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Latest News News Archive Refine your search:
subjectComputers And Society
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.


When Google Self-Driving Cars Are in Accidents, Humans Are to Blame
From ACM TechNews

When Google Self-Driving Cars Are in Accidents, Humans Are to Blame

Google says in six years its self-driving cars have been involved in only 12 minor accidents, all of which were the fault of humans. 

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...

Hacking the Brain
From ACM Opinion

Hacking the Brain

The perfectibility of the human mind is a theme that has captured our imagination for centuries—the notion that, with the right tools, the right approach, the right...

Blueprint For a Better Human Body
From ACM News

Blueprint For a Better Human Body

When Elizabeth Wright smacks her right leg on a table, she says "ow."

Long-Range Iris Scanning Is Here
From ACM News

Long-Range Iris Scanning Is Here

An officer pulls someone over on the side of the highway.

The Internet Mapmakers Helping Nepal
From ACM News

The Internet Mapmakers Helping Nepal

The night after the earthquake hit Nepal, people feared to sleep in their homes, worrying about powerful aftershocks toppling the few buildings left standing.

­.s. Supreme Court: Gps Trackers Are a Form of Search and Seizure
From ACM News

­.s. Supreme Court: Gps Trackers Are a Form of Search and Seizure

If the government puts a GPS tracker on you, your car, or any of your personal effects, it counts as a search—and is therefore protected by the Fourth Amendment...

Watching the Universe in Real Time
From ACM Careers

Watching the Universe in Real Time

Even though the sky looks about the same every night to those of us here on Earth, cataclysmic things happen in outer space constantly.

The Attention Machine
From ACM News

The Attention Machine

Human attention isn't stable, ever, and it costs us: lives lost when drivers space out, billions of dollars wasted on inefficient work, and mental disorders that...

The App Economy Is Now 'bigger Than Hollywood'
From ACM Careers

The App Economy Is Now 'bigger Than Hollywood'

What is the major cultural force in America right now? It might just be apps and the web.

The Quiet Rise of the Satellite Spy Agency
From ACM News

The Quiet Rise of the Satellite Spy Agency

As far as intelligence agencies go, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency has remained relatively low profile—attracting neither the intrigue of, say, the...

How Two Men ­nlocked Modern Encryption
From ACM Careers

How Two Men ­nlocked Modern Encryption

In September of 1974, when he was 30 years old, Whitfield Diffie was obsessed with cryptography.

The Internet Is Losing Interest in Computers
From ACM Opinion

The Internet Is Losing Interest in Computers

You may know Google Trends.

Vexed in the City: Starved For Tech Talent and Yet Nobody to Hire?
From ACM Careers

Vexed in the City: Starved For Tech Talent and Yet Nobody to Hire?

Darin Wedel made headlines in 2012 when his wife, Jennifer, asked President Barack Obama during a Google+ Hangout why her husband was still out of work while H-1B...

How to Invent a Person Online
From ACM Opinion

How to Invent a Person Online

On April 8, 2013, I received an envelope in the mail from a nonexistent return address in Toledo, Ohio.

A Rare Look Inside the Air Force's Drone Training Classroom
From ACM Careers

A Rare Look Inside the Air Force's Drone Training Classroom

Learning how to drop bombs and fire Hellfire missiles is more like sitting in a regular college classroom than you might expect.

Skip the Humans: Drug Discovery By Simulating Cells
From ACM News

Skip the Humans: Drug Discovery By Simulating Cells

The future of medicine, we're often told, will be personalized.

The Military Is Building Brain Chips to Treat Ptsd
From ACM News

The Military Is Building Brain Chips to Treat Ptsd

How well can you predict your next mood swing?

How Darpa's Augmented Reality Software Works
From ACM Opinion

How Darpa's Augmented Reality Software Works

Six years ago, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) decided that they had a new dream. The agency wanted a system that would overlay digital tactical...

Making Babies
From ACM News

Making Babies

Forty years ago, there was exactly one way for humans to reproduce.
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