He raises an eyebrow; he lowers his chin; he twists the corners of his mouth; he folds one arm into the crook of the other as he points his pistol at the ceiling. It all looks very impressive, but is he simply dithering while trying to remember people's names?

Agent 007 has a few old friends with normal names, such as Bill Tanner and Felix Leiter. Almost every other name is a number, a single letter, a mash-up of multiple languages, or a blindingly obvious double entendre. After a few vodka martinis and tranquilizer darts, any man would start to wonder whether his memory for names was playing tricks on him.

To put such doubts to rest, we will develop an Android app that determines a person's name based on a series of yes/no questions. To allow a secret agent to use it discretely, the app will rely on gesture controls and audio output, which can go to a Bluetooth...