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Metamarkets open sources Druid, its in-memory database — Data | GigaOM
Open source alternative to SAP Hana and Oracle TImes Ten:
“Metamarkets is open sourcing its in-memory database technology called Druid. The rationale for open sourcing a key piece of its technology platform is both altruistic (better all!) and a savvy recognition that if the startup doesn’t do it, someone else will build it.”
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Cloudera makes SQL a first-class citizen in Hadoop — Data | GigaOM
Good article on the trend of adding SQL engines to Hadoop environments, in the context of Cloudera:
“veteran big data startup Cloudera is fundamentally changing the face of its flagship Hadoop distribution into something much more appealing. The company has developed a real-time SQL query engine called Impala that will sit aside MapReduce as a native processing option within Cloudera’s version of Hadoop. Cloudera is biggest and most well-known Hadoop vendor around, so opening its platform up to the wide world of SQL-trained data analysts is a really big deal — even if Cloudera is a bit late to the SQL party.”
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Debates, Politics, and Predictions: Separate the Signal From the Noise | Wired Opinion | Wired.com
Less data can be more:
“WIRED: How do we avoid spinning a narrative out of noise?
Silver: If you’re prone to overreact to new data, you should stick to basic models. Without a good framework for weighing information, having more can backfire.”
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A Bandwidth Breakthrough – Technology Review
“Academic researchers have improved wireless bandwidth by an order of magnitude—not by adding base stations, tapping more spectrum, or cranking up transmitter wattage, but by using algebra to banish the network-clogging task of resending dropped packets.
By providing new ways for mobile devices to solve for missing data, the technology not only eliminates this wasteful process but also can seamlessly weave data streams from Wi-Fi and LTE—a leap forward from other approaches that toggle back and forth. “Any IP network will benefit from this technology,” says Sheau Ng, vice president for research and development at NBC Universal.”
Archives for October 2012
Link Collection — October 21, 2012
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Some advice from Jeff Bezos by Jason Fried of 37signals
“[Bezos] said people who were right a lot of the time were people who often changed their minds. He doesn’t think consistency of thought is a particularly positive trait. It’s perfectly healthy — encouraged, even — to have an idea tomorrow that contradicted your idea today.
He’s observed that the smartest people are constantly revising their understanding, reconsidering a problem they thought they’d already solved. They’re open to new points of view, new information, new ideas, contradictions, and challenges to their own way of thinking.
This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a well formed point of view, but it means you should consider your point of view as temporary.
What trait signified someone who was wrong a lot of the time? Someone obsessed with details that only support one point of view. If someone can’t climb out of the details, and see the bigger picture from multiple angles, they’re often wrong most of the time.”
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The Future, as Imagined by Google – NYTimes.com
“Eventually technology just disappears,” Mr. Schmidt said. “It’s the ultimate achievement. No more ports and prompts and plug-ins.”
Data wants to flow — active information
Why, oh why, didn’t I come up this point:
“Organizations that capitalize on big data stand apart [because] they pay attention to data flows as opposed to data stocks.”
I highlight this concept, and the source article, in this week’s active information post: Shifting from data stockpiles to flows, thats the… – Input Output.
Link Collection — October 7, 2012
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Those “other” architects…
“There’s something inescapably alluring about pocket-sized compendiums of quotes by great architects and designers — take, for instance, those of Charles Eames and Frank Lloyd Wright. Fittingly, The Architect Says: Quotes, Quips, and Words of Wisdom (public library) gathers timeless wisdom on design and architecture from more than 100 of history’s most vocal — and often dissenting — minds. What emerges, besides the fascinating tapas bar of ideas about the art and science of building, is the subtle but essential reminder that what lies at the heart of creative legacy aren’t universal formulas and unrelenting tents but perspective, conviction, and personality.”
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Three Ways The President Can Create Digital Jobs Now – Forbes
Data as raw material for growth, I like that.
“In this new technological world, data is the raw material for growth. We are likely to see economic and societal changes that will dwarf what we have seen so far from the Internet, driven by gathering, analyzing, and acting upon data. The new data-driven industries and their jobs will run on the infrastructure of the Internet just as the growth industries of the industrial revolution used railroads, highways and the telephone.
Those with access to data will get the rewards. Most of that data is held by companies and quite a lot by the government. While companies need to benefit from their creations, we need to find ways to put more data directly into the hands of ordinary Americans so they can gain economically from big data too…”
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Making the case for STEM skills – for everyone | SmartPlanet
“A person has STEM literacy if she can understand the world around her in a logical way guided by the principals of scientific thought. A STEM-literate person can think for herself. She asks critical questions. She can form hypotheses and seek data to confirm or deny them. She sees the beauty and complexity in nature and seeks to understand. She sees the modern world that mankind has created and hopes to use her STEM-related skills and knowledge to improve it.”
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IT versus Digitization: “The study determined that major companies, across all sectors, now spend about $8.60 on “non-IT” technology for every dollar that they spend on traditional forms of IT infrastructure, such as servers, storage, networking, mainframe MIPS, application development and maintenance. That’s up from $5.10 in 2006 and $3.20 in 2000. All told, about 79% of technology spending at those same companies is “non IT,” up from 69% in 2006 and 34% in 2000, Rubin said. Rubin defines non-IT expense as any technology related expense other than processing platforms and applications. It includes robotics, process automation, embedded chips/processors, and data analytics typically done outside the company, such as text analytic and sentiment analysis or automated sampling.”
Management, change and big data — active information
In my most recent active information post, I highlight management implications of effective big data usage, as articulated in HBR article by McAfee and Brynjolfsson.
An excerpt:
As investment in data analysis small, big, fast is worthless without a willingness to act, Im choosing to highlight McAfee and Brynjolfsson’s submission on Big Data: The Management Revolution.
After setting a context on Big Data volume, velocity, variety and showcasing tangible business results of Big Data PASSURs RightETA and Sears Holdings, McAfee and Brynjolfsson get to the heart of the matter:
“The technical challenges of using big data are very real. But the managerial challenges are even greater—starting with the role of the senior executive team.”
“One of the most critical aspects of big data is its impact on how decisions are made and who gets to make them.”
read the full post: Management in the Big Data era: Rethink or be Repl… – Input Output.
