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Its just been a few weeks I talked about the Wolfram search engine waiting to launch. The Alpha is now launched. Here’s a news item http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-10242353-76.html
Looks good for an alpha, but I feel it still has a long way to go…not as impressive as I had imagined, I guess I was expecting too much too early…
The website takes quite some time to load and comes up as not so clean… or is it just my internet explorer?
Here are some early comments:
Now, there are are a few more alpha/betas in the race like YAUBA (http://www.yauba.com/). This one looks cool…interesting that it provides a filtered search with limited categories provided so far…Yes, this is in the late alpha stage too…so there could be more coming…
Google has been able to penetrate this market so badly that many of us don’t even try to find out if there are any other engines that work better or provide the results we are looking out…For example, try out http://clusty.com/ - clustering search engine…
Here is a comprehensive list of Search Engines:
Well, there have been so many write-ups and research data on this available on the internet, the SEO guys are in constant pursuit of finding the right one…
To each his/her own…but the search must never end!
Google Search just got Smarter!
I imagine this was on the anvil and just around the corner, when I talked about a new search engine (see my post on Wolfram|Alpha) recently and was hinting about a whole new paradigm in search.
We have Google already launching something very very similar (if that is what Alpha intended to showcase, we will wait to see)…seemingly beating the competition by miles!
Google has unveiled some really cool products recently that continue to reaffirm their supremacy in the Search market. The most recent being the Smarter Search capability.
Read more on this here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8047076.stm
What with 20% of their time dedicated to innovations and pet projects, there’s no asking why Google comes up with so many innovative products!
It is not just the innovations, it’s the pace at which they are brought to market – a double whammy and a sure shot recipe for success…
Google’s success, more so the reason for their success, is one of the foremost compelling factors that has pushed many organizations to believe in Innovations and realize the potential of Innovations.
Considering this background, I would propose that ROI (Return On Investment) should now be measured with a new metric and term: Rate of Innovation!
Rate of Innovation (ROI) = No. of Ideas implemented per day (ID) / Total No. of Ideas per day (TI)
where; TI should be >= 1 and the best ROI is 1.
Today almost all the operational models have Innovation as a major component. However, the important thing to note here, is that it’s not good enough to focus on just innovations, what really makes the difference is the combination of :
- Focus on Innovations; and
- The speed with which innovations can be realized!
This is going to be the metric we will be talking about in future. This is Innovation at a pace! It can only get better with this!
Ever imagined how much data is churned by mankind every day? This is a farshot, but the process has already begun!
Sounds very much like a theme from a futuristic movie! This is a ‘given’ in so many of the Sci-fi movies, where everything is so well integrated and connected, that every single piece of data is captured and processed for all the decisions that are taken and with machines working on algorithms to process this data into useful information and what not…
It would be interesting to find out the sheer size of this data (if at all possible)…. A very ambitious thought!!! Technology and Science has evolved so much and brought with it so many possibilities, those we could never have thought of before.
Scores of people in our industry have been working day and night to come up with the best Database that our world should use. So much of effort and cost (in all aspects including monetary and emotional) is being spent on this exercise. We have seen the Databases evolve to meet new needs, new requirements, new necessities and do so much more, the competition to produce the best database is still on.
Today we have various vendors offering their versions of databases (different types – flat-file, DBMS, RDBMS) loaded with features to serve almost every purpose one should think of…some are attached with costs and some are free (open source).
While almost everyone who has been in IT/computing industry knows about Oracle and SQL Server. I would not talk about them, but would like to make a note on some of the open source database options we have, quite a few as noted below:
| The major open source databases | ||||
| Database | Inception | Price | Licence | URL |
| MySQL | 1995 | Free | GPL or commercial | http://www.mysql.com |
| PostgreSQL | 1986 | Free | BSD | http://www.postgresql.org |
| Firebird | 1981 | Free | IPL | http://firebird.sourceforge.net/ |
| SAP DB | 2000 (OS) | Free | GPL/LGPL | http://www.sapdb.org |
| Berkeley DB | 1991 | Free | Open Source | http://www.sleepycat.com |
| HSQLDB | 2001 | Free | Open Source | http://hsqldb.org |
Today, Microsoft and Oracle are the big players in this league trying to beat every competition that they face…We need healthy competition and a lot of innovations in this area and I am sure these big daddies of IT have realized that too. Albeit, sometimes I wonder if the competition kills those innovations that could have helped mankind realize this dream of having an ability to capture and process the humongous data of our world (and beyond?)
I wonder how the databases would be like in the next century!
We have all been using Google for searching information on just about anything under the sky and everything beyond! It definitely brought in a new dimension and meaning to search based on semantics, keywords, links…Now thats cool…it has opened up the internet to us in a way we never imagined before. The quest never stops for mankind and it should not either, after all that is a big differentiator, the mind simply knows no bounds.
I chanced upon this article while browsing through the technology world and it made me think how far this innovation can take the world of computing.
http://www.technologyreview.com/web/22585/
Wolfram|Alpha – a computational knowledge search engine as its creators want to term it, is looking for it to be a new paradigm for using the computers and the web. Their website says its going to be “a single input field that will access to a huge system, with trillions of pieces of curated data and millions of lines of algorithms”.
The intention seems to be about providing an ability to ask a questions as one would normally ask (real-life questions you want answered) and get it answered as accurately as possible based on curated data and power of the algorithms. While the current search returns the results based on keywords (machine specific queries), Wolfram|Alpha wants to provide ability to answer natural language questions (more closer to human).
Google has a decade long experience in refining and fine tuning their algorithms and Wolfram may require some good time in refining their service too. We may have to use each to their strengths and depending on what we are seeking.
The outcome is yet to be seen, but this sure is very promising and exciting. Its an amazing world of possibilities!
So, keep a watch here: http://blog.wolfram.com/2009/03/05/wolframalpha-is-coming/
I wonder how many of us in IT know about code coverage? I was part of a team which uses code coverage (mostly for functional coverage) and was looking around to find if there were other options and reasons for collecting and reviewing this metric. There are organizations that heavily rely on this metric to decide whether or not to release the software.
The following content is pulled out from various places and put together here hoping it will benefit some of us…
Code coverage is a measure used in software testing to describe the degree to which the source code of a program has been tested. It is a form of white box testing that inspects the code directly. This gives an good indication of the quality of the software that is developed or shipped.
To measure how well the program is exercised by a test suite, one or more coverage criteria are used. There are a number of coverage criteria, the main ones being:
1. Function coverage – Has each function in the program been executed?
2. Statement coverage – Has each line of the source code been executed?
3. Decision coverage (also known as Branch coverage) – Has each control structure (such as an if statement) evaluated both to true and false?
4. Condition coverage – Has each boolean sub-expression evaluated both to true and false (this does not necessarily imply decision coverage)?
5. Modified Condition/Decision Coverage (MC/DC) – Has every condition in a decision taken on all possible outcomes at least once? Has each condition been shown to affect that decision outcome independently?
6. Path coverage – Has every possible route through a given part of the code been executed?
7. Entry/exit coverage – Has every possible call and return of the function been executed?
Safety-critical applications are often required to demonstrate that testing achieves 100% of some form of code coverage. This is mandatory in Air Traffic Control and other aviation related software and equipments, Missile or defense systems and has now mostly mandated by many organizations that deliver software products as a Service (SaaS, PaaS).
Some of the coverage criteria above are connected. For instance, path coverage implies decision, statement and entry/exit coverage. Decision coverage implies statement coverage, because every statement is part of a branch.
The following are some of the tools that can be used for Software code coverage:
Microsoft Technologies:
- Insure++ – a coverage of source code of application tested with functional tests.
- VB Watch – Visual Basic code coverage and performance analysis tool
- PartCover – .NET 2.0 code coverage tool
- BullseyeCoverage – C and C++ code coverage tool
- python-coverage – Code coverage for Python
Java Technologies (GNU /open source/scripting):
- EMMA – a free Java code coverage tool
- Atlassian Clover – a Java code coverage and test visualization tool which also displays coverage per-test. Free for open source projects
- Jtest – calculate percentage of code covered by tests. There are few others from Parasoft.
- LDRA Testbed measures statement coverage, branch/decision coverage, LCSAJ Coverage, procedure/function call coverage, branch condition coverage, branch condition combination coverage and modified condition decision coverage (MC/DC) for DO-178B Level A.
- Cobertura – a free Java tool that calculates the percentage of code accessed by tests
- Devel::Cover – Code coverage metrics for Perl
- gcov – Code coverage test for GCC (GNU Compiler Collection) compiler
- ggcov – GTK+ GUI for gcov
- lcov – Web UI for gcov
- gcov-kernel – gcov support for the Linux kernel
- rcov – Code coverage for Ruby
- XDebug – PHP debugging tool, including code coverage
- CodeCover – Java / Cobol code coverage tool for use by shell in win / linux, apache ant script, or as Eclipse-Plugin (including boolean analyzer and correlation matrix), XML Reports
- Sonar – Sonar collects, analyzes and reports metrics on source code. Includes consolidated reporting on and across projects throughout time.
- shcov – Code coverage collection and visulization for shell scripts
Embedded:
- iSYSTEM winIDEA – measures coverage on a wide variety of embedded processors. It works by recoding execution directly on hardware, without instrumenting code or modifying the program and in real-time.
There will definitely be more innovative, methodical ways and tools to derive this metrics, and this is just a pointer….
You have probably heard of this or have been following it , its been there for quite a long time now.
TED – stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design and its mission is showcasing, publishing, spreading ‘Ideas Worth Spreading’ globally! This is awesome! One has to admire this initiative and the opportunity it has given to the world!
I had heard about it earlier, but had never been able to really see what it was all about. I watched a video from one of their conferences recently and instantly became a fan! Its facinating, truly interesting and very additive!
Here’s one for example:
http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/481
So why wait any longer… take a dive and you will know what I am talking about…
Official website: http://www.ted.com/
Official blog site: http://blog.ted.com/
Reference on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TED_(conference)
TED conferences/events are held every year in varying locations across the globe. I am very excited about the fact that the next event ‘TEDIndia’ is scheduled in Mysore, India from Nov 4th to Nov 7th at the high-tech Infosys campus. For more details see http://conferences.ted.com/TEDIndia/
They have opened up for applications to attend this event. Anyone can join TED.com as a website member, free. To attend a TED Conference, however, you must submit an application to be invited. Applications are accepted upon satisfying some conditions they have laid down (check this on their website).
Just 181 days to go…so if you are really interesTED, go for it now…
Stay addicTED!
No, this is not another one from Napa Valley…its from the neighboring state of Washington…
Microsoft has just released the beta availability of this social networking tool…
The last few years has seen Microsoft trying to put up and compete with the new and innovative trends and tools that have changed the way we network; vis-a-vis – Windows Mobile (flavored Windows CE) against Blackberry RIM or iPhone, Zune against IPod, Windows Live against Google and now here we have Microsoft Vine! a competition for Twitter?
Go on, check it out, its currently available as a beta service:
And if you decide to give it a taste (try), let me know how it fares!
Forgot to tell you: This beta service is available by invitation only! So send your entry and hope to get the invite…
On second thought, does it? Only time will tell if it is a Sunset or Sunrise…
I had been following the news related to Sun for multiple reasons (good and bad). I must say I was a bit surprised by the news that Oracle is buying Sun.
“Oracle” - dictionary meaning – The sanctuary, or Most Holy place in the temple; also, the temple itself! So the phenomenon of Sun rising from the Sanctum just adds to the aura 
According to WallStreet Journal “Oracle Corp. struck a surprise deal to buy Sun Microsystems Inc. for $7.38 billion, elbowing aside International Business Machines Corp. in the latest sign that a few well-heeled giants are exploiting the recession to snap up weaker players.”
Here’s the complete article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124022726514434703.html
There are a lot of arguements and thoughts going around on what this deal could mean for the industry as a whole, and particularly for the players SUN, Oracle, IBM, Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Inc.
Java is probably the most important software that Oracle has ever acquired. Oracle Fusion Middleware, Oracle’s fastest growing business, is built on top of Sun’s Java language and software. Its left to see if and how Oracle would look for continued innovation and investment in Java technology for the benefit of customers and the Java community.
The Sun Solaris operating system is the leading platform for the Oracle database, Oracle’s largest business, and has been for a long time. With the acquisition of Sun, Oracle can optimize the Oracle database for some of the unique, high-end features of Solaris.
On the other hand, what does this mean for other databases like MySQL? This is a major cause for worry for my friends working at Sun on MySQL (that was Sun’s pet project in the recent times!). Many also feel that Oracle wants to sack any other databases which come their way like MySQL. We are already seeing articles from Oracle on comparing Oracle with MySQL and how Oracle can be cost effective.
What does this mean for Microsoft and perhaps SAP do? Will Microsoft look for a hardware vendor to merge with? Dell perhaps? Will SAP look to a European hardware maker? Here is one view about what the business could mean
There are too many questions arising…this could be a deal that will shape the future of computing industry and only time will tell…
Is Microsoft really the only major player in this field? Well no…we definitely have other options these days!
Back in the days when I began using MS Project, there was really no other tool (at least thats what I was forced to think) that could compete with MS in this area. I have to admit MS Project is a complete package and is very exhaustive. However, there were a few things that makes one look for alternatives. Cost – of training the user, maintenability, portability, license, etc…The features packaged into MS Project were exhaustive and well integrated…One would easily opt out and start using spreadsheets instead.
With more and more people realizing the power of collaboration, came the need for sharing the data that would be available on the fly…MS has evolved and how! But there is still something that makes the users to continuously lookout for other options! Ease of use? Freeware?
I have evaluated other tools available on the internet, some free, some available at a nominal cost, however… I have never been able to hook up to one specific tool that I think I would be happy using all the while…Yeah… yeh dil maange more!
Here is an article that I recently read that talks about some other available options:
Happy reading… and if you have finalized on one tool that you would put to use eternally…let me know too
