cognitive computing
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IBM's Watson taking crash course in Japanese for SoftBank
IBM's publicity-loving supercomputer Watson has a new job in Japan for wireless carrier SoftBank doing... something? Its job description is vague so far, but first it'll need to learn Japanese, no small feat for a machine that has remained mostly occidental so far. Watson is first and foremost a cognitive computer designed to parse language and find relationships between huge amounts of data. That means in order to help SoftBank -- which has divisions around the world, including Sprint Nextel in the US -- it'll need to get a better grasp of the language and culture in Japan.
IBM wants to put the power of Watson in your smartphone
Watson, IBM's Jeopardy-conquering super computer, has set its sites on mobile apps. Not long ago, the recently created Watson Business Group announced that would offer APIs to developers to create cloud-based apps built around cognitive computing. Now IBM is launching a competition to lure mobile app creators to its new platform. Over the next three months the company will be taking submissions that leverage Watson's unique capabilities like deep data analysis and natural language processing to put impossibly powerful tools to the palm of your hand. IBM is hoping for apps that "change the way consumers and businesses interact with data on their mobile devices." It's an ambitious goal, but considering the way Watson spanked Ken Jennings, it seems something that is well within its reach. The machine has already changed the way we view computers and artificial intelligence, not only by winning Jeopardy, but by making cancer treatment decisions and attending college. Now it wants to make your smartphone smarter than you could ever hope to be.
IBM supercomputer simulates 530 billion neurons and a whole lot of synapses
IBM Research, in collaboration with DARPA's Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics (SyNAPSE) program, has reached another brain simulation milestone. Powered by its new TrueNorth system on the world's second fastest supercomputer, IBM was capable of crafting a 2.084 billion neurosynaptic cores and 100 trillion synapses -- all at a speed "only" 1,542 times slower than real life. The abstract explains that this isn't a biologically realistic simulation of the human brain, but rather mathematically abstracted -- and little more dour -- versions steered towards maximizing function and minimizing cost. DARPA's SyNAPSE project aims to tie together supercomputing, neuroscience and neurotech for a future cognitive computing architecture far beyond what's running behind your PC screen at the moment. Want to know more? We've included IBM's video explanation of cognitive computing after the break.
IBM simulates cat's brain, humans are next
Almost exactly a year ago we noted DARPA pouring nearly $5 million into an IBM project to develop a computer capable of emulating the brain of a living creature. Having already modeled half of a mouse's brain, the researchers were at that time heading toward the more ambitious territory of feline intelligence, and today we can report on how far that cash injection and extra twelve months have gotten us. The first big announcement is that they have indeed succeeded in producing a computer simulation on par, in terms of complexity and scale, with a cat's brain. The second, perhaps more important, is that "jaw-dropping" progress has been made in the sophistication and detail level of human brain mapping. The reverse engineering of the brain is hoped to bring about new ways for building computers that mimic natural brain structures, an endeavor collectively termed as "cognitive computing." Read link will reveal more, and you can make your own cyborg jokes in the comments below.
