DARPA Network Challenge Lasts All of 9 Hours 129
stillnotelf writes "A team based at MIT has won the DARPA Network Challenge. DARPA notes: 'The Challenge has captured the imagination of people around the world, is rich with scientific intrigue, and, we hope, is part of a growing "renaissance of wonder" throughout the nation,' said DARPA's director, Dr. Regina E. Dugan. 'DARPA salutes the MIT team for successfully completing this complex task less than 9 hours after balloon launch.' PDF with (scant) details. Hit the first link above for a map with the locations. How many did your team find?"
Re:That was pretty fast... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:That was pretty fast... (Score:1, Insightful)
The Challenge has captured the imagination of people around the world, is rich with scientific intrigue, and, we hope, is part of a growing "renaissance of wonder" umm.... what challenge again? What's DARPA? (It's not in TFA and what good is a FA when you have to click through three pages to find out?
Interesting results (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:That was pretty fast... (Score:2, Insightful)
What's DARPA about it ? (Score:5, Insightful)
So how was this a technical challenge, and not just a boyscout fox hunt ?
UPS (Score:3, Insightful)
I was surprised that UPS didn't have a team and won. Seems they would have had the most people out and about and probably seeing the balloons.
Re:That was pretty fast... (Score:1, Insightful)
So that can't use Google?
It isn't exactly obscure.
Re:Interesting results (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:That was pretty fast... (Score:5, Insightful)
Is this some kind of bizarro version of the ignorance normally attributed to stupid North Americans (USians)? Stereotypically, US citizens are characterized as deeply ignorant of history and current events outside of the US. In this case people outside of the US, on a forum as technologically current as Slashdot, can claim justified ignorance of one of the entities that gave rise to the Internet?
The mind, it has to boggle.
This is a radio station promotion gimmick (Score:4, Insightful)
This is more like a radio station promotion. It would have worked if one of those blowhards on AM talk radio had announced a similar hunt with a call-in number. It didn't need the Internet.
Re:Why this challenge? (Score:4, Insightful)
Can't Stop the Signal.
The problem with your paranoia is that information is a tool that does far far more damage to "bad" type governments (theocracies, dictatorships, oligarchies, etc.) than it does to democracies (or democratic republics or other "good" type governments).
Unlike other weapons systems, information has preferential kill for the stuff you want to kill. Nukes, cluster bombs, bat-bombs, land mines, and AKs don't, they can be used to destroy anybody. Information, even semi-truthful information only hurts the bad guys.
So, this is one of those cases where you are getting your panties in a bunch over WHO is doing it, and not WHAT they are doing. If this were a Facebook project or some sort of flash-mob or other garbage nobody would even bring up "nefarious purposes" because it would just be a weekend diversion for the kiddies. As it turns out, diversions for the kiddies can be used to help topple brutal dictatorships.
No you are not the only one to see "nefarious" plot in it, lots of other moon bat non thinking "liberals" thought the same thing and they are just as wrong as you are.
NEWSFLASH: Spam pyramid schemes work! (Score:4, Insightful)
Today, MIT and the United States Department of Warxxx Defense are proud to report their joint discovery that spam email, when combined with a pyramid sales scheme, is an effective way to get people off their asses. This works best when your name is well-known and has not yet been sufficiently exploited that your email is ignored.
Note to editors: when referring to spam in connection with MIT, correct usage is "social network."
No... (Score:2, Insightful)
Your comment was modded funny because the competition had ZERO affiliation with MIT.
https://networkchallenge.darpa.mil/FAQ.aspx [darpa.mil]
https://networkchallenge.darpa.mil/rules.aspx [darpa.mil]
Nowhere does it mention any MIT participation in administrating the contest. You could have verified this yourself in ten seconds. You are a retard.