The dirty little secret of Hadoop has been just how dull many of its tasks have been. By far the biggest use for Hadoop to date has been as a "poor person's ETL"—that is, a form of data integration, at the risk of oversimplifying—rather than all the big, sexy data science we see constantly hyped.
But that's changing. As a new Sand Hill Group survey reveals, a significant percentage of enterprises are moving beyond Hadoop's mundane past to leverage it for advanced analytics.
Hadoop 101
This shouldn't be too surprising. Hadoop is still new to most companies, with 47% of respondents in Sand Hill Group's survey citing a lack of Hadoop skills, coupled with a shortage of talent to hire (21%) as top challenges inhibiting their Hadoop ambitions. It's impossible to move from beginner to expert in the few seconds it takes to download Hadoop.
Compounding this problem, Hadoop has not traditionally been the most approachable system to use. Enterprises have been willing to muddle through its complexities, however, because it so dramatically lowers the cost profile of a Big Data project, given that it's powerful open-source software running on commodity servers. While Hadoop is becoming easier to use, it still -- For more information read the original article here.
Millions of wireless headsets, speakers, fitness bands, and earpieces may get a little smarter this holiday season, thanks to an update to the Bluetooth standard.
The industry group that manages the popular short-range wireless technology Tuesday released an update for developers and manufacturers that increases the usefulness of current and future wireless gadgets. The update builds on the 2010 release of Bluetooth 4.0, or “Bluetooth Smart.”
Version 4.1 includes better communication with other cellular wireless standards like LTE, lets you walk in and out of a room without having to manually reconnect, and moves large batches of data on and off of connected devices.
Using these new capabilities, sensors that gathered data during a run, bike ride or swim could, for instance, transfer that data more efficiently when the consumer returns home.
New Opportunities For Developers
The updated standard also lays the groundwork to allow Bluetooth devices to connect directly to the Internet. Current Bluetooth standards require an additional device such as a smartphone or laptop to transfer information to and from websites or other Internet-connected things.
The improvements will allow future devices to act simultaneously as both “Bluetooth Smart” gadgets and “Bluetooth Smart Ready” hubs.
“For example, a smart watch could act as a -- For more information read the original article here.
As reported by The Joongang Daily, "The growth of the LTE service comes with the decline of 3G, the previous standard for wireless communications. According to the ministry, 3G subscribers accounted for 48.6 percent of mobile phone users in Korea in January, the first time they went below 50 percent. In October, 3G subscribers numbered only 19.73 million, or 36.3 percent of mobile phone users. As for the slower 2G service, SK Telecom had only 4.04 million subscribers and LG U+ 4.03 million subscribers in October. KT ended 2G service in January." -- For more information read the original article here.
We've been sharing our locations with friends and family for years, whether it's checking in on Foursquare or enabling location information on Instagram. Even with Twitter's latest update, users are encouraged to share their locations and metadata. But what, exactly, social networks are doing with that data has been somewhat unknown, until now.
By aggregating personal data and preferences based on your check-ins, applications can begin to tailor suggestions for you, effectively driving decision-making and transactions.
Your Smartphone Will Tell You What To Do
With Foursquare's latest iOS update, the company is continuing its vision of telling you where to go next, not just where you are.
Foursquare is rolling out push notification recommendations and an application redesign that makes it easier for users to find out what's happening around them. The company began testing the anticipatory computing functions earlier this fall for both iOS and Android, and is now launching the service to all iOS users.
People that opt-in to receive the real-time notifications will get an update on their iOS device that suggests what to eat at a restaurant, or what to do when they visit a new place. The feature runs in the background, -- For more information read the original article here.
The New York Times is launching a new responsive Web app built with HTML5. The New York Times daily "Today's Paper" Web app provides digital subscribers of Times an app accessible through a browser on tablets, smartphones or desktops with as close an approximation to the layout and content of the printed paper as possible.
The app features all the sections of the Times with articles and photos found in the print edition as well as some video. Times digital subscribers can access a week's worth of Times paper editions and offers offline access.
“Soon after we launched our experimental Web App we discovered that Today's Paper was one of the most popular sections,” said Denise Warren, executive vice president of digital products and services at the Times in a press release.. “This new reading experience is the next step in our ongoing process to develop new and valuable digital products that offer our subscribers other innovative ways to access our content.”
"Today's Paper" replaces the New York Times Web app for iPad which has been in beta since September.
The move to a responsive Web app for digital subscribers closely mirrors the decision of the Boston Globe to release -- For more information read the original article here.
I don't normally need any more reason to think about food during the day other than it exists. But these six iPhone cases look so tempting that I might be tempted to try a taste. This is in no way an endorsement of their protective qualities -- they could fall apart instantly for all I know -- but when it comes to being visually appealing, these accessories are downright scrumptious.
1. Sure, when it comes to ice cream sandwiches you may be more tempted to think of an Android device, but there's no denying that Apple's smartphone is the perfect shape for a case like this. With a high-resolution chocolate cookie image and a white plastic border, it's almost too good.
2. There's nothing like a bento box for lunch. This one might be a little small -- those rolls look even smaller than what could be considered "bite-sized" -- but if you're a fan of sushi, it's a top contender.
3. With a dozen faux M&M candies secured to the back of your phone, you'll need to constantly remind yourself that they're made of plastic rather than -- For more information read the original article here.
They're not legal at all. Yet.
During a 60 Minutes interview last night, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos revealed that the company is experimenting with self-piloting delivery drones that will fly an order to your house 30 minutes after you place it.
The future of Amazon delivery appears to be completely automated, but the company has quite a way to go on the legal front. Bezos says that the Amazon drones could be in operation by 2015, but acknowledges that timeline as optimistic.
Commercial drone certification isn't even slated to begin until 2020 under the FAA's roadmap. Remember, these are the guys who only just recently let you read a Kindle during takeoff.
Hobbyist drones, like those used by videographers to get awesome shots, are limited to operating no higher 400 feet. But Amazon's drones are large commercial instruments without pilots, and they'd be carrying payloads up to five pounds in weight a distance of up to 10 miles. Quartz puts it bluntly – drones can explode and run into things. This type of drone is currently outside the bounds of the law for a reason.
So if Amazon's miracle drones aren't an imminent practical reality with the -- For more information read the original article here.
-- For more information read the original article here.
The patent details a camera that is able to be configured to operate in a lower-resolution mode that includes refocusing capability in addition to a high-resolution non-refocusable mode, with the camera's body containing an image mode adaptor to switch between the two.
Also cited in the patent is the plenoptic imaging system used in the Lytro light-field camera, which Apple draws inspiration from but points out that its own microlens array can produce higher-quality images because of a higher spatial resolution. Apple also cites the Lytro's camera system as prior art in the patent.
Microlens (440) inserted into light path for lower-resolution refocusable images
A digital camera system configurable to operate in a low-resolution refocusable mode and a high-resolution non-refocusable mode comprising: a camera body; an image sensor mounted in the camera body having a plurality of sensor pixels for capturing a digital image;
An imaging lens for forming an image -- For more information read the original article here.