Thursday, May 17, 2007 Ng: How computers made history By Wilson Ng Wired Desktop
TEN years ago or on May 11, 1997, something happened that gave computers a new boost in being superior over man. Deep Blue, a computer program running on an IBM super-computer, beat Gary Kasparov, then the world’s greatest chess player.
Since then, computers have even made more progress. In November last year, Kramnik, the world chess champion, lost in two or four games to Deep Fritz, which was just a commercial chess program that was running on a personal computer.
There is no more argument of what computers can do. In fact, chess matches between computers and humans are no longer creating the interest it once did.
SUDOKU. One of the fascinating things that have always enthralled me is the issue on whether mental exercises can help sharpen the brain, and there are a lot of evidences that say it does.
Obviously, the brain, just like your muscles, grows stronger and sharper with the proper nurturing.
One of the fastest growing mental exercises in the last two years has been Sudoku, a Japanese numbers game that is now in thousands of newspapers worldwide, and is making a run on popularity against the venerable crossword puzzle.
It is said that the Sudoku has grown to be a $250 million industry worldwide.
There are many free puzzles you can access on the Internet by just making a search on Sudoku.
The growth obviously also has to do with the fact that Sudoku puzzles can actually be made by a computer program, and you can download one program which will use rules given to it to give you thousands, if not endless, Sudoku puzzles to play with.
That certainly would mean that Sudoku puzzles can sprout like grass faster than crossword puzzles, which, as of this moment, I know is still designed by humans.
DEBATE. There is a renewed debate on the US H-1B visa program. The US allows up to 65,000 people to apply for H1 work visas per year to allow US companies to recruit skilled workers to work in the US.
The quota has been seen as widely small, as the whole quota was filled up the first day it was made available this March 2007 when more than twice as many people sent applications.
Now, there are allegations that the program is seemingly not filling its intended purpose, as it was discovered that almost a third or around 20,000 of the applications were awarded to eight Indian companies which were mostly outsourcing companies. Some senators alleged that it is not the intent of the program.
LCDs. If there is one thing in computers you can afford to change, you might want to consider the monitor. LCD monitors are not only space savers, but they also emit less radiation, use less electricity and are—overall—easier to the eye.
In 2006, LCD panel shipments reached purportedly over 270 million units worldwide, with a value of almost $50 billion, representing almost 30 percent in growth in terms of units over 2005. The total sales were also about 14 percent more, which, if you look at it, signals that LCD prices have been going down. Computer manufacturers are anticipating that unit shipments will hit 320 million this year with a value of over $55 billion.
WEBSITES. Whether you are in a retail business or food business, you might want to take a look again at your website.
The National Restaurants Association in the United States said that they conducted a survey revealing that 35 percent of those surveyed checked out the website of a new restaurant before they visited it. It should be possible that the rate will even be higher for retail stores, hotels and other kinds of businesses.
Talking about the websites, it is important that you should always update your site. With all the tools available right now, one thing is sure, that if somebody visits your website and finds out that it has no updated information, and in fact, looks like it has not been updated for even several months, you might lose customers.
Unless the customer has a compelling reason to visit the site again, chances are he or she won’t go back to your website ever! So make sure it is updated regularly!
