GeekSugar

Watch Watson Take Home the Gold in Final Jeopardy!

PopSugarTV — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 11:15:54 PST

In case you missed the fun, IBM's Watson took home Jeopardy's top prize in this week's battle of man vs. machine. We already got a firsthand account of what it's like to compete against a computer from Jeopardy champ Ken Jennings, and now you can see for yourself how Watson dominated the game (and Ken's hilarious submission to the "computer overlords") in this Final Jeopardy clip!

5 Fun Tidbits About IBM's Watson Supercomputer

Kristy Korcz — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 01:30:25 PST

Last night, IBM's Watson super computer beat the humans in three rounds of head to head action. Jeopardy champ Ken Jennings recently connected with quiz show fans during an online live chat on The Washington Post's website, giving an insider's look at what it's like to play a game of trivia against a computer. We've already given you a peek at how IBM's Watson processes information, and now Ken Jennings gives readers the scoop on his performance with these interesting facts as extracted from The Washington Post live interview. Check it out, then be sure to head to the interview page for more!

The Jeopardy Supercomputer Is Winning

Kristen Hawley — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 01:00:26 PST

Jeopardy royalty Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter are back in the game after netting millions in winnings, and they're facing their toughest opponent yet - a computer. IBM's $1 million Watson computer is scheduled to compete against the duo in prime time next month, but in the first round of practice, the computer won. In fact, Watson didn't answer any questions incorrectly, though it did stay silent during one full category.

The computer itself aims to understand language as we speak it with all of its "subtleties, irony, and words with multiple meanings." Scientists loaded the computer with 200 million pages of text that it then analyzes to understand speech patterns. So to play Jeopardy, the computer processes each question and then using cues like keywording and "statistical paraphrasing" to come up with an answer. It will only ring in to answer if it reaches a percentage of certainty that it has the correct answer.

While the computer won the practice round beating Jennings by $1,000, none of the three contestants answered a question incorrectly.

IBM Debuts "Virtual Mirror" Kiosks For Hair and Makeup Help

GeekSugar — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 06:00:54 PST

Next week, IBM will be introducing their first ever "Virtual Mirror" kiosk at the National Retail Federation in NYC. What it does is take a digital photo (of the shopper) and scan in various makeup and hair coloring products that they may be interested in purchasing. Without having to actually try the makeup on you are guaranteed true colors and an accurate replica of your face. The EZ Face virtual mirror is already being used by Super-Pharm, one of the biggest drugstores in Israel, and will hit large US retailers sometime this year.

With virtual dressing rooms at a number of H&M stores and an Adidas shop in Paris utilizing virtual shopping mirrors, it's no surprise that this kind of technology is catching on. What do you think? Would you ever trust something like this to give you a precise makeup portrayal?

Honoring Some of Our Favorite Geeks For Black History Month

Michele Foley — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 05:01:38 PST

We may have Valentine's Day on the brain, but February also marks an important time of the year - Black History Month. In honor of Black History Month, let's take a look at some of our favorite geeks, both past and present. Everyone on this list has made vast contributions to furthering tech as we know it.

Dwayne McDuffie - The recently passed McDuffie wrote comic books for both Marvel and DC (including Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, the Fantastic Four and the Justice League of America) before founding his own company, Milestone Media, which helped pioneer the use of multicultural characters as its heroes.
Mark Dean - Nerd alert! Without Dean, there may not have been a PC - he holds three of IBM's original nine PC patents, leading the teams that developed the ISA bus and the first one-gigahertz chip.
Mae Carol Jemison - It doesn't get much geekier than space travel; Jemison was the first black woman to travel in space.
Philip Emeagwali - We can all blame Emeagwali for our Internet addiction. He developed the fastest supercomputer software in the world. His IQ is too high to be measured by conventional standards, and he's won a Gordon Bell Prize, which is like the Nobel Prize for computer science.

See the rest of the notables when you read more.

Daily Tech: Let Your Nose Be Your Guide

GeekSugar — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 10:51:54 PST

New use for the nostril: stealth flashlight! - io9
Futuristic computer glasses may be the next Google offering - SlashGear
Unintentionally hilarious superhero reinventions - Cracked
IBM says mind control is coming in five years - Dvice
Check out the year's priciest domain name, which sold for over $2 million - Newser
Facebook publishes social media guide for military and their families - Tecca

Meet Watson, Jeopardy's IBM Supercomputer Contestant!

PopSugarTV — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 17:30:48 PST

Jeopardy champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter go up against an IBM computer named Watson tonight, in the second of three episodes airing Feb. 14-16, 2011. Watson tied with Brad Rutter last night, and in case you missed it during the opening, check out this behind-the-scenes look at how Watson processes clues and information. Will he take home the win? Tune in to find out!

6 Women Leading the Technology Industry Today

Kelly Schwarze — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 03:17:55 PDT

This week IBM made the historic announcement that Virginia "Ginni" Rometty would be the 100-year-old technology company's first female CEO. Currently working within IBM's marketing division, Ginni is set to step into the top role on Jan. 1, 2012. She is credited as one of the driving forces to keep IBM a thriving technology company while many of its competitors have been hit hard by the current recession, even helping IBM reach global sales of $99 billion last year.

Check out the slideshow to learn more about other women like Ginni that currently hold the top c-suite executive spots in major technology companies.

9 Techies on the Forbes List of 100 Most Powerful Women

Kelly Schwarze — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 13:44:44 PDT

Forbes's list of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women has been released, and we're excited to see quite a few techies in the group.

Forbes selects candidates within six categories: billionaires, business, lifestyle (including entertainment and fashion), media, nonprofits, and politics. From those categories, each person is ranked upon three metrics: "dollars, a traditional and social media component, and power base points."

Nine women with technology connections made the prestigious list. Find out who they are and their rankings below.

5. Sheryl Sandberg, COO, Facebook - According to Forbes, Sheryl has helped to grow active Facebook users to represent 11 percent of the world's total population. She is also an outspoken advocate of empowering women in the workforce.
6. Melinda Gates, cofounder and cochair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation - A computer scientist in her own right, Melinda Gates now focuses on the foundation named after her and husband. In the last year alone, the organization gave away $2.4 billion in global charitable contributions with an emphasis on immunizations.
16. Susan Wojcicki, SVP of Advertising, Google - Dubbed "the most important Googler you've never heard of," Susan was the one to rent her legendary Palo Alto garage to the Google founders. She currently oversees AdWords and mobile advertising products and is responsible for bringing in 96 percent of the company's total revenue.
20. Cher Wang, cofounder and chair, HTC; VIA Technologies - As cofounder of Taiwan-based HTC, Cher has grown the company to be the maker of more than out of every five smartphones.
37. Carol Bartz, CEO, Yahoo! - As CEO of the Internet search engine, Carol has made Yahoo! into a leading digital media group with an audience reach over 700 million.

The remaining four most powerful women with a tech focus after the break.

Gone the Way of the Pager: 5 Technologies That Have Been Replaced

Kristy Korcz — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 07:13:59 PDT

You wouldn't consider a 30-year-old person "outdated," but when you're in the tech world, that's almost ancient. The PC is approaching its 30th birthday, and IBM engineer Mark Dean recently blogged about how quickly things move in technology, saying that "while PCs will continue to be much-used devices, they're no longer at the leading edge of computing. They're going the way of the vacuum tube, typewriter, vinyl records, CRT and incandescent light bulbs." Ouch. Of course, smaller and more portable items like a tablet, netbook, and smartphone could be helping usher the PC out of the spotlight, but there are a few other technologies that have felt the burn, too.

Landline telephone - It's rare these days that you'll find anyone without a cell phone, and it's becoming an appendage that people can't live without. So much so, that lots of tech-savvy people are going wireless full time and canceling their home phone service. The landline had its heyday, but the smartphone is the future.
Email - Sure, we still use email on a daily basis, but recent studies show that email is on the decline among teens. It's only a matter of time before email becomes "too slow," and the adults of the future find other ways to communicate. Facebook Messenger, by chance?
VHS - Video stores are a rarity in 2011, especially since you can rent videos without leaving your house. So it goes, I suppose, since the DVD brought about the demise of the VHS, and now DVDs are nearing the end of their prime. Hello, Blu-ray!
Typewriter - There's something about the clickity-clack of an old-school typewriter. It's kind of romantic, wouldn't you say? But let's get serious - there's really no comparing a typewriter with the functionality of a laptop, especially when you factor in weight, ribbons, and portability.
Cable - Cable companies should be sweating bullets right now. Not only are they being ousted by online streaming options like Hulu and Netflix, but customers are dropping subscriptions left and right because it's too darn expensive in this time of financial instability. If cable/Internet providers want to stay relevant, they need to adopt an online-only a la carte program that streams live shows online. Yes, live. If I had my druthers, I'd subscribe to an online-only version of HBO, Showtime, AMC, and SyFy. I'm sure there are plenty of others who would follow suit with their own combination of channels and would be happy to fork over the cash for the freedom of choice.