OSCON 2005 Keynote - Identity 2.0

Dick Hardt gives a brilliant presentation on how the web needs to have a common identity mechanism. For techies, this is an important upcoming issue in the Web 2.0 world. For those with less technical bent, this is a fascinating example of a PowerPoint without a single bullet point - fun & dynamic to watch, just for his presentation style.

Jonathan Schwartz: The Network is the Computer

A slightly dated announcement about the first publicly accessible computing grid. Essentially supercomputing power for hire - but not the same as a supercomputer. An interesting development for some problems and data tasks. Is this what we should be considering for housing our learning objects of the future?

Irving Wladawsky-Berger: The Emergence of Interactive Supercomputing Applications

Some interesting, albeit slightly esoteric, commentary on how current supercomputing applications are becoming more interactive. I guess that most people will think that such a fast computer is bound to be more interactive - kinda like running Windows at warp speed. But most supercomputing applications are still oriented towards solving highly complex math problems, with still a bit of a tendency to "batch processing". This commentary explores why interactivity is so important - those of us used to a desktop environment tend to expect this...but when you bring such interactivity to these really complex problems, some interesting conceptual work begins to happen.

O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference - The Hunch Engine

Have you heard the comments out there in the blogosphere about the Hunch Engine? The above link takes you to where Eric Bonabeau describes the Hunch Engine to the ETC. This looks to be a phenomenally powerful tool. Take a look at what it can do here:

http://icosystem.com/ - Eric's company...but there is a more specific link here... http://icosystem.com/hunch.htm

On that last link, you will find links to how the Hunch Engine is being used to find images, drug molecules, meaning from within large text corpuses (corpi?). So, what is a Hunch Engine? Check out the links for a much better description...but the best thing is to go play with it.

Wired News: Brain Teasers

So now we've got an excuse to waste away our brain cycles...fun piece about a couple of games that are supposed to make you smarter. A bit of a stretch to say the least but has one or two interesting points.