Media Advisory - Technology Review Examines Natural Language Processing; Leading Microsoft NLP Technologist to Headline Popular Breakfast Briefing

Business Wire, April 6, 2001

Business/Technology Editors

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 6, 2001

Technology Review, MIT's Magazine of Innovation, announced today that it would bring its popular Innovators Breakfast series to Bellevue, Washington on April 25, 2001. Bill Dolan, Researcher/Manager of Microsoft's Natural Language Processing division will be the featured speaker. The event will be held from 7:30-9:30 am at the Bellevue Club Hotel and is sponsored by EDS.

For decades people have eagerly anticipated the day when computers can understand human language. Why is it taking so long? According to many experts, programming computers so that they can process human language is not an easy goal to attain. Long after machines have proven capable of inverting large matrices with speed and grace, they still have not mastered the basics of spoken and written languages. While natural language may be the easiest symbol system for people to learn and use, it has proved to be the hardest for a computer to master.

Bill Dolan has been with the Microsoft Corporation since May 1992 and joined Microsoft Research at that time. He received his B.A. from Berkeley and a Ph.D. from UCLA, both in Linguistics. He spent approximately three years working with the IBM LA Scientific Center on natural language projects.

Additional information is available at www.technologyreview.com.

About EDS

EDS provides strategy, implementation and hosting for clients managing the business and technology complexities of the digital economy. EDS brings together the world's best technologies to address critical client business imperatives. It helps clients eliminate boundaries, collaborate in new ways, establish their customers' trust and continuously seek improvement. EDS, with its management-consulting subsidiary, A.T. Kearney, serves the world's leading companies and governments in 55 countries.

About Technology Review

Technology Review is the world's oldest technology magazine. Re-launched in 1998 as "MIT's Magazine of Innovation," Technology Review, Inc., is a diversified media enterprise that promotes the understanding of emerging technologies and their impact. Its signature magazine, as well as its conferences, events, and new Internet businesses will assist influential audiences in building the Next Economy. Since its re-launch, Technology Review has seen paid circulation more than double, from 92,000 to 250,000 as of September 2000. The print publication was recently a finalist for the coveted National Magazine Award, and is the recipient of numerous other awards.

Technology Review is published monthly as is available on newsstands and online at www.technologyreview.com.