Simulating Groups

Computer simulation is nothing new, but Future Feeder profiles several experimental software programs that graphically simulate group behavior. Programmer/artist Jared Bell has developed war.paint, a graphic interpretation of soldiers on a battlefield. Crogai depicts crowd behaviors and evolutions over multiple generations. Flight 404 simulates fluid and swarm behaviors.

What's striking about all these tools is how relatively lightweight they are; all can be run easily on an ordinary PC. These tools may one day allow ordinary computer users to model and understand group behavior, helping them predict the outcome of a variety of complex, chaotic events. Tools such as these could be used to help plan one's investment portfolio, forecast local weather (will a cloudburst occur over my backyard this afternoon?), or predict the likelihood of traffic congestion.

Read more »

Will XBRL Keep Businesses on the Up-and-Up?

Governments looking to root out the next Enron have an ally in extensible business reporting language (XBRL), a markup language developed by accountants that tags financial data, making it easier for computer systems to understand and integrate. The idea is to help number-crunching machines sort out massive amounts of data, catch inconsistencies and reduce paperwork.

Businesses, however, haven't exactly been jumping on the XBRL bandwagon. The US Securities and Exchange Commission and the IRS maintain voluntary XBRL programs. However, the FDIC will begin requiring banks to implement XBRL by this fall. Some suggest that businesses are wary of the increased scrutiny that XBRL will provide, while others point out that the standard is still in its early stages, without out-of-the-box tools that businesses could easily implement.

Aside from catching white-collar crooks, XBRL has other creative applications in business metrics. Canada's environmental agency, for instance, plans to use XBRL to measure the business cost of pollution.

Source: Reuters, Techdirt

Read more »