Clipmarks | Silkweaver's 'computing' clips

Pioneering Research in Neuromorphic Electronics that Function Like the Biological Brain

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 12:36:58 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: The HRL team's ultimate goal is to build a low-power, compact electronic chip combining a novel analog circuit design and a neuroscience-inspired architecture that can address a wide range of cognitive abilities--perception, planning, decision making, and motor control. In the initial two phases of the SyNAPSE program, the team will translate the neuronal and synaptic functions of the biological cortex into similar microelectronic functions.

Clip Source: www.alzheimer.ca

Clip Source: www.prweb.com

HRL Laboratories, LLC, will begin pioneering research to develop electronics that will simulate the cognitive capabilities and efficiencies of the biological brain.

The daunting undertaking is part of the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency's (DARPA) SyNAPSE, or Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics, program. HRL will lead a group of industry and university research laboratories with expertise in core areas of neuro and cognitive science in the groundbreaking research.

Despite exponential advances in computing technology over the last decade, the limitations of hardware and architecture prohibit computers from functioning independently in real-world scenarios. The goal of the SyNAPSE program is to bridge biology and electronics and establish a new paradigm for creating more intelligent machines that can interact with, react to, and actually learn from their environments.

Tags: technology, neuromorphic electronics, electronics

Robots and Humans: Intel say equal by 2050

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 13:09:39 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Robots: From the Factory Floor to Your Kitchen - Robots today are primarily used in the factory environment, designed to perform a single task repeatedly and bolted down. To make robotics personal, robots need to move and manipulate objects in cluttered and dynamic human environments, according to Rattner. They need to be cognizant of their surroundings by sensing and recognizing movement in a dynamic physical world, and learn to adapt to new scenarios. Rattner demonstrated two working personal robot prototypes developed at Intel’s research labs. One of the demonstrations showed electric field pre-touch that has been built into a robot hand. The technique is a novel sensing modality used by fish but not humans, so they can “feel” objects before they even touch them. The other demonstration was a complete autonomous mobile manipulation robot that can recognize faces and interpret and execute commands as generic as “please clean this mess” using state-of-the-art motion planning, manipula

Clip Source: www.product-reviews.net

The idea of Robots being as smart and lifelike as Humans is a scary one to some people, but also something very useful and exciting to others. Intel has said that the gap between robots and us will close by 2050.

Justin Rattner, during his keynote today at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco, predicted big changes are ahead in social interactions, robotics and improvements in computer’s ability to sense the real world.

He said Intel’s research labs are already looking at human-machine interfaces and examining future implications to computing with some promising changes coming much sooner than expected.

Cutting the Last Cord, Wireless Power - Imagine being able to walk into an airport or room with your laptop and instead of consuming battery, it is recharged.

Programmable Matter: Computers that Change Shape - Intel researchers are also investigating how millions of tiny micro-robots, called catoms, could build shape-shifting materials.

Tags: robotics, technology, computing, intel

A Study of Women Scientists, Part 4

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 02:36:44 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: There are many more...

Clip Source: sciencewomen.blogspot.com

Sophie Germain (1776-1831), mathematician who was forced to take on the identity of a man

Grace Hopper (1906-1992), pioneer computer scientist and Rear Admiral in the US Navy

Dorothy Hodgkin (1910-1994), one of the main founders of protein crystallography

Hypatia of Alexandria (370-415), mathematician and astronomer who was killed by a mob, who "felt threatened by her scholarship and scientific knowledge"

Hedy Lamarr (1913-2000), actress and inventor of "frequency hopping" method that is used in modern communication technology

Ada, Countess Lovelace (1915-1852), founder of scientific computing

Lise Meitner (1878-1968), physicist who described nuclear fission

Rosalyn Yalow (1921-), "medical physicist" who "won a Nobel prize for her work developing the radioimmunoassay technique"

Christiane Nusslein Volhard (1942 - ), developmental biologist and Director of the Max Planck Institute for Experimental Biology

Rita Levi-Montalcini (1909 - ), biologist who first isolated nerve grown factor

Tags: female scientists

Augmented Reality, Soon in your cellular...

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 22:30:50 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Interesting.

Clip Source: www.openthefuture.com

The Metaverse Roadmap Overview, an exploration of imminent 3D technologies, posited a number of different scenarios of what a future "metaverse" could look like.

The four scenarios -- augmented reality, life-logging, virtual worlds, and mirror worlds -- each offered a different manifestation of an immersive 3D world.

Of the four, I suspect that augmented reality is most likely to be widespread soon;

moreover, when it hits, it's going to have a surprisingly big impact.

Augmented reality (AR) can be thought of as a combination of widely-accessible sensors (including cameras), lightweight computing technologies, and near-ubiquitous high-speed wireless networks -- a combination that's well-underway -- along with a sophisticated form of visualization that layers information over the physical world.

Imagine holding up an iPhone-like device, scanning what's around you, seeing various pop-up items and data links on your screen.

That's something like what an early AR system might look like

Clip Source: www.openthefuture.com

[Video]

Tags: augmented reality, computing, virtual worlds, metaverse

Large Hadron Collider: The Biggest Human Experiment Ever Yet

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 01:12:52 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Some of those particles could help us to understand the nature of mass, including the as-yet-undetectable dark matter that accounts for so much of the universe’s mass. Other particles might prove the existence of extra dimensions, or lead to entirely new theories or physical laws

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

There's a global computing effort dedicated to moving vast volumes of data around the world.

You already knew that, but this one isn't being used to pirate movies. It's the computational support system for the work that will take place at the Large Hadron Collider, and it's the largest scientific computing project to date.

Today, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) has announced that the LHC will go online on September 10.

On September 10th, researchers will activate particle beams within the 17-mile-long ring, and the world’s most powerful particle accelerator will begin collecting experimental data.

The LHC’s research potential is staggering, with physicists hoping to use the accelerator’s extremely high-energy proton collisions to generate a range of theoretical particles.

Once started it will be a source of staggering amounts of data

the data load will be spread over hundreds of participating facilities around the globe

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

[Video]

Tags: physics, lhc, particle physics, higgs

Researchers develop next-generation computer antivirus system

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 12:40:34 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Interesting approach to computer security

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

Antivirus software on your personal computer could become a thing of the past thanks to a new "cloud computing" approach to malicious software detection developed at the University of Michigan.

Cloud computing refers to applications and services provided seamlessly on the Internet.

Traditional antivirus software is installed on millions of individual computers

The researchers observed malware --malicious software--detection rates as low as 35 percent against the most recent threats and an average window of vulnerability exceeding 48 days.

CloudAV virtualizes and parallelizes detection functionality with multiple antivirus engines

large number of malicious software detectors that act in parallel to analyze a single incoming file.

CloudAV is accessible to any computer or mobile device on the network that runs a simple software agent.

researchers see promising opportunities in applying CloudAV to cell phones and other mobile devices that aren't robust enough to carry powerful antivirus software.

Tags: web, security, anti virus, cloud computing

The Intelligent Egg

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 12:50:00 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: The ramifications are enormous as we imagine homes that customize themselves to us and our needs. Adjusting temperature, music, lighting, and putting a pot on boil are all things that could be done automatically. Taken a step further we look at intelligent environments, where the home is constantly monitoring our health and safety, and is prepared to respond quickly. An intelligent home of the future may also ask us what time we want to wake up when we hit the sack.

A plausible prediction is that these intelligent environments and or ambient intelligence will take away many of our chores and allow us to focus on productivity, learning, and leisure. They may stream customized interactive information that serves to create a nurturing environment. Differing from ubiquitous computing, it would allow us to create an intimitate connection with technology.

Clip Source: memebox.com

James Law Cybertecture International has just debuted its design of the so called Intelligent Egg, a building that represents an unprecedented combination of architecture and technology.

The intelligent environments created in the design offer a glimpse into what we might see in homes and buildings in the next ten years.

Intelligent environments (also called ambient intelligence) offer the opportunity to drastically change our quality of life, our level of interaction with our surroundings, and our ability to choose our surroundings.

They represent a plausible evolution that brings aspects of the virtual world into our built environment.

Intelligent systems and design are incredibly ambitious in the so called “Egg” project.

So called cybertecture is a form of design that integrates multimedia, intelligent systems, technology, and interactivity to create customizable living and working spaces focused on experiences, health, and productivity.

Tags: architecture, intelligent environment

Harvard Researchers Create Computer Language That can Penetrate the "Mind" of a Cell

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:06:27 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: This seems to be a milestone in molecular biology and synthetic biology. Using such tools we will be able to better understand molecular biological processes, and perhaps to design novel biological artifacts from scratch.

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

This language is stepping into an unknown universe, when your computer starts building things for you

Enter into the world of Little b, a computational language developed by a team of Harvard Medical School researchers.

"Through incorporating principles of engineering, we've developed a language that can describe biology in the same way a biologist would,"

The potential here is enormous. This opens the door to actually performing discovery science, to look at things like drug interactions, right on the computer.

Little b, a program written in a programming language called LISP, a language used widely in the field of artificial intelligence research

Gunawardena’s impetus for the creation of Little b is not for something as mediocre as looking in to the human genome, but the human protein.

The protein does much more of the work, and is home to a massive wealth of genomic information far and away past the simple DNA.

Tags: computing, computer languages, molecular biology

New Mode Of Gene Regulation Discovered In Mammals

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 21:42:20 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: As research advances, the more it becomes clear, that gene regulation networks are actually complex computing machines. DNA is not a mere repository of information. What's more, the newly discovered mechanism is self referential, which adds another later of complexity to gene regulation processes.

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

Researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, have discovered a type of gene regulation never before observed in mammals

a "ribozyme" that controls the activity of an important family of genes in several different species.

The findings, published July 9 in the journal Nature, describe a new and surprising role for the so-called hammerhead ribozyme, an unusual molecule previously associated with obscure virus-like plant pathogens called viroids.

The UCSC researchers found the ribozyme embedded within certain genes in mice, rats, horses, platypuses, and several other mammals. The genes are involved in the immune response and bone metabolism.

"The unique thing about these ribozymes is that they control the expression of the genes they're embedded in,"

A ribozyme, or "RNA enzyme," is an RNA molecule that can catalyze a chemical reaction.

RNA can function in the biology of organisms in more ways than we tend to give it credit for

Tags: molecular biology, rna, gene regulation

Quantum Computing Breakthrough Arises From Unknown Molecule

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 01:47:11 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

The odd behavior of a molecule in an experimental silicon computer chip has led to a discovery that opens the door to quantum computing in semiconductors.

In a Nature Physics journal paper currently online, the researchers describe how they have created a new, hybrid molecule in which its quantum state can be intentionally manipulated - a required step in the building of quantum computers.

"Up to now large-scale quantum computing has been a dream," says Gerhard Klimeck, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue University

"This development may not bring us a quantum computer 10 years faster, but our dreams about these machines are now more realistic."

"Our experiment made us realize that industrial electronic devices have now reached the level where we can study and manipulate the state of a single atom," Rogge says. "This is the ultimate limit, you can not get smaller than that."

Tags: physics, quantum theory, quantum computing, nanotechnology

The Planet's Most Massively Awesome Computer -The Large Hadron

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 22:21:41 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: By some, it certainly seems to be one of the most outrageously wasteful projects upon the earth. Perhaps it is. I, for one do not think so. I think that understanding the universe as far as we can understand it justifies almost any economical price. Because this is part of what makes us human; the desire to uncover the mysteries of the universe. All this to capture one tiny hypothetical particle. Is it not amazing?

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

There's a global computing effort dedicated to moving vast volumes of data around the world.

The accelerator ring might be the pinnacle of human research into the microscopic unknown, but its activation is only the beginning of the search, not the end.

Once started it will be a source of staggering amounts of data

Instead, the data load will be spread over hundreds of participating facilities around the globe, filtered and organized by multiple tiers of routing centers.

If the much-heralded Higgs is found, it won't be by a white-coated scientist hunkered in a high-tech Genevan cavern madly scribbling on a whiteboard.

A computer in Nowhere, Someplace will match about fourteen pages of random-looking numbers to a preset condition then throw up a flag.

Tags: physics, particle physics, large hadron collider

AMD's Cinema 2.0 demo: "you won't just play movies, you'll play in them"

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 18:08:13 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Looks fun. (strangely lacks audio).

Clip Source: www.engadget.com

That's a bold promise AMD. Nevertheless, a cinema-realistic gaming experience is exactly what they demonstrated yesterday in San Francisco.

Cinema 2.0, according to AMD, is "a milestone achievement in ultra-realistic and interactive visual computing."

Clip Source: www.engadget.com

Take a look for yourself in the video after the break.

[Video]

Tags: entertainment, computing

An Anatomy of a Super Computer: A Look Inside Roadrunner

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 23:45:56 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: These creatures have a really very brief moment of glory, when we call them 'Super'. In less than a year it will be forgotten, outmatched by many.

Clip Source: www.computerworld.com

IBM's Roadrunner supercomputer, mapped out in this layout, takes up 6,000 square feet and weighs in at more than 500,000 pounds. Click to view larger image.

This is one of four racks of scalable Infiniband switches that are part of the supercomputer. Beside the standalone switch racks, like the one shown here, Roadrunner also has one switch rack for each connected unit, which is made up of 180 TriBlades and 12 IO nodes. There are 18 connected units in the supercomputer. Click to view larger image.

A full-length view of the back of a standalone switch rack. Roadrunner is being assembled in an IBM facility in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. before it is disassembled and moved to its permanent home in the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Click to view larger image.

Clip Source: www.computerworld.com

Roadrunner's racks extend more than three-fourths of the length of a football field.

Tags: computing

How power-hungry are the Top500 supercomputers?

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 23:39:38 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: But what might have surprised the authors of the list the most is that 301 of the 500 supercomputers on last November's list are nowhere to be seen. After seven months, they're simply not powerful enough to make the list.

Clip Source: www.computerworld.com

Size isn't everything: Power efficiency becomes major factor in new builds

(Computerworld) Proving that size isn't everything, the Top500 List of supercomputers for the first time is looking at power efficiency.

With the IT industry increasingly looking at growing electric bills and calls for greener machines, the world's most powerful and largest systems are under scrutiny.

The latest edition of the twice yearly Top500 List of supercomputers was unveiled today at the International Supercomputing Conference in Dresden, Germany.

Power consumption is becoming one of the most important aspects of computing," said Jack Dongarra, a co-creator of the Top 500 List and a distinguished professor at the University of Tennessee. "It will be the most important driving force for supercomputing in the future.

Without focusing on that, building bigger machines will be prohibitive.

Tags: computing

Oh Baby! First photograph of early modern computer

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:00:15 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Run baby run!

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

Here is the first known photograph of the great grandfather of modern digital computers – but you couldn’t use it on the train or take it jogging with you.

The panoramic black and white image, which has been unearthed in the archives at The University of Manchester, shows a development version of ‘The Baby’ taking up a whole room with its towering Post Office racks and jumble of wiring.

The Baby was built using metal Post Office racks, hundreds of valves or vacuum tubes and the keyboard was a series of push buttons and switches, mounted vertically. Instead of a screen, the output was read directly off the face of a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT).

In modern terms the prototype Baby had a RAM (random access memory) of just 32 locations or ‘words’. Each word in the RAM consisted of 32 bits (binary digits) and so The Baby had a grand total of 1024 bits of memory – and a computing speed of 1.2 milliseconds per instruction.

For more information about Digital 60 please see http://www.digital60.org .

Tags: computing, history