Stories by Rebecca Merrett

Random Forest — the go-to machine learning algorithm

When it doubt, use Random Forest — the go-to machine learning algorithm that is considered to be one of the most effective and versatile in solving almost any prediction task.

AlphaGo – Google DeepMind’s AI that beat Go champion for first time

Google DeepMind has come out with its AlphaGo artificial intelligence that can crack trevigintillion possible positions in the game Go and beat a human champion.

Aussie file compression startup wins qutbluebox Innovation Challenge

File compression startup, Clipchamp (not Pied Piper from TV series, Silicon Valley), has won $50,000 in a cash prize from its pitch at Queensland University of Technology’s qutbluebox Innovation Challenge.

SeL4 gets the Boeing test

On 24 July 2015, Boeing tested Data61’s (formerly known as NICTA) seL4 – the “world’s most highly assured operating system” – on its autonomous Unmanned Little Bird (ULB) helicopter.

Mind controlled game developer taps into users’ brains for feedback

Australian game developers may get the chance to participate in a neurogame ‘jam’ session for PhD research during Melbourne International Games Week from 23 October to 1 November, RMIT University announced.

Using machine learning on Call of Duty game to detect cheating behaviour

A game is not a good game unless it’s played fairly, and the creators of Call of Duty have taken a machine learning approach to make sure cheating behaviour in the game is quickly picked up and acted on.

IBM integrates silicon photonic chips with processor package for energy efficiency

Big Blue has found a way to make large-scale computing more energy efficient by integrating photonic chips with a processor package.

St George opens free co-working space for Perth startups and small businesses

Startups and small businesses based in Perth can get access to free, full serviced co-working space launched by St George bank.

Google DeepMind advances AI with deep Q-network algorithm

DeepMind, which became Google's subsidiary last year, has taken another step forward in artificial intelligence with an algorithm that can master several games.

Data analysis and mathematics used to predict Earth-like planets

Astrophysicists at the Australian National University have predicted most stars in our galaxy have two habitable or Earth-like planets near them by analysing data from NASA’s Kepler space telescope and applying a mathematical rule.

Most IT hiring to come from digital businesses in 2015

Most of IT hiring this year is expected to come from the digital and tech industry, as businesses increase their workloads and expand, according to Greythorn’s Hiring Manager Survey 2015.

A look at real-time brain-to-exoskeleton information transmission

A new research paper has integrated robotics with neuroscience to decode information from the brain to an exoskeleton, and then send sensory information back to the brain in real time.

Google backs Singularity Uni to allow students outside US to study for free

Google has backed Silicon Valley based Singularity University (SU) with US$3 million over the next two years to allow graduate students from anywhere in the world to study free of charge.

Twitter launches global competition for startups that incorporate Fabric

Twitter this week launched its first global startup competition, with three winners to receive between US$5,000 and US$25,000 in prizes.

Machine learning and predictive modelling 101

There’s more to machine learning and predictive modelling than playing around with a bunch of tools such as R and Hadoop. To help get beginners started, Beat Schwegler, director cloud evangelism at Microsoft, discussed the basic concepts and common algorithms at recent the YOW! Developer Conference in Sydney.