Features

A Prediction Machine Powered by Big Social Data

What if you had a machine that could predict what people will be talking about on the Internet over the next three days. How would you use that information? The folks at Blab say they have created such a machine, and the way its customers are using it might surprise you. Read more…

Faceboook Gets Smarter with Graph Engine Optimization

Last fall, the folks in Facebook's engineering team talked about how they employed the Apache Giraph engine to build a graph on its Hadoop platform that can host more than a trillion edges. While the Graph Search engine is capable of massive graphing tasks, there were some workloads that remained outside the company's technical capabilities--until now. Read more…

Data Analytics Coming to the Smart Grid

The IQ of the smart grid rose this week with the acquisition of a leading provider of data analytics to utilities by green technology specialist Sensus. Read more…

Array Databases: The Next Big Thing in Data Analytics?

There's no lack of database choices when it comes to building your next big data analytics platform. Relational data stores, column-oriented databases, in-memory data grids, graph databases, scale-out NewSQL systems, and Hadoop will all get time in the sun. But according to database pioneer Mike Stonebraker, none of these hold a candle to array databases when it comes to running complex analytics on big data sets. Read more…

Can MongoDB Make NoSQL Fun Again?

MongoDB became the most popular NoSQL database because developers really like writing applications for it, according to MongoDB CEO Max Schireson. But when it comes to operating the database clusters, there was something to be desired. With today's release of MongoDB version 2.6, the company is aiming to make running a NoSQL database as enjoyable as developing for it. Read more…

Ad Specialists Join Forces to Leverage Customer Data

London-based Dunnhumby Ltd., an online advertising specialist owned by U.K. retailer Tesco, said this week it will acquire Sociomantic Labs GmbH of Berlin, a developer of intelligent digital advertising technology. Read more…

Retailers Embrace Graph Databases

Graph databases that use nodes and properties to represent and store data appear to be making significant inroads in the U.S. retail market. Read more…

Pivotal: Say No to Hadoop ‘Tax’ with Per-Core Pricing

Pivotal today unveiled its Big Data Suite, a collection of its big data software products that includes the Greenplum database and Apache Hadoop. While the stack doesn't introduce any new products or technologies, it does bring a vastly simplified licensing model, including per-core pricing for all the point products in the suite, which the company says will allow customers to store an unlimited amount of data in Hadoop. Read more…

Detection Tool Leverages Big Data, Machine Learning

Emerging techniques for detecting security threats are combining big data with behavioral analytics and machine learning to detect and prevent intrusions. Read more…

Playing Ball with MLB’s New Analytic Data Feed

Baseball has always been a game of numbers and statistics. But Major League Baseball is taking that tradition to new heights this season with a pair of technology products, including a new play tracking system that will generate a big data feed of player movements on every play, as well as a new video replay system that's brand new for 2014. Read more…