Jeff Hawkins Presentation - On Intelligence

'Prospects and Problems in Cortical Theory'. Hawkins intends to create a platform(software) to emulate how the neocortex works and ultimately package a development system to build products. He describes it as an inference engine currently focused on visual learning. The applications would range from problem solving for physics, meteorology, markets, geology and robotics. This is truly exciting stuff as we are beginning to see a re-emergence of AI theory.

Drink your own kool-aid?

NYTimes on Microsoft Tech Fest and Search

Microsofts investment in research has not yielded the kind of results which have allowed for differentiation in search at this point. Currently they are playing catch-up to Google and since it's core to Google's business they will be hard pressed to surpass them. This NYTimes article outlines some of the research which Microsoft is pursuing to try and make a difference. I would imagine that AI is going to prove critical to maintaining a strong position in years to come. Consumers will need more intelligent interfaces and user experiences to find the proverbial needle in the haystack. I might learn more when I have dinner tomorrow night with my friend Matt MacLaurin who is a research at MS.

Jet-Man - This is cool

It's a bird, it's a plane... it's, it's Jet Man!

Nextflix - Watch Now

Netflix new 'Watch Now' feature is in my opinion the future of television. Combine the wonderful online user experience that Netflix provides with on-demand downloads and you have what we've all been waiting for since the original interactive television trials were conducted in the early nineties. I can't figure out why Netflix founder and CEO Reed Hastings was quoted last year as saying that it would be many years before Netflix offered downloads. Maybe he was trying to mislead the competition or maybe he 'got it' sometime since that quote.

Frontline - News Wars

Frontline's series on the changes in news reporting, dissemination and consumption was some of the best television reporting I've seen in a while. The final installment focused on online news and the LA Times struggles to stay a player. The program emphasis on the problem of how news organization content quality is being compromised by focus on the bottom line and the stratification of the audience indicates a sea change in news creation and distribution. The next five years should be an incredible ride as the deck is shuffled.

No Shortcuts to the Top - Ed Viesturs

I just finished reading the wonderful 'No Shortcuts to the Top' by Ed Viesturs. This is his auto-biography covering his successful summitting of the worlds 14 8000 meter peaks without supplmental oxygen. I saw him interviewed on Charlie Rose a few weeks back and was excited about picking up the recently released book. Having done a fair amount of climbing in my past and considering taking up alpining, I was easily lured by the books focus. After reading the book I can say that it will be appreciated by anyone with an interest in adventure and exploration, as it is very well written and an exciting read.

NY Times on Social Networking and OpenID

It seems like a lot of this technology is truly in its infancy, particularly the OpenID aspect where providers will have more flexibility in their designs and users greater ease of use. OpenID has been a much needed technology for some time. and now it seems to be getting momentum.

Very Interesting New Online Service

Give or get unwanted usable items in your community.
Using Gigoit is free, easy, and good for the world.

AI, is it coming soon?

Jeff Hawkins, the founder of Palm wrote a book which I read two years ago entitled 'On Intelligence', http://www.amazon.com/Intelligence-Jeff-Hawkins/dp/0805078533/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-1358683-8424466?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1172895213&sr=1-1 which outlines his theories on how the human brain works. He is now running a startup which is focused on creating software which can mimic human intelligence. This is probably one of the most ambitious undertakings in science and business right and one that Eric Schmidt at Google indicated that they are pursuing as well. It's exciting to think of how solutions from the research done at both companies will effect society and roll-out as products which we can use. I would imagine that the most immediate practical application will be in making online search a lot more powerful and useful. I'm imagining the computer working with me in my search to help me find the best results. Longer term I'm sure we'll see machine intelligence which can perform problem solving which will displace current human endeavors.

Read more at wired http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.03/hawkins.html

The Pundits will Bash and Praise Gore

interesting reading by Media Matters on Maureen Dowd's treatment of Al Gore now and while running for president in 2000.

New Yorker's Remick on Al Gore for President

David Remick is on the money with this commentary regarding if Gore had been in office the last seven years and why he should be elected in 08'.

50 ways to help keep our earth green

This is a list of fairly common sense ways that each of us can make a difference.

The Big Year - A brief book review

I have never been interested in 'birding' or bird identification, but when my father recommended the book 'The Big Year' and sent me a copy I was curious. The book tells the story of 3 obsessed birders who spent 1998 pursuing a 'big year' of bird identification in North America. They spent 10's of thousands of dollars, countless air miles and the majority of their waking time in this pursuit. At the end they each had identified over 700 birds by flying to the remote Attu Island of Alaska during a peak year for birds, flying repeatedly to southwest texas for the migration from Mexico and South America, Florida and Minnesota are also prime bird locations for identifying exotics. The book provides a good historical outline of the creation of the Audobon society and scientific information regarding the factors which influence birding. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it highly.

Very cute baby panda sneeze

This you have to watch more than twice...

Cause & Cure for Autism discovered

"Scientists in New Jersey are claiming that children with autism are unable to metabolize key fatty acids that fight brain-damaging inflammations. They have already developed urine/blood tests to identify at-risk children. A preventive cure to autism.

Full article at http://www.nj.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/news-11/117177694297300.xml&coll=1

Signs that Hillary is going to make smart political decisions

“If the most important thing to any of you is choosing someone who did not cast that vote or has said his vote was a mistake, then there are others to choose from,”.

-Says it all

Real Estate Bubble Burst - The Evidence Is In

This NY Times article should stop the chatter about whether there is a correction underway. It appears that few regions are being spared. It's definitely a time for some disruptive technology businesses to help buyers and sellers retain value in their transactions... ala Redfin, Zillow and Trulia. Now that buyers see their homes sitting on the market a lot longer they should take advantage of these Web 2.0 applications which help sell homes without a realtor and can do a great job of marketing and selling your home. Sellers can benefit too buy getting a percentage of the savings returned to them at the time of purchase, often several thousand dollars. I think the traditional real estate agent is going to be gone in about ten years.

Mark Cuban on the future of computing

This is a very insightful essay about the future of computing and how Google could very well lead the way with thin client emphasis and the distributed computing model. As application become available online, we don't really need a traditional OS or embedded applications. He also suggests that game consoles (or probably media) could easily supplant the traditional desktop computer. The only exception to that would be those of us who use laptops and don't play video games, but I still think his article is probably right on.

OpenID is coming

Microsoft adopts OpenID and this is a sure sign that OpenID will start to get critical mass and the needed adoption to enable a much needed way to have a universal web ID.