Here’s another great talk — by Tony DeRose, Senior Scientist and head of the Research Group at Pixar Animation Studios — at the recent “Computation and the Transformation of Practically Everything” symposium commemorating MIT’s 150th anniversary celebration. DeRose stepped through the 80-year history of computer animation, with examples from Beauty and the Beast, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, etc. Animation started about 80 years ago… with the Walt Disney Studio, where they really invented what later became an art form. Steamboat Willie was one of the first milestones, and, in this era, the only real technology was pencil, paper, and film. So, the artist would draw a complete drawing, including outlines and shading, for […]

Fresh on the heels of Friday’s big announcement about a new National Robotics Initiative, I thought now would be a great time to feature a recent talk by MIT CSAIL Professor Leslie Pack Kaelbling. Speaking at the “Computation and the Transformation of Practically Everything” symposium commemorating MIT’s 150th anniversary celebration back in April, Kaelbling described the emerging research frontiers at the intersection of robotics and AI: It used to be that the dream of what robots could do for us was big and romantic and exciting… all these robots from the movies. If you look at the commercial reality of robots… they’re sort of robot automata in factories that will weld whatever […]

Today I attended a panel discussion on “The Role of the Cloud in the Smart Grid”, sponsored by Microsoft’s Innovation & Policy Center and the Digital Energy Solutions Campaign (DESC). The discussion — which featured leading government and industry officials — ranged widely from privacy implications to efficiency benefits, but there were a few key takeaway points that impressed me: Smart grids will empower consumers with real-time feedback about the services for which they are paying. Wired Magazine ran an article over the weekend discussing how feedback about our electricity habits (among other things) can help reshape behavior, conserve energy, and improve efficiency. As high-consumption items like electric cars become more […]

Remember the electronic reservation system that you used to book your summer vacation this year? Well, in all likelihood, it was powered by information technology from ITA Software — the 450-person, Cambridge, MA-based company that was recently bought by Google for $700 million. ITA Software’s innovative travel tool — QPX — powers some of the world’s leading travel websites, including those of Orbitz and Travelocity, as well as United, American, Southwest, and Alaska Airlines. At the recent “Computation and the Transformation of Practically Everything” symposium commemorating MIT’s 150th anniversary celebration, ITA Software’s co-founder and President & CEO Jeremy Wertheimer described the history of travel technology, delving into the staggering complexity of finding and […]

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been highlighting on this blog several of the excellent talks from the “Computation and the Transformation of Practically Everything” symposium held at MIT earlier this year. The symposium — part of MIT’s 150th anniversary celebration — described how computer science is changing the world. This week, we showcase another talk, this one by Tom Leighton, the Co-Founder and Chief Scientist of Akamai Technologies — a global leader in web acceleration and performance — and a Professor of Applied Mathematics at MIT. Leighton described the history of theoretical computer science, including key advances like the RSA encryption protocol, the Viterbi algorithm (which is used today in cell phones, digital TVs, etc., and […]

David Ferrucci’s official title is “IBM Fellow and Leader of the Semantic Analysis and Integration Department at IBM’s T.J. Watson Research Center.” But to the world, he’s the genius behind Watson, the question-answering supercomputer system that bested two humans in a nationally televised broadcast of the popular game show Jeopardy! earlier this year. And not just any two humans, but the two very best players in the show’s 27-year history. On Monday, Ferrucci delivered a fantastic keynote at the ACM’s 2011 Federated Computing Research Conference in San Jose, CA. Ferrucci walked the audience — nearly 2,000 computer scientists from around the country — through the creation of Watson, from its initial conception […]