Sci and Tech
The last time you saw Watson the supercomputer, he was probably cleaning up on the game show Jeopardy! But since roundly defeating reigning champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, Watson hasn't been resting on his laurels. In fact, just two years after his debut, Watson - as Steve Gold, executive at Watson Solutions at IBM describes it - has been "going to work." So what sets Watson apart from the average, run-of-the-mill computer sitting in your cubicle (which, we would hazard to guess, has not recently won thousands of dollars on a television game show?)
We talked in this week's show about very smart computers - including Watson, the supercomputer and Jeopardy! champion. Want a little taste of Watson in your own home? Gadget guru Ben Saren has some pointers on how the newest gadgets can spruce up your humble abode, from a smart scale to replace the one languishing in your upstairs bathroom to a thermostat that knows exactly how late you like staying in bed on the weekends.
When journalist Steven Brill first began investigating the American health care system for his article "Bitter Pill, he started in a familiar place: medical bills. What he found shocked him. One patient, for example, paid $2,293 per day just for room and board in a hospital - about ten times more than he would have paid for a hotel room - and had little choice in the matter.
"There's no marketplace at all," Brill says. "The person buying the service has no leverage, no power, and no visibility into the cost."
When it comes to new technology, Guy Kawasaki is ahead of the curve. Former Chief Evangelist at Apple and now special adviser to Google in their Motorola division, Kawasaki has long been a Silicon Valley insider. "You can't buy me, but you can rent me," he quips. This week, Kawasaki tells us what he sees ahead for tech. And with legions of followers on Google+ and Twitter, his predictions carry a lot of weight.
What was the last television show your friends, family, or coworkers were buzzing about? Chances are, it wasn't on regular cable television. Brian Stelter, media reporter at the New York Times and author of Top of the Morning, says innovations in television programming and delivery may soon pull the plug on cable as we know it. If you've ever recoiled in horror at the sight of a hefty cable bill, you're not alone - and you may have other options. Companies like Apple, Google, and Amazon have introduced devices that stream content directly from the Internet to your television, bypassing cable altogether. "They're putting Trojan horses in our living rooms," says Stelter, who says such devices could cut in on cable's sizable audience.
Say you're in the market for a watch. You have a few options: you could go to the department store and pick one in a familiar style, from a familiar brand. But what if you wanted something you couldn't find in stores -- like a smart watch that syncs with your cell phone and buzzes when you receive text messages? For that, there's Kickstarter, a crowdfunding website that connects up-and-coming innovators with big ideas to people who want to see them become reality, says Ethan Mollick, professor at the Wharton School.
It's 1894, and a tall, handsome, mysterious man is sitting in the ornate, elegant dining room at Delmonico's in New York. He's surrounded by admirers - nouveau riche and old money alike - and they're all whispering about the amazing feats they have seen him perform with electricity: including sending 250 volts coursing through his body, lighting up the surface of his skin from within. The man is Nikola Tesla, inventor of alternating current, and he's widely regarded by the people in the room as one of the greatest geniuses alive.
Struggling to keep cool (and swat off those pesky mosquitoes) in these dog days of August? Trying to sneak in some quality outdoors time before the weather changes? Ben Saren, Innovation Hub's gadget guru, is here to help in this exclusive web extra.
When you turn on a light bulb, fill up your gas tank, or pay your electric bill, how often do you think about the fall of the Roman Empire? Chances are, not much - but Jeremy Rifkin, adviser to the European Union and author of The Third Industrial Revolution, might urge you to start. That's because, according to Rifkin, the fall of Rome was directly tied to the Empire's failure to find new energy sources to meet the needs of its growing economy -- and, he warns, we're on a similar trajectory unless we can revamp our energy regime to fit the demands of twenty-first century society.
You may know your playlists like the back of your hand, but what if your playlists also knew you? Tony Churnside, media technologist at the BBC, says the notion is not so far fetched. He and his team have developed a radio that is fully flexible to your wants and needs - including adapting its coverage depending on where you are and what you like.
