Quoted – Mild-Mannered Watson Skewers Human Opponents on Jeopardy

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IBM‘s Watson supercomputer seems like an amiable-enough character, judging from his performance in a practice run against two top Jeopardy players. (Then again, H.A.L. seemed friendly and helpful too, until crossed by a human.) Should the emergence of technology that enables computers to understand and emulate human communications be viewed with any degree of trepidation?

“From an AI standpoint, the fact that IBM was able to build a computer that can interact on an intellectual basis with human speech clearly has ramifications that are far beyond Jeopardy,” said Scott Testa, a marketing professor for Cabrini College.

“But I think for people to accept that, it has to debut first in places like Jeopardy,” he told TechNewsWorld, “taking it to a basic level that people can understand and smile at before they let it make more complicated computations for them.”

http://www.technewsworld.com/story/Mild-Mannered-Watson-Skewers-Human-Opponents-on-Jeopardy-71651.html?wlc=1295064516

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Quoted – Good News From Google Fuels Tech-Sector Optimism – ECommerce Times

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Google spurred hopes for a tech-sector recovery with a surprisingly robust quarterly earnings report and news that it’s in the mood to shop. IBM also delivered better-than-expected results on the heels of a stellar report from bellwether Intel earlier in the week. Mergers and acquisitions are likely to be making headlines in the days ahead. Cisco, for one, has a couple of multibillion-dollar deals in the works.

Google and other tech companies — notably Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) More about Cisco Systems, which hopes to acquire video-conferencing company Tandberg (possibly for more than the $3 billion it initially offered) and mobile infrastructure firm Starent for $2.9 billion — are clearly feeling positive enough about the economy to embark on major acquisitions, said Scott Testa, a business professor with Cabrini College.

“I think going forward we are going to see more mergers and acquisitions across a wide range of industries, both large and small deals,” he told the E-Commerce Times.

http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/Good-News-From-Google-Fuels-Tech-Sector-Optimism-68403.html?wlc=1255775439

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