Original article from GTC2014 Morning Call, March 27, 2014.
A ROCKING KEYNOTE — CUSTOMIZING CARS — OCULUS RETURNS — MAP–D SNAGS $100K PRIZE — RETAINING A SENSE OF HUMOR — GTC 2015 DATES — “SPIRIT OF GTC” PHOTO CONTEST
HEARD ON THE FLOOR
Salad Days. Michael Sossong, of Decision Sciences, deals with grim prospects in his work using GPUs to detect smuggled nuclear material. But he’s retained a sense of humor. He noted in his talk, with a straight face, that cosmic rays are made up of photons, neutrons and croutons.
A Diverse Crowd. A distinct minority, 40 female GTC attendees gathered to share a little about their backgrounds. What did they learn? Apart from having far-ranging interests outside the GPU – one plays sax, another is an accomplished mixologist – they found how international they are. More than two-thirds of the room hailed from outside the U.S.
When to Delegate. Jim Carducci, who runs his own custom motorcycle company, might be excused for not knowing a GPU from a GPS. An enthusiast who developed an adventure bike that could be ridden on and off-road, he knew he needed a powerful graphics card to drive his design process. So, he delegated that decision to his more technically adept wife, who chose a Quadro K1000. A version of Jim’s bike is on display in the exhibition hall.
Sweet Nothings. Even after the exhibition hall closes, GTC attendees can linger in the popular “candy bar” area. The most popular genre, by some distance, has been gummy snacks. Many attendees claimed they were taking candy for their kids, but their brightly colored tongues suggested otherwise.
GPU Technology Conference (GTC), San Jose, CA (March 24-27, 2014): For more information about NVIDIA’s GPU Technology Conference, visit – http://www.gputechconf.com/page/home.html