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At UPS, the Algorithm Is the Driver

wsj.com

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Re: At UPS, the Algorithm Is the Driver

#12

Post by DeeCeeLXVI »

monokrome wrote: post #7
kf5jak wrote: post #6

http://tinyurl.com/ooz5hux This will get around the paywall. It's a short link of the Google search result link. Makes the site think it's coming from Google and not a link.

Doesn't work :(

Clear cookies or use private/incognito window.

Re: At UPS, the Algorithm Is the Driver

#13

Post by archgoon »

markovbling wrote: post #11
kf5jak wrote: post #6

http://tinyurl.com/ooz5hux This will get around the paywall. It's a short link of the Google search result link. Makes the site think it's coming from Google and not a link.

how did you generate the google link?

Why, you didn't actually think that the links that Google displayed were actually _links_ to the websites did you? ;)

For a variety of reasons, the links that Google displays when you perform a search first redirect you to their servers, and then they redirect you to the site.

For example, here's the link for "sluggy.com" obtained from the search "sluggy"

    https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCAQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sluggy.com%2F&ei=7PziVMTAL8rroAS3xoGYBg&usg=AFQjCNFqb4P18q_i2jlYMUeBe1vo-1j_Hw&sig2=g4mQfqQ6NB1twrtQ5Vq7Ng
As you can see, the original url is in that, along with some metadata. 'usg' seems to be consistent across searches, so it probably ties back to me, or at least my browser's USeraGent. 'ei' is inconsistent across searches, so it's probably a per search token, which will presumably allow google to track the spread of this link, and prevent abuse. sig2 is likely the signature of the whole thing (and thus also changes from search to search).

* Disclaimer: I do not work for Google, and knowledgeable engineers there are probably laughing at the poor dweeb on the internet who thinks he knows more about their infrastructure than they do. ;)

Re: At UPS, the Algorithm Is the Driver

#14

Post by minthd »

mgraczyk wrote: post #3

Surprisingly similar to this 2013 Wired article. http://www.wired.com/2013/06/ups-astronomical-math/ What's especially surprising/suspicious is that apparently the number of USPS drivers hasn't changed in 18 months...

Amazon has started shifting some demand to it's sorting centers and from there to the USPS - to individual post offices. Maybe this explains the fixed number of UPS drivers.

The nice thing in this for Amazon , is that this really shortens the delivery distance they need from their external supplier(which means faster, cheaper shipping) but they also have more control on their shipping network, especially around Christmas , when resources are tight and it can cause lots of problems, which means better trust with the consumer over other companies.

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