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Fox Sports' World Cup Highlight Machine is powered by IBM's Watson
We're only ten days away from the start of the FIFA World Cup 2018. And for soccer (er, football) fans in the US, Fox Sports will be the TV network responsible for bringing them all 64 games from Russia, at least if they want to watch them in English. But, beyond its broadcast offerings, Fox Sports wants to keep people engaged in the competition in different ways. Aside from its partnership with Twitter, which comes in the form of a show that'll stream live from Russia, Fox Sports has teamed up with IBM to build the ultimate World Cup Highlight Machine. Powered by Watson artificial intelligence, this video hub lets you create on-demand clips from every FIFA World Cup tournament dating back to 1958.
IBM is installing a Watson AI lab at MIT
Both MIT and IBM are leaders in the field of Artificial Intelligence and now they're teaming up. IBM announced on Thursday that it had reached a 10-year research partnership agreement with the university worth nearly a quarter of a billion dollars. That investment will see more than 100 researchers from both organizations collaborating to advance four key focus areas within the AI field.
IBM's Watson looked into my soul and 'drew' my portrait
Since its introduction to the world in 2009, IBM's Watson supercomputer has been crushing humans in Jeopardy, helping chefs make food with unconventional recipes and even offering tech support. But what happens when the artificial intelligence machine puts its own spin on a photo booth? To find out, I checked out IBM's "Art with Watson: Hidden Portraits," an exhibit that's being displayed in New York City until May 7th. The gallery features portraits of historic personalities like Marie Curie and Nikola Tesla, which Watson helped artists create by feeding them data collected using its natural language and personality insights APIs.
AI was everywhere in 2016
At the Four Seasons hotel in South Korea, AlphaGO stunned grandmaster Lee Sodol at the complex and highly intuitive game of Go. Google's artificially intelligent system defeated the 18-time world champion in a string of games earlier this year. Backed by the company's superior machine-learning techniques, AlphaGo had processed thousands and thousands of Go moves from previous human-to-human games to develop its own ability to think strategically.
XPRIZE is challenging A.I. to save the world
If the thought of artificial intelligence conjures up nightmares the likes of Terminator 2 and HAL 9000, XPRIZE's latest competition could disabuse you of that notion. Today at TED2016, XPRIZE is announcing a new contest that invites teams from around the world to come up with ways artificial intelligence can help solve some of the world's most challenging problems. The competition is done in collaboration with IBM and is thus called the IBM Watson A.I. XPRIZE: the Cognitive Computing Competition.
Even your academic advisor might one day be a robot
We Google things we're too lazy to remember or ask another human. We've become accustomed to asking Siri and Cortana about the weather. The current generation of artificial intelligence can pull facts from the web, keep track of your appointments and even crack jokes. What if there were a virtual assistant to help you make real-life decisions, like whether you should start a brewery or go to business school? Project Sapphire, a collaboration between IBM and the University of Michigan, is aimed at building an artificially intelligent academic advisor that guides undergraduate students through their course options, helps pick extracurricular activities and eventually dishes out advice on their careers.
IBM names a new leader of its Watson Health unit
Former Philips Healthcare CEO Deborah DiSanzo is the new General Manager of IBM's Watson Health unit, which aims to provide the company's cognitive computer system to health care professionals and patients. At IBM, DiSanzo leads more than 2,000 employees and is charged with scaling Watson Health globally and expanding IBM's Watson Health Cloud initiative. The Watson Health Cloud attempts to collect large amounts of patient data and make it easier for doctors and companies to make health decisions. IBM has teamed up with Apple (specifically, ResearchKit and HealthKit), Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic and other companies for the Cloud initiative.
IBM preparing to launch a Watson cloud service, lease out APIs to developers
Need a little help from a supercomputer? You just might get it: IBM is getting ready to release a more powerful version of its Watson supercomputer, and it'll be available for rent. According to the PC World, the company is working on a Watson-based cloud service that developers can use to build richer, more interactive applications. The project uses a smaller, more scaleable version of Watson to build cognitive supercomputers as needed -- potentially leaving a smaller footprint. IBM is already working with partners to kick the service off, specifically Fluid, who is creating a Watson-powered retail assistant that's said to actively converse with customers to help them make "more informed buying decisions." Developers familiar with RESTful APIs shouldn't have too much trouble using Watson, IBM's Rob High told the PC World, although it won't be exactly like traditional programming. "Cognitive systems are different in that they have the ability to simulate human behavior. For the most part humans have had to adapt to the computer. As we get into cognitive systems we open up the aperture to the computer adapting to the human." IBM has yet to specifics on when the Watson-powered cloud will be available, or how much it'll cost developers to work with the Jeopardy star. Hopefully, the cognitive computer will still be able to put together a tasty pastry.
Watson ponders careers in cooking, drug research as IBM makes it earn its keep
While mad game show skills are nice and all, IBM has started to nudge Watson toward the door to begin paying its own freight. After a recent foray into finance, the publicity-loving supercomputer has now brought its number-crunching prowess to the pharmaceutical and pastry industries, according to the New York Times. If the latter sounds like a stretch for a hunk of silicon, it actually isn't: researchers trained Watson with food chemistry data, flavor popularity studies and 20,000 recipes -- all of which will culminate in a tasting of the bot's freshly devised "Spanish Crescent" recipe. Watson was also put to work at GlaxoSmithKline, where it came up with 15 potential compounds as possible anti-malarial drugs after being fed all known literature and data on the disease. So far, Watson projects haven't made Big Blue much cash, but the company hopes that similar AI ventures might see its prodigal child finally pay back all those years of training.
Cha-ching! IBM's Watson heads to Citigroup to meddle in human finances
Watson's been a busy supercomputer since it took a couple of humans to school on Jeopardy last year -- what with its stint at Columbia and a recent foray into hunting patent trolls -- and now it's taking on the financial industry. IBM and Citigroup recently announced plans to explore how America's favorite supercomputer fits into the realm of digital banking. Under the agreement, Citi will examine Watson's ability to "help analyze customer needs and process vast amounts of up-to-the-minute financial, economic, product and client data," in the hopes of providing rapid, personalized banking solutions. According to Bloomberg, Watson's financial assistance will be provided as a "cloud-based service" and will earn IBM a portion of the revenue and savings it helps generate. The full press release (which makes no mention of a vacation for the overworked machine) can be found after the break.
IBM's THINK Exhibit invades NYC, aims to inspire (video)
Leaving the confines of a Manhattan apartment, Lincoln Center has the uncanny ability to make one feel dwarfed. Home to the performing arts and haunt to New York City's glitterati, the landmark received the IBM makeover as part of the company's THINK exhibit -- an interactive installation designed to weave the story of technology as it applies to the fabric of life, achievement and change. The first thing that catches the eye is IBM's sparkling 123-foot long, 12-foot high LCD wall lining a tunnel leading into the bowels of the NYC landmark. The "living" wall thrives off the surrounding environment, visualizing traffic patterns and analyzing corresponding air quality from nearby Broadway. It also shows the solar potential of every rooftop in the city, financial transactions and the amount of water leaking from the main aqueduct. As the event's producer Lee Green simply put it, the idea behind the set up is to "delegate understanding" to "intrigue and inspire" even the least technologically-inclined. %Gallery-135243%
IBM's Jeopardy-winning supercomputer headed to hospitals. Dr. Watson, we presume?
We always knew that Watson's powers extended well beyond the realm of TV trivia, and now IBM has provided a little more insight into how its supercomputer could help doctors treat and diagnose their patients. Over the past few months, researchers have been stockpiling Watson's database with information from journals and encyclopedias, in an attempt to beef up the device's medical acumen. The idea is to eventually sync this database with a hospital's electronic health records, allowing doctors to remotely consult Watson via cloud computing and speech-recognition technology. The system still has its kinks to work out, but during a recent demonstration for the AP, IBM's brainchild accurately diagnosed a fictional patient with Lyme disease using only a list of symptoms. It may be another two years, however, before we see Watson in a white coat, as IBM has yet to set a price for its digitized doc. But if it's as sharp in the lab as it was on TV, we may end up remembering Watson for a lot more than pwning Ken Jennings. Head past the break for a video from the University of Maryland School of Medicine, which, along with Columbia University, has been directly involved in IBM's program.
The Engadget Show - 018: GM's Micky Bly, Watson researcher David Gondek, EN-V demo, Atrix 4G
Humans, allow us to present the latest episode of The Engadget Show -- you won't want to miss it. First up, Josh and Tim Stevens sit down with GM's chief electrical engineer Micky Bly for a frank conversation on the future of automotive technology, chatting about everything from networked vehicles (with a surprise visit from the unmistakable EN-V prototype), electric cars, advancing smartphone integration, and a world without stoplights. Then, Micky announces and demos Chevy's new MyLink infotainment system, in a world-first, Engadget Show-exclusive look at the new technology. Fresh off a resounding victory over mankind, IBM's Watson researcher David Gondek joins Josh and Paul for a breakdown of Watson's Jeopardy domination and an in-depth conversation about machine-learning, artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction, and the meaning of love. Last up, Josh, Paul, and Nilay bust out the Motorola Atrix 4G and break down the week in news, including Nokia's Windows Phone announcement, the rise of Honeycomb tablets, and everything worth talking about from Mobile World Congress. This is one you absolutely should not miss. What are you waiting for? Watch it now! Hit up the video stream after the break or download the show in HD below! Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, Paul Miller Special guests: Micky Bly, David Gondek Produced and Directed by: Chad Mumm Executive Producer: Joshua Fruhlinger Edited by: Danny Madden Music by: Note! Visuals by: Batsly Adams Opening titles by: Julien Nantiec Taped live at SIR Stage37 Download the Show: The Engadget Show - 018 (HD) / The Engadget Show - 018 (iPod / iPhone / Zune formatted) / The Engadget Show - 018 (Small) Subscribe to the Show: [iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (MP4). [Zune] Subscribe to the Show directly in the Zune Marketplace (MP4). [RSS MP4] Add the Engadget Show feed (MP4) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically. [HD RSS] Get the Engadget Show delivered automatically in HD. [iPad RSS] Get the Engadget Show in iPad-friendly adaptive format.
The Engadget Show returns tonight with GM head engineer Micky Bly, Watson's creators, new products, and much more!
Clear your calendars everybody, because tonight at 7:00pm ET, the Engadget Show is back in a big way! GM's head engineer Micky Bly (the man responsible for the Volt) will be on hand for some frank conversation about the future of cars and a bunch of mind-blowing demos to go with it. Oh, and GM says they have a big announcement that they will be making exclusively on the Engadget Show, so be a part of tech history and come join us, won't you? Engadget auto editor Tim Stevens will be joining the fun and we'll also have a very special guest from IBM's Watson team, fresh off the game-show-playing supercomputer's three-day run on Jeopardy. It will be a night to remember, with some incredible chiptunes music by Note! with visuals from Batsly Adams. As usual, we'll be streaming live at 7:00PM from SIR's Stage 37 (a new venue!) and we've got around 350 seats available on a first-come, first-served basis if you want to join us in person. Also, trust us when we say that the giveaways for this taping are going to absolutely blow. your. mind. REMINDER: The Show will be taking place in a lovely new venue, the SIR Stage37 (ie. not the TimesCenter or Cooper Union), located in Manhattan at 508 West 37th Street, between 10th and 11th Avenues. Tickets are -- as always -- free to anyone who would like to attend, but seating is limited, and tickets will be first come, first served... so get there early! Also, because of the nature of the space, we won't be able to do assigned seats so the seats will be first-come, first-served as well (we know, just after you got used to assigned seating!). Here's the updated info on our new ticketing policy that you need to know: There is no admission fee -- tickets are completely free The event is all ages Ticketing will begin at the SIR Stage37 at 5:00PM on Thursday, February 17th, doors will open for seating at 6:15PM, and the show begins at 7:00PM We can't do assigned seating in this venue, so remember that your ticket guarantees you entry into the show, but where you sit is up to you. You cannot collect tickets for friends or family -- anyone who would like to come must be present to get a ticket Seating capacity is limited (we've got room for approximately 350), and once we're full, we're full The venue is located at 508 West 37th St, between 10th and 11th Avenues. (map after the break) The show length is around an hour If you're a member of the media who wishes to attend, please contact us at: engadgetshowmedia [at] engadget [dot] com, and we'll try to accommodate you. All other non-media questions can be sent to: engadgetshow [at] engadget [dot] com. Subscribe to the Show: [iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (M4V). [Zune] Subscribe to the Show directly in the Zune Marketplace (M4V). [RSS M4V] Add the Engadget Show feed (M4V) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically.
The Engadget Show returns Thursday with GM head engineer Micky Bly, Watson's creators, new products, and much more!
Clear your calendars everybody, because tomorrow, February 17th at 7:00pm, the Engadget Show is back in a big way! GM's head engineer Micky Bly (the man responsible for the Volt) will be on hand for some frank conversation about the future of cars and a bunch of mind-blowing demos to go with it. Oh, and GM says they have a big announcement that they will be making exclusively on the Engadget Show, so be a part of tech history and come join us, won't you? Engadget auto editor Tim Stevens will be joining the fun and we'll also have a very special guest from IBM's Watson team, fresh off the game-show-playing supercomputer's three-day run on Jeopardy. It will be a night to remember, with some incredible chiptunes music by Note! with visuals from Batsly Adams. As usual, we'll be streaming live at 7:00PM from SIR's Stage 37 (a new venue!) and we've got around 350 seats available on a first-come, first-served basis if you want to join us in person. Also, trust me when I say that the giveaways for this taping are going to absolutely blow. your. mind. REMINDER: The Show will be taking place in a lovely new venue, the SIR Stage37 (ie. not the TimesCenter or Cooper Union), located in Manhattan at 508 West 37th Street, between 10th and 11th Avenues. Tickets are -- as always -- free to anyone who would like to attend, but seating is limited, and tickets will be first come, first served... so get there early! Also, because of the nature of the space, we won't be able to do assigned seats so the seats will be first-come, first-served as well (we know, just after you got used to assigned seating!). Here's the updated info on our new ticketing policy that you need to know: There is no admission fee -- tickets are completely free The event is all ages Ticketing will begin at the SIR Stage37 at 5:00PM on Thursday, February 17th, doors will open for seating at 6:15PM, and the show begins at 7:00PM We can't do assigned seating in this venue, so remember that your ticket guarantees you entry into the show, but where you sit is up to you. You cannot collect tickets for friends or family -- anyone who would like to come must be present to get a ticket Seating capacity is limited (we've got room for approximately 350), and once we're full, we're full The venue is located at 508 West 37th St, between 10th and 11th Avenues. (map after the break) The show length is around an hour If you're a member of the media who wishes to attend, please contact us at: engadgetshowmedia [at] engadget [dot] com, and we'll try to accommodate you. All other non-media questions can be sent to: engadgetshow [at] engadget [dot] com. Subscribe to the Show: [iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (M4V). [Zune] Subscribe to the Show directly in the Zune Marketplace (M4V). [RSS M4V] Add the Engadget Show feed (M4V) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically.
The Engadget Show returns this Thursday with GM head engineer Micky Bly, Watson's creators, new products, and much more!
Clear your calendars everybody, because this Thursday, February 17th at 7:00pm, the Engadget Show is back in a big way! GM's head engineer Micky Bly (the man responsible for the Volt) will be on hand for some frank conversation about the future of cars and a bunch of mind-blowing demos to go with it. Oh, and GM says they have a big announcement that they will be making exclusively on the Engadget Show, so be a part of tech history and come join us, won't you? Engadget auto editor Tim Stevens will be joining the fun and we'll also have a very special guest from IBM's Watson team, fresh off the game-show-playing supercomputer's three-day run on Jeopardy. It will be a night to remember, with some incredible chiptunes music by Note! with visuals from Batsly Adams. As usual, we'll be streaming live at 7:00PM from SIR's Stage 37 (a new venue!) and we've got around 350 seats available on a first-come, first-served basis if you want to join us in person. Also, trust me when I say that the giveaways for this taping are going to absolutely blow. your. mind. REMINDER: The Show will be taking place in a lovely new venue, the SIR Stage37 (ie. not the TimesCenter or Cooper Union), located in Manhattan at 508 West 37th Street, between 10th and 11th Avenues. Tickets are -- as always -- free to anyone who would like to attend, but seating is limited, and tickets will be first come, first served... so get there early! Also, because of the nature of the space, we won't be able to do assigned seats so the seats will be first-come, first-served as well (we know, just after you got used to assigned seating!). Here's the updated info on our new ticketing policy that you need to know: There is no admission fee -- tickets are completely free The event is all ages Ticketing will begin at the SIR Stage37 at 5:00PM on Thursday, February 17th, doors will open for seating at 6:15PM, and the show begins at 7:00PM We can't do assigned seating in this venue, so remember that your ticket guarantees you entry into the show, but where you sit is up to you. You cannot collect tickets for friends or family -- anyone who would like to come must be present to get a ticket Seating capacity is limited (we've got room for approximately 350), and once we're full, we're full The venue is located at 508 West 37th St, between 10th and 11th Avenues. (map after the break) The show length is around an hour Sprint is also offering 50 guaranteed tickets to The Engadget Show taping to the first 50 entrants who text "ENGADGET" to 467467 or enter online! Standard text messaging rates apply. Click for the Official Rules and see how to enter online. If you're a member of the media who wishes to attend, please contact us at: engadgetshowmedia [at] engadget [dot] com, and we'll try to accommodate you. All other non-media questions can be sent to: engadgetshow [at] engadget [dot] com. Subscribe to the Show: [iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (M4V). [Zune] Subscribe to the Show directly in the Zune Marketplace (M4V). [RSS M4V] Add the Engadget Show feed (M4V) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically.
The Engadget Show returns next Thursday, February 17th
Gentlemen and ladies, it's that time again -- that's right, the Engadget Show is back next Thursday, February 17th! We'll have more details for you on Monday, but clear your schedules, cancel your hot dates, put down Dead Space 2, and get yourself to New York City next Thursday. As usual, we'll be streaming live right here on Engadget, but you'll have to trust us when we say you're gonna want to be at this one in person. Stay tuned! If you're a member of the media who wishes to attend, please contact us at: engadgetshowmedia [at] engadget [dot] com, and we'll try to accommodate you. All other non-media questions can be sent to: engadgetshow [at] engadget [dot] com. Subscribe to the Show: [iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (M4V). [Zune] Subscribe to the Show directly in the Zune Marketplace (M4V). [RSS M4V] Add the Engadget Show feed (M4V) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically.
IBM forms new partnership with ARM in hopes of developing ludicrously small chip processing technology
We've seen IBM and ARM team up before, but this week both companies announced a new joint initiative to develop 14nm chip processing technology. That's significantly smaller than the 20nm SoC technology ARM hopes to create in partnership with TSMC, and makes the company's previous work with IBM on 32nm semiconductors look like a cake walk. The potential benefits, though, are faster processors that require less power, and feature lower per unit manufacturing costs Who knows if or when we'll see tangible results from the tag team, but if IBM's Watson can beat Jeopardy champions, further reducing the average size of a feature that can be created on a chip should be elementary, right? To read over the full announcement check out the press release after the break.
IBM's Watson is really smart, will try to prove it on Jeopardy! this fall (video)
As much as we love our Google homepage, computer search remains a pretty rudimentary affair. You punch in keywords and you get only indirect answers in the form of relevant web results. IBM doesn't seem to be too happy with this situation and has been working for the past three years on perfecting its Watson supercomputer: an array of server racks that's been endowed with linguistic algorithms allowing it to not only recognize oddly phrased or implicative questions, but to answer them in kind, with direct and accurate responses. Stuffed with encyclopedic knowledge of the world around it, it answers on the basis of information stored within its data banks, though obviously you won't be able to tap into it any time soon for help with your homework. The latest word is that Watson's lab tests have impressed the producers of Jeopardy! enough to have the bot participate in a televised episode of the show. That could happen as early as this fall, which fits right in line with our scheduled doom at robots' hands by the end of 2012. Ah well, might as well get our popcorn and enjoy the show.
