Superficial Intelligence

Just a quick thought while I recover from this last weekend's road trip to South Dakota.

Do you think artificial intelligence will someday be able to achieve human-like intelligence? Or will it only achieve the illusion of intelligence? I specifically mention human-like intelligence because there are many ways to define intelligence. In this case, I'm referring to intelligence like that of humans, not just the ability to make good decisions (as it is sometimes defined). I personally believe computers will only ever be able to produce the illusion of intelligence. There is the possibility that quantum computing brings some new cards to the table, but will computers ever actually think the way we do? Are our minds more similar to computers than we think or is there some intangible quality to our minds that computers will never be able to simulate? What are your thoughts?

Posted by Fernando Torre at 9:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

As part of my transition to a new lab, I have finally started working with them on a project. I still officially belong to the Data Mining Lab (at least through the rest of the summer), but it is exciting to start getting involved with the new lab. As a result, I have two desks in two different offices (about a 30-second walk from each other). I work mornings at one desk and afternoons at the other.

The lab I'm joining is called GroupLens. They do excellent research in the areas of recommender systems, online communities and local geographic information systems. They are the owners of MovieLens, a movie recommendation site where a lot of their research on recommender systems goes on. It is an excellent research group with excellent advisors. I will be working with them on a wiki-related project. I will probably talk about that project more in the future (I think I'll be working there for a long while).

I'll be taking a small vacation this weekend to visit Mt Rushmore with my sisters, who are visiting from Puerto Rico, so no more updates until early next week. Some interesting content is coming up some time next week, so stay tuned!

Posted by Fernando Torre at 11:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

We may think we're special when we buy furniture at IKEA. We may think that we're smart and unique. But all that goes away when we're watching TV and we see the same cushions we bought at IKEA on the set of a show.

Our living room sofa:

Two scenes from the most recent episode of The Big Bang Theory (sorry for the weird subtitles):

And it doesn't stop there. A new expansion pack is coming out for the Sims 2 which features furniture from IKEA. And guess whose furniture appear on the front cover?

This is our bed and drawers:

And this is the cover for the new Sims 2 expansion pack (a bit small, but you can see the same bed and the same chest except with three drawers instead of four):

So either everyone is as cheap as us or everyone has as good tastes as we do. I'm hoping it's the latter. On the plus side, now we can buy Sims 2 and play around with all possible room rearrangements without having to buy anything at the real store.

Posted by Fernando Torre at 11:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Today I received the letter informing me of what class I'll be TAing next semester. I am excited and nervous at the same time. I will be TAing for User Interface Design, a class I took last Fall. I really loved that class, so I'm really excited about being a TA for it. It also fits perfectly with my career interests (HCI). But it is a much bigger class than last semester and much more is required from me. I'll do my best!

Just for kicks, here are some posts I wrote about that class while taking it:
Quiz Kong
Quiz Kong Paper Prototype
Vending Machines and User Interfaces
Quiz Kong - Coded Prototype
Quiz Kong - Final Presentation

Posted by Fernando Torre at 10:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

My first TA evaluations are in. And it looks like I did not do bad for my first experience as Teaching Assistant. It really was interesting. Giving three of the lectures was definitely a highlight. Grading not so much. Now I have to gear up for the next school year, during which I will be a full-time TA, going up to 20 hrs/week from 10.

Student evaluations varied a lot, but thankfully leaned towards the better side. I think the most negative comment was "help wasn't as helpful as other TA's in previous computer-based classes". But it is evaluations like this next one that really make it all worth it. One student wrote "Very helpful T.A., probably the best I've had so far".

I hope to keep it up next semester. Tomorrow I find out what class I'll be TAing. Oh, the suspense!

Posted by Fernando Torre at 10:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

In the Google Apps post, did anybody notice the captions I put on the images when you hover over them? Nobody commented about it, so I guess I hid those "easter eggs" well. If you didn't notice them, go take a look and, while you're at it, go download Firefox 3!

Posted by Fernando Torre at 10:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This Tuesday, June 17th is Download Day for Firefox 3. Mozilla will be rolling out their newest version of their top-notch browser and is trying to set a world record for most software downloads in 24 hours. I have to admit, I'm excited. Once I started using Firefox, I have never switched back to Internet Explorer. It is an awesome browser. And knowing that a faster, more efficient version is coming out just pumps me up. If you have never tried using Firefox, then this will be the perfect moment to try it out. Go ahead and download it on Tuesday. I'm sure you'll love it. By the way, you can pledge to get Firefox 3 on Tuesday at their site here.

Posted by Fernando Torre at 11:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Weezer really seems to get the Internet culture that has been growing in the last couple of years. One of their latest videos has a mashup of various web celebrities and references to many viral videos. How many can you recognize?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muP9eH2p2PI

[Note: Embedding has been disabled for this video, so the most I can do is link to it. Enjoy!]

Posted by Fernando Torre at 12:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I am sort of a language freak. Every time I hear someone speaking in another language, I start thinking, "How hard would it be to learn that language?". I had one such moment about three and a half years ago. I decided I wanted to learn Japanese, initially so I could play all those Japan-only games that never got to the US. I've had my moments of cramming and my moments of forgetting it, but after this much time I have really come to like the language. It is a beautiful language with lots of drawings (Kanji), which is really fun for artist-wannabes such as myself. I had the opportunity to go to Japan about two years ago and had one of the best experiences of my life.

So in preparation for my next visit, I have decided to start taking Japanese classes with a tutor. When reading, I am basically a very advanced beginner, but when trying to actually have a conversation I forget every grammar rule I know. So now I'm trying to work mostly on my conversation skills and also on getting better at reading (especially Kanji). My wife is also taking classes with the same tutor, so that makes it all the more fun.

Hopefully next time I go to Japan, I will be able to not only ask questions, but this time to actually understand the answers. I leave you with a short essay I had to write as homework for the last lesson. (Don't trust Google Translate's translation, by the way).

二週間å‰?ã?”ã‚?ã€?アイロンマンã?®æ˜ ç”»ã‚’見ã?¾ã?—ã?Ÿã€‚凄ã?„映画ã? ã?¨æ€?ã?„ã?¾ã?™ã€‚主人公ã?¯å§‹ã‚?ã?«ã?¨ã?¦ã‚‚利己的ã?ªäººã?§ã?—ã?Ÿã€‚後ã?§ã€?悪ã?„人ã?¯ä¸»äººå…¬ã?®ä½œã?£ã?Ÿæ­¦å™¨ã‚’使ã?£ã?¦ã?„ã?¾ã?—ã?Ÿã€‚ã? ã?‹ã‚‰ä¸»äººå…¬ã?¯ã‚¢ã‚¤ãƒ­ãƒ³ãƒžãƒ³ã?«æˆ?ã‚Šã?¾ã?—ã?Ÿã€‚ã??ã?—ã?¦ã€?武器を破りã?¾ã?—ã?Ÿã€‚

Posted by Fernando Torre at 11:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)

There are so many more awesome web apps out there, many of which I don't use yet or only occasionally for now. Here are a few that come to mind:

Friendfeed: Basically ties in all your accounts together and lets you share that with friends. For example, it will notify them every time you post pictures to Flickr, post videos to YouTube or post on your blog. Nowadays, people have so many accounts that many developers are trying to find ways to join them together. This is one of them.

Digg: One of the most popular news aggregators. I use some of its feeds through my Google Reader.

Flickr: Popular picture sharing site.

Last.fm: Site that lets you listen to music and recommends new artists to you based on the music that you like.

Besides these, there are many more awesome web apps out there. Which ones do you use that I did not mention this week? What makes it awesome?

Posted by Fernando Torre at 1:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Google has a whole bunch of awesome web apps. I use many of these daily. Here are just a few of them that you should be using:

Google Reader

Google Reader has become almost as indispensable as email for me. It is the best way to stay up to date with what's happening in the tech world and in the rest of the world. Also a good way to get updates on my favorite webcomics! You can register RSS feeds, share posts with friends, and see friends' shared items. A lot of websites now offer to send notifications via RSS feeds, which you can read with this app. Google Reader is an excellent companion to email.

Google Maps

I don't have to explain why online maps are so helpful. They speak for themselves. But one of the features that I really like about Google Maps is Street View. I'm lucky enough to be living in a city where Street View is supported. It is immensely helpful to be able to see what a street or a turn looks like before getting there.

Google Docs

I started using Google Docs last year for group projects and it proved to be really useful. Being able to work on the same document at the same time with different people is just very efficient. (Plus, it stores all the revisions so that you can go back to an older version if you don't like a recent edit). I now use it not only for group projects, but also for family planning. Awesome tool!

Google Calendar

This one is especially helpful for families. Google Calendar makes it easy to edit and share many calendars. I share my main calendar with my wife and have a second calendar for sharing with classmates usually for group projects. Really easy to use and very convenient for figuring out scheduling stuff.

Google Analytics

If you have a blog, I highly recommend this app. It is an excellent way to track traffic to your blog or site. It gives you detailed information about users, their browsers, their countries, how they got to your site, how much time they spent, etc. That is how I know that most of the repeat visits to this blog come from Minnesota (where I live), New York (where my sister lives), and Puerto Rico (where the rest of my family lives).

There are many more great Google Apps around, such as Picasa for sharing pictures, Google Scholar for searching for academic papers (very useful for grad students), and even YouTube, which is now part of Google. It is no wonder why Google is loved by so many. And the best part, they're all free!

Posted by Fernando Torre at 11:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

This web app really fits the description of "awesome". Animoto let's you make music videos with pictures, but in an amazing way. Just check their sample video when you enter the main page and be amazed.

It takes very little effort on your part to get your video going. Just upload your pictures, upload the song and let the app do the rest. By the way, no two videos are the same! So you can take the same pictures with the same song and get something different every time. When you're done, you can share the link for the video with your friends and in some cases even download it. There is a small fee to pay for full-length videos, but I think it's totally worth it. I encourage you to play around with the 30-second videos. You will definitely enjoy this awesome web app!

Posted by Fernando Torre at 11:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I don't think I've been using LinkedIn long enough to really take advantage of all its features, but it is slowly becoming more useful. It is gradually becoming my online resume. LinkedIn is basically a social network for professional use. You put resume-style information in your profile and add colleagues and friends as contacts. You can recommend contacts, get introduced to new contacts and even look for jobs. Lots of recruiters actually use LinkedIn as a tool for finding capable employees. It is THE social app for professional networking. You can see my public profile at http://www.linkedin.com/in/fernandotorre. If you're looking for a job, want to have an online resume or just want to expand your professional network, get over there and make a profile. It won't take you long, especially if you have your resume nearby!

Posted by Fernando Torre at 11:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A list of awesome web apps is not complete without Wikipedia. This encyclopedia that can be edited by anyone is becoming the default place to find information on a vast amount of topics. If Wikipedia was printed, it would contain more than 1000 volumes. Check out this picture which represents what Wikipedia would look like in printed form as of August 2007:

Description

A lot of people have questioned the reliability of an Encyclopedia that anyone, not just "experts", can edit. Surprisingly, the quality of work in Wikipedia is very high. There are always users that spam and vandalize the site, but there are even more users ready to fix these actions. Wikipedia is an excellent example of the power of online collaboration and a very useful application too.

Posted by Fernando Torre at 10:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Although I'm still not completely convinced of its value yet, I include this app because I've been using it frequently. It's basically a more versatile and complete version of Facebook's status updates. Yet it is used for so much more than just letting people know what you're doing. Ideas get communicated and turn viral. Companies use it to see when people talk about them. Other companies use them to keep their customers informed or even for recruiting. Some have even started novels through it one sentence at a time.

The most characteristic feature of Twitter is its 140-character limit on everything you write. This constraint forces users to focus on writing in a short and concise way. Another aspect I have enjoyed about Twitter is finding authors of some of the blogs I read daily and subscribing to their Twitter feeds. It tends to be interesting to see what they have to say.

Twitter is a form a micro-blogging and does not take up much time (unless you feel obliged to share every minuscule detail of your life). So go ahead and give it a try. Maybe after a week you'll still see it as a useless distraction. But maybe after a week, it will become an important communication tool. Try it out!

Posted by Fernando Torre at 11:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This week I'll be mentioning a few web applications that I think all of you should be using. Most of these will be the daily bread of the more tech-savvy readers of this blog, but for the rest of you, I hope you can get something out of this list. I'll be skipping Facebook and Gmail just because I believe they are too essential to have to convince you of their worth. I know there are readers of this blog that don't use them, but I'll just have to deal with you later (especially my sister, tsk tsk).

Today I'll start with a very general and basic web app. And I say general because I'm actually including a lot of related web apps. I'm referring to blogging platforms. There are a bunch of these out there, but some of the most popular are Wordpress and Six Apart (which includes TypePad and MovableType). I think nowadays blogs are becoming more useful tools and not just online journals. Especially if you are working with online communities, blogs provide a place for you to communicate with these online communities and let people know who you are and how you think. For many companies and non-profit organizations, blogs are one of the best ways to keep customers and members informed. And for families, they are a great way to keep in touch. I personally use Movable Type (because it's the one my university provides), but if you're looking for a free blogging platform, try Wordpress or Blogger. Have fun blogging!

Posted by Fernando Torre at 11:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)