PCMag editors select and review products independently. If you buy through affiliate links, we may earn commissions, which help support our testing.

PCMag UK

Pentagon Opens DARPA Data to Public

Angela Moscaritolo
 & Angela Moscaritolo Managing Editor, Consumer Electronics

Our team tests, rates, and reviews more than 1,500 products each year to help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology.

Our Expert
LOOK INSIDE PC LABS HOW WE TEST
65 EXPERTS
43 YEARS
41,500+ REVIEWS

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, funds a lot of important advanced research, much of which has remained hidden from public view — until now.

The agency this week launched a new public website called Open Catalog, featuring a curated list of DARPA-sponsored software and peer-reviewed publications. The website aims to encourage those interested in DARPA's software and research to build upon the agency's work.

"Making our open source catalog available increases the number of experts who can help quickly develop relevant software for the government," DARPA program manager Chris White said in a statement. "Our hope is that the computer science community will test and evaluate elements of our software and afterward adopt them as either standalone offerings or as components of their products."

At lunch, the site includes software toolkits and peer-reviewed publications from the XDATA program, which aims to develop "computational techniques and software tools for processing and analyzing large, imperfect, and incomplete data." When you visit the Open Catalog site, you'll see two sections, one for software and another for publications.

If the research and development community shows interest, DARPA said it will release other software, publications, data, and experimental results generated by its programs, including Broad Operational Language Translation (BOLT) and Visual Media Reasoning (VMR).

DARPA said its computer science research has led to new advances in theory and practical software. The agency sponsors fundamental and applied computer science research in the areas of data science, cyber, anomaly detection, and more.

About Our Expert

Angela Moscaritolo

Angela Moscaritolo

Managing Editor, Consumer Electronics

My Experience

I'm PCMag's managing editor for consumer electronics, overseeing an experienced team of analysts covering smart home, home entertainment, wearables, fitness and health tech, and various other product categories. I have been with PCMag for more than 10 years, and in that time have written more than 6,000 articles and reviews for the site. I previously served as an analyst focused on smart home and wearable devices, and before that I was a reporter covering consumer tech news. I'm also a yoga instructor, and have been actively teaching group and private classes for nearly a decade. 

Prior to joining PCMag, I was a reporter for SC Magazine, focusing on hackers and computer security. I earned a BS in journalism from West Virginia University, and started my career writing for newspapers in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

The Technology I Use

My little Florida beach bungalow is brimming with smart home tech. I have a smart speaker or display in every room, allowing me to control other connected devices by voice. The Nest Hub on my bedside table lets me set wake-up alarms, control my smart light bulbs, and set the temperature on my smart thermostat. I use the Amazon Echo Show 8 on my kitchen counter to browse recipes, reorder protein powder, check the weather, and watch the news while I do dishes. 

Because I suffer from allergies, air purifiers are essential. My favorite model is the Dyson Purifier Cool TP07, which doubles as a fan and continuously sends indoor pollution data to its companion mobile app. 

My pitbull Bradley sheds, so a good robot vacuum is a must. I currently use a premium Ecovacs Deebot that can both vacuum and mop, empty its own dustbin, and wash its own mop cloth. 

For fitness, I like to mix up my routine with cycling, indoor rowing, running, and strength training in addition to yoga. I take classes on the Tonal 2 smart strength training machine, I row indoors on an Aviron machine, and track my beach runs with an Apple Watch while listening to music on my Apple AirPods Pro. On the weekends, I love riding e-bikes like the rugged, beach-friendly Aventon Aventure for fun and fitness.

My job involves a lot of virtual meetings, so a quality webcam, microphone, and ring light are important. I use the Jabra PanaCast 20 webcam, the Elgato Wave: 3 microphone, and a Yesker tripod ring light. 

As for my preferred phone platform, I'm an iPhone person, but I've also extensively used Android for product testing.

Read the latest from Angela Moscaritolo

Read full bio