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According to Hitwise Facebook overtook Google in market-share although Alexa still ranks Google as the most visited website. Since Alexa’s data source tends to be more comprehensive/accurate Hitwise probably jumped the gun but might be right in upcoming months.
Google now lets users crunch public data with the data visualization tools it acquired when it bought Trendalyzer from the Gapminder Foundation (see my March 2006 entry ‘Qualitative Data Analysis‘). The ‘Public Data Explorer‘ is a new solution in Google Labs that lets users create interactive charts using data sets from the World Bank, the U.S. Census Bureau, California Department of Education and 13 other agencies. The GUI – in typical Google fashion – is rudimentary. And there does not seem to be too much data in there yet. Still I could have used that for my presentation on cultural differences last month.
Last night (02/11/2010) the German American Chamber of Commerce, the San Diego French American Chamber of Commerce, the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce, and the Danish-American Chamber of Commerce of Southern California joined together at the Westgate Hotel for the 1st European-American Business Mixer.
You can find a copy of my short presentation at yesterdays event – a subjective comparison of the US and Germany – here.
Will automated decision support tools replace the business analytics? Whereas removing the ‘human element’ always seems like a good idea (“it’s never the computers fault!”), there’s something to be said for adding a ‘creative’ momentum in form of the human mind to a decision. So called decision engines might be able to point out upcoming trends but creativity in implementing learnings from analytics should never be underestimated and will not be able to be replicated by an automated system.
Big Brother German?! With amazement I discovered that Germany – of all countries! – censors Google results. That makes it one of only two other nations – the other being China and France – to restrict access to search engine results. Under German law, hate speech and Holocaust denial are illegal. Violent or sex-related sites such as YouPorn and BME that the Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien deems harmful to youth are also censored. Google has complied with these laws by not including sites containing such material in its search results (Google does however list the number of excluded results at the bottom of the search result page).
