Algorithm

An algorithm is a set of instructions that allows you to solve a problem.

Each instruction is simple and repeatable. It’s important to understand that the instructions work on all similar problems, not just one.

Here’s an algorithm for sorting any set of numbers, to get them into order. Start with 4,3,5,6,2 for example.

The bubble sort algorithm is simple. Compare two numbers. If the first number is higher than the second, switch them. So now it’s 3,4,5,6,2. Next step is to compare positions two and three. If the second is higher than the third (it’s not) switch them. Repeat for the whole string. Then start over. Do it over and over again until you can go the whole way with no switching. Done.

More here from Seth.

Online Generation

About nine out of 10 US consumers ages 12 to 24 use the Internet. That is not surprising. But more than one-half of those ages 65 to 69 are online as well, and Internet-using 70-to-74-year-olds make up 45% of people that age, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Pew noted that the biggest increase in Internet use since 2005 was in the 70-to-75-year-old age group; just over one-quarter of them were online in 2005.

More here.

Predictive Analytics World

There is an interesting set of people lined up to talk in this years Predictive Analytics World in San Francisco on Feb 18-19. Keynote speakers include:

Osama Fayyad – Chief Data Officer, Yahoo
Andreas Weigend – Former Chief Scientist, Amazon

If anyone is interested in going there in person, use the following registration code and get 15% off.
gudimellapaw09

Thanks to Carla from BlastPR.

Numerati

Recently completed reading Numerati by Stephen Baker.

Good read for someone looking for an introduction to analytics and how it is being used in various industries today.

Data mining in the credit crisis

In recent months, American Express has gone far beyond simply checking your credit score and making sure you pay on time. The company has been looking at home prices in your area, the type of mortgage lender you’re using and whether small-business card customers work in an industry under siege. It has also been looking at how you spend your money, searching for patterns or similarities to other customers who have trouble paying their bills.

More here

Top 10 disruptive technologies for the next 4 years

According to Gartner, the top 10 disruptive technologies in the next four years are:

* Multicore and hybrid processors
* Virtualisation and fabric computing
* Social networks and social software
* Cloud computing and cloud/Web platforms
* Web mashups
* User Interface
* Ubiquitous computing
* Contextual computing
* Augmented reality
* Semantics

I personally think that each of these technologies is already here or is in progress. The most interesting ones to follow are Semantics and Cloud Computing.

Visualizing Large Graphs

Pretty cool collection of large graphs presented here from the University of Florida Sparse Matrix collection.

Here are some samples.

Your Mobile Phone Data —> Your Habits

The whereabouts of more than 100,000 mobile phone users have been tracked in an attempt to build a comprehensive picture of human movements.

The study concludes that humans are creatures of habit, mostly visiting the same few spots time and time again.

Most people also move less than 10km on a regular basis, according to the study published in the journal Nature.

The results could be used to help prevent outbreaks of disease or forecast traffic, the scientists said.

“It would be wonderful if every [mobile] carrier could give universities access to their data because it’s so rich,” said Dr Marta Gonzalez of Northeastern University, Boston, US, and one of the authors of the paper.

Dr William Webb, head of research and development at the UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, agreed that mobile phone data was still underexploited.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” he told BBC News.

More here from BBC

New marketing school by Drayton Bird

It is very interesting to learn that Drayton Bird, the man who according to David Ogilvy knows more about direct marketing than anyone else in the world, is starting a new marketing school in Europe.

Read more here.

SuperNap – The largest data center ever!

Drive a couple of blocks past the Loose Caboose and the Carburetor Shop on E. Sahara Avenue in Las Vegas, and you’ll find one of the world’s leading technology companies. The name of the company – Switch Communications – will go unrecognized by almost all of you. That’s because it has operated in near total secrecy for the last few years. Switch has preferred to keep its gold mine a need-to-know type of affair. “Pay no attention to the secure fortress in the strip mall.”

A few months ago, word of Switch’s apparently fantastic operations started to reach my in-box. Most of the people who visited the Switch facility were bound by non-disclosure agreements, but that failed to stop them from leaking out a few choice details. “This is the most advanced computing center in the world,” I was told. “It’s like the internet superhighway wrapped up in one package. All the heavies are there.”

Ever a cynic, I struggled to match these claims with the total lack of public information available on Switch. Companies fall all over themselves to issue press releases about things as a minor as cost-savings achieved by changing toilet paper suppliers. If a technology giant really existed in Las Vegas of all places, then it should be patting itself on the back and then letting city officials finish off the job with celebrations of their own.

As Switch’s CEO Rob Roy tells it, however, the company had good reason to avoid publicity.

Legend has it that the company managed to acquire what was once meant to be Enron’s broadband trading hub for a song. This gave Switch access to more than twenty of the primary carrier backbones in a single location. Switch tied this vast network to existing data center hosting facilities and attracted military clients, among others, to its Las Vegas shop.

Read more here.