Spark Summit Preview, Tableau Comes To Android: Big Data Roundup

9 Secrets Of Data-Driven Companies

The Spark Summit starts Monday in San Francisco. A revamped Microsoft Ventures Division is targeting investments in big data. Tableau brings its mobile app to Android. Continuum Analytics teams with Intel. And we take a closer look at storytelling with data in our Big Data Roundup for the week ended June 5, 2016.

Let's start with the upcoming Spark Summit, June 6-8 at the Hilton Union Square in San Francisco. The event is devoted to the Spark data streaming and analytics technology for big data. Speakers include big data experts from some of the most forward-thinking technology companies around, including Netflix, Intel, Amazon, IBM, Microsoft, Google, Baidu, and Capital One. Apache Spark distribution company Databricks is the diamond sponsor of the event.

Expect news from IBM, Microsoft, and others to come out of this event, with many companies working to add to the Spark ecosystem, or at least connect with it in some way. The next version of Apache Spark, 2.0, is expected to arrive sometime this month. The technology was released in an early technical preview this spring.

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Microsoft Ventures

Meanwhile, Microsoft has an eye out for other new technologies which take advantage of future platforms, including big data. The software giant's newly revamped Microsoft Ventures organization will be looking to invest in early-stage startups. That's a switch from the larger deals that the company has pursued in past years. Much of the focus will be on small companies that can help with the transition to the cloud, but machine learning will also be a focus.

Tableau Comes To Android

Data visualization and business intelligence software platform Tableau has brought its technology to the Android operating system several months after releasing native mobile apps for Apple's iPhone and iPad. Tableau Mobile is now available for Android phones.

"Our customers are out in the world making decisions, and they need their data where they are," said Dave Story, VP of product development at Tableau, in a prepared statement. Features of the new app include searching and browsing of visualizations and dashboards, interactivity with data to understand relationships, and secure connectivity to Tableau Online or Tableau Server.

Continuum Analytics And Intel

Continuum Analytics, the creator and driving force behind open source data science platform Anaconda, has welcomed Intel to its platform ecosystem. Intel has adopted the Anaconda packaging and distribution, and is working with Continuum to provide interoperability. Organizations can combine the Intel Math Kernel Library and Anaconda's Python-based data science to build high-performance analytic modeling and visualization applications.

Data Storytelling And Data Visualization

Want to know more about data storytelling? The practice involves creating a narrative made up of data and visualizations for a specific audience. Data storyteling provides more than advice, it provides context -- the how and the why -- behind a recommended action. And if you are beginning to investigate technologies for data visualization, check out our list here.

Save The Tigers

Finally this week, a project using data, sensors, IoT, satellite technology, and analytics have helped stem the decline of tigers in the wild. The number of tigers is increasing for the first time in decades, after analytics were applied to reveal insights such as the movement of poaching gangs -- key information that helps law enforcement end illegal poaching.