Artificial Intelligence in a nutshell

Ever tried the voice recognition feature in your mobile or computer? Most of us have!! And I am sure most of you were amused to see how a machine could recognize the language we speak. All this is possible due to Artificial Intelligence and this is a small speck of the enormous potential AI and its application hold with in.

Artificial Intelligence is a branch of computer science that aims at making machines or software programs that exhibit intelligent behavior like human beings i.e. a machine can perceive their surroundings, analyze and react in the best possible way. The AI involves various other fields like Cognitive Science, Mathematical Logic, computational science to name a few.

The history of artificial intelligence can be traced to 1950 when Alan Turing proposed the Turing test as a measure of machine intelligence. The Turing test   Prof. John McCarthy coined the term Artificial Intelligence at the conference on the campus of Dartmouth College in summer of 1956.Over the time AI has been divided into:

Strong AI :  Strong AI (Very often called as ‘true AI’) refers to AI that inculcates intelligence in the machine that matches or exceeds human intelligence. This has still not come in to existence but finds a place in many of the sci-fi movies like Matrix, Terminator etc.

Weak AI : Weak AI refers to AI that enables machines to only mimic humans based on their programming. This kind of AI just simulates the human thoughts and actions that they are programmed to. AI. The true AI features like independent reasoning, to learn freely and adapt are absent. All current form of AI is weak.

There are many areas in which weak AI already inhabits today’s world and in many cases we don’t even realize that we use Artificial Intelligence. Lets see some of such applications:

• The self-parking technology in cars is based on AI.
• AI is used in monitoring frauds in Banks.
• The voice recognition in mobile phones was made possible using AI.
• The intelligent homes comprising of temperature, passive infrared, electricity and light sensors are AI based.
• Unmanned aerial vehicles, autonomous submersibles, unmanned surveillance in shallow water used in Military also involve AI.
• The Computer chess built on AI defeated the world Champion Garry Kasparov in a game.

The dream of making machines that are ‘Truly AI’ does not seem impossible. Companies like Google are aiming at making search engine fully artificially intelligent. In future we will have a search engine that will not be based on ‘just the words we type in without the search engine understanding the meaning’, instead it will exactly understand what we want.

Fascinating research projects presented at Microsoft’s TechFest 2010

When brains at Microsoft Research Labs are at work, we can  definitely expect some path breaking techno developments. Techfest 2010 at Redmond witnessed many such demos on various projects. Lets have a look at some of them:

1. The Translating phone and The Transcriptor: Transcriptor generates a live transcript of the coversation we have over a call on a PC based communicator. The scripts are merged in email as well for searching.

The Translator is a wonderful concept that takes away the about the difference of language we might have over an important client call or anything like that. The translator translates the speech of the person on the other side of the phone to the language you want at real time. This 2-way translator also generates a live translated transcript. Find out more about the project @ http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/transcriptor/default.aspx

2. Project Gustav: Project Gustav is a creative endeavor of Microsoft to make digital painting a perfect realistic experience. It is a realistic painting system prototype that simulates natural, real-world painting environment.

For a better knowhow of the project visit the official page on Project Gustav.

3. Skinput: Skinput is a technology that favors the skin of our body to be used as an input device. Various signals like location of finger taps are collected by sensors worn as armbands. To know more about the Skinput check out http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/gustav/default.aspx

4. Mobile Surface: It aims at making any surface around you as a touch interface surface by linking together a mobile device, camera and a projector. It allows you to project an image on any surface and interact with it even without touching the image.

Click on http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/mobilesurface/default.aspx for more information.

An altogether new world of technologies. Exciting!! Isn’t it?? Lets wait and watch how these project finally turn out. Till then keep reading and commenting.

Now Listen to Blogs and Articles as MP3

Are you hard-pressed with time and that is the reason you find sometimes difficult to be updated with the latest articles, news snippets and blog posts? To make reading simple, here is a latest innovation that will help you to convert your text article to audio file. Amazing isn’t it? Additionally it can happen in just few simple steps. Just read on…

Carryout Text is the latest FREE web service that will help you convert your simple text file into an audio file.This software is simple to use and is available with no additional cost.

Instead of spending time by reading an article, you can convert that particular text file into a MP3 format and listen to it while working out in the treadmill.

So, the greatest advantage of Carryout Text is to get more things done in less time.

How to use this software application?

In the Carryout Text website do a copy and paste of the selected article and finally click on the submit to process button. This will help you get the MP3 file. All you need to do is download it into MP3 player or iPod and tune into the latest buzz, news and views. Remember to download the created audio MP3 files because CarryoutText does Not keep them stored for long time. Automatically these files will be removed the next day after creation.

Isn’t it cool guys !  Dont forget to CLICK HERE to get my updates….

World around Twitter – sending multiple DMs

Direct messages (DM) are like private tweets that can be sent to one Twitter user at a time and also only to those users who are following you. It is quite similar to sending emails. Once a direct message is sent, it will not be available for public viewing, the tweet pops up in the Tweet user inbox. The sender can see that in the sent items.

However, the bigggest limitation of sending DMs through twitter is that tweets are restricted to only single user. Additionally, Twitter does not allow to send direct messages to people who don’t follow you.

But now you can send direct messages to multiple users with TweetGuru MultiDM web service/application.

To send direct messages to multiple users, you can log in to TweetGuru.com using your Twitter account details. TweetGuru is nothing but an application based on twitter. Grant access to Tweetguru to connect to your Twitter account. Again, TweetGuru is fully compatible with your mobile browsers as well.

Aha ! From your iPhone or Blackberry, you can send replies for the birthday wishes that you have received with Direct Messages. But, here again there is a limitation and that is the multiple DMs can be sent to not more than 12 users at a time.

Go ahead and begin sending DMs now to more than one tweet user…. for over enthusiastic Twitter users, you can try ScreenTweet.com for a range of image, video based tweeting !

BumpTop: The desktop environment re-defined

Bored of the same stereotype ikons and their arrangement on your desktop? Here is a new 3D, intuitive, physics enabled desktop interface that gives you an experience that you haven’t had before.  BumpTop makes your desktop look and feel like a real desk where in you can pile up the files, flip through them like you do on your desk. It can be downloaded to Windows XP, Vista and Mac. It comes with wonderful multi-touch feature in Windows 7.

Out of many, few features are:

Instant Organization: You can toss the file on to printer to print them, to recycle bin to delete it or pile up the icons into a stack. Flip through them like a book or organize them into a grid. It is fun to see different icons bump into each other. It automatically filters the documents as we type the name and then piles them up. Much like your own room you can pin up, rotate the photographs. Multi-selection cannot get easier; you just need to make a circle around the files you need to select.

Social Networking: For all the social Networking lovers if you need to change your pic on the various sites like facebook, twitter, you just have to drop in your icon on the facebook and twitter icons on your desktop.

Check out the BumpTop site for more details on these features and download it to have fun with this desktop interferace.

50 Interesting Facts

1. Look at your zipper. See the initials YKK? It stands for Yoshida Kogyo Kabushibibaisha, the world’s largest zipper manufacturer.

2. A raisin dropped in a glass of freshchampagne will bounce up and down continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top.

3. A duck’s quack doesn’t echo. No one knows why.

4. 40 percent of McDonald’s profits come from the sales of Happy Meals.

5. 315 entries in Webster’s 1996 Dictionary were misspelled.

6. On the average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents daily.

7. Chocolate kills dogs! True, chocolate affects a dog’s heart and nervous system. A few ounces is enough to kill a small sized dog.

8. Most lipstick contains fish scales.

9. Ketchup was sold in the 1830’s as a medicine.

10. Leonardo da Vinci could write with one hand and draw with the other at the same time.

11. Because metal was scarce, the Oscars given out during World War II were made of wood.

12. There are no clocks in Las Vegas g@mbling casin0s.

13. Leonardo da Vinci invented scissors. Also, it took him 10 years to paint Mona Lisa’s lips.

14. Bruce Lee was so fast that they actually had to slow a film down so you could see his moves. That’s the opposite of the norm.

15. The original name for the butterfly was “flutterby”!

16. By raising your legs slowly and lying on your back, you can’t sink in quicksand.

17. Mosquito repellents don’t repel. They hide you. The spray blocks the mosquito’s sensors so they don’t know you’re there.

18. Dentists recommend that a toothbrush be kept at least six feet away from a toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush.

19. The first product to have a bar code was Wrigley’s gum.

20. The first owner of the Marlboro Company died of lung cancer.

21. Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike annually than the entire Nike factory workers in Malaysia combined.

22. Marilyn Monroe had six toes on one foot.

23. Adolf Hitler’s mother seriously considered having an abortion but was talked out of it by her doctor.

24. The three most valuable brand names on earth: Marlboro, Coca-Cola, and Budweiser, in that order.

25. “Stewardesses” is the longest word that can be typed with only the left hand.

26. To escape the grip of a crocodile’s jaws, prick your fingers into its eyeballs. It will let you go instantly.

27. A mathematical wonder: 111,111,111 multiplied by 111,111,111 gives the result 12, 345, 678, 987, 654, 321.

28. The most common name in the world is Mohammed.

29. The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.

30. The “pound” (#) key on your keyboard is called an octothorp.

31. The only domestic animal not mentioned in the Bible is the cat.

32. Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.

33. The average person’s left hand does 56% of the typing.

34. “Dreamt” is the only word in the English language that ends in “mt”.

35. It’s impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.

36. In Chinese, the KFC slogan “finger lickin’ good” comes out as “eat your fingers off”.

37. A cockroach can live for 10 days without a head.

39. We shed 40 pounds of skin a lifetime.

40. Yo-Yos were once used as weapons in the Philippines.

41. Coca-Cola can be used as car oil.

42. Mexico City sinks abut 10 inches a year.

43. Brains are more active sleeping than watching TV.

44. Blue is the favorite color of 80 percent of Americans.

45. When a person shakes their head from side to side, he is saying “yes” in Sri Lanka.

46. There are more chickens than people in the world.

47. It’s against the law in Iceland to have a dog.

48. The thumbnail grows the slowest, and the middle nail grows the fastest.

49. The only word in the English Language with all vowels in reverse order is “s ub c ont in ent al”.

50. There are more telephones than people in Washington, D.C.

Do you have such interesting Facts to share, here is the place ! Add on……….