On the day after Sheldon Cooper declares "Ubunutu: You are my favorite linux-based operating system" (followed immediately by the phrase 'crap' in my house), three new pieces of news on hybrid computing models cross my desk.
The first is a story in Scientific American on the work Wu Feng and his colleagues are doing at Virginia Tech. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=opencl-smooths-supercomputing Wu has long been on the leading edge of what defines power efficient computing and the placement of data next to compute.
The second was the announcement from IBM & NVIDIA that you can buy GPUs in a IBM server chassis. When IBM does it, it must be real? Or has the canceling of the next generation of Cell leave Dave Turek grasping at straws?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-20005218-64.html
I'm going to close with another reference to Wu, the prolific Hokie. His group published a paper last month identifying missing genes in the microbial DNA sequences to date. The compute model was an "ephemeral supercomputer" of 12k cores across seven sites within the US. This may not look like hybrid computing, but it is about moving data independently of compute in order to manage the latencies between the compute nodes.
None of the compute Wu's team is doing, or the Tesla examples from NVidia tackle the really hard, communication dependent problems such as multiphase physics or simulation with dynamic meshing, but they do demonstrate that there are plenty of problems to be tackled with intelligent programming and massive parallel processing.
I still believe in the hybrid computing models and explicit data placement. Though my friend Mark may feel that he can show that density and efficiency of general purpose compute engines will subsume the specialty silicon market, we are certainly not yet there.
Showing posts with label Academic_Research. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Academic_Research. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Getting Value from Advanced Academic
This is the afternoon session for Media Lab including Schlumberger, Steelcase,
My notes are...
First, you need to articulate the underlying ideas, trends or technology that drive your competitive differentiation.
Second, understand how your culture and mission match the vision of the institution.
Third, dedicate an impassioned champion for this work who has access to high-level executives in your company.
Fourth, enable your champion to reach our well beyond the corporate silos with internal tools, support and leverage.
Claude from Schlumberger says:
My notes are...
First, you need to articulate the underlying ideas, trends or technology that drive your competitive differentiation.
Second, understand how your culture and mission match the vision of the institution.
Third, dedicate an impassioned champion for this work who has access to high-level executives in your company.
Fourth, enable your champion to reach our well beyond the corporate silos with internal tools, support and leverage.
Claude from Schlumberger says:
- You get ideas & IP, not prototypes
- Interact frequently
- Bring lots of people to visit (your academic partners can show off)
- Learn from 'demo or die'
- Be prepared to constantly advocate the relationship
- Look to your future (based upon the Alchemy of Growth)
- Co-creation as a principle
- Learn, learn, learn...especially from the students
Toyz & more... MIT Media Lab Day 1 Lab Projects
The keynote was the magician and professional skeptic, James Randi, and Seth (of MagicSeth). The bottom line was the more you think you know, the more easy you are to fool.
Scratch... tile based programming for kids. The cool item was the ability to send it also to you mobile phone. I've enabled my kids already.
Sticky Notes... that are smart. Linkiing phyiscal notes & books with computer storage. I couldn't find the video online, but the research summary is online
Sociable Robots for Weight Loss... A partner to help you achieve your long-term goals. Can't convince a friend to get you to the gym, ask Autom to help. There is a video of this one. And, it will be commercialized.
Detecting Group Dynamics.... (I think there was a catchy title for this as well, but I was blogging) Using sensors to tell you if you are running Good Meetings or Bad Meetings. The cool part was the simple feedback model. I swear 90% of everything is the UI and again, they used a simple display on the cell phone.
Cognitive Machines... Searching for the highlights of the game. "show me a video clip of Ortiz hitting a home run" Current state of the art is using the the announcer, who is often filling in the dull spots. Therefore, you need to get a machine to "look" at the video to understand the patterns within it. THIS IS COMPUTATIONALLY INTENSIVE. (4th floor)
Information Spaces... What's this virtual world stuff anyway.... I liked this one because of my personal interest in how to use online more effectively for the things we really do as humans in meetings: social clues, consensus building, recognition of social clues.
Active Sensor Nodes... Small, fast, real-time data on movement via wearable sensors. This is what Jacoby means when he says "Show me & I can learn"
Common Sense Toolkit... Yes, you too can have Common Sense via C Code. Available online as a repository of simple statements. http://commons.media.mit.edu/ & a library of sematic analysis called DIVISI. (a potentially cool little library.)
Tangible Media... You live in the real world, why can't your computer interfaces act more like real items (paintbrushes, clothes and more) This lab is also doing the Gesture Object Interfaces, which is a really cool idea. Throwing your phone on the table is much better than voice control
Zero Energy Home... a project of Changing Places... And they are really building this house in Maine. Nice ideas that can be used today. I need to re-read this stuff.
Smart Cities and Roboscooter... No American wants this, but everyone else does! What Dean Kaman thought we should target with the Segway, but he hasn't make the leap.
Scratch... tile based programming for kids. The cool item was the ability to send it also to you mobile phone. I've enabled my kids already.
Sticky Notes... that are smart. Linkiing phyiscal notes & books with computer storage. I couldn't find the video online, but the research summary is online
Sociable Robots for Weight Loss... A partner to help you achieve your long-term goals. Can't convince a friend to get you to the gym, ask Autom to help. There is a video of this one. And, it will be commercialized.
Detecting Group Dynamics.... (I think there was a catchy title for this as well, but I was blogging) Using sensors to tell you if you are running Good Meetings or Bad Meetings. The cool part was the simple feedback model. I swear 90% of everything is the UI and again, they used a simple display on the cell phone.
Cognitive Machines... Searching for the highlights of the game. "show me a video clip of Ortiz hitting a home run" Current state of the art is using the the announcer, who is often filling in the dull spots. Therefore, you need to get a machine to "look" at the video to understand the patterns within it. THIS IS COMPUTATIONALLY INTENSIVE. (4th floor)
Information Spaces... What's this virtual world stuff anyway.... I liked this one because of my personal interest in how to use online more effectively for the things we really do as humans in meetings: social clues, consensus building, recognition of social clues.
Active Sensor Nodes... Small, fast, real-time data on movement via wearable sensors. This is what Jacoby means when he says "Show me & I can learn"
Common Sense Toolkit... Yes, you too can have Common Sense via C Code. Available online as a repository of simple statements. http://commons.media.mit.edu/ & a library of sematic analysis called DIVISI. (a potentially cool little library.)
Tangible Media... You live in the real world, why can't your computer interfaces act more like real items (paintbrushes, clothes and more) This lab is also doing the Gesture Object Interfaces, which is a really cool idea. Throwing your phone on the table is much better than voice control
Zero Energy Home... a project of Changing Places... And they are really building this house in Maine. Nice ideas that can be used today. I need to re-read this stuff.
Smart Cities and Roboscooter... No American wants this, but everyone else does! What Dean Kaman thought we should target with the Segway, but he hasn't make the leap.