Jeopardy! Contestants Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter Face Off Against Watson the Super Computer from IBM

It will be a battle fit for the record books, one that will go down in history alongside Gettysburg and World War II. Only this one will not be fought with swords, guns or armies, but with little clickers and incredible knowledge. Thats right, I am talking about the epic showdown set to take place on Jeopardy! this coming Monday which pits two of the shows biggest all-time winners, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, against Watson, a computer designed by IBM.

If you are not familiar with the popular game show that tests contestants knowledge in a wide range of categories, then you will not know who Ken Jennings or Brad Rutter are. To put it simply, Jennings won a grand total of $3,022,700 on the show coming in second only to Brad Rutter who took home a total of $3,255,102. Needless to say, these gentlemen are extremely smart and ready to test their wits against the ultimate competitor, technology.

According to Stephen Baker, author of Final Jeopardy: Man vs. Machine and the Quest to Know Everything, "The computer is fast on the buzzer, and if its given certain specialties - its good on facts about facts it can find and nail down - it could win. But humans are better with complex English, puns, nuances, so..."

This challenge was initiated by IBM after its scientists worked on Watson for four years. The outcome has already been determined as the show does not air live, but it is a secret. The episodes were taped on January 14th, 2011 and are set to air on Monday, February 14th, 2011 and conclude on Wednesday, February 16th, 2011. Alex Trebek, the host of Jeopardy! since 1984, isnt budging on giving away the result either.

"I think the guys have a slight edge on knowledge because their memories are good," says Trebek. "In terms of speed, its no contest. Watson has the edge there. But itll all come down to luck." Trebek also added that Watson could not see or hear him "so it was pointless to comment in his direction!"

Executive Producer of Jeopardy! Harry Friedman noted that putting the show together was definitely a challenge. Nobody has every done this before and the closest thing to be done like this was when chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov took on an IBM computer known as Deep Blue. He lost. According to Friedman, "Producing for people and with people is one thing, but dealing with a computer was another."

Friedman sees the competition as a "fascinating exhibition of technology" and not a tournament or a competition. "It is to be judged for what technology can do," he says. However, dont tell that to Jennings or Rutter. Jennings stated that he was spooked by the setting, which took place inside the labs of IBM. "No one was cheering for me. It was at their (IBMs) home arena. It was an away game for humanity."

Rutter, who has won the highest accumulative amount on Jeopardy! ever, says that he does not think humans are becoming outdated and that he enjoyed being a "guinea pig" playing against a computer. According to Rutter, "People watch the show to see the contestants and how they react. Watson will never jump up and down when he gets it right."

The contest is going to air this coming Monday, Feruary 14th, 2011. Check your local listings so you can tune in and see who is smarter, man or machine.

Source: USA Today - Jeopardy! champs compete against computer

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JDBC Database connection pool in Spring Framework – How to Setup Example

Setting up JDBC Database Connection Pool in Spring framework is easy for any Java application, just matter of changing few configuration in spring configuration file.If you are writing core java application and not running on any web or application server like Tomcat or  Weblogic,  Managing Database connection pool using Apache Commons DBCP and Commons Pool along-with Spring framework is nice choice but if you have luxury of having web server and managed J2EE Container, consider using Connection pool managed by J2EE server those are better option in terms of maintenance, flexibility and also help to prevent java.lang.OutofMemroyError:PermGen Space in tomcat by avoiding loading of JDBC driver in web-app class-loader, Also keeping JDBC connection pool information in Server makes it easy to change or include settings for JDBC over SSL. In this article we will see how to setup Database connection pool in spring framework using Apache commons DBCP and commons pool.jar

This article is in continuation of my tutorials on spring framework and database like LDAP Authentication in J2EE with Spring Security and  manage session using Spring security  If you haven’t read those article than you may find them useful.

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100th Post

Yay CAD-a-Blog. we have hit a milestone here at CAD-a-Blog. This is our 100th post! Ok, its not that big of a deal really, but hey, Im having fun. I wanted to take this time to remind you, or if you are not aware, to inform you of some great ways to know when a new post is added to CAD-a-Blog.

There is the obvious way, just show up to the site. But lets face it, youd rather that I came to you right? If you have e-mail then you can sign up for the free E-mail notification. When a new post is made you will get an e-mail letting you know. Click the link and you are there.

If you use an RSS reader, then again, when a new post is here, your reader will be notified. Click the link and you are here. Ive posted about these things before.

Here are the links you need to use to sign up for either notification method. I will never pass out or sell your information, I promise. Right now there are over 100 people signed up for these notifications, and more are joining every week. So sign up, you know you want to.

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

I also want to take the time to talk about some ideas that I have for CAD-a-Blog. If you have any ideas in mind, please let me know. Use the Skribit panel on the right to vote for the ideas you like. Or use it to post some of your own ideas. OR, e-mail me at benton.brian@gmail.com.

I am looking at setting up a discussion board. I havent worked out all of the details yet, but Im looking into it. I am also looking at setting up a Wiki. It would be similar to Wikipedia, but it would be CAD-a-Wiki. One other item that I want to add is video. I had a link to one of Lynn Allens videos from her Cadalyst website. It seemed to work, what do you think?

I am also looking to expand the content topics to include GIS. I am getting more and more into that realm and feel it can have a place here at CAD-a-Blog. That one is a while away yet, but keep your eyes open.

I currently have links across the top of the site that take you to specific tag topics. They are:

• Home
• Articles
• AutoCAD 2009
• Impression
• Store

I think that most of these topics are obvious as to what they cover. Home takes you back to the main CAD-a-Blog page. Articles takes you to posts that I have made about articles that I have written outside of CAD-a-Blog. The Store link is to the CAD-a-Blog store. There you can buy CAD related items, like t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc. I plan on adding more items soon. If you have a great idea for a CAD T-Shirt, or polo, or mug, let me know, I might be able to set it up in the store.

I am looking to add some topics, maybe remove the Articles link, add more content to those topics specifically. I have started some blogs with the title and tag QUICK TIPS. they are short tips about AutoCAD. They dont go deep in detail, but simply say, "Hey, heres a great command (or idea) that you might want to know about, try it out." Look for those in the near future. Once I get this video thing going I will probably make that one of the links too. Oh, and when AutoCAD 2010 comes out, there will definitely be a link for it! Other topic ideas I have are POD Casts (I might not do this if I can get the videos to work out right), WORKAROUNDS, BUGS, and News items. I have lots of ideas, just not enough time to do them. If I quit my day job . . . . (my wife would kill me!!)

One more item, I am planning on getting my own URL for CAD-a-Blog within the next few months. That will make CAD-a-Blog more searchable, more legitimate, etc. When that day comes I will let you know. It might not be until the end of the year, I dont know yet.

Well, thats that for my 100th post in CAD-a-Blog. I hope you all enjoy the site and that you can glean some type of valuable information from it, because that is its purpose. Keep coming and Ill keep posting!!

Happy CADDING.

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HOWTO GoDaddy com and Google Apps Email with your Domain

You can use GMail web mail service with your domain name, such as yourname@yourdomain.com on www.gmail.com.



Follow this link to set up Postfix to use GMail as your SMTP server.



Step 0 :



Apply of free Google Apps (Free) Email :



Google Apps (Free) Email



Step 1 :



Create the MX record at your domain automatically.



Create the MX record at your domain manually.



The MX record are :

ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM

ALT1.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM

ALT2.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM

ASPMX2.GOOGLEMAIL.COM

ASPMX3.GOOGLEMAIL.COM



Step 1a :



Create a SPF record



Step 2 :



You will receive a email from Google and ask you to create a adminstrator account with your domain name. Your domain name needs to be authorized to use Google Apps. You should follow the instructions to complete the process.



After that, you can you GMail as your domains email.



Step 3 (Optional) :



If you are using Untangle as gateway and IPS, you should do the following :



Open a browser and point to Untangle web page as well as login.



Config/Networking/Hostname



Change the following settings :



From -

Hostname : untangle.mydomain.com



To -

Hostname : untangle.mydomain.local



Step 3a (Optional) :



Config/Email/Outging Email Server (SMTP)



Change the following settings :



Send Email using the specified SMTP Server

- Server Address or Hostname : <postifx server IP address>

- Server Port : 25



Known issue



Cannot send to yourself with your domain, e.g. yourname@yourdomain.com via Untangle.



Thats all! See you.

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Computing device Seve to get Hewlett Packard Commercial PCs HP Smart Buy 8300 Elite 3 1GHz Core

Seve intended for Hewlett Packard Commercial PCs HP Smart Buy 8300 Elite: 3.1GHz Core really don't hold out

Comparisons:

Hewlett Packard Commercial PCs HP Smart Buy 8300 Elite: 3.1GHz Core you should not simply wait

Color=#003366>windows 7 Professional 64 (available Through Downgrade Rights From Windows 8 Pro) 135w Active Pfc 87% Efficient Intel Core I5-3570s Quad Core (3.10 Ghz, 6MB Cache, 4 Cores) Intel Q77 Express 4GB (1x4GB) Ddr3 1600 Mhz 500GB 7200 Rpm 3.5 Hdd Integrated Intel Hd Graphics 2500 HP Supermulti Dvd Writer Drive High Definition Audio With Realtek Alc221 Codec Intel 82579lm Gbe Integrated Network Connection 3 Years Parts, Labor And Onsite Service (3/3/3) Standard Warranty. Certain Restrictions And Exclusions Apply.

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Cadalyst to host TwitterChat

Cadalyst Magazine is hosting their first ever TwitterChat.  Whats a TwitterChat?  Its an organized event where twitter users are purposefully using the same HashTag to have a conversation with other Twitter users.  Cadalyst has put together a webpage (click this link) where they describe the ins and outs of their TwitterChat.

This TwitterChat is scheduled to begin on Thursday, June 23 at 1 p.m. PST/4 p.m. EST.  The Hashtag will be:

 #DellCAD

This TwitterChat is sponsored by Dell and presented by Cadalyst  (@cadalyst_mag).  The chat will be hosted by Lynn Allen (@Lynn_Allen)

The topic of conversation will be centered around collaboration, specifically using AutoCAD WS.  To join the conversation remember to search on twitter for the hashtag #DellCAD ! Everyone is invited! If you miss the chat, dont worry.  The hashtags shouldnt go anywhere, there just wont be anyone live tweeting.  I think Cadalyst is going to create a transcript of the chat for later.  Cadalyst is also planning to have more of these chats.  If you are on "the twitter", join in and ask some questions.

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Where To Find Grocery Store Scanning Systems In San Antonio

By Rhea Solomon

For the most part, having an effective system in place to run your business is important in making a company last long. For entrepreneurs who are in the supermarket business, it is essential to find good grocery store scanning systems in San Antonio to make sure their operations run smoothly. Having a good system in place without having to worry about it failing will enable staff and management to focus their time and attention to the customer.

For those who are searching for an efficient system to put in place for their supermarket, there are some necessary steps to take. The problem is not finding a vendor. There are many providers of their that are willing to offer their service. What a smart business owner is really looking for is a truthful company that will help in this situation.

The problem with many business owners is that they put too much consideration on how much the service will cost them. Sure, saving money is crucial in any type of business. The more an owner can save, the more finances he or she will have at their disposal. It comes a problem when businessmen sacrifice quality for price. This affects the customers which in turn affects the business as a whole in a negative way.

Prices are set based on what a system is capable of doing. The more stable and effective the system is, the more it will cost to purchase. This is how manufacturers or vendors price their systems. However, there also is the possibility of vendors over pricing their products. To avoid this, the business owner has the responsibility to do their research before attempting to shop for a new system.

So before the actual searching can start, a serious owner should look around at the possible companies that will help him get his system in place. Also, an owner should not focus all their attention to finding a vendor. Getting someone who has a good reputation in the industry should be a priority, rather than going through one hundred vendors.

One tactic in looking for vendors is by searching for ads. Many vendors like to advertise their service through publications or via the Internet. Try to look for a company that is known to give quality Service and Products to its customers. This is where you want to invest your money. Transacting with start up companies that offer a cheaper price is risky. If you do decide to do this, to research on that company very carefully.

If you dont have the time to do all the necessary research, you can always ask for advice from other business owners. Most owners will be more than happy to share the business of their vendors to others. This is especially true when it comes to vendors they trust and enjoy transacting with.

You can make finding efficient grocery store scanning systems in San Antonio a lot easier. All you have to do is ask others. As for their advice on who we should do business with and who you should avoid.

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