KDnuggets™ News 10:n22, Sep 22

Features

New Poll: Do you like Google Instant Search? - Sep 21, 2010.
this may be the largest deployment of predictive analytics - since Google tries to predict user full query based on the initial input. Do you like Google Instant predictions and the new interface?
Analytics/Data Mining US Job Trends - Sep 13, 2010.
Average US salary is $89,000 for Analytics OR "Data Mining" jobs, according to SimplyHired.com, a search engine for jobs. Demand for such jobs grew over 100% in 2010.
Kaggle competitions: Tourism Forecasting, Chess - Sep 21, 2010.
Tourism Forecasting Part 1 ended, Part 2 starting; Who competes; Halfway report on Chess/Elo ratings competition
e-LICO multi-omics prediction challenge - Sep 16, 2010.
2500 EU prize total; data is from patients with Obstructive Nephropathy (ON) which is the most frequent nephropathy observed among newborns and children.
Traffic Jams Issue Solved - Sep 16, 2010.
Over 500 researchers participated in IEEE ICDM TomTom Traffic Prediction for Intelligent GPS Navigation, producing accuracy improvement of up to 60% and an algorithm that can be used in GPS navigation devices in order to avoid traffic jams.
Poll results: no rush to geolocation services - Sep 14, 2010.
latest poll also shows that data miners are more likely to analyze geolocation data than to use it.
Most viewed items for Sep 12-18 - Sep 20, 2010.
Becoming a data scientist; Social media analytics - 2 new tools;
Top jobs: Data Scientist at ID Analytics, Inc., San Diego, CA; Analyst/Associate, Business Intelligence at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, New York, NY;
Most viewed items for Sep 5-11 - Sep 12, 2010.
Becoming a data scientist; Social media analytics new tools;
Top jobs: Analytical Modeling Staff Scientist at SAS, San Diego; Machine Learning Engineer at eBay, San Jose.

Courses (see also All Courses)

SAVE 20% SAS on Data Mining Training - Sep 21, 2010.
Don't miss your opportunity to experience the SAS Business Knowledge Series for less! Register for any of these November - December classes and SAVE 20%. Seats are limited
Predictive Analytics World Washington, DC or London, UK? - Sep 21, 2010.
Two choices in Oct./Nov. Two rich conference programs with very little content overlap featuring a wealth of speakers with front-line experience sharing their knowledge. See which one is best for you.
Statistics.com upcoming courses - Sep 17, 2010.
Statistics.com offers a wide range of online courses in statistics, analytics and data mining. Get 20% KDnuggets discount - see details.

Webcasts (see also All Webcasts)

Data Mining: Failure to Launch [ Sep 28 Free Webinar ] - Sep 21, 2010.
Attend this free webinar to learn how to get started with data mining and overcome both strategic and tactical limitations that cause data mining projects to fall short of their potential.

Software (see also All Software)

11Ants Model Builder Transforms Excel into Breakthrough Predictive Analytics Tool - Sep 21, 2010.
emulates the best practices of a data mining expert and does the complex work for users - effectively a data mining auto-pilot.
Bayesia News, September 2010 - Sep 20, 2010.
Major innovations in new release of BayesiaLab include: Knowledge Elicitation Environment; Causal Inference; Multi-Quadrants; Target Optimization Tree; BayesiaLab Analyst Edition. Download a free 30-day evaluation version of BayesiaLab 5.0.
Predixion Software Introduces Self-Service, Cloud-Based Predictive Analytics Solution - Sep 17, 2010.
Predixion Insight, the Company's Flagship Cloud Service, Integrates Seamlessly with Microsoft Excel, PowerPivot and SharePoint.
AutoUniv, for creating classification models and generating data sets - Sep 15, 2010.
freely available for the ML/DM community to develop and test algorithms which learn to classify.

Jobs (see also All Jobs)

Machine Learning Software Engineer at Chomp, San Francisco, CA - Sep 20, 2010.
Own design and development of the recommendation engine at Chomp; Staying aware of state of the art research, using that and the product goals to plan algorithmic improvements and producing production quality code that implements those improvements
Research Engineer (Topic Modeling) at Chomp, San Francisco, CA - Sep 20, 2010.
Chomp is building a social app discovery engine to help people find the apps they need and don't know they need now. We have been gaining significant traction on the iPhone platform since launching in January
Sr Marketing Database Analyst - Campaign Management at Oriental Trading Company, Ralston, NE - Sep 20, 2010.
recommend, develop, and execute customer segmentation and selection procedures utilizing Unica Affinium - Campaign Management tool or similar Campaign Management tool.
Data Scientist at ID Analytics, Inc., San Diego, CA - Sep 15, 2010.
responsible for designing and implementing processes and layouts for complex, large-scale data sets used for modeling, data mining, and production purposes.
Sr Mgr, Affiliate Marketing Analytics at eBay, San Jose, CA - Sep 11, 2010.
lead a team of practitioners with advanced degrees that will use business, problem solving, data mining, and analysis skills to develop key scalable analytic frameworks and to deploy models and algorithms for eBay's Affiliate Marketing teams.
Manager, Display Optimization Analytics at eBay, San Jose, CA - Sep 11, 2010.
use business, problem solving, data mining, and analysis skills to develop key scalable analytic frameworks and to deploy models and algorithms for eBay's Display/Graphical, Business Development, and User Targeting.

Meetings (see also All Meetings)

Call for Data Mining Case Studies for ICDM'10 panel - Sep 20, 2010.
Top-10 Data Mining Case Studies panel at ICDM'10 will present the top 10 data mining case studies submissions by ten of the top data miners in the field.
ACM Health Informatics Symposium, Arlington, VA, Nov 11-12 - Sep 17, 2010.
IHI 2010, the inaugural symposium on health informatics, will be an annual showcase for exciting and innovative research on techniques and technologies developed in universities, hospitals, research labs, and companies all over the world.
CompleNet 2010, Rio de Janeiro, Oct 13-15 - Sep 14, 2010.
This workshop brings together researchers and practitioners working on on areas related to complex networks, from biological systems to computer science, from economic to social systems.

Audio/Podcasts/Video

A Wealth Of (Visual) Information - Sep 14, 2010.
In the 3+ minutes of video, each asteroid discovery over the past 30 years emerges as a bright shock of color on a mostly black background, a map of the earth's circulation in our solar system.
Microsoft: Get Started with Data Mining [Video] - Sep 14, 2010.
Scott Golightly discusses the basics of data mining and show you how to get started with the Microsoft data mining wizard.
How does Netflix know what you like [Video] - Sep 12, 2010.
a nice high-level overview of Netflix recommendation algorithm from Meta Brown, a marketer who focuses on advanced analytics.
The Many Faces (And Sculptures) Of Edward Tufte - Sep 11, 2010.
Tufte is also an accomplished grand-scale sculptor, in addition to being a thought leader in information visualization and the author of "The Visual Display of Quantitative Information", and several other books. His gallery ET Modern has recently opened in New York.

Publications

New Yorker: The Face of Facebook - Sep 18, 2010.
a lengthy and interesting profile of Mark Zuckerberg ahead of the release of "Social Network" movie, based on the story of Zuckerberg founding Facebook.
James Taylor: First Look - Microsoft Analytics - Sep 16, 2010.
Microsoft is making a serious investment in SQL Server as well as into SharePoint and Excel, targeting business users, bright domain experts who know where to find data and how to massage them in Excel.
OKCupid: The REAL 'Stuff White People Like' - Sep 13, 2010.
How are whites, blacks, Asians, or whoever different from everybody else? What tastes, interests, and concepts define an ethnic group?
Interview with Peter Bruce: Taking a Chance on Statistics - Sep 13, 2010.
It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time - Winston Churchill once said it the British plan for WW II. How does it apply to statistics?
A new e-book on Community Detection and Mining in Social Media - Sep 13, 2010.
discuss graph-based community detection techniques and many important extensions that handle dynamic, heterogeneous networks in social media. Download available

News Briefs

Fighting Crime with Data - Sep 21, 2010.
new crime fighting software is used in many police deptartments. It examines many variables, like the time of day, the neighbourhoods where they happened, the weather, the day or the week, and even whether it's a full moon.
IBM Buys Open Pages, Adds Security to Business Analytics - Sep 21, 2010.
Open Pages, a MA-based company that develops risk and compliance software for business, will become part of IBM business analytics portfolio.
Web Analytics Salary Guide - Sep 20, 2010.
Salaries for web analytics professionals, broken down by title, experience and region.
Sensor Networks Top Social Networks for Big Data - Sep 20, 2010.
The Internet of Things-with sensors that monitor, for example, road use or airline flights-is poised to dwarf social media sites in its ability to generate data
MS in Business Analytics at U. Tennessee Knoxville - Sep 20, 2010.
Students learn data analysis and quantitative modeling skills to solve business problems and achieve better business performance. They also gain knowledge of core business topics, develop communication skills, and solve team-based, real-world business problems.
SAP rolls out real-time business analytics apps - Sep 17, 2010.
Packaged apps based on homegrown SAP technologies, and those from 2007 purchase of Business Objects
Viscovery boosts sales and profit - Sep 17, 2010.
Austrian-based data mining and predictive analytics company Viscovery reports a considerable growth in sales, profit and market share in 2009 and continues to demonstrate success in the international arena.
UrbanDigs mines real-estate data - Sep 16, 2010.
A new website lets you mine real-estate data in real time. We ran its first test drive.
TrueCar search campaign revenues grow 300 percent with SAS(r) Analytics - Sep 15, 2010.
TrueCar.com, the authority on new car prices, selected SAS Office Analytics for Midsized Business and SAS forecasting software to improve marketing campaigns, industry sales forecasts, and reports on pricing and trends.
Virginia Tech uses Data Mining to stop movie spoilers - Sep 14, 2010.
a data mining algorithm that uses linguistic cues to spot and flag spoilers before you read them, saving much frustration for those who enjoy being surprised.
Cops, collection agencies turn to data analytics - Sep 13, 2010.
State and local agencies use business intelligence software to fight crime, tax cheats
Wipro partners with Oracle to offer analytics solutions - Sep 10, 2010.
will offer a warranty management and analytics solution for industrial manufacturing, automotive and high-tech industries

CFP - Calls for Papers (see also All CFP)

O'Reilly Strata Conference on Big Data, due Sep 28
Deep Learning and Unsupervised Feature Learning, due Oct 15
Top-10 Data Mining Case Studies panel, due Oct 17
ICDM'10 Student travel awards applications, due Oct 23
Data Management and Analytics for Semi-Structured Business Processes, due Nov 1
Rough Sets, Fuzzy Sets, Data Mining and Granular Computing, due Dec 15
Pattern Recognition and Machine Intelligence, due Dec 15

Quote

We want to make Google the third half of your brain

Sergey Brin, talking about Google Instant Search