Chapter 15- Utility Computing

According to Wikipedia, "Utility computing is the packaging of computing resources, such as computation and storage, as a metered service similar to a traditional public utility" (2008).

This is an interesting article I found today regarding the use of utility computing in a company. The article revolves around 3Tera's cloud computing technology made in place in Australia and New Zealand. According to the article, the AppLogic operating system, grid operating system for scalable web applications and services, is the first platform that is designed to create utility computing.

Furthermore, the author of the article indicated that cloud and utility computring allow the company to focus more on building its applications rather than modifying code, moving data and others.

According to the article, "the architecture of the AppLogic is unique in four important aspects:"

1. "AppLogic makes Linux and Windows an integral part of the infrastructure"
2. "AppLogic makes infrastructure an integral part of each application"
3. "AppLogic treats distributed applications as first-class objects"
4. "AppLogic is a grid operating system for web applications"

The following are links to what Applogic operating is all about and the article itself.

http://www.3tera.com/Technology/
http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/268104/firstservis_launches_3tera_cloud_computing_technology_australia_new_zealand

Chapter 12- Voice Technologies

I stumbled on this article. The article is about voice technology. To be specific, the article talks about iPhone getting voice-powered search from Google. With this kind of application, users of iPhone will be able to conduct searches using their voices rather than using typing, something that is currently done by all iPhone users. The article talks about how the voice search application works. The detailed processes of how voice search application works is in the article.

The article also states that through a collaboration with Apple, Google is finally catching up with its existing competitors, that is, Microsoft and Yahoo. It's just interesting to know that Google continuously diversifies its line of products to compete with the aforementioned companies and stay competitive in the marketplace. I believe that this collaboration will help both Google and Apple gain competitive advantages in the business environment.

The link of the article is shown below: Have a nice time reading this article.

http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2008/11/iphone_gets_voi.html

Chapter 12- Artificial Intelligence

I found this article today regarding the use of artificial intelligence. Basically, the article states that artificial intelligence is near from perfectly mimicking a human, that is, in terms of allowing one to simultaneously speak with different people at the same. Although it's quite interesting that artificial intelligence makes a beneficial contribution to the companies as a whole through lower labor costs and increased efficiency, it somehow is detrimental to a number of employees within the company (i.e. laying off employees in exchange for automation).

Although artificial intelligence can never be a substitute to a human, artificial intelligence, for example in this article, can analyze vast amount of data, can reason out like human do, among others. I believe that the article was correct in claiming that in some parts, computers do better jobs at analyzing and understanding the needs of individuals. I totally agree with the article when it said that artificial intelligence has tremendously grown and advanced in the recent years and that it had gradually creeping in and becoming more integrated in the social fabric of the world.

If you want to read more about the article, or if you want the detailed information, please just click the link below:

http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/news/2008/nov/05/artificial-intelligence-reaching-new-heights/