CNN is harnessing Microsoft PhotoSynth technology to “crowdsource” the Tuesday inauguration of the 44th president of the United States, producting the first “synth” of a major historical event. Photos mailed to themoment@cnn.com will be processed in real time to create synths that will be available at The Moment site. CNN coverage starts at 5AM Eastern time (2AM Pacific).
Read the article announcing the collaboration and explaining how to participate here.
PhotoSynth technology grew out of collaborative research involving… Read more →
RFID’s security problem
Are U.S. passport cards and new state driver’s licenses with RFID truly secure? Not everyone is convinced that new security cards are a good idea. UW CSE’s Yoshi Kohno is quoted. See the full article in Technology Review‘s January/February issue.
We provided earlier coverage on Yoshi’s research and problems with RFID passport cards.… Read more →
Microsoft’s Songsmith provides the backup band
Microsoft has a new tool that automatically generates backup music to go with original melodies and lyrics sung into a computer.
Songsmith, which debuted today at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, lets people explore songwriting. The software first analyzes your vocal melody using existing pitch-tracking technology. Then an algorithm the researchers built selects musical chords that will go well with the melody. Songsmith evolved from MySong, a joint research project by Microsoft researchers Dan Morris… Read more →
Wired Jargon Watch Highlights “cloaker”
The regular and wonderful Wired Magazine feature Jargon Watch seeks out and exposes emerging English language words and phrases as they are minted to describe our changing world. In current issue 17.01, feature editor Jonathon Keats highlights the term cloaker, coined by CSE graduate student Tamara Denning in the paper Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder: New Directions for Implantable Medical Device Security (joint with Kevin Fu and Tadayoshi Kohno) to describe a device designed to keep… Read more →
Best Complexity Paper of the Year
Lance Fortnow calls UW CSE PhD candidate Prasad Raghavendra‘s paper Optimal algorithms and inapproximability results for every CSP? the best computational complexity paper of the year in a Computational Complexity blog entry 2008 Complexity Year in Review. Prasad is advised by Venkat Guruswami.… Read more →
ITWorld: NSA patents a way to spot network snoops
This article in ITWorld reports on a recently-revealed 2005 patent application by the National Security Agency for a newly-described technique for detecting tampering with network communication, based upon network delays. CSE’s Tadayoshi Kohno is quoted.
“The neat thing about this particular patent is that they look at the differences between the network layers… This whole problem space has a lot of potential, [although] I don’t know if this is going to be the final solution that people end up using.”… Read more →
EE Times on DARPA
Anthony Tether, the head of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, spoke about his nearly eight years at DARPA in an interview with the EE Times. Tether states he has reinvigorated DARPA’s innovative spirit during his tenure; critics claim he has cut back on basic research. CSE’s Ed Lazowska commented, “there was tremendous deterioration in the agendas of specific agencies and DARPA is a prime example. DARPA’s focus became transitioning existing research results into products for the military.”
Read… Read more →
Cell Phones with Sensors Aid Fitness, Environmental Awareness
Joint dub (UW Human-Computer Interaction and Design Laboratory) and Intel Research Seattle research projects UbiFit and UbiGreen are the Computing Research Highlight of the Week at the Computing Community Consortium. Both projects use visual feedback on a cellphone screen– UbiFit to promote sticking with your personal excercise program, UbiGreen to promote environmentally-friendly transportation choices.
We reported on local media attention attracted by UbiFit in November here.… Read more →
“Where Humans and Robots Connect” on UWTV
In October, CSE Professor Yoky Matsuoka presented a lecture called Where Humans and Robots Connect in the University of Washington College of Engineering Fall Lecture Series. UWTV will air video of the talk three times in early January (Monday,January 5 at 5:00 PM, Thursday, January 8 at 9:00 AM, and Saturday, January 10 at 2:30 AM, all times Pacific).
You can also download MP3 audio or MPEG-4 video from the UWTV site, or stream video in Quicktime or… Read more →
CRA Awards for Undergrad Research, 1999-2009
Each year, the Computing Research Association recognizes undergraduates from across North America who have excelled at research in their CRA Outstanding Undergraduate Awards program. Our friends at University of Virginia have compiled a list of the number of students who have been recognized over the past ten years. We’re Number One!!! Congratulations to all of UW CSE’s superb undergraduates.… Read more →