We’re at IBM’s HQ in upstate NY, where IBM will pit its monstrous Watson project (in the middle buzzer spot) against two Jeopardy greats, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. Watson has been in development for four years, and this is its first big public practice match before it goes on national TV in February for three matches against these giants of trivia. Unlike IBM’s Deep Blue chess project in the 90s, which was pretty much pure math, Watson has to deal with the natural language and punny nature of real Jeopardy questions. IBM, ever the salesman, has thrown gobs of its fancy server hardware at the project, with 10 racks full of IBM Power 750 servers, stuffed with 15 terabytes of RAM and 2,880 processor operating at a collective 80 teraflops. IBM says it would take one CPU over two hours to answer a typical question, so this massive parallel processing is naturally key — hopefully fast enough to buzz in before Ken and Brad catch on to the human-oriented questioning. We’ll update this post as the match begins, and we’ll have some video for you later in the day. Continue reading IBM demonstrates Watson supercomputer in Jeopardy practice match IBM demonstrates Watson supercomputer in Jeopardy practice match originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Jan 2011 11:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Worst Nightmare Realized of the Day: Meanwhile, on the 4 Train, a napping patron experiences the rudest awakening possible. [ nyctheblog .] Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : The Daily What Discovery Date : 13/01/2011 15:49 Number of articles : 8
Continue reading …NZXT Bunker keeps your USB peripherals secure, even at dodgy LAN parties
January 13, 2011 No Comment
So, here’s the situation: you roll into a LAN party in a less-than-ideal section of town. The lights are dim, the bouncer looks suspect, and Mike Tyson’s tiger is situated there in the rear of the room. Even the Ethernet cables are grimy. Everyone’s got their eyes on you and your new Alienware, and that stash of Razer peripherals just feels ripe for the taking. You aren’t about to make a beeline back to your Daewoo, so you wrap each and every USB cable around your right arm just to make sure you go home with everything you came with. Sadly enough, that’s not exactly an awesome way to trample your nearby enemies, but it seems that NZXT has a delightful solution. The company’s new Bunker USB Locking Drive is designed to fit within a spare 5.25-inch slot in whatever tower you own, offering a foursome of USB 2.0 sockets and a potent, daunting locking mechanism. The idea here is that your webcam, mouse, keyboard and USB headset can be plugged in, and you can keep your mind at ease that nothing is going anywhere when you waltz over to the restroom. Unfortunately, critics over at Overclocks Online noticed that the shallow depth prevented all but the smallest of flash drives from fitting in, further proving that this thing is designed specifically for use with PC peripherals. Hit the links below to learn more, and get ready to shell out $24.99 come March if it’s something you’re into. Continue reading NZXT Bunker keeps your USB peripherals secure, even at dodgy LAN parties NZXT Bunker keeps your USB peripherals secure, even at dodgy LAN parties originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Jan 2011 09:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …FEEL-GOOD VIDEO OF THE DAY: Watch What Happens When This Girl’s Mic Goes Out
January 13, 2011 No Comment
Elizabeth Hughes’ rendition of the national anthem at a Norfolk Admirals game was doing just fine… until her microphone went out. The crowd, however, picked up right where her dead microphone left off and sang the rest of the anthem in unison. Watch the video below and try not to be tempted to chant “U-S-A! U-S-A!” when you’re done: Join the conversation about this story » Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : The Business Insider Discovery Date : 13/01/2011 14:29 Number of articles : 8
Continue reading …Canada Bans 1985 Dire Straits Song ‘Money for Nothing’ from Airplay Over ‘Faggot’ Lyric
January 13, 2011 No Comment
The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council yesterday banned Dire Straits’ 1985 track “Money for Nothing” from Canadian airplay over its use of the word “faggot”. Those of you old enough to be familiar with the track’s release in the mid-80′s may… Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : Towleroad Discovery Date : 13/01/2011 14:11 Number of articles : 8
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Case Study of the Day: To showcase their strengths as a “creative collaboration,” ad agency john st. decided to tackle a market most often ignored by other “mad houses”: Children’s birthday parties. [ relishashley .] Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : The Daily What Discovery Date : 13/01/2011 13:25 Number of articles : 7
Continue reading …DARPA’s MSEE to develop new mathematical language, race of sentient machines
January 13, 2011 No Comment
The hyper-ambitious folks at DARPA are totally over the current state of military data collection, and they’re pretty sure they know how to fix it: teach sensors how to think. Well, they’ve got an idea how to fix it, but they’ve put out a call for mathematician to do the dirty work. The Mathematics of Sensing, Exploitation, and Execution (MSEE) program seeks a unified mathematical language that cane teach sensors not only to collect data, but to interpret, and act on it too. The aim is to eliminate the “data deluge” that comes from ever-increasing streams of information, like cellphone intercepts and video drone feeds, allowing analysts to focus on the important stuff. Currently the onus falls on humans to interpret the overwhelming amount of information collected by military sensors, but DARPA is confident that the right algorithm could have machines interpreting the world as early as 2014. Which gives you right around three years to fulfill every fantasy you’ve ever had. DARPA’s MSEE to develop new mathematical language, race of sentient machines originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Jan 2011 06:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Film Review: To Buy, To Throw Away, To Buy; the Secret History of Planned Obsolescence
January 13, 2011 No Comment
Last month, Catalan TV3 just aired a new documentary called ” comprar, llençar, comprar” , meaning “to buy, to throw away, to buy” in Catalan, right on time for the christmas shopping and the winter sales which started this week. You can now watch the documentary in Spanish on RTVE (Spanish national TV). It tells the secret history of plann… Read the full story on TreeHugger
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The president’s talents as a communicator were in desperate need in Arizona, where he spoke Wednesday at the memorial for the victims of the shooting in Tucson. (full remarks and video after the jump) Related Entries January 12, 2011 How Violent Talk Blocks Sane Gun Laws January 12, 2011 Perps in the White House
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By Mr. Fish Related Entries January 12, 2011 How Violent Talk Blocks Sane Gun Laws January 12, 2011 Perps in the White House
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