Moviefone.com Data Scraping: April 2013

Saturday, 27 April 2013

Why Web Scraping Data Won't Help

Surveys and market research for any company or organization play an important role in strategic decision making. Data extraction and web scraping techniques are important tools that provide relevant data and information for your personal or business use? Many companies have to manually copy and paste data from web pages for workers.

This process is very reliable but very expensive, because the result of Wasted time and simple. This is because the data collected and spent less time and resources to collect such data compared. Today, various data mining companies and their websites effective web scraping technique that can crawl on specific crops has thousands of pages.

Information relating to a CSV file, database, XML file or other source with the required format is stored. After the data are collected and stored in bone. The data in the data mining process hidden patterns and trends that can be used to extract. Understanding of correlations and patterns in the data, so that Policies can be designed to assist in decision making. Information for future reference can also be stored.

The following are some common example of data extraction process: In order to scrap through a government portal, to citizens who get the name of a reliable survey.Competitive prices and product feature data scraping websites If you use the website or web design stock photography access downloads the videos and photos scraping Automatic Data Collection.It is important to note that, given the time frame web scraping process than a company website that allows data to monitor change.

Furthermore regularly Collects data on a regular basis. Automated data collection techniques are very important because they find the company’s customer trends and market trends To help. By determining trends in the market, will change customer behavior to understand and predict the likelihood of the data is possibleness.

The following are some of the examples of automated data collection:
Hourly monitoring of the particular value of the shares Collects mortgage rates on a daily basis from various financial institution sons a regular basis as necessary to check the weather By using web scraping services to this possibleness retrieve all data that is related to your business. Data to a spreadsheet or database can be downloaded for Analysis and comparison.

Required format in a database or an error in the interpretation of the data and correlations to understand and makes it easier to identify hidden patterns.
Scraping through the web is the possibleness to get fast and accurate results in terms of money and time gusted resources. Data extraction services, the Possibleness.

Webmasters changing their websites for more user-friendly and to have, in turn interrupts the delicate scraper data extraction logic.Block IP addresses: If you constantly keep your office scrape a website, your IP "guard" From day one blocked. Ajax, the client-side Web services, Web sites use more and better ways of sending data, etc. In this thesis increasingly difficult to call data from websites Deleted. Unless you are an expert in programming, you're not Butyogy data again.

Source: http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/why-web-scraping-data-wont-help

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Delta Ray is experienced web scraping consultant and writes articles on Flixster.com Data Scraping, Rottentomatoes.com Data Scraping, Fandango.com Data Scraping, Moviefone.com Data Scraping, Boxofficemojo.com Data Scraping and Comingsoon.net Data Scraping etc.

Actually, AOL Didn't Ask Us To 'Tone It Down' – Moviefone Did. And Their Editor-In-Chief Should Be Fired

“AOL Asks Us If We Can Tone It Down” screamed Alexia Tsotsis’ headline on TechCrunch earlier today. And, as someone who has been just waiting for our new corporate paymasters to pull a stupid stunt like this, I really thought Christmas had come early.

I knew it! All that talk of AOL respecting our editorial independence and now they’re emailing Alexia and asking her to tone down the snark? J’accuse Tim Armstrong! J’afuckingccuse.

But then I read the rest of the post and – you know what? – I kinda feel like we owe AOL an apology.

You see, here’s what actually happened. A couple of days ago, Alexia – an esteemed colleague, and friend – went to see some crappy movie, at the prompting of someone at TC-sister-site, Moviefone. (As a Brit, I don’t really know what Moviefone is, but I do know that’s not how you spell phone.)

After seeing the crappy movie, Alexia wrote a solid post, expressing a healthy dose of cynicism about the Facebook game that Summit Entertainment has created to hype it. And that’s where the fun started.

Apparently someone at Summit didn’t like the “snark” in Alexia’s post. They passed on their concerns to their Moviefone contact in the hope that, as an AOL sister site, Moviefone would be able to lean on Alexia to tone it down. Sure enough, someone at Moviefone emailed Alexia…

“First wanted to thank you for covering Source Code/attending the party, etc. But also wanted to raise a concern that Summit had about the piece that ran. They felt it was a little snarky and wondered if any of the snark can be toned down? I wasn’t able to view the video interviews but I think their issue is just with some of the text. Let me know if you’re able to take another look at it and make any edits. I know of course that TechCrunch has its own voice and editorial standards, so if you have good reasons not to change anything that’s fine, I just need to get back to Summit with some sort of information. Let me know.”

Unsurprisingly outraged, Alexia wrote a follow-up post, quoting from the email and insisting that she will never tone down her snark. Which is fine – after all, Alexia without her snark is like MG without his iPhone.

The only problem is, rather than calling out Moviefone in her headline, she called out the whole of AOL, apparently on the basis that “AOL owns Moviefone” and our promise that “if AOL ever asked us if we could change our coverage in any way… we’d immediately publish it.”

Hmmm.

The problem is Moviefone is no more a representative of AOL Corp than we are. As such, the headline could just as accurately have read “Moviefone asks AOL to tone it down”. An employee of Moviefone sending a dumb email to a TechCrunch writer is not the same as Tim Armstrong sending it, or Arianna Huffington sending it. Yes, it’s a damning indictment of the kind of dumbass hacks that are still inexplicably employed by some of AOL’s content divisions (and who Arianna Huffington has her work cut out to replace), but it’s not an indictment of AOL itself. To suggest otherwise is disingenuous at best, dangerous at worst.

No-one who still writes for AOL has been more critical of the company than me. I’ve attacked the Aol Way, and Armstrong’s obsession with SEO while squeezing every last dollar out of underpaid contributors. I’ve bitched about the company’s recent round of firings and I’ve stood on stage at TC Disrupt, ten minutes after we were acquired, and asked that “the owner of a silver Toyota blocking the exit please move it before AOL acquires it and drives it off a cliff”.

But if we’re going to attack an entire organization, particularly one that signs our paychecks, we need to be sure we’re on absolutely rock-solid ground. The truth is, for all of AOL’s many faults, they have never once asked us to adjust our content and they have certainly not told us to dial down the snark. They’re hugely dysfunctional but they’re not hugely stupid.

To suggest that a silly email by a staffer at Moviefone is the smoking gun we’ve all been waiting for smacks of boy-who-cried-wolfism, which will make it far harder for us to raise a stink if and when someone with a VP title or above at AOL HQ does ask us to “make a few changes”. Headlines like “AOL Asks Us If We Can Tone It Down” might be good for clickthroughs but they’re bad for just about everything else.

And there’s one other problem with the headline: in hanging an innocent man (or in this case an innocent corporation), we’re letting a guilty man (or in this case woman) walk free. A few hours ago Patricia Chui, the Editor-in-Chief of Moviefone, wrote a spirited defense of her publication’s actions:

“The reality of our situation is that, as a movies site, we work with movie studios every day, and it is in our best interests to stay on good terms with them. Staying on good terms with studios means that we will relay information if asked.”

I mean, seriously. An editor-in-chief wrote these words: “we work with movie studios every day, and it is in our best interests to stay on good terms with them”.

Actually, Patricia, you only have two loyalties: one is to your readers and one is to the company that signs your paychecks. That’s it. You do not – emphatically do not – have a responsibility to “stay on good terms” with movie studios. On the contrary, when a movie company asks you to try to strong-arm a colleague into dialing down her editorial voice, it’s in your best interests as a professional editor to tell them to go fuck themselves. The fact that you didn’t do that is bad enough, the fact that you’re so bad at your job that you still believe you acted correctly is unforgivable.

So, no, Alexia’s headline shouldn’t have read “AOL Asks Us If We Can Tone It Down”. That was unfair to AOL. What it should have said – and what would have been entirely fair to everyone involved – is “Moviefone’s Patricia Chui should resign in shame, and if she won’t resign then AOL should fire her immediately.”

And once they’ve done precisely that, Alexia should probably send Tim and Arianna some flowers to say sorry.

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/16/actually-aol-didnt-ask-us-to-tone-it-down-moviefone-did-and-their-editor-in-chief-should-be-fired-2/

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Friday, 26 April 2013

Web Data Extraction Services

Web Data Extraction from Dynamic Pages includes some of the services that may be acquired through outsourcing. It is possible to siphon information from proven websites through the use of Data Scrapping software. The information is applicable in many areas in business. It is possible to get such solutions as data collection, screen scrapping, email extractor and Web Data Mining services among others from companies providing websites such as Scrappingexpert.com.

Data mining is common as far as outsourcing business is concerned. Many companies are outsource data mining services and companies dealing with these services can earn a lot of money, especially in the growing business regarding outsourcing and general internet business. With web data extraction, you will pull data in a structured organized format. The source of the information will even be from an unstructured or semi-structured source.

In addition, it is possible to pull data which has originally been presented in a variety of formats including PDF, HTML, and test among others. The web data extraction service therefore, provides a diversity regarding the source of information. Large scale organizations have used data extraction services where they get large amounts of data on a daily basis. It is possible for you to get high accuracy of information in an efficient manner and it is also affordable.

Web data extraction services are important when it comes to collection of data and web-based information on the internet. Data collection services are very important as far as consumer research is concerned. Research is turning out to be a very vital thing among companies today. There is need for companies to adopt various strategies that will lead to fast means of data extraction, efficient extraction of data, as well as use of organized formats and flexibility.

In addition, people will prefer software that provides flexibility as far as application is concerned. In addition, there is software that can be customized according to the needs of customers, and these will play an important role in fulfilling diverse customer needs. Companies selling the particular software therefore, need to provide such features that provide excellent customer experience.

It is possible for companies to extract emails and other communications from certain sources as far as they are valid email messages. This will be done without incurring any duplicates. You will extract emails and messages from a variety of formats for the web pages, including HTML files, text files and other formats. It is possible to carry these services in a fast reliable and in an optimal output and hence, the software providing such capability is in high demand. It can help businesses and companies quickly search contacts for the people to be sent email messages.

It is also possible to use software to sort large amount of data and extract information, in an activity termed as data mining. This way, the company will realize reduced costs and saving of time and increasing return on investment. In this practice, the company will carry out Meta data extraction, scanning data, and others as well.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/4733722

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Exclusive: AOL Fires Moviefone Editor Who Offered Fired Freelancers the Chance to Work for, Um, Free

AOL’s Huffington Post Media Group got into hot water after the top editor at its Moviefone unit sent a memo to freelancers it was in the midst of firing, offering them an opportunity to “contribute as part of our non-paid blogger system.”

Today, that exec–Moviefone Editor-in-Chief Patricia Chui–was fired by the company, which is in the midst of drastically rejiggering its stable of writers.

Many of those were freelance bloggers under contract to AOL, who are now getting the boot in favor of reallocating staff back to largely paid journalists.

Thus came the controversial email from Chui, which read, in part:

“We will, indeed, be moving away from a freelancer model and toward one relying on full-time staffers. Sometime soon-–this week, I believe–-many of you will be receiving an email informing you that your services as a freelancer will no longer be required. You will be invited to contribute as part of our non-paid blogger system; and though I know that for many of you this will not be an option financially, I strongly encourage you to consider it if you/d like to keep writing for us, because we value all of your voices and input.”

Oh dear. Really, oh dear, especially since the Huffington Post has had its own share of controversies over not paying some bloggers (although it never quite ever offered up a doozie that this letter was).

Sources said Chui was terminated by John Montorio, the HuffPo Media Group’s culture, entertainment and lifestyle editor. Arianna Huffiington is head of all content at AOL, which recently paid $315 million to buy the Huffington Post.

Since she took over, Huffington has tried to stress a return to journalism over more algorithmic content creation. The unloading of its freelance writers was part of that effort.

Thus, Chui’s missteps did not help matters.

But it was not the first time recently that she had made an ill-advised editorial judgment.

Sources said the firing is also due to an incident several weeks ago, in which Chui appeared to defend a marketing employee who sent an email to TechCrunch writer Alexia Tsotsis, asking her to soften a review of “Source Code” due to studio relationship considerations.

AOL bought TechCrunch, a well-known tech news site, last fall. At the time, its CEO Tim Armstrong promised editorial independence and no meddling over advertising concerns.

Instead of taking this minion to task, on Moviefone’s own blog Chui said, in part:

“The reality of our situation is that, as a movies site, we work with movie studios every day, and it is in our best interests to stay on good terms with them. Staying on good terms with studios means that we will relay information if asked. It does not mean that we would ever force a writer or an editor to edit their work for the sake of a studio–or anyone else.”

Even with the last line, it is not exactly a profile in courage, because it was clear violation of the traditional separation of church and state in force at most media organizations.

Typically, editors are supposed to come down on any such communication. That has certainly been my experience in journalism over the years at the Washington Post and Dow Jones–including during its News Corp. ownership. In fact, I have often been shielded from such requests to pass such complaints onto me and only found out much later of advertiser discomfort about my reporting.

Source: http://allthingsd.com/20110406/exclusive-aol-fires-moviefone-editor-who-offered-fired-freelancers-the-chance-to-work-for-um-free/

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Wednesday, 24 April 2013

Is Privacy Dead?

While Microsoft and Google are in the latest salvo war over whose email system is truly private (calling Gmail "private" is perhaps an oxymoron), a much more significant issue is at the core: How important is our privacy? We are living in an era where Facebook's Graph Search gives strangers greater access than ever to our "private" data and Google arbitrarily steals our passwords and emails (during its Street View project). Did our forefathers misunderstand the demand for privacy as an inalienable right for law-abiding citizens in democracy? Is privacy dead? Do we care?

These are important questions, and are fundamental to the decisions we are making today about the future of privacy in the midst of the rampant technology invasion into our lives. There is an irony that while the world moves towards democracy, individual privacy is being eroded. Privacy began to disappear about 15 years ago when nobody was paying attention. It started with mass adoption of the Internet and the need to monetize "eyeballs" which became a key component of the "B-to-C" revenue model; there were no rules. Rather than interact with their customers directly, data scraping became a default mechanism of Internet companies.

I know because from 1998-2001 I founded and ran one of the very first social networking companies, SuperGroups.com, which included SuperFamily.com and SuperFriends.com, both PC Magazine "Top 100" sites in their day. The idea of data scraping was in its nascent stage then, along with the enticing prospect of the true 1:1 marketing opportunity it seemed to offer. Using tracking cookies along with aggressive data scraping had its real catapult about 10 years ago as being social on the Internet became even more public, sexy and fun. There were chat rooms, MySpace, blogs and then Facebook. You could discover everything about your friends, neighbors, and strangers by simply Googling them. We were broadcasting to the world. Who cared? It was addictive; a whole new world to explore.

So we all got excited. Consumers and companies alike -- as we published our lives online, the service providers grabbed the data and learned as much as they could about us. In that heady elixir we overlooked the natural component about how important privacy is even when we're social; and how much we do not like to be spied on. It's not an oxymoron to be private and to be social. It's a fundamental component with varying gradients in our communities and relationships. By definition "being social" happens even in a private 1:1 conversation. We're social yet private in our homes with our loved ones. We're social with our friends, but we're not broadcasting to the whole world. We're social at work and in restaurants. There is no camera in our living room (Samsung is about to change that -- the camera is now going to be built into the TV).

It was sexy and exciting to be broadcasting everywhere until we realized, "Look at this digital trail. I wouldn't really want my future (or current) spouse, kids, friends or employer to see that. It wasn't meant for them.... and I can't delete it... uh oh."

The final straw for me in this conversation was in 2010 when Eric Schmidt, Steve Jobs and Marc Zuckerberg declared that privacy was dead. I was infuriated. In that moment I committed to bring privacy back.

Privacy is coming back to where it fits in with individuals, societies and corporations. It had a little vacation. As Microsoft points out, not only have we posted things that we'd like to take back, but the companies we are posting them with are analyzing every word and phrase in our private emails and building a repository of data on us based on our every click, post and email. We are creeped out. Companies claiming to protect our privacy have been negligent. Google has been fined millions of dollars for violating its users' privacy and their own privacy policies. PATH, a purported privacy centric photo-sharing app, was just fined $800,000 by the FTC for violating their own privacy policies (for the second time) and the law. Instagram (Facebook-owned) recently attempted to change their privacy policy and claim ownership over the pictures in their members' accounts. The uproar was palpable and the company quickly reversed course, but trust was broken.

TRUSTe says 90 percent of us worry about online privacy, and just before Facebook's IPO fully 59 percent of its users did not trust it to protect their personal information. These numbers, high already, are likely increasing. Can the free market save us and give us choices that protect our privacy without the imposing hand of government regulation to protect us? Can a social media company be profitable without resorting to tracking cookies and data scraping? The answer is yes. Just as Whole Foods can sell food with high profit margins without resorting to high fructose corn syrup, so can an Internet company provide users with a service and revenue model designed in their highest interests, truly serving the needs and desires of customers. Today I have built Sgrouples.com, a site founded on "privacy by design," respecting our members, giving them an unprecedented Privacy Bill of Rights, and explicitly not tracking, scraping or selling their data. It's been called "Facebook and Dropbox with privacy."

Is that enough? In democracies, laws have always been in place to protect the privacy of law-abiding citizens. Our great country is founded upon the right for its citizens to enjoy their privacy. That has always distinguished us from regimes where privacy was trampled upon and it is why so many of our forebears left their homes to come to America. Coupled with capitalism, citizens of democracies prefer the power of consumer choice to the overbearingly strong-arm of regulation. Yet this insidious invasion of our privacy has been largely unregulated and often shrouded in deceptive practices. Companies must become transparent in defining not only exactly what they are doing with our information but also how they are spying on and tracking us. There is too much deception in the legalese of privacy policies and terms of services.

Law abiding citizens are entitled to the right of privacy regardless of how electronic this world gets. Governments in the USA, Canada, as well as the European Commission, are lining up and saying 'Wait a minute. Privacy is a fundamental right of the citizens of our nations and we must protect it.'

The bottom line is that as human beings we are naturally social, in discreet ways. In the allure of publicly posting details of our lives, we temporarily forgot that discretion is a natural component of the human social experience. In the midst of our memory lapses an industry also became hooked on the unsavory business of tracking our every move and post. Today we are remembering natural order and balance in the social milieu, and the privacy revolution is real.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-weinstein/internet-privacy_b_3140457.html

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