Google Nest: A Nice Cafe and an Improving Culture
April 22, 2016
Working at whizzy Silicon Valley start ups has got to be rewarding. I know the shift to mobile is shaking up some assumptions about the Alphabet Google thing. I know that Google is trying to sell its robot outfit. I know that legal eagles are keeping the sun from some volleyball games. But I was delighted to learned that Google Nest has an “incredibly nice new cafe” which serves “Asian noodles.” Slam dunk.
I read “Nest CEO Tony Fadell Went to Google’s All-Hands Meeting to Defend Nest. Here’s What He Said.” I learned that Nest garnered some “damning articles.” I had not noticed because I don’t pay too much attention to home automation in general and thermostats in particular.
I learned that one “real” journalistic outfit wrote about a “corrosive culture” in another Alphabet Google operation. I am not sure what a corrosive culture is, but I think the idea is that some folks are not happy. What’s new? Anyone ever listed to a group of GS 12s discuss the efficacy of lateral transfers from Fish & Wildlife to the Postal Service? Grumpy, grumpy.
The Google is on top of employee satisfaction. There are tools to obtain feedback. There are senior managers who are managing. The passage in the write up I noted and circled in arugula green was this one:
I do respect the Nest employees. I do respect the Google employees. I respect the Alphabet employees. We try to work very hard together and partner in many different areas around the different companies. I also respect ex-Nesters, ex-Googlers, those kind of things. So when I read those things that say we don’t respect people, or I don’t, it’s absolutely wrong and that is not how I believe because I want to be treated with respect. And I give respect because I want to get respect.
My assumption was that respect at the old Google came from doing things that worked and mattered. I am a little fuzzy on the people side of the equation. The reason is that I heard long ago that the reason a certain big wheel media titan launched a multi year, very expensive legal dispute with the Google was a direct consequence of [a] senior Googlers not arriving at the meeting on time. Since the meeting was at Google Mountain View, the big wheel media person was not happy, [b] a certain founder of Google did not look at the media titan. The founder focused on his Mac laptop and ignored the media giant, [c] another Google founder arrived after the the first Google founder, perspiring because his rollerblading session ran long. Now I was not at this meeting, and this may be one of those apocryphal stories about why the Google and Viacom were not best friends for many years.
One thing the passage about respect did was trigger a memory of this anecdote. My source was a person familiar with the matter, and I gained some dribs and drabs to confirm the anecdote after the event. I assume the event and this remarkable presentation ran like a smart thermostat.
Yep, respect and Asian noodles, and the loss of a Glass executive. (Glass reports to Nest.)
Stephen E Arnold, April 22, 2016
Mindbreeze Breaks into Slovak Big Data Market Through Partnership with Medialife
April 18, 2016
The article titled Mindbreeze and MEDIALIFE Launch Strategic Partnership on BusinessWire discusses what the merger means for the Slovak and Czech Republic enterprise search market. MediaLife emphasizes its concentrated approach to document management systems for Slovak customers in need of large systems for the management, processing, and storage of documents. The article details,
“Based on this partnership, we provide our customers innovative solutions for fast access to corporate data, filtering of relevant information, data extraction and their use in automated sorting (classification)… Powerful enterprise search systems for businesses must recognize relationships among different types of information and be able to link them accordingly. Mindbreeze InSpire Appliance is easy to use, has a high scalability and shows the user only the information which he or she is authorized to view.”
Daniel Fallmann, founder and CEO of Mindbreeze, complimented himself on his selection of a partner in MediaLife and licked his chops at the prospect of the new Eastern European client base opened to Mindbreeze through the partnership. Other Mindbreeze partners exist in Italy, the UK, Germany, Mexico, Canada, and the USA, as the company advances its mission to supply enterprise search appliances as well as big data and knowledge management technologies.
Chelsea Kerwin, April 18, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Natural Language Takes Lessons from Famous Authors
April 18, 2016
What better way to train a natural language AI than to bring venerated human authors into the equation? Wired reports, “Google Wants to Predict the Next Sentences of Dead Authors.” Not surprisingly, Google researchers are tapping into Project Gutenberg for their source material. Writer Matt Burgess relates:
“The network is given millions of lines from a ‘jumble’ of authors and then works out the style of individual writers. Pairs of lines were given to the system, which made a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ decision to whether they matched up. Initially the system didn’t know the identity of any authors, but still only got things wrong 17 percent of the time. By giving the network an indication of who the authors were, giving it another factor to compare work against, the computer scientists reduced the error rate to 12.3 percent. This was also improved by a adding a fixed number of previous sentences to give the network more context.”
The researchers carry their logic further. As the Wired title says, they have their AI predict an author’s next sentence; we’re eager to learn what Proust would have said next. They also have the software draw conclusions about authors’ personalities. For example, we’re told:
“Google admitted its predictions weren’t necessarily ‘particularly accurate,’ but said its AI had identified William Shakespeare as a private person and Mark Twain as an outgoing person. When asked ‘Who is your favourite author?’ and [given] the options ‘Mark Twain’, ‘William Shakespeare’, ‘myself’, and ‘nobody’, the Twain model responded with ‘Mark Twain’ and the Shakespeare model responded with ‘William Shakespeare’. Asked who would answer the phone, the AI Shakespeare hoped someone else would answer, while Twain would try and get there first.”
I can just see Twain jumping over Shakespeare to answer the phone. The article notes that Facebook is also using the work of human authors to teach its AI, though that company elected to use children’s classics like The Jungle Book, A Christmas Carol, and Alice in Wonderland. Will we eventually see a sequel to Through the Looking Glass?
Cynthia Murrell, April 18, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
First Surface Web Map of the Dark Web
April 15, 2016
Interested in a glimpse of the Dark Web without downloading Tor and navigating it yourself? E-Forensics Magazine published Peeling back the onion part 1: Mapping the Dark Web by Stuart Peck, which shares an overview of services and content in this anonymity-oriented internet. A new map covering the contents of the Dark Web, the first one to do so, was launched recently by a ZeroDayLab key partner, and threat intelligence service Intelliagg. The write-up explains,
“But this brings me to my previous point why is this map so important? Until recently, it had been difficult to understand the relationships between hidden services, and more importantly the classification of these sites. As a security researcher, understanding hidden services, such as private chat forums and closed sites, and how these are used to plan and discuss potential campaigns, such as DDoS, Ransom Attacks, Kidnapping, Hacking, and Trading of Vulnerabilities and leaked data, is key to protecting our clients through proactive threat intelligence.”
Understanding the layout of an online ecosystem is an important first step for researchers or related business ventures. But what about a visualization showing these web services are connected to functions, such as financial and other services, with brick-and-mortar establishments? It is also important to that while this may be the first Surface Web map of the Dark Web, many navigational “maps” on .onion sites that have existed as long as users began browsing on Tor.
Megan Feil, April 15, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
What Not to Say to a Prospective Investor (Unless They Just Arrived via Turnip Truck)
April 11, 2016
The article on Pando titled Startups Anonymous: Things Founders Say to Investors That Are Complete BS is an installment from a weekly series on the obstacles and madness inherent in the founder/investor relationship. Given that one person is trying to convince the other to give them money, and the other is looking for reasons to not give money, the conversations often turn comical faster than it takes the average startup to go broke. The article provides a list of trending comments that one might overhear coming from a founder’s mouth (while their nose simultaneously turns red and elongates.) Here are a few gems, along with their translated meanings,
“Our growth has been all organic.” Translation: Our friends are using it. “My cofounder turned down a job at Google to focus on our company.” Translation: He applied for an internship a while back and it fell through. “We want to create a very minimalist design.” Translation: We’re not designers and can’t afford to hire a decent one. “This is a $50 billion per year untapped market.” Translation: I heard this tactic works for getting investors.”
The frustrations of fundraising is no joke, but founders get their turn to laugh at investors in the companion article titled What I’d Really Like to Say to Investors. For example: “If today, we had the revenue you’d like to see, I wouldn’t be talking to you right now. It’s as simple as that.” Injecting honesty into these interactions is apparently always funny, perhaps because as founders get increasingly desperate, their BS artistry rises in correlation.
Chelsea Kerwin, April 11, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Google Management Teachings: The Marissa Method
April 6, 2016
I read “This is What’s Wrong with Alphabet: Experts.” I like it when old media outfits pump out parental advice to the company which is more valuable than CNBC. I noted this statement about Google’s management:
As market watchers mull over whether Alphabet, the parent company of Google, has a leadership problem, Bill George, former CEO of Medtronic, said the company’s issue is direction. “The question is … can Larry Page guide and direct them and keep them under control?” he told “Closing Bell.” “He’s got a group of mavericks and they’re not all going to work out.”
Apparently CNBC and its experts perceive a management problem at the Alphabet Google thing. No kidding? “Google’s Moonshots Are Crashing Back Down to Earth” points out the Loon balloon-type innovations may not lift the firm’s revenues in a significant way. We have founders selling shares, a single source of revenue, and legal challenges up to one’s digital eye balls. The write up knowingly stated:
George’s comments come amid reports of leadership dissatisfaction at Alphabet, a crisis that has placed the company under investor scrutiny. Market watchers remain concern about whether Alphabet’s compartmentalization helps the stock in the long run.
Great stuff. The only point I wished had been included was this one:
Bring back Marissa Mayer.
Perhaps reality will work out once the Yahoo saga fades into business school case studies? Maybe Google search needs a Xoogler’s return and gentle touch?
Stephen E Arnold, April 6, 2016
Forget World Population, Domain Population Is Overcrowded
April 5, 2016
Back in the 1990s, if you had a Web site without a bunch of gobbidly-gook after the .com, you were considered tech savvy and very cool. There were plenty of domain names available in those days and as the Internet became more of a tool than a novelty, demand for names rose. It is not as easy anymore to get the desired Web address, says Phys.org in the article, “Overcrowded Internet Domain Space Is Stifling Demand, Suggesting A Future ‘Not-Com’ Boom.”
Domain names are being snapped up fast, so quickly, in fact, that Web development is being stunted. As much as 25% of domains are being withheld, equaling 73 million as of summer 2015 with the inability to register domain names that would drive Internet traffic.
“However, as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has begun to roll out the option to issue brand new top-level domains for almost any word, whether it’s dot-hotel, dot-books or dot-sex – dubbed the ‘not-coms’ – the research suggests there is substantial untapped demand that could fuel additional growth in the domain registrations.”
One of the factors that determine prime Internet real estate is a simple, catchy Web address. With new domains opening up beyond the traditional .org, .com, .net, .gov endings, an entire new market is also open for entrepreneurs to profit from. People are already buying not-com’s for cheap with the intention to resale them for a pretty penny. It bears to mention, however, that once all of the hot not-com’s are gone, we will be in the same predicament as we are now. How long will that take?
Whitney Grace, April 5, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Google DeepMind Acquires Healthcare App
April 5, 2016
What will Google do next? Google’s London AI powerhouse has set up a new healthcare division and acquired a medical app called Hark, an article from Business Insider, tells us the latest. DeepMind, Google’s artificial intelligence research group, launched a new division recently called DeepMind Health and acquired a healthcare app. The article describes DeepMind Health’s new app called Hark,
“Hark — acquired by DeepMind for an undisclosed sum — is a clinical task management smartphone app that was created by Imperial College London academics Professor Ara Darzi and Dr Dominic King. Lord Darzi, director of the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London, said in a statement: “It is incredibly exciting to have DeepMind – the world’s most exciting technology company and a true UK success story – working directly with NHS staff. The types of clinician-led technology collaborations that Mustafa Suleyman and DeepMind Health are supporting show enormous promise for patient care.”
The healthcare industry is ripe for disruptive technology, especially technologies which solve information and communications challenges. As the article alludes to, many issues in healthcare stem from too little conveyed and too late. Collaborations between researchers, medical professionals and tech gurus appears to be a promising answer. Will Google’s Hark lead the way?
Megan Feil, April 5, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Venture Dollars Point to Growing Demand for Cyber Security
April 4, 2016
A UK cyber security startup has caught our attention — along with that of venture capitalists. The article Digital Shadows Gets $14M To Keep Growing Its Digital Risk Scanning Service from Tech Crunch reports Digital Shadows received $14 million in Series B funding. This Software as a service (SaaS) is geared toward enterprises with more than 1,000 employees with a concern for monitoring risk and vulnerabilities by monitoring online activity related to the enterprise. The article describes Digital Shadows’ SearchLight which was initially launched in May 2014,
“Digital Shadows’ flagship product, SearchLight, is a continuous real-time scan of more than 100 million data sources online and on the deep and dark web — cross-referencing customer specific data with the monitored sources to flag up instances where data might have inadvertently been posted online, for instance, or where a data breach or other unwanted disclosure might be occurring. The service also monitors any threat-related chatter about the company, such as potential hackers discussing specific attack vectors. It calls the service it offers “cyber situational awareness”.”
Think oversight in regards to employees breaching sensitive data on the Dark Web, for example, a bank employee selling client data through Tor. How will this startup fare? Time will tell, but we will be watching them, along with other vendors offering similar services.
Megan Feil, April 4, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Google Joins Microsoft in the Management Judgment Circus Ring
April 2, 2016
First there was Microsoft and the Tay “learning” experiment. That worked out pretty well if you want a case example of what happens when smart software meets the average Twitter user. Microsoft beat a hasty retreat but expected me to fall for the intelligent API announcements at its home brew conferences.
Buy this management reminder poster at this link.
Then we had the alleged April 1 prank from the Alphabet Google thing. Gentle reader, the company eager to solve death created a self driving car which ran into a bus. A more interesting example, however, was the apparently “human” decision to pull a prank on Gmail users.
According to “Google Reverses Gmail April 1 Prank after Users Mistakenly Put GIFs into Important Emails”:
“Today, Gmail is making it easier to have the last word on any email with Mic Drop. Simply reply to any email using the new ‘Send + Mic Drop’ button. Everyone will get your message, but that’s the last you’ll ever hear about it. Yes, even if folks try to respond, you won’t see it,” Google explained when it launched the button on April 1.
Let’s step back from these interesting examples of large companies doing odd duck things and ask this question:
Does financial success and possibly unprecedented market impact improve human decision making?
I would suggest that the science and math club mentality may not scale in the judgment. Whether it is alleged malware techniques to force an old school programmer to write Never10 or creating a situation in which an employee to employee relationship gives new meaning to the joke word “glasshole”, the human judgment angle may need some scrutiny.
Tay was enough for me to consider creating a Tortured Tay segment for this blog to complement Weakly Watson. Alphabet Google’s prank, however, is in a class of its own.
Fiddling with Gmail’s buttons was an idea without merit. Users are on autopilot. Think how users wince when Apple fools with iTunes’ interface. Now shift from an entertainment app to a “real work” app.
Judgment is important. Concentration of user attention requires more than a math club management style. What worked in high school may not work in other situations.
Stephen E Arnold, April 2, 2016
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