VentureBeat

Starlight Analytics tackles challenge of massive amounts of data

There’s been a lot of buzz lately about new ways for consumers to analyze unstructured data, including Wolfram Alpha and Google Squared. But when it comes to serving businesses, several companies are quietly building software to help government and Fortune 50 organizations make sense of massive amounts of data.

A three-year-old startup called Future Point Systems claims to provide the next generation of visual “analytics software.” (Think Google Analytics meets Star Trek.)

Like any other analytics program,… Continue Reading

Palantir keeps it lean and mean on five-year journey from zero to 150 employees

[Editor's note: In January, author Jeff Widman discovered a blog called "Startup Lessons Learned" by Eric Ries, advocating the idea of a "lean startup" as a "learning organization." Inspired by the topic, he also audited a class on customer development given by entrepreneur Steve Blank. Below, is the first of several profiles by Widman on companies that are actually implementing the lean model.]

Palantir Technologies is relatively unknown in Silicon Valley — it keeps a low… Continue Reading

The changing face of usability testing: Optimal Workshop releases free service called Treejack

With the downturn in the economy, companies are trying to do more with less. Some are outsourcing jobs, others are laying off contractors, and still others are firing all their consultants. Usability testing is no exception–especially since consultants usually charge between $5,000 and $20,000 per project.

A New Zealand company called Optimal Workshop is trying to disrupt the usability space by offering free software that replaces consultants. Instead of hiring someone, you can use Optimal’s web-based… Continue Reading