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January 15, 2003: Games of infinite possibilities. By Jonathan B. Cox. The News & Observer.
"R. Michael Young, an assistant professor of computer science at N.C. State University, is working on research that might one day make video games more enjoyable. Young, 41, is studying ways to build artificial intelligence -- the ability of computers to act like humans -- into games so that users get movielike stories. With such technology, for example, a game could adjust to a player's actions and provide a different experience every time it is played. He sat down with Connect's Jonathan B. Cox to discuss his work. ... 'Specifically, the stuff I look at tries to take ideas from conventional AI [artificial intelligence], linguistics, cognitive psychology and ideas about narrative theory and look at computational models of narrative, so that you can take these computational tools that are well founded on the other theories from other disciplines and automatically create stories inside a virtual environment. ... Entertainment is a key application but you can also look at things like education and training. ... Actually, growing up I was really involved in theater. I was involved in theater through undergrad and then started focusing on artificial intelligence. Given my interest in performing arts and theater and film, it was sort of obvious to me that there was an overlap in these disciplines.'"
http://newsobserver.com/business/story/2097796p-2001130c.html

January 15, 2003: Educators go high-tech to check essay exams. By Rhea R. Borja. USA Today.
"Under the faint glow and ambient hum of their computers, the 11th-graders at Heritage Jr. Sr. High School in Monroeville, Ind., focused on their online English essay and short-answer test. The clacking of computer keys filled the room. But when time was up, these students didn't hand anything in. Instead, they hit 'enter,' and the essays shot into cyberspace to be graded. But forget the notion of an eagle-eyed grammarian, red pencil in hand, looking over these papers. Or any human, for that matter. Instead, the essays were graded by a high-tech artificial-intelligence system -- a computer that notes misspellings, assesses sentence structure and reviews writing style. Mr. Chips, meet 'Hal.' ... Compared with humans, computers grade essays faster, more efficiently and more accurately, say some education officials and testing companies such as Vantage Learning, which created the IntelliMetric essay-scoring technology, and Educational Testing Service, which developed the E-Rater, another scoring system. ... Educators like the relatively low cost and speed of essay-scoring technology: Prices vary, but it costs about $1 per computer-scored essay compared with about $5 for a human-graded essay. Also, essays are scored in five to 10 minutes by humans, in less than two seconds by computer, says [Scott] Elliot. By most accounts, students also like taking the tests online."
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2003-01-15-essay-grader_x.htm

January 15, 2003: Robotic Snakes May Fight Terror, Save Lives. By Brian Handwerk. National Geographic News.
"Snake-like robots already exist in rudimentary forms. But [Howie] Choset's creations push the envelope. Small and very strong by design, Choset's snakebots measure just five centimeters (two inches) in diameter. The use of beveled gears around their circumference, allows the serpentine robots many more degrees of movement than conventional robots -- including the ability to move efficiently in three-dimensional space. Choset's machines use complex mathematical algorithms that enable them to autonomously sense and respond to obstacles and variations they encounter while navigating across landscapes. Such innovations mean that the snakebot may soon become a highly effective tool for difficult applications like the complicated and dangerous work of urban search and rescue. ... In the future, similar robots might work on the most complex machine of all -- the human body. 'In the long run, the epic application for this technology is surgery,' Choset explained. 'It could enable us to perform better surgical operations without having to open up a person -- but unless there is some kind of critical breakthrough that sort of thing won't happen for a while.'"
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/01/0115_030115_snakebot.html

January 16, 2003: Intel creating smart system to keep old folks at home - Technology gives more independence to those suffering cognitive decline. By Gail El Baroudi. The Globe and Mail.
"Between 2010 and 2030 we can expect a huge explosion in the senior population, adds Professor Philippe Fauchet, director of the Center for Future Health at the University of Rochester in Rochester, N.Y. 'In 2000, about 22 per cent of the population was over 55, but in 2030 it will be around 32 per cent and during that period the percentage of the population over 65 will jump from 14 per cent to 22 per cent,' he says. ... The smart-home system is a joint project of the Proactive Health Research Project, which was launched in April, and Intel Research Seattle. It includes leading-edge technologies, some of which are being tested in the homes of volunteers. ... All these sensors simply collect data. It is the home PC's artificial intelligence (AI) technologies that have the challenging job of translating all the raw sensor network data into meaningful information about the normal activities that go on in the home and then deciding if there are meaningful deviations from that norm. 'For example, if a person forgot to take their medication on time, there will be a reminder -- maybe a voice, or a buzz and written reminder from a personal digital assistant, such as a Palm Pilot,' Prof. Fauchet says. The purpose of these 'assisted cognition systems' is to enable aging adults to stay in their own homes longer, to retain their independence and to care for themselves, he says."
http://www.globetechnology.com/servlet/ArticleNews/gtnews/TGAM/20030116/TWBOOM

January 17, 2003: Telecom fraud - Phreaking on the Rise. By Marina Bidoli. Financial Mail (South Africa).
"Phone pirates who operate illegal "exchanges" by tapping into private and public telephone lines cost Telkom R174m in stolen call time in the past financial year. The figure is below the international norm. Worldwide phone 'phreaking' is on the increase. Telecom fraud has been identified as the single biggest cause of revenue loss for network providers, averaging between 3%-5% of an operator's annual revenue, says Dimension Data GM for service provider solutions Sean Taylor. At a global loss estimated at US$55bn/year, telecom fraud is bigger business than international drug trafficking. ... Telkom has been working hard to stop this practice. Its fraud-management system analyses calling patterns and abnormalities using a combination of rules and artificial intelligence to detect irregular behaviour. It also has a team of investigators countrywide who take immediate action."
http://free.financialmail.co.za/03/0117/focus/efocus.htm

January 18, 2003: Adventures with robots. Studio 360, a co-production of Public Radio International and WNYC.
"Kurt Andersen and scientist Rodney Brooks look at how metal men are jumping from pop culture into real life. Visit thousands of robot toys in a big red barn outside Spokane. Writer Susie Bright surveys female robots on film, from Stepford Wives to the deadly Fembots. And a jazz pioneer gives over some control to his virtual Frankenstein." You can hear the broadcast, see the slide show, and listen to the music!
http://www.wnyc.org/studio360/show011803.html

January 20, 2003: IBM aims to get smart about AI. By Michael Kanellos. CNET News.
"In the coming months, IBM will unveil technology that it believes will vastly improve the way computers access and use data by unifying the different schools of thought surrounding artificial intelligence. The Unstructured Information Management Architecture (UIMA) is an XML-based data retrieval architecture under development at IBM. ... Although it's been alternately touted and debunked, the era of functional artificial intelligence may be dawning. For one thing, the processing power and data-storage capabilities required for thinking machines are now coming into existence. Researchers also have refined more acutely the algorithms and concepts behind artificially intelligent software. Additionally, the explosive growth of the Internet has created a need for machines that can function relatively autonomously. ... Artificial intelligence in a sense will function like a filter. Sensors will gather data from the outside world and send it to a computer, which in turn will issue the appropriate actions, alerting its human owners only when necessary. ... IBM's approach to artificial intelligence has been decidedly agnostic. There are roughly two basic schools of thought in artificial intelligence. Statistical learning advocates believe that the best guide for thinking machines is memory. ... By contrast, rules-based intelligence advocates, broken down into syntactical and grammatical schools of thought, believe that machines work better when more aware of context."
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-981256.html

January 21, 2003: SnowDroid working on AI toy. By J. Adrian Stanley. The Daily Camera.
"Business owner Stephen Matson hopes to deliver what the Jetsons promised America. Matson's company, SnowDroid Industries, is working to develop artificial intelligence machines. ... SnowDroid has developed the first prototype in what it plans to turn into a line of toys. 'Rovie,' a robot designed to play with children, has an artificial brain that simulates the brain of an insect. ... Randy Willig, chief scientist for SnowDroid, said Rovie has a personality and emotions. He said the robot is also able to sense its environment, gain life experiences, keep up with a walking child and respond to stimuli with lights and sounds. 'Instead of making a robotic pet, we wanted to make a pet robot,' Matson said. ... If all goes as planned, Rovie will be the first in a line of 'Mechpets.'"
http://www.bouldernews.com/bdc/local_business/article/0,1713,BDC_2461_1687220,00.html

January 21, 2003: X-Men - "Host Bob Edwards describes a recent International Trade Court ruling over whether the X-Men -- a group of mutant superheroes -- are human." Listen to this segment of NPR's Morning Edition. [audio file]
"After inspecting 60 action figures and stacks of legal briefs, [Judge Judy Barzilay] ruled this month that for purposes of import, the X-Men are not human, and Marvel wanted it that way. When the suit began six years ago, there was a 12 percent duty on dolls that have human characteristics as opposed to a 6 percent duty on creatures in the forms of animals or robots, dubbed toys."
http://discover.npr.org/rundowns/rundown.jhtml?prgId=3&prgDate=January/21/2003

January 22, 2003: Robotics seen as answer to dangerous military jobs. Reuters / available from The Mercury News.
"The medium-weight Stryker armored combat vehicle moves quickly, skirting trees and other dangerous obstacles as it scouts out enemy territory -- but there's no person at the controls. This is an autonomous robotic vehicle built by General Dynamics Corp. , which gets to its pre-set destination by relying on an array of sophisticated sensors, infrared cameras, and images gathered by satellites, all of which are updated by a high-powered computerized mission planner 10 times a second. ... 'Where this is all leading is the ability to replace men in the military in what they call the dirty, dangerous and dull missions,' said Scott Myers, vice president of Eagle Enterprise, the General Dynamics division that is developing the robotic Stryker, in addition to commercial applications such as an automated pharmacy and postal sorting equipment."
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/5009520.htm

January 23, 2003: Of Pawns, Knights, Bits, Bytes. By Leander Kahney. Wired News.
"A new era of man vs. machine competition is dawning. On Sunday, the world's No. 1-ranked chess player will begin a tournament against the world's best chess program -- and it's the first human/computer chess match sanctioned by the world's leading chess body. ... The competition is the first man/machine challenge sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs , or the World Chess Federation. ... 'Until now FIDE has been on the sidelines and ignored computer chess,' said Professor Jonathan Schaeffer, an expert in artificial intelligence and one of the competition's judges. 'I'm hopeful it will be the first of many, many computer chess matches to come.... It's very exciting to see international recognition of computer chess.' ... Schaeffer said the match could mark the moment when humankind finally cedes one of its most cherished and uniquely human capabilities to computers. 'One hundred years from now, the idea that humans could still beat computers will seem quaint,' he said. 'It will be like men trying to race cars at the turn of the century. Who's better? Who cares? The technology is what matters. It's improving, and that's what counts.'"
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,57345,00.html

January 23, 2003: The 'cruise missile' vacuum. South African Press Association / available from News 24.
"South Korean scientists have adapted a navigation system from cruise missiles to build a robot vacuum cleaner that can find its way around a room day or night, New Scientist reports in next Saturday's issue. ... The patented device built by researchers at Samsung gets around this by placing a video camera and infrared detector on top of the cleaner, giving it normal and infrared vision of the room."
http://www.news24.com/News24/Technology/0,6119,2-13_1310489,00.html

January 24, 2003: Tapestries weave a glorious portrait of cities. Museum pieces by Bill Cunniff. Chicago Sun-Times.
"Celebrating Black Heritage: The contributions of African-Americans to all forms of technology--including computers, artificial intelligence and entertainment products--are examined in CyberRhythms: Black Innovations in Technology, a new exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry. Research, data compression, and computer models for medical and intelligence systems are covered as well. E-business, which includes Internet architecture, Internet security and encryption, are likewise featured. Through displays, photographs, digital images, graphic panels and computer interactives, visitors can trace the contributions of African Americans to the growing industry of technology."
http://www.suntimes.com/output/galleries/wkp-news-muse24south.html

January 25, 2003: If a Machine Creates Something Beautiful, Is It an Artist? By Dylan Loeb McClain. The New York Times (no fee reg. req'd).
"Beginning tomorrow in New York, Garry Kasparov, the world's top-ranked player and the former world champion, will play a $1 million, six-game match against a chess program called Deep Junior. ... Whether Mr. Kasparov wins or loses, clearly chess computers have reached a point where they can compete against, and sometimes beat, the world's best players. ... But if computers become better than humans at chess, does that mean that computers are being artistic or that chess is essentially a complicated puzzle? The question arises partly because of the very different ways that humans and computers play chess."
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/25/arts/25TANK.html

January 26, 2003: Chess. By Douglas Bryson. Scotland on Sunday.
"Garry Kasparov challenges the Deep Junior computer program in a $ 1m match today in New York. ... Former Scottish champion David Levy is the president of the International Computer Games Association ( ICGA) under whose auspices the match takes place. Levy famously won bets placed in the 1960s that he would not be beaten by a computer. The www.icga.org website reveals the background story to the Levy wagers. Professor Donald Michie, founder of the Department of Machine Intelligence and Perception at Edinburgh University, invited Levy to the 1968 Artificial Intelligence ( AI) workshop in the capital. Levy had won the Scottish championship title earlier that year and was playing a friendly game against John McCarthy, a Stanford professor and a leading expert on AI. McCarthy lost to Levy, but remarked: 'Within 10 years there will be a program that can beat you.'"
http://www.scotlandonsunday.com/games.cfm?id=99602003

January 27, 2003: Varsity's lie detector could make millions. Manchester Online.
"Boffins in Manchester have invented the world's most accurate lie detector - and swear it's true! The Silent Talker uses artificial intelligence to monitor the miniscule gestures made by the face. And by detecting these tiny movements the machine can determine when people are lying. Dr Zuhair Bandar and his team at Manchester Metropolitan University say the system has already proved more accurate than traditional polygraphs."
http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/news/stories/Detail_LinkStory=50231.html

January 27, 2003: CEO Visions: A $5 Billion Vote Of Confidence - The promise and opportunities of the next decade are every bit as good as they were in the last, Microsoft's Steve Ballmer says. By Steve Ballmer. InformationWeek.
"Underscoring Microsoft's confidence in the future of technology is our investment of about $5 billion this fiscal year in research and development. While some of this money is going toward pure research in promising areas such as advanced operating systems and user interfaces, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing, most of our R&D is focused on products that will be available to customers this year or in the next couple of years. This focus on research continues to produce breakthroughs such as ClearType, advances in data mining and natural language and speech, and Smart Personal Object Technology...."
http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20030123S0010

January 28, 2003: Interactive robots serve as performers. By Corey Takahashi. Newsday / available from The Modesto Bee.
"'We found a great junkyard,' cheers Chico MacMurtrie. 'This is, like, a score.' The Brooklyn artist is on a hunt for tube-stock aluminum at J.P. Salvage Inc. in Staten Island, an important first step in creating his beguiling 'interactive robotic performance art.' Before you begin picturing scenes from 'Star Wars' or automated Christmas elves, it should be known that MacMurtrie, a serial winner of National Endowment for the Arts grants, does not consider his creations toys -- or stamping-plant automatons. They're sculpture. ... The robots struggle to stand, walk and play instruments, sometimes resembling infants in their movements, other times seeming like frightening cyborgs. Each work explores body language and movement, a long-time interest of MacMurtrie's. 'I'm not about robotics. I'm an artist that's using robotics as a way to express my ideas,' he says. 'I'm interested in it more ultimately as artwork.'"
http://www.modbee.com/technology/story/6010190p-6966597c.html

January 28, 2003: Man vs. Chess Machine - Letters to the Science Editor at The New York Times (no fee reg. req'd).
[excerpt from Milton N. Bradley's letter:] "It is now widely acknowledged that the game of go (called igo in Japan, baduk in Korea and weiqi in China) is both orders of magnitude larger in scale and more profound than chess, so that none of the computational techniques that have proved so successful in mastering chess are even modestly successful in go." ... [excerpt from Ralph Chernoff's letter:] "And we also know (or should know) that the human imagination and creativity that went into producing [the machine] is every bit as impressive as that of Mr. Kasparov himself. So three cheers for Garry, but how about a cheer or two for those computer nerds who create world champion chess computers."
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/28/science/28LETT.html

January 28, 2003: Four Voices on the Future - At the World Economic Forum in Davos, prominent scientists and technologists offered their take on robots, cloning, digital life, and the ‘yuck factor’ in tech. By David Kirkpatrick. Fortune.
"As baby-boomers age, [Rodney] Brooks sees assistive robots catching on. They could, for instance, help people carry groceries to and from the car. Or they might help us out of bed. Simple versions of products like that will be on the market within five years, Brooks predicts. ... Sir Martin talked about what he called the 'yuck factor' in many advances in modern science and technology. 'We can do things we’re not sure we want to do,' he says. Sir Martin sounded a bit like Sun’s Bill Joy (who was among the many eminent technologists and scientists in the audience) when he said, 'As a layperson I’m very scared about how with things like biotech and robotics we may be empowering individuals in dangerous ways and exposing ourselves as a human race to grave new risks.'"
http://www.fortune.com/fortune/fastforward/0,15704,412264,00.html

January 28, 2003: ASIMO Robot to Tour U.S. By Lance Ulanoff. PC Magazine.
"ASIMO, Honda's four-foot tall walking robot wonder, has arrived on US shores to kick off a nationwide, 15-month educational tour that will culminate in a visit to the North America school that comes up with the best essay on robotics. The tour, fully funded by Honda, is aimed at students from grades five through high school. ... 'ASIMO's good looks are deliberate,' said ASIMO North American project leader Jeffrey Smith. A humanoid appearance is 'key to ASIMO's acceptance in society.'"
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,849588,00.asp

January 29, 2003: Benjamin Franklin Medal in Computer and Cognitive Science. The Franklin Institute.
"Dr. John McCarthy is awarded the 2003 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Computer and Cognitive Sciences for his multiple contributions to the foundations of artificial intelligence and computer science including the development of the LISP language, the invention of time-sharing interactive programming, and key developments in the application of formal logic to common sense reasoning. John McCarthy is universally recognized as one of the fathers of 'artificial intelligence,' (AI) a phrase he coined to denote the field of research he significantly helped to define." Also see the related press release, The Franklin Institute Announces the 2003 Benjamin Franklin Medal and Bower Award Laureates, (January 29, 2003) from PRNewswire / available from Yahoo News.
http://www.fi.edu/tfi/exhibits/bower/03/ccscience.html
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030129/phw003_1.html

January 29, 2003: Brain-like chip brings AI closer to reality - Latest developments are hardware-based. PIng na Thalang. Bangkok Post.
"News of artificial intelligence (AI) developments are usually received enthusiastically by the public, yet the AI community has not seen any major breakthrough that warrants a legitimate step away from the current 'simulated intelligence' that we see today. The majority of AI research focusses on the software side -- like languages, algorithms, etc. However, the latest developments on the hardware side have boosted the chances that we will one day master the science of machine intelligence. The study of neuromorphic circuitry is the study of how artificial wiring can duplicate the human brain -- right down to an individual neuron and dendrite. This branch of digital engineering was pioneered by Carver Mead, the creator of VLSI (Very Large Scale Integrated) circuits in the late 1980s."
http://www.bangkokpost.com/290103_Database/29Jan2003_datacol52.html

January 29, 2003: New technology boom forecast. By William Lyons. The Scotsman.
"A technology boom to mirror that of the mid-nineties bubble is only three years away, says a senior analyst with telecoms giant BT. Ian Pearson predicts that "technology stocks will go through the roof" as the industry undergoes a second wave of convergence. Pearson, in Edinburgh this week advising Edinburgh law firm Henderson Boyd Jackson on future IT industry trends, said that enormous improvements in the availability of the internet, coupled with a plethora of new ideas, dramatic increases in computer memory and artificial intelligence, will create a huge technology stimulus by the end of 2005."
http://www.business.scotsman.com/technology.cfm?id=112772003

January 29, 2003: 'Battle for supremacy between man and machine,' unfolds Kasparov says. By Thor Valdmanis. USA Today.
"The ultimate mind game is being played out here and, to believe participants, the future of human civilization hangs in the balance. ... 'Fischer-Spassky was about politics, the lone American warrior taking on the evil Soviet machine,' says [Garry] Kasparov. 'This contest is a pure test of human intelligence.' At first glance, it looks like a mismatch. Junior is a data bulldog, blazing through 2 million to 3 million move options per second to Kasparov's three. But experts say Junior's success is tied to whether it can imitate a human approach that concentrates on patterns, not number crunching. Kasparov is off to a fast start in the six-game championship, up 1.5 points to a half point with a win and a draw. Game 3 is set for today. ... Efforts to create an omnipotent chess supercomputer have been ongoing since the founding fathers of artificial intelligence began plotting at a Dartmouth University conference in 1956."
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/2003-01-29-kasparov_x.htm

January 30, 2003: Research expert ponders next killer application. By Ron Wilson EE Times UK.
"What's the next killer app? Ralph Cavin, vice president of research operations at the Semiconductor Research Corp., thinks it includes thinking machines and devices that would replace human assistants. ... Among his scenarios were proactive computers that could anticipate their user's needs rather than simply responding to commands; machines that could fill some of the roles of a human assistant, for which Cavin cited the Sony SDR 4X robot as an extreme example; and a number of applications at the intersection of microelectronics, nanotechnology and medicine."
http://www.eetuk.com/tech/news/OEG20030129S0052

January 30, 2003: Rowan group working on safety issues of pipelines. By Gene Vernacchio. Courier-Post.
"A group of Rowan University engineering students is developing a cutting-edge way to better ensure the safety of the nation's 180,000 miles of natural-gas pipelines. The two-year project, which started in October, uses virtual reality and artificial intelligence to inspect gas pipelines. The idea, officials say, is to allow professionals to more quickly determine if a gas pipeline is defective and to assess the severity of the fault. Shreekanth Mandayam, one of four Rowan professors supervising the project, said the work is being funded by nearly $500,000 from the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation and ExxonMobil. ... Joseph Oagaro, 23, a senior engineering student from Williamstown, said solving a real-world project makes the hard work required to complete the task more satisfying. 'We have actual customers expecting results from what we' re doing here,' Oagaro said."
http://www.courierpostonline.com/news/southjersey/m013003n.htm

January 30, 2003: Robot chauffeurs approaching fast. By Garry Barker. The Age.
"The halcyon day of the robot chauffeur is approaching. With Australian technologies already successfully tested in Queensland and on roads near Versailles in France, you will eventually be able to sit back in your car sipping a glass of wine, reading, chatting on a mobile phone or watching TV and have the vehicle drive you smoothly, safely and automatically to your destination. Ljubo Vlacic, of the School of Micro-electronic Engineering at Griffith University, who leads the team that developed the technology, says it is ready for commercial application but he does not expect to see it in public operation for some years. ... 'We are talking about cooperative autonomous vehicles,' [Professor Vlacic] says."
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/01/29/1043804407134.html

January 30, 2003: Jachowski a finalist in national science contest. By Edwin Tanji. Maui News.
"A Maui High School senior has parlayed an award-winning science fair project into a chance at a $100,000 scholarship in Intel Corp.'s Science Talent Search, a competition labeled a 'Junior Nobel Prize.' Matt Jachowski, 17, was selected as one of 40 finalists in the Intel Science Search for an original research project that requires a student to go well beyond what he learns in a classroom. For Jachowski, it's the latest in a string of achievements since he was involved in a summer astronomy program where he began an investigation of asteroid orbits and developed a project that finds errors in previous scientific calculations of astronomers tracking asteroid orbits. ... 'I'm trying to evolve the methodology for orbit determination by using artificial intelligence,' he said. Translating, he explained he was developing a computer program that would deal with the systematic errors that occur in the two standard methods for determining the orbits of an object in space."
http://www.maui.net/%7Emauinews/lnews4c.htm

January 30, 2003: Not so smart - Comparing human and computer chess-players says little about intelligence. (Opinion) The Economist.
"The idea that chess-playing skill is a proxy for machine intelligence is not new. It goes back as far as 1770, when Wolfgang von Kempelen, a Hungarian inventor, unveiled a wooden, clockwork-powered mannekin at the court of Maria Theresa, Empress of Austria-Hungary. ... This notion was revived in the 1950s, when the building of a genuine chess-playing machine was seen by artificial-intelligence researchers as a stepping-stone towards a general theory of machine intelligence. Claude Shannon, a computer scientist, explained why, in an article published in 1950. 'The problem is sharply defined. It is neither so simple as to be trivial or too difficult for satisfactory solution. And such a machine could be pitted against a human opponent, giving a clear measure of the machine's ability in this kind of reasoning.' ... Deep Blue, Deep Junior and their sort are human creations. The real victors, if Mr Kasparov loses again, will not be machines, but the humans who designed and built them. ... The equation of chess-playing with intelligence is centuries old, but it is time to lay it to rest."
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1559988

January 31, 2003: 'Living' machines unsettling. Book review by John Freeman. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
"Americans may think of Thomas Edison as the great inventor of the light bulb and the phonograph, but he did have a flop or two in his lifetime, as Gaby Wood reveals. Her charming 'Edison's Eve,' recently named a finalist for the 2002 National Book Critics Circle Award, recounts the story of Edison's attempt to make the first talking doll. ... Wood places this interesting failure within a history of experiments in automation, arguing that current forays into artificial intelligence have their roots in the 18th century, when building an automaton was so heretical that scientists who tried to do so were sometimes run out of town. ... Examined as part of a continuum, these primitive robots raise the same questions: Why do scientists feel a need to replicate life? And why, when they fail, do they feel such shame?"
http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/epaper/editions/friday/features_e3a351a4e2f4e1aa00f7.html

January 31, 2003: Deep Junior capitalises on Kasparov blunder. By Will Knight. New Scientist.
"An elementary mistake caused Gary Kasparov to lose for the first time to the chess computer program Deep Junior on Thursday. The man-versus-machine battle is now tied halfway through the six-game series, with one win apiece and one draw. ... Deep Junior runs on standard computer hardware, while Deep Blue was a custom-built supercomputer. The team that designed Deep Junior says their program employs a more sophisticated move-selection process, considering only the strongest possible positions in detail. ... Kasparov's successor as world champion, Vladimir Kramnik, only managed a drawn series against another computer program, Deep Fritz, in a match held in October 2002."
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993338

February 1, 2003: France's Thales to enter Japanese market. Asia Times.
"French defense electronics manufacturer Thales Group is making a full-scale move into the Japanese market. ... Thales is considering establishing a production site in Japan and may also set up an research and development location with its Japanese partner to study applications of GPS (global positioning system) equipment, artificial intelligence and surgical operation simulators."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/EB01Dh01.html

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