Mozilla's plan to prevent third-party cookies by default is on pause. The company this week decided to test blocking third-party cookies by requiring users to enable the feature -- rather than automatically opting them in.
"There are many conflicting claims about how this patch will affect the Internet," wrote Brendan Eich, co-founder of Mozilla.org and CTO and senior VP of engineering at Mozilla, in a post on his personal blog today.
"Why debate in theory what we can measure in practice? We are going to find out more and adjust course as needed. This is the essence of the release test cycle."
]]>Corporate influence on education is a touchy subject, but when it comes to data-science education, corporations and academics are commingling more and more.
Companies including General Motors, GlaxoSmithKline, Hearst, Verizon, Yahoo, Independence Blue Cross and IBM are fostering symbiotic bonds with colleges and universities: Companies provide problems and the research data to potentially solve them, not to mention sponsorship dollars. The schools, in turn, create a well-trained data workforce with real-world business experience.
GM recently collaborated with IBM at Michigan State University, part of the school's MBA in analytics. The project brought together MSU students, IBM execs and Nathan Bruin-Slot, program manager for the GM Customer-Assistance and Relationship-Services initiative. Mr. Bruin-Slot worked on a weekly basis with students to produce analytics for improving the automaker's customer-ownership experience.
]]>The hype around data ain't all it's cracked up to be, and believe it or not, that's something that can be heard often from people who work in data-related fields.
Stewart Pratt, director of data and analytics at SapientNitro is one. Steeped in philosophy and economics, Mr. Pratt has unique theories on the world and data's role in it, combining a dedication to humility with a practical recognition of what data can -- and cannot -- do.
"When I speak about the humility of the modern data scientist, I'm referring to receptivity to the limits and role of big data," he said. "Big data can help us identify correlations we may have otherwise missed, but it isn't well-suited for helping us to understand causality or meaning."
]]>Want 2,000 gross rating points worth of paper-towel-brand switchers? It just got a lot easier.
Buying based on consumers' purchases rather than their ages or genders will take a leap forward with this upfront season, as Nielsen Catalina Solutions rolls out a self-service system that lets buyers and sellers run instant analyses to understand how heavily the "Modern Family" audience is weighted with facial-tissue-brand switchers, or how reliably repeat airings of "Braveheart" deliver heavy buyers of Pop-Tarts.
Since 2010 NCS has done 1,400 such analyses with around 150 marketers, 50 agencies and 40 media companies. But the workload, expected to double this year, has outpaced what it can do on its own, said CEO Mike Nazzaro. So the joint venture of research firm Nielsen and supermarket-loyalty and data-analytics firm Catalina is launching a self-service version, AdVantics on Demand.
]]>The Federal Trade Commission continues its crackdown on the consumer data industry. The agency today announced it sent warning letters to ten data brokers suggesting they may be in violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The effort appears to be the result of an undercover data shopping operation.
The FTC "test-shopped" for data from the companies and determined that they may be in violation of the FCRA, according to the missives, dated last week.
The firms in the crosshairs are ConsumerBase, Brokers Data, US Data Corporation, Crimcheck.com, 4Nannies, U.S. Information Search, People Search Now, Case Breakers and USA People Search. The tenth company was not named by the FTC.
]]>Time Warner Cable, Hearst, HBO and Verizon are helping to fund the fledgling NYC Media Lab as part of a media-industry effort to encourage and benefit from research in the same way that tech companies already do.
NYC Media Lab, which fosters alliances between corporations and data and media researchers at the city's universities, is a collaboration among the New York City Economic Development Corp., Polytechnic Institute of New York University and Columbia University, modeled on existing media labs at MIT and Stanford. It opened its doors in 2010 with the help of a $250,000 commitment from the EDC, but in the past year has secured the four media companies' promises to provide $50,000 a year each for three years.
As paying charter members, the companies are afforded access to the findings of research work conducted on the behalf of other participants. "We're connecting our charter corporate members with students and faculty," said Roger Neal, executive direct at NYC Media Lab.
]]>Big Data has a TV show... or about as close to one as it's likely to get soon. National Geographic Channel's "The Numbers Game" is dissecting how people can user data to live healthier, happier and more successful lives.
National Geographic isn't quite getting into jargon like real-time modeling, Hadoop and predictive analysis. But it is making data accessible to basic cable audiences as "Numbers Game" host Jake Porway, a data scientist and self-proclaimed numbers nerd, provides insights like the number of times men should have sex every year in order to increase their chances of living by 50%.
The first two episodes of "The Numbers Game" averaged 800,000 total viewers and 423,000 viewers 25 to 54 years old, according to National Geographic, 47% more 25-to-54-year-olds than the network has recently averaged in prime-time. The series concludes its initial three-episode run on Monday but returns for a 12-episode second season early next year.
]]>The Weather Company has been touting its data-driven targeting capabilities to the ad world for some time now, but the emphasis was on its programming during its presentation to digital ad buyers on Monday.
Starting in July, the company plans to introduce short-form shows available for viewing on The Weather Channel, on its website and on mobile devices, including "Virus Hunters," a dramatic look at super viruses that could affect large groups of people, and "Alive," which will chronicle the harrowing tales of people who survive treacherous weather events.
It also plans web series "Brink," which focuses on crusaders who have helped save endangered species, and "Grid Breakers," which tracks intrepid explorers in extreme weather conditions.
]]>Venture capital dollars are pouring into a new class of startups that provide data services to small and mid-sized companies. Their goal, in a nutshell, is to automate tasks once assigned to a data scientist or teams of technologists, making big-data capabilities possible for smaller companies.
The space is nascent, but one analyst pegs investor funding in data-related companies in the hundreds of millions.
Israel-based SiSense set up shop in Redwood City, CA about a year ago and raised a $10 million Series B funding round earlier this month led by Battery Ventures, along with Opus Capital and Genesis Partners. "You don't need a PhD," the company says on its website, which touts its tools for "non-technical users to perform tasks that once required support from a team of database admins, engineers, and data scientists."
]]>The typical ad-industry data-science professional holds a masters or doctoral degree in computer engineering, statistics, and similar fields. But Andy Kahl is anything but typical. The director of data analysis at ad-privacy-services firm Evidon studied anthropology and religion, and got his start in targeted advertising by developing a campaign for a car dealer.
"It was hugely successful," said Mr. Kahl. "It was my first foray into targeted advertising."
The opportunity came about while he was working as a quasi-apprentice at a print shop, and decided to test his interest in computing and data analysis on behalf of an auto-dealer client. The idea was to send mailers featuring the latest models of cars previous customers had purchased.
]]>It's conventional wisdom that Democrats lucky enough to get the Obama campaign's data files are going to have a massive marketing advantage in upcoming elections.
And when Organizing for Action, President Barack Obama's data-savvy post-2012 campaign operation was established in January, it seemed to answer the question on every politico's mind: Where will the data go? But a direct transfer of the coveted Obama data from campaign to nonprofit is not so simple -- not by a long shot.
Exactly where the Obama 2012 data lives is complex, in some cases still undetermined, and mostly obscured. The receptacle for some of the information -- which included voter-file data, social-media data, ad interaction and measurement information, email data, polling data, volunteer-profile data and competitive intelligence on GOP contender Mitt Romney's media buys -- remains unsettled in part because Federal Election Commission rules on coordination and campaign financing prevent the old Obama for America campaign from porting everything lock-stock-and-barrel to the new OFA that spun out of it.
]]>Retailer strategies leveraging data can have a personal effect on buying habits sooner than you know it.
From the perspective of a modern retailer, data is pushing pricing and promotion strategies in two directions -- toward both national and personal pricing. Data insights, retailer infrastructure and consumer tools are developing quickly but unevenly. This gives innovative retailers an opportunity to shape the pricing and promotion practices of the future, all the while technologists are keen to develop new tools to disrupt those plans.
Yet, on the front end, consumers expect an omni-channel retail experience. In a recent survey by Empathica, more than half of smart phone users admit to using their mobile devices to do research product prices. When this research happens real-time in stores, it is commonly referred to as "Showrooming." And as such, these consumers are currently better informed than the retailers in many aspects.
]]>Political campaigns determine who runs government, but can campaign experience help navigate policy for health care, education and other big issues affecting society? Rayid Ghani, chief scientist for the most sophisticated, data-driven presidential campaign thus far -- President Barack Obama's re-election bid -- hopes so.
His latest initiative is happening in the president's adopted hometown of Chicago. The University of Chicago's Computation Institute and Harris School of Public Policy is accepting applicants for a summer fellowship program that Mr. Ghani is spearheading. The "Data Science for Social Good" program will allow 35 to 45 students, most of them graduate-level, to apply their knowledge of statistics, data-mining, machine learning, computer science and other data-related skill sets to society's pressing issues.
"My goal is to figure out how you help a lot of people by working on big data and analytics directed toward large social problems," said Mr. Ghani, naming public safety, health care and education among them. Program fellows will pair with mentors starting June 1 to kick off what Mr. Ghani hopes to eventually become a larger, yearlong program.
]]>Credit-card firms are selling their credit-card transaction data for digital advertising and other marketing efforts, but they're not exactly broadcasting the fact for fear of consumer backlash.
Mastercard Advisors launched its Information Services division around two-and-a-half years ago and in recent months has been approaching media-agency trading desks with an enticing offer: data representing 80 billion consumer purchases.
American Express has also turned its transaction data into a revenue stream through its Business Insights consulting division which has aimed direct mail and online offers to card holders on behalf of advertisers for years, though on an aggregate level. More recently, AmEx has modeled audience segments for use in online ad targeting. The company declined to name any partners in the endeavor, but stressed the AmEx data models don't allow for direct targeting of its card holders.
]]>Legendary Yankees closer Mariano Rivera may be known for sauntering to the mound to Metallica's foreboding "Enter Sandman," but it's the fans of the National League club to the south in Queens who dig metal bands. That's one of the tidbits gleaned by ad-intelligence outfit Exponential Interactive, which tracked 1.3 million baseball fans gearing up for the season last month online.
People who root for the New York Mets are also more likely to work in construction than fans of other teams, according to the Exponential data. It's a portrait not unlike the stereotype of the blue-collar Mets fan.
People who checked out Yankees-related content online also appear to fit some stereotypes associated with fans of the team with the highest payroll. They are more likely to earn $250,000 or more annually -- more than fans of any other Major League ball club. And, as superstar second baseman Robbie Cano signs with novice agent Jay Z -- whose hip-hop tune "Empire State of Mind" has become somewhat of a Yankees anthem -- it comes as no surprise they are more likely to appreciate rap music. They're also 24 times more likely to seek information on tax preparation, according to the tax- and spring-training-season study.
]]>Don't like ads on your phone? Two tech companies allied with the online ad industry are offering new ways to control them.
Evidon, one of two providers of the Ad Choices icon -- the tiny blue symbol shown in behaviorally-targeted display ads -- has just begun delivering the icon and the opt-out system behind it into mobile app ads served by the Jumptap and Tapad networks. More mobile app ad partners are lined up to do the same.
Meanwhile, Evidon's rival Truste has allowed people to opt-out of behavioral ad targeting in mobile apps since June 2012. It recently upgraded its system to work when in-app ads are purchased through real time bidding, so advertisers bidding on ad placements know before they make a bid that a user cannot be targeted using behavioral data. Mobile ad exchange Nexage and Tapad are initial partners.
]]>A data model helps illustrate the way groups of information within a data set relate to one another. Data models can represent all sorts of information, from customer call-center databases to apartment-rental data used by real estate agents. Multiple models can be applied to individual data sets in order to view the information in a variety of ways and ensure all relationships are represented.
Sam Wilcke, director of analytics at Marin Software, on data models
]]>When IFC was seeking ideas for quirky comedic programming, the network knew where to look: iTunes data. Netflix and Amazon are using innovative data analysis to shape TV and video programming, too. Yet despite TV networks' experimentation with new data sets, algorithms aren't about to replace the human touch any time soon.
"WTF With Marc Maron" and Scott Aukerman's "Comedy Bang! Bang!" got their starts as podcasts that gained followings on Apple's iTunes. For IFC, that not only reflected a potential built-in audience for a TV show, but one that reflected the subcultural sensibilities the indie-film channel and purveyor of "slightly off" humor hoped to attract. So, the network transformed the podcasts into TV shows.
"There's a particular tastemaker who we serve ... and I credit them with much of the podcast trend," said Jen Caserta, president of IFC. "It's not as simple as it used to be, solely basing decisions on studies," she said. "You can collect data all around you now."
]]>The Massachusetts Supreme Court has ruled in a case against craft supplies purveyor Michaels Stores, deciding that ZIP codes are personally-identifiable information.
It's become commonplace for bricks-and-mortar merchants to ask shoppers for their ZIP code when they pay with a credit card (and even sometimes when they use cash). The court decision, and others like it on the books in California and a handful of other states, have some privacy lawyers suggesting retailers change their ways when it comes to collecting ZIP codes.
The Massachusetts court last month ruled in the class action suit that collecting personal information when conducting a credit card transaction violates state privacy law. In this case, it wasn't about data security or fraud. Rather, plaintiff Melissa Tyler argued that when Michaels Stores matched her ZIP code collected by a cashier with other data to retrieve her mailing address and phone number to target marketing communications to her, it violated an existing law prohibiting entities from requiring personal information when paying with a credit card.
]]>Google again has received a wrist slap from European Union privacy leaders, though whether the latest moves are a real threat to the company remains to be seen. At issue is a sweeping change Google made to its product privacy policies in March 2012, collapsing sixty of those policies into one.
A task force under the Article 29 Working Party, a body which encompasses a data protection authority from each EU member state, has "launched actions" targeting Google for failing to make changes requested by the party in October.
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