La enfermedad de Parkinson es un trastorno neurológico degenerativo crónico que afecta a una de cada 100 personas mayores de 60 años. Se estima que más de 5 millones de personas en el mundo tienen Parkinson y el número está aumentando con la población actual que envejece.

IBM reveló un nuevo estudio acerca de la manera en que los profesionales de marketing y ventas están adoptando soluciones cognitivas o de Inteligencia Artificial (IA). A pesar de que el 64% de los Directores de Marketing -CMOs por sus siglas en inglés- y líderes de ventas encuestados cree que sus industrias estarán listas para adoptar ese tipo de tecnologías en los próximos tres años, sólo 24% de los encuestados cree que tiene una estrategia establecida para hacerlo en la actualidad.

IBM y el Instituto Tecnológico de Massachusetts (MIT) anunciaron los planes de IBM para realizar una inversión de 240 millones de dólares por 10 años a fin de crear el Laboratorio de Inteligencia Artificia MIT-IBM Watson. El laboratorio llevará a cabo investigaciones fundamentales de IA y buscará impulsar avances científicos que desbloqueen su potencial. La colaboración tiene como objetivo avanzar en el desarrollo del hardware, el software y los algoritmos de IA relacionados con el aprendizaje profundo y otras áreas, aumentar el impacto de la misma en industrias tales como el cuidado de la salud y la seguridad cibernética, así como explorar sus implicaciones económicas y éticas en la sociedad. La inversión de IBM de 240 millones de dólares en el laboratorio apoyará la investigación de científicos de IBM y del MIT.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) presentó hoy una tecnología que da a las organizaciones nueva transparencia en inteligencia artificial (IA), permitiéndoles aprovechar más plenamente su potencial.

PROESAH – asociación civil formada por un grupo de doctores, profesores y alumnos de la Universidad Autónoma de Guerrero-, anunció el día de hoy el lanzamiento de una aplicación llamada LUZi, que utiliza tecnología de Inteligencia Artificial (IA) de IBM para analizar el riesgo obstétrico. El objetivo del proyecto es reducir la mortalidad materna e infantil en las comunidades rurales de Guerrero, México.

La inteligencia artificial (IA) promete transformar tanto el futuro del trabajo como la función de Recursos Humanos (RRHH). Alineado con esta premisa, IBM (NYSE: IBM) anunció hoy IBM Talent & Transformation, una nueva unidad destinada a ayudar a las organizaciones y a sus empleados a tener éxito en la era de la inteligencia artificial y la automatización.

La empresa se afianza como líder de Proveedores Autorizados de Certificación (PAC) y logra procesar grandes volúmenes de transacciones de manera sencilla

IBM Research has announced a research agreement with MoleMap New Zealand to help further advance the identification of melanoma using cognitive technology. It builds on planned research with Melanoma Institute Australia. IBM Research plans to analyse dermatological images of skin lesions to help identify specific clinical patterns in the early stages of melanoma. The New Zealand and Australian research aims to help reduce unnecessary biopsies and help clinicians more accurately understand skin cancer, which could help to improve patient care.

IBM today announced the findings of a major new study of over 1,900 Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) and senior finance executives from 81 countries and 35 industries worldwide, which reveals that more than 60 percent of CFOs plan major changes to respond to the new economic climate.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) reveló hoy una serie de nuevos servidores diseñados para potenciar las cargas de trabajo cognitivas y elevar la eficiencia en el centro de cómputo. Con un nuevo chip, la línea basada en Linux incorpora innovaciones de la comunidad OpenPOWER que ofrecen mayores niveles de desempeño y mayor eficiencia de cómputo que los disponibles en cualquier servidor basado sobre x86.

IBM announced today that Portland Software, one of New Zealand’s fastest growing technology companies, has created a fully integrated employee benefits administration platform on IBM Cloud.

Dans ce monde où les business model des entreprises et encore plus les technologies sont en rupture, le challenge est le même : rester en contact avec le consommateur hyper connecté d’aujourd’hui. Ce challenge peut être vu comme un véritable cauchemar ou à l’inverse, considéré comme la prochaine grande opportunité pour les entreprises. Elles sont obligées d’aller au-delà des prévisions, en identifiant et capitalisant sur des opportunités que d’autres entreprises ne voient pas.

98% de la Génération Z, avec un pouvoir d'achat estimé à 44 milliards de dollars, préfère faire ses achats en magasin

L’entité sécurité d’IBM (NYSE : IBM) a publié aujourd'hui son rapport X-Force Threat Intelligence Index 2020, qui souligne la façon dont les techniques des cybercriminels ont évolué après des décennies d'accès à des dizaines de milliards de données d'entreprises et de particuliers et à des centaines de milliers de failles logicielles. Selon le rapport, 60% des entrées initiales observées dans les réseaux des victimes ont exploité soit des données d’identification volées précédemment, soit des vulnérabilités logicielles connues, ce qui a permis aux attaquants de moins recourir à la ruse pour y accéder.

Reconnaissant que les entreprises mettent du temps à adopter l'intelligence artificielle, en partie à cause de la complexité croissante des données, IBM (NYSE : IBM) dévoile aujourd'hui de nouvelles innovations qui optimisent son approche Watson Anywhere pour mettre à l'échelle l'intelligence artificielle sur tous les types de cloud, et de permettre à une multitude de clients de tirer parti de la stratégie pour intégrer l'intelligence artificielle à leurs données, où qu'elles se trouvent.

Cette semaine, des chercheurs d’IBM Research et de l’Université de Yamagata au Japon ont annoncé leur collaboration pour utiliser l’IA d’IBM, couplée à des algorithmes de machine learning et des données géospatiales, afin d’en découvrir davantage à propos de ces mystérieux anciens géoglyphes. Grâce à IBM Power Systems, ce partenariat a déjà abouti à la découverte d’un nouveau géoglyphe à figure humaine avec trois éléments décoratifs sur la tête, le premier grâce à l’IA.

La BRED déploie IBM Watson, disponible sur le cloud public d’IBM, pour traiter plus rapidement les demandes de ses clients avec une solution d’analyseur d’e-mails.

IBM met à l’honneur 35 femmes exceptionnelles issues de 12 pays, alors qu'une nouvelle enquête mondiale démontre les bénéfices de la diversité pour l'IA - en notant que du travail reste à faire pour combler l'écart entre les genres.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced the launch of the IBM Institute for Advanced Security in Asia-Pacific, an expansion of its company-wide initiative to provide governments, businesses and other key organisations with a forum to collaborate with IBM’s global network of security research, services, software and technology experts.

IBM Research in Australia has announced plans to undertake research with Melanoma Institute Australia to help further advance the identification of melanoma using cognitive technology. This planned research builds on IBM’s existing research agreement with Molemap, which uses advanced visual analytics to analyse more than 40,000 data sets including images and text. IBM Research plans to analyse dermatological images of skin lesions to help identify specific clinical patterns in the early stages of melanoma1. The Australian research aims to help reduce unnecessary biopsies and help clinicians more accurately understand skin cancer, which could help to improve patient care.

Advancements in assistive image analytics and deep learning technology could in the future help doctors in the fight against preventable blindness.

IBM positioned as the Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Data Center Outsourcing and Hybrid Infrastructure Managed Services, Asia Pacific

In contrast to previous notes, in this set of notes we shall focus exclusively on Fourier analysis in the one-dimensional setting for simplicity of notation, although all of the results here have natural extensions to higher dimensions. Depending on the physical context, one can view the physical domain as representing either space or time; we […]

Darth Sidious’s master plan becomes reality, and the galaxy will never be the same.

In the chilling series finale, Ahsoka and Rex try to survive Order 66 and plot one final escape.

I have been playing board games since I was a kid. Chinese Checkers, Chess, Monopoly, Clue, Skipbo, Taboo, and Pictionary  were in regular rotation on our table when my parents and I or my friends and I sat down to play. Into my adulthood, and over the years since, I have continued to enjoy these games. And then, about ten years ago, I was introduced to "serious" board gaming. I began to play board games from small publishers where the designer and artist are a topic of discussion, as are game mechanisms (e.g. worker placement, area control, etc.), weight of the board game, replayability, and other concerns. I started with Settlers of Catan and then fell for PowerGrid, Puerto Rico, and Robinson Crusoe. Then I joined a few board game meetup groups in my community and my passion for the hobby really bloomed. 900+ games in my collection later, I've come to understand there's a bit of snobbery in board gaming circles. The games I knew and loved as a child are lumped into a category referred to as mass market games and sneered at by the board game elite. What defines a mass market game?  Typically published by a major toy company (vs a dedicated board gaming publisher), it has a lower price point, cheaper components, uncredited or corporate designers and artists, weak narrative, and is light to medium weight in complexity. I have several mass market games from yesteryear in my existing collection and am happy to play them with anyone who asks, so I don’t consider myself a board game snob. On the other hand, I don’t purchase new releases in this category anymore so maybe I’ve got one foot in the elite circle?

Recently, Ravensburger sent me Horrified . Released in 2019,  the game garnered high praise from Tom Vasel, who raved about it on Dice Tower. That piqued my husband’s interest, and he asked me to request it for review. Horrified  is easily classified as a mass market board game but since I’m no board game snob, I looked forward to playing it.

Spoiler: turns out I am becoming a little bit of a board game snob.

If you’ve read my reviews before, you know that theming and narrative backstory are important to me. Why has my character come together with others in the story setting laid out in the game? Do the game objectives make sense in the context of the story? What drives the behavior of the bad vs good guys in the game? What era in time do we exist in? Where are we geographically? None of this is explained in Horrified . In this cooperative game, players just find themselves dropped into a nameless town, fighting a hoard of monsters and escorting villagers to safety. How did we get to this town? Where is this town? When is this happening? Why this particular grouping of monsters? Turns out the answer to the last question is: because it’s a bunch of Universal Studios IP mashed together (but that doesn’t provide an in-game narrative explanation).  “Universal Classic Monsters is a name given to the horror, fantasy, thriller and science fiction films made by Universal Pictures during the decades of the 1920s through the 1950s. They were the first shared universe in the entire movie industry in Hollywood and around the world” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Classic_Monsters). The monsters include Dracula, The Mummy, Frankenstein’s Monster and his Bride, Wolf Man, Creature From the Black Lagoon, and The Invisible Man.

I had additional questions on why our characters would be in this cookie cutter town (I played the archaeologist, whose picture clearly indicates he belongs on a dig somewhere in Egypt) but my husband was able to explain that the characters are straight out of the Universal Studios movies (mine is from The Mummy)  and it only made sense they would be in town if the monsters were also in town.

Setting my problem with the narrative aside, let’s talk about the components. A portion of them are poorly constructed - there are flimsy cards and monster mats that bend easily and there are cheap plastic figurines without much detail – but most of the components are just fine. The cardboard player tokens are well made, there are custom dice (nice touch), and the central game board is easy to read, well laid out, and features bright colors. The rulebook is orderly and sensible and player aid cards are included (always a plus – I get irritated when publishers leave these out). And good news, there’s a fix for shoddy figurines. Someone came up with the brilliant idea to use Funko Pop! Universal Monsters Series mini figures in place of the included figurines and it really elevates the game. Unfortunately, there’s no fix for the flimsiness of the cards, so if you want to play regularly, you’re going to need to sleeve them.

The artwork is simple and cartoonish. I wouldn’t describe it as beautiful, realistic, or haunting; more like family friendly and what you’d expect from a mass market game.

What about the gameplay? I’d sum it up like this – it’s a lot like Pandemic but here we are dealing with monsters instead of ambiguous diseases and the gameplay is less complex. It’s engaging and fun. At the beginning of the game 2, 3, or 4 monsters are selected and placed on the board. On each player’s turn, after the player completes their actions, new items are spawned in various locations on the board (items are gathered by players and used to defend against and defeat the monsters), a special action occurs, and then the monsters move and attack. One of the special actions that can occur is to place a named villager in an assigned location. These villagers add additional depth to the game – players must escort them safely to their designated destination location and then are rewarded with perk cards that offer special abilities. If villagers are left to fend for themselves and are attacked by one of the monsters, they die, and our terror level goes up (terror level also goes up if any character is attacked and doesn’t have enough items to discard to fend off the attack). If the players defeat all the monsters, they win. If the terror level gets to the farthest point on the terror track, or if the monster deck runs out, the players lose. The whole game plays in less than an hour, it’s simple enough for kids to understand, and it plays up to five. The player count is a big plus for us as we have five family members once you count the three kids and so any four player games force us to leave a kid out. Because there isn’t a lot of complexity in Horrified , there isn’t much of a problem with analysis paralysis. Turns flow smoothly and quickly. There are several monsters to choose from when setting up monster combinations at the start of the game and each monster must be defeated in a unique way (thematic to the movie plot from which the monster is borrowed), so there is a good degree of replayability inherent in the box.

Providing a review rating for Horrified  is proving difficult. I’m realizing now that I have become a bit of a board game snob and so the flimsy cards and cheap plastic figurines really turn me off (the Funko Pop! minis fix the figurine problem but I resent having to go track them down at extra expense). And the lack of narrative really irritates me. So for my readers who are serious board gamers and only play with other serious gamers, I think a single Oui! is fair. On the other hand, the gameplay in Horrified  is much better than in your average mass market game. Its monster theme is different from all the other monster themes in the board gaming community (which mostly trend toward Cthulhu or space aliens). The gameplay is engaging – especially for my kids – and so it makes me happy to play it again with the family or with casual gamer friends. For those audiences (families and casual gamers), I’d give it a Oui! Oui!

-------------------------------------------------

Publisher: Ravensburger
Players: 1-5
Actual Playing Time (vs the guideline on the box): about 45 minutes per game
Game type: dice rolling, cooperative, pick-up and deliver, mass market

Veteran Board Gamer Rating:                                          

Casual Gamer and Family Gaming Rating:

Rating scale:
OUI: I would play this game again; this game is ok. I probably would not buy this game myself but I would play it with those who own it and if someone gave it to me I would keep it.
OUI OUI: I would play this game again; this game is good. I would buy this game.
OUI OUI OUI: I LOVE THIS GAME. I MUST HAVE THIS GAME.
NON: I would not play this game again. I would return this game or give it away if it was given to me.

     Life really is like a box of chocolates. The really good kind is usually around 200 calories, and you can never consume just one. That becomes problematic, especially in a generation where one of anything is never enough.
     After my minor heart surgery in 2008, I became afraid to do anything but sit on the couch. Everything I did, from my job to my relationships, was settled and done by sitting, not acting. Now, three years later and over 110 pounds over weight, I feel like a new age rendition of The Blob. To conquer my weight gain, I have decided to train for a five mile swim of the Hoover Damn in October of this year. Going from couch to athlete will be a hard struggle, which I know will change my life forever. 
Being an active swimmer / water polo player and all around athlete in high school, weight was never an issue. Now, almost seven years later, I feel like I need an oxygen tank just to walk to my car some mornings. Motivation since high school has been a battle. How do you motivate yourself when you hate yourself? For almost two months now, I have been eating right and holding myself accountable for this mess I have caused myself. Almost eight pounds lighter than when I started, I feel triumphant. Eight pounds is not cause for celebration just yet, but I have this sense of accomplishment and energy—so much energy! I feel like I can do anything. My motivation will be to endure a five mile swim in less than ten months to change my life forever. 
     For your reading pleasure, (because we all love drama) I will be blogging every day about my struggles. Who knows what ten months will bring me, but weight loss is a life change and is hard to do. Follow me on my quest toward health, and I'll teach you the true skinny on being fat.

Richard Lawn has posted a new SETI Perspective entitled How did life begin on Earth and elsewhere?.

Какая офигительнейшая еботня
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf8N_LERyTU&list=PLaxF0X40F65ipw3lCBWAVo3K4xXmys77D
Lucifer ?- Marginia

http://progressreview.blogspot.com/2017/10/lucifers-marginia-recorded-1989-1993.html
https://centraldoprog.blogspot.com/2020/04/lucifer-marginia-1993-cd-japan.html
https://www.proggnosis.com/Release/15009
https://www.up-4ever.org/rh2ohju0lqv7

японский прог-рок, звучащий как прог-обработки
к музыке из популярных аниме (в централпроге поминают
Олдфилда и Ренессанс, спорить не буду)