- Dremel (PDF) — paper on the Dremel distributed nested column-store database developed at Google. Interesting beyond the technology is the list of uses, which includes tracking install data for applications on Android Market; crash reporting from Google products; OCR results from Google Books; spam analysis; debugging map tiles. (via Greg Linden)
- Conversational UI: A Short Reading List — it can be difficult to build a text user interface to a bot because there’s not a great body of useful literature around textual UIs the way there is around GUIs. This great list of pointers goes a long way to solving that problem.
- Sustainable Education (YouTube) — Watch this clip from the New Zealand Open Source Awards. Mark Osborne, Deputy Principal from Albany Senior High School, talks about the software choices at their school not because it’s right for technology but because it’s right for the students. Very powerful.
- What Font Should I Use? — design life support for the terminally tasteless like myself. (via Hacker News)
ENTRIES TAGGED "database"
Hadoop: What it is, how it works, and what it can do
Cloudera CEO Mike Olson on Hadoop's architecture and its data applications.
Hadoop gets a lot of buzz in database circles, but some folks are still hazy about what it is and how it works. In this interview, Cloudera CEO and Strata speaker Mike Olson discusses Hadoop's background and its current utility.
Big data faster: A conversation with Bradford Stephens
The founder of Drawn to Scale explains how his database platform does simple things quickly.
Bradford Stephens, founder of of Drawn to Scale, discusses big data systems that work in "user time."
The growing importance of data journalism
Parsing the progress of open government data requires new tools and reliable information sources.
Data journalists now have huge volumes of accessible government data, but a recent panel discussion reveals that cultural roadblocks and "dirty" data still need to be addressed.
Strata Gems: Turn MySQL into blazing fast NoSQL
Bypass the SQL parser to use MySQL's raw speed
The HandlerSocket plugin for MySQL bypasses the query parser to deliver excellent NoSQL performance, rivaling that of memcache.
Strata Gems: Who needs disks anyway?
RethinkDB uses SSDs to their full advantage
Today's databases are designed for the spinning platter of the hard disk. As SSDs begin to enter data centers, it's time for a database that takes advantage of the new technology.
Four short links: 15 December 2010
Google Database, Text UI, Sustainable Education, Font Basics
Big data, but with a familiar face
Martin Hall explains how Karmasphere is integrating Hadoop into enterprises.
You don't have to throw away existing investments in skills and tools to use Hadoop for big data, as Karmasphere's Martin Hall explains.
Four short links: 21 October 2010
MySQL as NoSQL, Handmade SLR, Mac App Store, and Datamining Privacy Workshop
- Using MysQL as NoSQL — 750,000+ qps on a commodity MySQL/InnoDB 5.1 server from remote web clients.
- Making an SLR Camera from Scratch — amazing piece of hardware devotion. (via hackaday.com)
- Mac App Store Guidelines — Apple announce an app store for the Macintosh, similar to its app store for iPhones and iPads. “Mac App” no longer means generic “program”, it has a new and specific meaning, a program that must be installed through the App store and which has limited functionality (only one can run at a time, it’s full-screen, etc.). The list of guidelines for what kinds of programs you can’t sell through the App Store is interesting. Many have good reasons to be, but It creates a store inside itself for selling or distributing other software (i.e., an audio plug-in store in an audio app) is pure greed. Some are afeared that the next step is to make the App store the only way to install apps on a Mac, a move that would drive me away. It would be a sad day for Mac-lovers if Microsoft were to be the more open solution than Apple. cf the Owner’s Manifesto.
- Privacy Aspects of Data Mining — CFP for an IEEE workshop in December. (via jschneider on Twitter)
Four short links: 24 September 2010
Crawlable Ajax, Security Lessons, Graph Database, and Toy Hardware
- Making Ajax Applications Crawlable (Google) — Google’s system for allowing Ajax applications to provide HTML snapshots for search engines. (via alexdong on twitter)
- Security Lessons Learned from the Diaspora Launch — great explanation of the programming mistakes that were in the Diaspora code, and the security risks that resulted. Again, I recommend the OWASP site if you aren’t aware of the types of security mistakes you are making.
- A Brief Tour of Graphd — the triplestore behind Freebase. Want. (via timclicks on Twitter)
- Toybots — startup working on Internet-aware hardware for toymakers: 3G, WiFi, GPS, and accelerometer waiting to be embedded in toys.
Four short links: 20 July 2010
Hardware Hacking, BI Reporting Tool, Book Recommendations, and Winning the Futurist Lottery
- Dangerous Prototypes — “a new open source hardware project every month”. Sample project: Flash Destroyer, which writes and verifies EEPROM chips until they blow out.
- Wabit — GPLv3 reporting tool.
- Because No Respectable MBA Programme Would Admit Me (Mike Shaver) — excellent book recommendations.
- The Most Prescient Footnote Ever (David Pennock) — In footnote 14 of Chapter 5 (p. 228) of Graham’s classic Hackers and Painters, published in 2004, Graham asks “If the the Mac was so great why did it lose?”. His explanation ends with this caveat, in parentheses: “And it hasn’t lost yet. If Apple were to grow the iPod into a cell phone with a web browser, Microsoft would be in big trouble.”
Radar 
Radar on 
Radar on 
Radar on 
Radar on 