Archive for August, 2011

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In computer programming should more cores equal less accuracy?

August 26th, 2011
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We are moving from the information age to the insight age, where it’s not just data that matters, but finding ways to use it. These are uncharted waters, and the needs of the computing systems that will discover these insights are remarkably different from the computing systems we use today.

It is not a surprise that the computer industry is building chip with more cores to keep up with influx of data and the need to process it faster. Adding cores is a way to boost the number of processors and make a chip perform better without trying to increase the clock speed. And with more cores, we need to think differently about programming. And in this lies a big challenge and big opportunity.

The crux of the issue is how to program massively multicore chips so performance can scale along with the number of cores. I’ve covered MIT’s efforts on this as well as laid out how IBM is taking the programming and putting it on a chip modeled after the human brain. And IBM researcher David Ungar is apparently thinking that making less accurate computers is an answer.

More cores means less accuracy?

Unger, who is a researcher at IBM, is speaking at the SPLASH conference in Portland, Ore. in October. In a tantalizing summary of his talk, he explains his version of the many core problem and hints at a solution that IBM is working on along with Portland State University and Vrije Universiteit Brussel called the Renaissance project. The summary says:

If we cannot skirt Amdahl’s Law, the last 900 cores will do us no good whatsoever. What does this mean? We cannot afford even tiny amounts of serialization. Locks?! Even lock-free algorithms will not be parallel enough. They rely on instructions that require communication and synchronization between cores’ caches. Just as we learned to embrace languages without static type checking, and with the ability to shoot ourselves in the foot, we will need to embrace a style of programming without any synchronization whatsoever.

Ungar’s solution is to accept that a lack of synchronization also means that the computer will then give back less accurate results. “The obstacle we shall have to overcome, if we are to successfully program manycore systems, is our cherished assumption that we write programs that always get the exactly right answers,” it says. This runs counter to the love of accuracy that is the current rage in scientific and parallel computing, but it also seems in line with several other predictions about computing future. For example, Rice University is looking at probabilistic computing which sacrifices accuracy for more energy-efficient computers, and startup Lyric Semiconductor is also weighing such compromises.

Why are today’s chips and programming models hitting a wall?

The computing model is changing thanks to highly distributed nodes and single-focused applications such as Facebook or Google’s search engine, and mirrored in that change is a silicon-level shift to building massively multicore computers. The idea is that adding more cores boosts the performance of the chip with the caveat that the operating system understands how to use the hundreds or even thousands of cores at its disposal. But so far, getting an OS that can direct that many cores is a challenge. There are also physical challenges associated with accessing memory and not clogging the communications between cores on a chip.

Tilera is one such company building massively multicore chips, and Intel, Nvidia and AMD are also making plays in this area. So far, Nvidia and AMD, which are focusing on graphics processors, have built out tools to help program many-cored GPUs. Adapteva is a startup making many-core chips for cell phones and tablets, and I’m sure there are plenty of other efforts out there.

But for every many-core architecture out there, a programming model must be found to optimize it. And finding one that works on multiple chips will better serve the industry given that esoteric OSes won’t get the development love of the masses, and thus are less likely to win over converts. Nvidia is a perfect example of this. Until it created CUDA, a tool that helps scientist write C-level programs for the GPU, using its computers for anything other than games was super niche. But after CUDA more and more scientists picked it up, and now it’s even being deployed in supercomputers and specialty servers.

So the challenge for those, like Ungar, who are rethinking the way computers are programmed, is to find a way to do it without forcing programmers to throw out their old applications and rewrite. As big data applications become more prevalent, the discussion over the best hardware and best software will get louder, and perhaps some winners will emerge.

Source:http://gigaom.com/cloud/in-computer-programming-should-more-cores-equal-less-accuracy/

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Eastern Iowa Community College upcoming computer classes

August 26th, 2011
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We have a number of computer classes coming up in September.

Eastern Iowa Community College’s Continuing Education Department has a number of short-term computer classes coming up in September. These classes are open to both businesses and individuals and will be held at Scott Community College’s Urban Center, 306 West River Drive in downtown Davenport. Some of these classes include:

Creating Web Pages (HTML) – Level 1 teaches the basic concepts of Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), the programming language behind websites. Students will create a basic web page using a variety of HTML tags, create links to other documents, insert images and create and modify tables. The course will be held September 7 from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Cost of the class is $99 and the course number is 99054.

Excel – Level 1 is for those who are still using paper to maintain numbers, statistics and other data, but are ready to make the leap to a computerized format. This course teaches how to create, modify and format a basic worksheet, perform calculations, print the contents of a workbook and manage large workbooks. The course will be held September 8 from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Cost of the class is $99 and the course number is 99061.

Beginning Computers Using Microsoft Applications is an ideal class for those looking for a new job or anyone who wants to learn more about their home computer. Spend 18 hours learning about hardware and practicing with the most widely-used Microsoft Office software, including Word, Excel, the Internet and Windows accessory programs. Also, a discussion on computer topics such as e-mail and viruses The six-week course will be held from 6 – 9 p.m. on consecutive Wednesday nights beginning September 8. Cost of the class is $169 and the course number is 98921.

Windows XP – Level 1 provides a broad foundation for students so that they will have a greater awareness and confidence using personal computers. They will gain practical information and skills, such as how to manage personal files and folders and how to use many of the programs that come with Windows XP. The course will be held September 12 from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Cost of the class is $99 and the course number is 99055.

Introduction to the Personal Computer is designed for those who have never used a computer and for those thinking about buying a computer. Students will become familiar with terminology, get a taste of the Windows operating system, the word processor Word, and the spreadsheet Excel through hands-on experience. The course will be held, on September 13 from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Cost of the class is $89 and the course number is 99063.

Word – Level 1demonstrates the basic concepts required to produce business documents including how to create a basic document, modify and format text and paragraphs, add tables and graphic elements, control a document’s page setup and proof documents to make them more accurate. The course will be held September 14 from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Cost of the class is $99 and the course number is 99056.

Access 2010: Tables & Queries explores the skills required to design a relational database using Access 2010 in an 18-hour hands-on course. The course begins with overall design, how to create tables through different methods, explore table and field properties, layout options, filtering skills and different types of table relationships. It then moves onto querying the data and exploring various criteria including wildcards and parameter queries, calculating fields, groups, action and other complex queries. The six week course will be held from 6 – 9 p.m. on consecutive Wednesday nights beginning September 14. Cost of the course is $249 and the course number is 99323.

Windows 7 – Level 1 explores Windows 7, identifying its components, customizing the desktop, managing files and folders, using the common tools and programs and browsing the internet. The class will be held September 15 from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Cost of the course is $99 and the course number is 99065.

Eastern Iowa Community College also offers a wide range of short-term online course from Creating Web Pages to Accounting Fundamentals, Speed Spanish to Grant Writing, Medical Terminology to Excel. One of the primary advantages of online courses is that students can complete them entirely from their home or office and at any time of the day or night.

A complete list of classes is available online at www.ed2go.com/eicc New classes begin every month. All courses run for six weeks. Students read their lessons and ask questions of their instructor at the times most convenient to them.

Source:http://qconline.com/archives/qco/display.php?id=558287

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Irene Coming Sunday, City Battens Down the Hatches

August 26th, 2011
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Paul Durfee was hunched over a computer today, taking care of last minute orders as he and other True Value hardware stores across the eastern seaboard scramble to secure the last flashlights, rain ponchos and batteries in stock.

A True Value delivery truck will pull in front of the store on Saturday.

“That never happens,” Durfee, owner of Durfee Hardware in Rolfe Square, said Thursday morning. “Usually if I put an order in now, it would come on Monday. But we’re all trying to get as much as we can before the storm.”

That storm, Hurricane Irene, is on track to give Rhode Island its biggest wallop in years as it churns up the Atlantic. Amazingly, Durfee said, three or four of his customers didn’t even realize the storm was coming yet.

But that’s going to change in the next 24 hours. And there’s been plenty of people stopping by the store to grab what they can to prepare for what could be a major hurricane event.

“Everything that came in today is already pretty much gone,” Durfee said.

Things like shop-vacs, pumps, sump pumps, hoses, “all sorts of little stuff you don’t think of.”

The store’s windows will have to be taped up soon, too.

Over at Edgewood Yacht Club, the mission today has been to tie down and put away. A number of boat owners have pulled their vessels from the water already, a club official said as he ushered workers around the property.

The Cranston Fire Department Headquarters on Pontiac Avenue is a hive of activity. Fire Chief William McKenna said the department continues to closely watch the storm and is in the midst of storm planning and preparedness.

The city’s website will be updated soon with information for residents about evacuation routes, emergency shelter locations and more.

Sandbags will be available to residents, but on a limited basis, McKenna said. They’re intended for people to stop water when it poses a direct threat and will be subject to “limited availability,” McKenna said. What the city doesn’t want to see is people building walls around their homes before the storm.

“Four of the five models that National Weather Service uses are showing impact in Rhode Island, today they’ve shifted west a bit, it could be anywhere from eastern New York to Cape Cod, and because of the size of this we will be impacted,” said Lieutenant Colonel Denis Riel of the Rhode Island National Guard, who also serves as a media contact for the Rhode Island EMA.

Riel confirmed on Thursday morning that FEMA officials are in place in Rhode Island, and are advising state officials as the storm approaches. Currently Hurricane Irene is a dangerous category 3 Hurricane with maximum sustained winds at 115 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service. Irene’s track suggests that it may strike the New England area with plenty of force, possibly as a tropical storm or as powerful as a category 2 hurricane.

Area stores are seeing lots of customers stocking up on bottled water and other staples.

The Federal Government’s emergency preparedness internet resource ready.gov outlines a 3-step process for hurricane preparedness: Build a kit, Make a plan, Be informed. They even have aresource to help children prepare.

1. Build a kit. Having a portable kit ready to go, or for to use inside the home could prove an invaluable asset in an emergency. Does it sound like too much? Consider this: if you ever need it, it’s too late. Ready.gov recommends your kit have the following items.
1. Water. A minimum of one gallon of water per person per day, for at least three days. More water is NEVER a bad idea. Also consider including a water filtration kit, such as one used for camping, or those specifically designed for emergencies. Pay attention to what a filter actually filters. The best filter bacterial AND viral pathogens, as well as sediments and heavy metals. Keep in mind you’ll want to use at least a little water to clean, too.
2. Food. You’ll need enough non-perishables for a balanced meal to last each member of your household for at least three days.
3. NOAA Weather and AM/FM Radios (or one combo), batteries included. You’ll want the NOAA radio for government weather and emergency updates, and the AM/FM too.
4. Flashlights with extra batteries. Candles are never a bad idea too.
5. First Aid Kit. Sorry to say, the simple band-aids and peroxide won’t work here. Beef it up, and consider items like a splint, abdominal pads, large gauze pads, etc.
6. Whistle to signal for help.
7. Dust masks. The link provides details on air filtration, but the main point is different situation, different filter. Go for one rated to filter particles, such as an N95.
8. Moist towelettes and garbage bags.
9. Wrench/pliers. In case you need to turn off utilities, or gas.
10. Can opener.
11. Maps
12. Cellphone with a charger. Consider spare batteries.

This link also lists additional items to consider putting in a kit, such as important documents, prescription medicine, matches, spare cash, etc.

The Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency’s website is a little bit more thorough than ready.gov, and makes locally tailored suggestions. It also lists additional items you might want to consider putting in your kit, such as specific items for a first aid kit and types of food to pack.

2. Make a Plan. Identify an out of town contact to call and pass information through, and make sure everybody knows the number and has a way to call it. If infrastructure is destroyed, it might be difficult to place a local phone call, and easier to call longer distance. In case of an emergency, make a plan to stay or to go, depending on the situation.

3. Be informed. Know what type of disaster can affect you, and know what specific hazards exist in your neighborhood. If you’re in a low-lying coastal area, storm surge, flooding, and high waves could be a hazard. In an emergency, make an effort to stay informed. Know evacuation routes, emergency plans, the locations of shelters, and details of the storm and its progression.

RIEMA has published a guidebook entitled “Get Ready Rhode Island”to help citizens of our state prepare for a hurricane. It includes information on different types of alerts, how to prepare your home, various resources, and examples of what to do in different scenarios. NOAA also has a guideon its webpage.

Keep in mind that there’s always a rush for supplies right before a storm hits. Don’t wait to get your supplies until then. Store some cash to have on hand in case banks and ATMs are unavailable. Store some extra food somewhere. Designate two rendezvous points for family to rally at if you get separated, one in the neighborhood, and one out of state. Have pre-cut plywood at your house ready to go, buy bottled water and food ahead of time, have any hazardous trees pruned, and know the strong areas of your house. It seems like a lot to take it, but better to take it in now and prepared than stare possibility in the face as it cyclones northward.

Source:http://cranston.patch.com/articles/irene-coming-sunday-city-battens-down-the-hatches

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Time to upgrade your brain instead of your computer or cell phone?

August 26th, 2011
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I was into personal computers back when others thought they would come and go like the CB radio boon/bust that preceded them. My first job out of college was programming on IBM PC and PC/XTs that only came with a 160 kilobyte floppy disk drives or an optional 5 or 10 megabyte hard drive running on PC DOS version 1.something (disk operating system). I later went on to sell computers from various other companies that flourished or vanished over the 20 years I sold computers. As personal computers grew in power, capability and memory capacity; they all needed software upgrades. In addition new software brought about the need for hardware upgrades. This upgrade tug of war forced early personal computer owners to upgrade or be left behind. As micro or personal computer popularity spread, their presence in other aspects of our life did as well. We now have them in our cars, calculators, phones, mp3 players, appliances, security systems, etc, etc..

All of these little computers need software to function. Some of the manufactures make software and hardware upgrades available for them while others make you a buy a new model. I may have been ahead of most of you into jumping into the personal computer revolution, but I am confident most of you have upgraded software many times by now.

Although new features or supporting new hardware are occasionally a talking point, most often the reason you want to upgrade software is to avoid problems, bugs or security risks in the previous versions. It becomes a matter of getting a cleaner, better running version. Isn’t that something we could all use for our brain?

Now before some of you run away, or others of you google for the brain software download, please allow me to rattle on a bit more. Personal or micro computers have come a long way, but they still are light years away from our own brain in power and importance in our daily lives. Artificial intelligence has been bandied about for decades, yet computers will never rival the power of our own brains.

Our brains are logical and calculating like computers, but they are also creative, empathetic, intuitive, and can process more information faster than any computer ever will. We are often unaware of our own brain power because we often only think about the conscious logical part of our mind as our brain. Many thought our brain was only inside our skull thinking but disconnected from our emotions, connections, and physical movement and well being. Science and faith perhaps have led us out of that incorrect perception. We now know that our brain is not limited to our skull but that processing and storage of data is spread throughout our entire being. Our brain is split into hemispheres in our skull that sits on top of other deep layers of our brain and spinal cord. Our brain, nerves, arteries, muscles, other processing centers and more serve as the wiring and communication system that allows us to function, interact, grow, be immune, heal, see, hear, taste, smell, touch, predict, learn and do everything we do. Our brain controls our entire being down to the cells we are made of.

The deterministic, gene dominant philosophy is hard to agree with these days, now that science knows that even our cells are not controlled by the DNA within the nucleus of the cell. Geneticists removed the nucleus of a cell and were surprised to see it was still able to function. Science is swinging more and more toward the environment and our interaction with and perception of the environment determining our growth and health. Genes still provide the building blocks, but our environment and how we view and respond to our environment are the key factors to our growth and health. Our brain controls our response to our environment. As such it is the part of our being that is most affected by environmental factors like stress, trauma, toxins, nutrition, drugs, emotions, perceptions, relationships, connections, and more. It is also the part of us that directs our ability to overcome adapt and excel. Our brain includes what we consider our conscious and subconscious mind. Our subconscious is much more powerful than our conscious mind, which explains why we do not consciously realize how powerful our mind is. Yet our conscious mind directs our subconscious mind, so we need both to really make the most of our powerful brains.

You may be wondering where is the link for that brain upgrade download, but it is not available on the internet. It lies deep within you, ready for access and optimization. We have been searching for a way to tap into our own power for a long,long time. Before I explain the method I prefer and use, let me continue with the back story a bit longer so you can fully understand why and decide if you agree.

As we gradually became aware of the power of the subconscious mind, people began experimenting with how to tap into it. Some explorers into this realm, were hypnotists. They discovered many valuable things about the subconscious. They found that although people could generally only remember back to about 5 or 6 years old consciously, that the subconscious remembered everything. They found that the subconscious was a very strong advocate and protector. Hypnotists found it impossible to get people to do things that were bad for them. They also found they could get people to do things that were good for them that they could not do while conscious due to fears, apprehension or anxiety. This did not always work but did often enough that people went to hypnotists to stop smoking, drinking, and more. They also went to them to do things they should do but had difficulty with. Again the results were often good, but not always. In addition the subject was not conscious of what was going on while it was happening. The conscious mind was left out of the power they were tapping into. The client had to rely on the hypnotist and or the psychologist they worked with to explain what was going on and try to integrate it into their conscious lives.

Other forays into the realm within, included meditation and drug experimentation. Both attempting to quiet the conscious mind and enter an altered state where we could connect with that deeper subconscious part of ourselves. Benefits and limitations were found in both cases. These methods continue today. Some cultures embrace them and others do not, but they have been around perhaps much longer than hypnosis.

In the 1960s, a chiropractor named Dr. George Goodheart, DC found a way to test muscles to get information from the subconscious and restore muscle function. This was a symptom based approach that had limitations and subjectivity based on the muscle problem in question. Experimentation with muscle testing though found that answers could be found on a variety of subjects and all while the client was fully conscious and actually feeling the validity of the test. However, the subjectivity involved meant the questions had to be very specific and asked in a way that kept the conscious minds acting as observers rather than participants. It’s success led to popularity, but its limitations and failures by some practitioners to do it properly were highlighted by the traditional medical world that did everything possible to discredit it. Although the chiropractic world is more and more accepted today, back then it was fought more than accepted.

Then came Richard Utt, an electronic engineer diagnosed with a terminal illness. He was bound and determined to overcome his illness. He knew that all humans are electromagnetic beings. The Chinese had realized this thousands of years ago and developed a meridian system that identified how our energy flowed through us. Acupuncture or acupressure on these meridian points produced specific results and changes. They like many eastern cultures viewed this flow of energy as vital to good health. He realized he could use the meridian system, acupressure and muscle testing to identify very specific pathways and processes in the brain that were involved in maintaining and restoring proper health and function. Since our legs and jaws open and close electric circuits just like computers open and close circuits to store data, he realized he could use them to gather and store information in a process. This was all done while the client was conscious and able to integrate the information and restore function. He called this new concept Applied Physiology and had great success with it. He taught it to others that began to find new applications for it.

One application, the Crossinology Brain Integration Technique has had significant success is helping children of all ages with ADD ADHD and other learning disorders. Pioneers in this field knew the specific pathways in the brain that are used to learn. They began using the meridian system to identify and check these specific pathways for blockages and developed several methods for giving that information back to the client so these pathways could be reset to 100 percent open. Skeptics were astounded when even traditional electrode testing (EEGs) verified the changes in these pathways. Science proved it worked. Beter yet it was pathway specific rather than symptom reactive as so many other methods had been. Everyone could be evaluated and helped with whatever pathway issues they had. Surprisingly, everyone, even the pioneers themselves seemed to have weaknesses that could be identified and improved. Just like a computer software upgrade, the bugs and blockages could be found and removed restoring 100 percent function to key learning pathways. People who had the work done not only became better learners, there were countless other benefits. These identified learning pathways were involved in all of our sensory input and processing. Some people’s vision improved, other’s hearing, other’s balance, almost all noted improved health and well being. This opened the door to new possibilities about development and the potential for self improvement. Many have said that our personalities are mostly developed by the time we are six years old. If we think about our personalities as preferences, quirks, weaknesses and strengths this seems on the surface to be true. It seems very hard for us to change certain things about ourselves after reaching age six. But remember we usually do not consciously recall what happened to us before six, so it makes sense that we have difficulty changing it using only our conscious desire to do so. Yet with the Crossinology Brain Integration technique we can use the entire mind to overcome our weaknesses and enhance our strengths.

I found out about this work when my child had issues that needed help. It helped my child overcome ADD issues to such an extent that I decided to learn the method myself. I learned it form one of Richard Utt’s students and the founder of the Crossinology Brain Integration Technique, Susan McCrossin. By the time she taught me, it was an 80 step process that yielded incredible benefits to all that tried it.

One of the best parts of Susan’s Crossinology Brain Integration technique is that it can be supplemented with other forms of self healing and self improvement. I have added the work of others and discoveries of my own that are now extra tools that are utilized during the brain integration process.

Ready for your brain upgrade yet? The first step is to call and schedule a consultation so I can show you where your opportunities for improvement are. Then just like checking out the benefits of a software upgrade before you install it, I will tell you specifically what benefits you would gain before you decide to do it.

Happy the way you are? I undersand, felt that way myself. Fortunately, Susan will not teach you until you are integrated as she feels it is necessary to truly understand her work. I got my upgrade and have since done the same for all my family and so many others. It is my business, but also my passion and so very rewarding.

Still skeptical, I am ok with that. I still remember people who doubted personal computers would ever be more useful than a typewriter, including most of my family and friends when I took that first job programming them.

Thanks for reading this either way.

Best wishes to all,

Mark Sheffer

Source:http://triblocal.com/mundelein/community/stories/2011/08/time-to-upgrade-your-brain-instead-of-your-computer-or-cell-phone/

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Failing forward

August 26th, 2011
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Jobs, who stunned the computer industry on Wednesday with his resignation as chief executive of computer giant Apple Inc., has failed time and again, occasionally in spectacular fashion. He’s introduced products that bombed. He sent his companies in directions that went nowhere. And once, he was kicked out of Apple itself, an event that led to one of the greatest second acts in American business. Fifteen years after he returned as chief executive, he’s lifted Apple from near-bankruptcy to a stock market value of $300 billion, second-highest of any US company.

Jobs’s career demonstrates how failure can be a constant companion, even for winners. Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots, runs one of the most successful sports franchises in America, yet his team hasn’t won a Super Bowl since 2005. “It’s a challenge every week,’’ said Kraft, “and you go from the pinnacle to the pit, and very fast.’’

Kraft said that Jobs has the rare ability to keep losing but keep trying. “I think that Steve Jobs is unique in that he’s a visionary who also knows how to execute,’’ Kraft said. “He’s not afraid to fail.’’

Jobs and Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak launched the personal computer era with the Apple II in 1977. But Apple found it hard to stay on top. Its next major product, the Apple III, was plagued by faulty construction, and thousands were recalled. “When the III was going down, it looked like the end of Apple,’’ said Bob Metcalfe, co-inventor of Ethernet networking technology and a professor at the University of Texas at Austin.

Apple and Jobs survived that fiasco, but followed it up with another in 1983: the Lisa computer. Designed as a dream machine for advanced users, its $10,000 price frightened off customers, and few were ever sold.

The greatest of Jobs’s failures occurred in 1985. A year after the release of the iconic Macintosh computer, one of the company’s most influential products, he was ousted in a coup led by John Sculley, the man Jobs had recruited to be Apple’s chief executive.

“At 30, I was out. And very publicly out,’’ Jobs said in a 2005 commencement address at Stanford University. “What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.’’

On the rebound, Jobs founded NeXT Inc., a company that built desktop computers with advanced technology. People who knew computer hardware were awed by the new machines. “I remember being very impressed with how well they were put together,’’ said Al Hilwa, a software analyst at IDC Corp. in Redmond, Wash., who once worked as a computer technician at a company that purchased hundreds of NeXT machines.But NeXT machines were costly, and incompatible with other desktop computers. NeXT sold a grand total of 50,000 machines, and threatened to leave Jobs as a footnote in the history of digital technology.

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Still, as was the pattern in Jobs’s career, success was born of the failure. The NeXT’s incompatible operating system software was a blessing in disguise, robust and highly reliable compared to Microsoft Corp.’s Windows software, or the software then used on Apple’s Mac computers.

Apple executives knew the Mac badly needed an upgrade. So in 1996, they struck a deal with their ex-boss Jobs to buy NeXT for $429 million. The NeXT computer didn’t survive, but its operating system became the basis for the Mac OS X software that runs Macintosh computers today.

Suddenly, Jobs was back at Apple. Within a year, he ousted the previous chief executive and regained total control, imposing his creative vision on every Apple product. The result was a long string of hits, and a fair number of misses. There was the overpriced, hard-to-upgrade Cube desktop computer. That was followed by the ROKR, an ill-fated partnership with Motorola Inc. to build a cellphone compatible with Apple’s iTunes music service. But those failures were overshadowed by the massive success of the iMac computer, the iPod music player, the iPhone, and the iPad.

From failure, Jobs had learned valuable lessons. “The old Steve would not have succeeded the way the new Steve did when he was back at Apple,’’ Metcalfe said. “He seemed to have learned about management.’’

Amy Edmondson, a professor at the Harvard Business School, said successful entrepreneurs learn to expect failure. “Anything new and different and exciting that you’re going to try to do has a very high likelihood of failing,’’ Edmonson said. “If you understand that, you’re much better off.’’

But to benefit from failure, business people must study their blunders and learn from them. “The great human tendency,’’ said Edmondson, “is to put it behind us and move on, rather than milk it for its lessons.’’

The key question for Apple, she said, is whether new chief executive Tim Cook will prove to be as good at losing as Steve Jobs was.

Source:http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2011/08/26/steve_jobss_career_defined_as_much_by_missteps_as_triumphs/

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The Rise of the Thinking Machine

August 26th, 2011
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This year has seen some notable advancements in computer-based brain mimicry, not just on the artificial intelligence (AI) front, but also related to in silico brain simulations.

Watson’s vanquishing of Jeopardy champions Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings in February set the stage for the year. The now world-famous IBM super exhibited a sophisticated understanding of language semantics along with the ability to integrate that understanding into a complex analytics engine. Since the Jeopardy match, IBM has been looking to take the technology into the commercial realm, most notably in the health care arena.

Meanwhile projects like FACETS (Fast Analog Computing with Emergent Transient States) and SpiNNaker are working to uncover the nature of the brain at the level of the neuron. The goal here is not to create any kind of artificial intelligence system a la Watson, but rather to simulate the neuronal network of the brain for basic science research.

SpiNNaker, a multi-year project run out of the UK at the University of Manchester, also is attempting to map the brain’s low-level biological structure and function. In June, the project received its first batch of custom-built ARM processors that will eventually power a 50 thousand-node neural network supercomputer.

The FACETS project, managed by the University of Heidelberg, actually wrapped up last year. It’s sequel, BrainScaleS project booted up in January 2011, with the idea of developing of a “brain-inspired computer architecture” based on a custom-designed neural network hardware. BrainScaleS has links to Henry Markram’s famous Blue Brain work.

Blue Brain, based at the École Polytechnique Fédérale in Lausanne (EPFL), is perhaps the best-known of the brain mimicry projects. The idea is to perform detailed simulations of the brain at the scale of the neuronal network. In this case though, the work was done with conventional supercomputing hardware (if you can call Blue Gene conventional). The project has successfully simulated a rat cortical column.

The follow-on to Blue Brain, also headed by Markram, is the Human Brain Project. The goal here is to move from rats to human and simulate the entire brain.

The other bookend to the Watson AI story is also from IBM. Last week, the company unveiled their cognitive computing chips. This is basic research as well, but IBM is aiming the technology at developing thinking machines, rather than just using it to elucidate the workings of the brain.

I queried Markram about the significance to IBM’s latest chippery, who responded thusly: “This is a very important technology step. There are still many challenges ahead, but neuromorphic chips like IBM’s are bound to become key processing units in hybrid architectures of future computers.” He also recognized the work at FACETS/BrainScaleS and SpiNNaker as contributing to this growing body of knowledge.

So what does it all mean? For those of you who read about such development in the popular press, there has been plenty of speculation about the future of artificial brains. A lot of this is centered around how such technology will impact the human condition, particular how intelligent computers will displace human labor.

The big question is if such technology will ultimately benefit people or merely make them superfluous. Edward Tenner, a historian of technology and culture with a Ph.d in European history, believes it will be the former. From a piece he penned in The Atlantic:

Will people be obsolete? I doubt it. The economic theory of comparative advantage explains why. Assuming there will still be people, even if the computers are running everything, it will pay for them to let people do what they are relatively better at. There’s likely to be a higher opportunity cost for computers to do more intuitive analysis for which human brain-body system has evolved and concentrate on tasks at which their abilities are an even high-multiple than people’s. In the case of computers and people, as I suggested about IBM’s Watson and Jeopardy! there will always be elements of tacit knowledge and common sense that will be extremely expensive to achieve electronically.

His premise is that it will always be cheaper and more effective to have a real live human provide answers that involve intuition. “So even if, for example, computers surpass physicians on diagnostic reasoning,” he writes, “it will be cheaper, more effective, and safer to have their judgment double-checked by a real doctor.

Maybe. But I think one of the article’s commenters nailed it pretty well when he suggests that the real question is not whether computers will replace all labor, but how many jobs will be displaced by intelligent machines and how that impacts our traditional economic model. He writes:

In classical economics, employers furnish the capital, and workers produce raw materials and finished goods or services. There is tension between worker and management: both need each other, but both want a bigger piece of the profits from work; each has a strong bargaining position, and the compromise they reach determines wages and benefits. But what’s playing out on the world stage isn’t classical economics at all. With every passing year, owners of capital are relying less on workers and more on machines. The balance has shifted in favor of owners of capital.

We don’t have to wait for the future to see this play out. It’s been happening for decades, as businesses large and small have adopted IT. The commenter notes that multinational tech manufacture Foxconn will be shedding a million of its million and half workers manufacturing circuit boards over the next two years, thanks to assembly line robotics.

We’ve certainly seen similar downsizing across the manufacturing sector in general. A century ago, the same process happened in agriculture, a sector whose labor base continues to decline. It’s not that the industries are shrinking, just their labor force.

With the introduction of more sophisticated computing, machines are moving higher up the food chain. For example, over the last three decades at JP Morgan, profitability has risen by a factor of 30, but employee head count has only doubled. That’s directly attributable to computer technology raising productivity.

The advent of really intelligent machines like Watson and its neuromorphic brethren will accelerate all this, in ways we can only imagine. Even industries that are enjoying relatively rapid job growth today, like professional services, education, and health care, will eventually be impacted.

From my perspective, the key problem is that our social and economic systems are not ready for this. While everyone is fixated on globalization, I think that’s a side show compared to what will happen — and is happening — as intelligent technology displaces human labor worldwide.

It’s not just that people who have invested years of specialized training will find their jobs threatened. As the commenter noted above, the balance between capital and labor is shifting rapidly in favor of capital as the labor force is squeezed into fewer and fewer jobs that resist automation. The hope is that other industries will emerge to engage the masses again, as happened after the agricultural and industrial revolutions. But this time may be different.

Source:http://www.hpcwire.com/hpcwire/2011-08-25/the_rise_of_the_thinking_machine.html

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LMS and SAMTECH join forces for market leadership in global aerospace and automotive industries

August 26th, 2011
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LMS International, the leading partner in Test and Mechatronic Simulation today announced that it has acquired a 60% controlling majority position of SAMTECH, the Liège-based European provider of Computer Aided Engineering and structure analysis software. Under the leadership of Eric Carnoy as CEO, LMS SAMTECH will become the centre of the worldwide aerospace simulation business in the LMS Group. Including SAMTECH, LMS projects combined revenues for 2011 of 175 Million Euro or approximately 250 Million Dollars, and employs 1150 people over 40 offices in Europe, Americas and Asia.

For Dr. Urbain Vandeurzen, Chairman and CEO of LMS International, this is a strategic next step in LMS’ ambition to be the undisputed leader in Test and Mechatronic Simulation and to become the preferred engineering innovation partner for the leading Top Fortune 500 manufacturers in the automotive, aerospace and other advanced manufacturing industries: “LMS is truly unique in delivering mission-critical software and advanced engineering services for product innovation to the advanced high-tech mechanical and mechatronic industries. LMS combines hardware and software platforms for advanced testing with the most complete 1D and 3D platforms for realistic mechatronic simulation. These solutions enable our customers to take full advantage of the emerging model-based systems engineering approach, and to win by superior product innovation. We truly empower our customers by business transformation and next generation processes to develop more attractive, sustainable and smart products.”

“Building on our outstanding results in 2010, 2011 will become an absolute record year in LMS’ history with another year of 20% organic growth in revenues and record profits forecasted. With the addition of SAMTECH, LMS is projected to grow a stellar 65% over 2 years.”

Dr. Vandeurzen adds: “Over the past years SAMTECH has enjoyed healthy double digit growth year after year, and has developed an undisputed leadership position for 3D simulation in the European aerospace industries. The worldwide global presence of LMS and its strong references across all high-end mechanical industries can further accelerate the deployment of SAMTECH’s innovative software in Asia and the Americas. LMS and SAMTECH joining forces creates a win-win opportunity for joint customers across aerospace, automotive and other high-tech industries.”

Freddy Meurs, Deputy General Manager of Meusinvest and Michel Tilmant, former SAMTECH Board President: “After a thorough review of all strategic alternatives the SAMTECH Board of Directors has approved the decision to join LMS. This is truly a unique fit for the international development of SAMTECH, representing excellent opportunities for our customers, staff and shareholders. The international sales network of LMS in Europe, in the Americas and Asia will boost the promotion and the sales capacity of SAMTECH’s software and services business within all the key aerospace clients worldwide. Both companies have the same drive for innovation and growth. The fact that SAMTECH Liège will become the world centre for all further aerospace simulation business of the LMS Group activities is a sign of trust in the combined talent, competences and technologies of the SAMTECH team. We are looking forward to this next stage in the company’s successful development.”

Eric Carnoy, CEO of LMS SAMTECH; “The powerful complementarities between SAMTECH and LMS will greatly extend the SAMTECH leading company position in structural analysis, including linear and non-linear CAE simulation, structural optimization and coupled multiphysics. The unique combination of SAMTECH’s simulation solutions with the LMS hybrid engineering portfolio creates tremendous value for really all manufacturing companies.

During the last twenty five years, SAMTECH has developed its aerospace business (with AIRBUS, EADS, SNECMA SAFRAN Group, EUROCOPTER, ALENIA Aeronautica, THALES ALENIA Space, ONERA, SABCA, SONACA, TECHSPACEAERO, ESA, CNES, …). More recently important product diversifications were also started in the automotive sector (with TOYOTA Motor Corporation, PSA, RENAULT, DAIMLER …), and in the wind energy sector (for example with ALSTOM, REpower, AREVA, …).”

Within this list of customers, AIRBUS is certainly the most significant success story. The first SAMCEF licence was installed in AIRBUS Toulouse in the summer of 1986. During the late eighties, AIRBUS and SAMTECH worked together on parameterized FEA models for fatigue analysis of structures. SAMTECH Toulouse was opened in 1989. During the nineties, SAMTECH and AIRBUS have been working together on composite FEA simulations. In 1998, the first partnership contract was signed for the development and the commercialization of Professional Solutions. It started with the distribution of the SAFE tool for fatigue analysis of aircraft structure. In 2000, another professional application followed for composite structures analysis (Application Composite). In 2004, AIRBUS decided to launch a huge transnational program for the harmonization of its 400 legacy engineering software tools, to enhance its engineering methods for composite design and to share its tools with the Risk Sharing Partners of the new A350 XWB aircraft. In 2005, SAMTECH accessed to a new level of partnership with the new ISAMI project (Improved Structure Analysis Multidisciplinary Integration) on the basis of the engineering framework CAESAM (Computer Aided Engineering by SAMTECH). In parallel, SAMTECH could also put in evidence its BOSS quattro optimization capabilities in the context of the COMBOX project (for the preliminary design optimization of composite wing boxes). In July 2007, a Master Agreement Contract (MAC) was signed for service activity and from July 2008 until now, the deployment of ISAMI is progressing inside the AIRBUS world wide Extended Entreprise, in order to give access to the same engineering environment to all the structure analysis engineers working for or with AIRBUS.

“LMS and SAMTECH are long time and respected partners for ESA, with the products and services of both companies being critical enablers for spacecraft engineering at ESA’s technical centers throughout Europe. I’m convinced that with SAMTECH now part of LMS, the combination has the fantastic potential to further expand its technology and application leadership, and to support the spacecraft industry with its future engineering challenges.”, Dr. Constantinos Stavrinidis, Head of Mechanical Engineering Department, ESA-ESTEC.

LMS becomes the first and the only provider in the industry to deliver a full and unique portfolio of test and mechatronic simulation solutions for model-based system engineering, using 1D- and 3D system simulation and supporting all phases of product development – from the concept and the detailed design stages, through the final refinement and physical prototype validation stages. With the unique LMS-platform strategy, integrating test and mechatronic simulation across the development process, manufacturing companies can realize significant strategic competitive advantages.

Source:http://www.cadcamnews.in/2011/08/lms-and-samtech-join-forces-for-market.html

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