algorithms
Online

Spam Rank: The Google-Backed Research Fighting Fake Reviews

Fake online reviews are a pain in the arse: they make interent shopping harder than it already is. But thankfully there are people out there who are developing ways of spotting and blocking rogue five-star reviews, and a new algorithm backed by Google seems to be the most effective yet.

March 23, 2012
Computing

The Best Way To Find Wally Is With A Computer

Finding Wally wasn’t easy as a kid — and it doesn’t get less tough as an adult. No problem: now there’s an algorithm that can find him for you. Let’s not call it cheating, though, OK?

February 15, 2012
Online

Google Thinks This Is The Funniest Video On YouTube

You may have wondered in the past what the funniest video to appear on YouTube is. I bet, whatever criteria you used, you wouldn’t choose this one. Which is odd, because according to Google’s comedy algorithm, it should have us all in stitches.

July 28, 2011
Online

Algorithm Can Look At Your Twitter And Tell If You’re Man Or Woman

Though a bit odd, it’s not unheard of for a guy to pretend to be a girl — or vice versa — on the internet. But researchers developed a new algorithm which analyses the content of tweets and predicts a user’s gender.

July 27, 2011
Computing

Humanity Is Owned By Computer Algorithms And Resistance Is Futile

Kevin Slavin gave this fascinating talk at TED about the pervasive nature of computer algorithms in society and the financial markets. It just scratches the surface of what’s happening, but it’s a must watch if you have 15 minutes today.

June 14, 2011
Science

An Algorithm Can Predict Cardiac Arrest 24 Hours Before It Happens

Predictive Medical Technologies has developed a system that can mine the medical data of a patient& – lab reports, monitors, nurse notes, etc – and predict whether that patient will suffer from cardiac arrest or respiratory failure within 24 hours.

May 10, 2011
Science

Talk To A Dolphin And It Might One Day Talk Back

Google translate has nothing on the Wild Dolphin Project which is developing a two-way communication system for dolphins. Crazy as it seems, the Florida-based group hopes to create a new language derived from the sounds of the animalsn in the wild.

August 19, 2010
Science

Old Encryption Formula Resists Quantum-Computing Attacks

The core advantage of quantum computing – the ability to compute for many possible outcomes at the same time and therefore crunch data much more quickly than classical computers – also creates a problem for data security. Once the first high-powered quantum computers are functioning, they’ll be able to quickly saw through many of our most common data-encryption algorithms. But as it turns out, an obscure encryption code created in 1978 is resistant to all known methods of quantum attack.

August 7, 2010
Geek Out

Google Says There Are 129,864,880 Different Books In Existence

Google, who’s been determinedly digitising the world’s books, thought it might be prudent to figure out just how many books are actually out there to begin with. They made a special algorithm, natch, and came up with 129,864,880.

August 3, 2010
Cameras

Microsoft Anti-Blur Algorithm Saves Photos From Your Shaky Hands

Whether it’s nervous jitters or a bumpy road, it’s easy to inadvertently ruin a snapshot with blur. But a team at Microsoft Research is using the same motion-detecting tech found in your iPhone to lend an artificially steady hand.

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