In class, we discussed the existence of Nash equilibria in Traffic Networks, where the individual travelers hope to pick the route from origin to destination with the lowest travel time. Travel time, however, is not a static factor, as increased congestion on a road results in slower driving speeds and therefore longer travel times. […]

Web 2.0 products try to offer a new dimension of the Internet besides the glossy buttons and big, clean fonts : social network that connects relationships. David Sacks, the founder and CEO of new start up Geni says in his article from TechCrunch that sharing information with others is an evolution from basic search. He […]

http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=20
Http://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/reporters_without_borders_the_internets_black_holes?size=_original
 
In 1985 the non-governmental organization Reporters Without Borders was formed in Montpellier, France.  The organization’s initial goal was to promote alternative news agencies.  After a period of infighting amongst the founders, the goal ultimately shifted to promoting “ the right to freedom of opinion and expression.”  RWB calls upon several documents, including the Universal Declaration […]

Game theorists and economists have found themselves with a starring role in the ongoing 700 MHz spectrum auction. Not only were game theorists involved in structuring the FCC auction but have been hired by every major bidder in deciding their bidding strategy. Game theory was also central to Google’s efforts to change the rules to […]

Imagine a list of every band. What if there was a way to link the bands based on similarity? Liveplasma.com does just that. The user can enter in his/her favorite band/artist and the site shows a graph of similar bands with the given band in the middle of the graph. Each artist has a bubble, […]

How did we go from a strong housing market and the low interest rates to $200 billion total loss in financial institutions? Why is it that “bubbles” repeatedly form in the economy and inevitably burst?

Image taken from CagleCartoons.com 
Whether the system you are looking at is a financial network of banks or an ecosystem of organisms, there are similarities […]

A USA Today article, On Ebay, it pays to snipe, talks about the strategy of “sniping,” which is described as “waiting for the very last second to submit your bid” for an item. Ebay has a form of auctioning called Second Price auctions. Second price auctions have a dominant strategy for bidders where it is […]

http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/patterson/12764/blu-ray-trumps-hd-dvd-the-aftermath
The use of HD-DVD players is coming to an end. As prices of HD-DVD players decrease and more companies move toward selling Blu-Ray one can only determine that HD-DVD players are on its last leg. The long awaited rise of Blu-Ray disc as an industry standard backed by Sony has begun.
Toshiba an early […]

In the Wall Street Journal Yesterday there was an interesting article about a network company Google may buy that makes wireless networks by sending up transceivers into the stratosphere via balloons. The company, Space Data Corp., releases 10 balloons a day in the southern U.S. to support telecom systems for truckers and oil companies. These […]

Manufacturers of consumer electronics are developing great devices with new features at an alarming rate.  Unfortunately, advances in battery technology are struggling to keep up with these new power hungry gadgets.  Streaming video, 3d graphics, and wireless data connections can all drain a device’s battery in a few short hours.  Some electrical engineers are taking […]