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subjectPersonal Computing
authorThe Atlantic
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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.


The Perfect Selfishness of Mapping Apps
From ACM News

The Perfect Selfishness of Mapping Apps

What is the price of anarchy?

Facebook's New 'ai Camera' Team Wants to Add a Layer to the World
From ACM Careers

Facebook's New 'ai Camera' Team Wants to Add a Layer to the World

Take a video of a birthday cake's candles sparkling in an Instagram story, then tap the sticker button. Near the top of the list you'll see a slice of birthday...

Beyond the Five Senses
From ACM News

Beyond the Five Senses

The world we experience is not the real world. It's a mental construction, filtered through our physical senses. Which raises the question: How would our world...

A Brief History of Seti@home
From ACM Careers

A Brief History of Seti@home

The year was 1999, and the people were going online. AOL, Compuserve, mp3.com, and AltaVista loaded bit by bit after dial-up chirps, on screens across the world...

Even Bugs Will Be Bugged
From ACM News

Even Bugs Will Be Bugged

When mark zuckerberg posted a picture of himself on Facebook in June, a sharp-eyed observer spotted a piece of tape covering his laptop’s camera.

The Internet's Favorite Website
From ACM News

The Internet's Favorite Website

It's usually idle curiosity that drives me to Wikipedia.

Is Digital Privacy Becoming a Partisan Issue?
From ACM News

Is Digital Privacy Becoming a Partisan Issue?

In a Congress where lawmakers have trouble performing even the most basic functions of the legislative branch—funding the government or approving judicial nominees...

Facebook Is Making a Map of Everyone in the World
From ACM News

Facebook Is Making a Map of Everyone in the World

Americans inhabit an intricately mapped world.

The Research Pirates of the Dark Web
From ACM News

The Research Pirates of the Dark Web

There's a battle raging over whether academic research should be free, and it’s overflowing into the dark web.

The Convenience-Surveillance Tradeoff
From ACM News

The Convenience-Surveillance Tradeoff

People love free stuff. That's the principle that helps explain the complicated series of privacy-related calculations that modern life increasingly requires.

What Does the Internet Actually Look Like?
From ACM News

What Does the Internet Actually Look Like?

It’s difficult to define "the cloud." Even more difficult, perhaps, is photographing it. But that's precisely what Peter Garritano set out to do with his photoThe...

Do Computers Need Pressure-Sensing Screens?
From ACM News

Do Computers Need Pressure-Sensing Screens?

The computer mouse, when it first went mainstream, was awkward to describe but easy to use.

After 10 Years, Google Books Is Legal
From ACM News

After 10 Years, Google Books Is Legal

On Friday, a federal circuit court made clear that Google Books is legal.

If You're Not Paranoid, You're Crazy
From ACM Opinion

If You're Not Paranoid, You're Crazy

I knew we'd bought walnuts at the store that week, and I wanted to add some to my oatmeal.

Engineering Humans For War
From ACM News

Engineering Humans For War

Retired four-star general Paul F. Gorman recalls first learning about the "weakling of the battlefield" from reading S.L.A. Marshall, the U.S. Army combat historian...

Virtual Reality Gets Real
From ACM News

Virtual Reality Gets Real

In 1965, Ivan Sutherland, a computer-graphics pioneer, addressed an international meeting of techies on the subject of virtual reality.

The Secret Agents Who Stake Out the ­gliest Corners of the Internet
From ACM News

The Secret Agents Who Stake Out the ­gliest Corners of the Internet

When President Obama launched his Twitter account in May, people noticed his rapid accumulation of followers, a silly back-and-forth with President Clinton, but...

Beware the Listening Machines
From ACM Opinion

Beware the Listening Machines

One of my great pleasures in life is attending conferences on fields I'm intrigued by, but know nothing about.

The ­nderwater Internet
From ACM News

The ­nderwater Internet

In 1962, during a period of technological and political transition in the undersea-cable industry, the Keawaula cable station was built on Oahu’s west shore for...

The Wearable Device That Could ­nlock a New Human Sense
From ACM News

The Wearable Device That Could ­nlock a New Human Sense

In March, the neuroscientist David Eagleman stood on stage to give a TED talk on sensory substitution, the idea of replacing the duties of one sense by using another...
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