» Technology

HP Labs thoughts on tomorrow

Vikramaditya Jakkula — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 01:15:37 +0000

Let us listen to Prith Banerjee from HP Labs:

Key things to note would that the world is changing too quickly, its more of a device oriented world moving forward, where smarter, slicker and savvy devices survive and the rest are obsolete.

[CNET]

Watson! Dear Watson!

Vikramaditya Jakkula — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 05:06:37 +0000

For the last few years, IBM scientists have been developing the most advanced “question answering” machine, able to understand a question posed by the user, and is expected to respond with a precise answer. In other words, it must do more than what search engines like Google and Bing do, which is merely point to a set of results where you might find the answer. But Watson has to give the correct answer itself. Lets look at Watson in a trivia challenge:

[ MSNBC ]

IBM upgrades SPSS data mining software

Vikramaditya Jakkula — Fri, 14 May 2010 13:54:34 +0000

IBM updates its SPSS suite with better social media analysis features and enhanced its text mining features too.According to IBM, this changes should allows customers to directly access text, web and survey data and integrate it into predictive models for helping meet there business needs in a better manner.

[Computer Business Review]

SAP buying Sybase: A $5.8 Billion Deal!

Vikramaditya Jakkula — Fri, 14 May 2010 13:31:43 +0000

SAP buying Sybase for $5.8 billion. The acquisition will allow SAP to own mobile and cloud computing technology which would aid its products future development. The deal will also provide substantial revenue streams and technology stake-hold that it can use to stay competitive with other industry giants.

About SAP:

Founded in 1972, SAP has a rich history of innovation and growth as a true industry leader. SAP currently has sales and development locations in more than 50 countries worldwide and is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and NYSE under the symbol “SAP.”

About Sybase:

Sybase has been a leader in developing and expanding innovative database technology. Since our founding in a Berkeley, Calif., home in 1984, we have earned the trust of many of the world’s leading companies for our ability to manage information and deliver unsurpassed levels of data reliability and security. Today, Sybase leads the industry in delivering enterprise software to manage, analyze and mobilize information. We are recognized globally as a performance leader, proven in the most data-intensive industries and across all major systems, networks and devices.

[eWeek]

Stanford’s Junior does parallel park with the right vigour!

Vikramaditya Jakkula — Fri, 14 May 2010 12:41:38 +0000

Stanford Racing Team’s autonomous car can throw itself into reverse, jam the accelerator to the floor, and slam on the brakes at 25 miles per hour, sliding sideways into a parking space. This feature would sure be a bang for a buck, if car manufacturers get it approved by DOT in coming years.

[More at Popular Science]

Future Technology Research from Intel on Display

Vikramaditya Jakkula — Fri, 14 May 2010 11:45:43 +0000

Photo by James Martin/CNET

Future Technologies Group, part of Intel Labs, are researchers who research into technology which humans could use in the future. Recently they did conduct a display of some of the ongoing research, which is more like a open house event. Some interesting next generation projects are as follows:

Highly accurate facial-recognition system
Personal energy system
Interactive Digital Aura
ClassmateAssist
Summarize (Text to Speech Software)
Augmented Image Reality

[More at CNET]

Hospitals are being empowered with data mining for better patient payments

Vikramaditya Jakkula — Fri, 14 May 2010 11:32:44 +0000

Yes, Hospitals are now keenly observing their customers! Yes, not only watching over the patiences and saving lifes, but also at the after process where the client could potential be a back burner during payments, and need to be chased down the road for bill payments.

The goal of the process is to catch the patients before they leave the hospital, help them realize the various options with respect to payments, and avoid chasing them later. The billing software companies are helping hospitals by providing information on patients who have enough assets to make payments.

“We know that 30 percent of the population won’t pay because they can’t afford to, and 30 percent will pay, said Stephen Mooney, president of Conifer’s Revenue Cycle Solutions unit in Frisco, Tex. His company aims to identify the remaining 40 percent who have some assets but need help figuring out whether and how they can afford their bill” – BusinessWeek

Infection control programs are using data mining technology

Vikramaditya Jakkula — Fri, 07 May 2010 11:45:20 +0000

Infection control within hospitals is a huge and a rapidly growing problem.In response, Medicare and private insurers are restricting payment for care of patients with HAIs. While many hospitals have made infection control a top priority, the historic challenge facing nurses, physicians, pharmacists and others charged with managing this problem has been combing through hundreds of records every day to identify trends or track individual patients.All hospitals, even small ones, contain huge amounts of data in paper and electronic records, often contained in separate departments or software applications. Here is where data mining plays a major role. Data mining is now being used to automatically monitor clinical information among these disparate data sets including pharmacy, lab, admission/discharge and medical transcripts.By applying algorithms such as, association rules, Bayesian classification and regression analysis to large data sets to identify patterns and meanings, hospitals can spot trends that would otherwise be hidden and not available with simple reports.

[Infection Control Today]

AR Drone can be flown with an iPhone

Vikramaditya Jakkula — Fri, 07 May 2010 11:33:34 +0000

Now we know iPhone can be used to fly drones. Yes, AR Drone has consumer plan. The AR Drone has four propellers, two cameras, and can be flown with an iPhone.

Watch now:

[IEEE Blog]

Sophisticated Heart Surgeries with Robotic Support

Vikramaditya Jakkula — Fri, 07 May 2010 11:22:06 +0000

Doctors have carried out a life-saving heart procedure with the help of a sophisticated robot. Cardiologists in Leicester were the first in the world to use a new robot that practically fucntions as the doctor’s right arm. The procedure involved passing a thin metal wire along the patient’s blood vessels and into the heart.If the muscle misfires electrical signals, it would raise the risk of a heart attack or stroke, eventually complicating the entire operation, but this could be made easy using the machine. The current robot system is much simpler to use than previous ones and doctors can be trained in just 15 minutes instead of several weeks.The system costs is expected to be around £350,000.

[Telegraph]