Good post from Jon Udell on the wizardry required to synchronize different calendars. As with Whitten and Tygar’s classic “Why Johnny Can’t Encrypt“, the problem is the accidental complexity that designed-by-geeks-for-geeks software puts in the way of people who have other, more important, things to worry about.
The guy in the office two doors down from mine has the ACM Code of Ethics on his door. Most students probably don’t know it exists; those who have read it probably think it’s a little bit cheesy, just as I did when I was their age. But this story (of scientists being pressured to tweak reports on climate change by an oil-friendly White House) is an example of why this stuff matters…
It’s that time of the year once again — I have a crop of bright undergraduates who are looking for full-time jobs starting at the end of April. If you want smart, hard-working developers who believe in good tools and good process, please let me know — I’d be happy to introduce you.
A Neural Network That Learns to See
The University Professor Lecture Series at the University of Toronto
Tuesday, Jan 30, 2007 from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
George Ignatieff Theatre, 15 Devonshire Place
Geoffrey Hinton is a professor of computer science with a focus on artificial intelligence. His research involves investigating ways of using neural networks for learning, memory, perception and symbol processing, with over 200 publications in these areas.
Professor Hinton spent three years from 1998 until 2001 setting up the Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit at University College London, and then returned to the University of Toronto where he holds the Canada Research Chair in Machine Learning. He is a fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and directs their program on Neural Computation and Adaptive Perception.
Hinton is a fellow of the Royal Society, the Royal Society of Canada, and the American Association for Artificial Intelligence.
He is an honorary foreign member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Hinton has been awarded the IJCAI Award for Research Excellence, the IEEE Neural Network Pioneer Award, and the ITAC/NSERC award for contributions to information technology.
He was named University Professor in 2006.
Interesting article in The Scientist about the headaches people are having with universities’ tech transfer offices. I sympathize, and add that many incubators (like Toronto’s MaRS) are no better.
The testing group at Google (which includes Toronto’s own Michelle Levesque) has started a blog called “Testing on the Toilet“. Recommended.
Title says it all: the next DemoCamp will be February 5, and is moving back to No Regrets (the pub near TUCOWS). Interesting lineup, including updates from previous presenters.
Next Wednesday, Jan 31, some of the undergraduate students who have done research projects in the department will be showing off their stuff. If you’re not racing to finish your CSC407 assignment, please drop by — it should be a lot of fun.
And the next day, Feb 1, the department is running a showcase of its research activities for local companies. Descriptions of the projects will be up on the departmental web site (hopefully along with photos) soon after — I’m looking forward to it.
Update: here’s the press release about the second showcase.
Cem Kaner, author of several excellent books on real-world quality assurance, has put videos of his lectures on testing up on the web. Gold-star material, very much worth watching.
Recent Comments