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.

My Reading Highlights: 9/23/12 to 9/29/12

This weeks reading spanned big data to the American economy to how to handle email overload.   Oh and by the way, I added a great video on ping pong balls.  It's worth a watch.  Enjoy.

How "Big-Data-as-a-Service" Can Help Smaller Companies Compete

Great read from Brian Profitt in discussing the notion of a service model to providing analytics of Big Data to companies who cannot or should not invest in heavy IT infrastructure.   He offered up a great quote that sums up where we are all heading with analytics:

"Every time we perform a search, tweet, send an email, post a blog, comment on one, use a cell phone, shop online, update our profile on a social networking site, use a credit card, or even go to the gym, we leave behind a mountain of data, a digital footprint, that provides a treasure trove of information about our lifestyles, financial activities, health habits, social interactions, and much more," wrote former Tivoli CEO Frank Moss

IBM Readies “Project Sparta” Aimed at Simplifying Big Data

Looks like AllThingsD is reporting that IBM has an Oct 9th event planned to launch its new big data line and go head to head with Oracle.  I'm missing Oracle Open World this year but I'm sure the Oracle will announce improvements to their new Exadata line.

Treasure Data Launches Cloud-Based Data Warehouse With Investment From Ruby Creator Yukihiro “Matz” Matsumoto

Moving from IBM to Oracle, TechCrunch provides an overview of Treasure Data.  A cloud data warehouse environment that keeps users from making heavy capital investments in infrastructure.

Graph Databases: The New Way to Access Super Fast Social Data

Emil Eifrem provides an interesting discussion on the uses and benefits of Graph Databases.   As he puts it, "Graph databases, unlike their NOSQL and relational brethren, are designed for lightning-fast access to complex data found in social networks, recommendation engines and networked systems."  The article is worth a read and provides another approach beyond traditional relational databases.

Here's The Biggest Problem In The American Economy

Here is another interesting read from Henry Blodget on the problems with the American economy. He asserts new markets with cheaper labor, increased use of technology in production allowing companies to much more with fewer employees, tax policies, and a complete focus on shareholder value as the primary cause of the stagnant employment rate.

Liquid Nitrogen and 1500 Ping Pong Balls Video

I came across this YouTube video the other day.  It shows what happens when you mix liquid nitrogen in a bottle with 1500 ping pong balls.  I know but watch.  It is pretty cool.

How to Email Busy People

I learned a new acronym this week: TLTR = To Long To Read. This article was was very appropriately timed for this new bit of knowledge I just acquired. I'm not as bad as the guys they are talking about in this article; I'll receive on average 300+ emails a day. That said it is way too much to give each of them the attention the sender expects. The tips here are right on point. Get the subject line right on point and keep the body to 3 sentences max.