Google Product Launches

So dear G launched a whole new set of Products. Some thoughts-

1) Join up the Social Invite List here – it is called Google Plus. We hope it doesnt end up like Buzz http://www.google.com/buzz or Orkut https://groups.google.com/group/opensocial-api/?pli=1 or Plus One http://www.google.com/webmasters/+1/button/ or Wave (email killer) http://googlewave.blogspot.com/

When the biggest cloud computing company in the world announces a phased rollout to a product- we wonder if they are really sure on launching the product rollout or just were in a hurry again.

Machine learning wont work with social , chaps. Well not everything in social. And the Google Social Blog forgot to write about it http://googlesocialweb.blogspot.com/

Well anyways, even Google Finance’s automated announcements feed failed to pick many of their own  product launches (or it does in an automated manner depending on which time period you choose – yes still no social buttons up http://www.google.com/finance?q=google

BACK TO GOOGLE PLUS

https://services.google.com/fb/forms/googleplus/

Google+

Thanks for stopping by.We’re still ironing out a few kinks in Google+, so it’s not quite ready for everyone to climb aboard. But, if you want, we’ll let you know the minute the doors are open for real. Cool? Cool.

  • First Name *
  • Email *

Google+ Privacy Policy

2) Google Web Fonts- Great product, how and hey http://googlewebfonts.blogspot.com/ when do you plan to monetize uhm  web fonts. Not that would be awesome. Not even a single ad on those pages- not even for philanthropy. or poor poets. or even Google Book Authors who self publish . Sound of silence….

http://www.google.com/webfonts/v2

 

3) Google Analytics gets some groove back. I really want to see much better integration of Google Apps and Google Analytics and Google Desktop search. Ditto for the interface. Enterprise software uses different fonts than retail software, dude. More fries, http://analytics.blogspot.com/ ?

Feature 1- Custom Reports for metrics I can slice and dice on my own

Feature 2 Awesome analytics for In-Page Analytics (beta feature) Beta is boring if overused. Try Theta maybe?

Feature 3 Daily Automated Alerts for Unusual Server /Traffic Activity

Feature 4 event Tracking is cool esp for understanding social media impact

 

It is still too early for mobile (in terms of traffic) as well as tablet analytics (?)

4) Angry Birds is still the best feature in Chrome  (but there are lots others at http://chrome.blogspot.com/) and esp http://googlecode.blogspot.com/2011/06/working-with-chromes-file-browser.html

Try http://chrome.angrybirds.com/

There are ways to make software that are not evil. Very very disappointed at total lack of monetization of this chrome app. Not even a T Shirt for me to buy ad . sighs

Funny thing- the product manager forgot to take off Facebook like button or even add the +1 button or even the Tweet this button.

Quo Vadis ?

 

5) What do you love?

http://www.wdyl.com/#

Chrome

If you are new to using Chrome, there are many delightful features just beneath the surface.

If you are an Internet Explorer or Firefox or Safari or Arora or Opera or Sea Monkey browser user- this is one more reason to test, just test Chrome.

Ok so who Made chrome- (note the link i.e about:credits is what you type in chrome to see features)

about:credits

Credits

David M. Gay’s floating point routines
dynamic annotations
Netscape Portable Runtime (NSPR)
Network Security Services (NSS)
purify headers
google-glog’s symbolization library
valgrind
xdg-mime
xdg-user-dirs
google-jstemplateshow licensehomepage
Launchpad Translationsshow licensehomepage
Mozilla Personal Security Managershow licensehomepage
Google Toolbox for Macshow licensehomepage
ActiveX Scripting SDKshow licensehomepage
Almost Native Graphics Layer Engineshow licensehomepage
Apple sample codeshow licensehomepage
Google Cache Invalidation APIshow licensehomepage
Compact Language Detectionshow licensehomepage
OpenGL ES 2.0 Programming Guideshow licensehomepage
OpenGL ES 2.0 Conformance Testsshow licensehomepage
hunspell dictionariesshow licensehomepage
IAccessible2 COM interfaces for accessibilityshow licensehomepage
Chinese and Japanese Word Listshow licensehomepage
ISimpleDOM COM interfaces for accessibilityshow licensehomepage
modp base64 decodershow licensehomepage
NSBezierPath additions from Sean Patrick O’Brienshow licensehomepage
Cocoa extension code from Caminoshow licensehomepage
OTS (OpenType Sanitizer)show licensehomepage
Google Safe Browsingshow licensehomepage
XUL Runner SDKshow licensehomepage
and of course
so thats who made chrome.
  • Will Google be able to monetize Chrome the way it has monetized Android (Atleast by locking in both search,computing and browsing platforms)? I like the Adblock extension- and I would be happy to see more paid extensions. or even two versions one free and other freer (in choice) browsers for ads /security etc. maybe even a premium paid browser which has tor embedded in it , adblock enabled in it, and encrypted chat (like Waste Again) as an extension…. Hmm Hmm Hmm There is a SOCIAL version of Chromium called Rockmelt used ironically by Google Social Nemesis -Facebook (see http://blogs.ft.com/fttechhub/2011/06/facebook-partners-with-rockmelt-on-building-a-social-web-browser/)
  • Will Google share more revenue with open source contributors and thus create a new path in open source revenue generation just like it did with online advertising as an industry? Hmm Hmm Hmm. or Will Facebook continue to lead the way with extensions and applications (which did predate the mobile app place- so thats one innovation u gotta give to Zuk’s boys 😉
Back to Chrome-
To change settings- chrome://settings/browser
but to check what Autofill Data is stored within chrome (thats your credit card and your web form information)
chrome://settings/autofill and chrome://settings/content has all your content settings
Well Chrome is very very secure, or as secure as a browser can be in 2011.
You can set up Google Sync to keep all your data in the cloud, and it has an application specific password as well.
So hopefully you will have much more fun enjoying hacking Chromium 😉
See these

Branchout- a Facebook app for LinkedIn

Heres an awesome app on Facebook for linking and downloading your LI contacts.

Its called Branchout- and is very user friendly interface (critical for social software)

 

 

http://www.viddler.com/player/32a679db/

Here comes Cassandra!

What is Cassandra? Why is this relevant to analytics?

It is the next generation Database that you want your analytics software to be compatible with. Also it is quite easy to learn. Did I mention that if you say “I know how to Hadoop/Big Data” on your resume, you just raised your market price by an extra 30 K$. I mean there is a big demand for analysts and statisticians who can think/slice data from a business perspective AND write that HADOOP/Big Data code.

How do I learn more?

http://www.datastax.com/events/cassandrasf2011

Whats in it for you?

Well, I shifted my poetry to https://poemsforkush.wordpress.com/

On Decisionstats.com This is what I love to write about! I find it cool.

——————————————————–

Cassandra SF 2011- Monday, July 11

Free Pass Datastax Cassandra SF

It’s been almost a year since the first Apache Cassandra Summit in San Francisco. Once again we’ve reserved the beautiful Mission Bay Conference Center. Because the Cassandra community has grown so much in the last year, we’re taking the entire venue. This year’s event will not only include Cassandra, but also Brisk, Apache Hadoop, and more.

What’s in-store for this year’s conference?

We have two rooms set aside for presentations.This year we also have multiple rooms set aside for Birds of a Feather talks, committer meetups, and other small discussions.

We’ve sent out surveys to all the attendees of last year’s conference, as well as a few hundred other members of the community. Below are some of the topics people have requested so far.

If you have topics you’d like to see covered, or you would like to submit a presentation, send a note to lynnbender@datastax.com.

What else?

We’ll be providing lunch as well as continuous beverage service — so that you won’t have to take your mind outside the information windtunnel.

We’ll also be hosting a post event party. Details coming shortly.

For more information…

Submissions and suggestions: If you wish to propose a talk or presentation, or have a suggestion on a topic you’d like to see covered, send a note to Lynn Bender at lynnbender@datastax.com

Sponsorship opportunities: Contact Michael Weir at DataStax: mweir@datastax.com

Apache Cassandra, Cassandra, Apache Hadoop, Hadoop, and Apache are either registered trademarks or trademarks of the Apache Software Foundation in the United States and/or other countries, and are used with permission as of 2011. The Apache Software Foundation has no affiliation with and does not endorse, or review the materials provided at this event, which is managed by DataStax.

https://cassandra.apache.org/

Welcome to Apache Cassandra

The Apache Cassandra Project develops a highly scalable second-generation distributed database, bringing together Dynamo’s fully distributed design and Bigtable’s ColumnFamily-based data model.

Cassandra was open sourced by Facebook in 2008, and is now developed by Apache committers and contributors from many companies.

Download

Overview

  • ProvenCassandra is in use at DiggFacebook,TwitterRedditRackspaceCloudkick, Cisco, SimpleGeo, Ooyala, OpenX, and more companiesthat have large, active data sets. The largest production cluster has over 100 TB of data in over 150 machines.
  • Fault TolerantData is automatically replicated to multiple nodes for fault-tolerance. Replication across multiple data centers is supported. Failed nodes can be replaced with no downtime.
  • DecentralizedEvery node in the cluster is identical. There are no network bottlenecks. There are no single points of failure.
  • You’re in ControlChoose between synchronous or asynchronous replication for each update. Highly available asynchronus operations are optimized with features like Hinted Handoffand Read Repair.
  • Rich Data ModelAllows efficient use for many applications beyond simple key/value.
  • ElasticRead and write throughput both increase linearly as new machines are added, with no downtime or interruption to applications.
  • DurableCassandra is suitable for applications that can’t afford to lose data, even when an entire data center goes down.
  • Professionally SupportedCassandra support contracts and services are available from third partie

Tableau Interactive "Viz" Contest

The Las Vegas Sign.
Image via Wikipedia
One more contest- open only for US though
but the prizes are hmm okay. The catch is you have to use the software Tableau created 
not R or J or ggobi or ggplot or java

Check out http://www.tableausoftware.com/public/biz-viz-contest/?=decisionstats

Tableau Interactive “Viz” Contest

AS FEATURED AT

Win a trip to Vegas and a chance for $2,000 & an iPad2

Are you a business, finance or real estate geek? This contest is for you! In cooperation with The Economist Ideas Economy conference, the Tableau Software Interactive “Viz” Contest will focus on business, finance and real estate data… Find some data then use Tableau Public to analyze and visualize it. That’s all it takes.

What you’ll win

A 3-day trip to Las Vegas and a chance to win $2,000 & an iPad2

The winner chosen by our judges will also take away a free roundtrip ticket to attend the2011 Tableau Customer Conference. This includes 3 night’s accommodations at theEncore and a chance to compete in the Iron Viz championship with the winners of two other contests. The winner of Iron Viz will take away a new iPad2, and $2,000.

Cash for the crowd favorite

After entering you’ll receive a custom bit.ly link to your viz. Tweet, Facebook and e-mail that link to everyone you can! Whoever gets the most clicks through their link will become our Crowd Favorite and receive a $250 debit card.

Recognition from The Economist Ideas Economy

Your winning entry will be announced live on stage at The Economist Ideas Economy conference, and Tableau will issue a national press release naming the winner.

Everyone who enters gets a t-shirt!

Everyone who enters will get a very cool Tableau t-shirt. The winner will also receive increased Tableau Public limits and a free copy of Tableau Desktop (a $1999 value)!

How it works

(Click on the steps to expand and get the details.)
 Check the box to view all steps and details.

  • Step 1

    Download the FREE Tableau Public tool


  • Step 2

    Create and publish your “viz” to your blog or website


  • Step 3

    Submit your entry formFill out the entry form and submit by June 3, 2011. A panel of judges will evaluate all submissions based on overall appeal, design elements, and data analysis/findings.

Contest Rules Summary

The following contest is open to legal residents of the United Sates only. You must publish your “viz” on your blog or website to be qualified. Submission form must be submitted by June 3, 2011. Winners will be notified by June 7, 2010. Incomplete applications will not be accepted.

Please read all the rules in their entirety before entering.

Tableau Interactive “Viz” Contest

The Las Vegas Sign.
Image via Wikipedia
One more contest- open only for US though
but the prizes are hmm okay. The catch is you have to use the software Tableau created 
not R or J or ggobi or ggplot or java

Check out http://www.tableausoftware.com/public/biz-viz-contest/?=decisionstats

Tableau Interactive “Viz” Contest

AS FEATURED AT

Win a trip to Vegas and a chance for $2,000 & an iPad2

Are you a business, finance or real estate geek? This contest is for you! In cooperation with The Economist Ideas Economy conference, the Tableau Software Interactive “Viz” Contest will focus on business, finance and real estate data… Find some data then use Tableau Public to analyze and visualize it. That’s all it takes.

What you’ll win

A 3-day trip to Las Vegas and a chance to win $2,000 & an iPad2

The winner chosen by our judges will also take away a free roundtrip ticket to attend the2011 Tableau Customer Conference. This includes 3 night’s accommodations at theEncore and a chance to compete in the Iron Viz championship with the winners of two other contests. The winner of Iron Viz will take away a new iPad2, and $2,000.

Cash for the crowd favorite

After entering you’ll receive a custom bit.ly link to your viz. Tweet, Facebook and e-mail that link to everyone you can! Whoever gets the most clicks through their link will become our Crowd Favorite and receive a $250 debit card.

Recognition from The Economist Ideas Economy

Your winning entry will be announced live on stage at The Economist Ideas Economy conference, and Tableau will issue a national press release naming the winner.

Everyone who enters gets a t-shirt!

Everyone who enters will get a very cool Tableau t-shirt. The winner will also receive increased Tableau Public limits and a free copy of Tableau Desktop (a $1999 value)!

How it works

(Click on the steps to expand and get the details.)
 Check the box to view all steps and details.

  • Step 1

    Download the FREE Tableau Public tool


  • Step 2

    Create and publish your “viz” to your blog or website


  • Step 3

    Submit your entry formFill out the entry form and submit by June 3, 2011. A panel of judges will evaluate all submissions based on overall appeal, design elements, and data analysis/findings.

Contest Rules Summary

The following contest is open to legal residents of the United Sates only. You must publish your “viz” on your blog or website to be qualified. Submission form must be submitted by June 3, 2011. Winners will be notified by June 7, 2010. Incomplete applications will not be accepted.

Please read all the rules in their entirety before entering.

Cognitive Biases exploited by Spammers and Phishers

"Keep Walking"

Since they day you arrive on this planet, you are programmed into accepting reality as good and bad.

Beautiful people good. Ugly people not good.

Fellow countrymen good. Fellow earthling not so good.

Same religion is good. Different religion is awkward.

These cognitive biases are exploited in social media in the following manner-

1) Same Name Bias- You like people of the same name as you. or people who remind you of your brothers name. or uncles name.

All that information is already known. Esp true on Linkedin.

2) Same Orientation Bias- People tend to react better to photos considered attractive of opposite sex / opposite preference. Especially true on Twitter and Facebook.

3) Nationality Bias- Israeli Americans tend to respond better to Jewish looking phishers who claim to be from Israel but are not. Ditto for Indians- Arabs etc. E|sp true on Linkedin and Facebook.

You are positively biased to people of same country or of friendly nation states and will likely accept invites/friend/poke

4) Same organization/ alumni bias- People at end of phishing attack will have higher response rate if proxy identity claims familiarity with organizations or schools attended. Especially true on Facebook and Linkedin.

5) Same interests/movies/books bias- Your likely response rate is higher to someone who has seen your profile page on Facebook for interests, and checked the RSS stream of your tweets for stuff you like.

Bias is just maths. Period.