Google Tech Talks
June 26, 2007

ABSTRACT

An electronic book is defined as a digital book that not only captures the affordances of a physical book, but also transcends the limitations of its paper counterpart. There is much debate as to whether the use of the book metaphor is appropriate for an electronic document. User studies suggest that current popular document presentations (HTML and PDF) are not always the most convenient, or the most comfortable, for the reader. On the other hand, while realistic physically-based computer models of books have been around for years, they are rarely deployed in practice. I suggest that this happens not because of any proven drawbacks, but is purely…

Google Tech Talks
April 30, 2007

ABSTRACT

World-renowned Science Fiction writer and futurist Bruce Sterling will outline his ideas for SPIMES, a form of ubiquitous computing that gives smarts and ‘searchabiliity’ to even the most mundane of physical products. Imagine losing your car keys and being able to search for them with Google Earth.

This same paradigm will find you “wrangling” with product-lifecycle- management systems that do for physical objects what the iPod has done for music. These and other radical ideas are delivered in Sterling’s latest book`Shaping Things’. This concise book was written to inspire designers to visualize radical scenarios connecting information technology and…

Google Tech Talks
May 31, 2007

ABSTRACT

In a recent survey conducted by the PEW Internet and America Life Project it was found that 64% of wired Americans use the Internet for religious and spiritual activity. People are going online to do everything from searching for religious information and answers, to joining in online prayer groups, undertaking virtual pilgrimages, and even participating in online rituals. Dr. Christopher Helland, one of the foremost authorities studying religious activity on the World Wide Web, will present a summary of his current research, demonstrating the unique ways people are utilizing Internet technology so that it can meet their religious and spiritual needs. As…

Google Tech Talks
May 22, 2007

ABSTRACT

Artists and graphic designers of all stripes continually face the problem of how to compose their works in aesthetically pleasing ways. Despite its importance and generality, the perceptual basis of aesthetic response has not been adequately studied. I will report the results of three projects that investigate people’s aesthetic responses to spatial and color composition. Our results show strong, consistent preferences in the spatial composition of simple images containing familiar objects and configurations of objects in rectangular frames to be positioned at or near the center of the frame (the “center bias”) and to face toward the center of the frame…

Google Tech Talks
May 17, 2007

ABSTRACT

Urban Pattern Shaped by Transportation
Bicycle Transportation in Modern Cities,Management by Motorists,Bicycle Advocacy
Present Governmental Bicycle Programs,
Rational Management, Operating Rules,
Instruction, Social Policies Credits: Speaker:John Forester

Google Tech Talks
May 22, 2007

ABSTRACT

One of the main goals of astrobiology is the search for another type of life in our solar system. The planet Mars, Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter, and Enceladus one of the moons of Saturn, are the most likely targets for this search. With only one example of life on Earth it is not too surprising that we lack a precise definition of life or a clear strategy for how to search for it on other worlds. Studies of the limits of life and life in extreme environment may help us develop a search strategy for life on other worlds. Fossils are not enough. We will want to determine if life on elsewhere was a separate genesis from life on Earth. For this…

Google Tech Talks
May 1, 2007

ABSTRACT

Introducing New Zealand’s Geospatial Research Centre
Based in Christchurch, New Zealand, the Geospatial Research Centre (GRC) is a University-based group providing research and consultancy services in the fields of positioning and orientation, with particular expertise in sensor integration, image analysis, data visualisation and electronics.

GRC has a small team of experienced research scientists and engineers, as well as PhD and graduate students, able to support a range of geospatial technologies and disciplines including: * Positioning and Orientation * Imaging and Image Analysis * Communications * Sensor Integration * Unmanned Aerial…

Google Tech Talks
May 30, 2007

ABSTRACT

Dr. Ben Goertzel – Artificial General Intelligence: Now Is the Time Essay: www.kurzweilai.net/articles/art0701.html Abstract: When the AI field was founded over 50 years ago, it was squarely focused on the grand dream of creating software displaying general intelligence at the human level or beyond. Since that time the field has drifted in a direction Ray Kurzweil has called “Narrow AI”: the creation of intelligent software applications carrying out highly particular functions. The relationship between this sort of narrow AI and “artificial general intelligence” (AGI) as in the original dreams of the AI field, is an issue of dispute among experts. Some…

Google Tech Talks
February 28, 2007

ABSTRACT

Among America’s most serious concerns are (i) national security, which is intimately tied to energy security, (ii) economic competitiveness, and (iii) the environment. These issues transcend our national boundaries and have serious implications for the world. At the core of these problems is need to secure clean, affordable and sustainable sources of energy. Solutions must come from a combination of improvements on both the demand and supply side, and science and technology will be an essential part of the solution. After briefly describing the energy problem, the remainder of the talk will describe areas of research that may lead to transforming…