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Data Science Tidbits

Here are some interesting data science nuggets that I thought were interesting for a mid-January day… The first comes from TechMASH about data science being the next big thing.  The primary nugget of note is that the supply of employees with the needed skills as data scientists – those people who really understand how to

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Rise of the Algorithm

I ran across this article from the Independent today about the impacts of data algorithms, the ethics of data mining, and the future of our lives in an automated, data-crunching world.  Below is a quote from the article by Jaron Lanier, musician, computer scientist and author of the bestseller You Are Not a Gadget. Algorithms

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Nerd Pride Friday: ‘Wars’ Trumps ‘Trek’

It appears that Princess Leia and Captain Kirk are in a bit of interstellar combat, albeit 30+ years later.  And regardless of what Kirk has to say about it, I think that Star Wars rules!  So, the big question is, why are we even talking about this?… Well, back in September, William Shatner, who portrayed

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Forbes: Can Big Data Fix Healthcare?

This is the very question asked by Colin Hill, CEO and co-founder of GNS Healthcare, a healthcare analytics company.  Hill hopes to make the case that healthcare can benefit from what a recent McKinsey report calls “the next frontier for innovation, competition and productivity.”   I think Hill is onto something, especially with this insight: What will

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Fast Company: Interview with LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman

I ran across this interview by Fast Company with LinkedIn co-founder about his new book The Start-Up of You and the need for companies to have a data strategy, or risk losing “potentially a lot” in the future.  Here’s that brief bit from the Hoffman interview: What do companies miss out on if they don’t have a

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Banks Predicting Your Divorce?

Are banks predicting divorces?  Well, if there’s data to help them predict such things, they may very well use it to optimize their business. Forbes has a couple of posts that peek into businesses use of “big data”.  The first article talks about the race to build new analytics to solve challenges of large volumes

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The NYC Data Science Race

You know that data science is truly becoming a recognized scientific discipline when billions of university dollars will be spent on its future. I wrote previously about Columbia’s effort to expand its Manhattan campus to build a data science and engineering center.  However, Stanford and Cornell are also in the race.  Much of this comes from

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Movie Review: J. Edgar

J. Edgar entered theaters this weekend, and my wife and I had the opportunity to see it last night.  Unfortunately, the movie only put the exclamation point on a disappointing evening (it was raining, dinner at Macaroni Grill was an hour and fifteen minutes wait to get our meal after we ordered – well, you

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Dumbill Data Science Discussions

Edd Dumbill is the general manager for the Strata Conference, recently wrote a nice post on Google+ titled “Why Do We Need Data Science?” Here is a really good insight from Dumbill and how data science applies to business: Why is the scientific method applicable to business and data? Every company’s business is complex in

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Gartner Magic Quadrant Report on Big Data Integration Tools

Based upon their Magic Quadrant analysis of data integration tools, Gartner rates Informatica Corp. and IBM as the top software vendors in the space. Gartner uses a Magic Quadrant to rate companies as leaders, challengers, niche players and visionaries based on several criteria including “completeness of vision” and “ability to execute.”  From Gartner’s website: Leaders execute well

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