Barney Pell's Weblog

Now that I am part of Microsoft Live Search following the acquisition of Powerset, I am making a point of trying out all the latest offerings from Live Search (including those under development) an...

I just read this article: Helicopters teach themselves to do aerial maneuvers, about the work by my friend Andrew Ng and his grad students at Stanford. This is really impressive.
Stanford compute...

The Official Google Blog is running a series in which search experts pontificate on the future of search. In the first installment, Google's VP of Products, Marissa Mayer, writes about the future o...

Slashdot | Computer Beats Pro At US Go Congress
Bob Hearn writes:
"I was in attendance at the US Go Congress match yesterday where history was made: the go program MoGo, running on an 800-core sup...

On Monday, Microsoft and Powerset announced that Powerset is being acquired by Microsoft.
In terms of timing, the companies announced that the deal was signed. There is still the customary period b...

Talin sharing his $5000 birthday experiment
Photo by Barney Pell.
Last night I hosted a party for my good friend Talin, to celebrate his 50th birthday. Talin had notified people that he had a su...

Sunday 5/11/2008: Powerset has launched our first open product to the world!
Our initial product offers users a whole new way to experience Wikipedia and Freebase content, based on our unique natur...

Semantic Web Patterns: A Guide to Semantic Technologies - ReadWriteWeb
Alex Iskold wrote a nice article that provides an overview and categorization of semantic web approaches, technologies, and co...

My friend Cyan is featured in this music video. It's awesome!
I like the starting lyric: "Nerd girl, I don't deserve you. I don't get the references you allude to."

David Vogelpohl wrote an article, Will Microsoft Resurrect Natural Language Search, citing a recent AP article about Bill Gates and voice-based search. Here are some quotes from the AP article:
Pe...