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An edited collection of advanced computing news from Communications of the ACM, ACM TechNews, other ACM resources, and news sites around the Web.


5 Big Tech Issues Await Obama in Second Term
From ACM News

5 Big Tech Issues Await Obama in Second Term

Technology policy didn't get much air time in the 2012 presidential election, but the Obama administration will face serious issues over the next four years.

How Secure Is Your Electronic Vote?
From ACM News

How Secure Is Your Electronic Vote?

In an era when shadowy hackers can snatch secret government files and humble big businesses with seeming ease, it's an unavoidable question as Election Day approaches...

Google Reports 'alarming' Rise in Government Censorship Requests
From ACM News

Google Reports 'alarming' Rise in Government Censorship Requests

Western governments, including the United States, appear to be stepping up efforts to censor Internet search results and YouTube videos, according to a "transparency...

The Tiny Island with a Huge Web Presence
From ACM News

The Tiny Island with a Huge Web Presence

If you're among the companies vying for one of the nearly 2,000 new generic top-level domains, or gTLDs, you've got big pockets. The application alone costs about...

From ACM News

Cyberwar Explodes in Syria

A familiar digital chime rang on the computer. Someone was calling via Skype from Syria.

Why Can't Americans Vote Online?
From ACM News

Why Can't Americans Vote Online?

Tuesday is Election Day in the United States, and although the mostly state and local races won't stir the same passions as next year's presidential contest,...

How Many Pages Are on the Internet?
From ACM News

How Many Pages Are on the Internet?

It seems like an answerable question, right? But no one really knows how many Websites or individual Web pages make up this seemingly infinite digital universe...

How 9/11 Inspired a New Era of Robotics
From ACM News

How 9/11 Inspired a New Era of Robotics

When Robin Murphy saw the World Trade Center towers fall on September 11, she knew of an unexpected group that could help respond: robots.

Meet Dark Tangent, the Hacker Behind Black Hat and Def Con
From ACM News

Meet Dark Tangent, the Hacker Behind Black Hat and Def Con

The word "hacker" evokes all kinds of scary images. But Jeff Moss says hackers are exactly what the world needs more of, because they can make the Internet safer...

From ACM News

Cell Phone Users Are Talking Less

Call Kimberly Brown a smartphone junkie if you want. "I'm sure everyone around me will say I'm most definitely addicted," said Brown, an archaeologist at The...

Mac vs. Pc: The Stereotypes May Be True
From ACM News

Mac vs. Pc: The Stereotypes May Be True

Remember those Apple ads that cast the Mac as a 20-something, self-satisfied hipster while the PC was portrayed by an older, square-looking guy in a brown suit...

How Google Is Teaching Computers to See
From ACM News

How Google Is Teaching Computers to See

Computers used to be blind, and now they can see.  Thanks to increasingly sophisticated algorithms, computers today can recognize and identify the Eiffel Tower...

Online Photos: Are They New Digital Fingerprints?
From ACM News

Online Photos: Are They New Digital Fingerprints?

For Mike Smith, Facebook is a fort for communicating freely with friends online. Within the confines of that giant yet access-restricted network, the music-software...

Google Making App that Would Identify People's Faces
From ACM News

Google Making App that Would Identify People's Faces

Google is working on a mobile application that would allow users to snap pictures of people's faces in order to access their personal information, a director...

From ACM News

California High Court: Retailers Can't Request Cardholders' Zip Code

California's high court ruled Thursday that retailers don't have the right to ask customers for their ZIP code while completing credit card transactions, saying...

Behind-the-Scenes with Ibm's 'jeopardy!' Computer, Watson
From ACM News

Behind-the-Scenes with Ibm's 'jeopardy!' Computer, Watson

His name is Watson. He's bad with puns. Great at math. And, next week, he will compete on the game show "Jeopardy!" against real, live, breathing, thinking humans...

From ACM News

Rediscovering Wwii's Female 'computers'

In all the interviews and conversations, it hadn't come up. To the sisters, it was just a job they'd held a long time ago, when they were teens with a talent...

From ACM News

Google, Twitter Help Give Voice to Egyptians

Google has launched the latest salvo in an effort to overcome internet blackouts in Egypt during anti-government protests there.

From ACM News

The End of Credit Cards Is Coming

Credit cards may soon be as outdated as vinyl records. (Remember them?) And this is the year that the slow, steady march to oblivion begins.

10 Ways a Digital Big Brother Can Be Good For You
From ACM News

10 Ways a Digital Big Brother Can Be Good For You

The opening passage from George Orwell's "1984" depicts a guy hustling up a stairwell that's plastered with giant posters of a man's face staring at him.
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