Data

Why Apple, Snapchat and Twitter are Betting on Human Editors, but Facebook and Google Aren’t

June 26, 2015

Mathew Ingram, for Fortune, quoting Ben Thompson, who runs and writes Stratechery:

Google is seeking the single best answer to a direct query from an effectively infinite number of data points… For most queries there is one right answer that Google will return to anyone who searches for the term in question. In short, the data set is infinite (which means no human is capable of doing the job), but the target is finite. Facebook, on the other hand, creates a unique news feed for all of its 1.44 billion users… what is infinite are the number of targets.

When the data set is big (Google’s challenge) or the user set is big (Facebook’s challenge), you need an algorithm. Good article, in large part due to good insights from Ben.

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Wednesday Assorted Links

May 6, 2015

1. Apple Pay picks up support from 24 more banks and credit unions. This is what a steamroller looks like. Okay, maybe it’s still a small steamroller…. But the outcome is still “ouch”.

2. The Keys To Surviving Digital Disruption. The best part:

People keep saying, ‘I want real-time data.’ And I say, ‘No, you don’t. You want this data to mean something. What you want to do with that data is take it and tie it to information.’

I won’t know if I agree with him until my real-time dashboard tells me I do.

3. Conan O’Brien introduces Apple Watch Hand, for the tattooed set. Fake Steve Jobs would never have allowed a fake hand.

4. Anna Kendrick’s ‘Shower Thoughts’ might blow your mind. Good wit. The pencil one almost seems insightful.

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Wednesday Assorted Links

April 29, 2015

1. Defining Mobile: 4-5.5 Inches, Portrait & One-Thumb in which Luke Wroblewski discusses smartphone interaction.

2. Apple iPad App Glitch Issue Causes American Airlines Flight Delays We’re simultaneously experiencing the benefits and drawbacks of relying on consumer grade electronics in high-stakes situations.

UPDATE: The root cause wasn’t an iPad glitch. It was a problem with a map update of Ronald Reagan airport. Also, I should clarify: the situation wasn’t high-stakes. I used that term loosely to refer to flying as having high-stakes situations. But this issue wasn’t related to such a situation. As an American Airlines spokesman said:

“That’s why it was not system-wide or a fleet-type problem,” said American Airlines spokesman Casey Norton. “It’s when the pilot accessed a particular map.” […] “We operate 7,000 flights per day,” said Norton “This is not anywhere close to a thunder storm.”

3. Bill Gates made these 15 predictions in 1999 — it’s scary how accurate he was. Great predictions with great accuracy. It shows how wide the gap is between idea and execution.

4. Tracxn, Which Aspires To Be The “Gartner Of Startup Data,” Grabs $3.5M Series A

5. U.S. Is Faulted for Risking Edge in R&D

A a report published Monday by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology […] warned that the U.S. government was spending an ever-smaller percentage of its budget on basic research and development, fundamental exploration in a variety of fields that lays the groundwork for commercial products that may not emerge for years or decades, if ever.

The cutbacks might appear to be economical, but the report says they come at a high cost to both national prestige and long-term economic opportunity. “We are undercutting ourselves by not supporting basic science,” said Andrew Lo, a finance professor at MIT’s Sloan School of Management who helped write the report.

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