IBM’s supercomputer will now help save lives.
After beating up on lowly humans on ‘Jeopardy,’ IBM’s supercomputer Watson will now help Wellpoint Inc., the health insurer with 34 million members, to diagnose medical problems and authorize the correct treatments.
By integrating Watson’s database into its own existing patient information, Wellpoint says they should be able to find the best treatment and remedies in the quickest time.
Says IBM: “This very much fits into the sweet spot of what we envisioned for the applications of Watson.” Wellpoint agrees: “It’s really a game-changer in health care.”
More specifically, the databases being integrated are Wellpoint’s patient charts/electronic record, the insurance company’s history of medicines and treatments, and Watson’s vast database of textbooks and medical journals.
IBM says it will only take seconds for Watson to sift through all the data and provide several diagnoses or treatments.
Result for: sweet spot
Microsoft has announced that it expects the Xbox 360 to outsell the total sales of the original Xbox by November, surpassing 25 million units worldwide.
Mindy Mount, corporate VP and CFO of the company’s Entertainment and Devices division, says “so far we’ve done a great job appealing to the core gamers. And by the end of this month we expect our global installed base to reach 25 million units, surpassing that of the first Xbox.
“It’s a great milestone for us, but still only a start when you consider that history shows three-quarters of a console’s sales come at a price of USD 199 or lower. We hit that sweet spot in September, making our Arcade model USD 50 cheaper than the Wii and half the price of a PlayStation 3.”
Mount also correctly noted that the recent across the board price cut has had a huge impact on sales around the world. “In the US in September our console sales rose 42 per cent month over month, and in Europe they rose 62 per cent,” she added. “In Japan we’ve had over a 500 per cent increase in sales.”
Result for: sweet spot
Mitsubishi has introduced a new line of LCD displays, dubbed the 149 Series, that replace the standard stereo speakers of most TVs with “a 16-point audio system, much like speaker bars, that can generate a 5.1-channel surround effect without occupying the physical space.”
The first two TVs to use this new system, called the integrated Sound Projector, are the 46-inch LT46149 and 52-inch LT-52149 and can utilize the system to “optimize the sound field for a certain room size and sweet spot to more convincingly generate audio.”
Beyond the excellent speakers, the full HD 1080p 149 series comes with a 120Hz refresh rate and can also accept one-way CableCARDs for tuning cable-based HDTV without the need for a cable set top box.
Both TVs should begin shipping later this month with price tags of $3,299 USD and $3,699 USD respectively.
