Category: Uncategorized
August 20th, 2009
Machine learning coupled with 'rich interaction' may make computers a partner, not a product
Researchers at Oregon State University are hoping to improve artificial intelligence with a project the uses “rich interaction” to teach machines when they make mistakes.
Their work would allow for ordinary users who spot a computer’s errors to be able to step in and explain directly to the machine the logic it should be using.
The scientists claim that the project is based on an idea that is one of the latest advances in machine learning and artificial intelligence– A computer that not only learns from its own experiences, but also listens to the user, tries to combine what it “hears” with its internal reasoning, and automatically updates its code in order to avoid making the same mistakes again.
The result is a computer that wants to “communicate with, learn from, and get to know you better as a person,” say the OSU scientists.
July 26th, 2009
Dead Finger Tech: Ducati Monster
Our editor recently asked ZDNet bloggers to write about the one computing device, peripheral, gadget, or software that we love or are so addicted to that it couldn’t be taken away from us unless pried from our dead fingers (Dead-Finger Tech, or DFT).
Pit stop during a Doc Wong Riding Clinic with two red Monsters in the background
Following Jason Perlow’s low tech lead, for this DFT series I passed on all the devices and apps around me, and instead picked my motorcycle, a red Ducati Monster 750 which I’ve had for the last five happy years. For the uninitiated, a Monster is a “naked” street bike, meaning that it has a minimalist design with an exposed engine and trellis frame.
When it was launched in 1993, it was unlike any other type of motorcycle, be it sporting, touring or cruising. It instantly became a hit and is now the Italian manufacturer’s most successful lineup. It has reached iconic status and can be seen and heard all over the streets of San Francisco.
2009 Monsters sport an updated design with 10 color options
The current lineup includes a 696 model for about $9K, a 1100 model for $12K, and a 1100s for $14K. Click here for a brochure download with specs.
There are countless Monster clubs all over the world and online communities like the “Monsteristi” Facebook page. To draw a comparison to consumer tech, the fanaticism and passion among Ducati owners is like that of Mac geeks.
On sunny days, when I ride the twisting scenic roads of the San Francisco Bay Area, alone or with a crew, the sense of freedom and unparalleled man-machine connection locks me into a visceral bliss that only Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi can explain.
June 27th, 2009
Robo-furniture eats household pests
Robotic furniture that eat vermin, like mice and flies, are a part of a design project at the Royal College of Art, London.
Designer James Auger is exploring a new breed of domestic robots that he says can sit comfortably at an intersection of products and pets. While some may balk at the morbid aspect of his creations, his aim is to “define various robot ‘raison d’etre’; the roles, behaviours, interactions and forms that might enhance their chances of securing a place in the human home.”
New Scientist reports that Auger built five domestic robots with the help of long time collaborator and fellow designer Jimmy Loizeau. “Each can sense its environment, has mechanical moving parts, and can perform basic services for its human hosts, such as telling the time or lighting a room.” You can see all the carniverous robots in a photo gallery.
Robotic Lampshade from Carnivorous Domestic Entertainment Robot Series (Credit: James Auger)
The robots gain energy by luring in pests that are digested by an internal microbial fuel cell. According to New Scientist this exploits the way microbes generate free electrons and hydrogen ions when oxidizing chemicals for energy. Electronics can be powered by directing the electrons around an external circuit before reuniting them with the ions. Read the rest of this entry »
June 21st, 2009
Futurist pinpoints world's top ten long-term challenges
With the growth of unpredictability comes forecasts that are harder to believe. But good leaders plan for a wide range of scenarios that are based on trends we see today.
In his recent commencement address to the 2009 graduating class at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Tory, NY, Peter Schwartz outlined ten top world challenges that the graduates should consider to make an impact. Schwartz is a business strategist, futurist, and author of The Art of the Long View.
Peter Schwartz is an internationally renowned futurist, business strategist, author, and co-founder and chairman of Global Business Network
He said that today’s number-one challenge—and opportunity—is to develop a long-term solution for our energy needs.
“That means it must be nonpolluting and inexhaustible,” he said. He believes the world of 2050 will be one of clean and sustainable energy production, transportation, and manufacturing. But to achieve a peaceful and prosperous world will require “monumental innovation, collaboration, and leadership.”
April 22nd, 2009
Distance Lab seeking couples to test drive 'intimacy' device
Cheap air travel and the Web undermine the impact of distance, but geographically separated couples could use a better alternative than technologies like text, email, and video chat when physical intimacy is not an option.
Enter Mutsugoto, a device designed to communicate intimacy by allowing for couples, who are separated by distance, to draw in light on each other’s bodies or beds.
April 3rd, 2009
How to make Government 2.0 a reality
Today was the final day of the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco. This morning’s mixed bag of keynotes included a fireside talk with the founders of Threadless.com and a great demo of chartbeat, a new real-time website monitoring tool.
After the keynotes, I decided to let fate decide what I’d actually cover in this future-oriented blog and followed Tim O’Reilly-the founder of the media company co-producing the event-into one of several track sessions. I took my seat as Andrew McLaughlin, the Director of Global Public Policy for Google, was about to give his talk on how to make Government 2.0 a reality:
“So here you have a Bay Area nerd who goes to Washington D.C. and encounters some tenacious obstacles and learns some hard lessons, but comes back with a renewed sense of hope,” said McLaughlin, who in addition to working at Google is a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School.
March 30th, 2009
Med student diagnoses cultural objects with radiology art
Art critics can debate the artistic merits of this project, but its novelty can’t be disputed. Below are images of a few everyday objects x-ray’d with an old four-slice CT scanner by Satre Stuelke, a 44-year-old medical student living in New York who also holds an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
March 11th, 2009
Rethinking explosives to power tools, implode tumors, and clear arteries
For most, explosive detonations illicit visions of building demolition and Mythbusters-style car bombs. But in a keynote at ETech today, Dr. Christa Hockensmith from the Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center (EMRTC), explained new creative applications that are, both, in research and “untried, untested, unrealized.”
“I’m not going to explode anything,” she told an amused audience of elite technologists.
She first simply defined what an explosion is: A chemical reaction of explosive materials that releases enormous amounts of energy.
The research center is affiliated with New Mexico Tech and specializes in the research, development, and analysis of energetic materials for both corporate and government clients. In other words, they love to blow stuff up as the picture on the left illustrates.
March 5th, 2009
"Napping" data centers could cut energy use by 75%
Researchers at the University of Michigan have announced a plan to save up to 75 percent of the energy that power-hungry computer data centers consume by putting idle servers to sleep when they’re not in use.
Thomas Wenisch, assistant professor in the department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and his team analyzed data center workloads and power consumption and used mathematical modeling to develop their approach. It will include PowerNap, an energy conservation method that eliminates almost all the power used by idle servers, and RAILS, a more efficient power supplying technique. (RAILS stands for Redundant Array for Inexpensive Load Sharing.)
Data centers waste most of the energy they draw because of strict service-level agreements that require the facilities to be ready for peak processing demands that are much higher than the average demand. Idle energy waste, coupled with the loss of power in delivery and cooling infrastructure,increase power consumption by 50-100%, according to the researchers.
“For the typical industrial data center, the average utilization is 20 to 30 percent. The computers are spending about four-fifths of their time doing nothing,” Wenisch said in an article published by the University of Michigan. “And the way we build these computers today, they’re still using 60 percent of peak power even when they’re doing nothing.”
In a podcast, Wenisch drives the point home further by stating that the entire carbon footprint of the world’s data centers is about as large as the Czech Republic.
February 26th, 2009
Microsoft's augmented reality check
At TechFest, Microsoft’s annual research event, the company demoed (here is a video) its “Core Tools for Augmented Reality (AR),” software that superimposes data and graphics onto a display with real time footage, essentially linking the information world and the physical world.
At the show, the researchers demonstrated the software with a treasure hunt that let attendees search for a hidden prize (a virtual pot of gold) by following a trail of clues with a webcam. The researchers said that the technology can be used for more practical uses, such as allowing engineers to use AR in smart phones to help “see” the pipes or electrical cables below a street, Technology Review notes.
Christopher Jablonski is a freelance technology writer. Previously, he was the manager of marketing editorial at CBS Interactive, delivering client solutions on BNET, ZDNet, and TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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