What Caught My Eye Today

Artificial Intelligence - You have to hand it to the folks at Google. No one can claim that these dudes aren't looking to push the envelope. Check out this announcement from Google Labs.

For several years now a small research group has been working on some challenging problems in the areas of neural networking, natural language and autonomous problem-solving. Last fall this group achieved a significant breakthrough: a powerful new technique for solving reinforcement learning problems, resulting in the first functional global-scale neuro-evolutionary learning cluster.

Since then progress has been rapid, and tonight we're pleased to announce that just moments ago, the world's first Cognitive Autoheuristic Distributed-Intelligence Entity (CADIE) was switched on and began performing some initial functions. It's an exciting moment that we're determined to build upon by coming to understand more fully what CADIE's emergence might mean, for Google and for our users. So although CADIE technology will be rolled out with the caution befitting any advance of this magnitude, in the months to come users can expect to notice her influence on various google.com properties.

Check out CADIE's homepage (click here). Fascinating--if not kind of freaky--stuff.

Newspapers - If you've been watching the news lately you are aware of the financial industry and auto industry woes. But let's not forget about the poor newspaper industry. Here's how one UK newspaper publisher is attempting to survive.

Consolidating its position at the cutting edge of new media technology, the Guardian announced that it will become the first newspaper in the world to be published exclusively via Twitter, the sensationally popular social networking service that has transformed online communication.

The move, described as "epochal" by media commentators, will see all Guardian content tailored to fit the format of Twitter's brief text messages, known as "tweets", which are limited to 140 characters each. Boosted by the involvement of celebrity "twitterers", such as Madonna, Britney Spears and Stephen Fry, Twitter's profile has surged in recent months, attracting more than 5m users who send, read and reply to tweets via the web or their mobile phones.

Skeptics have expressed concerns that 140 characters may be insufficient to capture the full breadth of meaningful human activity, but social media experts say the spread of Twitter encourages brevity, and that it ought to be possible to convey the gist of any message in a tweet.

I'm a bit of a traditionalist myself, so I'm not sure about this whole Twitter deal. At the same time, I think this story speaks volumes about how short society's attention span has become. I don't know that you can fault the Guardian for trying to adapt to this changing culture. I personally think it's not such a good idea, but the masses have spoken.

Taiwan - I have no words to set the stage for this next story. Pandemonium broke out at the Taipei Zoo when it was discovered that the zoo's two panda bears were in fact Wenzhou brown forest bears that had been dyed to create the panda’s distinctive black-and-white appearance. Why? Why would any rational person do such a thing? Suspicions were first raised when it was observed that the bears were spending almost their full waking hours having sex. Pandas are notorious for their low libido. This behavior caused chaos among zoo crowds. The pandas had been received as a gift from the Chinese government. The Chinese foreign ministry issued a statement: "We understand that our compatriots in Taiwan are very upset. We wish to assure them that we have taken steps to address their concerns. We hope that our Taiwanese friends enjoy the gift of two extremely rare Wenzhou brown forest bears." So much for the best laid plans. The Chinese government would have been better off doing nothing at all. Relations between Taiwan and China are bad enough already. This latest flap certainly won't do anything to improve matters.

Switzerland - And finally, here's a rather disturbing take on eco-tourism. The Swiss Tourism Board announced it was seeking volunteers to join the Association of Mountain Cleaners. It claimed, "The Association of Mountain Cleaners... makes sure that our holiday guests can always enjoy perfect mountains. Using brooms, brushes, water and muscle power, they clean the rocks of any bird droppings." And get this. They posted an online aptitude test for prospective candidates -- click here.

April Fools Day - One can only hope that you figured this out by now. See you tomorrow.