With respect to data, there seem to be a few types of companies: Those that do fairly little with the value of their data. I've consulted for quite a few. Those that maximize the value of their data, often controversially. Facebook and Google are squarely in this group. Those that maximize the
As others have pointed out, 2013 may well go down as the year of Bitcoin, the first "mainstream" form of cryptocurrency. It's easy to dismiss Bitcoin as a fad, but other events from the previous year suggest that privacy is making a comeback. Exhibit A: Temporary photo and message app Snapchat, arguably the
How do employees feel about data today? It's an interesting question, and one that I address in my forthcoming book The Visual Organization: How Intelligent Companies Use Data Visualization To Make Better Decisions. As a student of data, management and technology, it's obvious to me that our relationship with data
Every week, it seems, I overhear someone at my gym talking about another fad diet. Cabbage-this or berry-that is supposed to magically make the pounds disappear. Perhaps there are legitimate success stories with these diets. Still, it doesn't take a nutritionist or personal trainer to realize that, for the most part, losing
Is big data becoming too big to ignore? An increasing number of organizations seem to think so. As Matt Asay on ReadWriteWeb writes: According to a recent Gartner report, 64% of enterprises surveyed indicate that they're deploying or planning Big Data projects (emphasis mine). Yet even more acknowledge that they
As I write these words, AMC is gearing up for the final eight episodes of its award-winning show Breaking Bad. In the press leading up to the premiere, show creator Vince Gilligan has been giving plenty of interviews while concurrently keeping a lid on how the show ends. Gilligan has
Facts about Google astonish me. For instance, one in ten of its searches is on a person. So says Todd Silverstein, CEO of Vizify, a personal data visualization company. Imagine if Googling a person didn't just return a home page or a LinkedIn profile, but a visual, 360-degree view of
Who benefits from Big Data? In his Thinkr series, author, photographer and technologist Rick Smolan asks many important questions about the era of Big Data.
While we're hearing more and more about the term, Big Data didn't happen overnight. The data deluge could not have happened without the following taking place:
