...more recent posts
Danny Hillis red herring interview. He's leaving Disney, where he held one of the incredibly super-cool "disney fellow" positions. That's one of those ever dwindling "pure research" jobs where you get a big budget, and no requirements to make anything particularly marketable. Hillis made a giant mechanical clock out of nothing but stone age tools that should run for 10,000 years (it gets wound by the stream of tourists who visit the site and take the tour which climbs up through the inner workings - I said it was giant.) Cool. Anyway, he's also responsible for more traditional high tech, like the idea of massively parallel computers. He's got the goods, and I think he knows where we're going.
"...[t]hat's why Bill Joy's article struck such a chord. People are uneasy because they literally cannot imagine the world their children will live in. But I don't think intelligent machines will happen suddenly. They'll happen gradually. For example, people believed a machine couldn't beat a human at chess, or thought it'd be the end of the world. Then Deep Blue happened, and it didn't matter -- people still play chess, though machines are better at it. We'll see lots of steps like that...."
Danny Hillis red herring interview. He's leaving Disney, where he held one of the incredibly super-cool "disney fellow" positions. That's one of those ever dwindling "pure research" jobs where you get a big budget, and no requirements to make anything particularly marketable. Hillis made a giant mechanical clock out of nothing but stone age tools that should run for 10,000 years (it gets wound by the stream of tourists who visit the site and take the tour which climbs up through the inner workings - I said it was giant.) Cool. Anyway, he's also responsible for more traditional high tech, like the idea of massively parallel computers. He's got the goods, and I think he knows where we're going.
"...[t]hat's why Bill Joy's article struck such a chord. People are uneasy because they literally cannot imagine the world their children will live in. But I don't think intelligent machines will happen suddenly. They'll happen gradually. For example, people believed a machine couldn't beat a human at chess, or thought it'd be the end of the world. Then Deep Blue happened, and it didn't matter -- people still play chess, though machines are better at it. We'll see lots of steps like that...."
Great time last night. I hope this becomes the tradition it is shaping up to be. A little wobbly this morning, but I agree with Alex that it must be that sunspot.
Oh how I wish I had been taping the conversation that was flying at the Local. Bill, Alex, Steve and Tom were dropping some serious science. Our one guest seemed quite well versed in modern music, art, and philosophy, but I'm not sure he fully realized who he was tangling with. I've always been impressed by the level of conversation, but I'm moving toward evangelist. You guys rock.
In the brief part of the conversation where I knew anything about what was being said we did some talking about XML. The link I posted yesterday seemed to have lit a light bulb or two. Here's the offical Tim Berners-lee "Semantic Web roadmap." That's the view from "20,000 feet." Here's the view from 50,000 feet which will fill in any gaps in your knowledge of the pre-semantic web.
Perhaps more interesting, here is Jorn Barger's (of robotwisdon fame) nicely to-the-point argument for why all of this will never work. I love the start: "Every undergrad, encountering Artifical Intelligence for the first time, imagines they can solve its central
problem... until they actually try it."
Great time last night. I hope this becomes the tradition it is shaping up to be. A little wobbly this morning, but I agree with Alex that it must be that sunspot.
Oh how I wish I had been taping the conversation that was flying at the Local. Bill, Alex, Steve and Tom were dropping some serious science. Our one guest seemed quite well versed in modern music, art, and philosophy, but I'm not sure he fully realized who he was tangling with. I've always been impressed by the level of conversation, but I'm moving toward evangelist. You guys rock.
In the brief part of the conversation where I knew anything about what was being said we did some talking about XML. The link I posted yesterday seemed to have lit a light bulb or two. Here's the offical Tim Berners-lee "Semantic Web roadmap." That's the view from "20,000 feet." Here's the view from 50,000 feet which will fill in any gaps in your knowledge of the pre-semantic web.
Perhaps more interesting, here is Jorn Barger's (of robotwisdon fame) nicely to-the-point argument for why all of this will never work. I love the start: "Every undergrad, encountering Artifical Intelligence for the first time, imagines they can solve its central
problem... until they actually try it."
The best part of the fine print governing acceptable uses of my shell account (italics are mine):
"Don't run software that does not relate to the use of the account for web document publishing. Network diagnostics are related, as are report generating tools. Running programs to calculate the mass of an electron does not qualify as an acceptable use."D'oh.
The best part of the fine print governing acceptable uses of my shell account (italics are mine):
"Don't run software that does not relate to the use of the account for web document publishing. Network diagnostics are related, as are report generating tools. Running programs to calculate the mass of an electron does not qualify as an acceptable use."D'oh.
Here's a very detailed beginner level look at XML and the semantic web. Basically no previous knowledge is expected, and that's hard to claim for most of this type of writing. Probably I've said it before about some other article, but this is a good one to start with.
Here's a very detailed beginner level look at XML and the semantic web. Basically no previous knowledge is expected, and that's hard to claim for most of this type of writing. Probably I've said it before about some other article, but this is a good one to start with.
Some hard drive news this morning. Bet you can't wait. IBM has released a new 48 gigabyte 2.5 inch drive. This is the ultra slim size necessary for small portable computers, and 48 gigs is a nice jump in size. And not only is this the biggest drive in its size, IBM is also claiming it is the most quiet. This is very good news for small notebook owners who have been somewhat limited in storage options.
And if you can't get enough space inside your machine (and let's face it, 48 gigs is nice, but still not enough for some) then you have to go external. And if you've been waiting to make that jump, then you might be interested to know that the new Oxford 911 firewire bridge chipset is making its way into external firewire drives. These things are fast. OWC has external cases utilizing the new chipset and packaged with IBM's totally amazing GXP series drives (3.5 inch in 60 and 75 gig sizes.) I have one of these IBM drives (internally, not in the firewire case) and can attest to their complete butt kickingness. This is the drive for your MP3 collection.
Some hard drive news this morning. Bet you can't wait. IBM has released a new 48 gigabyte 2.5 inch drive. This is the ultra slim size necessary for small portable computers, and 48 gigs is a nice jump in size. And not only is this the biggest drive in its size, IBM is also claiming it is the most quiet. This is very good news for small notebook owners who have been somewhat limited in storage options.
And if you can't get enough space inside your machine (and let's face it, 48 gigs is nice, but still not enough for some) then you have to go external. And if you've been waiting to make that jump, then you might be interested to know that the new Oxford 911 firewire bridge chipset is making its way into external firewire drives. These things are fast. OWC has external cases utilizing the new chipset and packaged with IBM's totally amazing GXP series drives (3.5 inch in 60 and 75 gig sizes.) I have one of these IBM drives (internally, not in the firewire case) and can attest to their complete butt kickingness. This is the drive for your MP3 collection.