There's a Big Data App for That

That’s right. You’ve heard the phrase “There’s an app for that” numerous times. Now, Big Data is becoming a key component in creating applications for consumers, like me and you, and businesses. From fitness apps that let you compare your fitness levels with others, to Datameer’s user friendly application for generating and organizing businesses’ data.

Are you a big traveler? Websites like Expedia, Orbitz, Priceline, and Hotwire used to do the trick. Skyscanner has taken the choice of flights and hotels to another level. While the websites work out deals with certain airlines, Skyscanner searches millions of flights and compares them for the user’s best deal.

For the bargain shopper, RetailMeNot is an up and coming application that collects massive amounts of coupon data. As the user, you can select your favorite stores or allow the app to provide you with deals that are within 5 miles of your location.


How are these application developers gaining access to all of this big data? Companies release their API (Application Programming Interface) to the public. The big boys, Facebook, Twitter, and Google, allow software makers to have access to their data and use it in their own applications.  APIs allow different applications to talk to each other by using a set of programming instructions and standards. In 2008, Facebook released Facebook Connect API. It is common to be asked for your Facebook username and password when you download an application on your phone or tablet.  This platform allows developers to link their customers to their Facebook data. When an application is downloaded, an option to sign in with Facebook may appear. This is how the application gathers information about the user’s friends, location, and other data.

Big data applications are also becoming available to small businesses. Due to the shortage of data analytics professionals, Hadoop big data analytics pioneer Datameer has created a user-friendly application to help businesses with their big data. Datameer was created by Hadoop, an open source software framework for storage and large-scale processing of data-sets.  A simple point, click, and drop allows the user to use analytics without having to be able to write code.  A trained analyst is also able to use the program.

Datameer 2.1 was launched in 2012. With plenty of upgrades, professional analysts can now create big data apps and provide them to other users in the Analytics Application Market. The goal of the Analytics Application Market is to save users time by not having to recreated and start fresh whenever they start a new analytic project. Customers of the market can now browse hundreds of apps and search for one to fill their needs. Types of apps in the market include Facebook Network App, LinkedIn Pro Network App, Earthquake Data Analysis, Sales Trajectory, Twitter Trending Topics, and Website Traffic.  There is a free version of Datameer 2.1 that allows the creation of apps. The creators of the apps are able to set the price at any number they would like. In order to actually charge for the app, you must purchase Datameer 2.1. A single user costs $299, a workgroup version of 50 users for $2,999, and an enterprise version for unlimited users is negotiable.

Sources:
http://www.datameer.com/product/index.html

http://www.informationweek.com/big-data/big-data-analytics/big-data-app-store-opens-for-business/d/d-id/1106966

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303369904579423383203100794?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702303369904579423383203100794.html

 

How Big Data will Change Sports for everyone

Most of the time when you hear about big data it has to do with corporations, but they are not the only ones benefitting from these vast volumes of data. Professional Sports are now starting to use big data, helping the coaches, players and fans change the game.

Adidas has developed a system called miCoach that can allow players to attach a wearable device to their jersey. By adding this wearable device, data will reveal to the coach who are the top performers, heart rate, speed and acceleration. This can help coaches give certain players rest time to recover by analyzing the data that is given to them by this system. Major League Soccer (MLS) partnered with Adidas for their 2013 season, calling it "The Worlds First Smart Soccer Game." This system is meant for coaches to make better decisions when it comes to choosing their players for games.

Big data can help sports teams with their fans preference and their
at-home experience. They can cater better to their fans when it comes
to game times and even bathroom wait times. The New England Patriots
have a mobile app that fans can use to give them feed back and give
 them a better game experience. This app as well allows fans to order
 concession food to their seats!

Other ways fans can keep up with their favorite players are now through websites that keep track of their statistics. These websites organize the data in a way an average person can understand it. For example, fans "can see how pitchers performance has changed in a certain game." An example of a website that can do this is BrooksBaseball.net .

Big data is a tool that can help athletes improve their skills, pushing them during practice and performing at a higher level during games. Athletes can use live on field data collection that tracks the speed of balls and the equipment, even the speed and distance of the player. A company doing this is MotionWorks Sport Solution, they do this by attaching RFID tags on the equipment and players. These tags can "25 times per second and deliver data in 120 milliseconds. SportUV is collecting more live on field data by having "six cameras in each NBA arena that collect data on the movements on every player and movements of the basketball 25x per second." These tools are very useful for athletes in improving their game and stepping up.

Big data can be used in many activities and not just corporations and it is very beneficial in many ways, big data is not all negative with privacy issues. Big data is the key to having successful elite athletic teams in the future. Since Big data is so critical for sports teams, it is crucial for the sports teams to invest plenty of money into big data in order to help their team to be successful. These sports teams will have plenty of knowledge to tackle their opponents and to challenge them. This is a sporting revolution and "there is no doubt That Big Data is big news for sports."


Sources: http://www.thesportsoffice.com/news-videos/big-data/
http://www.cio.com/article/749650/8_Ways_Big_Data_and_Analytics_Will_Change_Sports?page=2&taxonomyId=3006

Big Data..BIG deal? Big data from Social Media is gaining attention from the Federal Reserve

Big data is a big deal, especially in terms of research. The quality of the research, as well as the impact the knowledge gained from the collection of information has  once it's been analyzed is what gives big data such an importance. 

So where does the data come from? Everywhere. "Big data" is vast in terms of its locations and where it's gathered. Anywhere from the data base of Google's search engine, to businesses and corporations, social media, and even down to the storage of a personal cell phone. For a company or analysis to be able to discover the value of their collected data, it must first be extracted.

This is done by using multiple big data tools and techniques. These tools are also referred to as high-performance analytics; which is "a technology solution used by businesses who need to solve complex problems requiring analysis of big data at a detailed level". A few examples of these tools include data mining, advanced analytics, and data visualization. Based upon the type and volume of the data thus determines which tools are to be used. Then once the data has been extracted, the actual value of the information for the company or industry can be established.

So why does the Federal Reserve care about social media?

The Federal Reserve is wanting to monitor and regulate Facebook and Twitter in attempts to better understand and influence the public's opinion, and why wouldn't they? Social media such as Twitter and Facebook are direct links to gaining an insight on what the general population is doing, feeling, and what their current views are about anything and everything. Of course an argument would include that it's an "invasion of privacy," but on the other side Twitter and Facebook are public records and both are easily accessed.

The Federal Reserve isn't the first to implement this idea. Wallstreet and even political parties are using this technology to correlate events such as campaigns or drops in stock prices, and then comparing them to "tweets" or "news feeds" that have been posted in direct regards to them. This information is valuable for those in higher power to retrieve and analyze, because proper actions can be implemented to meet the desired majority of the population. By Twitter and Facebook being monitored and regulated, more of the population can voice their opinions and be heard.

Because our generation is so technologically advanced, nothing is a secret. Especially if something is being posted on social media sites. Once the posts have been submitted, it then belongs in the mass database which can then be analyzed rapidly and efficiently by the use of high-performance tools, which were mentioned prior. The accessibility of social media and the direct link to the publics opinions and moods make it almost impossible for social media not to be regulated.

The Federal Reserve is aware of the controversy, but they also see the growing importance of social media, and the capabilities that would be presented upon analytical research of the information. Which makes sense for why they propose to regulate Twitter and Facebook.


http://www.mobiledia.com/news/143891.html
http://www.mobiledia.com/news/110208.html
http://www.sas.com/offices/europe/uk/downloads/data-equity-cebr.pdf