Man ties machine in Jeopardy! showdown

NEW YORK - A man-versus-machine showdown on popular US quiz show Jeopardy! ended in a tie on the first day of a three-day challenge, when an IBM computer showed off its knowledge of the Beatles, as well as a few glitches.

The machine, dubbed Watson after International Business Machines Corp's former president Thomas Watson, is the computer and software maker's latest display of its expertise in advanced science.

Watson's ability to understand language and solve problems through complex algorithms makes it even more evolved than Deep Blue, an IBM chess-playing supercomputer that beat world champion Garry Kasparov in 1997.