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Luís F. Simões

Pattern | CLiPS - 2 views

  • Pattern is a web mining module for the Python programming language. It bundles tools for data retrieval (Google + Twitter + Wikipedia API, web spider, HTML DOM parser), text analysis (rule-based shallow parser, WordNet interface, syntactical + semantical n-gram search algorithm, tf-idf + cosine similarity + LSA metrics) and data visualization (graph networks).
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    Intuitive, well documented, and very powerful. A library to keep an eye on. Check the example Belgian elections, June 13, 2010 - Twitter opinion mining
Luzi Bergamin

Prof. Markrams Hirnmaschine (Startseite, NZZ Online) - 2 views

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    A critical view on Prof. Markram's Blue Brain project (in German).
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    A critical view on Prof. Markram's Blue Brain project (in German).
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    so critical that the comment needed to be posted twice :-) ?
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    Yes, I know; I still don't know how to deal with this f.... Diigo Toolbar! Shame on me!!!
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    Would be nice to read something about the modelling, but it appears that there is nothing published in detail. Following the article, the main approach is to model each(!) neuron taking into account the spatial structure of the neurons positions. Once achieved they expect intelligent behaviour. And they need a (type of) supercomputer which does not exist yet.
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    As far as I know it's sort of like "Let's construct an enormous dynamical system and see what happens"... i.e. a waste of taxpayer's money... Able to heal Alzheimer... Yeah... Actually I was on the conference the author is mentioning (FET 2011) and I have seen the presentations of all 6 flagship proposals. Following that I had a discussion with one of my colleagues about the existence of limits of the amount of bullshit politicians are willing to buy from scientists. Will there be a point at which politicians, despite their total ignorance, will realise that scientists simply don't deliver anything they promise? How long will we (scientists) be stuck in the viscous circle of have-to-promise-more-than-predecessors in order to get money? Will we face a situation when we'll be forced to revert to promises which are realistic? To be honest none of the 6 presentations convinced me of their scientific merit (apart from the one on graphene where I have absolutely no expertise to tell). Apparently a huge amount of money is about to be wasted.
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    It's not just "Let's construct an enormous dynamical system and see what happens", it's worse! Also the simulation of the cosmological evolution is/was a little bit of this type, still the results are very interesting and useful. Why? Neither the whole cosmos nor the human brain at the level of single neurons can be modelled on a computer, that would last aeons on a "yet-to-be-invented-extra-super-computer". Thus one has to make assumptions and simplifications. In cosmology we have working theories of gravitation, thermodynamics, electrodynamics etc. at hand; starting from these theories we can make reasonable assumptions and (more or less) justified simplifications. The result is valuable since it provides insight into a complex system under given, explicit and understood assumptions. Nothing similar seems to exist in neuroscience. There is no theory of the human brain and apparently nobody has the slightest idea which simplifications can be made without harm. Of course, Mr. Markram remains completely unaffected of ''details'' like this. Finally, Marek, money is not wasted, we ''build networks of excellence'' and ''select the brightest of the brightest'' to make them study and work at our ''elite institutions'' :-). I lively remember the stage of one of these "bestofthebest" from Ivy League at the ACT...
Luís F. Simões

Bitcoin P2P Currency: The Most Dangerous Project We've Ever Seen - 10 views

  • After month of research and discovery, we’ve learned the following:1. Bitcoin is a technologically sound project.2. Bitcoin is unstoppable without end-user prosecution.3. Bitcoin is the most dangerous open-source project ever created.4. Bitcoin may be the most dangerous technological project since the internet itself.5. Bitcoin is a political statement by technotarians (technological libertarians).*6. Bitcoins will change the world unless governments ban them with harsh penalties.
  • The benefits of a currency like this:a) Your coins can’t be frozen (like a Paypal account can be)b) Your coins can’t be trackedc) Your coins can’t be taxedd) Transaction costs are extremely low (sorry credit card companies)
  • An individual with the name -- or perhaps handle -- of Satoshi Nakamoto first wrote about bitcoins in a paper called Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.
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  • * We made this term up to describe the “good people” of the internet who believe in the fundamental rights of individuals to be free, have free speech, fight hypocrisy and stand behind logic, technology and science over religion, political structure and tradition. These are the people who build and support things like Wikileaks, Anonymous, Linux and Wikipedia. They think that people can, and should, govern themselves. They are against external forms of control such as DRM, laws that are bought and sold by lobbyists, and religions like Scientology. They include splinter groups that enforce these ideals in the form of hacktivism, such as the takedown of the Sony Playstation Network after Sony tried to prosecute a hacker for unlocking its console.
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    Sounds good!
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    wow it's frigthening! it's the dream of every anarchist, every drug, arm, human dealer! the world made as a global fiscal paradise... the idea is clever however it will not replace real money because 1 - no one will build a fortune on bitcoin if a technological breakthrough can ruin them 2 - government never allowed parallel money to flourish on their territory, so it will be almost impossible to change bitcoin against euros or dollars
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    interesting stuff anyone read cryptonomicon by neal stephenson? similar theme.
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    :) yes. One of the comments on reddit was precisely drawing the parallels with Neal Stephenson's Snowcrash / Diamond Age / Cryptonomicon. Interesting stuff indeed. It has a lot of potential for misuse, but also opens up new possibilities. We've discussed recently how emerging technologies will drive social change. Whether it's the likes of NSA / CIA who will benefit the most from the Twitters, Facebooks and so on, by gaining greater power for control, or whether individuals are being empowered to at least an identical degree. We saw last year VISA / PayPal censoring WikiLeaks... Well, here's a way for any individual to support such an organization, in a fully anonymous and uncontrollable way...
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    One of my colleagues has made a nice, short write-up about BitCoin: http://www.pds.ewi.tudelft.nl/~victor/bitcoin.html
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    very nice analysis indeed - thanks Tamas for sharing it!
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    mmm I'm not an expert but it seemed to me that, even if these criticisms are true, there is one fundamental difference between the money you exchange on internet via your bank, and bitcoins. The first one is virtual money and the second one aims at being real, physical, money, even if digital, in the same way as banknotes, coins, or gold.
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    An algorithm wanna-be central bank issuing untraceable tax free money between internet users? not more likely than the end of the world supposed to take place tomorrow, in my opinion. Algorithms don't usually assault women though !:P
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    well, most money is anyway just virtual and only based on expectations and trust ... (see e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_supply) and thus if people trust that this "money" has some value in the sense that they can get something of value to them in exchange, then not much more is needed it seems to me ...
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    @Leopold: ok let's use the rigth words then. Bitcoin aim at being a currency ("physical objects generally accepted as a medium of exchange" from wikipedia), different than the "demand deposit". In the article proposed by Tamas he compares what cannot be compared (currencies, demand deposits and their mean of exchange). The interesting question is wether one can create a digital currency which is too difficult to counterfeit. As far as I know, there is no existing digital currency except this bitcoins (and maybe the currencies from games as second life and others, but which are of limited use in real world).
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    well of course money is trust, and even more loans and credit and even more stock and bond markets. It all represents trust and expectations. However since the first banks 500 years ago and the first loans etc. etc., and as well the fact that bonds and currencies bring down whole countries (Greece lately), and are mainly controlled by large financial centres and (central) banks, banks have always been on the winning side no matter what and that isn't going to change easily. So if you are talking about these new currencies it would be a new era, not just a new currency. So should Greece convert its debt to bitcoins ;P ?
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    well, from 1936 to 1993 the central bank of france was owned by the state and was supposed to serve the general interest...
Luzi Bergamin

Airbus Concept Cabin - 3 views

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    Another futuristic view on flying by Airbus. To make it more sexy it also includes some biomimetics...
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    "The cabin electrical system can be compared to the human brain, with a network of intelligence pulsating through the cabin.". Oh, come on, ...
Francesco Biscani

Slashdot Technology Story | Is Cloud Computing the Hotel California of Tech? - 2 views

  • the cloud is still largely a one-way road into Web services, with closed data networks making it difficult to impossible to move data into competing services
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    also interesting is this article quote: "How big can the cloud get before it starts to rain?" http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/09/09/30/0152200/Amazons-Cloud-May-Provision-50000-VMs-a-Day
Juxi Leitner

Real-Life Cyborg Astrobiologists to Search for Signs of Life on Future Mars Missions - 0 views

  • EuroGeo team developed a wearable-computer platform for testing computer-vision exploration algorithms in real-time at geological or astrobiological field sites, focusing on the concept of "uncommon mapping"  in order to identify contrasting areas in an image of a planetary surface. Recently, the system was made more ergonomic and easy to use by porting the system into a phone-cam platform connected to a remote server.
  • a second computer-vision exploration algorithm using a  neural network in order to remember aspects of previous images and to perform novelty detection
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    well a bit misleading title...
LeopoldS

News - General: Winston the pigeon wings it - 0 views

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    I always new it - the future of telecom is with pigeons ... (what happened to our idea of the pigeon inspired navigator??)
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    Well, it's been newn... I mean known since computer networks were invented that it'll take them a long time to match with a throughput of a train carrying recorded media. The point is that throughput is not the only important parameter: the other is response time... (BTW let's see how this commenting feature works, not many folks seem to use it...)
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    I do use it quite regularily .... a train full of DVDs and flash drives, yes ok - but a pigeon!!!!
Christos Ampatzis

What it takes to be a team player - 2 views

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    PD's article presented to the idea storm: "They find the data can best be explained using a model that says an individual can join a team if she/he can bring some new, complementary skills to the group. This interpretation goes against the idea that an individual will tend to mainly join-and remain comfortable in-groups of "like-minded" people."
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    nice article according to the abstract but can't download the paper (can we from within ESA? do you have it already downloaded - would be interested in reading the full paper - can we apply this to behaviour and size of the ACT?
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    Yes it is available within ESA's network - I have it anyway
LeopoldS

BBC NEWS | Technology | Electricity to power 'smart grid' - 0 views

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    nice link from Andrés ...
ESA ACT

iCUBE Network Solutions | Online Operating System | OOS - 0 views

shared by ESA ACT on 24 Apr 09 - Cached
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    would be nice to have an open source equivalent ...
LeopoldS

YouTube - Festo Bionic Learning Network 2009 - 0 views

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    we have to get one of these flying pinguins!!! who knows more about this company? Tobias, these are the same ones that you had shown me I assume?
ESA ACT

Bionic Learning Network - 0 views

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    Festo - a rather conservative engineering company - tries to be advanced. Some cool ideas though.
ESA ACT

Prediction of human errors by maladaptive changes in event-related brain networks -- Ei... - 0 views

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    Predicting when humans are to make errors - would be great for EVA, piloting, ground control, etc.
ESA ACT

SIMILE | Welkin - 0 views

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    Luzi and Dario: can we use this semantic tool for the "temperature of ESA" project? please check
ESA ACT

Visual NetTools 1.0d - MacUpdate - 0 views

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    could this be useful for our x-serve?
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