In the run up to the Oscars, millions of people across the globe were intrigued about who would win what awards for which films. One of the questions people in the tech world have been asking is whether we will be able to predict future Oscar winners, based upon data analysis. Two tech firms called Cognizant and Clarabridge, are convinced that they will be able to accomplish this. Both companies looked at 150 variables, from film genre to box office takings, from review ratings to the percentage of female viewers under 18. They then applied their algorithm to data going back fifteen years to work out which of these variables were the most important. Both firms also measured the sentiment films elicited on websites such as IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes. Just to give some sense of the amount of data, the tech firms looked at 150,000 text reviews and more than 38 million star ratings from IMDB alone.
Data crunchers are able to measure sentiment more precisely these days thanks to Big Data analytics and pattern spotting algorithms. Cognizant and Clarabridge expressed a 64% certainty that 'The Revenant' would win an award. In view of the awards given to Leonardo DiCaprio and Alejandro González Iñárritu, it would seem their prediction was bang on the mark! This certainly raises some interesting questions about Big Data analytics. Could data analytics predict Oscar winners of the future with 100% accuracy? It's certainly a possibility. But would we really want to know this in advance? Wouldn't this spoil the atmosphere of the Oscar awards ceremony? Only time will tell. One thing for sure is that Big Data is becoming ever more sophisticated at predicting competition outcomes. Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing is an open question right now.
Monday 29 February 2016
Monday 15 February 2016
The promised land of fraud prevention
Israel has become a major investment hub within the technology industry. Within the last decade it has earned a stellar reputation internationally as a fertile breeding ground for hi-tech startups. Lately, Israel has also begun to excel within the fields of identity verification and fraud prevention. This is a hugely important area right now and Israel is at the forefront of cutting edge technology within the space. Companies like Forter and I Am Real excel at fraudulent user detection and identity assessment respectively. The IDF Unit 8200 develops systems for gathering intelligence, sifting through data to detect dangers and escalating serious threats for manual review.
What differentiates Israel from most other countries at the cutting edge of technology is the fact that Israel has faced an existential threat since its very inception in 1948. Surviving against hostile neighbours has necessitated implementing a world class military intelligence within Israel. Mossad is arguably the most feared and hated intelligence service on this planet, and the IDF is undoubtedly the most highly trained army globally. What this has meant is that Israel has become exceptionally good at espionage and intelligence gathering. In the day and age of Big Data, this is highly advantageous. While the rest of the world is only now awakening to the power of reliable data and high-level security, Israel has been aware of this for decades. In essence, Israel has had a headstart in relation to devising cutting edge security technology. Israel's very existence has always been reliant upon having reliable security systems in place.
As the world gears up to embrace the age of Big Data and the Internet of Things, opportunities for deception and manipulation will abound within technology. Identity verification and fraud prevention will become enormously important to organisations the world over. Israel demonstrates superb prescience by investing heavily within these areas. With decades of experience in tackling the most brutal terrorist organisations known to mankind, Israel has invaluable knowledge and expertise in regard to security. One can expect to witness very exciting developments emerge within this field from Israel in the coming years.
What differentiates Israel from most other countries at the cutting edge of technology is the fact that Israel has faced an existential threat since its very inception in 1948. Surviving against hostile neighbours has necessitated implementing a world class military intelligence within Israel. Mossad is arguably the most feared and hated intelligence service on this planet, and the IDF is undoubtedly the most highly trained army globally. What this has meant is that Israel has become exceptionally good at espionage and intelligence gathering. In the day and age of Big Data, this is highly advantageous. While the rest of the world is only now awakening to the power of reliable data and high-level security, Israel has been aware of this for decades. In essence, Israel has had a headstart in relation to devising cutting edge security technology. Israel's very existence has always been reliant upon having reliable security systems in place.
As the world gears up to embrace the age of Big Data and the Internet of Things, opportunities for deception and manipulation will abound within technology. Identity verification and fraud prevention will become enormously important to organisations the world over. Israel demonstrates superb prescience by investing heavily within these areas. With decades of experience in tackling the most brutal terrorist organisations known to mankind, Israel has invaluable knowledge and expertise in regard to security. One can expect to witness very exciting developments emerge within this field from Israel in the coming years.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)