Category: Featured

Yellow Pages – New to the ‘Online’ way
Yellow Pages – Advertisements

Montreal’s Yellow Pages Group is well known for advertising, especially in print media. It is a competitor in a segment which is expected to be dominated by Google and other online sources. However, despite the competition, today it has around 276,000 Canadian advertisers out of a potential pool of 1.2 million.

Yellow Pages recently opened itself to data science. This marks the end of outsourcing its big data applications. The company looked at strategic cost implications of in-house big data application to get higher profit margin. It has spent millions to consolidate its 18 data centers into 3 and brought its outsourced business intelligence application in-house by constructing Hadoop clusters to house it.

The company has two analytics applications:
- Anametrix, used internally
- Yellow Pages Analytics, used by advertisers
Advertisers use Yellow Pages Analytics to crunch metrics like visitors, page views, KPIs and to calculate potential ROI. This is done using big data – one table has 52 billion records with millisecond response times.

Richard Langlois is the current IT director of Yellow Pages. He was hired in 2012 to transform the company by accelerating the move to digital. When he was hired Yellow Pages Analytics was outsourced to a California firm. Strategic cost implications led the company to bring the company into the digital age by bringing the application in-house. Langlois was given a blank cheque and 18 months to do an infrastructure overhaul, part of a four year plan.

Langlois appeared in a big data conference in Toronto in June, 2014. He claimed that there is no need to re-invent the wheel for big data applications.

“What you know about business intelligence, data center architecture, development, strategic planning … we use all of that and big data.”

Yellow Pages is transitioning from print medium to online. There are subtle differences between these media and Yellow Pages is looking for ways to leverage these differences and get maximum returns.

“We need to provide location-based content so you bring business to the advertiser.”

Langlois presented the flow chart of Yellow Pages Analytics at the conference. There are 16 servers and 2 primary nodes for the Hadoop clusters. Also, there are 5 data base machines in production for availability and load balancing. There will be an analytics services layer for business intelligence dashboards to make things easier for small and medium size companies to do analytics and to relieve the IT department of extract, transformation and load (ETL) operations. This does not include improving the collection of data, creating new applications such as unified tracking tool and methodology.

Despite the complexity of the flow chart, Langlois maintains big data roadmap is no different from an enterprise architecture roadmap. He also added that it is important to decouple architecture from projects so that changes in projects don’t affect the architecture.
Jun 14, 2014
Facebook and Twitter Ready for World Cup 2014

Its Football fever everywhere. Social network giants are also ready for this. Both facebook and twitter launched new features for World Cup.

Facebook launches Trending World Cup hub

Facebook just launched a hub for all football fans to keep them in touch with all the news and updates coming out of the World Cup in Brazil.

Facebook World Cup hub will show the latest scores and highlights from the matches, there is also an interactive feed showing posts from friends, players and your favorite teams. There’s also a Facebook interactive map showing which players have the most fans and where they’re located around the world.

Following the beginning of the World Cup, users will also be able to easily share which matches they are watching during any game, simply by tapping the smiley icon when composing an update. , Facebook has also set up an ‘official’ page for Facebook Ref for the tournament.

Twitter brings back hashflags for World Cup 2014

Twiiter also brings back its hashflags feature which was last used for the 2010 World Cup. This option makes it easy to pledge support to your national side across twitter simply by entering a # followed by your three-letter country name or code (FRA, GER, BRA, etc.).

Twitter’s just unlocked its new World Cup feature #COL #ESP #BRA #FRA #GER #daretodream

— Nikunj Gupta (@mecyborg) June 10, 2014

Alongwith displaying the national flag, Twitter will be tallying the tweets containing ‘hashflags’ and unveiling “the World Cup of Tweets”. You can vote for your team, on twitter.

You can also follow the #WorldCup and #WorldCup2014 hashtags too, which include tweets from players, coaches and teams, as well as people you follow.

For new users, there’s now the option to select your team during the sign-up process, which then gives access to a number of custom headers and profile photos.

Naturally, as one of the biggest sporting events in the calendar, the world’s leading social networking sites want their users to engage and follow updates from the tournament. Enjoy the Game.

Jun 10, 2014
E3 2014: Ubisoft Announces Far Cry 4, The Division and Rainbow Six Siege

Apart from announcing Assassin’s Creed Unity at E3 2014, Ubisoft announced these three big games.

Far Cry 4

Ubisoft kicked off this year’s E3 2014 with one of the most highly anticipated games on the company Far Cry 4, the follow-up to the critically-acclaimed shooter Far Cry 3. The next entry in the Far Cry franchise will leave humid jungles and scalding hot beaches behind in favor of the snow-covered mountains or Kyrat, a fictional region of the Himalayas.

This trailer also offers a first look at Far Cry 4‘s protagonist, Ajay Ghale, who travels to Kyrat in order to fulfil his mother’s dying wish and finds himself embroiled in the region’s civil war. Ajay’s passport and accent reveal him as being American and he can be seen briefly on Pagan’s camera screen. He and Min also seem to have some kind of personal connection, if Min’s statement that he recognizes Ajay’s eyes is anything to go by.

This is a cross-gen game though and because it’s being released on PS3 and Xbox 360, it’s unlikely to test the hardware of the PS4 and Xbox One. Available November 18 2014 on PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and PC.

Tom Clancy’s The Division

The Division is a new take on the military shooter franchise, combining an open-world New York with tactical combat and deep RPG mechanics. Powered by the new Snowdrop Engine, The Division can be played solo but is largely being promoted as a cooperative game, with players invited to team up as different members of the Strategic Homeland Division and take New York back piece by piece.

The demonstration started out with an atmospheric CG trailer, which used a time-lapse recording to show the Big Apple’s slow decay into chaos. A gruff voice narrates in the background, before a hero emerges in the streets. The trailer culminates in a standoff steeped in the remains of a city neighborhood, before a rather villainous group wearing gas masks enters the fray. The Division is expected to release on PC, PS4 and Xbox One in 2015 or 2016.

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege

The last few years have not been kind to fans of the Rainbow Six series, despite the many years the franchise spent at the top of the heap of modern military shooters. Ubisoft sent the message that they had big plans for a new title when they unveiled target gameplay footage of Rainbow Six: Patriots – a game that was later suspended when the direction of the game ran into issues. But at E3 2014, the developers at Ubisoft Montreal showed a brand new direction for the series, Rainbow Six Siege.

In an era of fast-paced, twitch-based shooters, the slower-paced Rainbow Six franchise has been sorely missed. The fidelity and textures weren’t jaw-dropping by any means, but the gameplay loop that fans have been clamouring for seemed to be in full effect. Who knows – perhaps the visuals will be taken up a notch before its commercial release.

Follow all the updates E3 2014 on GizMantra.

Jun 10, 2014
E3 2014: EA announced FIFA 15 with Emotional Intelligence

As expected EA Sports introduce the world to the latest addition to the FIFA series during their conference at E3 2014, and the company delivered with a trailer reminiscent of their “Beautiful Game” speech from 2006. Combining live-action video and later transitioning into some gorgeous next-generation visuals, the FIFA 15 trailer is sure to excite fans of the series. It shines light on the fresh visual cues which should light up the atmosphere when the game comes out this September.

Emotional intelligence is the headline feature, with EA promising that all 22 players will keep track of referee decisions, bad tackles, and missed goal opportunities. The graphics have also been whizzed up a bit, and now the pitch can be all scuffed up when players run over it.

The game level of detail, with ever more detailed player faces, character models and kits. Now the kits move realistically and change with environment, getting dirtier and caked with mud and grass as the match unfolds.

Tweaked commentary will highlight the fans’ reactions to the changes in the games, with location specific chants and behavior. The bench will react to what’s occurring on the pitch and 10-man goal celebrations will pull you into the action.

Controlling the ball just like the world’s best players, this year’s FIFA chaps have improved balance, closer touches in possession and feature greater responsiveness. So close touch situations feel more dynamic and realistic.

Your AI teammates and opponents now recognize what’s happening in the match and will adjust their tactics just like real players. “Park the Bus”, “In The Mixer”, and “Time Wasting” are some of the Team Tactics you’ll come up against in FIFA 15.

The main version of FIFA 15 is coming to PS4, Xbox One, and PC, although EA adds that a separate version will also be coming to Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, 3DS, and Vita. EA adds that not all features will make it across to the last-gen versions.

Follow all the updates E3 2014 on GizMantra.

Jun 10, 2014
E3 2014: Ubisoft announced Assassin’s Creed Unity

Ubisoft waltzed into Microsoft’s E3 press conference to debut the first gameplay from next gen-exclusive action adventure title Assassin’s Creed: Unity.Confirming the previously rumored four player co-op multiplayer, the gameplay showed off some classic Assassin’s Creed gameplay and truly impressive next gen visuals. Unity’s multiplayer will allow players to create Brotherhoods with three of their friends to undertake assassinations. But that’s not all for Ubisoft. It returned to the stage during Ubisoft’s conference and gave fans even more to look forward to.

They not only released yet another gorgeous cinematic trailer, but the company also confirmed the release date for the title. It will be able for PC, PS4, and Xbox One starting October 28, 2014.

The cinematic trailer may not reveal any addition gameplay footage, but it does do a pretty great job of setting the scene and highlighting what seems to be the most exciting new feature of this game – four player co-op. A group of four assassins find themselves in the middle of the French Revolution circa 1789, where they team up to take down their targets.

A second slice of gameplay was shown off during Ubisoft’s conference, taking a slower pace and showing off the game’s immense level of detail. A CG trailer for the game also debuted during yesterday’s E3 festivities.

A pre-order page for the hotly-anticipated title has gone live right now confirming a Season Pass alongside a Collector’s Edition featuring a big statue of our hero, Arno Dorian.

Jun 10, 2014
E3 2014: What To Expect From gaming’s biggest expo
Do you hear that noise? That buzzing in the air, like a swarm of hype-drunk wasps, ready to tear limb from limb? That’s the sound of E3. The Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) is usually where you find the biggest news, the biggest surprises and the highest quantity of previews all year. We’ll be covering all the biggest gaming news from the expo here at E3 2014 on GizMantra.

The video game industry is about to descend on Los Angeles for its biggest gaming news week of the year. Starting this Monday that is June 9 2014, get ready for exciting game announcements, trailers, nightmarish photos of crowded show booths, all the way through to the weekend.

E3 2013, last year was the most competitive and downright crazy shows we witnessed altogether in the recent history of gaming. The Microsoft Xbox One went head-to-head with the Sony PlayStation 4 and began the next generation of console gaming.

Get ready for a new journey with Far Cry 4. The game is due out this year and not much is revealed yet, so its is expected to have the feature for Ubisoft this year at E3.

Assassin’s Creed Unity will also be a big attraction, and as they state it as “the biggest Assassin’s Creed game yet because it’s the first game built with next-gen hardware in mind.” Lets hope for the best.

Recently delayed to 2015, Ubisoft will also reveal out details of The Division, which made a big impression with the E3 crowd last year.

Battlefield Hardline has an official teaser trailer out already, the new Battlefield 5, scheduled October 21 later this year expecting no more delays, of course.

Mass Effect 4 has also been heavily teased by BioWare for a while now. The Sims 4, which is coming out soon, is most definitely on the roster as well. We’ll also definitely see Batman: Arkham Knight on the floor too, even though its joined the list of delayed games. The unveiling of Mortal Kombat X should be pretty exciting.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare will be a centerpiece of the press conference, with some exclusive map DLC or some such announced for Xbox platforms.

With Nintendo reporting a major loss its last fiscal year, and the 3DS and Wii U not meeting its sales expectations, E3 could bring some big unveilings to shake things up.

E3 2014 Complete Schedule

June 9 – Monday
- 9:30 a.m. – Xbox E3 2014 Media Briefing
- 11:00 a.m. – Xbox E3 2014 Media Briefing Post show
- 11:30 p.m. – Hotline Miami 2 (Dennaton Games/Devolver Digital)
- 12:00 p.m. – EA World Premiere: E3 2014 Preview
- 1:00 p.m. – EA Special Event
- 2:00 p.m. – EA World Premiere: E3 2014 Post show
- 2:30 p.m. – Bethesda (Unannounced title)
- 3:00 p.m. – Ubisoft 2014 E3 Media Briefing
- 4:00 p.m. – Ubisoft 2014 E3 Media Briefing Post show
- 4:30 p.m. – Witcher 3 (CD Projekt RED)
- 5:00 p.m. – Dying Light (Techland)
- 5:30 p.m. – Final thoughts
- 6:00 p.m. – PlayStation E3 2014 Press Conference
June 10 – Tuesday
- 9:00 a.m. – Nintendo Digital Event
- 10:00 a.m. – Deep Silver (Unannounced title)
- 10:15 a.m. – Deep Silver (Unannounced title)
- 10:30 a.m. – Dragon Age: Inquisition (EA)
- 11:00 a.m. – Ubisoft (Unannounced title)
- 11:20 a.m. – The Division (Ubisoft)
- 11:40 a.m. – Farcry 4 (Ubisoft)
- 12:00 p.m. – Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (Activision)
- 12:20 p.m. – Microsoft Studios (Unannounced title)
- 12:40 p.m. – Microsoft Studios (Unannounced title)
- 1:00 p.m. – Driveclub (SCEA)
- 1:20 p.m. – The Evil Within (Bethesda)
- 1:40 p.m. – Lords of the Fallen (Namco)
- 2:00 p.m. – Destiny (Activision/Bungie)
- 2:20 p.m. – The Order: 1886 (Sony Computer Entertainment)
- 2:40 p.m. – Nintendo (Unannounced title)
- 3:00 p.m. – Evolve Special Tournament (2K)
- 4:00 p.m. – Super Smash Bros. Invitational (Nintendo)
June 11 – Wednesday
- 10:00 a.m. – Alienware
- 10:30 a.m. – Twitch Time
- 11:00 a.m. – Sunset Overdrive (Insomniac Games/Microsoft Studios)
- 11:20 a.m. – Microsoft Studios (Unannounced title)
- 11:40 a.m. – Killer Instinct: Season Two (Iron Galaxy/Microsoft Studios)
- 12:00 p.m. – Square Enix (Unannounced title)
- 12:20 p.m. – Warhammer 40K: Eternal Crusade (Square Enix)
- 12:40 p.m. – H1Z1 (Sony Online Entertainment)
- 1:00 p.m. – EA (Unannounced title)
- 1:20 p.m. – Batman: Arkham Knight (Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
- 1:40 p.m. – Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
- 2:10 p.m. – Nintendo (Unannounced title)
- 2:30 p.m. – Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (Unannounced title)
- 2:50 p.m. – Crytek (Unannounced title)
- 3:00 p.m. – Sony Computer Entertainment (Unannounced PS4/PS3 title)
- 3:15 p.m. – Sony Computer Entertainment (Unannounced PS4/PS Vita Digital title)
- 3:30 p.m. – Hohokum (Honeyslug, SCE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment)
- 3:45 p.m. – Hellpers (Arrowhead Game Studios/Sony Computer Entertainment)
- 4:00 p.m. – Alien Isolation (The Creative Assembly/SEGA)
- 4:20 p.m. – Civilization: Beyond Earth (2K)
- 4:40 p.m. – Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls – Ultimate Evil Edition on PS4 (Blizzard)
- 5:00 p.m. – Evolve Special Tournament (2K)
June 12 – Thursday
- 10:00 a.m. – Tetris w/creator Alexey Pajitnov
- 10:15 a.m. – Zombies Monsters Robots (Ying Pei Games)
- 10:30 a.m. – Guinness World Records – certificate presentation
- 11:00 a.m. – Fable Legends (Lionhead Studios/Microsoft Studios)
- 11:20 a.m. – Microsoft Studios (TBD)
- 11:40 a.m. – Project Spark (Team Dakota/Microsoft Studios)
- 12:00 p.m. – Nintendo (Unannounced title)
- 12:20 a.m. – Square Enix (Unannounced title)
- 12:40 p.m. – PlanetSide 2 PS4 Edition (Sony Online Entertainment)
- 1:00 p.m. – 505 Games (TBD)
- 1:20 p.m. – Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (Unannounced title)
- 1:40 p.m. – Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel (Gearbox/2K)
- 2:00 p.m. – Ubisoft (Unannounced title)
- 2:20 p.m. – The Crew (Ubisoft)
- 2:40 p.m. – Nintendo (Unannounced title)
- 3:00 p.m. – Tecmo Koei (Unannounced title)
- 3:20 p.m. – Disney Infinity 2.0: Marvel Super Heroes (Disney Interactive)
- 3:40 p.m. – Sega Sonic Boom (SEGA)
- 4:00 p.m. – Evolve Special Tournament (2K)
So, get ready to enjoy the most exciting and thrilling gaming show of the year. Follow all the updates E3 2014 on GizMantra.

You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter for updates.
Jun 8, 2014
Do it better with these Google Now Voice Commands
Google Now is getting better with each update. Google keeps adding new voice commands and cards with each update. You pick up your phone and say “OK Google”… and then what? Your phone is listening. Here’s a list of almost everything you can say to Google Now. Try experimenting with different phrasing, you’ll be surprised how much it understands.

Basic Google Now Voice Commands

There are some basic commands that will help you get started with Google Now. Some examples:
- “Search for ”: “Search for Gizmantra”: Regular Google Search for the keyword you specify after “Search for”
- “What is ”: “What is Android”
- “Who invented ”: Who invented cellphones”
- “What is the meaning of ”:
- “Who is married to”:
- “Capacity of ”:
- “Show me the stocks for ”:
- “Author of ”:
- “How old is ”:
Time & Date Google Now Voice Commands
- “What time is it in ”
- “When is the day in ”
- “When is the sunset in ”
- “What is the time zone of ”
- “Time at home”
Weather Related Google Now Voice Commands
- “Weather”
- “Is it going to rain tomorrow”
- “Do I need an umbrella”
- “Should i bring a Jacket today”
- “Will it snow this week”
- “What’s the weather in ”
- “How’s the weather on going to be”
Maps & Navigation Google Now Voice Commands
- “Map of ”
- “Show me the nearby on map”
- “Where is situated”
- “ Where is [the Louvre]?”
- “Navigate to on car”
- “How far is from ”
- “Where’s my hotel?”
Calculations & Conversions Using Google Now
- “How much is times ”
- “What is percent of ”
- “Square root of ”
- “ ….. equals”
- “What is the numerical value of Pi”
- “Convert into ”
- “Temperature of the sun”
Google Now Commands for Sports Lovers
- “ points table”
- “Who won the last match between and ”
- “ scorecard”
- “schedule of games”
Browsing the Web using Google Now
- “Go to ”
- “Open ”
- “Show me ”
- “Browse to ”
Music, Movies and Entertainment on Google Now
- “Listen to ”
- “Play ”
- “YouTube ”
- “When was the first episode of ”
- “ movies”
- “Who acted in ”
- “Who is the producer of ”
- “When was released”
- “Runtime of ”
Add Notes & Reminders using Google Now
- “Remind me to at ”
- “Wake me up in ”
- “ at ”
- “Self note to ”
- “Set alarm for
Communication with Google Now
- “Call ”
- “Send to ”
- “Post to [Twitter]: [your text]”
- “Email to , B C C , Subject , message ”
Image Search Using Google Now
- “Images/photos/pictures of ”
- “Photos of at sunset”
- “Images of ”
- “Show me the photos of at ”
- “Logo of ”
Just for Fun !

Many of these deliver funny voice responses, but normal search results. Turn up your sound!
- What is the loneliest number?
- Do a barrel roll!
- Askew / Tilt
- Go go Gadget [Spotify]
- When am I?
- Make me a sandwich
- Sudo make me a sandwich
- Who’s on first?
- Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right
- Tell me a joke
- Who are you?
- Beam me up, Scotty!
- What is [Jennifer Lawrence’s] Bacon number?
Know of new commands? Drop a comment!
Jun 7, 2014
iOS 8 features that are ‘inspired’ by Android

Apple recently unveiled the latest version of its mobile operating system iOS 8 at its Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. According to company this is “the biggest release since the launch of the App Store,”.

Many of these Android inspirations are more regular and obvious than others, including the new QuickType typing suggestions in iOS 8, Apple’s new support for third-party keyboard modifications applications, the “Hey, Siri” word for always-on listening features, the Widgets support in the Notification Center, the battery stats shown in iOS 8’s Settings, actionable notifications, and the improved photo backup in iCloud. Developer-oriented features, like the ability of uploading an app video in the App Store or to offer app beta tests to customers will also sound familiar to Android users.

QuickType and third-party keyboards support

Apple showed a big deal about its brand new QuickType keyboard. The keyboard features predictive typing and can learn based on your typing habits. In addition to QuickType, iOS 8 will also bring support for third-party keyboard applications. But Android users have had these features for years.

‘Hey Siri’

There are improvements to Siri including addition of 22 new dictation languages and song recognition integration using Shazam. But the ability to launch Siri by speaking the phrase “Hey Siri” when the phone is plugged into a car reminds us of Android’s Google Now where the phrase “Ok, Google” the app can be launched.

iCloud Drive Storage

With iCloud Drive, a Dropbox-like service for storing documents on the cloud. In addition to Dropbox, Android and Apple users already have Google Drive. As iCloud is limited to 5GB of free storage, Google Drive offers 15GB for free, while Dropbox initially offers 2GB for free alongwith the ability to earn up to 20GB as referral bonus.

Widgets

Apple users will finally get access to basic widgets in new iOS update. Not same as on Android where you can place widgets on your home and lock screens, however, iOS 8 widgets will be limited to the pull-down Notification Center.

Interactive Notifications

Interactive notifications will let users to quickly respond to messages, accept calendar appointments without having to enter the app itself. Android has offered these kinds of actionable notifications since 2012.

App Store Previews

Now in App Store is what Apple calls “App Previews,” similar to Google Play Store where you can watch app demo videos before downloading the apps.

TestFlight

TestFlight, a new technology Apple acquired this year which will give iPhone and iPad owners the facility test their apps in beta before they are officially released in the App Store. Also it is known that Google has allowed Android users to test their beta apps already.

Don’t call it a rip-off. Apple adds its own imprint on features that Android users have long enjoyed. They are adding thier own spin. Notifications, for instance, will be interactive straight from the lock screen, which is not currently the case on Android.

Jun 6, 2014
Hadoop : ex Yahoo CTO’s perspective

Raymie Stata is the co-founder of Altiscale and ex-CTO of Yahoo. Altiscale is a big data service provider to companies which cannot manage their own big data infrastructure. Stata appeared in Structure Show podcast recently to talk about Hadoop, Altiscale’s approach to Hadoop and Hadoop as a Service. Here are the highlights of the conversation.

Why Hadoop is best consumed as a service?

“At some point, somebody will say, ‘Well, how many nodes do I get?’ And that’s when we say, ‘OK, great. Think about it. Why do you care?’ You shouldn’t be thinking about the number of nodes. That’s what it means to have Hadoop as a service.”

Unlike the typical cloud, where the clients are charged for number of nodes, Stata’s Altiscale bills users based on computing time and storage on a monthly basis.

Hortonworks and Cloudera aren’t arguing over nothing

“When you think about a market, first of all, there won’t be one vendor, there will be multiple ones, and, second of all, they’re going to be fiercely competitive.”

“I think ages ago, in the SQL wars, it was primarily kind of the field — sales and marketing — that would get in these kind of bloody battles.”

“With the open source element of Hadoop, I think that has brought the competition to the engineering level.”

“I think the trial by fire that you get in those environments where Hadoop is operating at scale is very valuable for people contributing to the Hadoop code base. … There’s a realization that theory and practice often diverge, and as systems scale up and become more complicated, that happens more and more. And so taking a bit more a data-driven approach to making improvements — versus just ‘Hey, I’ve got an idea’ and hacking away for days at a time and then contributing it and saying, ‘Hey, isn’t this better?’ — there’s just a certain respect, if you will, for the complexity of the system.”

Companies like Cloudera, Hortonworks, MapR and Pivotal are the biggest players in Hadoop space. However, in Stata’s opinion, relational databases advancements may nullify this competition.

Why everyone loves Spark?

“From a performance perspective, because it’s an in-memory solution, obviously, it’s a lot faster than old-style MapReduce, where after every iteration of your algorithm you have to write out to HDFS. With Spark, you’re just kind of updating in place, in memory, so you can do many, many iterations of your iterative algorithms very, very quickly. Those kind of iterative algorithms are very common in machine learning.”

In recent times, recursive and iterative methods have been replaced by methods of complexity equal to ‘n*log(n)’ and sometimes even ‘n’. Spark might someday replace MapReduce as the de facto processing framework on Hadoop clusters.

Applications are still the linchpin for big data adoption

“We distinguish what we call applications from tools. Tools are still horizontal. A Platfora, a Tableau — those are still horizontal tools. They certainly raise the level of abstraction versus Java, but they don’t have any what we call domain specificity. So an application to us is something that actually solves a domain-specific problem. … When you say ‘attribution analysis,’ that’s where that domain-specificity comes in that that’s to me what qualifies as a real solution.”

Stata acknowledges the fact that there is a gap between the solution and the task it is meant to perform even in Hadoop sector.

Innovating search in the mold of Moore’s law

“There’s continuous innovation and more-disruptive innovation, and I think that continuous innovation is real innovation and often is the most scientific. If you think about Moore’s law and what it took to kind of maintain Moore’s law, that’s continuous innovation, but it’s deep, deep work and has been enormously important. So, when I look at classic [algorithmic] search, I would put it in that category of continuous innovation. I think there’s probably some metric where they’re doubling it every 18 to 24 months — some metric of relevance — and maintaing that level of improvement is important because there’s more and more noise out there, so you have to crank up capabilities. But at the same time, it just kind of fades into the background because it just kind of changes.”

In Stata’s opinion, web search business has been evolving at a pace similar to the advances in microprocessors under Moore’s law. He continued in detail:

“I do think that if you back up, if you look at the bigger picture of people wanting to inform themselves for various purposes, it does seem like there are more disruptive innovations waiting to happen.”

It’s hard to make computer science a family business

“It’s not like a restaurant, where from 4 years old on you’re inside doing that”

“The thing about high-tech is that you can’t really participate until you’re fairly old. And I’m seeing that with my kids, by the way. I’ve got kids, and at 4 years old they didn’t want to do software testing. Imagine that!”

Stata acknowledges his father’s role in creating entrepreneurial spirit in him, but he also claims that he was not destined or trained to be a technologist. His first exposure to the industry was through an internship in analog devices when he was in grad school.

Jun 6, 2014
Actian Integrates Hadoop With SQL

Actian aims to make Big Data analytics more accessible by allowing SQL users to conduct advanced queries directly on data in Hadoop.

A new version of the Hadoop-based Actian Analytics Platform will be released at end of the month will include Actian’s X100 SQL engine, providing a complete and best of all high-performance SQL implementation. This will make the Hadoop Big Data framework more accessible by offering high-performance ELT (extract, load and transform) and SQL analytics on Hadoop with no need for MapReduce skills.

Actian CEO Steve Shine told that other big data companies offer SQL access to Hadoop using two techniques: through external add-ons or by building a new relational database management system within Hadoop, but building a new RDMS is time consuming and expensive.

“Actian has removed all major barriers to Big Data analytics on Hadoop, basically making Hadoop industrial strength,”Actian CEO Steve Shine said.

According to the their benchmarking scheme, Actian SQL in Hadoop is up to thirty times faster than Impala, their closest competitor.

Until now, business analysts and BI tools have been limited out because only a subset of SQL was supported in Hadoop. Not all SQL queries would run in Hadoop while others had to be completely rewritten due to incomplete and inappropriate SQL support. Actian’s new platform removes these limits by providing the broad SQL support that users demand from an enterprise-grade analytics database. The maturity of Actian’s SQL environment also delivers industrial-strength database security, encompassing users, roles, and authentication with ACID-compliant reliability. This Analytics Platform gives industry data scientists and analysts powerful productivity and accuracy breakthroughs while making high-science analytics consumable, accessible, and re-usable.

Actian’s platform, combined with the company’s visual data flow framework, allows SQL users to conduct advanced analytics directly on data in the Hadoop Distributed File System.The Actian Analytics Platform will be generally available on June 30.

Jun 3, 2014