I’m not that up on artificial intelligence but wanted to share this study in Science involving perfect play of a game – in this case checkers. It took 18 years to solve. Wonder when they’ll have enough power to solve Monopoly. Or getting that next promotion. It’s all a game isn’t it?

Jonathan Schaeffer, a computer-games expert at the University of Alberta in Canada, solved it. He believes the techniques he has developed could be applied to many real-world problems. He gives the example of scheduling the time and work required to build a complex machine such as the space shuttle.

With these techniques, you could optimise the use of your resources to build the shuttle for the least time or cost,” he says.”

Think about it.

Via NewScientistTech

How creative are you? A test via the Creativity at Work Blog. I’m 49% vs. 51% – a whole brain thinker! Go me.

I remember the old Nokia bag phone coming out back in the 80s to replace permanently installed car phones. Here’s another new cell phone technology from Nokia. It’s the Mobile Augmented Reality Application (MARA) where reality overlays computer-generated graphics onto the real world. So imagine providing learning experiences where an employee walks into a manufacturing facility and graphics & audio synch with what they see – they become a part of it. Or the possiblities for training pilots, doctors, and military personnel. Think about it for student education – be a part of natural history museum by becoming part of it. The possibilities are endless. I’m certainly no expert in this area but I’ve always seen this type of technology as a head-mounted thingy so by using something that most people have – a cell phone – it seems much more feasible. Isn’t it awesome? There’s probably much more going on in the gaming world. From Technology Goal blog.

Update: Via Ellyssa Kroski at iLibrarian a link to 7 Things You Should Know About Augmented Reality from EDUCAUSE. Go figure. It’s the Law of Attraction working.

Photographer: Ryan Jorgensen

You can’t really get through a video game without learning something. It’s interesting to think about how someone learns from a video game that is not sold as ‘educational’ – unintentional learning. Oops didn’t mean to learn something…

I have a Playstation 2. A video game on fishing teaches  to select different bait in real life. FIFA and NHL ‘07 teach the rules of the game.

Here I am playing PONG with my Mom in the mid-70s. PONG brought computerized video games to household console TVs. Everyone in our neighborhood came to check out our new game. My Mom must’ve got in line at Sears…

But at work it’s a different story. Gaming is still foreign in many corporate environments. Its potential is mostly unrealized. Even playing a non-electronic game like Jeopardy was a ‘behind closed doors’ event. Don’t open the training room door some might hear us having a good time! But it works. When it’s in context and done right it’s better than just about anything else.

Massively Multiplayer Virtual Worlds (MMVM) like Second Life introduce us to new ways to bring incorporate games into learning. An article in the Washington Business Journal several weeks ago (in the “Trends” section) is promising.

For those of you that have not experienced the thrill of PONG I’ve provided a link to an instructional video (below) for the Windows version. It’s an absolute scream!

(The video is also an effective illustration of how you can present really simple instructional content with humor).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6-YNmnBjAM