I've added a "context layer" to Encog 2.0. It is working out nicely for the Elman/Jordan type networks that I want Encog 2.0 to support. I did some programming using my NetBook on the long bus rides on my Spain trip to implement this sort of neural network better. Making progress on Encog 2.0, hope to release in a few months.

Got back from Spain on Monday. Fascinating country, we will have to go back sometime in the future. Visited Madrid, Toledo, and Barcelona. Barcelona is quite the "party city"! I think I am way too boring to visit Barcelona. :)

I will be offering an online neural network programming course for Java in January of 2009. You can find more information here.

We just released the EBOOK form of the 2nd Edition to Introduction to Neural Networks with Java. The paperback should be out in a few weeks. You can read more about it here.

We just released version 0.5 of the Encog Project. Encog is an open source framework for neural networks and HTTP bots. Currently we only have the Java side released. However, a C# version will be out in a few weeks. You can read more about this Encog release here.

Tracy, Lori and I just got back from Quebec City. They were celebrating the 400th anniversary of the city. We toured Quebec city. Quebec city still has its city walls and has a very distentive look. We saw parts of the city, and even a waterfall outside of the city. We also saw Les Miserables at a local theatre.  We saw les miserables in French!  Tracy had to help me understand some of the parts, because I do not speak French!  It was a fun trip!

[Pictures from Quebec]

Tracy and I just got back from a cruise. Neither of has ever been on one before, and it was great. I was amazed that I was able to use my AT&T air card, for free, from Puerto Rico and St. Thomas, since they were both US territories. We are total nerds, we brought along 2 iPhones, a Mac Air, an Amazon Kindle and an AT&T AirCard(for the Mac Air) for the trip. Of course we spent way more time doing cruise stuff than playing with our technology. But one does need to stay connected! You can see some of the pictures here.

Here are the new covers for my two upcoming books. You can read more about their release schedule here: http://www.heatonresearch.com/stories/twobooks.html .

For the past few months I've been working on a new book. Actually, its the second edition to one of my most popular books. Introduction to Neural Networks has been out since 2005, and its time for a second edition.