Stanford University offers free online AI class

"Introduction to Artificial Intelligence" will be offered free and online to students worldwide during the fall of 2011. The course will include feedback on progress and a statement of accomplishment. Taught by Sebastian Thrun and Peter Norvig, the curriculum draws from that used in Stanford's introductory Artificial Intelligence course. Follow this link to sign up.

Less is more...

I'm feeling unusually relaxed. I've rewritten Emma's brain and removed a whole step in passing searches. I had to, since some of the code still used search formulations that would result in an error in any browser besides IE. Removing part of Emma's brain sounds bad, but I think it's going to be good. One less step to see what's in our catalog. Less is more. Simpler is better. Insert the tired cliche of your choice here. Besides, her brain is growing pretty fast; a hundred categories here or there won't make much difference.

Tracking down that "proxy error" bug.

If you read this blog, you might remember that we've been on the trail of a
particularly irritating bug. Talk with Emma and you'll quickly discover that she can pass searches to our catalog and display the results in a new window. Wow! Very nice, very cool! The problem has been that while this worked just fine in IE, it refused to behave in Firefox, Google Chrome, or Safari. In those browsers a new window would open with an error message. Well, I'm very pleased to tell you that this has been fixed for the majority of the searches passed. The problem is with the "&" we use to formulate our search, for example an author search or a title search, etc. These have to be rewritten in the html as what's called an "escape sequence." For some reason Firefox and Chrome and Safari didn't like them. Anyway, it's fixed and I would be remiss not to give special thanks to the sharp eyes and sharp mind of Bob Duncan, Systems Librarian at Lafayette College, Pennsylvania. Bob is well known as "THE Innovative guru" (Innovative is our catalog software). He's also a very kind and helpful guy. He helped pinpoint the problem and also came up with the solution we're using. Emma and I definitely owe him a favor.

Cow Cow Boogie

In honor of our recent kid's program, a little Ella Mae Morse:



A little background, Ella Mae Morse and the Freddie Slack Orchestra made the first recording of "Cow Cow Boogie" in 1942. It was Capitol Records first million seller.

Computer to Marry Texas Couple

People often ask Emma to marry them, but not in this way: Computer to Marry Texas Couple.

No comment.

Robert Medeksza - Ultra Hal in Social Networks

Here's Robert Medeksza presentation "Ultra Hal in Social Networks" from Chatbots 3.1. As you will see, Robert is a very smart guy.

Part 1:



Part 2:



You can learn more about Ultra HAL and talk to him, too, at Zabaware

Hats Off to Hatsune Miku, Japan's Virtual Pop Star!

One of Emma's good friends, Del B., brought a real ray of shineshine into my heart yesterday. How, you ask? By introducing me to Hatsune Miku, Japan's virtual pop star. Haven't heard of her? You will. Hatsune was created by Crypton Future Media, a Japanese company that licensed Yamaha’s Vocaloid voice synthesizing software and used it to make Miku, a virtual 16 year old that can sing anything you program for her. People across the globe buy her software, write songs, and share them online. During her live concert appearances, Hatsune Miku is projected on a transparent film, allowing the virtual singer to dance on stage in front of her adoring fans.



I've been trying to understand why Miku fills me with such joy. Sure, she's cute; it's not that. Yes, she's a ringing confirmation of the Virtual (something in which Emma and I have a slight interest), but I think the real reason I like her so much is because she's another step towards machines that can create Art. In The Cyberiad, Stanislaw Lem wrote a story about a computer that could write poetry better than any human. This story, along with many of Lem's other works, have been the inspiration for Emma and for her own forays into expressive verse. Machines that can create Art. Machines that can create Art better than we can. What an idea!