March 8, 2007
Newsmakers
Ready for Web 3.0?
Add artificial intelligence to the existing Internet and you may get Web 3.0, according to a recent article in The New York Times. Referred to as the Holy Grail for Web developers is a system that can, the article states, give a complete response to a question like, “I’m looking for a warm place to vacation and I have a budget of $3,000. Oh, and I have an 11-year-old child.”
The query would take hours of work sifting through results, but with Web 3.0, “the same search would ideally call up a complete vacation package that was planned as meticulously as if it had been assembled by a human travel agent.”
A project called KnowItAll, by UW students and financed by Google, hints at this potential, the article stated. Oren Etzioni, a UW professor of computer science, was quoted at the article’s end, discussing the ultimate abilities of Web 3.0. “This system will know that spotless is better than clean,” adding, “There is a growing realization that text on the Web is a tremendous resource.”
In praise of resveratrol
Does resveratrol, a substance found in red wine and grape skins, really reduce the effects of obesity? It seems to work for mice, according to a recent study led by researchers at Harvard, and a recent article about it included commentary from two UW researchers.
A recent article in The Washington Post says research shows that the compound activated genes that protect against the effects of aging and can basically neutralize the negative effects of a poor diet. Several quoted sources said the research amounted to a major breakthrough that could have ramifications on human health.
The story concluded with comments by Peter Rabinovitch, professor, and Matt Kaeberlein, associate professor of pathology, from an article accompanying the study.
“For now, we counsel patience,” the two wrote. “Just sit back and relax with a glass of red wine … if you must and have a Big Mac, fries and an apple pie, we may soon know if you should supersize that resveratrol shake.”
Flawed fisheries prediction?
A late-2006 Canadian study predicting the collapse of global fishing stocks by midcentury brought strong comments from Ray Hilborn, UW professor of fisheries management, in stories by the Associated Press.
The AP reported that Hilborn questioned the validity of the data used in the controversial study. “I haven’t met anybody in the fisheries community that really gives it any credibility — it’s just so obviously bogus. Their method is just totally flawed because they rely on the history of catches to reflect the history of abundance.”
On Power-[click]Point
There was discussion recently on the Web site CNNMoney.com of the use of PowerPoint and other audiovisual aids. A reader wrote to ask, basically, how much PowerPoint is too much PowerPoint? The reader was advised not to overuse the program: “The more visual aids you use, the less you come off as a leader.”
This caused Roger Soder, professor in the College of Education, to write in with a comment the Web site ran with thanks a week or so later. “I’m glad to see someone at long last comment on the overuse of PowerPoint,” Soder wrote CNN. “Can you imagine Martin Luther King giving us his ‘I have a dream’ speech as ‘I have a [click] dream’? Or Winston Churchill saying, ‘I have nothing to offer you but [click] blood, [sweat] and tears [click]’?”
