Ray Kurzweil Speaks About His Role at Google

Late last year, Google announced that it had teamed up with AI guru Ray Kurzweil to collaborate on AI applications both in search and elsewhere.  Last week, Kurzweil hosted a Google Hangout, and then sat for an interview with Wired Magazine.  Among the highlights was his description of what he is doing for Google:

My mission at Google is to develop natural language understanding with a team and in collaboration with other researchers at Google. Search has moved beyond just finding keywords, but it still doesn’t read all these billions of web pages and book pages for semantic content. If you write a blog post, you’ve got something to say, you’re not just creating words and synonyms. We’d like the computers to actually pick up on that semantic meaning. If that happens, and I believe that it’s feasible, people could ask more complex questions.

Wired Magazine article

National Robotics Week Continues

National Robotics Week continues this week (and through April 14th, although events continue throughout the month of April.) 

For more info see:
National Robotics Week website
Twitter: @roboweek
Facebook page

(Moisture) Farming with Droids

A new article predicts that once the FAA clears unmanned use of the national airspace (currently scheduled to occur in 2015), the vast majority of commercial uses will be in connection with farming. The Daily Beast estimates that a typical farming droid will cost under $10,000, and can pay for itself in short order.

No word on whether any farmers will have need for a protocol droid. 

Golf Telecasts Brought to You By...Drones

The Golf Channel announced that it will begin experimenting with mounting cameras on drones to be used during telecasts. The network will begin with practice rounds and other made-for-TV events, but eventually hopes to launch the Hoverfly models to help cover tournaments from the US Open to the Ryder Cup.   

A ball striking a drone would presumably be subject to the Rules of Golf: play it as it lies.

Senator Rand Paul Stages "Real" Filibuster Over Drone Strikes

In the wee hours of this morning, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) ended a 12+ hour "talking" filibuster to hold up the nomination of John Brennan to be CIA Director. But the substantive reason for Paul (who was joined by a number of other Senators) was an exchange earlier in the day when Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) questioned AG Eric Holder about the circumstances under which the President could order a drone strike on an American citizen on US soil.
Article on Rand's Filibuster
Video of Cruz-Holder Exchange