July 2007
Beer and Privacy (3 July 2007)
Belgian Court Rules ISPs Must Stop File-Sharing (5 July 2007)
The Greek Cellphone Tapping Scandal (6 July 2007)
Pen Registers and the Internet (7 July 2007)
Security and Usability: Windows Vista (13 July 2007)
Fidget Toys (13 July 2007)
Checkers: Solved (19 July 2007)
Secondary Uses and Privacy (20 July 2007)
Security Flaw in the iPhone (23 July 2007)
Hacking Forensic Software (26 July 2007)
Insider Attacks (28 July 2007)

Checkers: Solved

19 July 2007

Some researchers have "solved" checkers. That is, they have a program and database that will win or draw any game, playing either color.

They worked by building an end-game database of all positions with 10 or fewer pieces. It doesn’t matter how you get to that level; once you’re there, the database can guarantee a favorable result.

The project’s home page is here; there’s a New York Times story here.


Update: see the excellent IEEE Spectrum article on the program.
https://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb/blog/2007-07/2007-07-19.html