And Google said, "Let them search code."
Posted by: Erik
Writing code is all about solving problems. Hard problems. And it's made more difficult by the fact that computers don't understand human language. Not even close. If I wanted a computer to pick-up milk at the store (assuming, of course, that computers could do such a thing), I would start by telling the computer to turn 90 degrees to the right. Then I would instruct it to walk 20 feet to the door. Then... And this sort of thing that would go on and on... A human, however, just has to hear the words, "pick up some milk please," and (presuming the individual is so inclined) they'll travel to the store and return with some milk. If only our computers were as smart as humans. But they aren't. And this means that programmers spend much of their lives telling computers, very literally, what to do.
This pedantic creation of instructions is tedious, and, more to an employer's point, error prone. As it turns out, there are lots of different ways to solve a single problem, and most of these are complete crap. But the quality of a solution isn't apparent for weeks or months. It takes a super experienced/smart programmer to tell the difference right away, and there are only two of them on the planet. But what if there was a way that programmers could search the thousands of source files on the web and get a sense of what works and what doesn't?
Enter Google. While searching code on the web isn't a novel idea, Google does search like nobody's business. And they've done the same thing for code search. Now, programmers have instant access to thousands of documents detailing common approaches to programming problems. Of course, sifting through these documents can be a chore (many contain poor code), but I would still contend that being a programmer today is better than being a programmer one week ago (before Google code search).
Enter the hackers. Many of the crappy ways of programming lead to security problems. Example: It's kind of like if we had programmed a computer to go get milk, but we had forgotten to tell the computer to actually get the milk before it hands over the money. Now, any chump on the street can scam our computer out of its money. Is this a problem? Well, if we're the only ones with the code, then maybe people won't notice that our computer hands out free money. It's kind of a lame strategy to just cross our fingers and hope, but that's what we get for being bad programmers. If, on the other hand, Google has made our code searchable, we're hosed: hackers are going to be searching for "hands out money" AND NOT "demands merchandise", and they're going to get a list of applications that give out money for free. Ours will be on that list, and you can be sure that we're going to be out a lot of money after the Russian/Romanian/Chinese/Brazilian hacking hordes have had their way with our program.
Example. (Possible buffer overflows. From kottke.org)
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Next Fest: Cuddly Robots and Android Sex
Posted by: chalupa
I spent this rainy Sunday in NYC checking out Wired Magazine's Next Fest. As a staunch environmentalist, I came for the hybrid vehicles and fuel cell technology. But as a total dork, I spent the entire day in the Robot Row--the tiny corner of the Javits Center packed with borderline creepy demonstrations of robots...doing the robot. (This was the on-going joke of some of the demos, and for me personally, it never got old).
Meet Alex Hubo. He has Albert Einstein's head with white hair hitting just below his wrinkly chin and a 'stache to match. His eyebrows are raised in bemusement, but his soft face can also show anger, surprise, and happiness. With a body like a Star Wars Space Trooper, Alex Hubo is the "first-ever walking robot with an expressive face," according to his creators at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.
I chatted with David Hanson, the President of Hanson Robotics: Humanizing Technology and a graduating PhD student at Houston. He made the face for Alex Hubo along with his own robotic invention, Jules—an androgynous bald robot that sort of facially resembles Verbal from The Usual Suspects. In his cargo black and white army camouflage pants and FuBu-esque white bomber jacket with faux-fur trim, Jules stared back and reacted to the crowds of people ohing and ahing at a robot ohing and ahing back at them.
"We're creating conversational characters as an art form," says Hanson. With computers and huge memory storage, robots can "learn your face, name, talk to you, build memories, remember how it felt when you talked, have feelings." I asked if we're finally entering a Jetsonian Period and whether Rosie the Jetson's maid will soon be available at Wal Mart.
"Entertainment, the cutesy stuff, is easier for us." Hanson explained. "Rosie from the Jetsons requires more creative intelligence to wash the dishes. Right now A.I. is art, entertainment. Soon you can have A.I. that tells stories, tutors, rides the vacuum cleaner, it's like having a Pixar character alive in your living room, a member of the family that can store memory and forge relationships."
If you want to interact with Jules, go to www.personalityforge.com and type in "JULES"--it will get to know you and you in turn can get a sense of it's personality.
How soon will robots live among us like humans? Today, in terms of A.I. in comparison to the history of film, we have the zoetrope. Tomorrow? Spielberg. Hanson says that the technology for A.I. is advancing at an accelerated speed—cameras for the eyes, memory storage and other software is rapidly improving.
According to Hanson, "As A.I. become more nuanced, it can actually achieve consciousness. General Strong Intelligence--integration of improved intelligence pieces [technology] and having it solve problems creatively with human flexibility is 15-20 years away by optimistic standards."
Can you imagine what robots will do to the sex industry? Could the US Department of Defense, Al Gore, and Steve Jobs and Wozniak the Wizard have predicted that everyone from Congressmen (Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL)) to lonely freelance writers in Brooklyn, engage in internet sex? What if one day the back of the Village Voice is filled with advertisements of voluptuous androids in suggestive poses?
Which brings me to the nameless but nonetheless lovely "actroid der" by Kokoro--an android that looks like a beautiful, young Japanese woman who changes outfits as much as Barbie. She can play receptionist, English maid, waitress, and kittenish charmer in a full black body suit with F-me boots to match.
She greets you, plays with your kids, her hands have life-lines, and she's even sarcastic to boot. Ask her if she's a robot and her soft, sweet voice will suddenly turn mechanical and say, "YES-I-AM-A-ROBOT." Funny girl. Great for cocktail parties and possibly other, ahem, things. She could very well be the Pandora box of the A.I. market. Investor beware--pull your stock out of blow up dolls now.
Android sex aside, the Cuddle Monster award goes to my favorite pet darling of Robot Row: Paro, the warm and fuzzy baby seal that whimpers like a new born puppy at the gentle stroke of your hand on it's plush, white fur. According to the creators of the robotic harp seals at Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Paro has many therapeutic uses, including reducing anxiety in the elderly and sick.
But with it's hugability and portability, Paro could very well be in the next five years another celebrity accessory as high profile as Tinkerbelle Hilton in a Louise Vuitton handbag. If you can't club them, cuddle them.
