Natural Language Interface Will Boost Mobile Enterprise Search
July 30, 2013
Enterprise organizations are increasingly loosening the leash on mobility and this is causing an emphasis on cross-device search. CMS Wire ran an article on the subject called, “Cross-Device Search: The Next Step in Mobile Search Delivery.” The author discusses the known issues with mobile search within the consumer sector and points to natural search interfaces as a remarkable technology that will be one of the building blocks of mobile search.
Both collaborative search and cross-device search stick out as technologies that many companies will begin needing to utilize more and more frequently.
The article does a good job summing up where mobile search delivery will begin:
In 2011 Greg Nudelman wrote Designing Search — UX Strategies for eCommerce Success which had a strong mobile focus and there is an excellent chapter on mobile search in the recent book on Designing the Search Experience by Tony Russell-Rose and Tyler Tate. There is a consensus that natural search interfaces will be an important feature of mobile search design.
Natural search interfaces, or natural language interface (as others call this technology), are a vital piece of technology delivered by many innovative companies like Expert System. One of their solutions, Cogito Answers, utilizes natural language interface to understand the intention of users to deliver information and answers quickly and accurately with a single click.
Megan Feil, July 30, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Mobile: Has Spreadsheet Fever Hit Samsung?
July 5, 2013
As far as I know, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd has only dabbled in mobile search. The investment in research and development facilities in Korea and Silicon Valley caught my attention. The company has been riding high on mobile sales, winning in spats with Apple, and knocking out customers with a range of products. The days of the microwave as the defining Samsung technology are long gone. See, for example, “Samsung Looks to the Future with $4.5 Billion Investment in Five New R&D Centers.”
Mobile phone R&D is going in some surprising directions. We have heard that Google [x] Labs (don’t you love the spelling which obfuscates finding information about the whizzy new Google facilities difficult) is poking into some pretty esoteric stuff. We know this low profile activity is underway because we have discovered two instances of key [x] Labs’ professionals publishing information under different versions of their given names. What’s up with that? Typographical errors. I plan to release a report similar to my dataspaces and Guha analyses in the near future. Keep in mind that the investment in Motorola is not making headlines. The acquisition may become a business school case study, but the mobile world seems to be exploding. Even Apple is poking into advanced materials, different types of interfaces, and new services. Will there be low cost phones, new online information services, and premium priced hardware? My bet is yes.
Now I learned in “Samsung Electronics’ Second Quarter Misses Forecast as Smartphone Worries Deepen” that the Korean giant is troubling some of the MBA crowd. The Reuters news story — presumably accurate — states:
Now investors fear Samsung may also follow in the footsteps of Apple and other once-mighty players that are struggling with shrinking margins, in an industry where companies live and die by their ability to stay ahead of the innovation curve.
What’s going on?
I see some parallels with the revenue-itis which has been plaguing search and content processing companies for two years.
First, the mobile market seems to expanding. The business school hockey stick curve is alive and well for Apple, Google, and Samsung. MBAs know that hockey sticks do not have infinite handles. But when cranking out financials, it is oh-so-easy to let Excel predict continued growth. The search and content processing vendors know that growth is pretty much over in some search sectors. I have a list of words that search vendors use to disguise the fact that the firms are selling technology which has not changed significantly in years. The Samsung alarm suggests that mobile may not have the lift it did before. Ergo: interface, services, bioengineering, and other “new” ways to keep that revenue pumping. Like search, mobile phone dependent companies may have their work cut out for them. The value adds do not come easy.
Second, the reality of most high-tech markets is that the economic downturn is continuing to affect companies big and small. The reason is that the customers are either short of cash and spending for cost reductions or suffering from “technology fatigue.” The barrage of “new and improved” is just not sticking in organizations in which people are worried about their jobs. Why make a decision when that decision may cause people to get fired. Isn’t it better to do nothing? Is that mobile phone worth the extra money and hassle to relearn a gadget? I think fatigue and resistance to change are significant factors. The rise of Chinese manufacturers offering multi SIM phones is becoming a big deal. Have you looked at products produced by Huawei Technologies or ZTE?
Third, the datasphere is reeling from the privacy and security issues which are hanging around. At a dinner party last night, a 70 year old asked, “Should I stop using my mobile phone?” I just listened and what I heard was a serious concern that the online magic of the last 20 years may be morphing into a trick. I never believed in magic, but a 70 year old who is worried about calls to her grandchildren is something new in the mobile world. If this type of concern escalates, what happens to mobile online advertising and uptake of new gizmos? What happens to the projections the MBAs bet their BMWs on?
Net net: I think the Samsung forecast, if accurate, is important. If Samsung turns around the negative outlook, I will breathe a sigh of relief. If not, will the high flying mobile sector with its predictive search and mobile advertising revenues head down downwards?
Search and content processing vendors are in serious financial quicksand. Nokia like other smaller mobile outfits is struggling to pull its hip boots out of the muck. Microsoft is exerting a great deal of effort to get to solid ground tool. Will Apple, Google, Samsung, and a handful of others avoid the perils of spending many quarters in the revenue swamp?
I will be watching this adventure from dry land I might add.
Stephen E Arnold, July 5, 2013
Sponsored by Xenky
Financial Times Claims Google Under Investigation By EU
July 3, 2013
In the article titled EU Investigating Google’s Android Licensing Practices on Datamation, the claims made by the Financial Times that documents exist regarding an EU antitrust investigation into Google. While this is not the first of such investigations, it is the first time that the Android licensing practices have been the focus. The article explains,
“Daniel Thomas and Alex Barker with the Financial Times reported, “Google is facing an investigation by European authorities into allegations that it supported the leading Android smartphone platform and its mobile services by means of cut-price licensing and exclusivity deals. According to documents seen by the Financial Times, the Brussels antitrust watchdog has focused on allegedly anti-competitive deals struck between the US technology company and smartphone providers.” The Telegraph’s Olivia Goldhill added, “The informal investigation… follows complaints in April from 14 companies.”
Companies named as part of the complaint include Microsoft and Nokia. The investigation is still in the early stages, but presumably will decide whether or not Google is guilty of licensing Android “below cost”, as well as whether Google has exclusivity agreements with manufacturers. Google replied via CNET, saying that consumers have the option to use Android how they please. Europe’s reception of Google has bordered on frosty for the last several years, but no investigations have resulted in anything, as yet.
Chelsea Kerwin, July 03, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
HP Pairs with Google Apps
July 2, 2013
Google plus HP? Stranger things have happened. All Things D reveals, “HP and Google Team Up to Offer Small Businesses ‘IT in a Box’.” Now a Google Apps reseller, HP will be packaging Googly management tools with computers, printers, and other hardware. Writer Arik Hesseldahl observes:
“It’s the latest move on the chessboard by HP to get a little closer to Google, and it is interesting in light of the fact that Microsoft has both been building its own hardware — the Surface — and also cozying up to HP rival Dell with a $2 billion loan to help finance its $24.4 billion leveraged buyout. The move is also taking place against the backdrop of HP’s further embrace of Android and Chrome-based hardware. It just added a second Chromebook to its line of notebooks, and also offers an Android-based tablet.
“Google is getting something pretty attractive out the deal, too: HP’s considerable relationships in the channel — the network of third-party resellers that offer customized packages of products to businesses.”
Sounds like a sweet deal for both HP and Google. Will the consumer be similarly blessed? Hesseldahl ponders other changes the arrangement could bring. He suspects the team could soon add more HP hardware to the Google Apps bundle, like servers and networking equipment, for a special small-business package. That could be helpful; we’ll just have to wait and see.
Cynthia Murrell, July 02, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Profits Key in Evaluating Mobile Market Success
June 27, 2013
Tech writers have it all wrong when it comes to evaluating success in the mobile sector, says Tech.pinions‘ John Kirk in, “Android’s Market Share is Literally a Joke.” The article is the first in a series that examines the way we determine who is ahead in the mobile field.
In this entry, Kirk begins with a long list of recent headlines trumpeting Android‘s huge share of the mobile market, then explains why those who declare Google’s Android ahead based on market share alone are missing the big picture. He writes:
“Scoring by market share alone and ignoring profit is like saying that a hockey team won because it had more shots on goal when the other team had more goals.
“Market share without context is not only useless, it is worse than useless because it is likely to be misinterpreted.
“First, market share without context assumes that each percentage of market share is equal to another – that every Android activation is equal to an iOS sale. Nothing could be further from the truth. . . .
“Second, market share without context implies that market share is a zero sum game – that market share gains for one always result in a loss to another. But in a rapidly growing market, a company can actually LOSE market share yet have both positive unit sales and profit growth.”
Good points. See the article for Kirk’s in-depth discussion and appeal to reason. Essentially, he insists market analysts should focus on what really matters—a high ratio of profits to market share. Going by this more logical metric, Apple still dominates the field.
It is an interesting analysis. If current declarations of Android’s success are overblown, what effect will that have on Google‘s mobile search revenues in the long run?
Cynthia Murrell, June 27, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Mobily Attempts to Intercept Saudi Arabian Terrorists
June 21, 2013
The article on the thoughtcrime blog titled A Saudi Arabia Telecom’s Surveillance Pitch reads more than anything like a plea to the humanity of hackers. The author (Moxie Marlinspike) relates his communications with a Mobily agent. He learned from the agent of the telecom operating in Saudi Arabia that they were attempting to gain interception technology for mobile application data. Mobile Twitter, Viber, Line and WhatsApp were several focuses. The article relates,
“What’s depressing is that I could have easily helped them intercept basically all of the traffic they were interested in (except for Twitter – I helped write that TLS code, and I think we did it well). They later told me they’d already gotten a WhatsApp interception prototype working, and were surprised by how easy it was. The bar for most of these apps is pretty low.”
Eventually when Marlinspike refused to help the company, they accused him of terrorism (or at least terrorism by negligence). They claimed that terrorist groups were using these apps to communicate, and that they only intended to monitor them due to the inherent threat. Obviously it is naïve to believe that any government or company will have the moral compass to restrain themselves, as has been proven in the past. The article goes on to ask his fellow hackers to rethink their priorities. It may be an interesting way to collect information, but where will it end?
Chelsea Kerwin, June 21, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
Contrasting Scenarios in Google Glass Forecast
June 18, 2013
A report from services firm IHS conjures up a number best served with a grain of salt. Electronic engineering site EE Times reports, “Spurred by Google Glass, IHS Forecasts Nearly 10 Million Smart Glasses to Ship from 2012 to 2016.” The forecast looks past the public-availability launch, expected next year, and predicts the device’s trajectory after that.
Quite simply, it all depends on third-party apps. A number of developers have already paid $1,500 for the privilege of early ownership, and early tinkering. Perhaps developers will quickly create a wealth of exciting augmented-reality apps, driving a surge in popularity for the device. Perhaps these apps will change the way we interact with the world forever, and our Glasses will eventually become as essential as our smartphones are now. The rosiest numbers in the report spring from that direction.
There are other possibilities, however. Writer Julien Happich shares the predictions’ duller side:
“Under a more pessimistic scenario, IHS forecasts that only about 1 million smart glasses will be shipped through 2016. According to this outlook, applications for smart glasses will be limited to some of those already displayed by Google in its Glass marketing. These include scenarios where smart glasses become more of a wearable camera device than a true augmented reality system. In this case, smart glasses will be mainly used for recording sports and other non-casual events, like jumping out of a plane, as demonstrated at the Google I/O developer conference in 2012.”
At over $200 million in 2012, the wearable-camera market is nothing to sneeze at, but it is far from the multi-billion-dollar arena Google is after here. Perhaps the truth is somewhere in between. The future of Glass is in the apps; we’ll just have to wait and see what developers come up with.
Cynthia Murrell, June 18, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Apple and Microsoft: Pals Again?
June 11, 2013
I noted “Exciting New Chapter in Bing’s Collaboration with Apple”. Call me old fashioned, but I was fascinated to see the on-again, off-again relationship between Apple and Microsoft click “on”. The key point for me in the write up was this passage:
Starting this fall with iOS 7, Bing will power Siri’s new integrated web search. When users ask Siri a question either the specific answer or web search links will now be delivered automatically so users can find information even faster.
Mobile search is replacing desktop search as the go-to way for some folks to locate information. The challenge in my opinion boils down to the Apple-Microsoft magnetism versus the pulling power of Google.
Neither Apple nor Microsoft has had the business model to generate Google-scale money from search. My view is that Apple and Microsoft may be facing a quite difficult challenge.
Both companies have the resources to take search to a different place. Can these two firms deliver. The Bing index strikes me as less deep than Google’s. I no longer have current data about the number of urls indexed by Bing, but when I run queries, I find more hits in Google. Volume does not equal relevance, however. Google has a point of possible vulnerability. However, Apple has not delivered high impact search in some of its services. I find the iTunes’ search system sluggish and difficult to use. Trimming a result set to include only audiobooks is not particularly intuitive for one of my colleagues.
Where there are tie ups, there is hope.
Stephen E Arnold, June 11, 2013
Sponsored by Xenky
Boxfish Launches Android App
June 11, 2013
Boxfish wants to keep the public in-tune with what is trending on TV and they have just the technology to do that. Their technology was already available for Apple iOS and according to the TechCrunch article “Video Discovery Startup Boxfish Launches Android App, Opens Up API For Third-Party Developers” they recently released an Android version of their application. They have taken it a step further and have opened up their application to developers.
“To recap: Boxfish works by scanning network satellite signals for captions and figuring out which words or topics or phrases are being talked about across a wide number of TV programs. It started with a real-time TV search engine, letting its users say where and when certain topics are being mentioned. But it’s expanded to enable users to see which topics are most popular.”
The Android technology continues to grow in the tablet and smartphone world so this addition means that Boxfish will be an option for more phones, tablets and users. Also notable is a new feature was added to the Android version. Users will now have the ability to use Google’ voice recognition technology and be able to actually talk to the app and search for content without ever typing a word. Boxfish is looking at the big picture and isn’t just settling for apps they are also reaching out to third parties. They have opened their real-time TV API up to some of their partners and allowed them to use the technology in their own apps. The data is also being offered to university media schools so that they can have a more in-depth understanding of topics that are talked about on 24-hour news networks. Boxfish definitely seems to be giving video search a new and refreshing makeover.
April Holmes, June 11, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
SRCH2 Poised to Take Industry by Storm
June 11, 2013
We came across a recent press release that posed an interesting question. At this point, can any vendor in the enterprise realm produce a search solution disruptive to Google? SRCH2 might be an outfit to keep an eye on, according to the information we learned from an interview with Dr. Chen Li in the Arnold Information Technology Search Wizards Speak series.
SRCH2’s niche in the landscape of search options is geared towards corporate sites and apps. Their plan is to build “Google style” solutions.
The press release offers a summary of what Chen said in the interview in regards to the problem that SRCH2 wants to solve:
“‘SRCH2 offers clear differentiation when you also consider complexity and time to market. When you add in-memory performance to this, SRCH2 offers a killer combination for these use cases.’ A key innovation in the SRCH2 method concerns the speed with which content can be processed and then accessed to generate a response to a user’s or subsystem’s query. Speed, particularly in mobile applications, is essential. Latency can drag down response time. SRCH2, like Google, knows that speed is often more important than some other considerations.”
Apparently, SRCH2’s clients are using their technology in a number of different contexts and for a variety of devices. If there is even a major global handset manufacturer porting it to the kernel across millions of handsets, what other uses will be found? Only time will tell.
Megan Feil, June 11, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
