UIUC Unveils the Worlds Most Advanced Building 319
Eagle5596 writes "The University of Illinois at Urbana
Champaign, one of the top Computer
Science programs in the world has just officially opened their new $80
million Siebel
Center. The department head describes the building as a
single computing entity, meant to be programmed and to interact with those
in the building via RFID tags in their ID cards.
This is probably one of
the biggest and most expensive projects in ubiquitous computing ever
launched, touching on all the important issues in this field, from privacy to the ultimate question about the usefulness of such a system. Several papers are covering this including the Chicago Sun Times, and the Chicago
Business"
Damnit HAL, LET ME IN!!! (Score:5, Funny)
Blue hair (Score:3, Funny)
Nice to know that the welcoming avatar has blue hair. Because that's the future, apparently.
I bet they'd fire the receptionist of he/she dyed their hair blue, or they'd refuse to hire the same, but as soon as you need to represent the future, it has blue hair.
Just like Strong Bad has a Japanese cartoon character: http://homestarrunner.com/sbemail57.html
Re:Damnit HAL, LET ME IN!!! (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Damnit HAL, LET ME IN!!! (Score:2)
-S
Re:Damnit HAL, LET ME IN!!! (Score:2)
Re:Damnit HAL, LET ME IN!!! (Score:3, Informative)
-B
In interaction means... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:In interaction means... (Score:3, Funny)
Only mountain dew on this campus... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Only mountain dew on this campus... (Score:2)
Re:If interaction means... (Score:2)
Re:If interaction means... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:In interaction means... (Score:2)
I'm not sure (Score:3, Insightful)
Siebel Center? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Siebel Center? (Score:4, Funny)
+2 Informative???? (Score:2)
Moderators! The link in the parent goes to a pic of an outhouse. Who the hell (two people actually) modded parent Informative?
Re:+2 Informative???? (Score:4, Funny)
Of course not... (Score:2)
Re:Tom Siebel is Evil (Score:2)
Building is a single computing entity... (Score:4, Funny)
Sorry
Re:Building is a single computing entity... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Building is a single computing entity... (Score:2)
Re:Building is a single computing entity... (Score:2)
"Modern" buildings tend to not age well (Score:5, Insightful)
The UIUC bldg sounds extremely cool, but in 5 yrs folks will be smiling politely at the "hokey-ness" of the place.
Re:"Modern" buildings tend to not age well (Score:5, Insightful)
It was built in the late 50's and looks good today. Of course, Frank Lloyd Wright is considered by many to be one of the great architects of all time and the Siebel Center isn't really of the same class.
Re:"Modern" buildings tend to not age well (Score:2)
Everytime I'm there, I'm impressed. "Woah. It's like a time capsule to 1998!"
Re:"Modern" buildings tend to not age well (Score:5, Informative)
I wouldn't believe all the hype if I were you. Just like everything else, including the project I'm supposed to present at this Siebel Center Open House, it's a lot of buzzwords and catch phrases...it doesn't really do what I say it does... But a man can dream can't he?
But on another note, the elevator shafts provided a lovely rappelling trip... to bad they had to install elevators in them. (Which I mananged to crash and get stuck on the 3rd floor...like software-wise not bloody death crash)
But I'm stuck here until I graduate... what fun it will be to break the rest of it. It is however nicer than our old building... Thank you Mr. Siebel for giving us a lot of money before your company started to fail, and thanks for not asking for it back.
Re:"Modern" buildings tend to not age well (Score:2)
How do you manage to do that. First of all, since elevator controls are a pure hardware implementation (at least the one in my building), it would be impossible to have a software error. Second, an elevator uses perhaps a dozen flip-flops and a few hundred transistors, diodes, and ca
Re:"Modern" buildings tend to not age well (Score:2)
Re:"Modern" buildings tend to not age well (Score:3, Insightful)
20 years later when they featured it as used classic they called its styling "Classic, but slightly dated."
Today I would, myself, call its styling "Classic, but slightly dated," and rather imagine that's the way my grandchildren will describe in in another 50 years.
On the other hand when my first gen Capri was only 5 years old it looked old. Old and stupid.
My brother's 64 1/2
Re:"Modern" buildings tend to not age well (Score:2)
On a more on topic note, I believe that designs tend to go in cycles. Today, modern tends to be the "in-thing" while tommorrow what was cool 30 years ago might be cool again. It's a never ending cycle. It's the reason people buy old cars, old houses, futuristic cars, houses, etc. One moment it's in, the next it's not.
Re:"Modern" buildings tend to not age well (Score:4, Funny)
And also Masai. The lions don't impress me as being terribly crazy about that arrangement. There's just no pleasing some people.
Coincidentally I happen to be dressed as a Masai right now, right down to the traditional trapazoidal sandals (but when I track down a good bad tire I'll do up a pair of Ho Chi Maas). Very simple, but elegant mode of dress. One might well describe it as "Classic, but slightly dated." In fact, it's basically Classical Greek. I don't know why most northern writers refer to it as "Roman." Classical Greek dress doesn't look anything like Roman and is the very antithesis of the toga, which now just looks old. Old and stupid.
I'm not at all sure how a Masai would react to a white American dressed like a Masai, but it seems that here in upstate NY people either look at you funny or pretend they're not looking at all. In NYC, of course, nobody looks at anything anymore.
I'll match my walking ability with any man, anywhere, including Masai, but admit I can't jump for shit.
KFG
Re:"Modern" buildings tend to not age well (Score:3, Interesting)
The place still has the most excellent smells of new computer/networking gear, and you can go around and sometimes see the MDF's still under construction.
Its a fun place.
Re:"Modern" buildings tend to not age well (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:"Modern" buildings tend to not age well (Score:2)
Microsoft "Buildy" (Score:5, Funny)
Now, when you go down the hall, the "Buildy" mascot asks things like. "You appear to be walking to the bathroom. Would you like some help?"
Re:Microsoft "Buildy" (Score:2)
"You appear to be walking like an obese person."
And before you can say "I am an ob..." it starts shooting at your feet, "Would you like some help? Run fat boy, run!".
Yeh, I'm all for this. It'd be hilarious.
Re:Microsoft "Buildy" (Score:2, Funny)
Some of us already have advanced buildings (Score:4, Funny)
security issues? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:security issues? (Score:3, Informative)
Regression (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Regression (Score:2)
Dangerous? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Dangerous? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Dangerous? (Score:2)
Am I the only one... (Score:3, Interesting)
Gotta wonder what kind of security they've got on her. If I had my face scanned everytime I entered a room, and had some stupid voice asking me questions when I just wanted to finish my assignment back when I was in school, the system would have been modified drastically during finals week.....
Not that I would condone such now, of course. Probably get you labeled a terrorist and thrown under the jail.
The Real Privacy Question (Score:5, Funny)
Johnny wanted to find Professor X to ask a question about his research paper, approaching the wall he intoned, "Computer, please locate Professor X."
In a booming voice the wall responded, "Professor X is currently in Stall 5 of the Bathroom on the second floor, logging in."
Re:The Real Privacy Question (Score:2)
Re:The Real Privacy Question (Score:3, Funny)
And the the booming voice will continue, "And Professor X has used more than his (her) allotment of toilet paper this week. Initiating emergency protocols."
And then they guys with shotguns come bursting in on poor Professor X.
can't...resist..potty..humor (Score:2)
Shouldn't that be 'logging out'?
Re:The Real Privacy Question (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:The Real Privacy Question (Score:2)
Hehe, that reminds me of a story about an old physics prof of ours back when I was in University. Rather strict old guy but very good. He lectured in a huge auditorium, so he wore a microphone and his voice boomed out over the auditorium sound system. One day he took a break to go take a leak, and forgot to turn off the mike .. :)
Re:The Real Privacy Question (Score:2)
And the best part is... (Score:2, Informative)
Oh... and sure, the building's nice, too.
--
"It's better to have an attention span and not need it, than to need whatever it is we were just talking about."
- Mayor {Powerpuff Girls}
Irony, indeed (Score:2, Funny)
BFG Competition? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:BFG Competition? (Score:2)
1000 Words (Score:2, Interesting)
in a side note... (Score:2, Funny)
This will be fun to watch... (Score:5, Insightful)
What happens? Does the system fail to "everything is locked"?
This sounds like a RISKS article waiting to happen.
Re:This will be fun to watch... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:This will be fun to watch... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:This will be fun to watch... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:This will be fun to watch... (Score:2)
Re:This will be fun to watch... (Score:2)
Someone will undoubtedly call me on terminology, but this is "fail-safe" design. I.E., instrument air/pneumatics/electricity failure defaults the device to a "safe" condition. The trick is in evaluating *the whole system* as an entity in itself. The law of unintended consequences applies here, and with more design being automated, there is often a disconnect between the designers of different systems (worst case is inexperi
Re:This will be fun to watch... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:This will be fun to watch... (Score:2)
Re:This will be fun to watch... (Score:2)
Ah yes, yet another example of how high tech inventions are modeled after comfortable and familiar low tech versions.
We interface with our computers using comprehensible "desktop" metaphors. We implement our electronic locks to behave like steel locks - that is, in case of a fire, they default to unlocked status to prevent people from dying in fires. Um, wait a minute. Nevermind, that's merely totally farkin
Re:This will be fun to watch... (Score:2)
Re:This will be fun to watch... (Score:2)
Smarthome sells deadbolts in either fail-safe or fail-secure. I would guess they probably sell more fail-safe ones.
Re:This will be fun to watch... (Score:2, Informative)
As long as it isn't running Windows (Score:2, Funny)
Re:As long as it isn't running Windows (Score:5, Funny)
crash with "Segmentation fault: floor dumped".
Even cooler than their last building? (Score:2)
Finally, a chance to get back... (Score:5, Funny)
Sweet revenge!
Salary (Score:3, Interesting)
800 faculty years of almost anyone in the world, or one building. Good going UIUC.
Re:Salary (Score:4, Interesting)
I can't see how this comment was modded interesting.
First, faculty and students need buildings to work and learn in. You can hire all the people in the world, but if they don't have a place to run their labs, teach classes etc in, what's the point?
Second, having the best facilities in the world is a draw for leading researchers and students. You can't expect to attract the best with some beat up old building from 1970, can you? This is an investment in the staff and students as much as hiring more TA's or buying new lab equipment.
Third, do you know much UIUC spends overall on their budget for professors salaries? We don't know if this is a fraction of their budget or half of it.
Finally, $80 million is not a lot of money for a university building. It's about average.
Re:Salary (Score:2)
Re:Salary (Score:2)
800 faculty years of almost anyone in the world, or one building. Good going UIUC.
That's not quite an accurate assessment I gather. A university does need a decent-sized networked building and good computer equipment. You have to subtract what an average configuration would run from the cost of the building, THEN divide that by $100,000. You might also want to account for the value of the publicity the building generates. The more good students that are attracted by something advanced and flashy, the mor
The perfect excuse (Score:3, Funny)
"Nooo. Can't go to school, they're running critical updates on our building today!"
The One (Score:2)
UIUC (Score:2)
Who? Can't say that I've ever heard of them. Where do they appear on the list of other top western universities like MIT, Stanford, Cambridge, Oxford, etc? Is this some kind of in-place advertizing thing?
Re:UIUC (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:UIUC (Score:2)
I think somebody else in the thread got it right when they said: "For most US students"...
Re:UIUC (Score:2)
Re:UIUC (Score:4, Interesting)
I got into the PhD programs at Stanford, Berkeley, MIT, Carnegie-Mellon, and UIUC--and UIUC compares very well with the rest of these schools. The only thing UIUC lacks is the publicity to go with the quality of research that happens here. On the other hand, this is a good thing since the students here can concentrate more on research instead of just working very hard at appearing smart like some other schools promote.
At UIUC, the professors are generally fairly young, which I view as a good thing. At the 'bigger' name schools you end up with a bunch of dinosaurs who may have contributed to the field in the past but are simply living off the legacy insteading doing new research. If you actually care about this, check out the UIUC research page at: http://www.cs.uiuc.edu/research/areas.html [uiuc.edu]
I have personally found the AI, Databases, and Theory groups to be very impressive and have had experience working with them.
If you want an interesting comparison, check out MIT's new building.http://web.mit.edu/buildings/statacenter
UIUC has a much more honest and less flashy style, which I find rather refreshing.
I do agree that most of the ubiquitous computing features of the building seem a little silly, but why not make your new computer science building a functional experiment in computer science itself?
Re:UIUC (Score:2)
Looking at the GIF slideshow here [mit.edu], it appears that Bill's building has already crashed.
Suprised? No. Amused? Yes.
- sm
Re:UIUC (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:UIUC (Score:2, Funny)
No spell-checker if that $80 mill? (Score:3, Funny)
Shame they didn't get a spell-checker with it. I believe the reference to "Accomodations" on the main page of their website should read "Accommodations".
Ho hum. Am I being too picky?
Espresso bar! (Score:2, Funny)
If it's free, I'm going to college.
Hey, I used to live there! (Score:2, Funny)
Re:I go here (Score:2, Informative)
Re:I go here (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:I go here (Score:2)
>
> 80 million dollars couldn't afford a photo gallery, just an
The insurance policy on $80M buildings that are "single computing units" probably doesn't cover the Slashdot effect. They fear us, and with good reason.
What are you smoking? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Sup with the site? (Score:3, Interesting)
Everything actually looks really awesome right now. Too bad most of it isn't staying in the building after the weekend.
Anyway, to provide you with some other cool associated things:
web cam [uiuc.edu], VRML model of building [uiuc.edu]. Enjoy.
PS Though I have complaints, I'm leaving those to the other trolls.
Until recently... (like, last week) (Score:3, Interesting)
Damned Boilermakers.