Sunday, December 13, 2009

Military use of consumer technology: War games

This article discusses the use of video games in the military. As of recently, video games are becoming very realistic. The military has used this to their advantage when they are recruiting people. More specifically, the military is going to use video-game consoles to build a supercomputer that works as an operating system. This can be used for research and development purposes. Soldiers are also using Apple’s iPod and iPhone applications to
view intelligence information. An iPhone app called Bullet Flight lets snipers calculate range and trajectory for their shots. I am glad that these materialistic things can bring some help to our troops. It is amazing to think of all of these new apps for the iPhone and the future of technology.

3 comments:

Amanda Sanders said...

Rachel, this is a very interesting article. It is amazing to see that "toys" that they create for children are sophisticated enough for the military to use. I am not entirely surprised that the iPhone is being used, though, because the technology that goes along with that is amazing... and I could see how it could be used for intelligence information. I can only imagine what the future will bring as far as this concept.

JMeiser said...

The military has used simulation for a long time to help with strategic decisions. Its cool to see the iphone extended to this field. New applications come out for the iphone everyday, what new arena they will enter is the question.

Alison Kennedy said...

The military is also using toys like this to stimulate war games. It's a lot less intrusive than former tactics. When I was little the naval air base in my town had a week long series of war games. Before my family realized what was going on we thought we were under attack. I know the naval base in my town is now starting to use stimulators similar to video games.