The Future of Internet Search

Danny Fine of BrainDamage in Haifa, Israel, says computers, not people, should be carrying out Internet searches. He says searching is a form of artificial intelligence that analyzes documents and creates a map of keywords and their relationships to each other. "The search engine doesn't really understand what you're asking, of course--it's just a dumb computer, after all," Fine says. "The way it figures out what you're looking for is by comparing your request to a long list of keywords that are indexed in a database with other terms that could really be what you're looking for." BrainDamage is developing Noesis, a new approach to Internet searching based on natural thinking technology. Natural thinking technology puts the burden of understanding search queries on the search engine, enabling it to return more accurate results. Fine says Noesis gathers information and develops it, guided by the user, to reach a conclusion using the same patterns of logic and ideas that humans use. Noesis essentially teaches machines to understand what humans have in mind when they make a request. "Our system advances artificial intelligence far beyond where it is today, enabling computers to truly understand what is being asked of them--and to respond appropriately," Fine says.

2008 Technology Innovation Awards

The Wall Street Journal's 2008 Technology Innovation Award winners included Salesforce.com's Force.com software tool suite, which enables companies to build their own specially tailored business applications that are developed and delivered over the Internet. The cloud computing service enables companies to access computing power on an as-needed basis. Globalstar's Spot unit earned an award in the consumer electronics category for the Spot Satellite Messenger, a handheld device that transmits preprogrammed messages such as "I'm OK," along with users' whereabouts. Software that tests for security holes in new applications by searching for flaws in binary code netted an award for Veracode, and company co-founder Chris Wysopal says the method offers the accuracy of source code analysis without the need for disclosing proprietary source code. The winner in the network/Internet technologies category was Xsigo Systems for hardware and software that allows the replacement of physical cables in a data center with virtual connectors, each of which is capable of mimicking the performance of up to 14 separate cables. Dispersed Storage software from Cleversafe won for a technology that allows sensitive computer files to be stored more securely and reliably by slicing them up and sending the slices, which by themselves are unreadable to unauthorized parties, over the Internet to multiple storage locations on a network. Swiss Federal Institute of Technology professor Jane Royston says the software "could be an important part of Internet data storage systems." The winner in the wireless category was Tata Consultancy Services' mKrishi service, which can supply crop advice to farmers in rural India via cell phones using a combination of remote sensors, a voice-enabled text-messaging service, and a camera phone.

Web 3.0

Europe is in an excellent position to become the leader in Web 3.0 technology because of its focus on open and pro-competitive telecom networks and commitment to online privacy and security, says Viviane Reding, the European Commission's (EC's) commissioner for information society and media. "Web 3.0 means seamless 'anytime, anywhere' business, entertainment and social networking over fast reliable and secure networks," Reding says. "It means the end of the divide between mobile and fixed lines." She says there could be a 10-fold increase in the scale of the digital universe by 2015. The EC's consultation on the next generation of the Internet launched on Sept. 29 was accompanied by a roadmap. The report described social networking, online business services, nomadic services based on GPS and mobile TV, and smart tags using RFID as trends that would lead to Web 3.0. In a blog post, Vint Cerf welcomed Reding's stance on free and open networks and on open standards. "For Europe to keep up in the global online race, it needs to sprint ahead powered by an openness recipe encompassing a neutral network, users' rights, and open standards," Cerf wrote. "I'm delighted to see that Europe's policymakers stress the successful ingredients to promoting a robust, healthy Internet."

The Web's Future

Sir Tim Berners-Lee is helping to create the World Wide Web Foundation, a new organization that will certify Web sites it finds to be trustworthy and a reliable source of information. Berners-Lee says there needs to be a new system that will give Web sites a label for trustworthiness once they have proven to be a reliable source. "On the Web the thinking of cults can spread very rapidly and suddenly a cult which was 12 people who had some deep personal issues suddenly find a formula which is very believable," he says. "A sort of conspiracy theory of sorts and which you can imagine spreading to thousands of people and being deeply damaging." Berners-Lee and colleagues at the World Wide Web consortium examined simple ways of branding Web sites, but concluded that a whole variety of different mechanisms are needed. In addition to creating a trustworthiness rating, the World Wide Web Foundation also will strive to make it easier for people to get online. Currently, only 20 percent of the world's population has access to the Web. The foundation also will explore ways of making the Web more mobile-phone friendly, which will increase its use in Africa and other developing parts of the world where there are few computers but plenty of handheld devices. The foundation also will examine how the Web can be used to benefit those who cannot read or write. "We're talking about the evolution of the Web," Berners-Lee says. "When something is such a creative medium as the Web, the limits to it are our imagination."

Microsoft Asia Research

Microsoft's Bill Gates says the dramatic growth of the Internet will eventually help eliminate "the last constraints we have" and lead to a software-writing revolution. Speaking at a forum marking the 10th anniversary of Microsoft's Asian research division, Gates said that technology currently in development will transform how people use computers as well as expand their ability to interact with machines. Greater Internet connectivity will give users better services, providing remote access to a variety of software and information, Gates says. "That will eventually lead to machines that have lots of server capacity, lots of low-cost computing, low-cost storage," Gates says. "And that will let us write software in an even more ambitious way, eliminating the last constraints we have." Gates believes that uses for computers will expand to encompass all interactive techniques, such as touch, sight, and speech. Gates also praised the work of Microsoft's Asian research division, and praised science and technology as a force for positive change. Gates says major developments in Internet services and computer interfaces are at a good stage of development in the labs, and should be widespread within 10 years, while more advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence or robotics, could be available within 20 years.

Artificial Tongue

Anton, a mechanical tongue and jaw that has successfully mimicked the muscular activity involved in producing certain vowel sounds will be presented at this year's International Society of Artificial Life conference. Robin Hofe of the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom says Anton has the potential to help improve speech recognition software. Existing systems are working with larger databases of recorded speech, but their performance has not significantly improved because the way people talk is not steady and uniform. Speech can be affected by where people are and what they are doing. The researchers believe Anton will be a key to learning more about how the mouth produces sounds, since obtaining data from inside the human mouth might not be the best approach. The researchers also want to embed artificial muscles in Anton to make it more realistic, and eventually have it produce sound. The previous test involved MRI scans to compare the movements of Anton with those of real mouths.

Plastic Based Electronics

Plastics-based electronics can be cheaper and less energy intensive to manufacture than their silicon counterparts while also being bendable and potentially more energy efficient. Organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) can be used for displays that require no backlight and are flexible, and major technical issues such as uneven wear and durability have been addressed. Experts say price is currently the biggest obstacle to the launch of a mass market OLED display. High-definition televisions that can be rolled up after use is one OLED application that is envisioned to happen after the technology breaks into the mainstream. Electronics for plastic displays can be "printed" roll to roll like a newspaper rather than be constructed piece by piece, and NanoMarkets analyst Lawrence Gasman says this feature will probably lower the cost of fabricating OLEDs to a significant degree. Universal Display has a two-year, approximately $2 million contract with the U.S. Department of Energy to develop thin OLED lighting panels that can either be printed or mounted onto numerous surfaces. Another breakthrough in plastics electronics is electronic paper. Co-op America estimates that electronic magazine delivery through e-paper could spare 35 million trees from getting converted into paper yearly. The emergence of affordable solar panels could also be accelerated by plastic electronics through the efforts of companies that are working on organic solar panels.