Industry Watch

last updated 6/23/08

Too much information?

Ever wonder how much information there is in the world?  Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, are trying to find out.

The “How Much Information” study is a three-year, multi-disciplinary, multi-university program that will tap the talents of researchers at UC-San Diego, MIT, and UC-Berkeley.  In addition, industry experts from AT&T, Cisco Systems, IBM, LSI, Oracle, Seagate Technology LLC, and PARC will lend their know-how to the team.

In discussing the program, UC scientist Peter Cowhey commented, “Experts say that we live in an information economy, but how much information is there, and do countries count and value information comparably? The previous generation of studies have reported information as countable bits and bytes, and documented large growth numbers. The next generation of studies will count more precisely the impacts and implications of information growth, and do this internationally.”

While the study participants hope to document the growth in information, they are also interested in understanding how information works – how it is used and applied.

Of course, a study on how much information exists in the world will itself create more information. One is tempted to ask, “How long is a piece of string?”

Is your website friendly enough?

From the state that brought us the motto, “You have a friend in Pennsylvania”, comes a new study on website likeability.

Scientists at the Penn State Media Effect Research Laboratory have been looking at the functionality of an organization’s website and its effect on the user’s perception of that organization.  They found that “a likeable design and features that engage the target audience” help create positive perceptions.

So what are likeable designs and features?  Low to medium levels of interactivity are good, according to Professor S. Shyam Sundar.  But positive perception falls for medium to high interactivity. “In general, too much interactivity is not desirable, and may lead to information overload,” Sundar said.

In particular, the group found that students looking for jobs were more likely to apply to companies with interactive websites.  Site with features that allowed visitors to click on a link to make job inquiries, submit applications, and view video footage of the company elicited the most positive responses.

It’s easier to understand a computer than a human brain…

…and that’s why Carnegie Mellon scientists are using a computer to try to learn how the human brain codes the meaning of words. The scientists have created a computational model that predicts brain activity patterns associated with thousands of things we experience through our senses – names for things that you can see, hear, feel, taste, or smell.

The scientists report that their work could eventually lead to brain scans that will identify thoughts.  That work, in turn, could help in the diagnosis and treatment of thought disorders, such as schizophrenia, and conditions such as autism.

From video games to supercomputer

Parts originally designed for video game machines have been used to create an American military supercomputer that can process more than 1.026 quadrillion calculations per second. The machine, called Roadrunner, is twice as fast as the previous fastest computer, the IBM BlueGene/L.  It cost $133 million to build “the fastest of the fast”, which makes the price per calculation not a bad buy.  Among other things, Roadrunner will be used to make sure America’s nuclear weapons will continue to work as they age. 

Roadrunner is based on a design that uses a chip originally intended for Sony’s PlayStation 3.  Horst Simon, director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, commented the creation of Roadrunner shows that technology innovation is happening first in the consumer electronics market.  And it goes to show how much science depends on the business of America being business!