I was in Barcelona recently for the 2010 IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence. With little free time, I visited some of Barcelona’s famous architectures.

Gaudi’s Sagrada Família just blow me away!

His idea of a gothic cathedral is like seeing my day dream coming true. The little cherries and berries at the top are just ripe for picking under the sweltering summer heat.

Berries on top of La Sagrada Família

Inside the cathedral, there are big sunflowers which I imagine would be lovely to fall asleep while listening to a boring sermon!

I like to think that Gaudi and Computational Intelligence Scientists have something in common; we are both inspired by nature, and we both try to represent them in our work, either through architecture or computer algorithms.  Judging from the on-going construction, both must feel that it’s a never ending project.

Ugly looking Spanish barnacles

Afterward, we went to the famous Botafumeiro restaurant, and ate some Spanish seafood delicacies – including the strange percebes, which are barnacles highly valued by the Spaniards;  Delicious enough for fishermen to risk their lives to gather them from rocks beaten by strong sea waves.

They look ugly like the toes of a Komodo dragon (a big lizard).  It takes some  skills in twisting and turning the toe-like creature, but once you get it out of the shell, it actually tastes pretty good.

We were lucky to have Michio Sugeno as our dinner companion.  In addition to winning the prestigious 2010 IEEE Frank Rosenblatt Award, Michio is clearly the world’s champion of percebes opener!

Gaudi's Familia with big sunflowers

IPMU 2010 conference was hosted in Germany.

The IPMU conference brings together scientists working on methods for the management of uncertainty and aggregation of information in intelligent systems. It provides a medium for the exchange of ideas between theoreticians and practitioners in these and related areas.

Topics and Scope of the Conference

Theory, Methods and Tools: Uncertainty, Bayesian and Probabilistic Methods, Information Theory, Measures of Information and Uncertainty, Evidence and Possibility Theory, Utility Theory, Fuzzy Sets and Fuzzy Logic, Rough Sets, Aggregation Methods, Knowledge Representation, Approximate Reasoning, Non-classical Logics, Default Reasoning, Belief Revision, Argumentation, Ontologies, Uncertainty in Cognition, Graphical Models, Knowledge Acquisition, Machine Learning, Evolutionary Computation, Neural Networks, Data Analysis.

Application Fields: Intelligent Systems and Information Processing, Decision Support, Database and Information Systems, Information Retrieval and Fusion, Image Processing, Multi-Media, Agents, Pattern Recognition, Medicine and Bioinformatics, Finance, Software Engineering, Industrial Engineering.

Here is a big challenge for Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Semantics experts!

In a recent article – State-media story fuels questions on gymnast’s age – about He Kexin, a Chinese gymnast, this funny line appeared:

He herself told reporters after Wednesday’s final that “my real age is 16. I don’t pay any attention to what everyone says.”

Can any NLP technology ever crack this one? “He” is actually a “She” !!!

The full article written by JOHN LEICESTER, an Associated Press Writer is quoted below:

BEIJING – Just nine months before the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese government’s news agency, Xinhua, reported that gymnast He Kexin was 13, which would have made her ineligible to be on the team that won a gold medal this week.

In its report Nov. 3, Xinhua identified He as one of “10 big new stars” who made a splash at China’s Cities Games. It gave her age as 13 and reported that she beat Yang Yilin on the uneven bars at those games. In the final, “this little girl” pulled off a difficult release move on the bars known as the Li Na, named for another Chinese gymnast, Xinhua said in the report, which appeared on one of its Web sites, http://www.hb.xinhuanet.com

The Associated Press found the Xinhua report on the site Thursday morning and saved a copy of the page. Later that afternoon, the Web site was still working but the page was no longer accessible. Sports editors at the state-run news agency would not comment for publication.

If the age reported by Xinhua was correct, that would have meant He was too young to be on the Chinese team that beat the United States on Wednesday and clinched China’s first women’s team Olympic gold in gymnastics. He is also a favorite for gold in Monday’s uneven bars final.

Yang was also on Wednesday’s winning team. Questions have also been raised about her age and that of a third team member, Jiang Yuyuan.

Gymnasts have to be 16 during the Olympic year to be eligible for the games. He’s birthday is listed as Jan. 1, 1992.

Chinese authorities insist that all three are old enough to compete. He herself told reporters after Wednesday’s final that “my real age is 16. I don’t pay any attention to what everyone says.”

Zhang Hongliang, an official with China’s gymnastics delegation at the games, said Thursday the differing ages which have appeared in Chinese media reports had not been checked in advance with the gymnastics federation.

“It’s definitely a mistake,” Zhang said of the Xinhua report, speaking in a telephone interview. “Never has any media outlet called me to check the athletes’ ages.”

Asked whether the federation had changed their ages to make them eligible, Zhang said: “We are a sports department. How would we have the ability to do that?”

“We already explained this very clearly. There’s no need to discuss this thing again.”

The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) has said repeatedly that a passport is the “accepted proof of a gymnast’s eligibility,” and that He and China’s other gymnasts have presented ones that show they are age eligible. The IOC also checked the girls’ passports and deemed them valid.

A May 23 story in the China Daily newspaper, the official English-language paper of the Chinese government, said He was 14. The story was later corrected to list her as 16.

“This is not a USAG issue,” said Steve Penny, president of USA Gymnastics. “The FIG and the IOC are the proper bodies to handle this.”

I am sad to learn that Randy Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon University computer scientist whose “last lecture” about facing terminal cancer became an international sensation and a best-selling book, died today early Friday at his home in Virginia.

On my site, I only talk about people and scientists whom I know. But Randy Pausch first caught my attention while I was reading Wall Street Journal.

I like his thinking and admire his courage.

He was an articulate Lecturer and focused. One line I particularly like is when he talked about framing his illness as an engineering problem — engineering is not about optimal solution but it’s doing the best with what you have.

The lecture was videotaped and footage began spreading across thousands of Web sites. (The full talk can now be seen at thelastlecture.com.) His last lecture is shown below:

Companies are ramping up social network services in their organizations. Many managers are asking how to increase content contribution from employees and how to measure the success of enterprise social network.

I suggest that they should start thinking about the human motivation and behavior factor.

After the dotcom bubble burst in early 2000, many companies took advantage of the lessons learned in consumer space experimentation. The frequent key words I heard when we were speaking among managers about ROI are:

“Trust”, “Authoritative Content”, “Employee & Customer Self service” “Sticky Solution”

We are in a period of rapidly changing our computing paradigm from application model to social model. Computers and mobile devices are now the social machinery allowing us to collaborate with large group of people in a distributed network.

We believe in amazon book review ratings and buy a book if it’s 5 stars. We believe in Google search result and will take the first page search results as the de facto best documents out there in the WWW. These are examples of social computing models long before facebook and myspace come along. The science behind it is an equation of connectivity and social behavior.

One big challenge that I believe management faces is in building the TRUST factor in corporate social network services. Take care of this first and you will reap better content or business intelligence. Two emerging areas particularly important to support the trust model are:

• Behavioral modeling that allows management for experimenting, scenario planning, and deep understanding of behavior, patterns, and potential outcomes.
• Cognitive modeling that allows management to understand the human factors and address the challenges of increased growth, productivity, and innovation.

Many people asked me if there are any technology museums in NYC. Yes, we’ve wonderful science and technology museums and… we have the Apple Store Fifth Avenue open 24 hours!

See the Google map I created below (click on it to see the details).

View Larger Map

1. Apple Store at Fifth Avenue (HIGHLY recommended)
   It’s not a museum, but this is a heavenly place that you just can’t miss!
   Hint: You can admire the famous Plaza Hotel just across Fifth Ave.
2. American Museum of Natural History (HIGHLY recommended)
3. American Museum of the Moving Image (HIGHLY recommended)
   The American Museum of the Moving Image focuses on film, television and digital media, and its impact on culture and society.
4. Hayden Planetarium (HIGHLY recommended)
5. Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum (HIGHLY recommended)
   Sea, air and space exhibits aboard the U.S. Intrepid, an aircraft carrier with a successful battle history.
6. The Skyscraper Museum
7. The Museum of Television and Radio
8. Sony Wonder Technology Lab
9. Museum at Fashion Institute of Technology
10. New York Hall of Science
11. Goudreau Museum of Mathematics in Art and Science
12. Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences

I read a great video blog by Wall Street Journal — Andy Jordan reports on the robot-building tournament. See the final competition below or at WSJ site: Video

For a complete listing of awards, match results and scholarship winners, please visit FIRST online at www.usfirst.org and click on the “FIRST Championship 08” headline.

ATLANTA – April 19, 2008 – Three teams from St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, Greenville, Texas, and Sterling Heights, Michigan emerged victorious at the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Championship at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta this weekend, as one winning alliance. It was the climax to months of competition involving more than 1,500 teams from the United States and seven other nations: Brazil, Canada, Chile, Israel, Mexico, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

FIRST Robotics Competition Championship:
• Engineering Inspiration Award – Team 359, “Hawaiian Kids”, Hawaii
• Championship Finalists – Team 16, “Bomb Squad”, Arkansas; Team 67, “The H.O.T. Team”, Michigan; Team 348, “Norwell Robotics”, Massachusetts
• Division Champions – Archimedes Division: Team 177, “Bobcat Robotics”, Connecticut; Team 1024, “Kil-A-Bytes”, Indiana; Team 1124, “?berBots”, Connecticut. Curie Division: Team 16, “Bomb Squad”, Arkansas; Team 67, “The H.O.T. Team”, Michigan; Team 348, “Norwell Robotics”, Massachusetts. Galileo Division: Team 148, “Robowranglers”, Texas; Team 217, “ThunderChickens”, Michigan; Team 1114, “Simbotics”, Ontario, Canada. Newton Division: Team 60, “Bionic Bulldogs”, Arizona; Team 233, “The Pink Team”, Florida; Team 968, “RAWC (Robotics Alliance of West Covina)”, California
• Division Finalists – Archimedes Division: Team 365, “Miracle Workerz”, Delaware; Team 842, “Falcon Robotics”, Arizona; Team 987, “HIGHROLLERS”, Nevada. Curie Division: Team 100, “The WildHats”, California; Team 368, “TKM.368 (Team Kika Mana), Hawaii; Team 2171, “Robo Dogs”, Indiana. Galileo Division: Team 254, “Cheesy Poofs”, California; Team 384, “Sparky 384”, Virginia; Team 1717, “D’Penguineers”, California. Newton Division: Team 141, “WO-BOT”, Michigan; Team 1574, “MisCar”, Israel; Team 2016, “Mighty Monkey Wrenches”, New Jersey
• Autodesk Visualization Award – Team 867, “Absolute Value”, California
• Autodesk Inventor Award – Team 234, “Cyber Blue”, Indiana
• Chrysler Team Spirit Award – Team 1266, “The Devil Duckies”, California
• Delphi “Driving Tomorrow’s Technology”TM Award – Team 1690, “The Answer”, Israel
• General Motors Industrial Design Award – Team 233, “The Pink Team”, Florida
• Johnson & Johnson Gracious Professionalism Award – Team 75, “RoboRaiders”, New Jersey
• Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Entrepreneurship Award – Team 341, “Miss Daisy”, Pennsylvania
• Motorola Quality Award – Team 27, “Team RUSH”, Michigan
• Rockwell Automation Innovation in Control Award – Team 1024, “Kil-A-Bytes”, Indiana
• Underwriters Laboratories Industrial Safety Award – Team 2062, “C.O.R.E. 2062”, Wisconsin
• XEROX Creativity Award – Team 1771, “404 The Unknown Error”, Georgia
• Imagery Award – Team 365, “Miracle Workerz”, Delaware
- more -
• Rookie All-Star Award – Team 2352, “Metal Mayhem”, Oklahoma
• Rookie Inspiration Award – Team 2599, “Full Throttle”, California
• Highest Rookie Seed Award – Team 2337, “EngiNERDs”, Michigan
• Website Award – Team 115, “MVRT”, California
• Judges’ Awards – For Engineering in Society: Team 922, “ULTIMATE”, Texas; For International Achievement and Environmental Sustainability: Team 1860, “CEPHAS”, Brazil; For Leading Significant Transformation and Cultural Change: Team 768, “TechnoWarriors”, Maryland

Cloud computing is getting exciting with the beta release of Google App Engine in April.   There are many questions about the technology adoption challenges for enterprise computing.  Specifically questions like:

1. Is Google App Engine better than Amazon Web Services?
2. Can we develop enterprise applications with Google App Engine?

Both Google and Amazon promise to make Web application development easier.  Their service architectures are however quite different.  

So let me elaborate – Amazon’s clouds have an N-tiered architectural perspective.  The key components are:

• Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud  or Amazon EC2is a web service that provides resizable compute capacity in the cloud.
• Amazon Simple Storage Service or Amazon S3 is storage for the Internet.
• Amazon SimpleDB is a web service for running queries on structured data in real time.
• Amazon Simple Queue Service or Amazon SQS offers a reliable, highly scalable, hosted queue for storing messages.

These amazon services  can be used collectively to provide the ability to store, process and query data sets in the cloud.  Amazon’s architecture has built-in EAI – Enterprise Application Integration and automated workflow.

My opinion is that these amazon services are easier to be incorporated in an enterprise SDLC (Systems Development Lifecycle) and integrate with legacy systems. If you are an e-commerce store, Amazon also offers attractive e-commerce services e.g. Amazon Fulfillment Web Service or Amazon FWS that allows merchants to access Amazon.com’s fulfillment capabilities.  You let Amazon manage your inventory – you send inventory directly to Amazon where it is stored and managed in a secure, climate controlled facility. When orders are received, Amazon will professionally pick, pack and ship the product direct to your customer.

Google App Engine or GAE enables you to build web applications on the same scalable systems that power Google applications.  I saw interesting applications running in the App gallery, but it seems to limit one to develop standalone applications, not complex enterprise applications. 

I like to think of GAE as an innovation sandbox to test the user acceptance of a Web application concept quickly with millions of Google users, or perhaps even “share” Google’s user information  (indirectly for ad-targeting? This is a sensitive privacy topic!).  If you are a company that has an interactive customer business model, then maybe GAE is the cloud to grab. For example, Salesforce.com is integrating its CRM software with Google Apps.

So really, what matters is your business model and your business architecture.  Understanding this will make it easier to choose the cloud or perhaps use both of them.

There was an interesting conference in Phoenix a week ago – Social Computing, Behavioral Modeling and Prediction . This workshop is sponsored by Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), with School of Computing and Informatics, ASU. 

Social computing is concerned with the study of social behavior and social context based on computational systems. Behavioral modeling reproduces the social behavior, and allows for experimenting, scenario planning, and deep understanding of behavior, patterns, and potential outcomes. The pervasive use of computer and Internet technologies provides an unprecedented environment of various social activities. Social computing facilitates behavioral modeling in model building, analysis, pattern mining, and prediction. Numerous interdisciplinary and interdependent systems are created and used to represent the various social and physical systems for investigating the interactions between groups, communities, or nation-states. This requires joint efforts to take advantage of the state-of-the-art research from multiple disciplines, social computing, and behavioral modeling in order to document lessons learned and develop novel theories, experiments, and methodologies in terms of social, physical, psychological, and governmental mechanisms. The goal is to enable us to experiment, create, and recreate an operational environment with a better understanding of the contributions from each individual discipline, forging joint interdisciplinary efforts.

Web 2.0 is about gathering Collective Intelligence.
I was looking at Fortune companies use of blogging and if they encourage their employees to blog.
Below are my picks (based on frequency of posts, page rank and content) – not listed by preference:

• Tibco: http://tibcoblogs.com
• GE Global Research: From Edison’s Desk
• Sun Microsystems: blogs.sun.com
• IBM: http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/
• Oracle:  http://blogs.oracle.com/
• Google: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/ 
• HP:  The Digital Mindset
• Cisco: The Platform: The Official Cisco Blog
• Microsoft: Microsoft Live Labs, Microsoft Community Blogs

Interesting that I can’t find Apple’s official technology blog site.  Perhaps the users’ podcasts are keeping them busy?

I did look into Financial services, Life Sciences and Management Consulting companies. But I can’t find any interesting and official corporate blogs.  Please comment to this post if you find anything that I’m missing.