This article discusses where monkeys’ language abilities end and the realm of humans begins.
Puzzled monkeys reveal key language step – New Scientist
english
Introducing: I like! – Collaborative Approach to the Web
I’ve been doing some coding, hence not much written on Wetware in the meantime.
The hack is called “I like!” and is a very simple, yet powerful service that allows you to mark web pages you like, by a single click of a button. In return you get several things:
- First of all it recommends other pages you will probably like as well (matching your “liked pages” with other profiles).
- Secondly it allows you to syndicate any list from the service and put it on your blog or other web sites. It is based on a JavaScript, so it works and is up-to-date even on static HTML pages. This can be used in several ways, e.g.:
- To put a “Most liked pages” list on your web page
- To put an “I like! recommended:” list on your web page (see example)
- To put a “Pages that grabbed my attention” list on your web page (see example – in Icelandic)
- Lists are also available as RSS feeds for those of you that want to do more advanced stuff or just want to put some of the “I like!” lists in your RSS reader.
I actually wrote about this idea under the name of “Interesting Content Indicator” just over a month ago, but my lazy programming didn’t seem to be working, so I had to do it myself 😉
“I like!” is anonymous and doesn’t require any installation. The aforementioned “I like!” button is a link you put in the Links bar or the Favorites in your browser for easy access (or corresponding places in non-IE browsers). It seems to work with most types of browsers and on the most common OSs.
Keep in mind though that you might have to convince your pop-up blocker that the link is OK.
This is still just a BETA, so bear with me for the first few days if there are some minor issues (and please let me know about any bugs or quirks you might find). I have a long list of neat features that I’m implementing at the moment, so it will only get better. All suggestions welcomed.
Like it? I like! can be found here
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Note: When using Internet Explorer to mark a page with frames, you’ll have to click somewhere on the page in order for the “I like!” button to work.
Software or Agriculture the Ways to Fight Epidemics Are the Same
This article discusses how security experts are learning to deal with software epidemics from the ways used to fight the more traditional epidemics of agriculture (thanks Toti)
– Seeds of destruction News.com
The Status of Brain-Machine Interfaces
I mentioned in the Trendwatch the other day that Popular Science has a cover article in January about Brain-Machine Interfaces. Well, the article is now online, and it is a brilliant one. Wetware has mentioned much of the research discussed in the article before (see the Brain technologies category), but Carl Zimmer‘s article is a well written first hand account – which I unfortunately cannot match.
Here are just a few interesting bits from the article:
Continue reading
Mind Wide Open: A Book to Read
Steven Johnson‘s new book: Mind Wide Open, is finally in stock at Amazon so it should be on its way over here very soon. Johnson is the author of one of my favorite books – Emergence – and in the new book he takes a look at the human brain and what brain science can tell us about ourselves. Certainly one to read!
– The Book, At Last stevenberlinjohnson.com
Do-It-Yourself Dream Machine
Takara co., the same company as brought us the “bowlingual” and “meowlingual” (respectively translating dog and cat “talk” to human language), now claim they have made a “dream machine” allowing you to control your own dreams. I wonder if the science is as solid as that for the other two devices. 😉
– Japan invents the gadget of your dreams BBC News
Self-healing Software at MIT
MIT researchers are working on self-healing software. The article gives only hints of how this is done, I am at least not convinced this can work reliably.
– Software repairs itself on the go Technology Research News
LandGeist: The World According to the Web
Douwe Osinga’s LandGeist project measures the frequency of certain words appearing on web pages together with country names. This is an attempt to see which countries are associated with different words. The generated maps tell their tale.
– Land Geist
CAD System for Modeling Animals
This article talks about a CAD system called Vertebrate Analyzer that is being created at the University of Buffalo. The Vertebrate Analyzer is supposed to be able to simulate the functions of vertebrates’ skeletons and muscles. Casting light upon questions such as:
– Why Did Sabertooth Tigers Need Such Big Teeth? – ScienceDaily
Play 20 Questions Against a Computer
This AI implementation of 20 Questions is incredibly good. It can pretty reliably guess what you thought of by asking 20 questions about it. And it is based on the same thinking as my Norm: Let the users have fun while adding value to an AI knowledge base. Most cool!
– 20 Questions – Directly to the game
– 20 Questions – About the project
hjalli.com - Hjálmar Gíslason 