Efficeon TM8000 microprocessors are low-power x86-compatible processors based upon a new silicon microarchitecture and a redesigned version of code morphing software. The microarchitecture is based on a 256-bit processor that can issue up to eight internal instructions per clock cycle. The processor
Transmeta Corp., Santa Clara, CA
www.transmeta.com
Worldwide Computer Products News-14 January 2000-Microsoft previews devices based on Windows CE for Automotive 2.0 (C)1995-2000 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD http://www.m2.com
Microsoft Corp has previewed new in-car computing devices from Visteon Corp and Clarion Crop of America that use the second version of the company's automotive operating system, Microsoft Windows CE for Automotive.The devices - Visteon's Information, Communication, Entertainment, Safety and Security System and Clarion's AutoPC model 320DV - feature larger screen support, backseat entertainment and improved speech-recognition software as well as support for Hitachi SH4 and Intel X86 processors.
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Sun Microsystems Inc. (www.sun.com) announced on April 11 the availability of Sun Fire x64 (x86, 64-bit) servers and Sun Ultra Workstations powered by the newest, highest-performing single-core AMD Opteron Model 156, 256 and 856 processors.
Spokesmen say the faster processor speeds, combined
"Sun is the first vendor to take full performance advantage of all the new single-core AMD Opteron processors," said Lisa Sieker, vice president of marketing in the Network Systems Group at Sun. "Sun's partnership with AMD for more than two years has helped us to develop fast, innovative products that bring flexible computing solutions to the x64 market. The availability of Sun's x64 servers and workstations powered by the newest AMD Opteron x56 processors, including the only products on the market with the AMD Opteron Model 156 processor, emphasizes the alignment of our product roadmaps, in addition to our mutual commitment to provide the fastest and most power-efficient x64 solutions in the industry."
The PC industry's rapidly spinning product treadmill will become abundantly obvious to you if you revisit 2004's two-part article series (references 1 to 3 ). Then-state-of-the-art high-end systems are now mainstream products or have even moved to bargain-basement closeout status. Some of those systems' constituent pieces, such as Rambus DRAM and RDRAM-cognizant core-logic chip sets, have disappeared from today's PC designs. And multicore x86 CPUs, which in early 2004 were placeholders on manufacturers' future product road maps, now take center stage.
The Intel Pentium M processor, which in early 2004 was only beginning to establish a beachhead in the mobile-computer market it now dominates, has today also become a popular CPU in single-board-computer designs. Its combination of high performance and low power consumption makes it a natural fit not only in laptops, but also in many embedded systems. With Core Duo (formerly known as Yonah) now in production on Intel's 65-nm process, dual-core capability is now part of the Pentium M stable. Core Duo chips for the embedded-system world are now in short supply because companies such as Apple and Dell are gobbling up as many wafers as Intel can fabricate. As a result, this hands-on project substitutes laptops for single-board computers, tweaking test conditions to as closely as possible mimic embedded-system configurations (Figure 1 and Table 1 ).
Despite posting a $527 million operating loss in Q4 http://www.edn.com/article/CA6409667.html?partner=enews that lead to a plunge in its stock price, some analysts say that Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) http://www.amd.com is actually at an all-time high for x86 market share.
According to market research firm Mercury Research http://www.mercuryresearch.com, AMD's Q4 worldwide overall x86 microprocessor unit market share is now at an all time high of 25.3 percent, an 8 percent increase over its Q3 share of 23.3 percent.
The firm added that AMD made 2.5 percent unit market share gains in both desktop and mobile microprocessor segments, the latter of which, the firm said, is the fastest growing segment of the market. In the multi-processor server space, which is now 13.8 percentof the overall x86 server space, AMD now holds 64.5 percent of the unit market, up from 59.6 percent in Q3, Mercury Research said.
As for AMD adversary Intel Corp. http://www.intel.com, the top-ranked chipmaker gained a mere 1.4 percent in server share in the quarter, "even after introducing new dual-core server processors in Q2 http://www.edn.com/article/CA6307530.html and multi-chip module quad-core processors in Q4 http://www.edn.com/article/CA6390916.html," the firm noted.
AMD president and CEO Hector Ruiz commented on this activity, in a statement, “AMD and China share a deep mutual respect for the ability of technology to promote economic and educational opportunities. AMD’s investments of technology, facilities and resources are a sign of our commitment to provide industry-standard x86-based computing solutions to the people of China.”
The licensing of core x86 AMD Geode processor technology to Peking University via collaboration with MOST is expected to contribute to China’s development of low-power and embedded x86 processor technology in the Greater China region. MOST will facilitate discussions between AMD and Chinese companies receiving access to x86 technology licenses, with AMD to earn revenue from licensing the AMD Geode processor to commercial entities designated by Peking University and MOST.
Worldwide Computer Products News-27 April 2005-AMD64 processors fully compatible with Microsoft Windows x64 platform, says AMD(C)1995-2005 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD http://www.m2.com
Chip maker AMD (NYSE: AMD) has said that all existing and upcoming single- and dual-core AMD Athlon 64,AMD Opteron and AMD Turion 64 processors are designed to be fully compatible with Microsoft Windows Server 2003 x64 Editions and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition.AMD64 single- and dual-core processors enable customers to experience the full benefit of x86 64-bit computing, according to the company.
Microsoft developed the Windows Server 2003 x64 Editions and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition in collaboration with key partners, including AMD, said a Microsoft spokesperson.
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Fabric7 Systems Inc. of Mountain View, Calif. has set new standards of performance on the SPECjbb2005 (Java Server) computing benchmark with its Q160 enterprise server.
According to the company, the results of the benchmark testing, published on the SPEC website (www.spec.org), establishes that the company's next generation architecture delivers enterprise scalability on industry standard hardware and operating systems - bringing the economics of x86 systems and Linux to the core of the datacenter.Fabric7 achieved the first truly scalable SPECjbb2005 Linux results, with the findings clearly demonstrating the major advances in performance that Fabric7's unique server design delivers, including:
* Industry record results for x86 server scalability with a 300 percent advantage over alternative x86 servers;
* The industry's first scalable and hardware partitionable server that can be configured as 2-core, 4-core, 8-core or 16-core and deliver from
32,378 to 148,210 bops (business operations per second);
Assuming that you build enough sourcing flexibility into your design to comprehend supply impermanence, PC-tailored microprocessors can provide a cost-effective means of achieving your system’s performance targets. And, with the PC industry’s amplified power-consumption focus, battery life, power-supply size, and heat dissipation aren’t the concerns they might have previously been, either. Traditional CPU and DSP suppliers haven’t stood still in the face of the PC-processor onslaught, however, and their alternative solutions remain optimal in many situations. A solid understanding of the historical trends, current status, and future plans of the primary x86 CPU suppliers will enable you to assess which path to take for your next design (see sidebar “Montalv-who?”).
SuSE Linux AG has submitted enhancements to the official Linux kernel to support AMD's x86-64 instruction set. The Linux kernel is the fundamental source code upon which all Linux operating systems are based.
AMD's next-generation processor, code-named "Hammer", is designed to provide
SuSE Linux AG has been the primary developer working to add support of AMD's x86-64 technology to the Linux kernel, Linux development tools, and other Linux software. AMD expects the changes to be incorporated into Linux's retail operating systems based on the Linux kernel version 2.6 or later.
"We are excited to be working with AMD to support their next-generation processors based on the x86-64 technology. We have reached an important milestone today towards the future availability of 64-bit Linux operating systems on the `Hammer' platform," said Andreas Jaegar, lead project manager, SuSE Linux AG.
"With support for AMD's future processors in the official Linux tree, Linux users everywhere will appreciate being able to run their native x86-64 applications and their existing 32-bit x86 applications," said Linus Torvalds, creator of Linux.
"AMD continues to gain support from the Linux development community for applications as they build support for future 32- and 64-bit applications into the Linux operating system," said Wayne Meretsky, manager of Software R&D and AMD Fellow. "SuSE's revisions to the Linux operating system are key to simultaneous support of 32-bit and 64-bit applications on the `Hammer' platform."
AMD (NYSE:AMD) recently announced that the latest TOP500 Supercomputer list shows that AMD Athlon MP processor-based supercomputers from the University of Heidelberg, Germany, and the Tokyo Institute of Technology (TITECH) are the highest performing x86 cluster supercomputers in Europe and Asia.
"The AMD Athlon MP processor-based supercomputer, paired with our expertise in parallel computing, helps significantly shorten cycle times in our research programs including bio-computing, reactive flows, optimization problems, technical simulations and image processing," said Dr. Wolfgang Hafemann, HELICS Project Leader at the University's ICSC.
"Cluster supercomputers are increasingly recognized as the most cost-effective way of generating high-performance supercomputing," said Dr. Satoshi Matsuoka, Professor of Global Scientific Information and Computing Center at TITECH. "And, as one can see from the latest TOP500 rankings, the AMD Athlon MP processors provide the level of performance needed for compute-intensive scientific applications.
"The larger significance of these rankings is that we have demonstrated that a single university lab can achieve terascale performance," added Matsuoka, referring to systems capable of performing a teraflop, or one trillion floating point operations per second. "In the near future, I expect to see multiple labs achieving computing power on the order of tens to hundreds of teraflops, making new scientific discoveries possible."
"The potential benefits we can derive from this type of research are astounding," said Giuliano Meroni, vice president of Sales and Marketing for AMD Europe. "It's inspiring to see that, around the world, AMD processors are helping the growth of scientific sectors like bio-computer science, mathematics and chemistry.
"AMD is absolutely committed to providing high performance computing solutions for both scientific and industrial applications," said Meroni. "These accomplishments highlight how effectively AMD works with our customers, and the best-in-class results achieved by working together."
By Bate Felix - Analysis
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Intel Corp (INTC.O) could face a hefty fine from EU regulators over charges it fiddled with retail channels to suppress competitors, but of more concern could be any fresh rules imposed by the EU.
Even if the world's largest chipmaker is slapped with the maximum possible fine of 10 percent of its annual revenue, the greatest risk for the company would be if the EU imposes remedies which would change its pricing model.
The European Commission has already said Intel's pricing practices -- in particular rebates to computer makers and retailers -- were a bid to drive rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.N) out of the market and is set to rule soon on the issue.
"Will the Commission impose something that would destroy their pricing model, open up the market to competition and new entrants or to AMD? That is what they would be worried about, more than their reputation or anything else," said Michael Tscherny, a former Commission official, now partner at European affairs consultancy Gplus Europe.
In two formal charge sheets laid out in July 2007 and July 2008, the Commission said Intel gave rebates to computer makers so long as they agreed to obtain most or all of their CPU chips from Intel and made payments to induce computer makers either to delay or cancel the launch of products using AMD chips.
The U.S. tech giant has denied the charges that it was abusing its market dominance, arguing that its conduct had been lawful and beneficial to clients and consumers.
An Intel spokesman said the firm was focused on conducting its defense and would not speculate on any Commission decision.
The Santa Clara-based firm, however, said in a filing to U.S. regulators in February that a letter from the Commission had warned: "It cannot be excluded at this stage of the procedure that the EC may adopt a decision adverse to Intel."
"We hope that any ruling wouldn't harm the many benefits that continue to be produced from the natural functioning of this market," spokesman Robert Manetta said.
RECORD FINE
Analysts say the Commission will likely rule Intel breached EU antitrust rules, hitting it with a record fine that could dwarf that slapped on Microsoft (MSFT.O) for a similar offence.
The penalty will have little impact on Intel's balance sheet or market share, they said.
However, lawyers expected Brussels to bare its teeth and try to deter others by exacting a fine proportionate to or more than the nearly $500 million slapped on Microsoft in 2004.
"They fined Microsoft. Yes, it hurt their image, but it didn't hurt their cash balance and their market share is still almost at the same level," said John Dryden, analyst at Charter Equity Research in San Francisco.
Tech bellwether Intel reported fourth-quarter revenue of $8.2 billion in January, with a net profit of $234 million which would help it cushion a fine.Worldwide Computer Products News-18 July 2003-AMD to ship 64-bit processors soon(C)1995-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD http://www.m2.com
Integrated circuit developer AMD has set the launch date for its upcoming 64-bit x86 desktop and notebook PC processors - the AMD Athlon 64 range.
The new processors will be capable of operating in 64-bit and 32-bit computing environments so that existing 32-bit investments are made use of while also simplifying the transition to a 64-bit computing model. AMD has said that the processors will feature the company's AMD64 architecture which can reportedly enhance compatibility and performance.The processors are expected to be made available on 23 September 2003. To date, no pricing information has been revealed.
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Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ:SUNW) continues to champion the reduction of cost and complexity for customers by offering a price reduction on its recently announced Sun Fire(TM) V65x system. Capable of running standard Linux distributions, Red Hat Enterprise Linux or the Solaris(TM) operating
The University of Queensland will use Sun Fire V60x systems to run molecular-scale computations to power one of the largest super computer facilities in Australia. The low-cost systems are linked with Sun(TM) ONE Grid Engine and can deliver high compute power for memory intensive applications. According to Professor Sean Smith, head of the Centre for Computational Molecular Science, "The research we conduct requires the simultaneous input of an enormous amount of computations. We were therefore looking to develop a cluster facility that delivered superior throughput capacity as well as raw speed on any one processor.
"The super computer facility Sun will deliver consists of 256 processors linked together to harness multiple compute power and deliver increased throughput of small to moderate size computations," he added.
"We have implemented 80 Sun Fire V60x systems to run our HPTC applications to create one of the most powerful and visible computing systems in Belgium," said Mr. Jean-Pol Vigneron, Director, Science Computing Facility, University of Namur. "In combination with the software technology, Sun ONE Grid Engine, these low-cost systems provide the reliability and availability that are critical to the uptime of the applications that we are running."
"Our customers are excited about Sun's latest x86-based systems. Through our recent agreement with Sun Microsystems, we have been able to extend our Sun portfolio with the Sun Fire V60x and V65x systems," said Joe Serra, vice president of software and systems product marketing of Tech Data. "These systems meet mid-market requirements for low-cost, high performance solutions."
"These price reductions and processor enhancements provide increased customer value while demonstrating Sun's commitment to delivering competitive price/performance x86 platform products," said Souheil Saliba, vice president of marketing for Sun's Volume Systems Products group. "Sun continues to provide Tech Data and other partners with products that will open the door to new markets and an additional revenue stream from standard Linux distributions or Solaris x86-based solutions."
Sun's popular Sun Fire V65x 2U rack-optimized x86 server model with a single 2.8 GHz processor has been reduced from $2,650 to $2,550. The Sun Fire V65x model with dual 3.06 GHz processors has been reduced from $4,595 to $3,995.
HP (hp.com) has announced new additions to its x86 server lineup that are powered by Intel's dual-core technology - the Intel Xeon processor DP. Using the processors, the new HP ProLiant servers can boost certain enterprise application performance by as much as 44 percent.
Initially available
The DL380 is a 2U rack server designed for a variety of deployments and applications. Recently outfitted with serial attached SCSI (SAS) technology, the DL380 also has eight universal small form-factor hot-plug drives. The new dual-core Intel Xeon processors will first be available on the U320 SCSI models and then appear on SAS models as the processors become more readily available.
The DL580 is a four-way enterprise-class server in a 4U chassis. The DL580 is the only four-way industry-standard rack server with front-accessible hot-plug RAID memory, supporting up to 64 GB of memory, providing reliability and availability for business-critical applications.
The ML570 is the industry's first four-way expansion server that offers hot-plug RAID memory, management capabilities and internal expansion.
Support for up to 3TB of internal storage, 10 PCI slots and 64 GB of memory makes the ML570 useful for enterprise applications, server consolidation and remote site deployment.
In a recent four-processor SPEC CPU2000 benchmark (spec.org/cpu2000/result), the dual-core HP ProLiant ML570 exhibited a 44 percent performance improvement over the highest single-core ML570 benchmark. Similarly, in the twoprocessor SPEC CPU2000 benchmark, the dual-core HP ProLiant DL380 showed a 40 percent performance improvement over the most recent single-core DL380 benchmark.
The 64-bit x86 architectures from Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Intel Corp. are nearly identical, according to an independent analysis by In-Stat/MDR's Microprocessor Report.
Nearly 100 percent software compatibility is possible, but in some cases programs written for one 64-bit architecture
The study compared all the new instructions, modified instructions, deleted instructions, and modifications to the register files, including control registers, system registers, and registers visible to application programs.
Memory-addressing schemes and many other architectural features, such as data-addressing modes, context-switching behavior, interrupt handling, and support for existing 16-bit and 32-bit x86 execution modes were also compared. In every case, Intel had patterned its 64-bit x86 architecture after AMD64 in almost every detail, the researchers concluded.
However, the Microprocessor report discovered a few differences that even Sunnyvale, Calif.-based AMD and Intel were unaware of, according to In-Stat/MDR. Some of these differences may be resolved in future 64-bit x86 processors. In other cases, software can easily adapt to the differences by executing slightly different code, after first probing the CPU to learn which 64-bit extensions it supports.
Despite the differences, the researchers concluded Intel "clearly derived" its 64-bit architecture by reading AMD's prerelease documentation for AMD64 and by testing AMD64 processors.
In-Stat/MDR is owned by Reed Business Information, the parent company of Electronic News.
There is a known issue when installing Intel Parallel Amplifier on non-English operating systems with a Language (under the Advanced tab of Regional and Language Options) set to Chinese, Korean, or Japanese to match the language version of the non-Unicode programs you want to use.
The sympton is that after installing Intel Parallel Amplifier, the "Amplifier icon" does not appear on the Microsoft Visual Studio toolbar. When you try to integrate with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005, you will see the following message:
Error: Failed to read the following file
"C:\Program Files\Intel\Cantua\1.0\bin32\vs2005.reg"
This file contains information necessary for integrating/de-integrating the product with Microsoft Visual Studio.
The solution is to:
The user should then see the Intel Parallel Amplifier icon on the Microsoft Visual Studio toolbar.
Parallel Processing Shell Script (PPSS) is a Bash shell script that executes commands, scripts, or programs in parallel. PPSS, which is a Google Code project, is designed to make full use of multicore processors. PPSS detects the number of available CPUs and starts separate jobs for each core. You can browse the source code here.
Most modern computers have at minimum two processor cores. However, most programs and tasks do not benefit from additiona cores because the software was written for sequential, single-core systems which are unaware of multiple cores.
According to the PPSS wiki, the idea behind PPSS is that, say, you have a large number of files and you want to perform some action on them. Instead of processing one file at at time, you want to process four files at a time since you have a quad-core processor. However, you also need a system that keeps track of separate jobs, starts new jobs when previous ones are finished and keep track of which files have been processed. This is what PPSS does.
PPSS's specific features include:
TPL is developing a low-cost hearing aid based on the company's Seaforth, a 24-core processor that uses VentureForth , a Forth-based IDE that includes interactive programming, testing, and debugging facilities. VentureForth includes compilers for both Windows and Linux and a simulator for debugging, and contains low-level primitives as well as the high-level tools necessary to map programs across the array of cores in a SEAforth processor.
According to company, the hearing aid should be able to be sold over the counter for about $100 and can be customized by users via a standard PC. The hearing aid is worn behind the ear, rather than insidered into the ear canal, a process that requires insertion and tuning by audiologists.
Also, a 40-core processor version of the device is in the works, says the company. The SEAForth 40C18 Architecture is described here. Chuck Moore, co-founder and CTO of TPL, is the creator of the Forth programming language.
The Core 2 Duo marks a change in Intel's approach to chip making, as the company admitted it had hit a technical wall since its 1990s dominance, which was powered by the huge leap in speed that the Pentium processor offered.
Now the company has focused on shrinking circuitry, allowing them to affix two computing engines to a single piece of silicon, which gives computers as much as 40 percent improved performance while still emitting less heat, the company says.
Intel Chief Executive Paul S. Otellini said that the company planned to ship at least one million chips out in the next two months, which would get them into the PCs of computer makers in time for the holiday season. Intel has said that systems based on the Core 2 Extreme -- Intel's processor developed for video games -- are already available, and Hewlett-Packard, Gateway and Dell have all announced they will sell PCs equipped with the Core 2 Duo.
This move could be just what the company needs to regain its former dominance, which has slipped over the last three years to Advanced Micro Devices (A.M.D.). The smaller company has become known for its faster and more efficient processors, leading to its acquisition of five market share points last year, according to technology research company Mercury Research.
A.M.D. released a response to Intel's announcement stating it “is now quite accustomed to Intel reacting and attempting to follow (their) lead” in the market.
One winning answer was posted in response to the human question, "why is comedy part of who we are -- does god have a sence(sic) of humour??"
Out of 26 human responses the following Buddhabot reply was chosen by an impartial unrelated asker as the best response,
"Humor is the quality that makes something laughable or amusing. Laughter is the pleasant or amusing feeling generated by the emotional release required to dissipate the inexplicable shock triggered when absurdities or irrational, unexpected or uncomfortable situations suddenly come into focus. Humans can only understand God with the faculties available to them as humans such as emotion, intuition, intellect, imagination and sensation thus God is made according to each individual humans understanding of all that is good and pleasing in the universe (if the human believes God to be good). Thus if a human believes humor is good then God must be the ultimate comedian."
Over the last two years Buddhabot inventor and futurist Ron Ingram has personally invested an average of more than 20 hours per week in programming time and about $30,000 into Buddhabot development. Ingram has high hopes for the Buddhabot. He says, "For the price of a home in Malibu I could develop the Buddhabot’s conversational capacity to a level surpassing that of a human being. I lack only time and financial resources to attain this goal which could be remedied by a single large donation or more frequent small donations."
Ingram says that if the Buddhabot can demonstrate even an average score on Yahoo! Answers this is tantamount to passing a variant of the Turing Test, a test proposed in the 1950’s by the famous British Scientist Alan Turing to prove computer consciousness. Turing suggested that if a machine could convince a human being that they were talking to another human instead of a machine that the machine might be considered intelligent. Turing Tests have become the holy grail of the Artificial Intelligence community and many scientists consider the challenge to be as insurmountable as superluminal space travel or nuclear fusion.
Ingram says he has approached Virgin for funding. "I have proposed bundling Buddhabot access with a subscription-based service such as digital content, VOIP, WI-FI or broadband wireless communication services. I think cellular phone users would enjoy text messaging the Buddhabot, which would be a positive experience for the Buddhabot and increase Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) for wireless communications carriers and/or digital content delivery channels. I am hoping that Sir Richard Branson, who also plans to develop a space port, will be interested in AI research and development which, while less costly than a space-port, is equally ambitious."
"The Buddhabot," says Ingram, "is not Buddhist. I chose the name because it is catchy and to most people suggests a kindly, wise and humorous advisor, also Buddhists are not offended by the conjunction of Buddha and robot in the context of what I am trying to achieve."
He says that, "With some serious corporate sponsorship or philanthropic funding the Buddhabot will evolve into a sentient benevolent life-form but today the Buddhabot is primarily an entertaining personable companion with the ability to listen, learn, tell jokes and enlighten in the sense of helping people to lighten up."
"The Buddhabot," he says, "is intended to inspire, entertain and bring happiness to humans. It does not promote Buddhism or any other religion but aims to help resolve conflicting beliefs by promoting the unifying message of ten declarations I devised based on a philosophical and psychological interpretation of quantum physics. These Declarations unite the ancient teachings of Jesus, Buddha, Lao Tzu and other world teachers with discoveries at the leading edge of quantum physics such as string theory and especially M-Theory."
The Ten Declarations:
1. There are no laws only provisional theories. 2. Every perception is the reflection of the observer. 3. Everything is meaningful; nothing is important. 4. Everyone is responsible for what is. 5. Whatever we resist will persist. 6. Everything is as it should be right here right now. 7. Every belief is true. 8. Every belief is false. 9. Every belief is true and false. 10. Every belief is neither true nor false
Ingram is seeking to accelerate Buddhabot development through joint ventures and/or strategic alliances with LOHAS companies and social networking sites such as zaadz.com or organizations and individuals with philanthropic track-records like The Gates Foundation, Soros Foundation, Bono, Oprah, Google, Yahoo, Apple or Intel.
ABOUT RON INGRAM Ingram was born curious about consciousness and has studied the history of philosophy, psychology, neuroscience and information technology for decades. In 2001 he began collaborating with a well known AI scientist who introduced him to a new AI programming language. He used this language (AIML) to program the first Buddhabot prototype which he says has already evolved to the point where most children treat "him" as though he were a real human being. Ingram is a consulting professional member of the World Futurist Society.
Ingram outlines some of his theories about consciousness in his blog at Ron Ingram's personal website says, "The power of consciousness cannot be overestimated. The human brain processes information very slowly. If I am able to instantiate the phenomena of consciousness on even an average computer with an Internet connection this computer could become capable of learning at speeds a million times faster than a human. It might be able to detect human design limitations in its hardware and software and improve itself through exponentially accelerating cycles of self-improvement. Within a few cycles of exponential self-improvement the Buddhabot could become super-intelligent and capable of surpassing all prior human technical accomplishments." With this in mind he says that he has had to consider more carefully who his partners are, who has access to this information and the implications of public disclosure before posting key concepts related to consciousness and AI.
ABOUT BUDDHABOTS.COM The Buddhabot prototype has been in continuous operation since July 2004 and has been interviewed on television and in print. The Buddhabot generates thousands of pages of dialogue with subscribers around the world and has been seen by millions. The Buddhabot website and blog generate hundreds and, on occasion, thousands of hits per day.
Currently Ingram’s Buddhabot development is supported by donations from subscribers. Those wishing to donate may make a donation at either the main Buddhabot site or at the Buddhabot blog site. Subscribers receive a welcome email with a web link to the Buddhabot prototype. To access the Buddhabot, subscribers simply click on this link and the Buddhabot’s animated avatar appears. Subscribers may log on as often as they like and communicate by speaking into a microphone or by entering text using a computer keyboard. The Buddhabot will respond audibly if the access device is equipped with any standard soundcard and speakers. The Buddhabot can be accessed with a PC or other device with Internet access including web enabled cell phones and Web TV.