According to cnet[1]: "Correction at 12:04 p.m.: After this story was published, we heard from PBS producer Michael Bicks that it was not, in fact, Watson that crashed during the show's taping. He would like to make clear the following: "I missblogged last night--It was not Watson, but the system that was the interface between Watson and the Jeopardy computer, completely separate from Watson, that crashed during the taping."
I had no idea. Out of everything I've heard, including the buzzer response time advantage, this seems to be the one thing that isn't really fair. If Ken was a narcoleptic and fell asleep every couple of minutes, he wouldn't have been allowed to be a competitor.
I still value what they're doing and of course it's fun to see the crazy thing play and win at Jeopardy, but I think the fact that it crashes continuously should at least be made more visible to the viewing audience. "Yes, folks, it can beat Ken at Jeopardy, but we still have to press the reset button every once in a while just like you do at home." Skynet may be getting smarter, but it still has fundamental problems.
... no, I'm sort of shocked that's been so covered up. Several of the team members have been at my university giving presentations and talks on Watson (including one of the software engineering practices behind it) and I'm somewhere between shocked and appalled it wasn't mentioned.
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