IBLOG SPACE

This week IBM’s Watson has been going up against Jeopardy champs in the Jeopardy challenge . Now, IBM has announced that it will collaborate with Nuance to apply Watson’s advanced analytics to the healthcare industry. The initiative will combine IBM’s Deep Question Answering (QA), Natural Language Processing, and Machine Learning capabilities with Nuance’s speech recognition technology and Clinical Language Understanding solutions. They hope to assist doctors in making patient diagnoses, by helping them to process large amounts of information more quickly. Columbia University Medical Center and the University of Maryland School of Medicine are working with IBM and Nuance on this initiative, to determine how this technology could make a doctor’s job easier. According to IBM’s press release: “Watson’s ability to analyze the meaning and context of human language, and quickly process information to find precise answers can assist decision makers, such as physicians and nurses, unlock impor

Panasonic has just released two new HD mobile cameras (the HM-TA20, and TA2) , and three full-HD camcorders (HX WA10, HX-DC10 and HX-DC1). The TA20 camera is waterproof, shockproof and dustproof (which sounds great to me, with two small kids in my house), and has a night view mode for shooting in dim lighting. It has a 3.0 inch touch LCD, and also can be used as a webcam with Skype. Continue after the cut to see all the details about these devices. Features of the TA20: Full-HD Shooting with a 3-Meter Waterproof, 1.5-Meter Shockproof and Dustproof Design 3.0 inch LCD Tripod stand included for self-portraits 4x Digital Zoom Face Detection 8-megapixel still picture recording Simultaneous linear PCM sound recording with still pictures Three playback effects: sepia/monochrome/soft skin Direct connection to high-definition TVs with a single HDMI cable Panasonic is also introducing the TA2 HD Mobile Camera, but as far as we can tell from their website, it has the same features as the TA20. T

The Sony PlayStation 3 has been around for awhile now. In tech years, it could be like a hundred years old. But when it came out in 2006 the machine was meant to be so advanced that it would have a lifecycle of ten years versus six years like its predecessors the PS2 and PS1. But now reaching its halfway point, could Sony ponder pushing forth a PS4 sooner than later? Most signs confirm a negative. Sony Computer Entertainment CEO, Kaz Hirai, reinforces the point that they are only at the halfway point with the PS3 and that compelling titles are still coming out from Sony’s game studios and third-party studios. “Every year, we reveal and release new features,” says Hirai indicating that the PS3 still hasn’t reached its full potential. “That’s why, we’re not deliberating on a PS4 or next generation machine, whatever you call it.” For now, Sony is focused on launching the recently announced NGP and perhaps integrating it with the PS3. And in Hirai’s own words: “As regards home consoles, th

Acer is the latest to embrace Windows Phone 7 as the company says they are preparing mobile devices for release in either September or October in 2011. Pocket-lint says an Acer spokesperson confirmed the information for the Fall release. Acer CEO Gianfranco Lanci said last November that Acer was developing things mainly for Android, but they were working on Windows Phone 7 as well. “If we look at Windows Phone 7, today, I think we see the same opportunity you can see on Android in terms of customization,” said Lanci. The Fall release puts Acer’s Windows Phone 7 debut with the next update to the platform, codenamed “Mango”. That means Acer’s devices would be running the newest version of Windows Phone 7, but it also means it could be competing with Microsoft’s newest partner, Nokia. It will be interesting to see how the devices compare given Nokia’s strength in hardware and freedom to customize the Windows OS.

Not that there is any shortage of set top boxes, or internet connected TVs, but here is another one, dedicated to YouTube. BlueDot is introducing its first YouTube box in Japan, the YouTube XL BTC-10. It connects to your TV via an HDMI cable, and to the internet via an ethernet connection so that you can connect to YouTube directly from your TV. The BlueDot box will be available in Japan in March, and sell for 13,000 Yen, or about $155.

Mobile chip maker ST-Ericsson is focusing strongly on the Windows Phone platform, to be ready when Nokia starts ramping up production of WP7 phones, according to Reuters . So far, Microsoft has only allowed use of its software on Qualcomm’s chipsets, but ST-Ericsson CEO Gilles Delfassy said that would change. “We expect this situation will not prevail. Now everything has changed. The environment is different. We will be ready when Nokia ramps big volumes.” he said in a Reuters interview. ST-Ericsson, is a joint venture between Sweden’s Ericsson (ERICb.ST) and STMicroelectronics (STM.PA) of France and is a key supplier to Nokia, among other major phone makers. There were previous leaks that Nokia was using ST-Ericsson hardware for MeeGo. We will just have to wait and see where Nokia decides to go when they are ready to start producing WP7 phones.

Google just officially announced their new digital content subscription service called One Pass. To compete against Apple’s subscription service, which has received tons of criticism for its pricing model, Google’s One Pass allows publishers to control price and pricing models and “maintain direct relationships with their customers.” Once a reader purchases a subscription, they will be able to access content from PCs, laptops, tablets, and any Android powered device with a single sign-on using an e-mail and password. The length of time content will be accessible is up to the publisher and payment can be done in a number of ways (subscriptions, day passes, pay-per-article, metered views). For people who already have subscriptions, you can just move everything over to One Pass. Payment of One Pass is through Google Checkout so it simplifies the process for publishers. That could entice publishers to jump onto One Pass much more than Apple’s subscription service. Google One Pass is curren

Last week Microsoft and Nokia surprised the world with their partnership announcement that has been quite an episode. Nokia chose Microsoft’s Windows Phone over Google’s Android platform, pretty much sending Nokia’s old Symbian to the retirement home and dumping Intel–now the single parent raising MeeGo. Intel’s CEO, Paul Otellini, held a meeting today with analysts in London to express his thoughts on Nokia’s decision and his plans for MeeGo’s future. Otellini believes that Nokia was baited by lots of money from Google and Microsoft to make the switch. He said that Nokia’s CEO Stephen Elop received “incredible offers–money” from the two suitors and continued saying, “I wouldn’t have made the decision he made, I would probably have gone to Android if I were him. MeeGo would have been the best strategy but he concluded he couldn’t afford it.” He believes that Nokia will find it difficult to differentiate using the Windows platform saying, “It would have been less hard on Android, on Mee

The HTC Desire S launched at MWC 2011 earlier this week has been priced and dated by retailer Amazon UK . According to the listing, the Gingerbread smartphone will arrive on April 18 2011, priced at £419.99 ($679); that’s SIM-free and unlocked, of course, and we’d expect carrier-subsidized versions to be considerably cheaper, if not free with a new, two-year agreement. The Desire S taked the basics of its predecessor, the HTC Desire , and adds in an updated OS and front-facing camera for video calls, along with a change to HTC’s unibody styling.

A team of physicists from Yale University has built the world’s first anti-laser device capable of absorbing an incoming laser beam. The incoming laser beam is absorbed entirely such that it is canceled out. However, the device is not intended as a defense mechanism against high-power laser weapons but instead will prove useful in next-generation supercomputers built with components using light rather than electrons. As for an overview of how the device works, let’s quote BBC based on what Professor Douglas Stone revealed to them: “The device focuses two laser beams of a specific frequency into a specially designed optical cavity made from silicon, which traps the incoming beams of light and forces them to bounce around until all their energy is dissipated.” The device can absorb 99.4 percent of incoming light for a specific wavelength. Professor Stone also said that the anti-laser would be most useful in optical computing with a big advantage being its use of silicon which is already

Apple’s iPhone has done quite a bit to change the mobile market. It has ushered in the touch-screen craze, delivered an easy way to get third-party programs onto the platform, and generally changed how all other mobile phones are judged. But one of the most significant changes the iPhone initiated was the growth of gaming on smartphones. Thanks to the Apple App Store, more and more people are downloading games like Angry Birds, Cut the Rope, and countless others. The iPhone is now a full-fledged gaming device that, by all measures, can be compared to the Nintendo DS and Sony’s PSP. That success has prompted Apple competitors, like Sony Ericsson, to double down on gaming for mobile phones. Announced at the Mobile World Congress, Sony Ericsson’s upcoming XPERIA Play runs Android and includes a 1GHz processor. But perhaps its most obvious difference compared to the rest of the competition is that it features slide-out gaming controls. Sony also says that users will be able to download ga

In “The Social Network” Mark Zuckerberg had an epiphany right before he launched Facebook, an option for users to state their “relationship status” on their page. The global phenomenon now has over 600 million members and is ever expanding. It continues to improve and add features to its platform, but just today it added two new relationship status options: “in a civil union” and “in a domestic partnership.” The new additions join: single, in a relationship, married, engaged, it’s complicated, in an open relationship, separated, and divorced. The change begins today in the U.S. and several other countries, including Canada, the U.K., Australia, and France. Facebook consulted its Network of Support, which includes GLAAD, GLSEN, and the Human Rights Campaign, before performing the changes. This does not change the everyday use of Facebook or any of its primary functions, but just expands the scope of how people can express and represent themselves. No status on when other countries can e

Skype and Qik jointly announced at MWC 2011 that they plan on further integrating their technologies to help improve Qik’s video calls on Sprint and T-Mobile devices and develop Skype’s video calling solution for the Verizon LTE network. However, during the talk, Skypes’s head of consumer product management, Rick Osterloh, hinted at the possibility of bringing Skype’s video calling to AT&T devices. “Let’s watch out for some announcements there,” said Osterloh when asked about pursuing a relationship with AT&T as a video calling partner. Video calling is still a bit shaky at this point, but Skype is already working on a new solution for Verizon’s LTE phones that should see smoother calls. “LTE is a significant technology change, and it moves both network capacity and throughput way up by almost an order of magnitude,” said Osterloh, The new vision for the two companies involves integrating Skype’s video call technology with Qik’s video mail, video sharing, and live streaming cap

The Motorola XOOM is expected to make its US debut sometime this month, priced at $799 , but would-be European tableteers will have to wait a little longer. Carphone Warehouse confirmed it was the exclusive UK distributor for the XOOM 3G yesterday, though declined to say when the slate would arrive; however, the pre-interest page suggests the Honeycomb tablet is expected in April 2011. That would fit in with previous rumors tipping an early Q2 European release, though we’re still yet to see final pricing for models outside of the US. Now, Carphone does make clear that the expected date could well change, but we’re hearing there’s something of a race on between the XOOM and Samsung with the Galaxy Tab 10.1 to be the first Honeycomb tablet to the European market, so we imagine Motorola will do its best to get that crucial first-player spot.

Persistent rumors of a smaller – or, more recently, larger – iPhone are apparently untrue, with insiders suggesting that instead Apple is looking to shrink the price of the iOS smartphone. According to the NYTimes ‘ anonymous sources the new iPhone 5, expected to arrive this summer, will offer voice command control and perhaps a broader range of SKUs, all with the same physical size but differing in certain core ways. “Although the innards of the phone, including memory size or camera quality, could change to offer a less expensive model, the size of the device would not vary” claims the source, who has supposedly worked on multiple versions of the iPhone 5. Changing the physical scale, with a smaller display, is unlikely to actually work out cost-effective for Apple, and would require that iOS developers rework their apps to suit. Meanwhile, earlier talk of a MobileMe makeover has apparently been corroborated, becoming a free service offering wireless sync and media streaming. “The

Lenovo has confirmed that its LePad Android tablet will see a worldwide launch in June 2011, though the Chinese market wil get the Android 2.2 Froyo device several months earlier. Based around a 10.1-inch slate that can dock into a removable keyboard section, the LePad was officially announced back at CES 2011 but owes its roots to the IdeaPad U1 Hybrid . What’s still unclear is the pricing for the dockable slate. Back at CES, a roughly $339 to $449 tag was tipped from the company, though there’s no official figures available yet. Inside is a 1.3GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor driving the 1280 x 800 display, Lenovo isn’t talking about how much the base section will cost or, indeed, whether a Honeycomb update is on the cards.

HP CEO Leo Apotheker has admitted that one of the main issues the company faces is reducing the amount of time between development, product announcement and retail sales. Speaking to the WSJ , Apotheker admitted that “we need to fire up our innovation engine and get our products to market faster”; however, there’s no sign that the acceleration will kick in in time for the HP TouchPad . “It’s not that we aren’t innovative” Apotheker insists, “it’s that it takes too long to get to market.” The complaint has been a common one around the biggest players in the computing and mobile industry; Nokia executives have also previously suggested that reducing the time between announcement and launch will help them build momentum in a similar manner to Apple. The HP TouchPad, however, along with the Pre3 and Veer , aren’t expected for several months, with rumors pegging the webOS slate as arriving in June . That puts it beyond the expected launch of the second-gen iPad, which is likely to capture

Changes look to be afoot in more than just MobileMe , with Apple adding in a new clause to help protect developers against content copying and gaming the review process; end-users may find some frustration in the purchase experience, however, as the company is also tipped to be considering shortening the period for which iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad remember your iTunes password. According to PocketGamer ‘s sources, Apple is flirting with the idea of reducing the current 15 minute period so as to reduce the number of inadvertent in-app purchases. Currently, an iOS device remembers an iTunes password for fifteen minutes, in which time any subsequent downloads or purchases do not need to be authenticated. The potential change in policy is to address inadvertent over-spending, either by users not realising they are buying paid upgrades, or from children making purchases after a parent has left the account signed in. As for the content theft, a new clause to the app review guideli

Scosche has announced that it is now shipping the goBAT II portable battery charger and back up battery device. The little gadget is an external battery that has 5000mAh of power inside and has dual USB ports. That means that the gadget can charge two gadgets at the same time. The only downside to having a battery that has a USB port is that you need to take your charge cables with you to charge. According to Scosche, a dead iPhone 4 can be charged 2.6 times on a fully charged goBAT II. The battery has enough oomph to charge the iPad more than halfway as well. One of the USB ports on the device has 2.1 amps and the other is a 1-amp port. The time to charge the battery inside the sleek little goBAT II is 6-8 hours. You can order one up right now directly from Scosche for $89.99.

For a long time now, Ford vehicles have been coming with an awesome Sync system that allows you to control all sorts of things inside the car using your voice. The feature that I like most about Sync is the heavy integration you can get with your smartphone for calls and more. Chevy has been a bit behind the times relying on OnStar for its connectivity in cars for the most part, but the carmaker has now announced MyLink that is powered by Nuance. Interestingly Nuance also powered Sync for Ford as well. Chevrolet MyLink will land in the 2012 Volt and Equinox SUV to start with and I would imagine it would come to other vehicles in the Chevy line down the road as well. The system allows the user to use their voice to initiate phone calls, change radio station, and select portable media devices (again exactly like Sync). The MyLink will support apps using your voice with Pandora and Stitcher SmartRadio support (broken record here, Sync does this too). MyLink has Gracenote capability as we

Ford has a bunch of different properties in Dearborn, Michigan where it does much of the work for its line of vehicles. Ford Land Energy Efficiency and Supply Office has announced that it will be changing out 50,000 light fixtures in its facilities in Dearborn to eliminate a massive amount of CO2 emission and save big money. According to Ford, changing out the light fixtures from incandescent will cut 11,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions and save Ford about $1.3 million annually. The reduction in energy usage from the new fixtures will save an estimated 18.2 million kilowatt-hours of electricity each year, which is enough power for about 1,648 residential homes each year. In addition to changing out the light fixtures, Ford will also be optimizing the use of day lighting, replacing incandescent exit signs with LED versions, and controlling unoccupied areas with occupancy sensors. Ford will be using both compact florescent and LED bulbs in the project.

A company called Nextreme has a really interesting mobile wireless power generation system that might one day find its way into the gadgets we all know and love. The solution is called Thermobility and it reminds me a bit of a CPU cooler from the inside of a computer. Thermobility devices use heat as a way to generate power and are appropriate for low-power wireless products. The power generator will work in any device where there is adequate heat according to the company and the design will run for “decades” without maintenance. The Thermobility WPG-1 has a constant voltage output of 3.3, 4.1, or 5 Vdx to electrical loads of 15kΩ or higher. The device itself is about the size of a golf ball and has a pin-fin heat sink, circuit boards, and the Nextreme eTEG HV56 thermoelectric power generator module. Future version will have integrated energy storage for devices that have variable heat sources. The WPG-1 generator is available now for evaluation for $495.

A company called AeroVironment has developed an awesome unmanned aircraft for DARPA that is tiny and designed to look like a hummingbird. The little flying machine uses two wings that flap to hover in the air and fly in any direction. The total weight of the aircraft is two-thirds of an ounce and that includes batteries and a camera. How awesome is that? It can be remotely controlled for precision flight and has its own power source inside. The device is dubbed the Nano Hummingbird and is a milestone as part of the Phase II contract awarded by DARPA to design and build a flying prototype. I can see this thing being used to spy on criminals and flown around just for fun. The prototype is handmade and has a wingspan of 6.5 inches and a flying weight of 19 grams. That is less than the weight of an AA battery according to the firm. That lightweight is very impressive when you consider it includes all flight systems, batteries, communications, and the camera. The aircraft is larger than a

If you have ever been cruising along in your car and wished you could get online for surfing the web and share that connection with other devices in the car you are not alone. You can do this with smartphones and other devices, but that sucks down your battery. Audi has a new service called Audi connect that does this without having to rely on another device in the car. Audi connect is an interesting platform that allows the user to do all sorts of things in the car using a mobile broadband connection. The driver can access Google Earth and that content can be integrated into the navigation system the car uses. The connectivity will also give the driver access to a POI database. Audi connect also has a hotspot function hat allows the sharing of the internet connectivity with up to eight other devices in the car. The system will also be expanded in some markets this summer to add online traffic information and expanded voice control. Carmakers are finally seeing the light when it comes

Nokia’s decision to switch from Symbian to Windows Phone 7 might not have been met with glee from many developers, but the company looks to be addressing its coding community in a decent way. SlashGear has been passed details of an email sent to Nokia Launchpad program members , in which they’re promised a free Nokia E7 together with “one free Nokia WP7 device, as soon as it becomes available.” Launchpad is Nokia’s mobile app development program, usually priced at €300 annually but currently free for the first year. Membership is available – on an approved application basis – for individuals and companies, and regularly includes early access to APIs and SDKs, promotions in the Ovi Store and invitations to training events. As well as free devices, however, this new change will see free tech support on all Nokia technologies for the next three months (limited to ten tickets at most) and a free “user experience evaluation” of any apps developers have coded. There’s also the promise of e

Sony Ericsson has said it is “advanced” in its development of an LTE handset, and revealed that it has plans to release an Android tablet. CTO Jan Uddenfeldt told Fierce Wireless that the company has been “holding discussions with Sony” regarding the tablet, though declined to give further details as to timescales or specifications. It’s unclear if this is related to the leaked Sony S1 gaming tablet reported earlier this week. As for the LTE device, the first handsets are likely to be for China Mobile, with Sony Ericsson partnering with the carrier and with ST-Ericsson to produce TD-LTE voice and data enabled phones. However, it’s possible that future versions could be for the US market. Meanwhile, Uddenfeldt confirmed that Sony Ericsson has no current plans to release Windows Phone 7 devices, since Android still occupies so much carrier and consumer mind-share. “On the other hand, we have not released any new windows products for the last nine months or 12 months. It’s still a poss