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Google+ stretches its wings, giving you more plus all the time. This and more in today's Daily Wrap.
Sometimes it's difficult to catch every story that hits tech media in a day, so we thought it might be helpful to wrap up some of the most talked about stories. Assuming this goes over well, we're going to give you a daily recap of what you missed in the ReadWriteWeb Community, including a link to some of the most popular discussions in our offsite communities on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google Plus as well. This is a new feature at ReadWriteWeb so we covet your feedback. If you have suggestions, please leave them in the comments below or reach out to me directly at robyn at readwriteweb.com.
If you haven't yet enrolled in the Introduction to Artificial Intelligence class at Stanford University that we mentioned earlier this summer, you still have time to participate in what is being billed as the largest Google+ hangout tomorrow morning. At 8 am PT tomorrow, the two professors teaching the class, Peter Norvig and Sebastian Thrun, will hold "office hours" and answer the most popular questions from the class.
Since they have tens of thousands of followers, it "would be hard to fit everyone into their actual offices," says the intro video. It is an intriguing use of the Hangout feature. You don't have to be a Stanford student, or even enrolled in the class, or even know something about AI. All you have to do is add Norvig to your Google+ circle, ask your question on their YouTube channel now and tune in tomorrow.
There are two important concepts first articulated by Prof. John McCarthy of Stanford University, neither of which actually imply that computers will ever evolve to become intelligent, rational creatures. One is that electronic machines can learn functions and processes. Throughout the 56 years since this concept was introduced, it has been declared an undeniable fact numerous times, only for someone to subsequently reposition the qualifications bar for "learning."
The other is that artificial intelligence (AI) is implied by any process which, when done well and correctly, appears to have required human intelligence. In other words, like legislative gridlock, you don't have to see it yourself to know it exists.
Not too long ago we told you about how you can access the course materials for Stanford University's introduction to computer science course. If you're looking for something a bit more advanced, Stanford will offer its artificial intelligence class online for free this fall. It will run from Sept 26 - Dec 16. Online enrollment ends Sept 10.
The course will be taught by Sebastian Thrun and Peter Norvig. The course will include online lectures by the two, and according to the course website both professors will be available for online discussions. And according to the video embedded below, students in the online class will be graded on a curve just like regular Stanford students and receive a certificate of completion with their grade.
In early April of 1990, I was a contestant on Jeopardy. If you were watching back then, I was the "Supercomputer Programmer from Aloha, Oregon" who won three games and $38,000 and then lost - badly - in the fourth. So there's quite a bit of personal history tied in with the news last week that a supercomputer from IBM, called Watson, had beaten two all-time Jeopardy! winners, Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings, in a practice round for the three-day charity competition on Feb. 14, 15 and 16.
A few weeks ago, I predicted that Jennings would win, Watson would place a close second and Rutter would place third in the overall contest, and I'm sticking with that prediction in spite of Watson's first-place finish in the practice round last week. When I put on my handicapper's hat, the scores of the practice round - $4,400 for Watson, $3,400 for Jennings and $1,200 for Rutter - are consistent with my assessment that Jennings and Watson are evenly matched and that Rutter is unlikely to win.
Five years ago, "social" was the next great paradigm, and sure enough, today social is everywhere and everything is social. Facebook's most recent announcements capitalize on this ubiquity and position the company as the hub of a system with an almost infinite number of spokes.
We are today with virtual personal assistants (VPAs) where Facebook was in 2004 - simultaneously on the verge of something very big, and yet only at the very beginning of a decades-long trajectory.
iLink, a social network analytics technology from SRI International has recently been integrated into three online communities used by the military: Platoon Leader, Company Command, and the Family Readiness Group. The iLink technology improves the way the military community members share critical information across several different interest areas - from battlefield problem solving to supporting military families. Here, we take a look at the technology the military is using and how it can impact the future of social networking.
According to the Zuula blog, former search king pretender Accoona has finally given up on becoming a major search player. When Accoona was officially launched in December 2004, at a ceremony featuring Bill Clinton, Accoona claimed to have search technology that would be "more efficient than the likes of Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft's MSN." Accoona was built using "artificial intelligence technology to derive the meaning of words typed into a search." Sadly for them, it fizzed and their expected IPO never happened.
Last week a new site called Gwap was launched by Carnegie Mellon's School of Computer Science. The site offers an array of multi-player games that have a benefit beyond just that of momentary distraction or amusement. These games are helping improve image and audio searches, teaching computers to see, and enhancing AI. However, all that won't matter to the players because, as it turns out, these games are actually fun.
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