Watson Discovery Advisor has been upgraded to seek out hidden relations in data.
IBM has upgraded its Watson Discovery Advisor data analysis service so it can answer your questions before you even ask. The updated Watson Discovery Advisor can examine a body of data and identify trends, correlations and other points of interest for researchers, IBM said. The service will provide you leads "when you don't know the question to ask, and for when you want to uncover and discover in the data new insights and patterns," said Steve Gold, IBM vice president for the Watson platform.
Watson Discovery Advisor is a commercial offshoot ( http://www.pcworld.com/article/2086160/ibm-launches-business-unit-to-make-watson-a-moneymaker.html ) of Watson, packaging some of Watson's capabilities as a data analysis cloud service.
There is also notification of a Watson Group Discovery Event which has, unfortunately, reached us too late to be of any use - it took place on the 28 Aug in New York. Did any members of our community attend, and what was it like?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 30 2014, @02:03AM
See subject.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday August 30 2014, @10:14PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Saturday August 30 2014, @03:03AM
If this works, then perhaps some serious answers in life extension, cancer and nuclear research might find their answer. Let's hope for that at least.
(Score: 3, Funny) by BsAtHome on Saturday August 30 2014, @07:10AM
This is just a precursor to Deep Though and we all know how that ends, don't we.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 30 2014, @04:16AM
A book?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hobbit [wikipedia.org]
A DVD/Blue-Ray?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0903624/ [imdb.com]
With insufficient data, Watson is no better off than Gollum....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gollum [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Saturday August 30 2014, @07:38AM
Pocket fluff.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 30 2014, @12:37PM
'Your hand' would also work and be a correct answer.
Tolkein may (not) have been aware of this when he originaly wrote the Gollum/Bilbo riddle scene in THE HOBBIT (1937).
I was always fond of that scene from the 1977 Rankin-Bass animated adaptation. :D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qteq21CvDRE [youtube.com]
If 'your hand' is not in the pocket, then Gollum (and Watson) are out of luck. :P
But your answer of pocket lint is hands down the best and is the correct answer unless the clothing the pocket is attached to is 'brand spanking new'. Even then, it could be argued that the pockets of brand new, freshly made, never worn new clothes contain a teeny tiny amount of lint created during their manufaturing proces. :D
(Score: 4, Funny) by captain normal on Saturday August 30 2014, @04:21AM
Watson: "If you have to ask, you can't afford it."
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 3, Interesting) by gidds on Saturday August 30 2014, @08:21AM
How do you distinguish between actual causal links and mere chance correlations?
In experimental design, as I understand it, it's usually much safer to decide upon the question before designing and performing an experiment, and finally analysing the data. Otherwise, it's easy to be lead astray... Obligatory xkcd [xkcd.com].
[sig redacted]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 30 2014, @01:14PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRTtLvKAKgk [youtube.com]
I laughed at this Johnny Carson comedy bit several times throughout its running time.
Clean comedy from a bygone era forty years ago (1974) sprinkled with an unexpected double entendre or two to keep you on your toes. :D
Maybe these Carnac skits inspired IBM to get Watson to 'replicate' this feat. :)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 30 2014, @04:41PM
Always 42...