IBM Prepping ‘Watson’ Computer to Compete on Jeopardy!


IBM, not content to merely crush the spirits of chess masters like Garry Kasparov, have started working with Jeopardy! to create a supercomputer that will undoubtedly answer questions more accurately than Sean Connery.

The supercomputer, dubbed simply as a “Question Answering” system, is named Watson. Designers believe it will have the speed and “understanding” necessary to research, buzz in, and then answer questions fast enough to compete on the popular game show. But it’s not Google, engineers say. Don’t you dare call it Google.

And as you can see in the video, Alex Trebek is totally for it, going so far as to appear as though all his lines were prepared by IBM PR. Anything to avoid having to face off against your mortal enemy Sean Connery, eh Trebek? [YouTube – Thanks, blam!]

IBM, Samsung, Globalfoundries, and more looking to beat Intel to 28nm market

Sure, Intel’s one-upping AMD in the 32nm department, but IBM and its merry band of Technology Alliance members — including Samsung, STMicroelectronics, and AMD chipmakers Globalfoundries — are looking to ramp up the competition and develop even smaller, low power 28nm processors before Intel gets a chance to size down. The group additionally promises migration plans for companies who’ve got 32nm on their roadmap and want to maybe shrink a few of the later, already planned models. Early risk production for the 28nm chips are planned for second half 2010, which means it’s very unlikely we’ll be seeing them in consumer gadgets until at least 2011.

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IBM, Samsung, Globalfoundries, and more looking to beat Intel to 28nm market originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Apr 2009 05:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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IBM Withdraws Sun Bid

Over the weekend IBM withdrew a $7 billion bid for Sun Microsystem. The move follows some dissatisfaction with the bid on the part of Sun, despite the fact that IBM’s offer was far above the company’s market valuation.

The deal valued Sun at $9.40 a share. IBM is expected by some to restart talks, should Sun’s value drop below $8.49. The New York Times‘ report on the subject cites three sources who asked the paper to maintain their anonymity. “There’s lots of testosterone going back and forth,” one of the sources told the paper.

Lenovo’s VAIO P Reserve Edition?

What you’re looking at is a genuine Lenovo device taken by a trusted source from inside of a showroom within IBM’s Beijing headquarters Lenovo’s Beijing office. The details sent to Engadget Chinese are brief so we can’t tell you if it’s a working model or not. Nevertheless, it bears all the hallmarks of a ThinkPad Reserve Edition with just a tad of VAIO P thrown in for taste… so to speak. A few more hurried shots at the break.

Update: Tipster clarified that the pics are from a showroom inside a Lenovo office, not IBM’s Beijing HQ.

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Lenovo’s VAIO P Reserve Edition? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Mar 2009 04:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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IBM develops ZTIC USB stick for secure online banking

Among the goodies making their debut at CeBIT this week, ZTIC (Zone Trusted Information Channel) is a USB stick designed for secure online banking, even on your horribly malware-infected machine. Developed in Zurich by IBM, this guy opens an SSL connection with the bank’s servers, keeping the data safely on its side of things (this guy has no storage of its own) and displaying the transaction on the hardware itself. Even if your connection is breached by a “man-in-the-middle” attack, the hacker’s funny business will be exposed on the device’s display, which comes equipped with a big red “panic” button — just in case. Pricing and availability for banking institutions has yet to be determined, but we do have a boss video for you after the break.

[Via PC World]

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IBM develops ZTIC USB stick for secure online banking originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Mar 2009 11:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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IBM ThamesBlue supercomputer uncovers antediluvian English words

Granted, we could personally think of much more amazing ways to put supercomputers to work, but maybe there is some sort of benefit to humanity by knowing precisely what our ancestors’ first words were. All that aside, the IBM ThamesBlue supercomputer has been tapped by language masters at the University of Reading in order to find that ‘I,’ ‘we,’ ‘who’ and the numbers ‘1,’ ‘2’ and ‘3’ are amongst the most ancient across all Indo-European languages. Comically enough, it was also found that words like ‘squeeze,’ ‘guts,’ ‘stick,’ ‘throw’ and ‘dirty’ were also markedly archaic, which sure says a lot about how men in particular, um, don’t evolve. At any rate, these new computational powers have reportedly opened up another 25,000 years or so of language study, so we suspect the folks on this project will be occupied for some time to come.

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IBM ThamesBlue supercomputer uncovers antediluvian English words originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 01 Mar 2009 10:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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IBM patents bullet dodging bionic armor

Your science fiction fantasy may be coming a reality, if IBM has anything to say about it. The company was recently granted a patent for bionic body armor, originally filed last March, that’s intended to bestow the wearer the power to dodge bullets. The device works by constantly emitting electromagnetic waves that bounce off any fast-moving projectiles, and it uses the data to calculate risky trajectories. If the object in question is determined to be a threat, muscle stimulators activate and cause the wearer’s body to contort in such way to avoid being hit. It works under the idea that a sniper typically fires from a distance, given the armor time to detect the oncoming bullet and react accordingly. Check out an image of from IBM’s filing after the break. Here’s hoping it can detect lasers, too.

[Via The Firearm Blog; thanks, Chris!]

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IBM patents bullet dodging bionic armor originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 14 Feb 2009 00:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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IBM Patents Bionic Armor That Gives Humans Ability To Dodge Bullets

Believe it or not, IBM has filed for a patent on tech that heightens our reflexes so that we could, theoretically, dodge bullets like Neo in The Matrix.

This “Bionic Body Armor” would continuously scan the area for incoming projectiles. If one is detected, the system would deliver a shock to the muscles causing a swift, reflexive action away from the bullet.

The present invention relates generally to the protection of an individual against a projectile propelled from a firearm. More particularly, the present invention relates to a body armor system and its method of use that is capable of detecting a projectile propelled from a firearm, computing the trajectory of the projectile, and moving the individual out of the path of the projectile to avoid being hit.

Damn, that might actually work. I mean, think about how fast you move your hand away from a hot stove. Would that kind of movement actually be fast enough to dodge a bullet? [Patent via The Firearm Blog]

Study finds horrible working conditions at Microsoft, Dell ODM factory

Despite the fact that the world economy is suffering from cutbacks in nearly every job sector, factory workers in places such as the Meitai factory in Dongguan City, Guangdong, China — which assembles and produces keyboards for companies including Lenovo, Microsoft, Dell, HP and IBM — have been relatively insulated from the downturn, and their jobs secure. The National Labor Committee has conducted a covert operation to investigate the working conditions at the factory, however, and found them to be less than acceptable. The workers — who arguably are not compensated very well to begin with — are cheated out of wages for negligible wrongdoing, forced into overtime, fed food that even a Dickens character would refuse, work twelve hours a day seven days a week, and sleep in dorms which are “primitive” (yes, workers live at the factory). The report that the NLC has compiled is quite long, detailed, depressing, and begins, ironically, with a Bill Gates quote. Hit the read link for the full story.

Update: It looks like the source material at the read links is only working intermittently.

[Via Boing Boing]

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Study finds horrible working conditions at Microsoft, Dell ODM factory originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Feb 2009 09:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lenovo’s American CEO steps down, Chinese leadership returns

After leaving Dell to become chief executive of Lenovo, Bill Amelio is stepping down from his post as CEO. Amelio joined Lenovo to help with the integration of IBM’s PC business. The so-called “amicable” departure comes with the announcement of a quarterly loss three-times higher than expected. The US executive has been replaced by Lenovo’s Chairman Yang Yuanqing who will continue to live and work from Lenovo’s North Carolina office — Yang’s board leadership duties will now be assumed by Lenovo’s co-founder, Liu Chuanzhi. That puts Lenovo back into the hands of executive Chinese leadership as it attempts to recapture ground given up to HP and Acer in corporate sales. And with IT budgets slashed in a bid to keep corporations afloat, the executive changes are meant to accelerate Lenovo’s strategy to dominate China’s PC market, grow its business into emerging markets (specifically India and Russia), and expand upon its burgeoning sales to individual consumers. Seems like a reasonable move to us.

[Via Bloomberg]

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Lenovo’s American CEO steps down, Chinese leadership returns originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Feb 2009 04:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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