CNN (03/12/12) Brandon GriggsInventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil told a capacity crowd at the recent South By Southwest Interactive festival that computer technology is really part of who we are, and humans and technology will eventually merge. "We are a human-machine civilization," Kurzweil said. "If we can convince people that computers have complexity of thought and nuance ... we'll come to accept them as human." When asked by interviewer Lev Grossman whether machines with artificial intelligence would try to dominate humans, Kurzweil said he was more concerned about what humans will do to themselves. The 64-year-old author of "The Singularity Is Near" said nanotechnology that is 1,000 times more powerful than human blood cells could be injected into the bloodstream to give people superhuman endurance. Kurzweil also was asked about Apple's Siri, and he said it would only get better. Kurzweil noted that people talking to computers in natural language is an amazing threshold. He also predicted that Moore's Law will come to an end by 2020, and that within the decade search engines will no longer wait to be asked but will listen to humans in the background and provide results.http://articles.cnn.com/2012-03-12/tech/tech_innovation_ray-kurzweil-sxsw_1_computers-humans-inventor-and-futurist?_s=PM:TECH
Network World (03/06/12) Michael CooneyThe U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will launch the Zero Robotics Autonomous Space Capture Challenge on March 28, a contest that asks participants to develop unique algorithms to control small satellites on-board the International Space Station (ISS). The algorithm must enable a satellite to capture a space object that is tumbling, spinning, or moving in the opposite direction. Participants can collaborate via the Zero Robotics Web site to create algorithms that will be programmed into Synchronized Position, Hold, Engage, and Reorient Experimental Satellites (SPHERES). For the challenge, an object, simulating a payload on-orbit delivery system, will be set in motion inside the ISS under varying conditions. The algorithm will need to direct the satellite to approach the moving object and orient itself to contact with the object via Velcro on the SPHERES satellites. In addition, DARPA's Phoenix program aims to develop technologies that could help a new spacecraft harvest and reuse valuable components from nonworking satellites in geosynchronous orbit. "If a programming team can solve this challenge of autonomous space object capture, it could not only benefit the Phoenix program directly but potentially any space-servicing system in the future," says DARPA's Dave Barnhart.http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/new-darpa-challenge-wants-unique-algorithms-space-applications
Network World (03/06/12) Jon GoldThe $25 Raspberry Pi computer could have an impact far beyond the educational sector, with early production runs showing significant demand for the technology. The credit card-sized Raspberry Pi is a fully functional Linux computer, complete with Ethernet and USB ports and HDMI output. To use it, people need to plug in a keyboard and attach the device to a TV. The device was created by the Raspberry Pi Foundation, which wants to improve computer science education by making an affordable, flexible platform available to budding programmers. The group believes that people who are applying to university computer science programs today are not as skilled as applicants years ago. One reason is because they do not have access to highly programmable devices that the previous generation used to learn about computing. Aside from educational applications, the open source technology could catch on with activists around the world. For example, a developer of an encrypted communication app designed to circumvent online censorship says he can use Raspberry Pi as a tiny, inexpensive server for activists in countries that suppress freedom of speech.http://www.networkworld.com/news/2012/030612-raspberry-pi-256985.html
New York Times (03/07/12) Nick WingfieldApple unveiled a new version of the iPad that features a high-definition screen, a faster wireless connection, and several other refinements. However, the iPad design itself went largely unchanged. "In many ways, the iPad is reinventing portable computing and outstripping the wildest predictions," says Apple CEO Timothy D. Cook. The most noticeable change to the new iPad is the screen, which Apple says provides better resolution than high-definition TVs and can display text and images that appear as sharp as they would on a printed page. The new iPad also will operate on the fourth-generation cell phone network technology known as LTE. Although the new iPad is somewhat heavier and thicker than the iPad2, its subtle hardware design changes reflect the fact that most of Apple's innovations happen in software, says analyst Charles Wolf. Meanwhile, PC industry critics say the iPad is not well suited for creating content. However, Apple sought to undermine that argument with several new applications, such as a new version of iPhoto, which edits digital photos, and a new version of GarageBand, which enables up to four people play together in a virtual band through wirelessly connected iPads.http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/08/technology/apple-updates-ipad-with-some-refinements.htm
InfoWorld (02/24/12) Paul KrillTexas A&M University professor Bjarne Stroustrup recently spoke with InfoWorld's Paul Krill about the past, present, and future of C++, which was recently upgraded via the C++ 11 release. "C++11 became an international standard late last year, and the C++ compiler purveyors are now busy implementing it," Stroustrup notes. "Many features and the entire new standard library are already shipping." He says C++ 11 will serve as standard and type-safe support for thread-level and lock-free concurrency, which is an improvement on the various non-standard concurrency libraries that have been available for C++ for decades. In the future, Stroustrup says C++ will have improved support for lightweight concurrency, more libraries, and several new minor features. He says C++ is more flexible and tends to perform slightly better than Java, C#, and other dynamic scripting languages. C++ also has significant strengths compared to virtual machine-based languages when it comes to building infrastructure, according to Stroustrup. "C++ can be competitive even where performance isn't a critical issue, but there the choice will be made more on the availability of libraries and developers than on the languages themselves," he says.http://www.infoworld.com/d/application-development/stroustrup-reveals-whats-new-in-c-11-187051
SD Times (02/27/12) David RubinsteinAn unusual alignment of technology giants has embraced HTML5 as a cross-browser, cross-device development and delivery platform. "Each [company] has wanted to build and own the platform, but with the explosion of devices on the market, now they want to own the tooling services," says Telerik's Todd Anglin. However, experts say it is still too soon to declare HTML5 the Web application winner. Just 8 percent of the top 100,000 Web sites use HTML5, and just 14 percent of the top 10,000 sites have anything from HTML5, according to builtwith.com
. Although every piece is not yet in place, HTML5 continues to grow and build momentum as a platform, says the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C's) Ian Jacobs. Content protection, the need for streaming, and audio implementation for gaming are specific areas where HTML5 is not fully built out, Jacobs notes. "The things we're working on are what features do we need for trustworthy communication," he says. "We're working on tracking protection behind the scenes, linked data, privacy, and security issues." W3C developers also are working on specifications for touch, Web storage, and an application programming interface that enables Web pages to use the WebSocket protocol for two-way communications.http://www.sdtimes.com/HTML5_STILL_TAKING_SHAPE/By_David_Rubinstein/About_RIAS/36397
