An Axiomatic, Non-probabilistic Approach to Classification of Individual Sequences Presented by Prof. Jacob Ziv, Technion Institute Alan M. Turing Centennial Conference - Israel April 4, 2012 The Wohl Centre Bar-Ilan University Ramat-Gan, Israel For more information see: sites.google.com

On April 4th, 2012, Over 600 people gathered at the Wohl Conference Center on the Bar-Ilan University campus in Israel to celebrate the life of Alan Turing, as part of world celebration of the centenary of this truly great person's birth. Sponsored by Google's R&D Center in Israel, The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, and the Israeli Centers for Research Excellence (i-Core), the day-long conference featured speeches from some of today's top computer scientists For more information see: sites.google.com

Google Tech Talk April 26, 2012 Presented by Daniel B. Ravicher ABSTRACT America's patent system dates back to the founding of our nation when it was expressly included in the Constitution. To be sure, a patent system can provide many great benefits to society. However, patents also pose a great threat to society because the issuance of a patent makes it illegal for any American to do whatever is claimed by the patent. Thus, it is critically important to the success of our patent system that it maintain high patent quality and ensures only deserving patents are issued. Unfortunately, the American patent system today is suffering from extremely low patent quality. Every Tuesday the Patent Office issues 4000 patents after spending on average less than a couple days in reviewing the merits of each patent application. When asked to reconsider the merits of patents it previously issued, the Patent Office concedes that the vast majority of them have questionable validity. When patents end up in court as a result of patent owners suing alleged infringers, a large percentage of the time those asserted patents are found to have been improperly granted. The result is a polluted patent system littered with trash patents that impede technological development. In this Google Tech Talk, Prof. Daniel B. Ravicher of the Public Patent Foundation and Benjamin N. Cardozo School of law will explain why patent quality is so low in America today, describe in detail the ways in which low patent ...

Introductory Remarks (Hebrew and English) Presented by Prof. Yossi Matias, Google Alan M. Turing Centennial Conference - Israel April 4, 2012 The Wohl Centre Bar-Ilan University Ramat-Gan, Israel For more information see: sites.google.com

Abstract: Five hundred years ago, Copernicus advanced the theory that the Earth was not the center of the Solar System. That theory revolutionized our understanding of the Universe. It was initially met with great opposition because of what it meant about our own significance. Today there is a second Copernican revolution underway that will once again alter our significance. Advances in technologies and techniques are enabling the detection, observation and study of Earth-like planets around other stars. And several deep-space missions are currently exploring potentially-habitable worlds within our Solar System as possible abodes for life beyond the Earth. As one such mission, the two intrepid robotic explorers, Spirit and Opportunity, have been exploring the surface of Mars for evidence of past habitable environments that could have supported life. The rovers have traversed great plains, climbed mountains, descended into deep craters and survived rover-killing dust storms and frigid winters. Both rovers have found clues that Mars was once Earth-like with a potential for life. Soon they will be joined by another larger, more capable rover on the surface. Within the next few years, we may be poised to answering that central question, "Are we alone in the Universe?" Speaker Info: John L. Callas, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., has been project manager of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover project since March 2006. Previously, as science manager and then ...