Land Podcast
March 13, 2011
ArnoldIT.com sponsors a podcast by Dr. Tyra Oldham. The subject of the podcast is green engineering, technology and management. You can listen to the most recent podcast by navigating to http://www.landsds.com/podcasts . For more information about Dr. Oldham’s capabilities, navigate to http://www.landsds.com/.
Stephen E Arnold, March 13, 2011
Visual Search Engine Round Up
March 7, 2011
Search technology exists in a near constant state of flux. Arguably, over the last decade the trend has been curving toward a more commercially driven format, visual search.
Like.com springs to mind, famous for incorporating image recognition software, utilizing a visual signature in its queries. Generally though, image search is based on textual entries which are then juxtaposed against the metadata linked to the subject image.
Pandia Search Central, a site devoted to all things search, has compiled “A List of Visual Search Engines”, including:
Aga Kids
Bing Visual Search
Nexplore
oScope
Quintura
Qwiki
Redz
Search-cube
Simploos
SpaceTime 3D
Spezify
Ziipa
Yometa
After a swift scan of the list, here are a few details concerning two of the more obscure engines.
Spezify, the Swedish apparatus launched in 2009, presents a more contemporary face. Once engaged, your are abruptly met by an animated collage of material. Results are displayed in a swirling mixture of both straight text and image driven formats, the latter including links to video related to the keyword entered. While not recommended for serious data collection and analysis, Spezify is perhaps better suited for efforts of a decidedly more casual nature.
A background check of Simploos provided little information on this Houston based system. Aside from what the head Gander had to say about Simploos Search back in 2009, I could find no other facts beyond the two hundred and thirty words on the site itself. Described as a “tool” allowing users to access content through the act of “horizontal scrolling”, Simploos’ simple method of navigation and engrossing presentation of results provides a fresh approach to search.
For a brief yet informative review of Yometa, you can read “Kartoo Closes and Opens the Door for Yometa”, also by Stephen Arnold.
Also, Pandia will publishing Stephen E Arnold’s new monograph about enterprise. More details will be available soon.
Micheal Cory, March 7, 2011
Cisco Embraces Video
March 7, 2011
Now anyone can be a video producer according to “Cisco Makes Video Easier to Create, Consume, Search and Share across the Enterprise”. In an effort to improve transmission of information in and among businesses, Cisco Systems is rolling out a new line of products and services, including the TelePresence system and new endpoints. What is most interesting for us at Beyond Search is the claim these new offerings will allow one to:
Enjoy exceptional search capabilities within videos themselves. Instead of wasting time scrolling through hours of video to find the right clip, with a few clicks of a mouse, users can now simply advance to the right spot — whether to a spoken word, phrase or desired speaker.
This will be a useful tool, alleviating long hours and headaches for many. We can be sure this is true because of the positive results after the Voxalead release a few years back, Exalead’s speech-to-text transcription module with the ability to search inside multimedia content in the same manner as Cisco’s new system.
So, in summation… a good feature? Yes. First of its kind? No. Will video reverse Cisco’s softening of its growth plans? Maybe.
Sarah Rogers, March 7, 2011
Freebie
Online Video Platform Tussle: Kaltura vs Brightcover
February 25, 2011
As video becomes the new way to communicate, online video is getting significant attention.
Kaltura, an Israeli startup founded in 2006, recently developed an open-source video platform to compete with the industry leader Brightcove. Brightcove has been pioneering the market since 2004. In their third round of financing Open-source video platform co Kaltura raises $20m. Previous rounds had raised $14 million in funds.
The open-source video platform:
\“enables any website to incorporate video, picture, and voice functionalities, including video management, searching, uploading, importing, editing, annotating, remixing, sharing, and advertising. The platform supports desktop computers, tablet computers, television, and other devices.”
Already in use by high-profile companies such as Fox, Paramount, HBO, and Warner Brothers, Kaltura offers an attractive and flexible alternative to Brightcove at a lower price. Time will tell if the recent injection of capital will be enough to overcome the entrenched competition.
Emily Rae Aldridge, February 25, 2011
Exclusive Interview: Sam Brooks, EBSCO Publishing
January 18, 2011
We have been covering “discovery” in Beyond Search since 2008. We added a discovery-centric blog called IntelTrax to our line up in September 2010. One of the companies that caught our attention was EBSCO Publishing, one of the leaders in the commercial database, library information, and electronic publishing sectors. EBSCO has embraced discovery technology, making “search without search”, faceted navigation, and other user-centric features available to EBSCO customers. Chances are your university, junior college, middle school, and primary school libraries use EBSCO products and services. Thousands of organizations world wide rely on EBSCO for high-value, third party content, including rich media. You can get the details of the EBSCO content and information services offerings at http://www.ebscohost.com/.
I wanted to know how a company anchored in online technology moved “beyond search” so effectively. I spoke last week with Sam Brooks, senior vice president of EBSCO Publishing. He told me:
As library users have grown accustomed to the simplicity and one-stop shopping of web search engines, EDS allows users to initiate a comprehensive search of a library’s entire collection via a single search box. The true value of EDS is that while providing a simple, familiar search experience to end users, the sophistication of the service combined with the depth of available metadata allows EDS to return extensive results as if the user had performed more advanced searches across a number of premium resources.
EBSCO’s presentation is easily customized. This particular user interface matches the rich options available from such companies as i2 Ltd. and Palantir, two leaders in the “beyond search” approach to information.
The new discovery interface makes it easy to pull together a broad range of content to answer a user’s query. The interface then goes farther. Exploring a topic or following a research thread is facilitated with the hot links displayed to the user. The technology for the user interface is intuitive. Mr. Brooks told me:
By using our EBSCOhost infrastructure as the foundation for EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS), the entire library collection becomes available through a fast, familiar, full-featured experience that requires no additional training. Additionally, unprecedented levels of interface customization allow libraries to use EDS as the basis for creating their own “discovery” service. Currently, users can access EDS via the mobile version of the EBSCOhost interface. Further, there will soon also be a dedicated iPhone/iPad app for use with EDS as well.
For the full text of the exclusive interview, navigate to the Search Wizards Speak feature at this link.
Stephen E Arnold, January 18, 2011
Freebie
Big Bandits? Apple, Google, or Microsoft
January 16, 2011
I feel enervated when an azure chip consultant forces me to decide which company is not just a bandit, the biggest bandit. Navigate to “WebM vs. H.264: Google Bets Big on Itself.” The write up does a good job of explaining how these large monopolies are trying to become even larger and exert more control over things digital. I am not a video hound, but the goslings and many other folks in Harrod’s Creek cannot get through a day without large doses of kick back, couch potato action. The addled goose? Not so much.
The story quotes a poobah from the azure chip consulting firm, Yankee Group. Here’s the quote I liked:
“The question is, who are you going to trust to not hold standards licensees to ransom? Little MPEG or giant Google?” Howe [Yankee Group expert] asked. “At this point, I don’t think we know who is the bigger bandit.”
Wow. Apple, Google, and Microsoft described as alleged bandits. Exciting.
Stephen E Arnold, January 17, 2011
Freebie, unlike the advice of azure chip consultants commenting about banditry.
Google Compound Documents
January 12, 2011
Short honk: Just when you thought you could search the content in a word processing document, life becomes more exciting. “You Can Play Videos in Google Docs Now” reported that “Google has introduced support for video playback.” The write up said:
Google’s YouTube remains the destination of choice for anyone wanting to share a video with the world. But you can host and share videos on other Google products, Picasa expanded support, also via the YouTube player, last year and Docs now followed.
No word about one’s ability to search for a word or phrase within an embedded video in a Google Document. This feature is available from Exalead in Paris, however. See this Exalead Labs’s description.
Stephen E Arnold, January 12, 2011
Freebie
Living Google, Loving It
January 8, 2011
I don’t know much about Mark Cuban. I am familiar with his name, and I think he owns an outfit doing metasearch called Ice Rocket. Don’t bet on my memory, however. I read an interesting write up that was part fact, part jab at the Google. Navigate to “Am I Living the Google Lifestyle? You will find some interesting comments about Google’s products and services, but one passage struck me as quite interesting. Here it is:
YouTube’s fundamental business problem is that they are in business of subsidizing ALL/100pct of the bandwidth and hosting costs of consumer and small to medium size business video. That is a huge problem. Our ability to capture ever-increasing amounts of video at ever-increasing bit rates is growing exponentially. How happy are companies like Cisco knowing that the better they make their FLip cameras , with more storage and better resolution, the more money Google/YouTube has to spend as people host it on their servers and use their bandwidth to show to their friends and family. Of course it’s also costing Facebook more and more money. Which has created an interesting dynamic as both compete to host video.
I think this is ambiguous. On the surface, it is a useful insight into Google’s attracting customers with free (subsidized) services. However, the other angle suggests to me that Google can enjoy the steady increase in costs required to make video free.
My view is that Google has lots of cash coming in. Subsidizing works. Just ask Mr. Cuban.
Stephen E Arnold, January 8, 2011
Freebie
Facebook Gouges Google TV
January 4, 2011
The basic information about Facebook’s TV service is set forth in “Reality TV for the Rest of Us.” The idea is that TV listings recommended by friends is better than slogging through lots of channels or, even worse, recommendations generated by a numerical recipe with thresholds that may or may not deliver what you expect.
This service is a fresh approach to finding. The method ignores the brute force indexing of some companies and relies on recommendations. The significance is that brute force search is not in the leadership position in terms of a social walled garden like Facebook’s.
The shift is going to be dismissed by Google. Google will attempt to slot social content recommendations into its services. Who knows? Maybe Facebook will implode. Google would then have a shot to get back in the game. I think that this “reality TV” thing is going to be as painful and damaging to Google as a world champion fighter getting a thumb in the eye and then losing vision in that eye.
Why?
First, lightweight. Recommendations are just less hassle than brute force search. Humans do the work. Volunteer work.
Second, relevance. What are friends for? People trust referrals from friends. Word of mouth works. Different and better than a numerical recipe. (Go ahead. Disagree.)
Third, fits core demographics’ established behavior. For those hooked on Facebook, having Facebook spit out TV shows when one is listening to music, texting, and doing homework is a really nifty attention deficit disorder service. I might be driven crazy. For Facebook’s users, the new service is likely to be a must use function. Habitual behavior means a big win for Facebook.
Google may have to go through its social life with one eye operating at 50 percent. Upside? Maybe Google won’t see all those Android devices using Facebook to find content on the vast wasteland?
Stephen E Arnold, January 4, 2010
Freebie
Google TV and the Omitted Reasons for Doubt
December 29, 2010
Point your browser to the eWeek story “Google TV Is Failing: 10 Reasons Why.” The reasons seem okay. I don’t want to recite the list, but I can highlight two of the 10 reasons and invite you to navigate to the original write up.
This reason struck me as interesting. “The studios aren’t happy.” Or this one: Consumers don’t know about Google TV or aren’t ready.
Plausible? Sure. Related to Google TV? Nope. Consumers are buying content from studios via Apple, Netflix, and other vendors. These consumers represent a tiny fraction of the rich media guzzlers in the US. So “consumers” does not mean Joe and Janet Six-pack. Consumers mean those in the know and armed with dough. Those consumers are not gaga over Google TV.
Are these the “real” reasons for the rumors about Google TV looking a little anemic? Nope.
Our research into Google’s technology reveals a number of items, but I want to highlight two of them in this free blog posting. (If you want more, use the info on the About page to contact us.)
Real Reason 1: Google lacks nuts and bolts consumer savvy. How do we know? Check out the writings from Googlers about rich media. The world referenced in patent applications for rich media are oddly disconnected from the down and dirty market place. The “background” sections of Google patent applications provide some interesting reading. Also, there are public comments from Googlers about rich media. Google is not a consumer product company any more than your local water or electric company is consumer oriented. Different viewpoints ensure that the world of consumers and utility functions are miles apart. The scary part? The local utility monopolies will answer the phone when I call. Google, not so much.
Real Reason 2: Google engineers for engineers. Engineers love Google. My dad, not so much. Examples range from the Google Chrome browser which lacks the silly common user interface buttons for File operations. Or, Google’s Android phones that allow endless customization but allow some partners to slap a non Google interface on the phone so an average Six-pack family can make a call.
Why aren’t these points about Google more widely discussed? My hunch is that most folks want to get free Google mouse pads or get invited to the Google campus for free Odwallas. I also think that some folks hope that Google will hire them. The result is that analysis of Google is peculiar. The truth is right there to see, but no one wants to pull together the facts.
One example is Google an rich media. The company has been chugging along in the weird world of patent applications for years. Rich media starts popping up five or six years ago. The inventions sound great on paper, but the reality of the delivered services impress because hugely expensive YouTube.com content is delivered in ever increasing streams. The consumer wants some of that YouTube info, but the mass TV market is sticking with other methods and more importantly, other vendors.
Facebook is a giant photo outfit. In the next few months, rich media is going to play a larger role. Our team is watching what Facebook will do with “real” content and with the YouTube-type content. Unless Google figures out how to woo the consumers, Apple and other rich media purveyors may be joined by Facebook. In short, Facebook may be part of the reason why Google put into the market a product that appears to be out of step with where the rich media action is. We think a social spin on traditional movie and TV content may be a significant disruptor in the world beyond Google.
Just our opinion.
Stephen E Arnold, December 29, 2010
Freebie, of course.
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