Quote to Note: Android and the Future
May 21, 2010
I tucked this in my speech file. Source: “Why Google Made Android.” Here’s the quote from a Googler:
“If we did not act, we faced a draconian future. Where one man, one company, one carrier was the future.” — Google
This will raise the level of discourse and improve upon the civility among commercial enterprises, right? Discourse? What’s that. Snicker. Snort.
Stephen E Arnold, May 22, 2010
Freebie
Google, StreetView, and Allegations in the US
May 20, 2010
A happy quack to the reader who sent me a link to TechEye.net’s “Google Sued over Snaffled Street View Data.” I am not an attorney, not a journalist, not qualified to do much more than point to this write up. According to the article,
Google has received a writ from Vicki Van Valin and Neil Mertz as part of a class action that their privacy was violated by Street View vehicles picking up data from open wireless internet connections used at home. They also want a court to prevent Google from destroying the data that’s been collected.
The article includes quite a few references to legal things. I did recognize the phrase “class action.”
Assume that the article is accurate and that the legal references in it are germane to the allegations. Here are the questions I want to capture before the slip from my goose brain:
- Are the Department of Justice or the Federal Trade Commission likely to take an interest in this matter?
- What happens if the legal eagles move the matter into court and some of the alleged “information” is deleted or otherwise unavailable?
- How will the “we’re sorry” and “we goofed” method work in the face of international and US actions related to the alleged Google StreetView data collection scope?
I don’t know, but I remember one person said in a lunch conversation, “Never ask for permission. Do it. It is easier to ask for forgiveness.”
Will this work as a method of deflecting the allegations?
Stephen E Arnold, May 20, 2010
Freebie.
Google, GIPS, and a Possible Squeeze Play
May 19, 2010
Now the Global IP Solutions deal is important.
The GIPS was founded in July 1999 in Sweden to develop and market technology designed to mitigate make VoIP more stable. In December 1999 GIPS raised cash from private investors and the shares became quoted on the Norwegian Securities Dealers Association’s OTC-List.
In the short term, I don’t think GIPS will do much to help the Google in the consumer video play that Amazon, Apple, and dozens of other companies are pursuing. But The deal to buy Global IP Solutions will give the Google a thumb screw that is already attached to Microsoft’s paw and, come to think about it, to IBM’s, WebEx Cisco’s, and Samsung’s paws as well. Yahoo could be hurting, but its pain will be ameliorated by whatever Microsoft does to cope with the specter of Googzilla in the media processing for Internet protocol business.
GIPS has deals with some interesting companies.
That GIPS VideoEngine is going to be tough to rip and replace quickly. The deal could be a BP oil spill event for the companies dependent on the Global IP Solutions. Yep, it’s that big. Android video calling and conferencing are on the way. If Google fails to pull off its other video centric acquisitions, GIPS can be repurposed for other types of video programming. Not fun or easy, but doable. And, Google is Google with those many talented engineers.
Some items I found in my Overflight file:
Company Description from 2007
Global IP Solutions offers multimedia technologies for real-time communications over packet networks and enable companies to deliver IP applications that offer the highest quality user experience, as well as revenue-enhancing opportunities across a multitude of devices and services. Global IP Solutions provides best-in-class voice and video quality and fidelity in end-to-end IP communications with robustness against packet loss. Global IP Solutions’ world-renowned media processing and IP telephony experts deliver these solutions to service providers, enterprises, applications developers, network equipment, and gateway and chip manufacturers. Companies using Global IP Solutions products include Nortel, Skype, WebEx, Yahoo!, AOL, EarthLink, BlueCross/BlueShield and other key players in the VoIP market. Global IP Solutions is a member of the Intel(R) PCA Developer Network, the Motorola Design Alliance and Symbian Platinum Partners. Global IP Solutions has headquarters in San Francisco and offices in Santa Barbara, Stockholm, Hong Kong and Boston. Source.
You can get more color about this company’s technology and its core vision from its 2007 FAQ document, which was still available at this link as of 10 am, May 18, 2010.
Beyond Search Comment: The hardware angle is important in light of the integration announcements rumored to be on tap at the Google I/O conference.
Google Sees Big Money
A white paper (commissioned report) for GIPS presented the size of the video conferencing market in 2008. With the present volcanic excitement and the financial pressure front, these numbers are likely to be even more azure tinted. Source.
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- The global market for videoconferencing endpoints was $1.1 billion in 2007, and will grow to $3.9 billion in 2014, according to Frost & Sullivan.
- The Unified Communications markets’ global revenues are estimated to grow from $22.6 billion in 2007 to $48.7 billion in 2012, according to Data from In-Stat and Wainhouse Research.
- The North American web conferencing market revenues are estimated to increase from $632 million in 2007 to $1.5 billion in 2012, according to Frost & Sullivan.
Beyond Search Comment: If ad sales plateau, the Google wants to have a lever in the enterprise sector. Whoops. Google wants a SWAT door buster in any sector dependent on IP communications.
HD Voice = Android Advantage
When I learned about HD Voice, I thought marketing. However, the GIPS lads and lasses have crated an app development environment. More information appears in “GIPS Simplifies VoIP App Development for Android Mobiles”.
Not Even Apple Is Immune
Apple? Yep, Apple. Navigate to “GIPS Voice Technology Boosts iPhone’s Business Potential”. One question I asked myself, “Where did Google learn about the GIPS outfit?” Here’s the passage I found interesting:
GIPS uses ingenious technology, in the form of what it calls a “voice engine,” to improve the quality of IP phone calls. GIPS’ customers incorporate the voice engine in soft phones or other software to make the VoIP calls that they provide sound better. The customers’ software typically handles chores like call setup and the user interface, while the voice engine takes care of delivering high-quality audio. GIPS’ technology deals with problems like jitter and packet loss — that is, voice packets that arrive inconsistently or not at all…the announcement that GIPS has developed an iPhone version of its voice engine (the company already had desktop, Symbian and Windows Mobile versions) is an especially good indication of the device’s business-use potential.
Some IP (Remember, please, this blog is free)
At the end of 1999, GIPS filed its first patent. GIPS has more than a dozen patents and has others in pending status.
Stephen E Arnold, May 19, 2010
Freebie
Germany, WiFi, and Google
May 19, 2010
A happy quack to the reader who alerted me to a write up by Peter Schaar, whom I believe is the German Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Information. You can read the original “Google erfasst „versehentlich“ Inhalte der WLAN-Kommunikation” at this link. If you prefer your German courtesy of the Google, Google Translate will happily oblige.
Amidst the festivities for Google I/O, the pesky bleatings of the Old Country are not likely to be heard by most of the Google fanatics. I listened, and I wanted to highlight three of the points made by Mr. Schaar, who does have his own fans in a region that befuddled some of the Roman emperors long ago.
First, he makes clear that Google is using a method of explanation that echoes what a parent says about an errant teen. Doesn’t work too well for the parent, and if I understand Mr. Schaar, the “shoot, it was a goof” doesn’t work to well in Germany.
Second, inspection revealed that some of the gizmos used to Hoover data during a Google drive around geospatial photo session were missing. Routine procedure. Coincidental? Some folks have lots of luck. Not the German’s day apparently.
Finally, what other surprises may yet be discovered if German authorities can get the information required to conduct an investigation.
Bottom line: I/O is a happy event. The shadow of a giant smiley face may not reach to Germany and Mr. Schaar. Just my opinion.
Stephen E Arnold, May 19, 2010
Freebie.
The Future of Search Revealed, Well, One Viewpoint Revealed
May 15, 2010
I heard a lecture that asserted mobile search was chugging along. If my behavior is an indication, the chugging is pony slow. I rarely use the geo-location functions in my alleged smartphone. The darn thing needs help getting a signal and keeping it. Fancy stuff does not work too well paddling in the goose pond. I read “Mobile and Location Fueling the Design of Future Search” and wondered where I had to live to take advantage of this particular future. My conclusion? I don’t care. I realize that at my advanced age, many whizzy trends swirl around me. I ignore them. For me, this passage riffled my goose feathers: “Mobile is fueling innovation in a way that perhaps hasn’t been seen before.” Well, maybe. I am not sure how “location” will do much for the hapless paralegal looking for an email or the 30 something manager desperate for a client record in order to make a sale and earn the commission to pay the mortgage. Pinning the future on mobile makes a great headline, but it doesn’t address some of the search challenges I encounter.
Stephen E Arnold, May 15, 2010
Freebie.
Twitter Bent to News
May 5, 2010
Researchers classify Twitter as more of a news source than a true social media site. Is that a good thing?
Part of the analysis reported by PCWorld in their article, “Twitter: More a News Medium Than Social Network” refers to the low percentage of reciprocal “follows”. Only 22% of Twitter users choose to include their followers’ tweets on their page.
The high number of celebrities utilizing Twitter also makes it weigh heavy in the new source category versus a social media, i.e. two-way, interactive, etc. site. Because of their dual personalities, Twitter gets a pass on the quantity of marketing that it shares. News sites that share marketing information tend to be more tolerated by users than a pure social networking site. So this makes it good for the marketers, what about the users?
Melody K. Smith, May 5, 2010
Note: Post was not sponsored.
Android Droid Surprise
April 30, 2010
Short honk: “Google Tells Verizon Users to Buy HTC Incredible over Nexus One” reported a surprising development. The passage I noted was: “When asked [by a reporter] for an elaboration on the word change, Google added the following: “We won’t be selling a Nexus One with Verizon, and this is a reflection of the amazing innovation happening across the open Android ecosystem. Verizon Wireless customers who want an Android phone with the power of the Nexus One can get the Droid Incredible by HTC.”
The Nexus One is not a goner. The device will be sold by other carriers. Have you snagged a free Nexus One? Google allegedly has been giving them away. Free-conomics?
Stephen E Arnold, April 30, 2010
Unsponsored post.
Coveo Surges Forward
April 23, 2010
The Coveo team has surged forward in search, according the story “Coveo Announce Une Augmentation de 55% des Revenus de License au 1er Trimestre de 2010; Conclut 24 Nouvelle Transactions.” (There’s an English version of the news release at Intelligent Enterprise as well.) If you don’t read French, this translates as significant growth and two dozen new deals in 12 weeks. Beyond Search thinks that is pretty darned good in today’s economic climate. Other highlights from the story include:
- The release of Version 6.1 of the firm’s Enterprise Search Platform with a raft of new features such as an Outlook integrated sidebar, a floating desktop search bar, and complete desktop email indexing. (You can get the full details at www.coveo.com).
- Deals with Trading Technologies, Netezza, Hewitt, Royal Mail Group, and Allina Hospitals among others
- A 97 percent reduction in time taken to find expertise across a top engineering firm and a two week ROI for a Fortune 100 financial services company
I moderated for Fierce Content Management, the publishing company, a Webinar with Louis Tetu, one of the investors in Coveo, Bill Cavendish (GEICO), and Coveo’s Executive Vice President (Richard Tessier). The company’s approach to enterprise information struck me as focused on chopping the “wait” out of the installation and delivering information that helps employees do their jobs. The “search” function meshes with work processes, so employees can click on a link, fire a query from a mobile device, or use a customized interface. After the Fierce Webinar, I spoke briefly with the firm’s founder Laurent Simoneau. He pointed out that Coveo’s architecture and “smart” software make it possible to get real payoff from search, not big engineering and consulting bills. My recollection is that Laurent Simoneau said, “We focus on making search work the way users want in their specific situation. This seems to be working quite well for us.”
With 55 percent growth in 12 weeks. I am inclined to agree.
Stephen E Arnold, April 23, 2010
This post was not sponsored.
LTU LookThatUp iPhone Image App Available
April 23, 2010
LTU Technologies, a company dealing in image recognition and search technology, just released an visual search application for the iPhone called LookThatUp. The mobile app lets users take a picture and submit it for identification and information. The app coordinates with a database of more than two million items including a variety of content like paintings from large museums, movie posters, DVD/CD covers and more. To get even more snazzy, the app allows sharing to Twitter, Facebook, and e-mail, and offers an online bookmarking service for those lookups. It’s all part of LTU APIs that allow developers to include image recognition functionality in mobile applications. While this sounds pretty peppy, it’s not brand new. An app called kooaba was doing basic image recognition in 2008 and just released version 2.2.1 earlier this month. Search as an app on a device seems to be an emerging niche.
Jessica Bratcher, April 23, 2010
The Seven Forms of Mass Media
April 21, 2010
Last evening on a pleasant boat ride on the Adriatic, a number of young computer scientists to be were asking about my Google lecture. A few challenged me, but most seemed to agree with my assertion that Google has a large number of balls in the air. A talented juggler, of course, can deal with five or six balls. The average juggler may struggle to keep two or three in sync.
One of the students shifted the subject to search and “findability.” As you know, I floated the idea that search and content processing is morphing into operational intelligence, preferably real-time operational intelligence, not the somewhat stuffy method of banging two or three words into a search box and taking the most likely hit as the answer.
The question put to me was, “Search has not kept up with printed text, which has been around since the 1500s, maybe earlier. What are we going to do about mobile media?”
The idea is that we still have a difficult time locating the precise segment of text or datum. With mobile devices placing restraints on interface, fostering new types of content like short text messages, and producing an increasing flow of pictures and video, finding is harder not easier.
I remembered reading “Cell Phones: The Seventh Mass Media” and had a copy of this document on my laptop. I did not give the assertion that mobile derives were a mass medium, but I thought the insight had relevance. Mobile information comes with some interesting characteristics. These include:
- The potential for metadata derived from the user’s mobile number, location, call history, etc
- The index terms in content, if the system can parse information objects or unwrap text in an image or video such as converting an image to ASCII and then indexing the name of a restaurant or other message in an object
- Contextual information, if available, related to content, identified entities, recipients of messages, etc.
- Log file processing for any other cues about the user, recipient(s), and information objects.
What this line of thinking indicates is that a shift to mobile devices has the potential for increasing the amount of metadata about information objects. A “tweet”, for instance, may be brief but one could given the right processing system impart considerable richness to the information object in the form of metadata of one sort or another.
The previous six forms of media—[I] print (books, magazines, and newspapers), [II] recordings; [III] cinema; [IV] radio; [V] television; and [VI] Internet—fit neatly under the umbrella of [VII] mobile. The idea is mobile embraces the other six. This type of reasoning is quite useful because it gathers some disparate items and adds some handles and knobs to the otherwise unwieldy assortment in the collection.
In the write up referenced above, I found this passage interesting: “Mobile is as different from the Internet as TV is from the radio.”
The challenge that is kicked to the side of the information highway is, “How does one find needed information in this seventh mass media?” Not very well in my experience. In fact, finding and accessing information is clumsy for textual information. After 500 years, the basic approach of hunting, Easter egg style, has been facilitated by information retrieval systems. But I think most people who look for information can point out some obvious deficiencies. For example, most retrieval systems ignore content in various languages. Real time information is more of a marketing ploy than a useful means of figuring out the pulse count for a particular concept. A comprehensive search remains a job for a specialist who would be recognized by an archivist who worked in Ephesus’ library 2500 years ago.
Are you able to locate this video on Ustream or any other video search system? I could not, but I know the video exists. Here is a screen capture. Finding mobile content can be next to impossible in my opinion.
When I toss in the radio and other rich media content, finding and accessing pose enormous challenges to a researcher and a casual user alike. In my keynote speech on April 15, 2010, I referenced some Google patent documents. The clutch of disclosures provide some evidence that Google wants to apply smart software to the editorial job of creating personalized rich media program guides. The approach strikes me as an extension of other personalization approaches, and I am not convinced that explicit personalization is a method that will crack the problem of finding information in the seventh medium or any other for that matter.
Here’s my reasoning:
- Search and retrieval methods for text don’t solve problems. The more information processed means longer results lists and an increase in the work required to figure out where the answer is.
- Smart systems like Google’s or the Cuil Cpedia project are in their infancy. An expert may find fault with smart software that is actually quite stupid from the informed user’s point of view.
- Making use of context is a challenging problem for research scientists but asking one’s “friends” may be the simplest, most economical, and widely used method. Facebook’s utility as a finding system or Twitter’s vibrating mesh may be the killer app for finding content from mobile devices.
- As impressive as Google’s achievements have been in the last 11 years, the approach remains largely a modernization of search systems from the 1970s. A new direction may be needed.
The bright young PhDs have the job of figuring out if mobile is indeed the seventh medium. The group with which I was talking or similar engineers elsewhere have the job of cracking the findability problem for the seventh medium. My hope is that on the road to solving the problem of the new seventh medium’s search challenge, a solution to finding information in the other six is discovered as well.
The interest in my use of the phrase “operational intelligence” tells me one thing. Search is a devalued and somewhat tired bit of jargon. Unfortunately substituting operational intelligence for the word search does not address the problem of delivering the right information when it is needed in a form that the user can easily apprehend and use.
There’s work to be done. A lot of work in my opinion.
Stephen E Arnold, April 20, 2010
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