My Reading Highlights 11/11 - 11/17

I haven't had much time to catch up on many interesting articles this week.   Here are a few that I found interesting.

Is Trend Following Dead

This was a pretty lengthy read which probably suck all the available time I had to find other interesting topics but I thought it was an interesting discussion on Managed Futures.  In other terms predictive analytics.  This article comes from an commodity investment point of view and provides some valuable thoughts in following the trend line and when trends are not the best indicator due to volatility   

Now THIS is the 'Right Way' to Start a Company

Having started my own business and knowing all too well the pains that go along with it I found this Business Insider post pretty spot on.  I agree with the characteristics they pointed out as the right approach when talking about a new start up called Percolate:

There are a few things Gross and Brier did in their startup's earliest days that set them up for success.

• They each worked for marketing companies before founding Percolate.
• When they had enough knowledge and industry connections, they quit.
• They bootstrapped until they proved their model.
• The used outside capital to step on the gas.

My Reading Highlights 11/4/2012 - 11/10/2012

A great deal went on this week with election results in the US flooding Internet news reports.  Even tech journalists got into action explaining how lack of focus on mobile was a key factor in the election.  Reporting on hurricane Sandy and the cleanup and restoring of power in the North East continued.  Moving past these reporting channels there were some good tech reading to be had. Below are my reading highlights for this week.  Enjoy.

As Sandy Strikes, another big data opportunity emerges

Generally I'm not a big fan of these types of posts on the Internet.  It's basically a product advertisement with little substance. I made an exception with this one where Derrick Harris from GigaOm introduced two new companies in the big data area that I wasn't tracking:  SiSense and Datum Companies.  I was especially interested in SiSense's description of Management and Mashup Data features.  I'll be looking more into SiSense and seeing how it can help with analytic operations for my clients.

Big Data Right Now: Five Trendy Open Source Technologies

Tim Gasper provides a good run down on some open source technologies in the big data arena.   Two areas he mention are stream processing (noting Storm and Kafka) and graphs analyses (Gremlin and Giraph).  Both play a unique role in some specific application areas and are work a look if you are playing in this world.

As data gets bigger, what comes after a yottabyte?

I guess they are saying it is a brontobyte and gegobyte.  In any event it is a lot of data.  New fact here in this article if the one of the Boeing jet engines which produce 20 terebytes of data every hour.  Anyone that has tried to move multi-terabytes of data knows the difficulty; not to mention how long it takes to offload and ingest for analytics. 

Samsung Chromebook Review (2012)

I have to admit that I'm a big fan of the Chromebook.  I've been using the 550 with 3G exclusively since Aug 2012 when I ditched my 13" Macbook Air.  Samsung released a newer model recently priced at $249.  This was the best review that I've seen so far on the new Chromebook.

REVIEW: Google's Latest Smartphone, The Nexus 4

I've have been waiting half a year for this phone to be release.  The problem is that it was released with no LTE.  What a disappointment.  Here's a great review from Business Insider on the Nexus 4 which sounds like a great phone running the latest Jelly Bean OS.  But no LTE.....

My Reading Highlights 10/21 - 10/27

This week was full of new technology releases, Apple and Microsoft, and numerous financial quarterly reports.  These reports flooded the net but there were some other things to note in my web reading.  Here they are:

Jeff Bezos:  People Who Are Right Are People That Change Their Mind A Lot

I saw this from Business Insider and really like the perspective that Bezos has about thought leaders.  It is an interesting view about how changing your mind a lot shows you are iterating on the problem at hand and producing a better outcome.

6 Keys To Delivering A Powerful Elevator Pitch

This was a good run down on delivering a short pitch that is more effective.  The key here is to really know what you are all about, what you offer and why you want it.  This is something we discuss and refine at work all the time.  It is a good exercise to revisit regularly.  

Lessons for Data Driven Businesses

This is a great read and highlights an opportunity for start-ups and established businesses.  This is an area that I have been working for almost a decade.  The combination of analytics and large data mining is a game changer for intelligence driven operations (Military usage) or decision management systems design (for corporations and government).

Yammer’s Cindy Alvarez: Five Types of People I Should Have Fired Sooner

Anyone that has started a new business has been in this situation.  You need to plan for putting your start-up in the next gear for either growth or to pivot in a new direction.  Alex Williams lays out comments from Cindy Alvarez on the workplace behaviors of people that need to be addressed when considering shifting to the next gear.  Sometime is is better to release them and more forward with better talent - that said it is a hard call to make.

My Reading Highlights 10/14 - 10/20

This week was filled with readings of future Apple, Google, and Microsoft announcements starting at the end of Oct.  I'll defer discussing those until they happen.  Below are some of my highlights from this weeks on-line reading.

How Amazon Controls Ecommerce (Slides)

I just recently came across this TechCrunch article from a year ago through a post from Scott Stone.  It's  a rundown on Amazon's business strategy.  Worth a look through the 71 slides from faberNovel.  What was interesting to me was this new term on slide 36:  CRAP Product = Can't Realize Any Profit.

Interesting how they use this metric in their online store in the determination of where to go next in the market. Digital. This is where your cost can be low, inventory high and margins are high. Thus the move into steaming services, ebooks, digital magazines, etc.

If you can't explain what you do in one paragraph, you've got a problem

I can't explain how much time I've spent over the years working on this one topic.  We still call it an elevator pitch.  Basically making your point during a short ride in an elevator. In this post Brad Feld lays out the three basic sentences that need to be addressed in your pitch:

1. What we do
2. Who we do it to
3. Why you should care

The No. 1 Enemy of Creativity:  Fear of Failure

Interesting post from the Harvard Business Review on innovation, leadership and one of the big reasons why it never happens in today's corporate structure:  Fear of Failure.

Tech That Protects The President:  Image Analysis

Last week RWW started a series on technology used to protect the President of the United States.  Last week it was all about Data Mining.  This week it is Image Analysis.  Basic SW that integrates in the so called "pole cameras" that are all over urban areas into a software tool from BRS Labs called AISight.  AISight is basically creating a normalcy model of the area and then alerts when something is out of normal.  A common techniques with these systems.  AISight's claim to fame is they use a proprietary algorithm for behavior analysis in their process.

How To Create An Iconic Logo For Your Brand

Recently we are looking to update a Logo for one of our lines of business and create a new logo for a new line of business we are adding.  Here is an interesting post on creating a logo for a business.  We are struggling with some of these same issues.  One thing we are doing now is using a crowd source model called 99designs to get new ideas.  It's working out great so far.  I recommend it for getting ideas on you new logo.

Why becoming a data scientist might be easier than you think

There has been much talk about novices in the data scientist arena doing amazing things and getting recognized for it.  I recently posted one of the successes from Kaggle a week or so ago.  Derrick Harris in this post postulates that novices are able to get up to speed fairly quickly with some limited training and become very productive.  I agree with this assertion and have seen it with in my business.  It just takes willingness and focus by the individual and it can happen without years of specialized training.

When Is It Time To Pivot?

We seem to have a yearly discussion at work about this topic.  We ask ourselves, should we pivot?  I came across this post from ReadWriteWeb this week which was timely since we were having our yearly discussion of this topic.  We've decided no need to pivot.

Futurist's Cheat Sheet:  Artificial Intelligence

I came across and interesting read on Artificial Intelligence.  Just the basics, which sometimes it good to just review. It's a short read but worth some time.

My Reading Highlights 10/7 to 10/14

It has been an interesting week for reading about tech.  Below are some of the highlights that I came across.  One thing to note is over at ReadWriteWeb, founder Richard MacManus is leaving the company.  This site has been a long time favorite of mine and his presence will be certainly missed.  I certainly hope the new owners, SAY Media, will keep up the quality of the reporting on tech news and analysis.

ReadWriteWeb Death Watch:  In-House Datacenters
This was an interesting read in that I find myself managing three datacenters in my business.  All are a resource sync but most of my clients are not ready to move to a public cloud environment.  That said we are certainly heading that way.

Google's Neural Networks Advanced Artificial Intelligence

Not long ago we heard that Google had developed a large scale neural network to identify Cats in YouTube videos.  They are now turning that to enhance their voice search options on mobile devices (Android).  

Why the trick to analyzing Twitter data is more data

Derrick Harris provides an interesting look at the debate on whether Twitter data provides some real value for decision analytics.  In short yes but it needs to be combined with other data to make it more accurate and reliable.  Good read.  Especially the points on Twitter being ineffective at predicting elections.

It pays to know you:  Interest graph master Gravity get $10.6M

This is an interesting concept.  The ability to profile people and what they read and then tailor content delivery based on graphing a person interest.  This notion also feeds into the basic concepts that are popping up all over the place for digital personal assistants or tailored search results that are happening now with Android and Siri.  We are certainly looking at the start of a big tech push in this area.

Tech That Protects The President, Part 1: Data Mining

I'm looking forward to reading this 3 part series.  I few years back I had the opportunity to work on a new data system for the White House.  It was pretty interesting to see how politics and information collided   As an example everything that goes into the WH is logged and eventually put into records.  Imagine what that means when you are dealing with big data environments and the situation room.  So back on subject, it will be interesting to see how this series evolves.  The first part, Data Mining, really focuses on a tech called uReveal where it is used to sift through news articles, blogs, forums, etc to discover concepts that are troubling and alerts the user.  One interesting note here is the lack of discussion on privacy and how the Secret Service is handling that given all the inquires from Congress to DHS who are doing the same action.

Few enterprises are ready for the app economy's data explosion

This was an interesting read from GigaOm that discusses some of the challenges that are present on performing better analytics when considering the ever growing consumer use of APIs and apps in the digital economy.  Anant Jhigran lays out three new sources that are needed to get the complete view of our customers and business.

Oracle Team USA Capsize

This is my video of the week from San Francisco.  It combines two things interesting things that I follow:  Oracle and Sailing.  Here Oracle capsizes.  I'm sure I'll make a PowerPoint out of that picture someday.

Reading highlights 9/30/12 - 10/6/12

This week had a large number of interesting posts to read.  There seemed to be a quite a bit of fighting going on:  election debate (Obama vs Romney & Stewart vs O'Reiley) to Syria and Turkey to Japan and China and even Google vs Microsoft in their patent war.  Below are some of the posts that caught my eye this last week:

The Power of Defining the Problem

Dwayne Spradlin from HBR provides three examples on how "...asking better questions delivers better results".  He presents how understanding the problem and clearly articulating it can yield innovative solutions.  I particularly like the one on NASA where big data was used.  Using a traditional governmental approach NASA would have probably spent a lot more that 30 K in getting this solution, if they would have gotten it at all.

How a rogue appeals court wrecked the patent system

Following all the patent lawsuits these days in the technology sector can be mind numbing.  Here's an interesting read on how things went astray.

Should You Trust Your Gut? The Answer Is Yes.

I talk about the process for decision making in my business.  In those talks I generally discuss that most decisions are made by the gut of the decider.  His or her experiences drive the decision.  One thing that I look to do is to bring analytics into the decision process so the decider can make a data driven decision with their gut.  Derek Andersen discusses this in this article centered about start-up / tech investment.

Which of the 3 cups has a cloud under it

With OOW underway and all the talk about cloud from Larry I found this article right on point.  Thiele lays out of the "false" arguments for or against cloud architectures that I face throughout my work week.  He closes with a discussion on what really matters:  "...getting on the actual cloud thought process."

Balancing team passion and product-market fit

Dave Kashen discusses in this post the notion of how passion is key to making it especially in the start-up arena.  I know from personal experiences that without passion that the long hard days of trying to make it on your own would simply crush you out.  He starts off by asking this simple question:

“You must follow your passion. Startups are so hard that if you’re not passionate about your mission, there’s no way you’ll succeed.” At the same time, the lean startup movement has entrepreneurs everywhere “building, measuring and learning” what the market wants, to find the illusive product-market fit. But what happens when what the market wants is not what you’re passionate about?

NYPD to bolster gang unit to battle teen violence fueled by dares, insults on social media

This is an interesting article in the Washington Post about NYC's exploitation of social media to stop crime and violence.  It is a short read but it highlights an on going discussion within Government on how to strike a balance between needed effects with a new information source and privacy.  They still haven't figured it out as far as I can see but here is an interesting quote:

The NYPD has developed strict guidelines for investigators using social networks “to instill the proper balance between the investigative potential of social network sites and privacy expectations,”

Fusion Centers

There were articles across the US this week discussing a Senate sponsored review of the 70+ Fusion Centers developed in 2003 to promote agency communication and data sharing in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the US.  He is one of the quotes from the LA Times review of the report:

But the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, in a 146-page report released Tuesday that reviewed intelligence reports from fusion centers between April 1, 2009, and April 30, 2010, "could identify nothing that uncovered a terrorist threat, nor could it identify a contribution any fusion center made to disrupt an active terrorist plot."

Ouch!  My business has tried for years to help DHS, State, and Local Governments in getting these centers performing better but it has been real tough to break into that market space. We'll see if attitudes change in the future and they become more open to innovated ideas on data sharing and intelligence driven operations.   Here are two of the most interesting reads from this week:
Senate panel criticizes anti-terror data-sharing centers - LA Times
Inquiry Cites Flaws in Counterterrorism Offices - The New York Times

Comic

Best comic of the week has to go to Mashable on Apple's Maps and Siri applications.

2012 Annapolis Boat Show

So to end this week here are a couple picture from the 2012 Annapolis Boat Show.  I attended two days of the show and loved every bit of it.  More to come on that in the future.

Interesting Interview on Predictive Analytics - CUE

Last year I was using Friday quite a bit. Friday basically logged your day from the use of your mobile phone.  The idea is that if you know how you spend your time you can optimize what you do in a better way.   It is billed as a personal assistant sometimes but the power is in the analytics it performs.  It did give me some insights that were interesting but I'm not sure I got the full potential out of the idea.

I recently bought a Nexus 7 with Jelly Bean installed.  It has a great new feature called Google Now which I really like.  It basically provides you "cards" that anticipate what you want to know.  It is invasive and requires you to give it access to your other Google services e.g. Calendar and Chrome searches, but it works pretty well.  I'll blog about that more later.

I came across another similar tech called Cue.  It is only available for the iPhone.  Here is an interesting YouTube interview from Scoble that is worth watching.  There are some interesting discussions on the topic of predictive analytics to help you with your day.