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dateMore Than a Year Ago
subjectSoftware
authorThe Guardian
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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.


'A Certain Danger Lurks There': How the Inventor of the First Chatbot Turned Against AI
From ACM News

'A Certain Danger Lurks There': How the Inventor of the First Chatbot Turned Against AI

Computer scientist Joseph Weizenbaum was there at the dawn of artificial intelligence – but he was also adamant that we must never confuse computers with humans...

Rentokil Pilots Facial Recognition System as Way to Exterminate Rats
From ACM TechNews

Rentokil Pilots Facial Recognition System as Way to Exterminate Rats

U.K. pest control services provider Rentokil is testing facial recognition software as a tool for rat extermination.  

New Zealand VR App Helps Conquer Phobias
From ACM TechNews

New Zealand VR App Helps Conquer Phobias

oVRcome, a phone-based virtual reality (VR) application designed to treat phobias, successfully completed a six-week clinical trial.

Huge Data Leak Shatters the Lie that the Innocent Need Not Fear Surveillance
From ACM News

Huge Data Leak Shatters the Lie that the Innocent Need Not Fear Surveillance

The Guardian's investigation shows how repressive regimes can buy and use the kind of spying tools Edward Snowden warned us about.

Victoria to Allow Trial of Driverless Cars on Country Roads
From ACM TechNews

Victoria to Allow Trial of Driverless Cars on Country Roads

The state of Victoria in Australia has approved a trial of driverless cars on rural roads.

Franken-algorithms: The Deadly Consequences of ­npredictable Code
From ACM News

Franken-algorithms: The Deadly Consequences of ­npredictable Code

The death of a woman hit by a self-driving car highlights an unfolding technological crisis, as code piled on code creates 'a universe no one fully understands'...

Holograms: Are They Still the Preserve of Science Fiction?
From ACM News

Holograms: Are They Still the Preserve of Science Fiction?

The fragile apparition endured only long enough to say: "Help me Obi Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope" before flickering out.

What Is GDPR and How Will It Affect You?
From ACM News

What Is GDPR and How Will It Affect You?

You could be forgiven for thinking that Europe's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a law created to fill your inbox with identikit warnings from every...

Has Dopamine Got ­s Hooked on Tech?
From ACM News

Has Dopamine Got ­s Hooked on Tech?

In an unprecedented attack of candour, Sean Parker, the 38-year-old founding president of Facebook, recently admitted that the social network was founded not to...

Blockchain Is This Year's Buzzword, But Can It Outlive the Hype?
From ACM News

Blockchain Is This Year's Buzzword, But Can It Outlive the Hype?

The speculation around cryptocurrencies has obscured the fact that blockchain, the decentralised, open-source ledger that drives bitcoin, could radically change...

Strava Suggests Military ­sers 'opt Out' of Heatmap as Row Deepens
From ACM News

Strava Suggests Military ­sers 'opt Out' of Heatmap as Row Deepens

Fitness-tracking company Strava has defended its publication of heatmaps that accidentally reveal sensitive military positions, arguing that the information was...

Robots Could Destabilise World Through War and ­nemployment, Says ­n
From ACM News

Robots Could Destabilise World Through War and ­nemployment, Says ­n

The UN has warned that robots could destabilise the world ahead of the opening of a headquarters in The Hague to monitor developments in artificial intelligence...

End of the Checkout Line: The Looming Crisis For American Cashiers
From ACM Careers

End of the Checkout Line: The Looming Crisis For American Cashiers

The day before a fully automated grocery store opened its doors in 1939, the inventor Clarence Saunders took out a full page advertisement in the Memphis Press-Scimitar...

Google Enters Race For Nuclear Fusion Technology
From ACM TechNews

Google Enters Race For Nuclear Fusion Technology

Google Research and Tri Alpha Energy have developed a computer algorithm called Optometrist that facilitates integrating high-powered computation with human judgment...

Beauty Spot or Landscape Blot? Computer Trained to Judge Scenery
From ACM TechNews

Beauty Spot or Landscape Blot? Computer Trained to Judge Scenery

New software that can differentiate scenic views from blots on the landscape.

Give Robots 'personhood' Status, Eu Committee Argues
From ACM News

Give Robots 'personhood' Status, Eu Committee Argues

The European parliament has urged the drafting of a set of regulations to govern the use and creation of robots and artificial intelligence, including a form of...

Robots Will Destroy Our Jobs, and We're Not Ready For It
From ACM News

Robots Will Destroy Our Jobs, and We're Not Ready For It

The McDonald's on the corner of Third Avenue and 58th Street in New York City doesn/t look all that different from any of the fast-food chain's other locations...

Apple Removes New York Times App in China 
From ACM News

Apple Removes New York Times App in China 

Apple has removed the New York Times app from its store in China after a government request, in an example of how far the company will go to please the authorities...

European Court of Justice Rules Against Mass Data Retention in Eu
From ACM News

European Court of Justice Rules Against Mass Data Retention in Eu

The Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) ruled on Wednesday that laws allowing for the blanket collection and retention of location and traffic data are...

Microsoft, Code.org Target Beginner Coders With Minecraft Program
From ACM TechNews

Microsoft, Code.org Target Beginner Coders With Minecraft Program

Microsoft and Code.org have released a new tutorial for Hour of Code, an annual campaign held during Computer Science Education Week to encourage more students...
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