such as Oracle, SAP and Salesforce.com). This was a nice contrast to various startups with no enterprise credibility, as well as to SAP’s rather odd choices for integration during the first few months of StreamWorks’ existence.
But there was a problem with tibbr’s approach. The general idea is that you can get someone to take on yet another app because it gives them everything in one place, so they don’t have to juggle between applications anymore. But if people are only notified of something in the activity stream, they’ve still got to bounce back over to their other software to actually take action. So the juggling act persists.
And that’s the problem this release is trying to solve. By enabling users to take action on events from other applications, tibbr 3.0 is trying to get rid of that juggling act. You get a purchase request in the tibbr stream. You authorize it right there, in steam, and move on to the next action.
Still, you probably can’t act on everything within the stream. But tibbr now also has a widget for adding its stream into other application (above). It looks a bit more like Simplybox than Qontext.
The new release also brings unified communications features like voice and instant messaging into the platform, and the ability to embed video.
Closing Thoughts
Will it work out? Unlike Harmon.ie, which is tries to ease users into the world of enterprise social through safe, boring old e-mail interfaces, tibbr is trying to dump people right into the thick of the social world. Either extreme could work or fail. But both are reasonable approaches to take. tibbr can hedge its bets for now with the widget, though it’s going to need to fit more seamlessly into applications than it appears to now. Harmon.ie is going to need to do some hedging of its own by introducing some independent apps. But for right now, it’s a good approach for bringing social into Microsoft shops with an existing investment in SharePoint.
What’s Next?
Adoption isn’t enough. There has to be a point to these sorts of tools. Sameer Patel of the Sovos Group said in a recent talk about on the customer-facing side of social business: “For five years we’ve been engrossed in one giant collaborate group hug, measuring things that don’t keep executives up at night.” He also wrote: “For those who know this community, you will appreciate how significant it is that enterprise social and collaboration practitioners have started to either realize that they need to move beyond measuring nebulous stuff like engagement, ‘getting social,’ productivity and adoption.”
And that is where things are going to have to go next.
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Citrusleaf Launches Its NoSQL Product Geared Specifically Towards Ad Networks
Jun 15th
Citrusleaf, which launched in March, announced today its second product: Citrusleaf RTA, an analytics tool for ad networks. RTA is based on Citrusleaf’ NoSQL database, which boasts both ACID compliance and real-time processing of large data sets.
The idea is to make it possible for ad networks to produce better insight as to why customers clicked on ads based on their past behavior. Citrusleaf claims that RTA will enable to let companies find in real-time “specific user data from terabytes of data containing hundreds of billions of user behavior records.”
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Companies can then analyze data about past behaviors to determine which behaviors lead to clicks and/or sales. The amount of historical data queried is configurable, and data stored in RTA can be set to expire in regular intervals.
Citrusleaf is coming up against stiff competition, including Apache Hadoop, which is used by companies like AOL and Yahoo to handle those companies’ ad networks.
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Google Panda Updates Send Many Towards SEO Solutions That Offer Improved Results – RedOrbit
Jun 15th
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Google Panda Updates Send Many Towards SEO Solutions That Offer Improved Results
RedOrbit Companies have become wary of SEO solutions that might not provide rankings that hold and they are now looking for the best answers to the burning question of how to reach their target audiences. In order to avoid the common drop in rankings, … Panda Cleanup: Maximizing Content Quality (According to Google) |
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Google Panda Updates Send Many Towards SEO Solutions That Offer Improved Results – San Francisco Chronicle (press release)
Jun 13th
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Google Panda Updates Send Many Towards SEO Solutions That Offer Improved Results
San Francisco Chronicle (press release) Advanced SEO, Hire Dedicated SEO and Complete Link Building Service each provide a unique attack to the challenges today's web sites face in getting the word out about their presence and what they have to offer visitors. Blurbpoint brings together a … |
View full post on SEO – Google News
Google Panda Updates Send Many Towards SEO Solutions That Offer Improved Results – DigitalJournal.com (press release)
Jun 13th
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Google Panda Updates Send Many Towards SEO Solutions That Offer Improved Results
DigitalJournal.com (press release) Advanced SEO, Hire Dedicated SEO and Complete Link Building Service each provide a unique attack to the challenges today's web sites face in getting the word out about their presence and what they have to offer visitors. Blurbpoint brings together a … |
View full post on SEO – Google News
A Step Towards a Secure Internet: Google Developers Make Progress with SSL False Start
May 20th
Securing the Internet is no easy task but Google researchers think they have taken a step closer this week with a program called SSL False Start that decreases the load time of SSL connections up to 30%.
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a certification that encrypts data between an end-users’ browser and the server. It is a headache to implement and increases connection latency and only a few of the major sites on the Web have instituted “always on” SSL/TLS protection on top of HTTP to create the more secure HTTPS. While SSL False Start is a good step in creating a safer Internet, it is not the cure for all SSL woes. But, it does look like a step in the right direction.
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Google developers wrote on the Chromium Blog; “We implemented SSL False Start in Chrome 9, and the results are stunning, yielding a significant decrease in overall SSL connection setup times. SSL False Start reduces the latency of a SSL handshake by 30%.”
The developers were concerned that False Start would not be backwards compatible and that if it “user experience for even a small fraction of users, the optimization is non-deployable.” So, they tested it out by finding every site that uses HTTPS in Google’s index and it came away with a 94.6% success rate, with 5% timing out and .4% failing. The time outs turned up as sites that were no longer in service. The developers contacted the domains that failed and said that most have fixed the issue that made False Start fail. The list of sites that are not compatible with False Start is located in the Chromium source code.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation and Access have teamed up on a campaign called “HTTPS Now” that aims to secure the Internet. Yet, with SSL and encryption still a messy and expensive process, it could be a while before the EFF reaches its goal.
“There is no consistent library for implementing SSL in the browser,” said Tom Bridge, a partner at Technolutionary, a technical services firm. “Firefox, Safari, IE, Chrome, they all use different processes for handling the SSL handshake. Encryption is still a heavy-math process, something that requires both RAM and processor time.”
After some high profile hacks, including Mark Zuckerberg’s own profile, Twitter and Facebook have offered options in profile settings to always use HTTPS. Most of the major email clients use HTTPS as well.
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