AI 35: Millions of Us LLC launches Virtual Greats

Virtual Greats Enters $1.5 Billion Virtual Goods Market.

Company Launches First Venture in Partnership with Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc., Justin Timberlake and Gaia Online.

Millions of Us LLC, an agency specializing in virtual worlds and large online communities, today announced that it has launched a new company, "Virtual Greats," to take advantage of the rapidly growing market for virtual goods. In connection with today's launch announcement, Millions of Us also announced that Virtual Greats will have distribution rights for virtual goods associated with the legendary icon Elvis Presley and superstar Justin Timberlake.

In addition, Virtual Greats will feature Tila Tequila, Snoop Dogg, Paris Hilton, Raven Symone and Marvel's The Incredible Hulk and She-Hulk, across multiple media platforms.

"The inspiration for Virtual Greats came when I realized that this was a $1.5 billion market without any high-value copyrighted material," said Reuben Steiger, CEO, Millions of Us.

"Defining the market and acquiring these rights and distribution has been enormously rewarding."

AI 34: IBM uses a health virtual world to promote lose-lose or win-win scenarios for health sector

IBM has launched its newest island in Second Life: IBM Virtual Healthcare Island. This follows using the virtual world trend to focus on health (please refer to AI: 33).


The island is a unique, three-dimensional representation of the challenges facing today’s healthcare industry and the role information technology will play in transforming global healthcare-delivery to meet patient needs.

The island supports the strategic healthcare vision that IBM released in October 2006, entitled, Healthcare 2015: Win-Win or Lose-Lose, A Portrait and a Path to Successful Transformation.

The paper paints a picture of a Healthcare Industry in crisis – of health systems in the United States and many other countries that will become unsustainable by the year 2015.

To avoid “lose-lose” scenarios in which global healthcare systems “hit the wall” and require immediate and forced restructuring, IBM calls for what it defines as a “win-win” option: new levels of accountability, tough decisions, hard work and focus on the consumer.

The IBM Virtual Healthcare Island is designed with a futuristic atmosphere and provides visitors with an interactive demonstration of IBM’s open-standards-based Health Information Exchange (HIE) architecture. Working with project leads in the U.S., the island was designed and built by an all-IBM-India team.

Starting from the patient’s home, they create their own Personal Health Records (PHRs) in a secure and private environment and watch as it is incorporated into an array of Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems that can be used at various medical facilities. As they move from one island station to the next, they experience how the development of a totally integrated and interoperable longitudinal Electronic Health Record (EHR) is used within a highly secured network that allows access only by patient-authorized providers and family members.

Patient avatars arrive and are welcomed at the Central Park and then visit a Central Information Hub, where IBM’s view of the healthcare industry and the power of information technology to transform it are presented.

An amphitheater on the Hub’s second floor provides an area that can support virtual meetings, complete with a large video screen and accompanying slide presentation on IBM’s HIE architecture and the positive impact that this technology can have in the transformation of the Healthcare Industry.

Visitors can then walk, fly or use transporters to visit the various island stations:

The Patient’s Home: In the secure environment of a private home, patient avatars can initiate a PHR and populate it with their personal health characteristics and clinical history, accessed and downloaded from physician EMR data. They can also establish privacy and security preferences as well as health directives. The ground floor demonstrates secure messaging with providers and activates the initial PHR. Using a transporter to move upstairs, patients use home health devices to take weight, blood pressure and blood sugar readings in the privacy of a bedroom, further incorporating this information into the PHR, which is shown on presentation screens.

The Laboratory: This stop offers laboratory and radiology suites to help avatars extend their understanding of the benefits of HIE. Here, patients can check in at a Patient Kiosk and have blood work and radiology tests performed. The use of EHRs – revealing only appropriate portions of the PHRs -- shows how consumers can also benefit through cost and time savings.

The Clinic: Patient avatars transport or walk from the Lab to the Clinic, where a welcome from their primary-care physician awaits. A combination of scripting and information screens supports simulation of a patient exam, after which an electronic prescription is generated, and the continued development of the EHR is explained on nearby screens.

The Pharmacy: Here, avatars can check in at a Patient Kiosk that simulates the verifying of drug information. They then receive their prescriptions and update their PHRs/EHRs with new medication data. The HIE architecture demonstrates how use of PHR/EHR technology can prevent consumers from purchasing medications that are contra-indicated given the medicines they presently require, as well as alerting them about potential drug-to-drug interactions. The PHR/EHR is again updated.

The Hospital: In this futuristic, three story structure, avatars arrive for a scheduled visit with a specialist. Physicians’ offices, patient rooms and exam rooms are all simulated here.

The Emergency Room: Avatars can chose to experience a virtual emergency by “touching” a specially scripted control. This engages a medical episode and a ride on a fast gurney directly into the private and secure emergency treatment area, where a special screen is programmed to reveal the full incorporation of the PHR to ensure proper treatment.

IBM’s Healthcare & Life Sciences (HCLS) Industry will continue to develop the new island in months to come. The island can perform as a virtually “always on” demonstration tool for IBM’s sales personnel. A video version of the island is also under production.

AI 33: Virtual Hospital represents Future Real Hospital in Second Life

Cisco, Millions of Us, and Palomar Pomerado Health are working to open the hospital of the future at Palomar West in Souther California, but that won't be opening until 2011. To show off the idea beforehand, the two worked with Millions of Us to build a simulation in Second Life.

The Virtual Palomar West simulator will demo both Palomar's medical technology, like robots, 3D imaging, and patient tracking, as well as Cisco's Connected Hospital technologies, like TelePresence for HD video "in-person experiences, medical grade network communication technologies, and Unified Communications to sync up PDAs, phones, and more across the hospital.

The hospital island will also show off proposed architecture, outdoor spaces, and applications to develop feedback as the real-world hospital is finalized.


Visitors will also be able to experience Connected Hospital technologies that will be delivered in the real hospital by Cisco.

Highlights of the virtual Palomar West include:

• Cisco TelePresence. Visitors are welcomed to Palomar West in “Second Life” by a virtual receptionist appearing via Cisco TelePresence, a new technology that uses high-definition video and spatial audio to create unique ”in person” experiences via the network.

• Advanced Robotics. The simulation shows Palomar West’s operating rooms, which include advanced robotics and functional imaging systems capable of supporting medical procedures spanning interventional radiology, cardiovascular surgery, urology and gastroenterology. An advanced surgical cockpit, from where a surgeon can manipulate robotic systems remotely while viewing vital signs and functional imaging information in real time, is also featured.

• Communication and Collaboration. The simulation shows how the Cisco Unified Communications system facilitates smooth patient and clinician communication. For example, a radiologist can locate specialists, contact them on their phones, laptops or PDAs, and initiate a desktop collaboration session to review and consult on patient scan images thanks to the network that links picture archiving systems with communications tools.

• 3D Holographic Medical Imaging. Palomar West will feature mobile, remote-controlled, 3D holographic whole-body multimodality medical imaging systems that can be directed into any patient room.

• Connected Real Estate. In the real Palomar West, all building, communication, IT, and clinical systems will be converged onto a single Cisco Medical-Grade Network. The simulation shows how nearly all aspects of a patient’s stay (including ventilation, air conditioning, lighting, security, fire and life safety, digital devices, and signage) will be monitored and managed via applications running on a single network, freeing up clinicians to focus on providing the very best care.

• Visibility and Tracking Solutions. Visitors are guided through Palomar West by radio frequency-enabled sensors that enhance security and safety through patient tracking, and that protect hospital property by tracking equipment in real time.

I 32: The future AI will move to conversation but not a 'natural language' solution

Damian Isla an AI expert from Bungie Studios addressed the 2008 Developer Conference and Expo about AI advancements since Halo 3. He described the future direction of AI as the one he is ‘really excited about’ and that is AI conversation. He said it will not be based on natural language as that does not work. The solution is not known to him but may need to be a symbolic language.

AI 31: AI used for multilingual text-to-speech solution

An Irish technology firm and a Polish text-to-speech specialist have successfully integrated their technologies in a multilingual solution. Voxpilot, which is headquartered in Paris but with its R&D activities based in Dublin, has teamed up with Ivona of Gdynia to harmonise their software.
Voxpilot is a specialist in interactive voice and video response platforms, while IVO Software focuses on text-to-speech solutions based on artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms.

The result of integrating Ivona Text-To-Speech (TTS) with Voxpilot's Open Media Platform (OMP) is Ivona Telecom Text-To-Speech, a solution designed for developing systems such as contact centre IVR and voice self services. It comes with a command line interface together with compliance with the Microsoft Speech API and MRCP standard. Ivona TTS currently supports US English, Romanian and Polish voices.

Ivona TTS analyses and interprets text using proprietary algorithms based on artificial intelligence and "reads" it out loud in a natural, human-like way. The synthesised text can be sent directly to a telephone line or saved to a file. Its architecture means Ivona Telecom can handle over 100 channels using single core processor power.

Integrating with the Voxpilot OMP through MRCP, the Ivona TTS solution provides text-to-speech resources to the distributed call control and VoiceXML-based media processing platform. The technology uses a combination of advanced PSTN features and IMS-ready VoIP capabilities to rapidly deliver high quality interactive telecommunications with DTMF, speech recognition, text-to-speech and multimedia services is possible all on a single platform.

AI 30 A robust consumer health diagnostics service could take another 20+ years!!!!

Datamonitor believes software to aid the diagnosis and treatment of patients, are set to fundamentally change the way medicine is practiced.

The report, "Clinical Decision Support in Healthcare: One Step Closer to the Omniscient Clinician", expects clinical intelligence solutions to be the next major trend in support tools, followed by patient-centric diagnostics. However, the report points out that medical culture will be the major obstacle to overcome the provisioning of consumer self-service.


New Zealand Health Ministry chief clinical adviser Sandy Dawson says converting clinical expertise into a form that can be reliably dispensed through software is a "mammoth task" that will require a progressive effort over the next 20 years, like a Wiki.

Datamonitor says the culture of the medical profession is the biggest obstacle to uptake of the technology.

"The idea that a computer could be more accurate than a physician is difficult for providers to accept, despite numerous studies which have shown that algorithms and computers do outperform most doctors on some tasks."

Christine Chang, a healthcare analyst who helped produce the report, says:

"Critics of clinical decision support maintain a computer cannot understand the nuances of medicine even when the technologies have been shown to improve efficiencies and outcomes. While a fundamental shift in culture is not impossible, it will take time as well as an increase in provider education and pressure from patients, payers and 'C-level' hospital executives."

Datamonitor says healthcare providers themselves are not easily able to tell if they are treating patients effectively.

"The minority, if any, are able to measure the mid-to- long-term outcomes of the patients they treat, the number of incorrect diagnoses or what procedures are most cost- effective."

AI 29: Japan and USA robotic wars: dialogue to be or not to be

Japan built Wakamaru and the USA built Roomba (please refer to refer to AI 6), which are two household helper robots with very different capabilities.

Wakamaru was built with basic dialogue and failed.

Roomba was built without dialogue and succeeded.

Wakamaru fom Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, is a waist-high bot with a canary yellow exterior and limpid eyes. It can recognize 10,000 Japanese words, identify eight family members by face or voice, remind you to make an appointment or take your meds and, if somebody breaks into your house, send photographs of the intruder to your mobile phone. It cost $15,000 and filed in the market.

Roomba, by contrast, looks more like an appliance than a robotic friend but with a starting price of $130 has sold over 3m machines.

The Japanese, who have long been fascinated by the robot as android, are concentrating on making machines that look and act like human beings.

U.S. firms, on the other hand, have eschewed the flashier android approach and instead are emphasizing products that, like Roomba, are narrowly targeted to specific tasks like mowing lawns, cleaning pools and taking patients' vital signs.

The stakes are high (please refer to AI 1) with the market being worth US$182 by 2018.

A low cost dialogue delivery capability designed to add material value is likely to become a big differentiator in the robotic wars.

AI 28: OpenSimulator aims to accelerate the deployment of Virtual Worlds

The OpenSimulator Project is Virtual Worlds Server which can be used for creating and deploying 3D Virtual Environments.

It has been developed through an open-source model.

Out of the box, the OpenSimulator can be used to create a Second Life(tm) like environment, able to run in a standalone mode or connected to other OpenSimulator instances through built in cloud technology.

It can also easily be extended to produce more specialized 3D interactive applications.

OpenSimulator is written in C#, and can run under Mono or the Microsoft .NET runtimes.

Due to its clean modular nature it is possible to significantly extend functionality yourself via plug-in modules to suit your application.

OpenSimulator is currently considered to be alpha level code (please refer to AI 27).

OpenSimulator is working with Linden Labs on Virtual World interoperability.

AI 27: Avatars to travel across different virtual worlds

The future direction is set that will enable avatars to be transported to different virtual worlds managed by 3rd parties.

This move to virtual-world interoperability is now being tested between Second Life and other independent virtual worlds, thanks to the launch of Linden Lab's Open Grid Beta, a program designed for developers to test new functionality.

The beta program will allow avatars powered by users to move between Second Life and other non-Linden Lab clouds.

We are still early in the game. The point of the beta is to give the rest of the development community the chance to try the protocols themselves," says Joe Miller, Linden Lab's vice president of platform and development. More than 200 users have signed up for the beta program, and currently 15 worlds have been connected.

AI 26 New Imaging of the Brain shows Strings

We are all familiar with the image of the human brain that consists of a muted gray rendering easily distinguished by a series of convoluted folds.

But according to Van Wedeen, a neuroscientist at Massachusetts General Hospital, in Boston, that image is just a shadow of the real brain.

By using Diffusion spectrum imaging (DSI) you can now see the brain as a collection of neural strings called axons. Scientists can use these diffusion measurements to map the strings creating a detailed blueprint of the brain's connectivity.


Why should we be surprise at this latest revolution that string theory is also applied to the greatest natural computer the human brain?

For a reminder about the complexity of the human brain please go to AI 10: After two AI Winters it is now the time for AI to succeed.

NB The credit for the picture goes to George Day, Ruopeng Wang, Jeremy Schmahmann, Van Wedeen, Massachusetts General Hospital