GCSE/IGCSE and AS/A Level ICT-Applied ICT

Micro-blogging service Twitter can be used to predict the future box-office takings of blockbuster films, according to researchers at Hewlett Packard (HP).

The computer scientists studied 3 million messages – known as tweets – about 25 movies, including Avatar.

They found the rate at which messages were produced could be used to accurately predict the box office takings before the film opened.

Further analysis of the content of the messages could predict ongoing success.

“Our predictions were incredibly close,” Bernardo Huberman, head of the social computing lab at HP, told BBC News.

For example, he said, the system predicted that zombie film The Crazies would take $16.8m in its first weekend in the US. It actually took $16.06m.

The team forecast that romantic drama Dear John would take $30.71m in its first US weekend. It took $30.46m.

The unpublished research has been posted on the Arxiv website.

Social sentiment

The team were able to make their first-weekend revenue predictions by analysing the torrent of tweets about a particular film in the run up to its release.

“We developed algorithms to analyse these tweets and measure the rate at which they were produced, said Dr Huberman.

“Our intuition was that the faster people tweet, the more likely they are to go and see it.”

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8612292.stm

US researchers have created a robot that can pick up a towel from a pile of laundry, fold and then stack it.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLfl45nxs6A[/youtube]

Pieter Abbeel, assistant professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley, spoke to the BBC’s Evan Davies about the science behind his creation.

He was joined by Noel Sharkey, professor of artificial intelligence and robotics at the University of Sheffield.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8607538.stm

BBC- A handheld computer console game has been developed to help diabetic children monitor their condition.

The Didget system for the Nintendo DS is designed to encourage young people to test their blood sugar levels regularly.

Users download the results to their console and are rewarded with game points.

25,000 children in the UK have diabetes. Those with type 1 need to test their blood every few hours.

The regime can be tough, according to 11-year-old George Dove: “It is boring, but I am quite good at remembering to do it because I know if I don’t do it, I know that I could get really ill,” he said.

“When I am low I go really shaky, get blurred vision and can’t speak very well. After the first year or so you get used to it and I know when I am having a hypo.”

Hypoglycaemia, or low blood sugar, is one of the risks associated with diabetes.

However, if the condition isn’t managed properly it can lead to heart disease and blindness.

Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/

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