Watson: No problemo.
IBM (NYSE:IBM) is putting its resident game show champ -- a computer named Watson -- back to work. Not on another game show, this time Watson is on an important mission: Assisting armed service personnel transition back to civilian life.
In IT Blogwatch, bloggers pack their gear and return home.
Filling in for our humble blogwatcher Richi Jennings, is a humbler Stephen Glasskeys.
Mariella Moon shines light on BBQ sauce:
Watson supercomputer has a new and very important job, one that's a lot different from beating Jeopardy champions or whipping up BBQ sauce recipes: helping vets return to normal life. MORE
Darryl K. Taft faces a life changing transition:
For the first consumer-facing application of IBM's Watson cognitive computing technology, USAA, the insurance and financial services firm...is using Watson to advise customers on the financial transition from military to civilian life....
By accessing Watson, USAA members will be able to ask questions related to the transition experience. MORE
Barb Darrow believes IBM's big Hoss could be a bonanza: [Ahem - Ed]
Watson is IBM's big, cool product but since it won its Jeopardy championship three years ago, IBM has had a hard time capitalizing on that PR bonanza. In January, IBM gave Watson its very own business unit to foster a business push -- and jumpstart what it hopes will be a $10 billion business....
And make no mistake; IBM needs to get Watson out there and in use or risk squandering this lead. MORE
Straight from the horse's speech synthesis chip:
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, approximately 155,000 active military members transition to civilian life each year. Like any career change, moving from a military to a civilian career presents challenges to members and their families....
Watson will be leveraging sophisticated analytics to help USAA take advantage of new member, social and mobile data and provide a more personalized customer experience. MORE
Neal Ungerleider's CPU is a neural net processah, a leahning computah: [You're fired - Ed]
The backend of Watson--the servers, software architecture, and API which allow developers to build apps, relies on a process called "cognitive computing." In layman's terms, cognitive computing allows software to mimic perceptive, cognitive, and interactive aspects of the human brain. MORE
Meanwhile, Dara Kerr opens an app:
This is the first time Watson is being used as a consumer app....
The app lets transitioning military personnel ask Watson questions about civilian life, such as what benefits are offered, what does insurance cover, how does the GI Bill work, and even how to get a job or buy a new home. MORE
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