Book Review- Predictive Analytics: The Power to Predict Who Will Click, Buy, Lie, or Die

I recently read a review copy of Dr Eric Siegel’s new book Predictive Analytics: The Power to Predict Who Will Click, Buy, Lie, or Die.

(Disclaimer-I have interviewed Eric here in September 2009, and we have been in touch over the years as his Predictive Analytics Conference became a blog partner and then a sponsor here at Decisionstats.com PAWCON also took off, becoming the biggest brand in independent analytics conferences)

So it was with a slight note of optimism that I opened this book, and it has so far exceeded my expectations. This is a very lucidly writtern, well explained book that can help people at all levels for analytics. There is a wealth of information here in a wide variety of business domains, and the beautifully designed book also has great tables, examples, and quotes, cartoons to make a very readable case for predictive analytics. Of course, Eric has some views, he loves ensemble modeling, conversion uplift models, privacy concerns, and his background in academics help explain even technical things very elaborately and in an interesting manner.

And at $14,6 it is quite a steal from Amazon. So buy a copy and read it. I would recommend it for helping build a case for predictive analytics , evangelizing to clients, and even to students in grad school programs. This is how analytics books should be , easy to read, and lucid to remember and practical to execute!

RGoogleAnalytics Package Updated! Works for OAuth 2.0 #rstats

Only the Linux version of the updated package is here , but for Windows users (like say 80% of the USERs) you can just source the 2 R files within the package sub structure after unzipping the downloaded tar.z file TWICE. The package takes care of taking you to the correct link for authentication after the line access_token <- query$authorize(), you need to

1) sign in to your Google account

2) click grant access (blue button)

3) click exchange tokens (blue button)

4) paste the access token at the prompt specified within the R console

access tokens stay active for 3600 seconds !



library(rjson)
library(RCurl)
source('C:\\Users\\KUs\\Desktop\\RGoogleAnalytics_1.2.tar\\RGoogleAnalytics\\R\\QueryBuilder.R')
source('C:\\Users\\KUs\\Desktop\\RGoogleAnalytics_1.2.tar\\RGoogleAnalytics\\R\\RGoogleAnalytics.R')
query <- QueryBuilder()
access_token <- query$authorize()

ga <- RGoogleAnalytics()
ga.profiles <- ga$GetProfileData(access_token)
ga.profiles
query$Init(start.date = "2012-06-18",
           end.date = "2012-12-18",
           dimensions = "ga:date,ga:pagePath",
           metrics = "ga:visits,ga:pageviews,ga:timeOnPage",
           sort = "ga:visits",
           #filters="",
           #segment="",
           max.results = 99,
           table.id = paste("ga:",ga.profiles$id[3],sep="",collapse=","),
           access_token=access_token)
# 4. Make a request to get the data from the API
ga.data <- ga$GetReportData(query)# 5. Look at the returned data
head(ga.data)

Created by Pretty R at inside-R.org

Interested in using R for Web Analytics? Use it from here http://code.google.com/p/r-google-analytics/

Great work by the Google team (Michael Pearmain et al) and Tatvic team working together!

DECISION STATS

Image source-http://www.icondrawer.com/free.php

HAPPY VAL&TINE DAY

Google Gets Painter Robert Indiana To Doodle Valentine Doodle (searchenginewatch.com)
Spammers feel the love on Valentine’s Day (commtouch.com)
Valentines Day virus, beware! (panasianbiz.com)
Happy Valentine’s Day – 2011

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Springer Book on Seamless R and C++ Integration with Rcpp and Workshop on Rcpp #rstats

The talented Dirk Eddelbuettel has just announced that his new book is coming out this year. I would recommend this book for anyone trying to use R for analytics, Big Data or customized use cases especially if they have a need to speed up the computation times. Rcpp can speed up R by a huge magnitude, and thats because C++ comes closer to the metal.

If you are a business analyst who knows a bit of R, but always were intimidated by C++ programming, well this is the right how to do book for you.

Continue reading “Springer Book on Seamless R and C++ Integration with Rcpp and Workshop on Rcpp #rstats”

Interview – Naveen Gattu, COO and Co-Founder at Gramener #dataviz

Here is an interview with Naveen Gattu, COO and co-founder of Gramener ,one of the most happening data science companies.

Ajay- Describe the story so far for Gramener. What have been the key turning points ?

Naveen- All founders of Gramener are first generation entrepreneurs, started our careers with IBM were very successful in our corporate jobs with hefty pay packages, but always at the back of the mind can’t we work our ourselves and have FUN.

With this thought in mind 6 of us got together in 2010 to lay foundation for Gramener, with our consulting experience we wanted to get into business analytics , but soon we realized that there are lot many people who are doing great analytics but not an effective way of presentation, we wanted to establish niche for ourselves and create an offering to make “Data Consumption” easy and joyful.

Our significant milestone was Airtel Continue reading “Interview – Naveen Gattu, COO and Co-Founder at Gramener #dataviz”

Rexer Analytics- What do you use for Data Mining? #rstats #spss #sas #bigdata

Message from Karl Rexer whom we have interviewed here. Come on show your support for your favorite data mining software.

Rexer Analytics has been conducting the Data Miner Survey since 2007. Each survey explores the analytic behaviors, views and preferences of data miners and analytic professionals. Over 1300 people from around the globe participated in the 2011 survey. Summary reports (PDFs of about 40 pages) from previous surveys are available FREE to everyone who requests them by emailing at DataMinerSurvey@RexerAnalytics.com.

Also, highlights of earlier Data Miner Surveys are available online, including best practices shared by respondents on analytic success measurement, overcoming data mining challenges, and other topics. The FREE Summary Report for this 2013 Data Miner Survey will be available to everyone in the fall of 2013.

Your survey responses are completely confidential. This research is not being conducted on behalf of any third party, but is solely for Rexer Analytics to disseminate the findings throughout the data mining and analytics community.

To participate, please click on the link below, then click on the “Start Survey” link on the bottom of the webpage. Please enter the access code in the space provided. The survey should take approximately 15-20 minutes to complete. Anyone who has had this email forwarded to them should use the access code in the forwarded email.

Survey Link: www.RexerAnalytics.com/Data-Miner-Survey-2013-Intro.html

Access Code: UL3X7

R in Oracle Java Cloud and Existing R – Java Integration #rstats

So I finally got my test plan accepted for a 1 month trial to the Oracle Public Cloud at https://cloud.oracle.com/ .

I am testing this for my next book R for Cloud Computing ( I have already covered Windows Azure, Amazon AWS, and in the middle of testing Google Compute).