NoSQL: Comparing the Different Solutions - ReadWriteCloud. Adrian Cockcroft, a cloud architect at Netflix, is running a series of posts looking at how different NoSQL databases handle common cloud computing tasks. All the usual disclaimers apply: SQL is good for some things, and different scenarios call for different NoSQL solutions. No one solution is necessarily "better" overall. However, as Cockcroft writes "We need a basis for comparison across them, so that we understand the differences in behavior.
" Cockcroft created an example use case and is asking different NoSQL database developers to explain how their databases handle availability zones, partitioning between zones, appending items to lists, handling silent data corruption, and backup and restore. A TV based device calls the API to add a movie to its favorites list (like the Netflix instant queue, but I have simplified the concept here), then reads back the entire list to ensure it is showing the current state. Facebook & The Semantic Web. This week we've been exploring the emergence of the Semantic Web among companies like Best Buy and Google. It's all thanks to RDFa, code that is inserted into the HTML of web pages to add extra meaning. The increasing usage of RDFa was one of the main themes at the recent Semantic Technology conference in San Francisco.
There is perhaps no better example than Facebook's use of RDFa. We chatted to Facebook open standards evangelist David Recordon to find out more. In April this year, Facebook announced a large-scale new platform called the Open Graph. The stated goal of the Open Graph protocol was to enable publishers to "integrate [their] Web pages into the social graph. " Essentially, each web page can now become an 'object' in Facebook's social graph (which is Facebook's term for how people connect to each other in its network).
The Open Graph in a Nutshell The Open Graph is a wide-ranging platform which includes features such as 'Like' buttons and publisher plug-ins. Open Graph Issues. Top 10 Semantic Web Products of 2010. Every year ReadWriteWeb selects the top 10 products or developments across a range of categories. We kick off the 2010 'Best Of' series with our selection of the top 10 Semantic Web products and implementations of the year. This year we've chosen 5 products by semantically charged startups and 5 implementations by large organizations. The startups represent the cutting edge of Semantic Web. Each has made an impact on the Internet this year, with user growth and innovation. The organizations we've selected - which include Facebook, Google and the BBC - offered the best examples of large scale deployment of semantic technology. ReadWriteWeb's 2010 In Review: A note on terminology:we are using 'Semantic Web' and 'Semantic technology' somewhat interchangeably, although many people believe that the term Semantic Web (upper case) should only be applied to W3C-approved technologies such as RDF and SPARQL.
Freebase In July Google acquired one of the leading Semantic Web companies, Metaweb. GetGlue. Secrets of the LinkedIn Data Scientists. I suffer from severe data envy when it comes to LinkedIn. They have detailed information on millions of people who are motivated to keep their profiles up-to-date, collect a rich network of connections and have a strong desire from their users for more tools to help them in their professional lives. Over the past couple of years Chief Scientist DJ Patil has put together an impressive team of data scientists to deliver new services based around all that information. One of my favorites is their career explorer, using the accumulated employment histories of millions of professionals to help students understand where their academic and early job choices might lead them.
Ali Imam's connection network, via Russell Jurney Their work also shows up in some more subtle ways too, like the Groups you may like service that relies on their analyses and the SNA team's work to recommend groups that seem connected to your interests. Twitter users by location, thanks to Mechanical Turk matching. People in Tech: Andraz Tori, CTO/Co-Founder of Zemanta. Zemanta is a an interesting European startup that is applying semantic technologies to blogging. Sarah Perez covered the company's launch in March. One can think of Zemanta as an auto-complete function for blogging. As you are typing up a new post, Zemanta's browser plugin fetches related content - images, articles, videos, links - and provides a simple and friendly UI for inserting the related content into your blog.
We caught up with Andraz Tori, CTO and co-founder of Zemanta, at the SemTech conference at San Jose last week for an interview. Just because Zemanta's product looks simple does not mean that it is not sophisticated. Beneath the product's UI there is a powerful semantic analysis engine that matches content to Zemanta's web index. The elements of their technology include clustering, natural language processing, dynamic ontologies - the full spectrum of semantic web tech that well-publicized companies like Powerset, Freebase, and Hakia are known for. It's fun. The State of Linked Data in 2010. In May last year we wrote about the state of Linked Data, an official W3C project that aims to connect separate data sets on the Web. Linked Data is a subset of the wider Semantic Web movement, in which data on the Web is encoded with meaning using technologies such as RDF and OWL. The ultimate vision is that the Web will become much more structured, which opens up many possibilities for "smarter" Web applications.
At this stage last year, we noted that Linked Data was ramping up fast - evidenced by the increasing number of data sets on the Web as at March 2009. Fast forward a year and the Linked Data "cloud" has continued to expand. In this post we look at some of the developments in Linked Data over the past year. Governments Get on Board The most high-profile usage of Linked Data over the past year has come from two governments: the United States and United Kingdom. The U.S. was first to open up some of its non-personal data for use by developers, with the May 2009 launch of Data.gov.
What Happens When You Deactivate Your Facebook Account. Facebook is a big part of millions and millions of peoples' lives, but what happens when you pull the plug? Last night I met a man who walked to the edge of the cliff and nearly deactivated his Facebook account. He took a screenshot of what he saw after clicking the "deactivate my account" link on his account page - and it is pretty far-out. That man considered quitting Facebook because it was having an adverse emotional impact on him and I'll spare him and his contacts from posting the screenshot he shared with me.
I have posted below though a shot of the screen I saw when I clicked that button myself. Can you believe that? Apparently my wife's good friend and one of my co-workers are really going to miss me if I leave, though. Admittedly, this is also kind of funny at the same time. This is just loaded with obnoxiousness. Just below the text box where departing users are asked to provide further explanation why they are leaving is a button you can click to select this option: Top 10 Mobile Trends of 2010, Part 1: Design & Development. In a little under 3 weeks time, we will host our second unconference: the ReadWriteWeb Mobile Summit.
It's a 1-day event at the lovely Computer History Museum, in Mountain View, California. In preparation for the RWW Mobile Summit, we're going to outline the 10 leading trends of the Mobile Web in a 3-part series of posts. We'll delve more into these trends with you at the Summit, because our unconferences are all about audience participation.
In this, the first post, we'll outline 3 important design and development issues for the Mobile Web. Register now to discuss these and other topics at our unconference. The RWW Mobile Summit is being held on Friday 7 May, directly after the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco (2-6 May). Native App and/or Browser Based? Just as businesses in the PC-based Web spent years in the 90's wondering if a desktop app or web browser based service was the best choice, in 2010 the same question applies to mobile phone applications. Privacy Emerging Wireless Standards.