Google invests in firm that tries to predict the future
IDG News Service - Google has invested in a startup company that claims to be able to predict the future.
The company's investment arm, Google Ventures, has sunk an undisclosed sum into Recorded Future, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based startup that "offers customers new ways to analyze the past, present and the predicted future," according to a new Google Ventures Web site that went live on Monday.
Recorded Future's own Web site doesn't list any products for sale, but the company appears to have developed a data analytics technology that could be used to try to predict future stock market events or even terrorist activity, according to blog posts and videos on its site. The technology looks at how frequently an entity or event is referred to in the news and around the Web over a period of time, then uses that data to project how it might behave in the future.
"At Recorded Future, we compute a momentum value for each entity and event in our database," one blog post explains. "The momentum value indicates how interesting a certain event or entity is at a particular time, and is continuously updated. In computing the momentum value, we take into account the volume of news around an entity or event, as well as what sources it is mentioned in, what other events and entities it is mentioned together with, and several other factors.
"The momentum measure is used to present the most relevant query results in our web user interface, but it can also be analyzed using statistical methods to predict possible future changes in momentum, which in turn can be valuable, e.g. for trading decisions."
The startup has claimed its customers include "some of the top government agencies and trading firms in the world," according to a February profile in The Boston Globe. For now it is not granting interviews, according to a story Monday at All Things Digital.
It's one of several companies to receive investments from Google Ventures, which just turned one year old. Google is expanding the investment arm and plans to put US$100 million into startups this year, it told reporters Monday.



- Excel 2010 Cheat Sheet
- Register for this Computerworld Insider Cheat Sheet and gain access to hundreds of premium content articles, guides, product reviews and more.
- Overcome Top 7 Admin Challenges of Active Directory
- As Active Directory's role in the enterprise has drastically increased, so has the need to secure the data. Gain insight on creating repeatable,...
- Insiders Can Ruin Your Company. Take Action.
- Did you know that 80 percent of threats to an organization come from the inside? The threat from insiders is often overlooked in...
- Smarter Commerce is redefining value chain visibility
- Smarter Commerce is redefining the value chain in the age of the customer. It starts with putting the customer at the center of...
- Identity Governance: The Business Imperatives
- This white paper describes the business challenges and opportunities that are driving interest in Identity Governance while discussing considerations your organization should make...
- The Executive Buyer's Guide to Project Portfolio Management
- The Innotas Executive Buyer's Guide provides you with a concise overview of Project Portfolio Management (PPM) and delivers important buying criteria to help... All Management and Careers White Papers
- Live Webcast
Integrated IT Operations Management in the Cloud - Join award-winning technology editor Stan Gibson and Andrew White, CMO at Numara Software, to learn how asset management and service management are converging...
- Integrated IT Operations Management in the Cloud
- Join award-winning technology editor Stan Gibson and Andrew White, CMO at Numara Software, to learn how asset management and service management are converging...
- Optimizing Networks for the Cloud
- Join guest speaker, Rohit Mehra, IDC Director of Enterprise Communications Infrastructure, to explore current trends, discuss best practices for optimizing Data Center and...
- Apps QuickStart Series Part 2: Designing and Deploying SQL Server on VMware vSphere
- Download this webcast to learn about the design considerations for virtualizing SQL workloads, performance and scalability information and high-availability options, as well as...
- Apps QuickStart Series Part 1: Designing and Deploying Exchange 2010 on VMware vSphere
- Download this webcast to learn the virtual hardware design considerations for Exchange 2010, deployment using the building block approach, options for high-availability and...
- Customer Spotlight: How IPC The Hospitalist Company Implemented Oracle on VMware
- Have you been looking to hear about customer's experiences with the new VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager product? View this webcast to learn... All Management and Careers Webcasts