Tag Archives: ibm

CogniToys Introduces a Connected Device for Kids

February 27, 2016CES 2016, Gadgetsces, CES2016, cognitoys, connected, f5 live, gadgets, ibm, iot, tech, toy, watsonPLUGHITZ Live

Connected devices are an interesting idea for kids. Many parents will give their kids a tablet or smartphone with educational games and videos, but there is a problem with that: these devices are designed for fully developed adults.

CogniToys is a new connected toy designed especially for growing kids. Powered by IBM Watson, this toy can listen for questions and commands and respond with answers, stories, jokes and more. Using Watson’s machine learning, the toy is able to learn and grow along with the child. Most importantly, it is designed specifically to help the child learn, with vocabulary, math and more.

CogniToys are available for preorder for $119 right now.

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Interview by Aylee Nielsen of F5 Live: Refreshing Technology

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IBM’s Focus for the Future is the “Cognitive Era”

February 1, 2016CES 2016, Computersces, CES 2016, ibm, internet of thingsTodd Cochrane

Technology is improving in ways that not only allow for IOT, but also makes it easier for us to talk to our devices and appliances. IBM’s focus for the future is the “Cognitive Era” – a term they’ve coined and a market that they are going after. The overall goal is to improve the natural language understanding in IOT products.

Don and Scott spoke with Aylee H. Nielsen, who is a Social Media Execution Strategist for IBM. She talked about some of the partnerships that IBM has with different companies, including Under Armour, SoftBank, and Cognitoys. Some of the new products from those companies are IBM Watson powered devices.

Don Baine is the Gadget Professor and he holds classes at TheGadgetProfessor.com.

Scott Ertz is a software developer and video producer at F5 Live: Refreshing Technology.

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Tom Banks – Liberty Speedway and RC Cars – IBM Innovate 2014, Orlando, FL

June 7, 2014Computers, Gadgets, Special Eventsbluemix, cloud, connected car, development, gadgets, ibm, innovate2014, internet, internet of things, orlando, security, software, techPLUGHITZ Live

In this interview, Nick talks to Tom Banks, the Technical Evangelist for WebSphere Application Server Liberty Profile. Tom might have the coolest job, as he tries to find new and innovative ways to show off IBM technologies to the masses and has done so with a car that can be driven via your smartphone.

The car has sensors to prevent it from crashing, speed limiters and more, and it is all run off of Raspberry Pi. The application is so compact that it only takes up a small percentage of the resources of the mini-computer.

Video by Nicholas DiMeo of F5 Live and PLuGHiTz Live.

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Watson – PitStop Meetup – IBM Innovate 2014, Orlando, FL

June 7, 2014Computers, Gadgets, Special Eventsbluemix, cloud, connected car, development, gadgets, ibm, innovate2014, internet, internet of things, orlando, security, software, techPLUGHITZ Live

In this second part of a two-part PitStop Meetup, we move to Watson, IBM’s deep learning and cognitive reasoning technology. The experts discuss several different fields where Watson could improve life. This is the tech that not only has solved problems in the healthcare and finance industries, but has given us amazing food concoctions out of the by using cognitive cooking.

Internet of Things – PitStop Meetup – IBM Innovate 2014, Orlando, FL

June 7, 2014Computers, Gadgets, Special Eventsbluemix, cloud, connected car, development, gadgets, ibm, innovate2014, internet, internet of things, orlando, security, software, techPLUGHITZ Live

In this first part of a two-part PitStop Meetup, the Internet of things was the point of conversation. From the estimated 20 billion possible connected devices to how to actually use the data these devices are giving you, it was definitely an interesting discussion. Where are we now? What is the future of our data and devices? All of that is talked about in this segment.

Video by Nicholas DiMeo of F5 Live and PLuGHiTz Live.

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Attendee Reactions – IBM Innovate 2014, Orlando, FL

June 7, 2014Computers, Gadgets, Special Eventsbluemix, cloud, connected car, development, gadgets, ibm, innovate2014, internet, internet of things, orlando, security, software, techPLUGHITZ Live

In this short video from IBM Innovate 2014, we wanted to ask a few attendees what they thought about the convention and what they learned or hoped to take away from it. For Nick, while there was no 3D printer to take away, there is butternut squash BBQ sauce on the horizon!

Video by Nicholas DiMeo of F5 Live and PLuGHiTz Live.

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FRC Team 1649 EMS – PitStop Meetup – IBM Innovate 2014, Orlando, FL

June 7, 2014Computers, Gadgets, Special Eventsbluemix, cloud, connected car, development, gadgets, ibm, innovate2014, internet, internet of things, orlando, security, software, techPLUGHITZ Live

Long standing fans of our F5 Live and its events will know that seeing a FIRST team at IBM Innovate 2014 was quite refreshing for Nick! FRC Team 1649 EMS was the center of attention for a PitStop Meetup hosted by Veronica Belmont. The team discussed its recent successes in the past two seasons of FIRST competitions and some of the members talked about their plans after high school, which include wanting to become an engineer. There is a lot of crossover between robotics and software development, and that point is really driven home by this panel.

Video by Nicholas DiMeo of F5 Live and PLuGHiTz Live.

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Sky Matthews – Connected Car, Jaguar F-Type – IBM Innovate 2014, Orlando, FL

June 7, 2014Computers, Gadgets, Special Eventsbluemix, cloud, connected car, development, gadgets, ibm, innovate2014, internet, internet of things, orlando, security, software, techPLUGHITZ Live

A seat in a custom Jaguar F-Type led us to speaking with Sky Matthews about the connected car and the Internet of things. Expanding beyond just a buzzword from a few years ago, Matthews digs deep into what the future could hold for all connected devices around the planet. He also talks about the Jaguar and the potential of what it can do. From advanced notifications about traffic and weather conditions, to giving you real-time information about things happening inside your house or place of work, your car could have the potential to be just one of many devices providing you with useful information at all times.

Video by Nicholas DiMeo of F5 Live and PLuGHiTz Live.

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Clinton Bonner – topcoder – IBM Innovate 2014, Orlando, FL

June 7, 2014Computers, Gadgets, Special Eventsbluemix, cloud, connected car, development, gadgets, ibm, innovate2014, internet, internet of things, orlando, security, software, techPLUGHITZ Live

[topcoder] has been around longer than most “Top” shows you might have seen on TV and in fact, has over 600,000 people signed up to the site from all over the world. Their mission? To compete in challenges in different aspects of software design. The site also has a community aspect where members improve their skills, demonstrate and gain reward for their expertise, and provide the industry with objective insight on new and emerging technologies.

One of the cool things about topcoder is that the site launches challenges that require an extremely fast turnaround. So fast that they actually launched one during IBM Innovate 2014 that lasted only 22 hours. The task was to work with a Twitter data scraper to create beautiful and useful experience. Developers everywhere took this challenge head-on and the results of their efforts were very impressive!

Clinton Bonner from topcoder talks about all of that, as well as some really cool things the site’s members have created.

Video by Nicholas DiMeo of F5 Live and PLuGHiTz Live.

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Meg Swanson – BlueMix Overview – IBM Innovate 2014, Orlando, FL

June 7, 2014Computers, Gadgets, Special Eventsbluemix, cloud, connected car, development, gadgets, ibm, innovate2014, internet, internet of things, orlando, security, software, techPLUGHITZ Live

Meg Swanson, Marketing Director with IBM’s BlueMix cloud-based development platform, talks with us before the show floor opens for the day about BlueMix as a whole. She gives a brief overview and then gives a call to action for developers who might be interested to try out the software. In this segment, Swanson says that BlueMix has been really well received by almost everyone who has tried it, with IBM’s support team rapidly making requested features and changes available to developers based on dev feedback.

Video by Nicholas DiMeo of F5 Live and PLuGHiTz Live.

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