Google and Amping the Pressure in the Ad Fire Hose
December 7, 2017
Screen real estate for mobile devices is limited. The number of queries on desktop boat anchor computers has flat lined, even for “real” researchers. What’s the fix?
A partial answer may appear in “Improving Search and Discovery on Google.” I learned from the write up:
- More related searches. Google helps a busy person consider alternative ways of obtaining needed information.
- Featured snippets. Google decides what’s important so a busy person does not have to think or assess too much.
- Knowledge panels. Google helps a user obtain “real” knowledge. No thinking required.
Each of these search boosters allow Google to line up and display more advertising. Each time one clicks or swipes, Google obtains another item of data to allow its system to “predict” what a user wants and needs.
Now that’s relevance. Ads and feedback.
Why? To the user, search is just “there.” To Google, it’s a way to consume that Adwords inventory in my opinion.
Relevance? What could be more relevant than information which makes thinking easy?
Keep the money flowing in I say.
Stephen E Arnold, December 7, 2017
No More International Google Searches
December 6, 2017
One of the better things about Google is that when you needed to search for results in a different country, all you needed to do was change the domain tag. Google has decided it does not want to do that anymore shares the Verge in the article, “Google No Longer Lets You Change Domains To Search Other Countries.”
Google, instead, will deliver localized results based on your location.
If you need to access international results, however, the option can be changed on the settings menu on the bottom of google.com. Yes, you have to look for it, but it is there. Why does Google want to do this?
Google says it’s making the change because one out of five searches “is related to location,” and the company feels it’s critical to offer local information to provide the best results. The feature seems to be tailored most toward travelers: Google says that if you visit another country, it’ll automatically serve results local to where you’re visiting, then switch back again as soon as you arrive home. Before, if a traveler had kept typing in their home country’s Google domain, they may not have gotten what Google sees as ideal search results.
Before you think this is another way Google is trying to control search content, apparently Alphabet Inc. has already been doing this with YouTube and Gmail. The procedure has just been carried over to search results, but at least there is a way out of the localized content.
Whitney Grace, December 6, 2017
Google Told to Rein in Profits
December 5, 2017
Google makes a lot of money with their advertising algorithms. Every quarter their profit looms higher and higher, but the San Francisco Gate reports that might change in the article, “Google Is Flying High, But Regulatory Threats Loom.” Google and Facebook are being told they need to hold back their hyper efficient advertising machines. Why? Possible Russian interference in the 2016 elections and the widespread dissemination of fake news.
New regulations would require Google and Facebook to add more human oversight into their algorithms. Congress already has a new bill on the floor with new regulations for online political ads to allow more transparency. Social media sites like Twitter and Facebook already making changes, but Google has not done anything and will not get a free pass.
It’s hard to know whether Congress or regulators will actually step up and regulate the company, but there seems to be a newfound willingness to consider such action,’ says Daniel Stevens, executive director of the Campaign for Accountability, a nonprofit watchdog that tracks Google spending on lobbyists and academics. ‘Google, like every other industry, should not be left to its own devices.’
Google has remained mostly silent, but has made a statement that they will increase “efforts to improve transparency, enhance disclosures, and reduce foreign abuse.” Google is out for profit like any other company in the world. The question is if they have the conscience to comply or will find a way around it.
Whitney Grace, December 5, 2017
Google: Hostile Climate?
December 4, 2017
I read “Periods of Misconduct by Google Leadership Has Reportedly Lead to a Hostile Climate Internally.” These days it can be difficult to determine what is verifiable and what is speculation or sour grapes.
The write up makes a claim which I found surprising; to wit:
it appears that relationships and misconduct had by leadership within the company has created a hostile climate, primarily for female employees…
The basis for the assertion is an article in the online publication “The Information.”
Some high profile names are referenced in the write up; for example, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Eric Schmidt, and David Drummond.
I recognize some of these names. The article also references the “culture of allowed disobedience” which may be “in the world of technology.”
The original article in The Information is available at this link. Note that one has to enter an email address to access the source which originally reported about the management approach actualized at Google.
Interesting if true. One wonders if Russia’s possible private Internet for BRICS will embrace Google. I am wonder if others will have warm and fuzzy feelings toward Google if the assertions are accurate.
We live in interesting times. Management appears to have evolved since I first noticed Backrub in the late 1990s. Backrub? Now that’s an interesting moniker, isn’t it?
Stephen E Arnold, December 4, 2017
Google Maps Misses the Bus
December 4, 2017
Google Maps is the preferred GPS system for millions of people. It uses real-time information to report accidents and stay updated on road conditions. It is great when you are driving or walking around a city, but when it comes to public transportation, especially to the airports, Google ignores it. City Lab discusses, “Why Doesn’t Google Maps Know The Best Way To the Airport?”
Speaking from personal experience on a recent trip to New York City, I had to get from Queens to LaGuardia airport. Google Maps took me the most roundabout way possible, instead of routing me to direct trains and buses. Google’s directions may have required less train switching, but it took me in the opposite direction of my destination.
Google Maps has a problem listing airport specific transportation in its app, but it really should not be a problem.
As Google describes things, putting those city-to-terminal routes into its mapping apps shouldn’t be that hard. A transit operator has to apply to be listed in Google Transit, publish its schedule in the standard General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) format, and have Google run some quality tests on that feed before factoring it into directions.
But some smaller transit operations don’t get to the first step. They don’t even know it’s an option.
Transportation services may not know how to be added to Google, but Google also not reached out to them. Historically, Google has only reached out to large transportation entities, because it meant more business on their end. Google also has this weird clause transportation services need to sign before their information is added to Google Maps. It alleviates Google from “any defects in the data” and it sounds like Google does not want to be held responsible for misinformation displayed on Google Maps.
Whitney Grace, December 4, 2017
The Thing Holding AI Back Is the Thing It Needs Most, Data
November 30, 2017
Here’s an interesting problem: for artificial intelligence and machine learning to thrive, it needs a massive amount of information. However, they need so much data that it causes hiccups in the system. Google has a really interesting solution to this problem, as we learned in the Reuter’s article, “Google’s Hinton Outlines New AI Advance That Requires Less Data.”
The bundling of neurons working together to determine both whether a feature is present and its characteristics also means the system should require less data to make its predictions.
The leader of Google Brain said, “The hope is that maybe we might require less data to learn good classifiers of objects, because they have this ability of generalizing to unseen perspectives or configurations of images.
Less data for big data? It’s just crazy enough to work. In fact, some of the brightest minds in the business are trying to, as ComputerWorld said, “do less with more.” The piece focuses on Fuzzy LogiX and their attempts to do exactly what Google is hypothetically saying. It will be interesting to see what happens, but we are betting on technology cracking this nut.
Patrick Roland, November 30, 2017
Canada Socks It to the USA Again
November 28, 2017
The US loves making fun of Canada and Canadians take it in stride. While Canadians brush off the teasing, they feel a smug sense of superiority, especially when they get something the US does not. These include a less embarrassing national leader, the metric system, and now the city of the future. The San Francisco Gate reports that “Larry Page’s Urban Innovation Unit Picks Toronto For First Digital Neighborhood.”
This does not come as a surprise, especially if you work in the technology or entertainment industries. Along with other advantages, Canada rewards technology innovations and film crews with tax incentives and other cost-saving laws. Toronto is Canada’s biggest city and Larry Page talked the city officials into building the city of the future along Lake Ontario’s shore. Alphabet Inc. and Waterfront Toronto are working side by side to develop a high-tech community that includes green technologies, self-driving transport, and construction techniques that will lower housing costs.
Unknown to many, Toronto is home to a thriving startup boom and the deal has been in talks for a decade:
Sidewalk Toronto will dedicate $50 million to planning the project, which will begin with a new neighborhood called Quayside and eventually extend into the Eastern Waterfront, more than 800 acres in one of North America’s largest undeveloped urban parcels. Google’s Canadian headquarters will relocate to the development from the west end to support the project.
It is hard to imagine a US city doing something similar to Toronto. Most city governments would want to be paid, instead of giving money to this big of a project.
Whitney Grace, November 28, 2017
AIs Newest Hurdle Happens When the Machines Hallucinate
November 27, 2017
Artificial Intelligence has long been thought of as an answer to airport security and other areas. The idea of intelligent machines finding the bad guys is a good one in theory. But what if the machines aren’t as clever as we think? A stunning new article in The Verge, “Google’s AI Thinks This Turtle is a Gun and That’s a Problem,” made us sit up and take notice.
As you can guess by the title, Google’s AI made a huge flub recently:
This 3D-printed turtle is an example of what’s known as an “adversarial image.” In the AI world, these are pictures engineered to trick machine vision software, incorporating special patterns that make AI systems flip out. Think of them as optical illusions for computers. You can make adversarial glasses that trick facial recognition systems into thinking you’re someone else, or can apply an adversarial pattern to a picture as a layer of near-invisible static. Humans won’t spot the difference, but to an AI it means that panda has suddenly turned into a pickup truck.
This adversarial image news is especially concerning when you consider how quickly airports are implementing this technology. Dubai International airport is already using self-driving carts for luggage. It’s only a matter of time until security screening goes the same way. You’d best hope they iron out adversarial image issues before we do.
Patrick Roland, November 27, 2017
Google: Headphones and Voice Magic
November 23, 2017
I read two interesting articles. Each provides some insight into Google’s effort to put the NLP and chatbot doggies in an Alphabet corral.
The first article is “Google SLING: An Open Source Natural Language Parser.” To refresh your memory, “SLING is a combination of recurrent neural networks and frame based parsing.”
The second article is “Google Introduces Dialogflow Enterprise Edition, a Conversational Apps Building Platform.” The idea is to provide “a platform for building voice and text conversational applications.”
Both are interesting because each seems to be “free.” I won’t drag you, gentle reader, through the consequences of building a solution around a “free” Google service. One Xoogler watches me like a hawk to remind me that Google doesn’t treat people in a will of the wisp way. Okay. Let’s move on, shall we?
Both of these systems advance Google’s quest to become the Big Dog of where the world is heading for computer interaction. Both are germane to the wireless headphones Google introduced. These headphones, unlike other wireless alternatives, can translate. Hence, the largesse for free NLP and voice freebies.
I read “Trying Out Google’s Translating Headphones” informed me that:
The most important thing you should know about Pixel Buds is that their full features only work with Google’s newest smartphone, the Pixel 2.
Is this vendor lock in?
I learned from the write up:
To be honest, it’s not exactly real-time. You call up the feature by tapping on your right earbud and asking Google Assistant to “help me speak” one of 40 languages. The phone will then open the Google Translate app. From there, the phone will translate what it hears into the language of your choice, and you’ll hear it in your ear.
Not quite like Star Trek’s universal translator, suggests the article. I noted this statement:
it’s worth realizing that the Pixel Buds are more than just a pair of headphones. They’re an early illustration of what we can expect from Google, which will try to make products that stand out from the pack with unusual artificial intelligence services such as translation.
A demo. I suppose doing the lock in tactic with a demo is better than basing lock in on vaporware.
Then there are the free APIs. These, of course, will never go away or cost too much money. The headphones are $159. The phone adds another $649.
Almost free.
Stephen E Arnold, November 23, 2017
The FG Snipers Draw a Bead
November 22, 2017
Facebook (hereinafter “F”) and Google (hereinafter “G”) are the part of the new sport FG sniping. Favored by the Guardian and other “real” publishers, F and G are plump, apparently arrogant, and seemingly clueless targets. The horrible companies do not “give back” to the “real” magazines and newspapers which have been eroded by the flow of clicks flowing to F and G.
A fun example of this blood sport appear in “Why Magazine Mogul Tina Brown Is ‘Angry and Upset’ at Google and Facebook.” I highlighted three comments Tina Brown (Oxford graduate and traditional print journalist) allegedly made to a “real” journalist who has gone over to the dark side of online content creation.
Number One:
I [Tina Brown, Oxford graduate] am very angry and upset about the way advertising revenue has been essentially pirated by the Facebook-Google world
Ahoy, mates. Google indexes. “Real” publishers tried this; for example, the New York Times and its fumbling with LexisNexis and its own Jeff Pemberton led initiative decades ago. Google succeeded; the NYT and other “real” publishers failed. Sour grapes?
Number Two:
When you don’t have human beings who have judgment, who have taste, who have a sense of responsibility, you can have any old Russian hacker dishing it out to the American public.
Not just any “human beings.” The “right” type of human being is a trained journalist like those who do the “This Week in Google” podcast perhaps? Plus, last I knew, F and G had human beings. Mr. Brin, for example, allegedly behaved in a human manner with a certain Google Glass marketing maven. The disconnect is that some human beings are more adept at applying technology to content processing and delivering what users want. On the other hand, “real” publishers certain knew how to generate “yellow” journalism and engage in other fascinating human activities.
Number Three:
People don’t know what’s important or where to find it.
To be clear, some people do know what’s important and where to find it. The problem is that People Magazine or the grocery store tabloid the National Enquirer are not much different from “real” newspapers and magazines.
What the issue is, of course, is the fact that traditional publishing has found itself marginalized. The arbiters of taste and judgment from places like Oxford and Yale are a bit overwhelmed because they don’t get traffic or a sufficient number of likes.
Where in the modern economy is the “law” which says that F and G have to give back to the outfits which have failed to adapt to the new world.
I guess Darwinian principles (Darwin was a Cambridge graduate) don’t apply to those Oxford graduates who wish to enshrine dead tree methods. From my vantage point in Harrod’s Creek, Darwin (a Cambridge graduate) is alive and well. Just look at those informed individuals living in trailers living by the creek. Also, in forward leaning places like Palo Alto, one can observe on the way to F and G the lines of SUVs and motor homes which provide safe havens for Facebook posts and Google searches.
Life would be so much better if time stood still. Are F and G clueless? Should large companies “give back”? One could consult Adam Smith I suppose. Oh, Smith was an allegedly unhappy Oxforder. Nasty intellectual environment my economics professor observed as I recall.
Failure can be unpalatable. Zeros and ones leave a bitter after taste on the tongues of some arbiters of taste.
Stephen E Arnold, November 22, 2017
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
