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I'll take 'Jeopardy' on Hulu for $400, Alex
Jeopardy has been a mainstay of the TV landscape for 35 years, but you wouldn't know it if you didn't have conventional TV service. Thankfully, it's joining the modern era -- Hulu has announced that it's the first streaming service to carry the legendary quiz show. You won't find the entire back catalog (would you really want to marathon several thousand episodes?), but you will see "curated" collections that highlight some of the better-known moments. You'll find at least some of Ken Jennings' epic-length run, for example, as well as the performances of record-setting money maker Brad Rutter.
App lets you battle Ken Jennings in trivia death match
If you ever wanted to know how you would stack up against Ken Jennings in a Jeopardy battle, now's your chance. An app called Trivia Death Match with Ken Jennings hit the App Store last week. It allows players to answer trivia questions against Jennings in timed matches. Points are awarded for accuracy and speed. As Jeopardy fans will now, Jennings holds the all-time Jeopardy record for highest score and longest winning streak on the game show. The Trivia Death Match with Ken Jennings isn't an official Jeopardy app, but the developers worked with Jennings to make it. According to KOMOnews, the app's two developers had a chance run-in with Jennings at a trivia night in Seattle. They pitched the idea to Jennings and then he said, "They locked me in this room, with snacks and soda and a thousand trivia questions to answer and I didn't get to come out until I did them all. It was like detention." The game notes the time it took Jennings to complete that trivia lock-down, and the questions he answered are also in the game. Trivia Death Match with Ken Jennings is available in the App Store for US$2.99.
Ken Jennings talks about losing to Watson, being human after all
In a piece for Slate titled "My Puny Human Brain," former-Jeopardy-greatest Ken Jennings talks briefly through his experience playing against IBM's Watson. If you were hoping for some sour grapes, you won't find it here, but Ken gives a great insight into what it feels like to be an underdog human up against a PR darling supercomputer. "Watson has lots in common with a top-ranked human Jeopardy! player: It's very smart, very fast, speaks in an uneven monotone, and has never known the touch of a woman." Ken wraps it up on an uplifting, humans-are-going-to-be-alright-after-all note, and we seem to have something in our eye...
Humans had a good run: Watson to debut on Jeopardy tonight
Today, tomorrow, and the 16th are the fateful days: IBM's Watson supercomputer will go head to head with Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings in this silly, human-devised game we call Jeopardy. It promises to be some kickass TV, at the very least, and a historic event if Watson can prevail over his fleshy competition. The two matches, which are being spread over the three days, were pre-taped, so Ken, Brad, Alex and Watson already know the outcome, but they've done a pretty good job of keeping the secret so far. Hopefully they can keep mum until 7pm-ish this evening (check your local listings for a specific time). Need something to keep you occupied until then? Check out the great Esquire feature on Ken Jennings at the More Coverage link below. Oh, and don't miss our coverage of last month's preview match.
IBM's Watson supercomputer will play Jeopardy! on these dates
What are February 14th, 15th, and 16th? We've known it was going to happen for a while, but now we know when to set our DVRs. A rack of servers -- soaked with natural-language processing, armed with a battalion of esoteric pop culture knowledge, and "represented by a round avatar" -- will face off against Jeopardy! millionaires Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter (both profiled in video after the break) for three days starting on Valentine's Day 2011. We're also hearing that Watson will sign autographs after it's done decimating its opponents. It will then donate all its winnings to charity and spend the rest of its natural life dodging paparazzi on an undisclosed beach in the South Pacific. [Photo from Ben Sisto's flickr]
