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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.


Can This Man Save Pinball?
From ACM Careers

Can This Man Save Pinball?

The last guys who tried to save pinball bet all their quarters on a bunch of 3D aliens.

How To Charge Your Laptop
From ACM Opinion

How To Charge Your Laptop

Whether they're in our computers, cell phones, or cars, the only time we think about batteries is when they're almost dead and we need to find some place to charge...

This Real-Life Pixar Lamp Cutely Refuses to Let You Turn It Off
From ACM Opinion

This Real-Life Pixar Lamp Cutely Refuses to Let You Turn It Off

Design-class projects have come a long way. That's the only conclusion I can draw from this brilliant video of a robotic desk lamp that squeaks, swivels, and mugs...

Michael Bloomberg Wants to Do Something Cool with New York's Phone Booths
From ACM Careers

Michael Bloomberg Wants to Do Something Cool with New York's Phone Booths

Just 15 years ago, New York City had 35,000 phone booths. Thanks to cell phones it now has just 11,000, most of which serve little purpose for anyone but Clark...

A Missile-Defense System That Actually Works?
From ACM News

A Missile-Defense System That Actually Works?

The fighting between Israel and Palestinians in the Gaza strip over the last few days is the latest round of violence in a region that has been torn apart by a...

Watch Your Tongue: Law Enforcement Speech Recognition System Stores Millions of Voices
From ACM News

Watch Your Tongue: Law Enforcement Speech Recognition System Stores Millions of Voices

Intercepting thousands of phone calls is easy for government agencies. But quickly analyzing the calls and identifying the callers can prove a difficult task.

How Apple Really Invented the Iphone
From ACM News

How Apple Really Invented the Iphone

Like many of Apple's inventions, the iPhone began not with a vision, but with a problem.

How Governments and Telecom Companies Work Together on Surveillance Laws
From ACM News

How Governments and Telecom Companies Work Together on Surveillance Laws

When Americans are displeased with their politicians, they like to threaten to move to Canada. But if you're tempted to move north—or even further afield—to get...

Why Drone Pilots Deserve Medals
From ACM Opinion

Why Drone Pilots Deserve Medals

The escalating dependence on drone pilots, as Maj. Dave Blair agonized in the May-June issue ofAir & Space Power Journal, is undercutting the ability to award combat...

Obama Was Right: The Government Invented the Internet
From ACM Opinion

Obama Was Right: The Government Invented the Internet

Earlier this month, President Obama argued that wealthy business people owe some of their success to the government's investment in education and basic infrastructure...

Research Reveals Why Spammers Claim They're Nigerian
From ACM News

Research Reveals Why Spammers Claim They're Nigerian

Most of us know the signs: stilted English, "Dear Sir/Madam," a particular fondness for exclamation points.

Why You Should Care About Robocup
From ACM News

Why You Should Care About Robocup

This month, soccer fans are glued to Euro 2012. But another prestigious championship is about to kick off, too. The game is slower—much slower—and the players fall...

U.s. Cities Embrace Software To Automatically Detect 'suspicious' Behavior
From ACM News

U.s. Cities Embrace Software To Automatically Detect 'suspicious' Behavior

San Francisco is set to become the latest U.S. city to invest in software, created by Texas-based BRS Labs, that monitors and memorizes movements as they are captured...

What Fearmongers Get Wrong About Cyberwarfare
From ACM Opinion

What Fearmongers Get Wrong About Cyberwarfare

Should we worry about cyberwarfare? Judging by excessively dramatic headlines in the media, very much so. Cyberwarfare, the argument goes, might make wars easier...

Free, Browser-Based 'wolfenstein 3d' Released By Bethesda
From ACM News

Free, Browser-Based 'wolfenstein 3d' Released By Bethesda

Bethesda Softworks has released a free, browser-based version of the iconic first-person shooter, Wolfenstein 3D.

Eye-Tracking Computers Will Read Your Thoughts
From ACM News

Eye-Tracking Computers Will Read Your Thoughts

Consider, for a moment, the following list: Republican. Abortion. Democrat. Future. Afghanistan. Health care. Same-sex marriage.  

Your Kinect Is Watching You
From ACM News

Your Kinect Is Watching You

There is a wave of concern—completely justified, to my mind—over the privacy implications of our increasing reliance on Facebook and Google. What most people don’t...

The DIY Copyright Revolution
From ACM News

The DIY Copyright Revolution

It is something of a fluke that copyright law has become so intertwined with our online lives. For most people, the first things that were easy to create and distribute...

From ACM News

Project Dreamcatcher

How cutting-edge text analytics can help the Obama campaign determine voters' hopes and fears.

From ACM News

Eyeball-Movement-Based Navigation Shifting From Helping the Disabled to Mainstream ­se?

That Kindle Fire you got for Christmas may be pretty cool, but what if it could flip the book pages without requiring you to lift a finger?
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