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The story of Kurzweil Educational Systems.

Thu, 01 Jun 2023 05:00:02 +0000

In libraries and rehabilitation centers in the late 1970s, rumors would sometimes surface about the new and almost unbelievable Kurzweil Reading Machine. The size of a washing machine and more expensive than a home in the suburbs, this remarkable invention by Ray Kurzweil sounded like science fiction to many. A blind person could put a printed page on the glass and slowly, very slowly, the machine would interpret and read the page aloud. Accuracy was not stellar, but the machine could actually read! Of course, the machines were so expensive that only libraries and other institutions could purchase them.

Only 25 years after Ray Kurzweil’s fantastic breakthrough, the company that bears his name and benefits from his insights as technical consultant and chairman emeritus is going strong. Today, Kurzweil Educational Systems is selling reading solutions at a fraction of the cost (and size) of that 1976 piece of furniture. The products sold today by Kurzweil Educational Systems have come a considerable distance in technological evolution, and the company itself has undergone perhaps as many changes. Sales were up 30% in 2002, and enhancements to Kurzweil’s two chief products are being delivered at an impressive pace.

A company of its own.

The company that began as Kurzweil Computer Products has changed names + ownership over the decades. In 1980, it was purchased by Xerox and renamed Xerox Imaging Systems (XIS). Under that banner, Kurzweil developed 5 generations of the original Kurzweil Reading Machine. Priced at about $22,000 in the early 1980s. Also in the 1980s, the Kurzweil PC/KPR product was launched. This product comprised a flat-bed scanner, a dedicated DECtalk synthesizer board, and DOS-based software that allowed the user to “read” with an already existing computer. In 1992, the Reading Edge — a stand-alone and almost-portable reading machine was launched. At less than $6,000, a Kurzweil reading machine was finally falling into the range of possibilities for many consumers who were visually impaired.

Caption: The Reading Edge.

When Xerox began decreasing the size of its XIS division, Ray Kurzweil, Aaron Kleiner, Michael Sokol, and Jerry Elkind took steps to form a new company. (They were soon joined by veteran engineer, Stephen Baum, and now vice president of sales, Forrest Dobbs.) In January 1996, Kurzweil Educational Systems was born, and later that year, first one and then the other of Kurzweil’s now-flagship products were released.

In 1998, the company was purchased by Lernout & Hauspie (L&H) Speech Products, foreshadowing a change that could have been devastating. Under the umbrella of L&H, the Kurzweil division was languishing. “It became clear that L&H would not be pushing Kurzweil products forward,” says Cindy Johnson, Kurzweil’s vice president of marketing. “We were selling products despite the lack of investment by L&H, but it became clear that the company would have to buy itself back.”

Many from the Kurzweil team joined forces to buy the company back. With the help of additional investors— including Ray Kurzweil and many of the company’s 75 resellers throughout United States and Canada—the mission was accomplished. Meanwhile, L&H was attracting media attention for scandals of embezzlement, fraud, and bankruptcy, indicating that the foresight of the Kurzweil group could not have been more serendipitous. It took more than a year to complete the transaction, but by November 2001, Kurzweil Educational Systems was its own company once again—and thriving. “We’re not quite an employee-owned company,” Johnson explains, “but we’re very close to that.”

The Many Faces of Reading

Although the product has changed dramatically in size, appearance, capability, and configuration, Kurzweil has been doing pretty much the same thing all along: developing computer products that provide access to the printed word to those who have problems reading standard print. With the formation of Kurzweil Educational Systems in 1996, that mission flourished and expanded. “The first version of Kurzweil 1000 was probably the first reading program to ship with its own software speech, FlexTalk,” recalls Baum, the chief technology officer who has been at the center of developing most of the company’s products since the mid-1980s. “It also had a great OCR engine, ExperVision, which brought really great accuracy.”

In October 1996, at the Closing the Gap conference in Minnesota, Kurzweil unveiled the Kurzweil 3000, a product targeted to those who struggle with print for reasons other than vision. People with learning disabilities have embraced this technology, which assists with reading, writing, and learning.

Caption: The Kurzweil 3000 at Landmark College.

Johnson estimates that more than half the company’s current sales are generated by the Kurzweil 3000. Speaking text while highlighting it, offering a variety of fonts and contrasts, and providing students with built-in aids for making notes, reviewing material, taking tests, and more, the Kurzweil 3000 is now popular with students in the fourth grade and up, as well as among graduate students and professionals. At Landmark College in Putney, Vermont—the nation’s only accredited college exclusively for high-potential students with learning disabilities—it is now routine to equip every incoming freshman with the Kurzweil 3000 on his or her laptop computer.

Two-part Harmony

The company’s two products—the Kurzweil 1000 (for users who are visually impaired) and the Kurzweil 3000 (for users with learning disabilities)—coexist harmoniously, sometimes converging, sometimes parallel, and sometimes borrowing from one another. The staff of 30 (about half of whom are engineers) includes some people who focus exclusively on the Kurzweil 1000, some who work only on the Kurzweil 3000, and a few who work on both products. In version 7.0 of the Kurzweil 1000, for example, which was released in summer 2002, one of the new features to generate particular excitement was the e-book feature. With this efficient addition, users can go online directly from Kurzweil 1000 in search of electronic books. The program searches three large repositories of electronic books and then downloads the desired title, which can then be opened and read in the Kurzweil program. While many enhancements to the product have come directly from customers’ suggestions, Baum admits that this outstanding addition was actually rooted in a few engineers’ constant obsession with tweaking of the software.

“We were really impressed with File Ferret,” a piece of shareware the engineers had discovered, he recalls. “It was a really cool piece of software that could go out on the web for you, find whatever you were looking for, and download it.” The e-book search was the task they ultimately assigned to this fascinating little program. “We really liked the idea of avoiding a browser,” Baum says in regard to streamlining the process.

John Mattioli, a lead engineer with the company who is also a user of the Kurzweil 1000, agrees. “I thought at first that the e-book feature was nice for new users,” he says, “but I personally was happy surfing the web, going to Bookshare.org or other sites, and finding what I needed.” Then one day, he was in a hurry and used Kurzweil’s e-book feature to download some reading for a trip. “I’ll probably never do it any other way now,” he says. “It took four or five steps down to two. You can go online, download the book, and transfer the file to a portable device—all from one location.”

It is not surprising, then, that the e-book feature is now being added to the Kurzweil 3000 as well. Still, premier features in one Kurzweil product are not always desirable in the other. As Baum points out, the two populations of customers have distinctly different preferences and needs. “When we were with L&H, we developed a high-quality speech called RealSpeak,” Baum cites as example, “but it was really a much bigger deal for people with learning disabilities than for blind users. It is really natural speech, but slow; blind users tend to prefer accuracy and fast responsiveness and are more interested in getting the information than in speech quality.”

Honey, I Shrunk the Reading Machine!

Since 1976, Kurzweil’s product for reading has been reduced from the size of a washing machine to software that can be installed on any laptop. The price has dropped from approximately $100,000 (not actually for sale at that point) to about $1,000. Capabilities, however, have grown just as dramatically in the other direction. Today, the Kurzweil 1000’s speed and accuracy are many times higher than that of the original cumbersome appliance and, perhaps more significant, the product not only reads with astonishing accuracy, but performs a multitude of other tasks as well. Version 7 of Kurzweil 1000 offers such additional features as a photocopy application, a fax application, and the ability to edit and manipulate files and e-mail portions directly from the Kurzweil program itself; the program can also open files in virtually any popular format and can go online to fetch electronic books and then translate them (or any other file) into Grade 2 braille. “The best thing that’s happening,” Mattioli sums it up, “is probably the integration of functions, the crossover stuff, having multiple features all in one place.” No one at Kurzweil is saying what is on the drawing board for the next updates, but asked for a blue-sky rendition of what would make the product even better, Mattioli comes back quickly with a great idea. “Everybody knows that scanning is a drag,” he says. “We do it all the time because we have to—but it would be great if there were a way to get around it.”

Scanning a book without having to turn all those pages? The idea sounds like science fiction, but then, so did the first washing machine-sized invention of the man whose name is on the products that thousands of people now depend on and love.

AFB | www.afb.org/aw/4/2/14856

Singularity grp.

Tue, 10 Jan 2023 06:00:50 +0000

Singularity grp. was co-founded in 2008 — a collaboration between entrepreneurs Peter Diamandis MD + Ray Kurzweil. The group aims to inspire the next generation of leaders — students, creatives, scientists, researchers, technologists, and business executives — to create products, programs, and companies that have impact. The goal is to positively affect 1 billion people within 10 years.

The name Singularity is taken from a concept that Ray Kurzweil uses to describe a future point in human history. The singularity is a period of time — in the near future — when computers become so capable that their abilities will rival or surpass humans.

Kurzweil Music co.

Sat, 01 Jan 2022 06:00:28 +0000

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about |

Kurzweil Music was founded in 1982 by entrepreneur + inventor Ray Kurzweil. At that time, he was working with blind music legend Stevie Wonder — developing an automated reading machine for the visually impaired. During their collaboration, the inspiration for a Kurzweil digital musical instrument was born. Wonder wanted a way to re-create the perfect tones of his grand piano, without transporting it to venues across the world.

In year 1983 Kurzweil Music released the K250 electronic synthesizer keyboard. It was the world’s 1st digital musical instrument that could realistically emulate the sound of a grand piano. In Over the next 25 years, the company released in a series of digital keyboards at the pinnacle of music tech — at that time. Some of the products: the K2000, the PC88x, and K2500. Technically they were far ahead of their time. Still valued today for their sound range, and played by high-profile music artists world-wide.

The company’s successful PC3 family of keyboards are used by the biggest names in the music industry — like Andrew Lloyd Weber, Roger Waters, the Who, Earth Wind + Fire, the Boston Pops, Amanda Palmer, Billy Joel, Paul McCartney, and Weird Al Yankovic.

The dedicated team includes hardware, software, and sound engineers — most are also professional or amateur musicians. The company builds on its innovation legacy in the music tech industry, now owned by the company Young Chang, under the umbrella of Hyundai.

Transcendent Man movie blowout August 3 — Ray Kurzweil, Steve Wozniak, Michio Kaku, and many more!

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 21:31:45 +0000

The future is coming to the 49 out of 50 of the United States (sorry, Wyoming). On August 3rd, Transcendent Man: A Conversation About the Future will be appearing in 500+ theaters across the country.

This LIVE broadcast panel discussion will focus on accelerating technologies, the future of humanity, and the Singularity. The star-studded panel includes powerhouses like futurist Michio Kaku, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, inventor Dean Kamen and many more. Barry Ptolemy, director of the Transcendent Man documentary will be on hand, as will the subject of that film, Ray Kurzweil.

There’s also a long list of “special guest appearances” including Bill Maher, Suzanne Somers, Al Gore, Quincy Jones, and Elon Musk. In other words, this is going to be a massive event, and a great debate on what the future should and will hold. Check the listings on Fathom Events for tickets in your area and watch the trailer for the August 3rd nationwide screening below. Transcendent Man has been gathering momentum since its premiere more than two years ago. Could this event propel the film, and the concept of the Singularity, into the mainstream? […]

Kurzweil to appear on Jimmy Kimmel Live Thursday and Real Time with Bill Maher Friday

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 17:48:52 +0000

Ray Kurzweil will appear on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live on Thursday, June 16 and HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher on Friday, June 17 to promote the critically acclaimed documentary film Transcendent Man. Check network links for local show times.

Transcendent Man, by director Barry Ptolemy, focuses on the life and ideas of Ray Kurzweil. The film is available on DVD in stores nationwide (Best Buy and Barnes & Noble); for order at Amazon.com, WalMart.com, BestBuy.com, and BarnesandNoble.com; and on Netflix (DVD and “Watch Instantly”).

The DVD includes more than two hours of exclusive additional footage, with deleted scenes, extra interviews, and the Q&A with Kurzweil and Ptolemy after the film’s world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Transcendent Man is also available for downloading on iTunes and Movies On Demand (both without the extra two hours).

Transcendent Man movie ranks as #2 documentary on iTunes in U.S.; Kurzweil, Ptolemy slotted for CNN Monday

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 03:33:10 +0000

Transcendent Man, the film about the life and ideas of Ray Kurzweil by director Barry Ptolemy, now ranks as #1 documentary in sales on iTunes in Canada, and #2 in the United States, after Waiting for Superman.

Transcendent Man is also listed in the top 20 in customer ratings among all movies on iTunes in the United States, as of March 5. The film was rated five stars by 86 percent of customers.

Kurzweil and Ptolemy are scheduled for an interview Monday on CNN Newsroom at 1:45 p.m. EST.

Film screenings are scheduled for March 10 in Washington, D.C. (at Sixth and I Historic Synagogue), March 21 in Boston (Coolidge Corner Theater), April 5 in London (The Science Museum IMAX Theater), and April 14 in San Francisco (Palace of Fine Arts). DVD release date is May 24.

More info: Transcendent Man website, related KurzweilAI news.

Ray Kurzweil on the PC3K and the legacy of Kurzweil products

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 10:48:44 +0000

Stevie Wonder was our first customer for the Kurzweil Reading Machine (the first print-to-speech reading machine) in 1976. We became friends and had many conversations about technology as applied to both disabilities and music.

In 1982, while giving me a tour of his new ‘Wonderland’ music studio, Stevie asked if it would be possible to build a bridge between the powerful control methods of computer music (in which a broad variety of input devices could be used to control any available sound) with the beautiful sounds of acoustic instruments such as the piano and guitar.

I thought about it, and concluded that it would be feasible. Kurzweil Music Systems was born in 1982 with Stevie Wonder as musical advisor. We showed a prototype of the Kurzweil 250 at the June 1983 NAMM show and people were amazed that both the look and feel of a grand piano was realistically captured in an electronic instrument for the first time. We started shipping the product in 1984 and it quickly became recognized as the first computerized instrument to faithfully capture the grand piano, which we confirmed in A-B tests with pianists.

Over the next quarter century we developed a succession of digital keyboards that maintained this leadership in realism while also providing a broad new palette of sounds and sound modification techniques that are only possible in the electronic world.

This was the vision that Stevie Wonder had articulated in 1982 and I was personally gratified that he felt satisfied that we had achieved it. Many other high profile artists (Paul McCartney, Billy Joel, The Who, Earth, Wind and Fire, the Boston Pops, Andrew Lloyd Webber to name a few) around the world seemed to agree.

A traditional reaction of musicians to our Kurzweil keyboards has often been “if only I could afford one.” That’s why am personally excited by the recent PC3 line ranging from the very affordable PC3LE to the top-of-the-line (but still very affordable) PC3K. With the ability to load K2000/2500/2600 series sounds, the new PC3K demonstrates KMS’s commitment to non-obsolescence by design. Nearly twenty years worth of sound libraries, representing untold hours of work, can be utilized alongside the PC3K’s current 1000+ presets.

I have always felt that the type of technology that Kurzweil Music represents is highly democratizing. Years ago only the top studios and academic laboratories could afford technology that allowed flexible shaping of new sounds. Now these tools can be afforded by everyone from music students to weekend musicians. As technological advances continue to ramp up at an exponential pace, KMS will continue to push the boundaries of what is possible, further blurring the line between music and machine.”

— Ray Kurzweil
Founder and Chief Strategy Officer
Kurzweil Music Systems

Nokia supports Singularity University as 5th corporate founder

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 13:10:49 +0000

Support Focused on New Approaches to Technological Innovation, Sustainable Development

Nokia has joined Singularity Univeristy as a Corporate Founder. The collaboration will leverage Nokia’s commitment to global communications innovation and sustainability by supporting Singularity University’s programs, and Ten to the Ninth Plus (10^9+) Team Projects focused on solving key global issues. Nokia joins Google, Autodesk, ePlanet Ventures, and the Kauffman Foundation as Corporate Founders of Singularity University.

Nokia is the world’s largest mobile phone maker, and is globally recognized for its thought-leadership and mobile technology innovation. In addition, Nokia has also consistently demonstrated its global leadership in sustainability and environmental issues. In 2010 alone, Nokia was named the “most sustainable technology company” by Dow Jones Indexes, the leading “greener electronics” company by Greenpeace, and announced as among the “top five most sustainable” companies in the world at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

“Nokia has a long history of open innovation – working with local universities and research organizations to further innovation and solving global communication issues for mobile consumers. We look forward to working closely with Singularity University and its students,” said John Shen, laboratory director, Nokia Research Center, Palo Alto.

The collaboration with Nokia supports the development of SU programs, led by world-renowned faculty, to help students understand and leverage the impact of exponential technologies. The annual Graduate Studies Program is a 10-week graduate-level interdisciplinary curriculum designed to facilitate understanding, collaboration and innovation across a broad range of carefully chosen scientific and technological disciplines whose developments are accelerating exponentially. The keystone of the program, the Ten to the Ninth Plus (10^9+) Team Projects, challenge students to develop services, products, and organizations that have the ability to positively affect the lives of one billion people within 10 years.

SU also offers both four-day and seven-day Exponential Technologies Executive Programs for executives, investors and entrepreneurs on a quarterly basis. These programs focus on preparing executives for the disruptive business opportunities and challenges resulting from exponential technologies. The next program is scheduled for December 9-12, 2010, and a limited number of seats are still available.

“Nokia is a visionary telecommunications company, and a leading force in enabling global citizens to connect and communicate in ways never before possible,” said Neil Jacobstein, President of Singularity University. “Nokia is an ideal collaborator with a global perspective, entrepreneurial spirit, and an interdisciplinary approach to innovation. We are honored that Nokia has joined us as Corporate Founder, and we look forward to leveraging their vision and technological innovation for our programs and team projects.”

Thiel Foundation awards $50,000 grant to Singularity University

Tue, 09 Nov 2010 14:22:35 +0000

The Thiel Foundation has awarded it a $50,000 grant for curriculum development of Singularity University. The grant will leverage the Thiel Foundation’s vision and domain expertise to support and expand Singularity University’s Policy, Law, and Ethics (PLE) curriculum track.

Founded by entrepreneur and philanthropist Peter Thiel, the Thiel Foundation promotes personal, economic, and political freedom. Among other projects, the Foundation sponsors innovative scientific research and new technology development that empowers people to improve their lives. Its new 20 Under 20 Thiel Fellowship will foster the next generation of tech visionaries by awarding $100,000 grants to each of twenty innovators under twenty years old.

“Economic growth depends on innovation, and the education establishment doesn’t support innovation very well,” said Thiel. “People need to explore other ways of learning, from starting new companies while young to taking courses that stress entrepreneurship and breakthrough technologies. Singularity University is a good example of both. Policymakers should respect innovation, mostly by staying out of its way.”

The Thiel Foundation grant will support the continued development of the Policy, Law, and Ethics curriculum, led by world-renowned faculty during the Graduate Studies Program, to help students understand the implications of exponential technologies. The annual Graduate Studies Program is a 10-week graduate-level interdisciplinary curriculum, designed to facilitate understanding, collaboration, and innovation across a broad range of carefully chosen scientific and technological disciplines whose developments are accelerating exponentially. The keystone of the program, the Ten to the Ninth Plus (10^9+) Team Projects, challenge students to develop services, products, and both nonprofit and for-profit organizations that have the ability to positively affect the lives of one billion people within 10 years.

SU also offers both four-day and seven-day Exponential Technologies Executive Programs for executives, investors, and entrepreneurs on a quarterly basis. These programs focus on preparing executives for the disruptive business opportunities and challenges resulting from exponential technologies. The next program is scheduled for December 9-12, 2010.

“The exponential acceleration of science and technology makes it more important than ever for citizens, policy-makers, and business leaders to understand and approach the potential opportunities and risks of new technologies in a thoughtful and nuanced way,” said Neil Jacobstein, President of Singularity University. “We look forward to working closely with Peter Thiel and the Thiel Foundation to expand our Policy, Law, and Ethics curriculum, and further our shared vision of interdisciplinary education and entrepreneurship.”

Is Blio the 800-pound gorilla of the e-book reader market?

Sat, 02 Oct 2010 21:33:17 +0000

[…] What the Blio software does offer, however, is an extremely compelling and easy-to-use book-like interface for the inexpensive and increasingly ubiquitous netbooks used by students. And for those with a few more dollars to spend on an iPad, a Windows 7 Nav 9 tablet, or a ThinkPad Edge 11, it may just make your digital reading experience, if engadget is to be believed, pretty darn enjoyable for a computer.

The Blio eBook store launched with about 11,000 for-pay titles. Publisher’s Weekly reports that K–NFB is uploading 700 to 800 new books every day. They’re being loaded by their sales ranking, with the most popular books being uploaded first. Contrast this with the 700,000 titles available from the Kindle eBook store as of September 2010. Unfortunately for K-NFB, the Blio rollout was mared by wildly varying prices (one user on Twitter complained of a Steig Larsson novel being offered for $27.95). K-NFB spokesperson Peter Chapman blamed this on database input errors that have now been corrected. […]

Toshiba opens e-book store for laptops

Wed, 29 Sep 2010 02:34:05 +0000

Toshiba | Toshiba’s Digital Products Division (DPD), a division of Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., today introduced Toshiba Book Place, an e-book reader and store that adds easy-to-access, interactive e-books to the suite of digital entertainment products that consumers can enjoy on laptops. In partnership with K-NFB Reading Technology, Inc., a joint venture between Kurzweil Technologies Inc. and the National Federation for the Blind, Toshiba Book Place will enable readers to download and access more than a million public domain titles to create mobile libraries.

Toshiba Book Place is the type of entertainment option that our customers are looking for from their laptops,” said Terry Cronin, vice president of Business Development and Channel Marketing, Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., Digital Products Division. “What sets Toshiba Book Place apart is that it takes advantage of the PC experience and offers an immersive reading environment for the consumer.”

In partnership with some of the world’s largest publishers, Toshiba Book Place launches with capability to access more than a million free public domain titles and thousands more for sale, including many of today’s bestsellers, making it one of the largest online sources of electronic literature. It also promises a new and exciting interactive reading experience as Toshiba Book Place preserves a book’s printed format, including the original layout, fonts and images in full, vibrant colors, with pages that turn like the real thing. Other noticeable features supported by the Toshiba Book Place experience include:

A read-aloud feature that makes instant audio books. Synchronized word highlighting allows children to follow sentences in their favorite books.
An integrated Web search that allows readers to leap instantly from the imaginary world of the story to the Internet.
Toshiba Book Place e-books also make it possible for publishers to embed author commentary, background music and more, while users can insert notes in the margins of pages, as well as hyperlinks into the text.

“With Toshiba Book Place, readers of all ages can enjoy an unparalleled digital reading experience that combines what they love about physical books – including the vibrant colors and crisp pictures – with interactive tools that make books come to life,” said Ray Kurzweil, inventor of the flat bed scanner and character and speech recognition technologies, and founder of K-NFB Reading Technology.

Toshiba Book Place works with Windows-based devices and can sync up to five devices.

As part of the launch, Toshiba will be offering registered users four (4) free pre-selected e-book titles with a retail value of approximately $80. The promotion will be available through October 12, 2010.

Connect with Toshiba on Twitter at twitter.com/ToshibaLaptops and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ToshibaLaptopsUS.

About Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc. (TAIS)

Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., TAIS is comprised of four business units: Digital Products Division, Imaging Systems Division, Storage Device Division, and Telecommunication Systems Division. Together, these divisions provide mobile products and solutions, including industry-leading portable computers; televisions, TV/DVD Combination products, Blu-ray Disc and DVD products, and portable devices; imaging products for the security, medical and manufacturing markets; storage products for automotive, computer and consumer electronics applications; and IP business telephone systems with unified communications, collaboration and mobility applications. TAIS provides sales, marketing and services for its wide range of products in the United States and Latin America.

TAIS is an independent operating company owned by Toshiba America, Inc., a subsidiary of Toshiba Corporation. Toshiba Corporation is a world leader and innovator in high technology, a diversified manufacturer and marketer of advanced electronic and electrical products. These products span from information & communications systems; digital consumer products; electronic devices and components; as well as power systems including nuclear energy; industrial and social infrastructure systems; and home appliances. Toshiba was founded in 1875, and today operates a global network of more than 740 companies, with 204,000 employees worldwide and annual sales surpassing $68 billion (6.3 Trillion Yen). For more information on Toshiba visit www.toshiba.com.

About K-NFB Reading Technology, Inc.

A joint venture between Kurzweil Technologies and the National Federation of the Blind, the principals of K-NFB Reading Technology Inc. (www.knfbreader.com) have propelled reading technology forward for the last 35 years through the invention of omnifont OCR, the flatbed scanner, text-to-speech synthesis, and the first print-to-speech reading machine for the blind. K-NFB once again is redefining the boundaries of the printed word with Blio, which promises to set the standard for digital reading. This free application works across platforms and presents books as they were intended — in full color and as laid out by the publisher. K-NFB is headed by CEO Ray Kurzweil, a 30-year innovator and pioneer in assistive technologies. The National Federation of the Blind is the largest, most influential membership organization of blind people in the United States.

Singularity University General Studies Program 2010: opening highlights

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 21:39:29 +0000

Thank you to all the 300+ people that were able to attend our Graduate Studies Program 2010 Opening Ceremonies and party on Monday night! This was a great kick-off event and our 80 amazing students from all over the world thoroughly enjoyed meeting guests and hearing from keynote speakers Larry Brilliant, Larry Page, Dan Barry, Peter Diamandis, and Ray Kurzweil. To track and stay updated about the program, please join our Facebook page. You can also click here to view the video.

Singularity University welcomes 2010 Graduate Studies Program participants

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 14:01:59 +0000

Class size doubled to accommodate growing interest in addressing “Humanity’s Grand Challenges” through scientific and technological collaboration | Singularity University (SU) — the academic institution with the goal of preparing the next generation of leaders to address “humanity’s grand challenges” — today announced the second year of its Graduate Studies Program (GSP), and a doubled class size to accommodate 80 of the top students from 35 nations around the globe. On June 21 SU co-founders, faculty, industry leaders, and other VIP guests will welcome the new class of students at the program’s Opening Ceremonies to take place at NASA Ames Research Park. The Graduate Studies Program will begin June 19 and end with Closing Ceremonies on August 28.

Singularity University co-founders Dr. Ray Kurzweil and Dr. Peter H. Diamandis will formally introduce the GSP-10 class and introduce the students to their 10-week exploration of the convergence of science, exponentially accelerating technologies, and grand challenges. Dr. Larry Brilliant of the Skoll Urgent Threat Fund will keynote the event.

“The past year has demonstrated pressing global challenges, as well as a significant shift in the zeitgeist for exponential and accelerating technologies,” said Dr. Ray Kurzweil, co-founder and chancellor, Singularity University. “It is only through the scale of exponentially growing information technologies that we can meet these challenges. It is our goal at Singularity University to foster a deep understanding of these technologies and through the team projects to directly solve urgent world needs.”

Ten Weeks of Study, A Lifetime of Innovation

The Graduate Summer Program is a ten-week interdisciplinary curriculum designed to facilitate understanding, collaboration, and innovation across a broad range of carefully chosen scientific and technological disciplines whose developments are exponentially accelerating. In addition to lectures and workshops with world-class leaders, students can also participate in hands-on excursions to leading Silicon Valley labs and companies, and exposure to NASA’s many technologies.

From more than 1,600 pre-applicants, the 80 graduate and post-graduate students in the summer program were chosen based on their level of expertise in individual “tracks,” demonstrated entrepreneurial and leadership skills, and their commitment to addressing and solving important issues facing our world. Taught by the leading minds in their respective fields, the GSP curriculum tracks include: future studies and forecasting; policy, law and ethics; finance and entrepreneurship; networks and computing systems; biotechnology and bioinformatics; nanotechnology; medicine, neuroscience and human enhancement; AI and robotics; energy and ecological systems; and space and physical sciences.

And the keystone of the GSP, the challenging Ten to the Ninth Power Plus (10^9+) group projects, are designed to positively affect at least one billion people within the next 10 years in five key areas. SU faculty chose five challenges for this year’s class: home energy, water, vertical farming, up-cycling, and space exploration.

“The biggest changes affecting the world today, such as the financial crisis, the growth of social media, medical technologies, aspects of climate change, are all rooted in accelerating and exponential factors,” said Dr. Peter H. Diamandis, co-founder and chairman at Singularity University. “Billion dollar companies are popping up overnight while century-old companies are folding. Our 10-week Graduate Studies Program is an extraordinary program for graduate and post-graduate students to understand exponential technologies, their projected growth, their disruptive nature and their ability change the world. Students gain a working knowledge of ten different “exponential tracks,” as well as take an interdisciplinary deep dive to learn how to better manage and navigate these technologies. This year’s class of students are incredibly accomplished and truly exceptional, we expect the effects of the GSP graduates and their 10^9+ projects to be far-reaching and positively affect humanity’s challenges.”

Singularity University Cafe blends science, technology at Maker Faire 2010

Thu, 20 May 2010 07:35:45 +0000

Maker Faire Attendees Can Win a $15,000 Seat at an Upcoming Singularity University Exponential Technologies Executive Program. How would you positively impact a billion people within ten years? How would you use science and technology to address grand challenges such as water, healthcare, and education? Singularity University invites you to visit the “Singularity University Café” at this weekend’s Maker Faire to learn about these grand challenges, and hear how new technologies are empowering teams to work on some of these most pressing issues. Visitors to the Singularity University Café — located at Midway M20 — can also enter for a chance to win a spot in an upcoming Singularity University Exponential Technologies Executive Program valued at $15,000.

MAKING ITS MARK AT MAKER FAIRE

Singularity University Café will illustrate the goals and vision of the university with on-going presentations by two exciting companies born from last year’s Graduate Studies Program: CiviGuard and Gettaround. The CiviGuard team will discuss their latest products focused on dramatically improving crisis communications for emergency and disaster response. The Gettaround team will discuss how their person-to-person car sharing community can positively impact the climate, and demonstrate their award-winning car controlling mobile application. In addition, several thought-leading speakers will discuss some of the topics taught at SU, ranging from the latest in medicine and robotics to energy and 3D building construction.

“In a fun and visually impressive fashion, Maker Faire shows what can happen when the current limits of science, technology, and design are pushed,” said Salim Ismail, Executive Director of Singularity University. “As Maker Faire has proven before, one’s imagination is truly the only limit to some of the greatest innovation. We’re looking forward to participating in our first Maker Faire, and sharing the ideas and achievements of SU students, faculty and associates with the Maker community.”

A CHANCE TO WIN AN EDUCATION, EXPERIENCE OF A LIFETIME

Taught by world-class faculty and some of the leading minds in their respective fields, the Executive Program is an intensive education designed to prepare executives and entrepreneurs to face the dynamic business realities of today and tomorrow. Held quarterly, Singularity University offers its Exponential Technologies Executive Program to a very limited group of C-Level executive participants. All qualified Maker Faire attendees can register at the Singularity University Café for a chance to win a seat, including on-site accommodations at NASA Ames. Registration qualifications will be posted at Singularity University Café. A winner will be selected randomly from all registrations received at the Singularity University Café from 10:30 AM on Saturday May 22, 2010 to 6:30 PM on Sunday May 23, 2010. The winner will be announced on Tuesday, June 1, 2010 on the Singularity University webpage , via Twitter (@singularityu) and on the official Singularity University Facebook page.

The imaginative and innovative Maker Faire takes place at the San Mateo County Fairgrounds on Saturday, May 22 and Sunday, May 23, 2010.

About Singularity University

Singularity University (SU) is an interdisciplinary university whose mission is to assemble, educate and inspire a cadre of leaders who strive to understand and facilitate the development of exponentially advancing technologies in order to address humanity’s grand challenges. With the support of a broad range of leaders in academia, business and government, SU hopes to stimulate groundbreaking, disruptive thinking and solutions aimed at solving some of the planet’s most pressing challenges. SU is based at the NASA Ames campus in Silicon Valley. For more information, go to singularityu.org.

Press Contact:
Denise Vardakas, The Conversation Group: denise@theconversationgroup.com, +1-650-483-5083

The Singularity Is Near: The Movie Sneak Preview is Awesome!

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 00:50:38 +0000

There were many moments of high irony before we Sonoma Film Festival attendees got to preview a somewhat unfinished version of The Singularity Is Near: The Movie — based on the Ray Kurzweil book of the same name. The lights went down, the anticipation rose and we waited in the dark… and waited… with various people shouting mildly snarky comments. Mine was: “John Cage’s version of the Singularity.” A computer crash was announced. While we worried about crashing cities full of uploaded minds after the singularity, Ray Kurzweil got back on stage (he had earlier introduced the film) and good-naturedly reassured us that the technology was getting better. A couple of minutes later, the movie started.

The Singularity Is Near: The Movie does exactly what Ray Kurzweil set out to do. It’s a movie version of the book, with two running through lines. In documentary style, we have Ray discussing his ideas about the Singularity, with commentators variously supporting or refuting or worrying about his ideas.

With Bill McKibben in the role of the friendly flat out opponent; Bill Joy playing the reasonable but worried man; and Mitch Kapor doubting the technological possibilities — they are all worked into the weave to (at least) let us know that not everybody believes that a) The Singularity is Coming and b) It’s going to work out well. K. Eric Drexler, MIT roboticist Cynthia Breazeal, desktop manufacturing guru Neil Gershenfeld and many many more are woven in to support the idea — and the more hopeful potentials — of accelerating change leading to radical alterations in life (itself).

The value added here for those h+ types already familiar with this discourse includes the clarity and concise expression of the ideas presented in Ray’s doorstopper sized book, and lots of very groovy, trippy, and playful graphics (including an apparent parody of the opening of Fringe.) And then there’s the integration of a fictional narrative into the whole thing. The story revolves around Ramona, Kurzweil’s alter ego and virtual/AI persona. This is the same Ramona who is interviewed throughout The Singularity Is Near book, where her role is to tell us what life is like at various points in time in the future.

To some extent, she plays that same role here, but she also supplies some drama. And while the acting here will not win any academy awards, Ramona is put into several perilous situations and — one of them, at least — is rather affecting. (I’m not going to give anything away, except to say that there’s a courtroom scene, and you’ll find yourself rooting for her.) There are some funny elements too, including a very direct nod at The Matrix. Ultimately, like the book, The Singularity Is Near: The Movie is an advocacy/teaching film. I wouldn’t count on cinema critics to find in it a glorious work of art. But it’s a total blast to sit through (even with Tony Robbins and Alan Dershowitz) and it’s definitely going to get around and blow minds, spark debate, thought and study.

Singularitarians will want to show this to friends and family, and even for those who don’t believe in the singularity but support transhumanist ideas, there’s a whole lot about nanotech, biotech and AI to tweak interest and excitement.

I can’t wait to see the final version.

CiviGuard debuts next-generation crisis communication platform

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 14:28:03 +0000

Great news from one of the GSP-09 spin-out companies and SU alumni – Zubin Wadia, Shawna Pandya, and Tim Coleman. Congratulations to the team!

CiviGuard Chosen as One of Five Where 2.0 Launch Pad Start-ups with “Innovative, Promising New Technology”

CiviGuard is pleased to announce it has been chosen as one of just five start-ups to present at Where 2.0 Conference Launch Pad, showcasing the latest in location-based technology. Built on a highly resilient infrastructure, CiviGuard enables government agencies to deliver authoritative location-specific alerts, precise and actionable information, and guidance to civilian populations via mobile devices and the web. CiviGuard will showcase its crisis communication platform at the Where 2.0 Launch Pad in San Jose on March 31^st.

The CiviGuard platform is the first to deliver trusted government information to civilians by combining cutting-edge smartphone technology, cloud-based infrastructure and intelligent message distribution into a single offering. “We are very excited about the opportunity to present at the Where 2.0 Launch Pad segment,” said Zubin Wadia, CEO and co-founder of CiviGuard. “The simplicity of our platform’s interface, order-of-magnitude faster delivery, location-awareness and the resiliency of CiviGuard’s infrastructure streamline the dissemination of authoritative information, transforming information into awareness and awareness into action.”

“Where 2.0 is well-known as a tremendous forum to showcase emerging location-based technology start-up firms,” said Salim Ismail, Executive Director at Singularity University. “CiviGuard was born out of the team projects at Singularity University’s Graduate Studies Program 2009 and we are extremely delighted by CiviGuard’s progress to create a new standard for rapid crisis communication.”

CiviGuard will present at the Where 2.0 Launch Pad on Wednesday, March 31 at 12:00pm. Please visit – http://en.oreilly.com/where2010/public/schedule/detail/10943 – for presentation details.

About CiviGuard

With offices in Silicon Valley and New York, CiviGuard provides a highly resilient crisis communication platform that rapidly delivers location-aware alerts and guidance to civilians. Combining trusted government information, cutting-edge smartphone technology, cloud-based infrastructure and intelligent message distribution into a single offering, CiviGuard is poised to redefine crisis communication. For more information, please visit www.civiguard.com.

Internet’s future on display at Singularity University

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 01:13:09 +0000

CNET correspondent Daniel Terdiman shadowed Executive Program participant Rob Nail during one of his first days at Singularity University’s Winter 2010 Executive Program.

The Internet of the future is an intelligent network capable of proactively acting on our needs, following us wherever we go, helping provide us with focused health care, and possibly ushering in a new energy paradigm.

This is the vision that James Canton, CEO of San Francisco-based Institute for Global Futures think tank, shared with students in the executive program of Singularity University. His broad-reaching, theoretical talk here Wednesday touched on many of the same elements of the all-encompassing network more or less overlaid on people’s consciousnesses in science fiction by the likes of Vernor Vinge. Still, Canton’s vision seemed plausible, particularly in light of the curriculum of so-called exponential technologies being taught at Singularity University, which kicked off its first classes last summer.

Canton’s vision of this future Internet begins with four key drivers: telepresence, mobility, artificial intelligence, and specific vertical market segments such as health care.

In a straw poll of the 40-odd students in the Singularity program, the majority felt that mobility was the most important of those drivers, and Canton said this made sense given that billions of people use the Internet and that the figure will only grow. The idea, then, would be for the Internet of the future to comprise large numbers of networks talking to nodes that are independently communicating with one other, “having their own conversation,” he said.

Indeed, Canton predicted a future in which the Internet is embedded just about everywhere: in every imaginable kind of object — from TVs to phones to walls — and that every product and device (even people) will have an IP address. He added that while such a vision may seem distant, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has already approved a chip that could be embedded in people’s bodies. In Miami, he noted, the latest fad is women wearing clothes with chips embedded that can be scanned to verify their identities so that they don’t need to carry purses.

Similarly, he said, government workers in Mexico City can’t get into buildings without having some sort of wearable identification chip. […]

At Singularity University, blowing minds and taking meetings

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:38:46 +0000

CNET correspondent Daniel Terdiman shadowed Executive Program participant Rob Nail during one of his first days at Singularity University’s Winter 2010 Executive Program.

For Rob Nail, Saturday was a bonanza of opportunity. Over dinner that night in building 20 at the NASA Ames Research Center here, Nail found himself discussing 3D printing and housing with X Prize CEO Peter Diamandis. Already, Nail had been considering buying some farming land in Northern California and had been interested in the nascent concept of 3D printed buildings. He told Diamandis that he wanted to try that on the land.

“He says,” Nail recalled, “I want to make this introduction,” and grabbed Nail, pulling him a few tables over to the side where the two put their heads together with one of the founders of a start-up that recently began working on building 3D printed housing for developing nations.

For Nail, himself an entrepreneur who has spent several months looking for companies to invest in or advise, the quick meeting may have been the start of something long-term. “I will probably have a relationship” with the start-up’s co-founder, he said. “It’s an opportunity for me to get involved as a seed investor, and to advise and help out. He’s just starting out…and we have a common connection with this passionate interest for housing, robotics and 3D printing.”

For Diamandis, putting Nail together with a potential business partner was emblematic of his own young venture, Singularity University, or SU, which seeks to put some of the brightest minds on the planet together to explore what is known as exponentially growing technologies. And earlier that evening, after they’d sat through eight hours of high-energy lectures on artificial intelligence, autonomous robotics and biotechnology, and bioinformatics, Diamandis stood up and welcomed his new charges — a group of 43 participants in the second 10-day Singularity University executive program — to the “family.” […]

History of Kurzweil Music Systems

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 03:22:56 +0000

click image to view the video

Ray Kurzweil appeared on the popular 1950s and 1960s quiz show “I’ve Got a Secret” to reveal that he had made a computer that could make music. Since those early days, Ray has come to define the computer age of music making.

Founder of Kurzweil Music, Ray designed some of the industry’s most noted electronic instruments of the 1980s and 1990s.

Ray was a pioneer in the field of optical character recognition (OCR) and he has published several highly successful books on technology and the future of intelligence including The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence released in 1999.

About NAMM | The Model for Industry Growth

Before there was an industry or an association, there was a belief…in music. That belief led to a mission: to unify, lead and strengthen the global music products industry and increase active participation in music making.

More than a century later, that mission has attracted a growing, thriving worldwide community of thousands of deeply passionate, talented companies that make, buy and sell the instruments that allow millions of people to make music. That community is called NAMM, the trade association of the international music products industry.

NAMM is able to support the association’s mission with a business model based on a circle of benefits that promotes industry growth. The circle begins with the revenue derived from NAMM’s trade shows, which is channeled back into the industry through the NAMM Foundation’s funding of industry charities and in the form of advocacy and market-building programs and initiatives, further increasing public awareness. This leads to increased demand of music products, growing the industry and, ultimately, promoting trade show growth, which completes the circle. To support individual Members, NAMM offers industry education through NAMM University, publishes valuable one-of-a-kind statistical reports, and brings the industry together at events and global meetings.

Founded in 1901, NAMM has been the engine driving the music products industry, enabling both large and small businesses to maximize productivity and reduce the costs of doing business. With more than 9,000 Members in the United States and 100+ other countries, NAMM is ultimately dedicated to expanding the market and giving people of all ages the opportunity to experience the proven benefits of making music.

— NAMM Headquarters

Sam Zaid 07/23 – Lecture day @ SU!

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 20:14:40 +0000

GSP-09: Student’s Perspective, by Sam Zaid
(SU’s 2009 Graduate Studies Program)

twitter.com/samzaid

Sam Zaid

SingularityU GSP 09

Track: Artificial Intelligence & Robotics

12:10AM – Just came back from our Group C Super Secret team meeting. Not that secret but here’s a shot of our secret boardroom!

6:00AM – Early morning start… Usually work on my startup Gazaro (gazaro.com) in the mornings between 5AM and 9AM.

7:00AM – Call on Amazon Mech Turk. Giving very interesting results for crowd-sourced AI… what’s that mean? Ask me. :)

8:47AM – Shower! Run to class… :)

9:10AM – Made it to lecture and only 10 mins late. :) Talk is by Adam Cheyer, Co-founder & VP Engineering @ SIRI on Conversational Interfaces in AI Personal Assistants. Didn’t want to be late as was really looking forward to this talk… C’est la vie!

10:00AM – Sweet. Adam offered free alpha access to Siri. Just emailed for my invite!

10:02AM – Take away => AGI is hard. Knowledge engines the next big wave in AI. We are nowhere near that BUT we can build common sense knowledge systems in the next 5-15 years through *deep* integration of multiple machine learning disciplines. Data gets us remarkably far today.

10:05AM – Bagel with cream cheese. Helps when you skip breakfast!

10:14AM – Tried to talk with Adam re. Gazaro but next lecture started too quickly! Talk is by Jonathan Koomy on Beating Energy Conservation and Efficiency. Interesting discussion on repealing the Law of Diminishing Returns and the “Lovins” tunnel through the cost barrier. Fascinating debate on whether *behavioral change* or *technology* will yield the biggest gains in energy and climate.

11:18AM – Shai is really challenging Jonathan on pretty much everything! Very entertaining. Speakers should definitely bone up on their physics => we can use as much solar energy as we want without increasing the entropy of our system!

11:32AM Bob Metcalfe says as energy comes down, we’ll use way more of it in new and yet unimagined ways. Jonathan says that’s bullocks! Second law of thermodynamics and closed vs. open systems debate ensues…

11:36AM Take away => We really know how to do everything to cut our energy use by 80% in Palo Alto within 15 to 20 years. The technologies exist today! We just need to do things in elegant ways that affect tasks for real people!! We just need to do it.

11:47AM Next talk! How Future Studies Can Improve Your Life & Work by Jim Dator from the University of Hawaii! Interesting. Apparently Prediction, Forecasting, and Inventing are very different things… stay tuned!

11:59AM Answer = Do NOT Predict “THE Future”. Forecast “Alternate Futures”. Invent “Preferred Futures”. Yep, couldn’t do it justice in 140 chars… :)

12:01PM Interesting Thought Experiment => In 30-50 years, what part of your life experience will be (a) a continuation of things that have always existed in the past, (b) cycles that have existed in the past and may exist again in the future, and (c) novelties never before experienced by humanity? My answer = (a) 5%, (b) 5%, (c) 90%!

12:08PM Dator’s 2nd Law = “Any useful idea about the future should appear to be ridiculous today”

12:14PM Key to future studies and forecasting = theory and study of *social change*. Social theory underpinned by biology, environment, culture, technology, human actions.

12:20PM “We shape our tools and they shape us.” -Marshall McLuhan

12:21PM Man I’m writing a lot…!!

12:30PM Take away => Continued growth is only ONE predicted future but it underpins every assumption of the modern economy.

1:05PM Lunch at the NASA Tent for the Lunar Institute! Sounds exciting but the food was quite dull! :) Talked with Marty Tenenbaum, Chief Scientist at CollabRx. He educated me on personal molecular medicine… cool stuff!

2:10PM Joined Neil Jacobstein, Adam Chever, and John Smart to talk about how Siri works… interesting. I’m really curious to try it out. Been a big fan of CI for a while.

2:30PM And… Next lecture! Therapy Development in a Networked World by Marty Tenenbaum, Chief Scientist at CollabRx. Big statement = Marty believes the process of “medical guesswork” and clinical trials are fundamentally broken! CollabRx approach is to look at an individual patient on a molecular level, bring together scientists to investigate the causal factors driving their disease(s), and then give them existing approved drugs that treat those factors.

3:22PM Next lecture! Panel on “Innovating in Medicine”

3:25PM Jordan Schlain MD from CURRENTHealth.com. Jordan talked about how for $700 a year, you can have a consultative doctor on call to help advise you on disease prevention and treatment.

3:36PM Daniel Riskin on Surgical Innovation. Over 20 years, moved from BIG surgery to minimally invasive operations. Back log of technologies over the past 10 years are ready to be applied to surgery. E.g MRI guided pathways.

3:47PM Christopher Longhurst, MD from Stanford Children’s Hospital. We kill 100,000 kids a year due to medical error. Even with EMR, can still have the same mortality rate – very much depends on the implementation! Doh!! Huge opportunity = AHRQ 2007 paper -> diagnosis errors cause large number of deaths.

3:51PM Stanford selected Google Health. LOL – how surprising…! :)

4:05PM Harvey Fishman, MD, PhD talk on Video Eyewear for Macular Degeneration. Very cool. SiteMate Lv920 = Heads-Up Display for low vision. Soon to look like regular glasses! Embeds image processing tech for contrast enhancement, color blindness compensation, and 20x zoom!

4:18PM Stephanie Weinstein, MD – Stanford Radiologist on the state-of-the-art in Radiology = Multi-row detector CT for 3D scans and virtual endoscopy and coronary imaging. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1Mxacm4RmU

4:42PM Medical Devices and Breakthrough Technologies by Asha Nayak,MD, PhD. Bathroom break + phone call! Sorry!! :)

5:12PM Surgeon in the Digital Age by Catherine Mohr, MD of Intuitive Surgical. Doctors as superheroes. Using IS robots, surgeons improve dexterity, move tremor free at the micro or nano-scale, have enhanced vision (e.g. infrared), improved knowledge, and better communication! IS releasing robots for teleproctoring a surgeon – and limitation is high-bandwidth video – other barrier is medical-legal implications.

5:28PM Integrative Medicine in Practice by Rachel Schneyer, LAc, MSc. Chinese Theory of Medicine says only three things modify our longevity: Nutrition = what we eat, Assimilation = how our body assimilates what we eat, and Breath = how we circulate air in our body. Superfoods = dark chocolate, goji berries, wheat grass, asparagus, brazil nuts, cranberry! Stress = “always feeling like there is something to do”.

5:47PM Structural Heart Disease and Cardiology 2020 by Yitzhack Shwartz. Best medicine = prevention. In the future, we’ll use genetic profiling for just-in-time prevention!

6:31PM NASA Technology Commercialization by Riddhi Partners. Interesting that NASA licenses pretty much everything! Looking forward to 2020 => Moore’s law is exhausted and there’ll be 60,000 sensors for every one person. Whoa.

6:53PM The New Reality – Living in Real-time by Pat Kennedy, OSIsoft. For those wondering what the hell is the Smart Grid… you should have been at the presentation! Without Smart Grid, you can’t sell solar energy back into the grid and can’t sell to your neighbor. HUGE amounts of data. Average power company collects 250,000 data points every 4 seconds!

7:17PM Space-Time Insight by Geo-Enterprise. Applications of Sensor Networks. Sensor Networks = Data Overload++. iPhone and GPhone for Augmented Reality as 4D information visualizer. Pretty cool examples for engineering inspection and locating restaurants in the Netherlands. Average age in the power industry = 58 years old! Talk about stagnant… that’s bound to change.

8:00PM Billion people on the line so we’re discussing how to get the wheels in motion. T-minus 1 week until we start on the path to positively effecting 10^9!

9:25PM Back at the lodge. Phew. Long day!

9:49PM Now… gotta check emails… probably have around 10^9 of them!

—

Goodnight!

Shawna Pandya 07/17 – Flying high @ SU

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 13:47:43 +0000

GSP-09: Student’s Perspective, by Shawna Pandya
(SU’s 2009 Graduate Studies Program)

Singularity University.

It started with passionate people and a daring idea. 10^9+.

SU co-founder & Vice-Chancellor Peter Diamandis has a brain-wave…

Then came the structure – Singularity University. They built it, and we came. 40 of the world’s emerging leaders, students and innovators from 14 countries and countless disciplines…given 9 weeks to create and perpetuate ideas to positively impact 1 billion people. Nothing intimidating about that, right?

Fast forward to the end of week three, 1/3 of the way through the adventure that is SU; the amount of things we have seen and done in this short time is tremendous. We have interacted with and been inspired by astronauts, Nobel laureates and most importantly, each other. Together, we have engaged in late-night debates about the world’s major issues, brainstormed ideas for the next great social enterprise, built elaborate Rube-Goldberg machines in the space of hours, worked as teams to endure Survivor-style challenges and even moved the atoms themselves (and they spell SU) on a site visit to IBM Almaden.

Yet even these particular experiences fall flat (emphasis on fall) compared to today’s adventure. I have always said that if you are going to age, you may as well do it in style. And when you happen to be hitting a major milestone (a quarter of a century in this case) – well, it doesn’t make sense to hold back. Some people throw lavish parties. Others head off to five-star resorts in exotic locales.

On my 25^th birthday, I’m flying.

Well, you must be thinking, what’s so exciting about that? People have flying for ages. Yes…but they’ve been doing it in planes. I’m talking about pushing off from the ground and floating, literally floating, in mid-air.

After all, that’s the beauty of going 0G.

Of course, when SU is involved, you know there has to be a twist, a little something extra. In this case, we’ve decided to take the whole 0G concept one step further and host the first-ever cocktail party in weightlessness. So today we’ve shed the usual flight suits in favor of black ties and evening dresses (with shorts to avoid scandal, of course) – and brought along a few party favors to celebrate the occasion.

So 1 Martian, 2 Lunar and 10 0G parabolas later, how do I describe the indescribable – dancing with astronauts in 3-dimensions, flipping in weightlessness, chasing floating M & M’s and water droplets …and having an all-star rendition of “Happy Birthday” sang to me aboard the 0G flight by space royalty, SU friends and ISU family? I can’t…but I can show you. After all, if a picture is worth a thousand words, then surely a video must be exponentially better?

I’ll let you be the judge.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPR1ARWT4sc

Of course… sometimes you just need to capture the moment… ;-)

Post-flight euphoria: SU students Shawna Pandya (left) & Bentley Turner (right), with astronaut Dan Barry at center:

…SP over & out.

Singularity University – successful first week

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 03:45:24 +0000

Dear SU Associate Founders, Faculty, Students and Friends –

We’ve just completed our first week of Singularity University and I have to say that I’m extremely pleased and proud of what we have created. It is real, off and running, and here to stay.

From the Student perspective, we have pulled together an incredible group of brilliant and dedicated graduate students who are all entrepreneurs, driven and passionate about taking on the world’s grand challenges. When we selected our students based upon the criteria of academic excellence, demonstrated entrepreneurship and big-picture thinking, we did not know we’d be attracting fun, high-spirited and good natured individuals as well. I’m pleased the traits matched-up!

Equally rewarding is the Faculty. They’ve been spectacular. Going from a lecture by Vint Cerf on the internet’s origin, to Ralph Merkle on the basics of nanotech, to a lecture by Astronaut Dan Barry on high-risk scenarios in space exploration all in the past of 4 hours is an intellectual feast. Having Trustees Bob Richards, and Michael Simpson here, as well as my co-Founder Ray Kurzweil here for the first five days was fantastic. We all greatly enjoyed the screening of Transcendent Man — a truly beautiful film.

Our home at NASA Ames, courtesy of Dr. Pete Worden and NASA HQ is tremendous. The facilities are excellent and the setting could not be better. As Pete said in the opening ceremony… Welcome to Starfleet Academy!

SU runs 24×7, and the nickname “sleepless university” has its merits… hopefully things will settle down shortly. But none the less, the Canada Day party with the maple tree and flying canoe was great, and the July 4^th singularity machine building competition, run by Harry Kloor, delivering 6 garnished hotdogs was a blast.

As the first week of ‘getting to know each other’ and ‘introductory lectures’ is behind us, the real work of focusing on the curriculum and figuring out how to bring life to the “10 to the 9^th plus” design project (10^9+) is our next challenge. How can all of the students, staff and faculty work together to design technologies, systems or programs that can positively affect 1 billion people within a decade.

As I mentioned in my opening remarks, SU is special in what and how it teaches. We have evolved as a species to think “locally” and “linearly” and SU is focused on teaching how to think “globally” and “exponentially.” This is not an institution which seeks to compete with the MITs, Stanfords, or Oxfords of the world, but rather to complement those existing programs in a meaningful and unique fashion. Most importantly to build a cadre of future leaders who are connected and empowered to take on humanity’s grand challenges in a significant fashion.

For those of you not able to participate in SU this summer, there will be two options for you going forward. Consider applying for the GSP-2010 program which will take place in late June through August 2010. Next year we will be accepting ~120 students into the program. ALSO, for the Executives interested in SU, we will be launching our 3-Day and 10-Day Executive Programs starting this November 2009. They are limited in size so please let us know of your interest ASAP.

Thank you once again to Google & ePlanet Ventures our two Corporate Founders, and to the 12 Associate Founders for the seed capital required to launch this university.

I’d like to close by saying thank you to our super-star staff and teaching fellows who are working 48×7 to make this program happen. Special thanks to Susan Fonseca-Klein, Bruce Klein, Emeline Paat-Dahlstrom and our Executive Director, Salim Ismail for all that you are doing.

Best personal regards,
Peter H. Diamandis
Chairman & Vice-Chancellor

SU launches (press release)

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:00:16 +0000

SINGULARITY UNIVERSITY LAUNCHES

INAUGURAL SUMMER PROGRAM AT MOFFETT FIELD

40 Students Chosen from More than 1,200 Candidates to Kick Off Graduate Summer Program

Students Focused on Addressing “Humanity’s Grand Challenges” through Scientific and Technological Collaboration and Innovation

Leading Venture Capital Firm Joins University as Corporate Founder, Key Financial Donor

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. – June 25, 2009 – Singularity University (SU) — the new academic institution with the goal of preparing the next generation of leaders to address “humanity’s grand challenges” — today announced the selection of 40 students to represent the inaugural class for the Graduate Summer Program (GSP). Singularity University narrowed the final 40 students from a pool of more than 1,200 candidate applications around the globe. The summer program begins on June 29, 2009, based at its campus on the NASA Ames Research Park.

SU also announced that leading Silicon Valley venture capital firm, ePlanet Ventures, joins SU as the newest Corporate Founder to support the institution.

Singularity University is modeled after the successful International Space University, founded at MIT in 1987, which has become one of the leading interdisciplinary, international and intercultural institutions for the study of space. The Graduate Summer Program is a nine-week graduate-level interdisciplinary curriculum designed to facilitate understanding, collaboration, and innovation across a broad range of carefully chosen scientific and technological disciplines whose developments are exponentially accelerating.

A Look at the Summer Class

Students for the inaugural summer program were chosen based on their level of expertise in individual “tracks,” demonstrated entrepreneurial and leadership skills, and their commitment to addressing and solving important issues facing our world.

“The level of interest from candidates around the world exceeded our initial expectations,” said Dr. Ray Kurzweil, co-founder of Singularity University. “We received applications from expert candidates in over 60 countries, so competition was very tough for the 40 open spots. Narrowing the field was challenging. The selected students embody the key characteristics, experience, and ‘start-up mentality’ we believe are required to address our grandest challenges today and tomorrow.”

The summer class is composed of 26 men and 14 women, ranging in age from 22 to 47 years old. The 13 nations represented are: USA, Canada, Israel, United Kingdom, Mexico, Brazil, Bolivia, India, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Turkey, and Russia.

Specific experience and expertise in one of the ten key fields of study, or “tracks,” was required to secure a spot in the inter-disciplinary institution. The number of student experts in each of the ten tracks are: future studies and forecasting – 5; policy, law and ethics – 7; finance and entrepreneurship – 5; networks and computing systems – 6; biotechnology and bioinformatics – 3; nanotechnology – 2; medicine, neuroscience and human enhancement – 4; AI, robotics – 3; energy and ecological systems – 2; and space and physical sciences – 3.

“It’s rare that a new university comes into existence, and we are proud of the students representing this first class,” said Dr. Peter H. Diamandis, co-founder of Singularity University. “Ray Kurzweil and I look forward to seeing what this stellar combination of students and faculty will produce throughout the course of the program. The potential is unlimited. And, we truly believe Singularity University will positively impact humanity.”

Venture Capital Support Behind SU

ePlanet Ventures joins SU as the only venture capital firm at the Corporate Founder level, with a donation of $250,000. In addition to financial support for SU, the firm will mentor students as they develop projects and new business ideas, a partner will serve as an advisor and lecturer on the Finance and Entrepreneurship track, and sit on the Board of Trustees. Google is an existing Corporate Founder.

“The close alignment of our goals with SU made the partnership a natural fit,” said Asad Jamal, Chairman and CEO of ePlanet Ventures. “ePlanet Ventures was founded to support innovation in technology and sciences, and has been a leader in discovering disruptive innovation and promoting cross-border migration of technological innovation, business models and entrepreneurship. We anticipate great ideas and global solutions to come from SU with the expert concentration of students, faculty, and other supporters. We’re thrilled to be a part of this innovative venture from the start.”

Interest in sponsoring Singularity University has been strong since its founding, and nearly all its financial supporting positions have been filled. Three positions are still available to join ePlanet Ventures and Google as Corporate Founders, and SU is in discussions with a number of the Bay Area companies to fill the remaining positions. Please visit the Founders’ Circle for more information on corporate and individual sponsorship.

Looking Forward

Singularity University will offer 3-day “C-level” and 10-day “mid-level” executive management programs in Fall ’09. Exact program dates will be announced later in the year. Interested candidates can submit applications and request additional information at www.singularityu.org/interested

ABOUT SINGULARITY UNIVERSITY

ABOUT EPLANET VENTURES

ePlanet Ventures is a leading global venture capital firm headquartered in Silicon Valley, with international offices in London, New Delhi, Bangalore, Shanghai, and Beijing, as well as a presence in Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo. ePlanet Ventures has funded over 80 innovative high-growth companies worldwide, including landmark deals Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU), Skype (sold to eBay for approx. US$3B in 2005), and Focus Media (NASDAQ:FMCN). ePlanet is one of the leaders in promoting the cross-border migration of technological innovation, business models and entrepreneurship. The Firm has made investments in sectors such as the Internet (consumer Internet, Internet services and applications), wireless communications and applications, VoIP and other broadband services, entertainment, semiconductor design, life sciences and other emerging services sectors. The firm has won the China Venture Capital Association Exit of the Year 2005 for Baidu, and the European Venture Capital Association Deal of the Year 2005 Award for Skype, and has been profiled in FORBES Feb. 2007 as a “Pioneer in Global Venture Capital.” Asad Jamal, Chairman and CEO of ePlanet Ventures was recently profiled in FORBES MIDAS List 2008 as a top 10 venture capitalists in the world.

Singularity University Press Contact

Denise Vardakas
The Conversation Group
denise@theconversationgroup.com
+1-650-483-5083

ePlanet Ventures Press Contact
Rupam Shrivastava
ePlanet Ventures
rupam@eplanetventures.com
+1-408-236-5001

A milestone — curriculum planning

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 05:03:41 +0000

Seven short weeks ago, we announced Singularity University at TED2009.

The launch was extremely well covered — we were on the front page of the Financial Times globally and there were several hundred original stories about it all over the world. Ray was on Fox news and Wolf Blitzer had us over to CNN’s LA studios. And it hasn’t stopped – BusinessWeek has a nice story on us this week. And of course, along with all the positive stories, there was some constructive criticism as well. One post, by Jamais Cascio, was particularly lucid. We had a good phone call with Jamais and he had a couple of great ideas which we’ve since implemented.

The biggest surprise, though, has been the student response. We’ve received applications from over 70 countries worldwide, with almost 50% coming from outside the U.S. — we’ll analyze the numbers and give a breakdown at a later date.

This weekend, we’re gathering all the track chairs and key advisors for our second Curriculum Planning Meeting (CPM2). It’s a key event where the track chairs will discuss which interdisciplinary topics to focus on during the 9-week curriculum. It promises to be enthralling.

Tomorrow evening (Friday), we’ll have a reception and will try and broadcast that live. Stay tuned to our Twitter feed for details if you want to see what’s going on.

the Kurzweil LibrarySearch Results for “+” – the Kurzweil Library

for inventions + companies

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The Many Faces of Reading

Two-part Harmony

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Sam Zaid

SingularityU GSP 09

Track: Artificial Intelligence & Robotics

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GSP-09: Student’s Perspective, by Shawna Pandya (SU’s 2009 Graduate Studies Program)

Singularity University – successful first week

SU launches (press release)

A milestone — curriculum planning

GSP-09: Student’s Perspective, by Sam Zaid
(SU’s 2009 Graduate Studies Program)

GSP-09: Student’s Perspective, by Shawna Pandya
(SU’s 2009 Graduate Studies Program)