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| Current Topic: Technology |
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Edge 106: Books, Genomics, Security, Computation |
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| Topic: Technology |
8:59 pm EST, Oct 29, 2002 |
Toby Mundy writes an interesting article on the state of book publishing in the October issue of _Prospect_. Genomic Imprintiing: A Talk With David Haig. ... A new phenomenon in molecular biology called genomic imprinting, which is a situation in which a DNA sequence can have conditional behavior depending on whether it is maternally or paternally inherited. 10 Things You Should Know About Security, Privacy, and Encryption, by Richard M. Smith Smith fancies himself the Ralph Nader of the computer industry. The Computational Universe, by Seth Lloyd. Every physical system registers information, and just by evolving in time, by doing its thing, it changes that information, transforms that information, or, if you like, processes that information. Since I've been building quantum computers I've come around to thinking about the world in terms of how it processes information. Edge 106: Books, Genomics, Security, Computation |
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| Topic: Technology |
7:34 pm EDT, Oct 8, 2002 |
Johan de Kleer talks about knowledge tracking, smart matter and other new developments in AI. Johan de Kleer: Manager of the Systems and Practices Laboratory, Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). Widely published in the areas of qualitative physics, model-based reasoning, truth maintenance systems, and knowledge representation. An ACM Fellow. ... There is a renewed surge of interest in understanding and representing the content of collections of documents. As each new document comes in, we want to be able to identify the relation of the new material to what was previously collected. We call this "knowledge tracking." Knowledge fusion: creating "the perfect document" in response to your query by fusing the meanings of parts of other documents. ... We're moving into a world where there's going to be billions of sensors each with a small bit of computation and a limited amount of energy. How can we handle such a large scale-up? This is the Internet on steroids. ... It goes way beyond the mechanisms that currently run the Internet because there will be so many more nodes ... ... it's a whole new wave. ... The whole network simply adapts. ... I try to explain the context ... ... the next generation will have a deeper appreciation and ability to use technology ... The biggest change that happened at PARC over time has been the shift from technology to content. The other big shift is importance of the social in everything. "This is a cool algorithm, but will people actually use it?" ... One passionate person is worth a thousand people who are just plodding along ... ... At that point, as far as I'm concerned, they're hired. Inside PARC |
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Protecting America's Freedom in the Information Age |
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| Topic: Technology |
5:59 am EDT, Oct 8, 2002 |
A new report released by the Markle Foundation Task Force on National Security in the Information Age recommends that a new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) rather than the FBI should take the lead in shaping domestic information and intelligence priorities to inform policymakers. The report calls for a networked information technology system that effectively shares information among local, state, regional and federal agencies and the private sector, and sets forth a blueprint for how such a system can be established under a set of Presidential guidelines.
Protecting America's Freedom in the Information Age |
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All the News Google Algorithms Say Is Fit to Print |
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| Topic: Technology |
6:57 am EDT, Sep 24, 2002 |
Google, the rapidly growing online search engine, introduced a service yesterday that uses its search algorithms -- but no human editors -- to create a news page that looks not much different from those of many news Web sites. "We are trying to leverage the experience of all the editors out there," said Larry Page. WashPost editor: "It's a useful service, but it's not going to drive me to the unemployment office tomorrow." All the News Google Algorithms Say Is Fit to Print |
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Symposium on the Frontiers of Engineering | National Academies |
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| Topic: Technology |
5:30 pm EDT, Sep 21, 2002 |
This book is freely available online. Here are a few of the chapter topics: Miniature Spy Planes: The Next Generation of Flying Robots
Toward Micromechanical Flyers
Design Challenges for Future Wireless Systems
Next-Generation Mobile Wireless Internet Technology
Service Architectures for Emerging Wireless Networks
Wireless Integrated Network Sensors
Reengineering the Paralyzed Nervous Systems
Merging Living Cells and Microsystems Engineering Here's a sample from a chapter mentioned above: A typical miniature unmanned air vehicle has a quiet engine and is difficult to spot in the air. It can cruise the skies day or night in a wide range of weather conditions gathering information for law enforcement, traffic monitoring, air-pollution control, farming, fire spotting, power line inspection, search and rescue, and weather monitoring. Individuals will log on to a Web site and request image data for a specific region. This request will prompt teams of mini-UAVs to fly to the appropriate location, gather the requested data, and send the data to the customer over the Internet. The mini-UAVs doing the work will be all but invisible. Symposium on the Frontiers of Engineering | National Academies |
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The Virtual Center for Supernetworks |
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| Topic: Technology |
10:03 pm EDT, Sep 9, 2002 |
The Virtual Center for Supernetworks is an interdisciplinary center established to: * stimulate activities related to supernetworks;
* explore applications of supernetworks;
* bring together faculty, students, and those in industry and government for education and collaboration;
* expand the knowledge base of network research;
* disseminate information concerning networks and their roles in today's Information Age and Network Economy. Be sure to visit the "download sample chapter" page and browse the book, _Supernetworks: Decision-Making for the Information Age_. The Virtual Center for Supernetworks |
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Personal Product: EarthViewer3D |
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| Topic: Technology |
9:01 pm EDT, Sep 5, 2002 |
Keyhole's EarthViewer3D harnesses the power of NVIDIA GPUs. Fusing high-resolution satellite and aerial imagery, elevation data, GPS coordinates, and overlay information about cities and businesses, EarthViewer3D delivers a streaming, 3D map of the entire globe to PCs powered with NVIDIA GPUs. Very cool. I wish they offered bulk pre-caching of the imagery, rather than streaming it on demand. Personal Product: EarthViewer3D |
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Tussle in Cyberspace: Defining Tomorrow's Internet |
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| Topic: Technology |
5:39 am EDT, Sep 4, 2002 |
As the Internet has [evolved], new requirements have emerged that suggest new design principles, and perhaps suggest that we revisit some old ones. This paper explores one important reality that surrounds the Internet today: different stakeholders that are part of the Internet milieu have interests that may be adverse to each other, and these parties each vie to favor their particular interests. We call this process "the tussle." Accommodating this tussle is crucial to the evolution of the network's technical architecture. Tussle in Cyberspace: Defining Tomorrow's Internet |
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Mac OS X Switcher Stories |
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| Topic: Technology |
9:40 pm EDT, Aug 22, 2002 |
Tim O'Reilly writes: A few weeks ago, I wrote a weblog entry about Microsoft's perception that Mac OS X uptake is too slow, versus my experience that users are moving to OS X in droves. I decided to do an informal poll. I sent a message to Dave Farber's IP (Interesting People) mailing list, asking: I'd love to hear from IP readers who have adopted OS X. Were you switching from OS 9, Windows, Linux, or Unix? Are you still using your old system as well, or fully switched? Mac OS X Switcher Stories |
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NASA plans to read terrorist's minds at airports |
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| Topic: Technology |
4:51 pm EDT, Aug 17, 2002 |
Airport security screeners may soon try to read the minds of travelers to identify terrorists. Officials of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration have told Northwest Airlines security specialists that the agency is developing brain-monitoring devices in cooperation with a commercial firm, which it did not identify. NASA plans to read terrorist's minds at airports |
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