Date: 11/02/07 (Algorithms)    Keywords: technology

I pose the question: Is finding the ideal mate is an intractable problem or are we just not dedicating sufficient computational resources to the problem presently?

The ability to identify and assess every person in the world to determine which one is best suited for one's self is presently beyond the informational and computational power of any one person. Can present or near-future computational power be successfully harnessed to increase the success of lifelong intimate relationships?

Let a 'match' be a pairing of two individuals for the purpose of being lifelong romantic partners.
Let 'suitability' be a measure of how suitable person A is for person B in the event of A being matched with B.
Let an 'ideal match' be one where the measure of the sum of A suitable for B and B suitable for A is maximized.

The methods that dominated courtship over the last century require the relatively slow biological computational processes within our human bodies in general and brains in particular--we must meet and get to know other people. Even then, the accuracy of such processes may be questioned, as the time devoted to courting or 'assessing' any one particular 'match' may lead to an irrational 'escalation of commitment' and a premature, if not ill-advised coupling may ensue.

Over the past few decades, online interactions in general and online dating services in particular have promised a more streamlined approach to culling through the candidates to find those matches that may be more ideal, allowing people to focus on assessing those potentials that are most promising. eHarmony.com, for example, presents its members with extensive personality and interests inventory questions and claims to 'match' its members based upon 'algorithms'.

I have only recently began my study (read: 'use') of these online dating services however my initial assessment is that services like these and their future incarnations may be able to at least find some of us matches that are 'near ideal'.

However, I suspect that a related problem--that of maximizing the total 'ideal-ness sum' for all matches--is ultimately NP-hard. Clearly as we match more of us up, there will be a smaller pool from which to find 'near ideal' matches for the rest of us. In fact, some matches may have negative suitability, leading to the intuitive result that some of us just will not be matched, once the pool of remaining candidates becomes relatively small. I believe our friends in the Economics Department will find interest in this problem as well.

This leads me to four conclusions:
1. Whatever the methods of courtship available to us, whatever the technology employable, the result remains the same: find someone suitable before it is too late. The childhood exercise of 'musical chairs' clearly illustrates this point.
2. Technological assisted matching may provide some of us an edge in finding a 'near deal' match, or 'more ideal' match. However, we do not all share equal access to these resources, meaning that finding a suitable match is more likely for those of us with privilege.
3. Each 'match' commitment makes the pool of potentials smaller for the remaining unmatched individuals. This benefits no one but the pair involved in the match and likely harms the potential of some of the remaining unmatched individuals as the pair effectively removes themselves from the pool.
4. I understand why my mother gave up on men after several failed relationships. Those men remaining unmatched in their fifties are just not likely good matches for anyone. Clearly, if she had been more privileged as a young woman, she would have had a larger pool of suiters from which to choose, and would have had a better chance to find a 'near ideal' match.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/algorithms/94578.html

Date: 11/04/07 (Data Management)    Keywords: technology, database, web, microsoft

Microsoft posted for download on November 4 a first test build of what it's calling the Microsoft Sync Framework, technology that will allow developers to take their Web services and databases offline. The new framework also provides P2P synchronization of "any type of file including contacts, music,...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=891

Date: 11/07/07 (Data Management)    Keywords: technology

Cassatt's taking their well established virtualization technology and focusing it tightly on helping organizations create a green computing environment. They've launched a new product family, Active Response, that is designed to simplify an organization's move in that direction. Here's how Cassatt describes Active Response The Cassatt...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/virtualization/?p=274

Date: 11/12/07 (Data Management)    Keywords: technology, sql, microsoft

Microsoft will roll out on November 12 some time later in November a third Community Technology Preview (CTP) test build of SQL Server 2008, the next-to-last CTP before finalizing the product in time for shipment in the second calendar quarter of next year. CTP 3 of SQL...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=937

Date: 11/12/07 (Data Management)    Keywords: technology, microsoft

Backing off earlier plans, company says customers will be able to buy the virtualization technology without committing to Windows Server. Reversing earlier plans, Microsoft said Monday that it will sell its new virtualization technology separately from its Windows Server operating system, in addition to as a bundle. ...

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6218162.html

Date: 11/16/07 (Data Management)    Keywords: technology

Growth in storage capacity is outpacing the improvement in storage technology, resulting in a steady increase in worldwide power consumption. IBM System Storage CTO Clod Barrera tells how to stay cool and efficient. Commentary--Maintaining data center storage capacity has become a top priority...

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2424-9595_22-176182.html

Date: 11/16/07 (Data Management)    Keywords: technology

I had the chance to speak with Charlie Watt, CTO and founder of Racemi, and his colleague Brian Hoffman, VP of Product Management and Service, today. We discovered that we have some common history and similar views on the real scope of virtualization technology and the impact it can have...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/virtualization/?p=281

Date: 11/19/07 (Data Management)    Keywords: technology, sql, microsoft

Microsoft made available for download on November 18 the promised November Community Technology Preview (CTP) build of SQL Server 2008. The SQL Server 2008 November CTP bits can be downloaded directly from the Microsoft Download site. Microsoft has been working to deliver more frequent,...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=972

Date: 11/20/07 (PHP Community)    Keywords: php, technology, web

Check out the new high-tech solution coming from record labels like BETA Records... did I say high-tech and label in the same sentence? Things are definitely a changing!!

BETA Records, in anticipation of their upcoming release of Version 3 (V3) of their online music social community, has created a technological innovation that could ultimately allow websites to become more dynamic, creative and sophisticated while enabling companies to cut costs and reduce loads on servers needed in large-scale clusters.

Called "BETACache," the new technology resulted from BETA’s PHP developers Rock Mutchler, Paul-Anton van Handel, Jon Bauer, Bernhard Schenkenfelder, and Eric Hollander.

Read more

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/php/597319.html

Date: 11/22/07 (Computer Geeks)    Keywords: technology

Barrett, one of my co-hosts on the Technology Bytes Radio Show and writer of the Geekspeak Blog at the Houston Chronicle came up with some Thanksgiving thoughts in gratitude for last night Barrett Time segment which I thought I would share with this community...

I was originally going to come up with a list of the top ten techy things that I am thankful for this year, but with the DMCA, my broken oh key and the makings of another exploding battery, I thought I’d go back and borrow from what other people in technology had been thankful for over the years.

In 1899, Charles H. Duell, Commissioner of the U.S. Office of Patents, was thankful that everything that could be invented already had.

In 1927, H.M. Warner of Warner Brothers was thankful that his audiences would never want to hear actors talk.

In 1943, Thomas Watson, the then chairman of IBM, was thankful that there was a world market for maybe five computers.

In 1949, popular mechanics was thankful that computers may one day weigh no more than 1.5 tons.

In 1957, the Prentice Hall editor in charge of business books was thankful that this data processing fad wouldn’t last the year.

In 1981, Bill Gates was thankful that he’d never need more than 640k of memory.

In 1995, Wall Street was thankful for all those new dotcom companies.

In 1999, Nigeria was thankful that Al Gore invented the Internet.

In 2003, SCO’s Darl McBride was thankful that there would be a “day of reckoning” for Red Hat and SuSE.

And today, you might be thankful that that’s it for BarretTime.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computergeeks/1128954.html

Date: 12/05/07 (Web Technology)    Keywords: technology, web, google

List also includes Webkinz, TMZ, Transformers, YouTube, Club Penguin, MySpace, Heroes, Facebook, and Anna Nicole Smith. Technology and entertainment topped Google's searches in 2007, with the iPhone grabbing the No. 1 slot on a list of the fastest-rising search terms in the United States, the company said Tuesday....

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6221532.html

Date: 12/10/07 (Data Management)    Keywords: technology, microsoft

Microsoft made available for download on December 9 a Community Technology Preview (CTP) of "Astoria," the technology now officially known as ADO.Net Data Services. Pablo Castro, Technical Lead on ADO.Net, has taken to describing Astoria as "a REST interface for data." Astoria is designed to enable applications...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1033

Date: 12/10/07 (Open Source)    Keywords: technology

The technology and incentives are all in place to transform today's Internet into tomorrow's Corporatenet, where your every online move is monitored, and where your ISP will also look to take commercial advantage of what you do.

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/zdnet/open-source/~3/198094842/

Date: 12/11/07 (Data Management)    Keywords: technology

One of the big takeaways from Hewlett-Packard's analyst meeting will be that the company's information technology overhaul serves multiple purposes. To wit: HP's IT consolidation is designed to save money; The teams are that are carrying out the consolidation are being trailed by...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=7312

Date: 12/11/07 (Security)    Keywords: technology, security

Business needs, personal security concerns will drive adoption of wireless tracking tech, says Juniper Research. Technology for wirelessly tracking vehicles and people is predicted to take off in Western Europe throughout the next five years. Business needs and personal security concerns will generate $4.85 billion in spending...

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1035_22-6222268.html

Date: 12/12/07 (Data Management)    Keywords: technology

One of the toughest things about being a technology VAR or reseller is finding a way to "productize" your intellectual property. Otherwise, your tech guys find themselves building custom solutions for virtually every customer. Not so for Enterprise Information Management (EIM), a small IBM Business Partner that has struck green...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/green/?p=590

Date: 02/08/00 (Data Management)    Keywords: software, technology, database

IBM claims that software maker Informix is using technology that IBM has patented in at least five of its database products, including its Informix-Online Dynamic Server. IBM has sued database software maker Informix, accusing its rival of infringing on six of its database patents....

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-236666.html

Date: 04/05/07 (Security)    Keywords: technology, security

CoreStreet founder Phil Libin says the absence of meaningful debate has hindered serious discussion about the implications of a controversial new technology. The Department of Homeland Security has published the proposed details of the Real ID act, and criticism is starting to pour in from all sides. The...

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2010-9588_22-6173278.html

Date: 12/18/07 (Open Source)    Keywords: technology, linux

The big technology trend of the current day is the merging of markets -- mobile, desktop, server, online -- into one big all-you-can-eat application buffet. Nothing serves that buffet, at every level, as well as Linux.

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/zdnet/open-source/~3/202274000/

Date: 12/18/07 (Data Management)    Keywords: technology, java

Blogger Jonathan Schwartz, who also happens to be CEO of Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ:JAVA), has written an insightful post describing issues raised by Chief Information Officers (CIO) and Chief Technology Officers (CTO) during meetings with Sun. His comments reveal distinct differences between the two groups. ...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/projectfailures/?p=538