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Steve Hamm in
By now, just about any city with a progressive outlook has conducted an open data apps contest–inviting hackers to create applications that make life better there. But Dublin, Ireland, is putting other places to shame. Next year, its HACK THE CITY exhibition and festival will present a slew of events, workshops, installations, and mass-participation experiments aimed at exploring ways to make cities work better. “We want to leave an imprint that inspires people to think differently about how we could an should live in cities,” says Teresa Dillon, curator for the festival at Science Gallery, an initiative of Trinity College Dublin.
The Galley has been gathering applications from software hackers, artists, community activists, engineers and urban planners who want to participate by producing installations, performances, workshops, apps, etc. The call for proposals closes January 20, but Dillon says it’s not too late to get started on a proposal and urges people with innovative ideas to bring them forward. Find out more here.
Posted by
Steve Hamm in
For decades, scientists, engineers and designers have been attaching all manner of digital devices to human beings. Their quest is called wearable computing. Today, the smartphone makes computers essentially wearable and soon-to-be ubiquitous, but there are still plenty of uses for specialized wearable devices, especially in the healthcare field, and there’s one class of device that seems to be on its way to mass acceptance: the fitness monitor. It’s a handy tool for millions of people who made New Year’s resolutions to lose weight.
One of the pioneers in the field, BodyMedia Inc. in Pittsburgh, has just introduced an update of its BodyMedia FIT system that not only tracks physical activity but also provides personalized feedback. The system includes software from IBM that is most often used by businesses–but in this case helps individuals improve their well being. “This is a big step for us,” says Ivo Stivoric, the chief technology officer at BodyMedia and one of its founders. “This helps consumers connect the dots. They don’t just see the data. They get recommendations on what they can do to get back on track.”
The system demonstrates the potential for a combination of sensor technology, analytics software and easy-to-use interfaces to unlock the mysteries of the human body and produce insights that people can immediately put to use to make themselves healthier and happier.
Posted by
Steve Hamm in
We have tallied your “Likes” and the results are in. The popular favorite among the IBM 5 in 5 predictions of technologies that will change the way we live and work over the next five years is Mind reading is no longer science fiction. There are some lively comments on that one, too.
It’s not too late to weigh in with your opinion, however. Watch the videos and “Like” away!
People power will come to life
Click here to view the video and vote for this as the coolest IBM 5 in 5 prediction by clicking the “Like” button below the video.
You will never need a password again
Click here to view the video and vote for this as the coolest IBM 5 in 5 prediction by clicking the “Like” button below the video.
Mind reading is no longer science fiction
Click here to view the video and vote for this as the coolest IBM 5 in 5 prediction by clicking the “Like” button below the video.
The digital divide will cease to exist
Click here to view the video and vote for this as the coolest IBM 5 in 5 prediction by clicking the “Like” button below the video.
Junk mail will become priority mail
Click here to view the video and vote for this as the coolest IBM 5 in 5 prediction by clicking the “Like” button below the video.
People power will come to life
Click here to view the video and vote for this as the coolest IBM 5 in 5 prediction by clicking the “Like” button below the video.
You will never need a password again
Click here to view the video and vote for this as the coolest IBM 5 in 5 prediction by clicking the “Like” button below the video.
Mind reading is no longer science fiction
Click here to view the video and vote for this as the coolest IBM 5 in 5 prediction by clicking the “Like” button below the video.
The digital divide will cease to exist
Click here to view the video and vote for this as the coolest IBM 5 in 5 prediction by clicking the “Like” button below the video.
Junk mail will become priority mail
Click here to view the video and vote for this as the coolest IBM 5 in 5 prediction by clicking the “Like” button below the video.
Vote for this as the coolest IBM 5 in 5 prediction by clicking the “Like” button below.
Read an in-depth blog post from IBM Research about the technology underlying the prediction.
Join the Twitter conversation at #IBM5in5
Vote for this as the coolest IBM 5 in 5 prediction by clicking the “Like” button below.
Read and in-depth blog post from IBM Research about the technology underlying the prediction.
Join in the Twitter conversation at #IBM5in5
Posted by
Lia P Davis in
Guest post by Jonathan Taplin, Professor at the University of Southern California and the Director of the school’s Annenberg Innovation Lab.
What a thriller! After 11 innings last night, the St. Louis Cardinals forced a winner-takes-all Game 7 with tonight sure to be a great finale to close out this October classic.
The historic Game 6 also forced the Twitterverse to crown two new tweet and sentiment leaders in IBM and USC Annenberg’s latest analysis from the USC Social Sentiment Index. Due to their late inning heroics, the Texas Rangers’ Josh Hamilton netted the highest volume of tweets and an 88% positive sentiment while the biggest hero of the night, St. Louis Cardinals’ David Freese led his team in tweets and an 86% positive sentiment. Extra innings afforded diehard fans the opportunity to share their sentiment and push these two players over the top.
So what does Game 6’s analysis tell us? Social media fans are highly vocal, generating the largest volume of tweets during the final moments of the game. These real-time fan insights could have tremendous impact on how and when marketers engage these fans.
Get ready for an awesome Game 7 and a final World Series analysis where we’ll not only crown the Social Media MVP of the series but take a closer look all the cool trends we found with fans’ sentiment toward both teams’ managers, highest spike in a player’s tweets and much more. Stay tuned!
- Learn about how IBM and USC AIL are conducting the social media analysis project.
- Read more about “Behind the Diamond: Understanding MLB Fan Sentiment.”
- Read more about social media analysis from Games 3 & 4.
- Read about social media analysis from Games 1 and 2.
- Check out images from the World Series Social Sentiment Index
Posted by
Steve Hamm in
We asked on the People for a Smarter Planet Facebook page what IBM’s next grand challenge should be–now that a team at IBM Research accomplished the previous grand-challenge goal of creating a computer that could beat past champions at TV’s Jeopardy! quiz show. More than 750 people responded with ideas and votes. And the winner, with 303 votes, is: “create a working quantum computer.”
This quest would be plenty challenging. Computer Scientists have been developing theories about quantum computing ever since physicist Richard Feynman first proposed the concept of computing based on quantum mechanical phenomena in 1982. Nearly 30 years later, there are no quantum computers.
Another proposition came in a close second, with 277 votes: “fight global warming.” (This one got my vote.)
Other suggestions ranged from the earnest, such as “take healthcare to the next level,” with 18 votes; to the ridiculous, “time travel,” with 97 votes.
We’ll pass along the top suggestions to the folks at IBM Research.
To read what it’s all about, see two previous posts, this one by IBM researcher Dario Gil about the effort to create learning systems, and this one, the live blogging stream from IBM Research’s colloquium, the Frontiers of IT.
18:00
Posted by
Steve Hamm in
The crowds of New Yorkers and tourists who frequent the area around New York’s Lincoln Center may be wondering what’s going on near the corner of Broadway and Columbus Avenue. A driveway ramp lined with a 123-foot electronic data visualization wall leads down to an underground parking garage that has been converted into the THINK exhibit. (Believe me; it’s a lot cooler than it sounds.)
The exhibit was created by IBM in connection with its centennial celebrations. The data wall depicts visualizations of several of New York City’s challenges including water leakage, air pollution, traffic and credit card fraud, along with the potential for harvesting solar energy from rooftops. The media experience in the enclosed space at the bottom of the ramp includes a video, experienced on 40 interactive media columns, laying out the potential for making progress. These large vertical interactive touch screens then allow visitors to learn more about topics including smarter transportation systems, improved food production and the promise of personalized medicine. The quality of the displays is amazing–engaging not only your brain but your emotions. For me, the experience was nothing less than mind blowing.
The goal is to inspire people who visit with the message that the world can be made better if people know what’s really going on, understand the potential to improve things, and make smart decisions about how to do it. The exhibit is organized around an idea spelled out by Jeffrey O’Brien, one of my co-authors of IBM’s centennial book, Making the World Work Better, which posits that large-scale progress and innovation tends to follow a common development path: seeing, mapping, understanding, believing and acting. In a city known for its many museums and exhibits, this one stands out because its not just an enriching and educational experience; it’s also a call to action.
The hope is that people who visit, which includes the public and 700 attendees of IBM’s two-day gathering of global leaders, THINK: A Forum on the Future of Leadership, will be motivated to pitch in and help improve everything from the quality of life in their city or town to the sustainability of the natural environment. Lee Green, the IBM vice president who was in charge of making the exhibit happen, says, “We want to show people how progress comes about when you take a systematic approach to solving problems.” Ralph Appelbaum, the famed exhibit designer who was one of the masterminds of the THINK exhibit, said early on in the planning process that he hoped the people who visited the space would become “ambassadors to the future.”
A tip of the hat to the four firms that created the exhibit: SYPartners for the concept design, content development and creative direction, Ralph Appelbaum Associates, Inc. for planning and design, Mirada for the direction, design and production of film, interactives and data visualization, and George P. Johnson for the general management of the exhibit production and fabrication. Susana Rodriguez de Tembleque, executive creative director at SYPartners, says, “The design of the experience was deliberately immersive to make the idea of progress palpable and visceral.”
The exhibit brings to the public some of the key themes of THINK Forum, and, indeed, IBM’s centennial celebration. Progress doesn’t happen on its own. It requires bold leadership, taking the long view and developing a strong and cultivating a values-based culture. Organizations need to harness science, innovation and the power of collaboration t”o make the world work better.
The THINK exhibit is open to the public September 23-October 23. You can view the data wall at any time. The main exhibit is a 35-minute timed session that requires a free ticket, which can be pick up at the box office at the bottom of the ramp.
For those who can’t get to the exhibit, here’s a video that captures the flavor of the experience.
Posted by
Steve Hamm in
As part of its Centennial celebration, IBM has organized THINK: A Forum on the Future of Leadership, a gathering of 700 future leaders representing business, government, science and academia from around the world. The topic: What will it take to navigate the opportunities and threats that emerge over the coming decades? This live blog presents frequent updates–highlighting comments by speakers and issues raised.
To learn more about the event, click here. To interact via Twitter, use #Think or #IBM100.
Update: Here’s a video that sums up the ideas and conversations of the THINK Forum:
