“Opportunities for social networking abound on the Internet, but not when it comes to one standard job: using a browser and search engine to comb the Web for information. That task is still typically done solo, because browser displays and search procedures have traditionally been designed for a single user.
“Now tools are being developed by Microsoft and other companies that let people at different computers search as a team, dividing responsibilities and pooling results and recommendations in a shared Web space on the browser display as they plan a family vacation, for instance, or research a medical problem.
“When the federal government needs the best scientific information on any subject, it turns to the National Academy of Sciences.
“Now, the state of Washington will be able to do the same thing with a group of local luminaries. … The Washington group is modeled after the National Academy of Sciences, established by President Lincoln in 1863 to ‘investigate, examine, experiment and report upon any subject of science or art.’ …
“‘An increasing number of public-policy questions require scientific input,’ UW computer scientist and founding board member Ed Lazowska said in an e-mail. ‘WSAS is a place for the governor and the legislature to turn for this advice when they need it.'”
“Researchers at the University of Washington and Intel have created a new cell phone application that could help you keep those holiday pounds off. UbiFit helps you track your workouts using a colorful display… [using] a sensing device, clipped to the user’s waist, which determines what the user is doing based on how it gets jiggled around.” Read more →
“Planning on gobbling a few extra treats this holiday season? Soon, your cell phone may be able to help you maintain your exercise routine and keep the pounds off over the winter months, without your having to lift a finger to keep track.”
“Researchers at the University of Washington and Intel have created two new cell phone applications, dubbed UbitFit and UbiGreen, to automatically track workouts and green transportation. The programs display motivational pictures on the phone’s background screen that change the more the user works out or uses eco-friendly means of transportation.”
“The Internet contains vast amounts of information, much of it unorganized. But what you see online at any given moment is just a snapshot of the Web as a whole — many pages change rapidly or disappear completely, and the old data gets lost forever.”
” ‘Your browser is really just a window into the Web as it exists today,’ said Eytan Adar, University of Washington computer science and engineering doctoral student. ‘When you search for something online, you’re only getting today’s results.’ “
“Now, Adar and his colleagues at UW and Adobe Systems Inc. are grabbing hold of the fleeting Web and storing historical sites that users can easily search using an intuitive application called Zoetrope.”
“The human hand is capable of more delicate movement than comparable organs of any other animal. It can wield a tool or weapon as easily as it can make a subtle gesture. So when a human loses her hand, she’s lost a remarkable implement. Yoky Matsuoka wants to ensure a loss like that isn’t permanent. She runs the Neurobotics Lab at the University of Washington. That’s where she and her staff build robots that function like hands and other human body parts. Jeannie Yandel takes a tour of the lab.”
Featured on the KUOW show Sound Focus on November 12, 2008 (originally broadcast January 15, 2008). Read about it and listen to the show here, or listen to the nine-minute segment below.
“‘The overall picture for computer science is that both nationally and within the state of Washington, it’s projected as the fastest growing professional occupation between now and 2016,’ wrote Ed Lazowska, the Bill & Melinda Gates Chair in Computer Science & Engineering at UW. ‘With that said, employment is always cyclic …
“‘Major in something you love, and take it seriously,’ Lazowska said. ‘Ten or 15 years down the road, your success will be due to things that the philosophy department teaches just as well as Computer Science & Engineering does: analysis, critical thinking, conflict resolution. If you’re an undergraduate at [UW] for vocational reasons, you’re not taking advantage of what [this] university has to offer …'”
“As more of our casual lives are spent online, we need to find a middle ground on security and privacy. Not every transaction and gateway needs the digital equivalent of a scowling paramilitary guard demanding to see our papers. Yet most of us aren’t comfortable letting it all hang out online.
“That’s why I’m intrigued by an easy-access control system called Friendbo, which is being developed by a group of students and professors at the University of Washington.
“It started in early 2007 as a classroom research project by Michael Toomim, a mustachioed 28-year-old Ph.D. candidate from Oakland, Calif. Professors saw potential and helped arrange a $50,000 grant from the UW’s tech transfer program. Now Friendbo‘s a company with patents pending that may release its first application, for Facebook, in a few weeks.”
“Opportunities for social networking abound on the Internet, but not when it comes to one standard job: using a browser and search engine to comb the Web for information. That task is still typically done solo, because browser displays and search procedures have traditionally been designed for a single user.
