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AI could be the solution to catching tax cheats
The fear of AI usually revolves around the fear of an uprising and humans being attacked by our new robot overlords. Researchers at MIT and non-profit technology source Mitre have a new terrifying future for AI. Well, not that scary to most people, but something that could put a fright in the accountants of tax-cheating corporations. The researchers propose a using artificial intelligence to investigate complex tax shelters that keep companies and the rich from paying their fair share of taxes. It's like Skynet but with a really awesome calculator and algorithms.
US Army developing Android-based smartphone framework and apps
The US Army is calling upon Android app developers to help make military life a little less stressful -- and, perhaps, a lot safer. Under a new Army framework known as the Mobile/Handheld Computing Environment (CE), third-party developers will be able to create and submit tactical Android apps, using the military's CE Product Developer's Kit. The framework, originally prototyped by the folks over at MITRE, represents the latest phase in the Army's ongoing campaign to incorporate smartphone technology on the battlefield. Any app operating under the CE system will be interoperable across all command systems, and, as you'd expect, will be tightly secured. The kit won't be released to developers until July, but the Army has already begun tinkering with its baseline suite of Mission Command apps, which includes tools designed to facilitate mapping, blue force tracking, and Tactical Ground Reporting. On the hardware side of the equation, the Army is planning to deploy a new handheld known as the Joint Battle Command-Platform, or JBC-P. The two-pound JBC-P is essentially a military-friendly smartphone designed to run on a variety of existing radio networks, while supporting the full suite of forthcoming apps. The JBC-P will be tested this October, and will likely be issued on a wider basis in 2013.
Researchers from Harvard and MITRE announce world's first programmable nanoprocessor
We've seen plenty of breakthroughs involving nanowires over the years, but none of those have involved an actual programmable processor -- until now, that is. That particular "world's first" was just announced by a team of researchers from Harvard University and the MITRE Corporation this week, and it's being described as nothing short of a "quantum jump forward in the complexity and function of circuits built from the bottom up." As for the processor itself, it consists of an array of nearly 500 germanium nanowires that have been criss-crossed with metal wires on a chip that's just 960 micrometers (or less than 1 millimeter) square. That becomes an actual processor when the researchers run a high voltage through the metal wires and switch the individual intersections off and on at will -- we're simplyfing things a bit, but you get the idea. What's more, the researchers note that the architecture is fully scalable, and promises to allow for the assembly of "much larger and ever more functional nanoprocessors." Head on past the break for the official press release. [Thanks, Chris]
MITRE develops hemispheric camera for visual telepresence
You have no idea how many times we've caught ourselves piloting prototype unmanned weapons platforms through hostile urban environments and thought, "this route is too complex, and this vision system too cumbersome to use -- there has got to be a better way." Well, it looks like the folks at MITRE have heard our call and replied with something called the Immersive Vision System. Currently in development, the heart of the thing is a hemispherical camera -- actually a number of stationary cameras that creates a video image that covers all 360 degrees horizontally and a none-too-shabby 270 degrees vertically. Placed on a robot, unmanned vehicle or armored troop carrier, the pilot wears a head mounted display with a tracking sensor that allows him to move his head naturally, adjusting the point of view accordingly -- no need for periscopes, joysticks, or any other non-intuitive control interfaces. Of course, we've merely scratched the surface of this whole "visual telepresence" jazz here -- for some action footage, be sure you check out the video after the break.