Tag: computers

Google Translate AI reminds me of GigaText, a blast from Saskatchewan’s past

By Edward Willett in Blog
December 3, 2016
4 mins to read
2 comments

This story, “Google Translate AI invents its own language to translate with” caught my eye for an odd reason. Long-time Saskatchewan residents will recognize the word “GigaText.” As I’ve noted elsewhere, I’m working on a book about the Progressive Conservative government of Grant Devine, which held power in Saskatchewan from 1982 to 1991. One of …

Vehicle-to-vehicle communication

By Edward Willett in automobiles, cars, Columns, Ford, Science Columns
January 27, 2012
4 mins to read
Leave comment

[podcast]https://edwardwillett.com/wp-content/uploads//2012/01/Communicating-Cars.mp3[/podcast] Do you talk to your car? I know I do (perhaps not as much as I, um, “talk” to other drivers, but some). I think I inherited the trait from my mother: all of the cars of my childhood, I knew from her, were named “Suzy.” These days, your car may even listen to …

An epic tale of self-control

By Edward Willett in Blog
February 1, 2011
4 mins to read
Leave comment

You may have seen this news item recently about how a toddler’s self-control at the age of three can predict his or her health and wealth once grown. This study has been running through my mind for a week because I have, I think, demonstrated a tremendous amount of self-control over the past few days, …

The benefits of chatspeak

By Edward Willett in Blog, Columns, Science Columns
September 23, 2009
4 mins to read
Leave comment

When it comes to the brave new world of interpersonal communications via electronic networks, I believe I do quite well for a man who is…how can I put this delicately…no longer teenaged. Or twenty-something. Or thirty-something. Or, as of this summer, even forty-something. Despite my advancing years, however, I am still a with-it and happening …

The first sentence I wrote today…

By Edward Willett in Blog
July 23, 2009
2 mins to read
Leave comment

…was, once again, for Blue Fire : In the stunned silence that followed, Amlinn stood stock-still for a long moment, then suddenly ran after her grandfather. Words today: 1,514 Total thus far: 38,313 That was first thing this morning; in the afternoon, I did good work on Magebane, but it was, once again, of the …

The first sentence I wrote today…

By Edward Willett in Blog
July 22, 2009
3 mins to read
2 comments

…was for Blue Fire: Amlinn gestured at her grandfather and the departing messenger. “They’re not coming.” Words today: 1,697 Total thus far: 36,799 Made some good progress today, and what was particularly exciting about it had little to do with what I wrote, which was mostly of the people talking variety (though there’s a big …

The first (OK, actually the first TWO) sentence(s) I wrote today…

By Lee Arthur Chane in Blog
June 17, 2009
2 mins to read
Leave comment

“He will be able to answer questions,” the Healer said. “Whether he will answer them is beyond my control.” Words today: 1,440 Total thus far: 16,272 A bit of an annoyance today: I’ve been writing with my Freedom Universal Keyboard 2 (a fold-up Bluetooth keyboard) on my new Blackberry Storm. All well and good, but …

Reverse-engineering the brain

By Edward Willett in Blog, Columns, Science Columns
May 5, 2009
4 mins to read
Leave comment

[podcast]https://edwardwillett.com/wp-content/upLoads//2009/05/blue-brain.mp3[/podcast] Ah, the human brain. Seat of consciousness, miracle of creation or evolution (discuss amongst yourselves), able to jump to tall conclusions in a single bound, so incredibly complex that we’ll never be able to understand how it works. Um, not so fast. A year and a half ago, scientists at the Blue Brain Project …

The artificial scientist

By Edward Willett in Science Columns
April 7, 2009
4 mins to read
Leave comment

[podcast]https://edwardwillett.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/the-artificial-scientist.mp3[/podcast] As I’ve noted before, the very first science column I wrote, ca. 1991, was entitled, “What is a scientist?” Last year I re-ran that column with minor editing: the answer to the question hadn’t changed in 17 years. But it may have changed now. That’s because researchers at Cornell University have created a computer …

Talking cars: Knight Rider lives!

By Edward Willett in Blog, Science Columns
May 20, 2008
4 mins to read
Leave comment

Remember those 1980s cars that used to tell you “Your door is ajar”? Even aside from sounding like someone who only knows the punchline but not the setup of an old joke (“When is a door not a door?”) those voices annoyed almost everyone. Which is why, for many years, most cars didn’t talk. But …

Mind-reading machines

By Edward Willett in Blog, Science Columns
March 17, 2008
5 mins to read
Leave comment

Download the audio version.Get my science column weekly as a podcast. I’m a hard-line skeptic when it comes to the topic of ESP (extra-sensory perception). I don’t believe in telepathy, precognition, telekinesis, or people bending flatware just by looking at it. That said, I’m pretty confident that in the near future mind-reading will be possible. …

A writer’s speedometer

By Edward Willett in Blog
February 28, 2008
1 mins to read
Leave comment

I may have to get me one of these. It’s a USB Speedometer that plugs into your computer and tells you how fast you’re typing in words per minute. And just like your car, it also has an odometer to show you how many words you’ve typed in a given day. On the other hand, …