Google Announces Answer Converse: Anticipate Features Ready in the Near Future
June 13, 2013
The article titled Google Overhauling Flagship Search With “Answer, Converse, Anticipate” on Ars Technica discusses the new features Google announced at its Keynote on March 15, 2013. Answer, Converse, Anticipate are the three sections that encapsulate the new strategy. Answer involves Google’s Knowledge Graph, which has been made to understand “real-world entities” instead of just doing a keyword search. Converse uses Google Now to enable conversational searches with Chrome. Anticipation is an expanded version of Google Now, which the article explains was demoed by Joanna Wright, Google VP.
“Using a development build of Chrome, she called up the new search function with a simple “OK, Google”…and asked about interesting things to do in Santa Cruz. She then asked for details about the Santa Cruz boardwalk, which was listed in the results. After a key question (“OK, Google, how far is it from here?”), Google pinpointed her current location at Moscone and told her the boardwalk was 1 hour and 21 minutes away.”
The ability to understand context would mean this technology outsmarts even Siri. Of course it is not yet ready for release, but Google promised it would be available in the near future. The article does not mention good old boolean, date sorting, and relevance with a nod to precision and recall.
Chelsea Kerwin, June 13, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
LucidWorks Advances Open Source Search
June 13, 2013
LucidWorks has always been a company that strongly believes in investing in the open source community. After all, their value-added software solutions are built on top of leading open source components. It makes sense. But it is also a passion and a commitment from top-level LucidWorks executives. The press release, “LucidWorks Advances Open Source Search at Worldwide Events,” expands on this idea.
It begins:
“LucidWorks, the company transforming the way people access information, today announced a number of speaking appearances and product demonstrations taking place throughout June, 2013. As data types and demands become more complex, companies of all sizes increasingly rely on search-enabled applications to sharpen their competitive edge with data-driven insights. LucidWorks’ experts will speak at online and offline events, share best practices and demonstrate product use cases in a continued effort to meet growing demand worldwide for knowledge about Lucene/Solr open source search.”
The article goes on to list the commitments that LucidWorks has made this summer including big events like Berlin Buzzwords and DataStax Cassandra Summit. CEO Paul Doscher wants developers to understand that LucidWorks builds on the most active open source search community, meaning developers who go with LucidWorks can know that their applications will stand the test of time. Check out the schedule and head out to see LucidWorks at an event in your area.
Emily Rae Aldridge, June 13, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
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
The Fastest Windows Desktop Search
June 11, 2013
The MakeUseOf article “What Are the Fastest Tools for Windows Desktop Search?” gives readers a glimpse of several different desktop search tools and tries to determine whether Windows desktop search really is faster or if it comes up short when compared to other third party tools. Windows search is easy to use. Open up any explorer window or folder and you will find a search bar at the top right corner of the page. Searches can also be initiated from the Start Menu. The average search time for a Windows search was 3m 30s for un-indexed search and on average <1s fir un-indexed search. Also the Windows search indexing keeps a continual index of all files and folders which can improve overall search speeds.
The next program featured is the search tool Everything. The simplistic search interface provides an empty window that has a search bar across the top and that delivers results below as you type. This simple yet effective search tool produces instantaneous real-time results. It also works by indexing to produce even faster results. Listary was the third search tool reviewed and unlike the previous two it does not have a separate search interface. You simply start typing and it can determine whether you want to search or not. The average search time was <1s for a computer-wide search. Though all three are great tools the author has a clear winner.
“My winner? I prefer Everything. Listary offers the same “find as you type” instantaneous search results but the interface can sometimes be intrusive, especially when you accidentally bring it up. I like how Everything is both fast and compact and only shows up when I open it myself.”
Both third party tools seem worth a try but neither made the June 2013 Publisher Information today article about desktop search which makes one wonder what other potential winners are out there just waiting to be discovered.
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
Watson Scores a Mention in Data Dust Up
June 9, 2013
I read “How the U.S. Uses Technology to Mine More Data More Quickly.” You can read pundits, poobahs, mavens, and unemployed journalists’ views of data monitoring elsewhere. I want to point out that Watson, IBM’s Jeopardy winning smart software has made an appearance in the discussion of data intercepts.
Here’s the passage I noted:
I.B.M.’s Watson, the supercomputing technology that defeated human Jeopardy! champions in 2011, is a prime example of the power of data-intensive artificial intelligence. Watson-style computing, analysts said, is precisely the technology that would make the ambitious data-collection program of the N.S.A. seem practical. Computers could instantly sift through the mass of Internet communications data, see patterns of suspicious online behavior and thus narrow the hunt for terrorists. Both the N.S.A. and the Central Intelligence Agency have been testing Watson in the last two years, said a consultant who has advised the government and asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak.
From health care to government work, Watson is there. No further comment from the goose except that if one does not know what to query, math provides some candidates, not answers.
Stephen E Arnold, June 9, 2013
Sponsored by Xenky, the finder for ArnoldIT content
Search and Content Processing Vendor in the Spotlight
June 8, 2013
Once again I have no opinion about allegations regarding data intercepts. Not my business. Here in Harrod’s Creek, I am thrilled to have electric power and a couple of dogs to accompany me on my morning walk in the hollow by the pond filled with mine drainage.
I did read a TPM story commenting about Palantir, a company which has more than $100 million in funding and now has a PR profile higher than the Empire State Building. The write up explains that a company with search, connectors, and some repackaged numerical recipes may be involved with certain US government activities.
Here’s a quote from a quote in the write up:
Apparently, Palantir has a software package called “Prism”: “Prism is a software component that lets you quickly integrate external databases into Palantir.” That sounds like exactly the tool you’d want if you were trying to find patterns in data from multiple companies.
The write up has some links to Palantir documents.
Several thoughts:
First, there are quite a few firms working in the same content processing sector as Palantir. Some of these you may know; for example IBM. Others are probably off your radar and maybe drifting into oblivion like Digital Reasoning. The point is that many organizations looking to make money from search and content processing have turned to government contracts to stay afloat. Why haven’t real journalists and azure chip consultants cranking out pay to play profiles described the business functions of these outfits? Maybe these experts and former English majors are not such smart folks after all. Writing about Microsoft is just easier perhaps>
Second, the fancy math outfits are not confined to Silicon Valley. Nope, there are some pretty clever systems built and operated outside the US. You can find some nifty technology in such surprising places as downtown Paris, a Stockholm suburb, and far off Madrid. Why? There is a global appetite for software and systems which can make sense of Big Data. I don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade, but these systems do not vary too much. They use similar math, have similar weaknesses, and similar outputs. The reason? Ah, gentle reader, Big O helps make clear why fancy math systems are pretty much alike as information access systems have been for decades.
Third, the marketers convince the bureaucrats that they have a capability which is bigger, faster, and cheaper. In today’s world this translates to giant server farms and digital Dysons. When the marketers have moved on to sell Teslas, lesser souls are left with the task of making the systems work.
My view is that we are in the midst of the largest single PR event related to search in my lifetime.
Will the discussion of search and content processing improve information access?
Nope.
Will the visibility alter the trajectory of hybrid systems which “understand” content?
Nope.
Will Big Data yield high value insights which the marketers promised?
Nope.
My thought is that there will be more marketing thrills in the search and content processing sector. Stay tuned but don’t use a fancy math system to pick your retirement investment, the winner of today’s Belmont, or do much more than deliver a 1970s type of survey output.
Oh, the Big O. The annoying computational barriers. The need to recycle a dozen or so well known math methods juiced with some visualizations.
The search and content processing bandwagon rolls forward. The cloud of unknowing surrounds information access. What’s new?
Stephen E Arnold, June 8, 2013
Sponsored by Xenky, the ArnoldIT portal.
The Old Bayesian Recipe: Burning the Predictive Reality Cupcakes
June 7, 2013
I don’t have any comment about the alleged surveillance conducted by governments or the comments of giant online vendors alleged interactions with governments. I will leave the subject and speculations to those younger than I and possibly — just possibly — less well informed folks.
I do want to call attention to the write up “How Likely Is the NSA PRISM Program to Catch a Terrorist?” The source is the Bayesian Biologist. I know less about PRISM, biology, and Bayes than my neighbors here in Harrod’s Creek, Kentucky.
Here’s the snippet I noted in the “How Likely” story:
for every positive (the NSA calls these ‘reports’) there is only a 1 in 10,102 chance (using our rough assumptions) that they’ve found a real bad guy.Big brother is always watching, but he’s still got a needle in a haystack problem.
I think that there might be some fascinating marketing hype, fear, and salami in the digital blender.
In my most recent lecture about Big Data and the limitations of today’s software:
Collecting is one thing. Finding is another.
Search, content processing, and analytics work well in certain circumstances; for example, trimmed data sets which match the textbook checklists for valid inputs and when key facts are known such as the name and aliases of an entity.
Today’s systems — no matter what the marketers say — have been designed to work within some constraints. Marketers and fear mongers don’t have to cope with computational realities.
Stephen E Arnold, June 7, 2013
Yandex: No Query Is an Island
June 7, 2013
Well, almost. If a child is the victim of a snake bite, the doctor wants to query a system and get specific information to save the victim. I am not sure if in some search situations an offer for a vacation trip to Belize is a plus.
Nevertheless, Yandex, the Google nemesis in certain European countries and one of my go to resources, is now offering an “island” service. Here’s the explanation:
Yandex’s new search results page consists of interactive blocks — islands. These blocks are the first step to the user’s search goal and can be anything from factual information to purchase buttons or order forms. Yandex Islands give website owners a chance to directly connect with their visitors, while web users can instantly see and choose the best and most relevant solution to their problem.
Give the service a spin.
Stephen E Arnold, June 7, 2013
Sponsored by Xenky, the portal to ArnoldIT.com
Microsoft Misusing Their Own Mountain of Searchable Data
June 7, 2013
Microsoft is sitting on a search goldmine and people are just starting to see it. Whenever you Skype, have you thought about the data you are releasing into the world? Probably not. But Skype’s owners have, as we discovered in a fascinating The H Security article, “Skype With Care—Microsoft is Reading Everything you Write.”
According to the story:
A spokesman for the company confirmed that it scans messages to filter out spam and phishing websites. This explanation does not appear to fit the facts, however. Spam and phishing sites are not usually found on HTTPS pages. By contrast, Skype leaves the more commonly affected HTTP URLs, containing no information on ownership, untouched. Skype also sends head requests which merely fetches administrative information relating to the server. To check a site for spam or phishing, Skype would need to examine its content.
Honestly, this should not come as a shock to anyone. Frankly, those interested in search should be paying close attention. They should be asking: will Microsoft’s search system be able to index the content and provide relevant results in a timely, accurate manner? We don’t know, but if Yahoo!’s recent collapsed partnership with Microsoft is any indication, the company probably isn’t putting that Skype data to good use.
Patrick Roland, June 07, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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