Data Management

Old Possum's Book of Practical Big Data
June 19, 2013

OK, the title's a cheap riff on the T.S. Elliot book of poems that inspired Cats -- but stay with me, this goes places. A big group of cats is called a "clowder." What if we could access a clowder of big data? Big Data has been taking up a big part of my conscious life lately, what with all the analytics vendors out there and so many companies trying to figure it all out.

Hackers Find WordPress Easy Pickings
June 17, 2013

Adobe Reader and Oracle Java aren't alone in having a bull's eye painted on their code. WordPress also is becoming a popular target for Internet outlaws. It's quite a large target, too. About 18 percent of the sites on the Web -- about 60 million of them -- use WordPress. One reason WordPress is attracting hacker attention is that it's so easy to write plug-ins for it.

Ending the US' Cyberwar Against Its Citizens
June 17, 2013

I'm into fixing problems -- in fact, for much of my life I've been employed as someone who is brought in to fix a difficult problem. I don't see much point in just complaining -- either try to fix it, ignore it, or move someplace where it doesn't affect you. The current problem is that the U.S. appears to be conducting a cyberwar against its citizens.

Latest Wrinkle in Data Security: Time Cloaking
June 08, 2013

If a message isn't read, does it exist? Bishop Berkeley would say no, and a temporal cloak that creates a gap in time during the transmission of a message might prove him right. Researchers at Purdue University have created such a cloak: It can hide about 46 percent of the time required to transmit data over a fiber optic cable, making half the transmission invisible.

Early Salvos Launched Ahead of Cybersecurity Talks
June 07, 2013

President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping will soon meet to talk cybersecurity, but plenty of people on either side are talking already. A day after China's claim that it has data proving U.S. hackers have been attacking the Middle Kingdom, U.S. officials say Chinese hackers orchestrated "a massive cyberespionage operation against the 2008 presidential campaigns" of Obama and McCain.

Feds to Open Data Access in a Big Way
May 29, 2013

Making money from accessing the vast amounts of information collected by the U.S. government, such as Census Bureau data, has been the basis for many commercial enterprises. Now the U.S. government has undertaken a new Open Data Policy -- a major effort to make tons of federal information from all agencies more accessible for the general public and the business community.

Coordinated Care Models in Digital Health
May 25, 2013

Coordinated care models emphasize the basic relationships between patients and doctors, focusing on the continuum of care. The models reward doctors for the outcome of care instead of pure volume. The two dominant models are the patient-centered medical home and the accountable care organization. The patient-centered medical home model has enjoyed broad market interest since 2007.

Getting the Best Out of IT Partnerships, IBM-SAP Style
May 21, 2013

There's no shortage of partner initiatives at most annual IT vendor events, but that was especially apparent at SAP's recent Sapphire NOW conference in Orlando, Fla. In large part, it's simply the nature of the event beast. Vendors work for weeks or even months on conference-related announcements, hoping to garner the attention of energized, enthusiastic attendees.

Google Tears Down the Storage Walls
May 14, 2013

Google has consolidated the storage allowances for its various products. It will now provide 15 GB of free storage space for use across Drive, Gmail and Google+ Photos. Before, Google gave users 10 GB for Gmail and 5 GB to be used for Drive and Google+ Photos. Google is also updating its Google Drive storage page with pie charts displaying how those 15 GB are being allocated.

Samsung to Blaze 5G Wireless Trail by 2020
May 13, 2013

Samsung announced Monday that it has made a breakthrough in developing technology for a fifth-generation mobile network. It has found a way to use higher frequency millimeter-wave Ka bands, allowing massive amounts of data to be transmitted at faster speeds. Samsung has developed the world's first adaptive array transceiver technology operating in the Ka bands, it claimed.

New IT Tools Untie Tangled Webs of Business Data
May 06, 2013

Information may indeed be power, but organizations large and small are finding that they have to expend more energy than ever just to keep up with the data streams flooding their infrastructures. It's not just the internal data that provides intelligence about their businesses. Organizations are also having to manage all that external Big Data that can help them land new customers.

Social Sharing May Be Eroding Office Security
April 22, 2013

It's no secret that security experts don't have a lot of love for social media. Information freely available at social media sites makes it easier for net marauders to fashion targeted attacks on organizations. However, social media may be undermining data security in a more profound way. Much has been made of the growing willingness of people to cough up personal information about themselves.

Tech's Hard-Boiled Progeny: The Data Journalist
April 16, 2013

When we think of traditional news gatherers, we might conjure up the image of an obstreperous character brazenly hassling a slimy official for the real story -- or hovering paparazzi harassing a poor celebrity innocently shopping for handbags in Beverly Hills. However, there have been some technology-driven changes since Hollywood handed us those stock characters that could severely alter the picture.

Using Cloud Analytics to Corral Big Data
April 12, 2013

Strategic Big Data and Actionable Analytics are two of the Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2013, according to Gartner. Yet only 12 percent have a big data strategy that governs their daily operations, a recent survey of 339 data management professionals by SAS and SourceMedia found. In my view, this gap is the result of years of unfulfilled promises from a previous generation of business intelligence and data integration vendors.

Need a Great Archive Utility? Give PeaZip a Chance
April 10, 2013

PeaZip is a handy utility for reducing the size of large files and archiving different files into one big container. Unlike most file compression tools for Linux, PeaZip's user interface makes it easy to manage. When it comes to zipping and unzipping files, simplicity counts for most everything. PeaZip is a cross platform file and archive manager available for Linux, BSD and Windows platforms.

A Slam Dunk for College Basketball Stats
April 06, 2013

The contact page of Ken Pomeroy's website, kenpom.com, contains all the standard fare -- a disclaimer, an email address, a note for subscribers. Below that, however, there is a brief note for media members, and it's telling. It starts normal enough, with Pomeroy insisting he is happy to do interviews or help with stories and so on.

Salesforce Cranks Up Chatter for Social Intelligence
April 05, 2013

Salesforce.com has upgraded Salesforce Chatter with a new feature that collects and aggregates unstructured data -- or perhaps better put, social intelligence -- onto one page for easy reference. The feature is called Chatter Topics and Expertise, and it lets users find information and related resources and identify experts, based on topics of interest.

Feds to Spend Big on Big Data
April 03, 2013

The mushrooming growth of data generated by government agencies will drive federal IT investment in the necessary tools for managing colossal amounts of bits and bytes. As a result of the explosion in information, the government will be spending increasing amounts of its funds on Big Data capabilities.

Yahoo and Summly: CliffsNotes for the Mobile Era?
April 02, 2013

The IT industry is no stranger to youth worship, but Yahoo's multimillion-dollar deal for Summly pushes that notion into cradle-robbing -- well, high school-robbing, anyway -- territory. That's because the punchline beneath the headlines is the age of Summly founder. Nick D'Aloisio, 17, appears to have qualified as the world's youngest VC-backed entrepreneur.

Finance Companies Bristle at Public Airing of Consumer Complaints
April 02, 2013

The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau announced last week that it has expanded the Consumer Complaint Database it launched last summer, increasing the number of complaints about credit card companies from 19,000 or so to 90,000. The added data comes from additional players such as mortgage companies, banks, private student loan providers and other consumer lenders.