Meet Watson. Yes, those IBM researchers are at it again, with their crazy attempts to ensure the redundancy and probable destruction of the human race. Or, more accurately, another attempt at a human-beating game-playing computer. This time the goal is a machine that can best the top human contestants at US gameshow Jeopardy! next month.
Unlike its chess-playing predecessor Deep Blue — where the problem to be solved was largely computational — DeepQA/Watson’s ability to answer trivia questions depends not only on swift information retrieval but upon some serious advances in natural language processing. In short, the key hurdle that has so far limited my dream of a future house/virtual butler to which I can talk. So imagine my surprise when, in yesterday’s test run, Watson actually triumphed.
Having finally caught up with the modern mobile world on buying the HTC Desire, I have been reluctant to discuss it. The main reason is that nothing but gushing praise would seem rather biased so I wanted to find some faults too. That took time.
As you probably guessed it’s a phenomenal device. I’m not going to repeat others’ “iPhone killer” rhetoric here because it’s irrelevant – with or without Apple’s product, this is a powerhouse of a smartphone and, for me, the best on the market to date. A large capacitive touchscreen with a high-res 800×480 AMOLED display, it looks stunningly crisp with vibrant colours and smooth transitions. Its 1GHz Snapdragon processor makes it fly, coupled with the Android operating system.
Android is a slightly geekier OS than the iPhone’s, but HTC’s Sense user interface sits on top, with attractive widgets that allow for easy customisation and show a lot of info at a glance (e.g. FriendStream which combines friends’ Facebook and Twitter updates). For me it fixes the Nexus One control flaws by inverting them: the touch-sensitive buttons are now physical, while the trackball is replaced with an optical trackpad that is great for fine cursor movement. It’s not secret that I like the tactile feedback of buttons and would still prefer a slide-out physical keyboard, but as soft keyboards go the Desire’s is one of the best I’ve tried.
Now a mature platform, the Android Marketplace has a wealth of apps. Numerically it is still far behind the Apple’s App Store (and isn’t as easy to browse), but most high-quality apps (other than games) are now cross-platform or have equivalents. Android’s open system makes it attractive and easier to develop for, without the need for official approval, so it certainly has the potential to grow rapidly.
The contacts list seamlessly merges my GMail address book with Facebook contacts, including importing profile pics to identify people. Multitasking is a breeze on the Desire, allowing you to stream music with the Spotify app while browsing the web, pausing and resuming everything automatically to receive a call. Other neat tricks include Google’s turn-by-turn SatNav, recently rolled out in the UK, and Flash support, which is welcome but certainly leaves room for improvement.
Video looks gorgeous on the vibrant screen although AMOLED does wash out dramatically in direct sunlight. Codec support is rather limited at present, meaning you’ll need to convert most video files. Previously a nightmare, these days this it is simplified drastically by doubleTwist. Sound quality for voice calls is fine, but I found music playback is rather average: excellent clarity but a lack of depth with virtually non-existent bass. Of a course a phone will never compete with a dedicated PMP and I readily admit I’ve spoiled my ears with Cowon players, but this confirms I will still require a second device.
I’ll discuss specific apps I’m using in a future post.
Apple were in an incredibly difficult position with the iPad. Everyone knew they were making one and no one would be happy unless it was revolutionary. As someone unconvinced by the tablet offerings at CES earlier this month (they have clear application in industry and healthcare, but I can’t yet see a consumer need), I was curious about what Apple was bringing to the table. What they have produced is a superb technology showcase, but it’s also exactly the tablet everyone expected. First off, some people are griping about the name. Trade mark issues left them in an uncomfortable position since they don’t actually own the letter “i” (whatever they may argue) so I’m okay with the iPad. Yes, it may sound a lot like Star Trek’s PADD, but that’s clearly the influence they were channeling with the whole device.
For the technophile there’s a lot to love here: a great-looking 9.7″ touchscreen that’s fantastic for photos, a large and seemingly responsive onscreen keyboad, a decent 1GHz Apple processor (although bear in mind the latest Snapdragon smartphones have a 1GHz processor too). The impressive number, however, was 10 hours of battery life. That’s big. Though I have to wonder just how far that falls in real-world use: wifi and 3G will both be a fair drain and there’s clearly no way it plays 10 hours of video.
The “unbelievable price” seemed slightly misleading by splitting apart the cost. Hitting as low as $499 for the basic model was certainly a welcome surprise that no one expected. In practical terms the “real” version is the 3G-toting one, else it’s not actually particularly portable (not to mention the fact 3G laptops are readily available). The US deal is $15 a month for a mere 250MB, which I would exceed with email and attached/linked video alone. So it’s $30 a month for unlimited access which seems reasonable. That means the year one cost is actually $1,089 (for the middle 32GB model), then $360 for each subsequent year. It’s not outrageous but it’s not a low barrier to entry for what they are marketing as a third device.
It technically works with existing iPhone apps but I don’t think people were particularly wowed. Even when expanded the interfaces looked clunky and odd. But new apps taking advantage of its size will certainly look great. I foresee a swift divergence in the app store between the iPhone and iPad and, with the install base of the former, I can see a lot of developers overlooking the latter as not cost effective. While Jobs nodded to the Amazon Kindle, I can’t quite see the iPad succeeding as an e-book reader, since the very reason they took off is that e-ink avoids eye strain. However until colour versions emerge (likely later this year) it could be ideal for magazine-style articles and the New York Times demo with embedded video was particularly impressive (even if it was just a glorified website).
The glaring omission for me is one I had not expected to see: nearly 10 inches of screen real estate and a 1GHz processor, but no evidence of multitasking. Palm’s webOS has a perfect implementation on a significantly smaller device, so how Apple didn’t feel the need to address this is at best startling and at worst unforgivable. If they are trying to create a new product between phones and laptops, it needs at least to be able to match the functionality of top end phones. Also strangely missing are flash-support — for a device supposedly offering fully portable web browsing that’s bizarre — and a camera, which is certainly non-essential but fullscreen Skyping while wandering/sitting around with one of these would be pretty damn cool. Again, features that top-end phones already have.
They will sell, of course. That hardcore Apple fans will be picking them up in 60-90 days isn’t even a question. However this needs much broader consumer appeal to be the “magical and revolutionary device” (seriously, as an actual slogan?) Jobs suggests. I’m sure interest will be high in the short term, not least because Apple has cued mainstream journalists with appropriate adjectives, but it’s going to take some serious marketing to build up momentum. Ultimately the first iPad is an interesting concept that flounders for the same reason as the netbooks it aims to replace: it tries its hand at a lot but, in attempting to fill a gap that doesn’t yet exist, it isn’t quite sure what role it serves. The result is that, like most notebooks, it’s just okay.
The biggest news out the Game Developers Conference has undoubtedly been the OnLive service, which has been heralded as everything from the end of consoles to the death of retailers to a complete joke that won’t actually work. Depending on whom you talk to. The basic idea is simply a combination of videogaming and cloud computing. This simply means that rather than installing and running a game locally, you contact a server online and all the heavy number crunching happens at that end with the results being sent back as streaming video. That means you could play high-end games on minimal hardware – even NetBooks are able to decode video, which is all that is required.
The fact this is developed by the guy who brought us WebTV suggests we should take this a bit more seriously than we might be inclined. The key was developing a video encoding algorithm that cut out the usual latency in the process to produce almost-instantaneous results. However limitations even in broadband delivery mean there will be additional delays in sending your control inputs to the server and in receiving the video back. By all accounts the (obviously highly controlled) demo was very impressive. As with many others my instinctive reaction is that this sounds great for some games, but first person shooters and action games that rely on split-second timing will surely suffer. Nevertheless, consider my curiosity piqued because if they can make it work, wow!
A new mp3HD lossless mp3 format was recently announced. It’s backwards compatible insofar as it maintains the same file extension and contains the lossy version as well, so will play on current hardware. However that effectively means putting a lossless-size file onto your player only to get lossy playback which isn’t particularly efficient use of space, so I can’t really see this one taking off.
And since this has clearly turned into an unashamedly techie post:
The whole social networking lark throws up quirky moments from time to time, such as Last.fm now informing me that apparently I have a high musical compatibility with Neil Gaiman. Quite how this has any bearing on the real world I am unsure, but it’s still nice to know. Since I now stream a lot of media to my living room via the Xbox 360, Last.fm no longer really provides an accurate picture of what I’m listening to. Mind you, music played on portable devices while travelling was never recorded either, so it was hardly angling for a high degree of accuracy to begin with. The inherent advantage of an open platform for console development is that it would allow for such small applications to be ported over, but this is totally contrary to the current business model so for now that’s a pipe dream.
When it comes to technology, and in particular mobile phones, it is no secret that I like big swanky screens. However I also really like the tactile feedback of buttons which has made me reluctant to buy into any of the first generation touchscreen devices which shun any form of old-fashioned clicking. Now Sony Ericsson’s fusion in the new XPERIA X1 (which in fairness is rumoured to have been designed by the folks at HTC) looks like it might just steal my heart.
There has been a flood of mobile announcements with the Mobile World Congress kicking off in Barcelona. If full keyboards aren’t your cup of tea SE‘s new G series “touchscreen organisers” are worth a look, while Nokia’s high-end flagship model gets an upgrade in the N96.
Sort of a follow-up to yesterday’s post, this features the various bits and pieces I’ve come across in the last couple of weeks that are worth sharing. First up is an ingeniously innovative new use of the Nintendo Wii hardware for head tracking, with a great demonstration that ought to impress even those who are not gaming-inclined. Tycho over at Penny Arcade postponed his regular blog post to show off this video, and those who know the site also know he is never one to shut up!
The American cover for The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman’s next book, has been revealed. Of course following the standard trend this means we can expect something completely different here in the UK. His entire back catalogue was re-released in a single style with Anansi Boys a few years ago, with the Fragile Things collection continuing that design. It will be interesting to see if they follow suit with the new book or produce something divergent.
With a lot of buzz hovering around the imminent release of Cloverfield produced by Lost creator JJ Abrams, supposedly reinvigorating the monster film genre, people have apparently forgotten the film he is actually directing. The film in question is Star Trek, a prequel that looks at the roots of Kirk and Spock, and one that will make or break the future of the franchise. The cast list is impressive, including Heroes villain Zachary Quinto (Sylar) as Spock in an inspired piece of casting. Somewhat stranger are comedy actors Simon Pegg and John Cho as Scotty and Sulu respectively. A teaser trailer has now been released which, as is now expected, reveals virtually nothing beyond the exterior of the Enterprise. Hopefully some real footage will emerge before long.
Here at the flat we’ve upgraded our entire wireless network, replacing the old Netgear router with a Belkin wireless N setup. Far more robust and with massively increased bandwidth, this actually allows for smooth wireless streaming of video via the Xbox even in high definition. So yes, that means HD trailers displayed on the Bravia in the living room which looks stunning. Wall-E has actually been the most oft-played for its sheer level of detail in the junkyard sequences. Its left me very keen to get more HD content to play with and with the Blu-ray camp delivering a decisive blow at the beginning of this month at CES, seemingly ending the format war earlier than expected, it’s becoming very difficult to hold back. That is, until one looks at the prices. My wallet whimpers and I go back to looking at DVDs.
Meet Watson. Yes, those IBM researchers are at it again, with their crazy attempts to ensure the redundancy and probable destruction of the human race. Or, more accurately, another attempt at a human-beating game-playing computer. This time the goal is a machine that can best the top human contestants at US gameshow Jeopardy! next month.
