Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror

Comment Re:So, basically (Score 1) 307

by Roc1 (#26376587) Attached to: A Look Back At Kurzweil's Predictions For 2009

Would having a conversation with a computer that was capable of understanding conversational english be awesome? I imagine it would be. But what would we talk about? What would I do with such a computer that I couldn't do with my current PC?

You are thinking too narrowly about "computers". I agree that talking to your desktop is largely inefficient compared to using a keyboard and mouse but natural language processing in robotics is another story.

The idea is that we may have hundreds of computers within our immediate environment all around us most of the time. See Intel's work on Claytronics http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~claytronics/ and MIT's work in robotics http://robotic.media.mit.edu/projects/projects.html. These technologies will be miniaturized and have some degree of natural language processing. Since you are not necessarily siting down at a desk with a keyboard and mouse, one of the most convenient ways of communicating with them will be through speech, gestures and eventually thoughts. Emotive and others are already making good progress in the thoughts category. http://emotiv.com/

Yeah, that'd be awesome. but that's nowhere near being on the horizon yet, and I don't know that we'll ever get there, because where's the demand for the intermediary steps that would lead us there, and what would those intermediary steps even be??

There is indeed a great demand for first generation, speech enabled robots and embedded computers. Think of the money that can be made for a robot that cleans using even a very limited amount of AI. Add in some speech recognition and I bet someone from http://store.irobot.com/shop/index.jsp?categoryId=2804605 would be very interested in talking with you.
Biotech

Frozen Mice Cloned 272

Posted by CmdrTaco from the science-fiction-will-be-real-in-our-lifetime dept.
m0rphin3 writes "Japanese scientists have cloned mice whose bodies were frozen for as long as 16 years and said on Monday it may be possible to use the technique to resurrect mammoths and other extinct species. Could we finally see Jurassic Park become a reality, or perhaps use this for colonizing other galaxies?"
Earth

World's Largest Flower Blooming In Streaming HD 61

Posted by timothy from the fortune-is-in-the-nose-of-the-beholder dept.
npongratz writes "Standing at six feet tall and growing an inch per hour, a corpse flower is set to bloom at the Milwaukee Public Museum. You can keep tabs on this once-in-six-years event in streaming 1080p HD (using VLC), or a lower-bandwidth image feed. A live feed from the smelloscope is unfortunately a few centuries away from being invented."
Science

New Type of Particle May Have Been Found 281

Posted by kdawson from the outside-the-pipe dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The LHC is out of commission, but the Tevatron collider at Fermilab is still chugging along, and may have just discovered a new type of particle that would signal new physics. New Scientist reports that the Tevatron's CDF detector has found muons that seem to have been created outside of the beam pipe that confines the protons and anti-protons being smashed together. The standard model can't explain the muons, and some speculate that 'an unknown particle with a lifetime of about 20 picoseconds was produced in the collision, traveled about 1 centimeter, through the side of the beam pipe, and then decayed into muons.' The hypothetical particle even seems to have the right mass to account for one theory of dark matter."
Power

Microsoft, Google Battle Over Energy Efficiency 164

Posted by kdawson from the anything-you-can-light-i-can-light-cheaper dept.
1sockchuck writes "Microsoft and Google have opened a new front in their battle for global domination: data center energy efficiency. Just weeks after Google published data on the extreme efficiency of its previously secret data centers, Microsoft says it has achieved similar results with shipping containers (despite Google's patent) packed with up to 2,500 servers. The geeky benchmark for the battle is Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE), a green data-center metric advanced by The Green Grid. Microsoft says its containers tested at a PUE of 1.22, while Google reported an average PUE of 1.21 for its data centers, which apparently are also now using containers."
Medicine

Computer Detection Effective In Spotting Cancer 89

Posted by kdawson from the mechanical-helper dept.
Anti-Globalism notes a large study out of the UK indicating that computer-aided detection can be as effective at spotting breast cancer as two experts reading the x-rays. Mammograms in Britain are routinely checked by two radiologists or technicians, which is thought to be better than a single review (in the US only a single radiologist reads each mammogram). In a randomized study of 31,000 women, researchers found that a single expert aided by a computer does as well as two pairs of eyes. CAD spotted nearly the same number of cancers, 198 out of 227, compared to 199 for the two readers. "In places like the United States, 'Where single reading is standard practice, computer-aided detection has the potential to improve cancer-detection rates to the level achieved by double reading,' the researchers said."
Space

Do We Live In a Giant Cosmic Bubble? 344

Posted by CmdrTaco from the i-live-in-my-own-universe dept.
Khemisty writes "Earth may be trapped in an abnormal bubble of space-time that is particularly void of matter. Scientists say this condition could account for the apparent acceleration of the universe's expansion, for which dark energy currently is the leading explanation. Until now, there has been no good way to choose between dark energy or the void explanation, but a new study outlines a potential test of the bubble scenario. If we were in an unusually sparse area of the universe, then things could look farther away than they really are and there would be no need to rely on dark energy as an explanation for certain astronomical observations. 'If we lived in a very large under-density, then the space-time itself wouldn't be accelerating,' said researcher Timothy Clifton of Oxford University in England. 'It would just be that the observations, if interpreted in the usual way, would look like they were.'"
Programming

C# In-Depth 499

Posted by CmdrTaco from the does-he-mention-that-it's-evil dept.
Bergkamp10 from ComputerWorld writes "Microsoft's leader of C# development, writer of the Turbo Pascal system, and lead architect on the Delphi language, Anders Hejlsberg, reveals all there is to know on the history, inspiration, uses and future direction of one of computer programming's most widely used languages — C#. Hejlsberg also offers some insight into the upcoming version of C# (C#4) and the new language F#, as well as what lies ahead in the world of functional programming."
Debian

Ubuntu 9 Is Jaunty Jackalope, Coming Next April 318

Posted by timothy from the good-eatin'-if-you-can-catch-'em dept.
mr_3ntropy writes "Ars is reporting Mark Shuttleworth announced today that Ubuntu 9.04 will be called Jaunty Jackalope, to be released next April. It will focus on improving boot times and the convergence of desktop and web. The 8.10 release, Intrepid Ibex, is coming next month with GNOME 2.24 and will include better support for subnotebooks."
The Internet

Comcast Defends Role As Internet Traffic Cop 425

Posted by CmdrTaco from the this-is-going-to-get-worse-before-we-lose dept.
RCTrucker7 writes "Comcast said yesterday that it purposely slows down some traffic on its network, including some music and movie downloads, an admission that sparked more controversy in the debate over how much control network operators should have over the Internet. In a filing with the Federal Communications Commission, Comcast said such measures — which can slow the transfer of music or video between subscribers sharing files, for example — are necessary to ensure better flow of traffic over its network. In defending its actions, Comcast stepped into one of the technology industry's most divisive battles. Comcast argues that it should be able to direct traffic so networks don't get clogged; consumer groups and some Internet companies argue that the networks should not be permitted to block or slow users' access to the Web."
Mozilla

Firefox 3 Beta 3 Officially Released 337

Posted by kdawson from the back-to-its-roots dept.
firefoxy writes "Mozilla has officially released Firefox 3 beta 3. This release includes new features, user interface enhancements, and theme improvements. Ars Technica has a review with screenshots. 'Firefox 3 is rapidly approaching completion and much of the work that remains to be done is primarily in the category of fit and finish. There will likely only be one more beta release after this one before Mozilla begins issuing final release candidates.'"
Editorial

Submission + - What Will--And Won't--Happen in 2008 (pcworld.com)

Submitted by
PCWMike
PCWMike writes: "It's that time of year again, when every half-wit with a Web site makes predictions about the world of tech. We're no exception — but we decided to do things a little differently. We picked the ten most common predictions from scores of trend watchers, and then picked them apart using our secret weapon: a Magic 8-Ball. (Full disclosure: In some cases we had to shake the ball a few times to achieve the right answer.) Sometimes we agree with the prognosticators; other times, we don't. Predictable, no?"

Comment Re:Silver Light is actually pretty damn cool (Score 1) 710

by Roc1 (#21895664) Attached to: MS To Push Silverlight Via Redesigned Microsoft.com
Mod parent up. Silverlight is an incredible technology, and version 2.0 will be much more than a media distribution framework. Dot NET 3.5 and VS 2008 are impressive as well. Microsoft deserves a lot of criticism in some areas (Vista, IE, and their overall business practices to name a few) but the development groups are releasing innovative products. Check out LINQ, the Dynamic Language Runtime and new C# language features for a start.

Slashdot Top Deals

Term, holidays, term, holidays, till we leave school, and then work, work, work till we die. -- C.S. Lewis

Close