Louis Gray's Amplifeeder

Real-time search

29/09/2009 08:00:00

Yes, I am pissed off I am not at Foo Camp, but I am working to be there next year, bear with me. I really wish I could be there because I think we’re making the term “real-time web” as the new “web 2.0” : a brand as Tom calls it. “Blahblah is doing real-time”, “Blihblih has a real-time approach”… And this is bad : when words lose their meaning, concepts get over-looked. This is not just playing on words.

Real-time is not instantaneity. Real-time means time-constrained. That’s it. That constraint can of course be low (up to the second if you want, even).

Based on that, a real-time search engine would be a search engine that would be able to guarantee that the results of your query happened within an X seconds/minutes/hours/days.

If I search for ‘Foo’ on twitter, Twitter tells me that the constraint is ‘now’ (See what’s happening — right now.), I am guaranteed that the results have been posted ‘now’ : I’ll leave the now definition to Twitter :D.

By studying a query over different time-constraints (within 1 year, 1 month, 1 day, 1 hour), we can probably get very interesting results : maybe something like the log of Google’s Database of Intentions. Applied to Twitter, that would allow us to learn a lot on how we communicate, react to “information” and propagate it, or even correlation between things people are talking about.

Remember when Google announced they could predict the “flu trend” better than the CDC? Well, my bet is that Twitter can do that even better than Google, and for maybe less “common” things. A real-time search on heading into Twitter, coupled with a hint of geo-localisation and a pinch of semantic analysis would probably be quite powerful to know (and predict) what the traffic looked like at a given place, on a given time.

Want to predict the “economy”? Track down keywords like “laid off/let go”, “hired”, “profit”, “loss”, “chapter 11”…

Bear Flag Republic

10/09/2009 07:51:00

California became the 31st state on September 9, 1850.

The first capital was in San Jose, then Vallejo, Benicia, and finally moved to Sacramento.

Happy Admission Day!

I still remember learning about California history in the 4th grade. I don't know anyone that grew up in the California public schools that didn't have to build a model of a mission, or read a Steinbeck or Jack London book.

@sunshinemug @cxi you two are too much trouble. You sure you don't want to debate deduplication, HSM, backups and virtualization instead?

10/09/2009 06:11:43

@sunshinemug @cxi you two are too much trouble. You sure you don't want to debate deduplication, HSM, backups and virtualization instead?

New Blog Post: Real-time Google Reader Shares to Twitter - There's An App for That. http://bit.ly/SSYL0

10/09/2009 05:58:05

New Blog Post: Real-time Google Reader Shares to Twitter - There's An App for That. http://bit.ly/SSYL0

Real-time Google Reader Shares to Twitter - There's An App for That.

10/09/2009 05:55:00

For many people, Twitter is as much about the links you share as it is about the discussions that ensue in the microblogging community. For that reason, tools that automate posts to Twitter via RSS are among the most popular Twitter clients in use. While many people, including me, post their new blog entries to Twitter by hand, a good portion of Twitter activity is machine-based. For example, I share bookmarks I make on Delicious, as well as my native FriendFeed entries or YouTube videos, to Twitter. This evening, a new tool called "Reader2Twitter" debuted, letting you post your Google Reader shares to Twitter, without using a middleman, such as FriendFeed.

Since I am an avid Google Reader sharer, I have thus far chosen not to post my shares to Twitter. I'm sensitive to the noise factor, and don't want to drown those who just wanted to get connected. But with the "Reader2Twitter" tool here, I opted to create a new account, just for this feed, meaning people who choose Twitter as their discovery engine won't necessarily be left behind.

You can find this new account at http://twitter.com/lgshareditems.

As you can see, each of my shared items in Google Reader is passed to Twitter in near real-time, displaying the headline and a shortened URL, powered by Reader2Tweet.

To get started, go to http://reader2twitter.appspot.com/enuser for the English version. (A Mandarin version is also available), enter your Google Reader Number ID, and connect to Twitter using OAuth. Following this, share in Google Reader like you always have, and Reader2Twitter will do the rest.

A very cool tool, and yet another proof point for the benefits of Pubsubhubbub.

I started a new Twitter account for a project and got a porn spam follower in less than 10 minutes. Nice work, spammers!

10/09/2009 05:32:04

I started a new Twitter account for a project and got a porn spam follower in less than 10 minutes. Nice work, spammers!

Akiva and Rochelle don't have a monopoly on happy babies. But theirs is very cute. Here is Matthew from a few... [pic] http://ff.im/-7Sc1a

10/09/2009 05:28:30

Akiva and Rochelle don't have a monopoly on happy babies. But theirs is very cute. Here is Matthew from a few... [pic] http://ff.im/-7Sc1a

When viewing company Web sites that have animation or Flash, do you watch the messages, or do you prefer static graphics that don't move?

10/09/2009 02:09:27

When viewing company Web sites that have animation or Flash, do you watch the messages, or do you prefer static graphics that don't move?

New Blog Post: Apple's Biggest Product Announcement Today: Steve Jobs http://bit.ly/4fcTFR

10/09/2009 00:51:05

New Blog Post: Apple's Biggest Product Announcement Today: Steve Jobs http://bit.ly/4fcTFR

Apple's Biggest Product Announcement Today: Steve Jobs

10/09/2009 00:45:00

Apple is in a unique position whereby they can cobble together an array of product features, introduce them in flashy way, and call the result a media event. Today, the company made relatively minor upgrades to one of its product lines, while also introducing a simple firmware upgrade and application version release to one of its software programs. This being Apple, their product line was the iPod, the firmware upgrade was for the iPhone OS, and the version release was for iTunes. The company also got to beat the drum and demonstrate once again that they have significant market momentum. But really, truly, the only thing that mattered about today was the person delivering the message: Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

As much as the words coming from his mouth, or the Keynote slides being projected behind him, Jobs' demeanor and pure physicality were on display today, after months of near invisibility as he recovered from a life-threatening battle which included a much-publicized liver transplant in Tennessee, following his battle with a rare, curable form of pancreatic cancer just a few years ago.

My obsession with all things Mac and the rumors which sway the Cupertino-worshiping community to and fro has waxed and waned over the last decade or so. Right now, I know what smartphone I prefer and which OS I prefer, but I don't drool over software version numbers, gigabyte counts, or whether or not some band my parents used to listen to will ever make it online. But I do care about Steve Jobs - because of who he is, what he represents to Silicon Valley, and his ability to execute consistently in an amazingly challenging industry.

In December, when it was first announced Jobs would not be participating in Macworld San Francisco, I told you that I would teach my children about Steve. A month later, I told you I thought he should be immortal. And as silly as it may sound, I am already teaching my one year-olds about Steve Jobs.

Every night, when I read to my twins as they settle to bed, I am not picking up Dr. Seuss or Goodnight Moon. I have been reading to Matthew and Sarah from the insightful book, Inside Steve's Brain. As I tell these illiterate toddlers about Steve's successes and failures, even my wife listens in as she gets to know this Silicon Valley icon's history just a little bit better. And I am not just excited that Steve Jobs looks to be back in charge at Apple, but relieved.

Even as we kept hearing his state was improving, the rumor mill has not been kind to Steve. Outside the blog, friends of mine who know his family and acquaintances have told me of him putting his affairs in order, or reducing his traveling to keep his health up. They have speculated he won't stay CEO of Apple long, and have been concerned that he might not fully recover from his illnesses. But today's event put an end to much of that. I don't need to see Steve Jobs perform a physical, or have his medical records posted on Apple.com for all to see. It's his brain that needs to work, and even if he is skinny, his mind is ever so sharp. He rightfully has ascended to his position atop Apple. Even if you were underwhelmed by Apple's actual announcements today - if you wanted to do more than rearrange your iPhone apps from iTunes, or you were waiting for the unreleased tablet, you have to be happy that one of the industry's real thought leaders, a man for whom much of us owe a great deal, is back with us.

Welcome back, Steve.