Landmines? There's an app for that

I make it a rule to not travel to locations that have been sown with landmines. Sadly, the territory left open to me is dwindling as mini-wars escalate and the sociopathic douchebags who prosecute them don't care about humanity. I could go on, but you get the picture.

So any news about cleaning up this most toxic of pollutions is good news (first the mines, then the Sociopathic Douchebags). Since this tech applies to iOS, Android and Windows Mobile Device OS 7 for Phones and Stuff operating systems, why not have Apple, Google and Microsoft kick in a few hundred thousand devices to move it along? If it doesn't interfere with say, buying unprofitable businesses at ridiculous valuations, BALLLMER?   

Using an iPhone app to test for landmines

TUAW -- The Unofficial Apple Weblog

One of the big problems with using metal detectors to find unexploded landmines is that they detect all pieces of metal in the ground, often forcing operators to inspect every suspect item they find. This can be very dangerous, so researchers at Harvard have figured out how to use smartphones to find landmines.
Trained and experienced operators can tell by the beeps coming from their detectors the size and shape of objects found. Harvard researchers take these beeps and map them onto a smartphone screen, such as an iPhone, to better visualise what's been found. The PETALS (Pattern Enhancement Tool for Assisting Landmine Sensing) researchers have shown that inexperienced users are up to 80 percent more efficient using their technique, which could save a lot of lives.
Using existing devices like iPhones makes the system potentially very cheap to deploy. Researchers hope that users already familiar with their smartphone interface should find it simple to use.

Using an iPhone app to test for landmines originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 10 May 2011 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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