• Google Visualization API

    I just love it and I am jealous. We should be doing things like this as well. After the Gapminder folks moved to Google, we were all expecting something like this to be released. The execution is just beautiful… components that can be used in iGoogle or just be embedded in applications like Spreadsheets. Excellent…

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  • A wonderful weekend at Whistler

    As I said in a previous post, I went to Whistler for few days. It was absolutely wonderful. I had a much needed downtime and enjoyed skiing. The first couple of days were fantastic. Sunday morning was really beautiful but in the afternoon it got cloudy and icy so I stopped the day short. (photos…

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  • "Universal Parallel Computing Research Center" x 2

    Today Microsoft and Intel announced a joint endeavor with UC Berkeley and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign around parallel computing. I’ve been heavily involved in this, coordinating Microsoft‘s engagement on the technical side of things. Remember that photo with all the senior Microsoft and Intel technical folks back in the summer? After a year of…

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  • Natural language processing-based search in Vista

    Here’s a feature I didn’t know about. Alex Wade, who was the technical Program Manager responsible for this functionality in Windows Vista, showed me how to enable it. It’s a pity that such a great feature is disabled by default. So… go to Folder Options (you’ll find it in the control panel), select the “search”…

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  • Our world needs more teachers like Antanas Mockus

    This article is 4 years old but it’s the first time I read it. Antanas Mockus is not the mayor of Bogota anymore (according to Wikipedia). Definitely inspirational… I wonder how the world would look like if policy-making followed Mockus‘ example! (Thanks to my friend Onoufrios for forwarding)

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  • WSJ – "Racing to Gain Edge on Multicore Chips"

    As I mentioned last week, my group is about to make a big announcement. The WSJ article tells only half of the story. Stay tuned until tomorrow!

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  • Whistler

    I was at Whistler last weekend and I am going there again in a couple of hours. Yes, I finally took some time off (today and tomorrow). Last weekend it was fantastic but didn’t really enjoy skiing. This week I will also spend some time with my friend Colette and will introduce Einar to Whistler.…

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  • Pending announcement…

    Finally, one of the big things I’ve been working on is coming into light… This is going to be a big announcement 🙂 More coverage and info next week.

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  • Minority Report-style interfaces seem to be gaining momentum

    This is very impressive. From Engadget (update: as Dan pointed out, the video has been removed).

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  • The Age of Semantics

    In a recent presentation by Tony Hey on “eScience and Semantic Computing” (large PDF), which is heavily influenced by Evelyne Viega’s and my ideas, the “ages of semantic computing” were presented (Evelyne’s idea) as a way to capture how our thinking has evolved over the years… Enlightenment age: “It is not all about philosophy, it…

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