Japán csúcstechnológia 2020-ban

Milyen robotok, elektronikus berendezések és intelligens alkalmazások várhatók 2020-ra Japánban?

Japán „elmeolvasó” robotok, gondolati úton vezérelt elektronikai eszközök fejlesztését tervezi, és bízik benne, hogy egy évtizeden belül kereskedelmi forgalomba kerülnek. A sci-fiszerű készülékek az úgynevezett agy-gép interfésztechnológiát fogják használni: a felhasználó agyhullámait elemzik, szenzorokkal felszerelt sisakjaik a véráram mintái után kutakodnak. Az elképzelések szerint még a kisujjunkat sem kell felemelni, mobiltelefonhoz sem kell hozzányúlni a berendezések között szereplő televízió-szett vezérléséhez. Elvégzi helyettünk a gondolataink alapján szöveges üzeneteket összeállító, majd elküldő mobil. A kormány és a privát szektor partnerviszonyán alapuló kezdeményezés idén indul. Lesznek benne olyan alkalmazások is, mint például a vezetés közben éttermet kereső autónavigációs-rendszer: a vezető ételre gondol, a rendszer harapnivaló után néz. A légkondicionálók aszerint szabályozzák magukat, hogy fázunk, vagy melegünk van. A tervekből természetesen robotok sem hiányoznak: idős vagy mozgáskorlátozott személyek gondját viselik, például nehéz csomagok cipelésében segítenek nekik. A kezdeményezésben valószínűleg olyan ipari óriások, mint a Toyota, a Honda, a Hitachi ugyanúgy részt vesznek majd, mint az Információs és Kommunikációs Technológiák Nemzeti Intézete, az Oszaka Egyetem és a Fejlett Telekommunikációs Kutatóintézet.

IT3 komment: Gondolatokkal irányított infokommunikációs eszközök, elménkben olvasó robotok általában sci-finek tűnnek, és az ilyen jellegű tudósításokról gyakran ki is derül: szenzációhajhászok. Viszont, ha a csúcstechnológiai megoldásairól ismert Japán kormánya és piacvezető cégei azt tervezik, hogy 2020-ra mindezek kézzelfogható, az átlagfogyasztó számára is megvásárolható valósággá váljanak, akkor már kevésbé tűnik szenzációhajhásznak a hír.

Forrás: www.physorg.com

A cyberháború fenyegető árnya

Könnyen elképzelhető, hogy ha kitörne egy cyberháború, az Egyesült Államok elveszítené.

Few events have crystallized U.S. fears over a cyber catastrophe, or brought on calls for a strategic response, more than the recent attacks against Google and more than 30 other tech firms. The company's disclosure in January that it was attacked by China-based hackers -- and its subsequent decision to scale back operations there -- have stoked long-standing fears over the ability of cyber adversaries to penetrate commercial and government networks in the U.S. f a full-fledged cyberwar were to break out, the nation's economy would be hit hard. Banks might not be able function, electricity, water and other utilities could be shut off, air travel would almost certainly be disrupted, and communications would be spotty at best -- in a word, chaos. Few think that such a war is imminent. But damage has already been done by a slew of cyberattacks that, while well short of cyberwar, have still resulted in the theft of terabytes of intellectual property data, trade secrets and classified military and government information. That information is now in the hands of overseas groups, many of which are thought to be state-sponsored. It's not just data and secrets. Cyberthieves have also made off with billions of dollars from U.S companies and banks, and there are growing concerns that cyberattackers are making subtle changes to software source code. That way, they can create permanent windows into a company's operations for future mischief. Many see the attacks as evidence that the U.S. is already in the midst of an undeclared cyberwar, with attacks against government targets estimated to have more than doubled in the past two years. A top FBI official called cyberattacks an "existential threat" to the U.S. On Friday, two U.S. senators now pushing cybersecurity legislation in Congress reiterated those sentiments. And Mike McConnell the former director of the National Security Agency (NSA) and director of national intelligence during the Bush administration, recently said in a Washington Post column that the U.S is not only fighting such a war, it's also losing the battle. That sentiment was echoed by U.S. Navy Admiral Robert Willard. who warned Congress about U.S military and government networks bing hit by attacks that appeared to originate from China. The attacks are challenging the military's ability to "operate freely in the cyber commons," he said.

IT3 komment: Az információs hadviselés minden bizonnyal az elkövetkező néhány év slágertémája lesz. Úgy tűnik, hogy az Egysült Államok komoly kihívásokkal néz szembe az információs hadviselés terén, és ellenfelei nem csak védekezésben, de egy-két területen már támadásban is felkészültebbek lehetnek.


Forrás: www.computerworld.com

Megegyezés adatközpontok energiahatékonyságának mértékegységéről

Az adatközpontok energia-hatékony működése a zöld IT sikerének egyik feltétele. Komoly előrelépés, hogy nemzetközi szinten sikerült megegyezni a hatékonyság mértékegységéről.

Industry groups and government agencies from the U.S., Europe and Japan have reached a basic agreement on how to measure the energy efficiency of data centers. The agreement is seen as significant because it establishes a common metric that different types of data centers, in different parts of the world, can use to report their level of energy efficiency. That could provide a yardstick for companies to assess the efficiency of their own data centers, and also to gauge the effectiveness of energy-saving techniques employed by other facilities. The agreement is unusual for its level of international cooperation. Orchestrated by the Green Grid, an industry consortium in the U.S., the agreement is backed by the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the European Union Code of Conduct and the Japan Ministry of Economy, according to a statement from the Green Grid. "The Green Grid is working with organizations around the world to develop a clear and well-defined language for the way we communicate about energy efficiency metrics, which will give us a common measuring stick for all data centers regardless of their location," said Tom Brey, an IBM employee who is secretary of The Green Grid, in a statement. "With that type of consistency, we can start driving behavioral changes in the industry." The participants have agreed to adopt Power Usage Effectiveness, or PUE, as their "preferred energy efficiency metric," the statement says. PUE, which was developed by the Green Grid, divides the total energy consumed by a data center by the amount of energy used to power the IT equipment. The result shows how much energy is being lost to mechanical and electrical systems. The choice of PUE is no surprise. It has emerged as the most popular metric for measuring data center efficiency, and some large companies, notably Microsoft and Google, have been publishing PUE numbers as a way to show off the efficiency of their newest facilities. But there is no standard method for calculating PUE, and the groups participating in the agreement still have some work to do, in defining how the total energy consumed by a data center should be measured, for example. They are also expected to develop and define further efficiency metrics.

IT3 komment: A felhő számítástechnika alapinfrastruktúráját a nagy adatközpontok adják. Üzemeltetésük hatékonysága nem csak környezetvédelmi kérdés, hanem egyre jelentősebb költség, és ezáltal versenyképességi tényező is. Jelenleg a második generációs adatközpontok elterjedésének lehetünk tanúi, de már tervezik a harmadik és negyedik generációs megoldásokat is (ld. bővebben az IT3 Projekt keretében tartott előadást: Christian Belady, Lean Data Centers: Leading the Transformation). Nem kizárt, hogy néhány éven belül az erőművekhez hasonlóan az országok fejlettségi mutatói közé kerül az is, hogy mennyire modern és hatékony az adatközpont infrastruktúra.

Forrás: www.infoworld.com

Az internet középtávú hatásai

Egy friss amerikai felmérés arra kereste a választ, hogy az internet miként változtatja meg a világot 2020-ra.

Recently, 895 Web experts and users were asked by the Pew Research Center and the Imagining the Internet Center at Elon University in North Carolina to assess predictions about technology and its effects on society in the year 2020. There’s a broad feeling among technologists that technology itself is going to improve, come what may. That computing power, bandwidth, storage capacity, even our ability to pack pixels into screens, is going to keep improving. At the same time, there is worry that humans and their institutions will not adapt as well as they might under these circumstances. We’re slow to adjust, and the technologies themselves are introducing so many new elements to life that people will potentially have a hard time adjusting to that. There’s a sense that people are marching not necessarily blindly, but certainly without full knowledge, into a future that they don’t fully know. They’re thrilled with their gadgets but they don’t know what their gadgets are doing to them. Anonymity will be harder to maintain. There are too many threats that are posed by people being allowed to do anything they want without any level of accountability or authentication. There will still be chances for anonymous encounters, but they will be in special environments in special ways. The Web is shifting the needs that we have in our lives and the functions that we can perform, so there will be some cognitive shifting that goes on. We don’t have to remember as much stuff, for example, so there might be a shift in cognitive abilities over time from less memorization and storage. New literacies will be required such as screen literacy. There’s almost a uniform feeling that health care will get better. Mobile technology and wearable devices will be able to give real-time feedback about people’s health status. The education story is a different one. There’s hope that education will change, but some despair that it’s not changing fast enough. Kids are still being taught largely in the same format and environment that their great-grandparents were — with students of the same age sitting in a classroom riveted on the all-knowing teacher. Technologists think that that model will break down at some point and a very different set of activities will define formal education.

IT3 komment: A webszakértőkkel és felhasználókkal végzett felmérés alapján az internet a jövőben még nagyobb hatással lesz életünkre, mint eddig volt. 2020-ig szinte minden területen komoly változások várhatók: egészségügy, oktatás, államigazgatás stb.

Forrás: www.sciencenews.org

Virtuális világ a Szingapúri Ifjúsági Olimpiára

Egy szingapúri kezdeményezésben oktatás, sport és virtuális világok kapcsolódnak össze.

The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore and Singapore Youth Olympics Games Organising Committee have announced the launch of the Singapore 2010 Odyssey, a new virtual world centered around the upcoming 2010 Youth Olympics. The games aren't until the end of the summer, but the project has been in the works for a while. Singapore issued a tender for bids on the project in March 2009. According to the site, the ultimate winner of the project was a consortium led by ST Electronics (Training & Simulation) Pte Ltd. The free-to-play downloadable, 3D world is aimed at youths around the world and features a futuristic setting looking back at the first Youth Olympic Games in Singapore. It provides an Olympic-themed world with games, social networking, and education. Activities are based on the 26 Olympic sports as well as the overall values the Olympics strive to promote. One interesting feature is that many of the games are multi-player competitions organized as in-world events. Rather than rankings based on general points, though those are possible, users will compete together in events like archery, hurdles, and swimming. Users also have the opportunity to design their own 3D content. Singapore 2010 Odyssey is pushing that program specifically through schools. So far students from NUS High, Nan Hua Secondary, and Hai Sing Catholic have piloted the program to create in-world content, but it will be rolled out to other schools in the coming months. Currently Singapore 2010 Odyssey is only available for PCs, but the FAQ says the consortium hopes to launch a Mac version soon. The world has been in a closed beta since October 2009.

IT3 komment: A virtuális világok Second Life utáni hulláma kevésbé általános és/vagy üzleti rendeltetésű, viszont az új közegek célzottabb közönségnek készülnek. Egyre több az oktatási célú, például a nyáron megrendezésre kerülő Szingapúri Ifjúsági Olimpiára készült is ebbe a kategóriába sorolható. A felhasználók érdeklődésük kiélése mellett közösségi hálózatok építésében és többszereplős online játékokban is részt vehetnek. A délkelet-ázsiai városállam infokommunikációs technológiákban betöltött növekvő szerepét bizonyítja, hogy egyre több híradás érkezik ottani kezdeményezésekről.

Forrás: www.virtualworldsnews.com

Világcsúcs: német szuperszámítógép kvantum-számítógépet szimulál

Egy lépéssel közelebb az oly gyakran beharangozott – nem csak elméletben működő – kvantum-számítógépek felé?

A quantum computer could provide an enormous improvement in the processing speed of existing computers. However, as yet they only exist in the laboratory in the form of small prototypes with a capacity of a few bits. They can now be explored in more detail, at least in simulations. The Jülich supercomputer JUGENE can now simulate the largest quantum computer system in the world with 42 bits. "The computing power of a quantum computer grows exponentially with its size," says Prof. Dr. Kristel Michielsen from the Jülich Supercomputing Centre. "This is both an enormous opportunity for future applications and also a great challenge for simulations at the moment." If a quantum computer is expanded by just one single computer bit then its computing power is immediately doubled due to the laws of quantum mechanics on which it is based. The computing power of a classical computer only grows linearly with its components. Ten percent more transistors (in the ideal case) also only means ten percent more performance. If you want to simulate a quantum computer using present computing power then you soon come up against limits. For a quantum computer with 42 computer bits you need machines like the Jülich supercomputer JUGENE, which is the fastest computer in Europe with almost 300,000 processors and a computing power of 1015 floating point operations per second. Shor's algorithm, a common test application for quantum computers, has been demonstrated on the 42-bit quantum computer, factorizing 15707 into 113x139. This is a number that is thousands of times larger than those factorized on quantum computers that have been experimentally realized in the past. For the world record, the Jülich research team and the Computational Physics group of the University of Groningen developed the simulation software to such a level that it can run efficiently on this large number of processors. "If so many processors have to work together then in the case of simple algorithms it can easily happen that processors are waiting for each other and thus performance is lost," says Michielsen. "Our software is optimized so that thousands of processors can work seamlessly together. It scales almost perfectly."

IT3 komment: A bemutatott kutatás jól példázza, hogy mekkora számítási teljesítmény növekedés várható a quantum számítógépektől. Egyetlen 42 qubit-es quantum processzor 300,000 jelenlegi elektronikus processzor teljesítményével ér fel. Ugyanakkor drasztikus növekedést hozhatnak a quantum processzorok a számítási sebesség tekintetében is, hiszen a német kutatók által összeállított szimuláció messze a majdani quantum processzorok sebessége alatt működik.

Forrás: www.eurekalert.org

AR-kutyák

A 3D-s bővített valóság megjelenik a sajtótermékekben is.

The VTT Technical Research Center of Finland has been developing augmented reality (AR) technology, which superimposes digital information in the user's view, and uses real-time video images and three-dimensional (3-D) virtual objects. In the case of Dibidogs, animated puppies created by Finnish and Chinese children, the user is viewing a magazine via a webcam and PC display. An animated Dibidog called Viki will appear on top of a marker on a page. The 3D character will act and react in different ways based on the movement of the webcam, e.g., by jumping, rolling and growling. The likeable puppy will always look at the camera which creates the impression that it knows that the user is there. A marker printed on a magazine can be copied and enlarged on a piece of paper which enables the user to play and interact with the Dibidog in a larger space. To use the application, the user needs to have a Windows PC which is suitable for 3D games and has a webcam. The user downloads the application from the URL specified on the magazine and installs it with a few clicks of the mouse. “International magazines have already used some AR elements previously, but they have typically been based on 2D video image. What makes Dibidogs unique is the use of animated 3D computer graphics and, in particular, the interaction between the user and the 3D character,” says Research Professor Charles Woodward from VTT. VTT focuses on applying AR technologies to areas such as interior design, construction, industrial applications and virtual video meetings. The next AR application developed by them will bring Dibidogs and other content to camera phones at the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai in May. “AR technology completely transforms the reading experience. We want to be the first Finnish magazine to provide our readers with the AR experience and provide unique experiences for our readers as well as to improve the interaction with our readers and partners. The reading experience gains a completely new dimension when the 3D puppy becomes alive with the use of a webcam and reacts whenever the user moves the magazine or the camera,” says Social District Officer Jarno Alastalo, Aller Media Oy. Aller Media plans to continue the use of AR and to experiment with different content, such as people walking on the pages of the magazine.

IT3 komment: Bővül a bővítettvalóság-technológiák alkalmazási köre: sajtótermékekben ugyan már próbálkoztak vele, viszont csak 2D-s változatokkal. A 3D-s élmény (játékkarakterekkel való találkozás) különlegessé és valóban interaktívvá teszi az olvasást.

Forrás: www.vtt.fi