“Typically, walls block wireless signals, so the sensors monitoring ‘smart’ homes quickly drain their batteries … the researchers invented a device that can send signals to the wiring behind walls using 100 times less power, allowing sensors to run almost indefinitely.”
Learn more about SNUPI here.… Read more →
TechFlash “Newsmaker of the Year”
The Flashies have been awarded! One winner in each of 15 categories, chosen by reader balloting among a half dozen candidates.
In the “Newsmaker of the Year” category, who was the winner?
Was it Paul Allen, who “recovers from non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, sues some of the Internet’s biggest names for patent infringement, and pledges along with other billionaires to give the majority of his fortune to charity”?
Was it Steve Ballmer, who “attempts to reverse the company’s mobile fortunes,… Read more →
Will a flood of tiny sensors help us cut emissions?
Advances in information technology have some companies dreaming of a world abuzz with sensors, some of which could reduce carbon emissions. How to power these sensors is one of the problems to be tackled. UW CSE associate professor Josh Smith, who recently moved from Intel Labs Seattle, has been working on this issue.
“‘That’s been a real problem for sensor units: People can build these sensor networks that send data wirelessly, but their battery only lasts a couple… Read more →
Intel Labs Seattle / UW CSE “RGB-D” project
The RGB-D project is a joint research effort between Intel Labs Seattle and University of Washington Computer Science & Engineering. The goal is to develop techniques that enable future use cases of depth cameras. Using the Primesense depth cameras underlying the Kinect technology, we’ve been working on areas ranging from 3D modeling of indoor environments to interactive projection systems and object recognition to robotic manipulation and interaction.
A number of interesting demonstration videos are linked here.… Read more →
Steve Seitz named IEEE Fellow
Steve Seitz has been named a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers “for contributions to three-dimensional computer vision.”
Steve’s research interests include many aspects of computer vision and computer graphics, particularly capturing the structure, appearance, and behavior of the real world from digital imagery. Steve was twice awarded the David Marr Prize for the best paper at the International Conference of Computer Vision, and has received an NSF Career Award, an ONR Young Investigator Award, and an… Read more →
Gaetano Borriello named IEEE Fellow
Gaetano Borriello, the Jerre D. Noe Professor of Computer Science & Engineering, has been named a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers “for contributions to embedded computing devices and systems.”
Gaetano’s research interests include ubiquitous computing, sensor systems, and embedded systems. An Adjunct Professor in Electrical Engineering, Human-Centered Design and Engineering, and the Information School, and the Founding Director of Intel Labs Seattle, Gaetano most recently led the development of Open Data Kit (ODK), a… Read more →
“We’re Number Two!”
A new report out this week from the Ewing Marion Kaufman Foundation and The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation – the 2010 State New Economy Index – ranks Washington second among the 50 states.
The State New Economy Index is a detailed study which analyzes 26 indicators in the five categories of knowledge jobs, globalization, economic dynamism, digital economy and technological innovation capacity.
“Washington scores high due not only to its strength in software (in no small part due to… Read more →
“We’re Number Three!”
Here’s a ranking we can get behind!
A recent assessment of “Best Paper Awards” over the past decade at major conferences in AI, HCI, and data management ranks UW third in the nation, behind Microsoft Research and CMU.
(The conferences were WWW, SIGIR, CIKM, AAAI, CHI, KDD, SIGMOD, ICML, VLDB, IJCAI, and UIST. See the tally here.)… Read more →
Vote for Shwetak!
It’s time to vote for the TechFlash “Newsmaker of the Year.” There are six nominees — five guys you’ve never heard of, and UW CSE’s Shwetak Patel.
“Shwetak Patel, a 28-year-old assistant professor in the UW Department of Computer Science & Engineering, sells home energy monitoring startup Zensi to Belkin and separately develops a novel method of using electrical wiring as a wireless antenna system, spawning another startup.”
Vote here!… Read more →
Ph.D. alumnus Li Zhang wins Packard Fellowship
UW CSE Ph.D. alumnus Li Zhang, now on the faculty at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, was the only computer scientist to win a 2010 Packard Fellowship in Science and Engineering from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
Zhang – who has also won an NSF CAREER Award and a Sloan Research Fellowship – studied with Steve Seitz in UW’s superb Graphics and Imaging Laboratory. Zhang’s research supported by the award will seek to restore stereo 3D… Read more →