Author: Serkadis

We all kind of knew that Twitter’s path to making money was paved with data, and the announcement on Monday that it’s buying analytics startup Lucky Sort makes it official. Unless I’m totally misreading the writing on the wall, this move is all about giving advertisers — and anyone, in theory — the tools to learn about what people are talking about.

Word that Lucky Sort is shutting down and that several of its team are joining Twitter’s revenue engineering department suggests this is exactly what the acquisition aims to accomplish.

As it stands, companies use Twitter as a way to track how people are talking about them and maybe, if they’re really advanced, do some sentiment analysis. If they’re willing to pay a third party, Datasift and Gnip are more than happy to broaden marketers’ views to encompass the entirety of Twitter’s data, both real-time and historical. What companies really can’t do, though, is run their own advanced analytics about topics straight from the Twitter platform.

One view of the Lucky Sort dashboard

The value proposition from such a product should be obvious at this point. Facebook, Google and Yahoo all collect a lot of data about how people are using their platforms and what topics are trending, and they all offer it up via a variety of products targeting marketing types and the public at large. If Twitter wants to be taken seriously as a venue for advertising budgets and a platform for measuring the pulse of the nation, people need to be able to ask questions of its data without relying on an intermediary or the occasional Twitter blog post.

As a journalist, I’d love to have access to this type of tool to track trending topics in real time and spot possible stories as they’re happening. The appeal to marketers should be obvious. As IBM’s Erick Brethenoux told me recently, “[Marketers] talk a good game about social data. Very few actually leverage it effectively today.”

At Twitter, though, data is a slightly different beast than at other web companies. Twitter’s value lies largely in real-time data — topics can be peak, crest and all but vanish within a 48-hour window. This situation has hampered some of Twitter’s efforts to surface optimal search results, and it has spurred the decision to buy companies such as Backtype (for its streaming-processing Storm technology) and parallel-processing startup Ubalo.

The latter move, which happened last week, should help Twitter’s development team create new features without worrying about the intricacies of making them run — and run fast — across a cluster of machines. (You can learn a lot more about how companies such as Google, Facebook and Box are rethinking infrastructure to handle their unique data needs at our Structure conference next month in San Francisco.)

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Last week the Blandin Foundation released the 2013 Rural Pulse, a research study that has been commissioned by the Blandin Foundation since 1998 to gain a real-time snapshot of the concerns, perceptions and priorities of rural Minnesota residents. It’s always good for gauging trends and attitudes in Minnesota, especially rural Minnesota. I am always most interested in where and how technology comes up in the discussion.

A highlighted concern in the report is the economy…

The Economic Lens: Concern about jobs continues.

While 22 percent of rural residents feel their local economy has improved over the last year, more than half believe it has stayed the same and 20 percent indicate that it has worsened. Urban Minnesota residents are nearly twice as likely to feel their local economy has seen improvement over the past year.

The need for attracting new, high-quality jobs continues to be the top priority for 36 percent of rural Minnesotans – more than twice as important as education. Urban dwellers also consider attracting new, high-quality jobs (28%) and educational opportunities (21%) to be top priorities.

Technology was suggested as a tool to help improve the economy…

Most rural and urban residents believe improved technology could assist with job retention and creation, and feel their local area works together to maintain and grow job opportunities.

The sentiment is not unfounded; the National Ag and Rural Development Policy Center made that connection in a report released in March.

The survey also indicates that rural residents feel that the local community is meeting the technology needs…

Quality of Life: Rural Minnesotans believe their community is addressing most local needs.

Most rural residents (87%) believe that their community offers equal access to essential services.

Rural residents give their community relatively good grades for addressing environmental stewardship, crime control, services for the elderly, education, improving access to technology and residential housing.

Taking great liberties in reading between the lines here, it seems that the perception is that the rural areas are addressing residential technology needs – and while I’m taking liberties, I’m going to change that to broadband. (Really how useful is technology without broadband these days?) However, the perception also is that rural areas are not addressing the broadband needs of businesses.

There are notable exceptions but from meetings I’ve attended it seems that again these observation may not be unfounded. Some of the larger providers are sticking with DSL-type speeds, which are more apt to meet household needs (unless you have a houseful of teens!) than business needs. The frustration is twofold: many businesses are hesitant to move to areas with slower speeds and it is more difficult to start or maintain a business with slower speeds.

The report helps make the case that broadband is important to local businesses and residents. For local leaders looking at broadband, I think knowing the concern for jobs and belief that technology can help can help hone messages to promote local broadband investment.

Wednesday of this week kicks off Google’s annual I/O developer event in San Francisco, where we’ll have a team providing plenty of coverage. While the conference is aimed at developers, it has often been the stage for Google to show off the latest Android releases, new tablets, Chromebooks and even the occasional clunker product: Anyone remember last year’s Nexus Q orb?

According to Google’s Sundar Pinchar — who is now in charge of Apps, Chrome and Android — this year’s I/O won’t focus on devices, but instead, feature tools for developers. Pinchar’s comments come from a Monday morning Wired interview, where he also notes it’s not a problem, or out of the ordinary, to have both the Android and Chrome platforms co-existing. To that end, Pinchar says “Very few people will ask you, ‘Hey, how come MacBooks are on Mac OS-X and iPhone and iPad are on iOS? Why is this?’ ” .

I agree with Pinchar’s latter statement although I had previously thought we’d see more of a Chrome – Android merger this year. Now I see more shared components but not two platforms becoming one. And I think Pinchar is setting up a bit of a smokescreen when it comes to devices. Here’s what I expect we’ll see for both Chrome and Android later this week:

• An updated Nexus 7 tablet. Google introduced the Nexus 7 at last year’s I/O event to help spotlight its then-new Android 4.1 software. The current slate is still a nice device but it makes sense to see a refresh. Look for a faster chip — likely a switch from Nvidia’s Tegra 3 to a current Qualcomm Snapdragon — more memory, possible LTE integration in a higher priced model and the chance of a full HD display. That could come in the form of a Nexus 7 HD tablet that would likely start at $249 or more.
• A new minor Android version. I could easily see the introduction of new Android software, but I’m not expecting Android 5.0. Instead, Google is more likely to provide a minor update with new features and developer APIs. Part of the issue is the pace of change: Google has iterated Android faster than handset makers and carriers want it to. They simply can’t (or choose not to) keep up. Android 4.0 arrived in October 2011, for example, and it took until last month before more than half of Android devices were running Android 4.0 or better.
• Google Play Games for Android. Apple’s iOS has Game Center and it’s a very safe bet Android will get Google Play Games. Enthusiast site Android Police dissected early code and found support for synchronized game progress, multiplayer matchups — through Google+ of course — achievements and more.
• A new Nexus phone? Probably not. Google’s latest smartphone, the Nexus 4, isn’t that old of a device, having launched in October of last year. It does lack official LTE support, so Google could have a new version of the same phone that adds faster mobile broadband service. But a completely new Nexus isn’t likely. It’s possible that a new Motorola-branded phone arrives — the X Fon — at I/O, but I think odds are against it. Instead that device will likely have a carrier launch event since Google’s hardware partners might be slighted by a non-Nexus phone launch on the I/O stage.
• A new Nexus tablet is a better bet. The Samsung-built Nexus 10 launched with the Nexus 4 phone in October, but there appears to be room for a larger model. A leaked Samsung road-map points to a Nexus 11 with upgraded internals, including Samsung’s latest chip that has two quad-core processors. I could see this device showcasing the latest version of Android; if not at Google I/O, then later this year. Or….
• What about a Chrome tablet? It’s not likely an 11-inch tablet would run Chrome, but that’s my moonshot prediction. Samsung already makes a Chromebook with its own ARM chip inside so it’s not a total stretch to see it make a Chrome tablet. Even if that’s not the case, I still expect to see some new Chromebook form-factors debut at Google I/O: If not a pure tablet, then a tablet with keyboard dock — something like Microsoft’s Windows Surface, perhaps? — or a Chromebook with a swiveling screen for tablet-like use. Why else would Google have added an on-screen keyboard and support for screen rotation in its Chrome OS?
• A heavy dose of real apps for Chrome. Expect demonstrations of rich applications in Chrome and on Chrome OS, including those that run offline. Google has been building momentum for what it calls Packaged Apps and for Native Client apps of late. I used a Native Client game last week, written in C, on my Chromebook Pixel with an Xbox 360 controller and while offline. Now I see where Google is going with its Chrome OS vision and it’s not “just a browser”. Between the new support for app notifications, more offline app support and these two types of applications, Chrome OS will be shown off as a true desktop replacement later this week.
• A mid-priced Chromebook could appear. It would be too early to sell, but Google could announced new Chromebooks coming soon that run on either Intel’s next-generation Haswell chip or its new Atom processor called Silvermont. Neither of these chips are in devices yet. However, both will be used in laptops and tablets before year-end and I could see Google making a related announcement. Chromebooks with either of these would offer more performance and better battery life. They would also fit the bill for Chromebook priced between the current low-end offerings ($199 to $549) and the Chromebook Pixel ($1299 to $1449).

The main keynote starts at 9am PT on Wednesday and we’ll be live-blogging it. Come back to check and see how many of these predictions were right — and wrong, for that matter. In the meantime, what else are you expecting for Chrome and Android at this year’s big Google event?

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A couple weeks ago, JC Penney put out an ad essentially begging customers to come back after alienating a third of them, and dropping holiday sales by 32%.

The ad, which has since been set to private on YouTube, said, “It’s no secret, recently JCPenney changed. Some changes you liked and some you didn’t, but what matters with mistakes is what we learn. We learned a very simple thing, to listen to you. To hear what you need, to make your life more beautiful. Come back to JCPenney, we heard you. Now, we’d love to see you.”

Now, they’re out with a new ad. Instead of “I’m Sorry,” the message this time is, “Thank you.” In fact, the title of the video is simply, “Thank You”.

“At JC Penney, we never stop being amazed by you,” the ad says. “How you work so hard without looking like you do, how you make every dollar stretch so far, and keep your family so close, so we brought back the things you liked about JC Penney, gave you new things to explore, and now, we’re happy to say, you’ve come back to us. We’re speechless, except for two little words.”

They’re still promoting the hashtag #jcpListens. You can see how they’ve been working social media here.

Dr. Kermit Gosnell, a former abortion doctor in Philadelphia, was found guilty of three out of four counts of first-degree murder today, and could face the death penalty. Gosnell was reportedly known for performing late-term abortions, and allegedly (alleged by prosecutors) delivered babies alive, then killed them by cutting their spinal cords with scissors.

Vince Lattanzio of NBC Philadelphia reports:

According to court observers, as the verdict was read by the jury forman, Gosnell didn’t react at first. Once the full charges had been announced, he shook his head from side-to-side, trying to make eye contact with members of the jury.

The jury of seven women and five men weighed a total of 263 crimes against Gosnell with the most serious being four counts of first-degree murder.

Gosnell was acquitted of the fourth first-degree murder charge, which involved an aborted fetus, and of a third-degree murder charge, but was charged with involuntary manslaughter in the overdose death of former patient Karnamaya Mongar, who was 41. Mongar died after being given pain killers and anesthesia during an abortion procedure in 2009.

The entire jury reportedly consisted of people who either said they were pro-choice or had no opinion at all on a woman’s right to choose.

Sentencing is scheduled to place next Tuesday.