Semantics in Cloud Computing

February 10, 2009 Leave a Comment

Cloud Computing is about replacing desktop-based computing resources with internet-based ones. The driving concept is called Software as a Service (SaaS), according to which software applications are licensed for use as services provided to customers on demand. This is similar to how traditional utilities like electricity or water are charged.

The latest issue of the IEEE Intelligent Systems journal features Cloud Computing and includes an article on Semantic Web applications. The authors claim that the volume of computing resources on the cloud can help deal with the explosion of web data and the scalability problems of the Semantic Web. They describe a number of such initiatives: Hadoop’s MapReduce, as well as the HBase and Yahoo! Pig extensions. The purpose of these open-source platforms is large-scale processing of semantic RDF datasets without any scalability limits.

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The dancing eyebrows

February 7, 2009 1 Comment

I’m not really a fan of Cadbury chocolate, but I love their ads! The latest one features two kids doing the “eyebrow dance” to a catchy tune! Hilarious! Watch it here:

Who can also forget last year’s gorilla-drummer ad! The facial expressions on that gorilla were simply amazing ;)

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Innovative startups for 2009

February 7, 2009 Leave a Comment

Erick Schonfeld, editor in TechCrunch, is wondering about the kinds of innovative startups we mostly need in 2009:

At the moment I’m writing this post, electric car batteries have the lead with 30%. Considering the serious global energy and pollution problems, I’ve voted for this option too. However, I’m sure we’re going to see lots of new Social Web startups in 2009, including social search tools and new mash-ups of Web 2.0 services.

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The Social Web and the future of journalism

February 3, 2009 Leave a Comment

The emerging Social Web technologies, such as blogging, micro-blogging, podcasting, etc, can be seen as a threat to ‘traditional’ journalism. The fact that we can instantly report news from our mobiles on Twitter, post videos on YouTube, and start public discussions on our blogs seems to be the start of a new era for the mass media. Will the news corporations be able to adapt to this new environment?

David Schlesinger, editor in chief in Reuters, was in the World Economic Forum at Davos last week, keeping us constantly updated through Twitter. Answering to criticism for this move, he claims:

In a democratic world where publishing platforms are available to all, editors and institutions like Reuters MUST add great value if they are to survive the competitive fight with the unintermediated storytellers.

I couldn’t agree more. The future of journalism is in our own hands! The sooner the mass media realize this, the better!

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