DirectDirect Adds Video Management
September 29, 2011
The lines between content management, content processing, and data fusion continue to blur.
DataDirect Networks, the world’s largest privately held information storage company, announced the release of Storage Fusion Architecture (SFA) 10K-X this week. SFA 10K-X is an integrated storage appliance that maximizes application performance while minimizing total cost of ownership for Big Data, cloud, and content-intensive environments. Autonomy has been a player in video for a number of years, and we anticipate that other storage firms will observe Autonomy’s success and explore the burgeoning rich media opportunity.
In Maria Deutscher’s article, DataDirect Networks Brings Fusion Tech to Big Data Storage DataDirect CEO and Cofounder Alex Bouzari said:
The DDN SFA10K-X is a high- performance, scalable solution that will meet the needs of today’s and tomorrow’s data-intensive organizations.
According to an August article, DataDirect is now powering more than 60 percent of the top 50 fastest computer storage solution in the world. While DataDirect is kept busy with expanded partnerships and a new command video management platform, if you want an explanation, be prepared to pay over $200 for a basic book.
DirectData is an example of a next generation enterprise solution which uses storage as a platform for sophisticated content processing and management services.
Jasmine Ashton, September 29, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
PicsLikeThat Offers Image Similarity Search
September 21, 2011
Prototype image search system, PicsLikeThat, claims to offer an easier image search than competitors. The site was developed by René Corinth, David Crome, Leonhard Palm, Natalia Ukhanova and Patrick Wieczorek during a student project at HTW Berlin. The system combines a keyword search with a visual similarity search. The site explains:
Due to the visual sorting PicsLikeThat can show several hundred images allowing easy inspection. In most cases this is sufficient to get a good overview of the entire search result set. The user can quickly identify desired images, which are used to refine the result by retrieving visually and semantically similar images. By tracking user interaction, PicsLikeThat learns the semantic relationships of the images.
At first trial, the concept is ideal for stock images and basic image searches. However, since the current site is still a demo, there are limited pictures available (my searches for celebrities and logos typically turned up null.) Also, the images they provide are from fotolia, which must be purchased. Compared to Google and Bing image searches, which both have the option for related searches and searches by size and/or color, the site still has a long journey ahead. I applaud their efforts for attempting to discover the user’s intention and look forward to the growth of the site.
Andrea Hayden, September 21, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Yahoo Ups Image Search: Is It Too Little Too Late Again?
September 20, 2011
Yahoo did make its mail service a bit more responsive. That’s a plus because Yahoo mail has been disappointing to our publisher Stephen E Arnold for a year. He complains about it when his T Mobile wireless broadband connection hangs when Yahoo’s servers are on a break.
And image search? We’re confused about Flickr. And in a much-needed effort to stay in the game, Yahoo has increased its image search functions. Search Engine Watch profiles the newest upgrade to Yahoo in, “Yahoo Launches Enhanced Image Search.”
Yahoo has announced a new image search that matches recent enhancement to Google and Bing. Yahoo’s new image presentation also allows for easy searching of galleries, a connection to your friends’ Facebook images, and easy navigation of full-sized images.
It boils down to whether anyone cares, and we are not sure that they do. Innovative in the beginning, Yahoo’s indexing set them apart, encouraging use by the librarian set who appreciated a more structured layout. Now Yahoo is relegated to a position of keeping up, mainly with Bing and Google. While the image features might be highly innovative, we are not sure that Yahoo still has the clout the pull in users to explore those features, or even stumble upon them.
Emily Rae Aldridge, September 20, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com, publishers of The New Landscape of Enterprise Search
Free Image Search Tool
September 16, 2011
One of our clients asked us about a service called Free Image Search Tool. FIST is Magnus Manske‘s solution to the multiple queries one has to run to locate an images on a number of publicly accessible repositories. The system makes it easy to search for what are called “free images.” (We licensed the image we use for Augmentext.com and in Beyond Search we make an effort to point to a source of an image in our free Creative Commons news stream.) Images are a tough problem, often getting less attention from those concerned with copyrights for motion pictures and music.
If you want to give the service a try, click this link or the image of the search query page below:
More information about the service is available from Wikimedia, Meta Wiki.
Stephen E Arnold, September 16, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com, publishers of The New Landscape of Enterprise Search
Next Generation Ads: Laser Dots on Your Forehead
September 13, 2011
Targeted broadcasts may be the next step in maintaining our ever-increasingly niche specific interests. With real-time analytics, news writers and editors now have another tool to use to construct our generation’s version of journalism. Wired reports on this with their article “Real-Time analytics Turn the Web into a Targeted Broadcast.”
Analytics obviously are not a new concept. Anyone with a WordPress blog can check out how many users view their site and other related statistics.
Chartbeat has been offering analytics to mainly e-commerce sites since 2009. Now, the same company tailors this service for reporters with Newsbeat, the brand-new real-time analytics tool.
We learned the following information from the Wired article:
News editors want to know where their readers are coming from, what content they’re engaging with, whether their social media campaigns are working, which new headlines are luring readers in and which new advertisements may be turning them off.
All of this data allows news sites to match their stories to interested readers—sounds great.
However, it would be interesting to know if certain content is filtered. If this is the case, then how will people not involved in an event or activity receive information?
Megan Feil, September 13, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com, publishers of The New Landscape of Enterprise Search
WebM Patent Fight May Be in Google’s Future
September 9, 2011
Streaming Media asks whether there is a “WebM Patent Fight Ahead for Google?” So, Google may be in hot water. Does Google have any cool or temperate water at the Googleplex?
WebM is a free and open Web video format that Google has adopted for use in streaming media. However, its royalty-free status is threatened by a call by MPEG LA for patents related to the format’s underlying VP8 video codec. Writer Jan Ozer explains:
Twelve parties have stepped forward with patents that they believe are essential to the VP8 standard, on which Google’s WebM is based, though no patent pool has been formed yet and MPEG LA is not releasing the patent holders’ names at this time.
For Google’s part, the company insists WebM and VP8 are community-developed and, as such, supported by the majority of the industry. They formed their own channel for the license of relevant patents, called WebM CCL (Community Cross-License).
We’ll see whether this, and the threat of Google’s giant and increasingly experienced legal team, are enough to fend off MPEG-LA.
Cynthia Murrell, September 9, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com, publishers of The New Landscape of Enterprise Search
Catching Up with Visual Bing
September 8, 2011
We are not tracking visual search with the assiduity we use for POTS or plain old text search. We use a system to show us approximate matches and then we browse. Visual search is, for us here at the goose pond, more like a “close enough for horse shoes” experience than a search experience.
We do want to document the fact that “Bing Delves Deeper into Visual Search,” announces Search Engine Journal.
We’re now used to getting images and videos in our search results. These projects at Bing, however, aim to put pictures at the other end of the process. Writer Rob D. Young explains”
Bing currently has 88 ‘visual searches.’ Those searches range from the top books to dog breeds to yoga poses and well beyond. Each of these searches comes with an advanced left navigation that lets you see only the images and info that interests you. The Yoga Poses visual search, for example, lets you choose the level of difficulty, the therapeutic purpose, the targeted anatomical area, and more.
Optimization for visual search, says Young, is different from that for text-based searches. Bing taps third parties to decide what content is worthwhile. I think we’ll have to keep an eye on those low-visibility players.
Young envisions a time when the public will be able to create and curate these visual searches. I’m looking forward to it, but my colleagues here at Beyond Search are not impressed. Visual images drag along some interesting copyright and fair use issues. If we use an image for our free blog, we try to provide a link to the source of the image and a happy quacking thank you. If someone objects, we delete the image. Will image search improve by leaps and bounds? Nope, more like a few tentative waddles, then a bit of a rest.
Cynthia Murrell, September 8, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com, publishers of The New Landscape of Enterprise Search
Google Study Finds Web Banners Ineffective
August 31, 2011
On Saturday, one reader sent us a link to this story: “Is Google’s Search for Quality Content a Ruse for a Massive Diversion of Cash to Its Own Sites?” We are not sure if the points in the write up are spot on, but the theme of the article connected to another story we noticed.
According to a 2010 survey by Google, the average click through rate for banner ads this past year was 0.09 percent which is down from 0.1 percent in 2009. This decrease leads me to believe that attempts to make banner ads more inviting to potential customers are failing miserably. However, the article Google: Click-Through Rates Fell in 2010 [Study] states:
[The study] found that the format of a display ad can make a difference. A 250×250 pixel ad using Flash got the highest CTR of any format — 0.26%. The worst performers were vertical 120×240 banners with Flash and a full (468×60) banner with Flash, which both got rates of 0.05%.
As with television ads, it’s difficult to determine the effectiveness of digital advertising by only looking at click-through. It is important that we recognize that banner-ads are not created inside a vacuum, but are rather one small part of a larger complex advertising strategy. Needless to say, if studies continue to come out showing any aspect of this strategy to be failing it could lead to major implications for Google.
At lunch on Sunday, I discussed these two items with two people immersed in Web advertising. Three observations stuck in my mind:
First, if there is a softening in click through or online ad revenue, Google will have little choice but find ways to pump up its revenue.
Second, the notion of social media fatigue seems germane. People may be tired of online ads. The result is to shift to a more low profile “pay to play” model. Overt ads may be on the down side after a long run up.
Third, the urgency for organizations like Google and Flipbook to find a way to inject rich media is an indication that the ad revenues flowing to television advertisers are the next Klondike.
I am not sure what to think, but this notion that online ad revenue may need some xoskeletal supports is fascinating. There are significant implications for objective search results as well.
Jasmine Ashton, August 31, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
SkylineGlobe Nudges Google
August 22, 2011
It’s surprising how many people will simply go for the big name geospatial visualization services like Google Earth and rave about how far our technology has come, without even realizing there are bigger fish in the sea. Directions Magazine, at least, recognizes one of the leading products out there with their article, “Skyline Software Announces the Release of New TerraBuilder and TerraGate v6 Products.”
SkylineGlobe Enterprise’s TerraBuilder and TerraGate programs boast features that enhance the performance and usability, following suit after the recent TerraExplorer upgrade to v6.
Notably, Skyline introduced the TerraCatalog as a supplement to Terrabuilder, allowing users to store and organize data sources.
In the article, Directions Magazine revealed the following:
With the…new MPT v3.0 terrain format, data production time [has] been decreased significantly (from prior versions) allowing faster handling of large imagery and elevation data sets and the new architecture allows users to better utilize distributing computing capabilities to share the processing load across multiple servers and processor cores.
The potential for using Skyline products even extends to enterprise level management and scalability with the newest TerraGate v6.
This suite of geospatial visualization, data fusion, and dissemination products offers far more than the average person even knows exists. Our population’s knowledge needs to keep up with our increasingly digitized world’s services. We think when one of the giants falls behind, the quickest way to regain technical initiative is to write a big check. That’s how Googarola came into being. Wait. That was about patents, lots of patents, some of which are of a certain age.
Megan Feil, August 22, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
MetaCarta Offers Geotagging Plug-In
August 19, 2011
Geospatial context is the linch pin for cultural and human ecosystem modeling and analysis. Concept templates can guide models, allowing professionals to consider economic, religious, political and geographic features simultaneously. “Geotagging with MetaCarta” explains the Thetus blog, is a new plug-in solution for creating such models.
MetaCarta’s GeoSearch Toolkit plug-in for Apache Solr, an open source high performance search and index, gives us the ability to combine geographic search constraints such as bounding boxes and heat maps with the many other semantic and text-based search inputs that we have built up using Solr. This toolkit from MetaCarta allows us to run geo-aware searches through one unified and high performance search engine, rather than needing to conglomerate geographic search results from one data source with semantic search results from another source.
The GeoSearch plug-in by MetaCarta makes a lot of sense for professionals seeking ease and speed when incorporating geographic data into their work. Geography is certainly a specific field, and those not well versed in its intricacies often choose to stay away all together. Perhaps software such as this offering by MetaCarta can make geography a user-friendly affair. Thetus keeps a low profile, but the company continues to move forward with commercial and government work.
Emily Rae Aldridge, August 19, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com, publishers of The New Landscape of Enterprise Search
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