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subjectSoftware
authorThe New York Times
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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.


Sent to Prison By a Software Program's Secret Algorithms
From ACM News

Sent to Prison By a Software Program's Secret Algorithms

When Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. visited Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute last month, he was asked a startling question, one with overtones of science fiction...

Meet the People Who Train the Robots (to Do Their Own Jobs)
From ACM Careers

Meet the People Who Train the Robots (to Do Their Own Jobs)

What if part of your job became teaching a computer everything you know about doing someone's job—perhaps your own?

Can Facebook Fix Its Own Worst Bug?
From ACM News

Can Facebook Fix Its Own Worst Bug?

In early January, I went to see Mark Zuckerberg at MPK20, a concrete-and-steel building on the campus of Facebook's headquarters, which sits across a desolate highway...

50 Years Ago, a Computer Pioneer Got a New York Subway Race Rolling
From ACM Careers

50 Years Ago, a Computer Pioneer Got a New York Subway Race Rolling

Fifty years ago, Peter Samson, one of the inventors of Spacewar, considered the world's first video game, began another craze underground.

How Youtube's Shifting Algorithms Hurt Independent Media
From ACM Careers

How Youtube's Shifting Algorithms Hurt Independent Media

At the age of 21, David Pakman started a little Massachusetts community radio talk program.

That Fingerprint Sensor on Your Phone Is Not as Safe as You Think
From ACM News

That Fingerprint Sensor on Your Phone Is Not as Safe as You Think

Fingerprint sensors have turned modern smartphones into miracles of convenience.

A Lizard With Scales That Behave Like a Computer Simulation
From ACM News

A Lizard With Scales That Behave Like a Computer Simulation

The ocellated lizard—known as the jeweled lacerta in the pet trade—is born rusty brown with white polka dots.

Canada Tries to Turn Its A.i. Ideas Into Dollars
From ACM Careers

Canada Tries to Turn Its A.i. Ideas Into Dollars

Long before Google started working on cars that drive themselves and Amazon was creating home appliances that talk, a handful of researchers in Canada—backed by...

Learning to Think Like a Computer
From ACM News

Learning to Think Like a Computer

In "The Beauty and Joy of Computing," the course he helped conceive for nonmajors at the University of California, Berkeley, Daniel Garcia explains an all-important...

Trump Completes Repeal of Online Privacy Protections From Obama Era
From ACM News

Trump Completes Repeal of Online Privacy Protections From Obama Era

President Trump on Monday signed a congressional resolution to complete the overturning of internet privacy protections created by the Federal Communications Commission...

Evidence That Robots Are Winning the Race For American Jobs
From ACM News

Evidence That Robots Are Winning the Race For American Jobs

Who is winning the race for jobs between robots and humans?

It's Possible to Hack a Phone With Sound Waves, Researchers Show
From ACM News

It's Possible to Hack a Phone With Sound Waves, Researchers Show

A security loophole that would allow someone to add extra steps to the counter on your Fitbit monitor might seem harmless. But researchers say it points to the...

Cosmos Controversy: The ­niverse Is Expanding, but How Fast?
From ACM News

Cosmos Controversy: The ­niverse Is Expanding, but How Fast?

There is a crisis brewing in the cosmos, or perhaps in the community of cosmologists. The universe seems to be expanding too fast, some astronomers say.

China's Intelligent Weaponry Gets Smarter
From ACM News

China's Intelligent Weaponry Gets Smarter

Robert O. Work, the veteran defense official retained as deputy secretary by President Trump, calls them his "A.I. dudes."

Gene-Modified Ants Shed Light on How Societies Are Organized
From ACM News

Gene-Modified Ants Shed Light on How Societies Are Organized

Whether personally or professionally, Daniel Kronauer of Rockefeller University is the sort of biologist who leaves no stone unturned.

A Darker Theme in Obama's Farewell: Automation Can Divide ­S
From ACM News

A Darker Theme in Obama's Farewell: Automation Can Divide ­S

Underneath the nostalgia and hope in President Obama's farewell address Tuesday night was a darker theme: the struggle to help the people on the losing end of technological...

N.s.a. Gets More Latitude to Share Intercepted Communications
From ACM News

N.s.a. Gets More Latitude to Share Intercepted Communications

In its final days, the Obama administration has expanded the power of the National Security Agency to share globally intercepted personal communications with the...

Data Could Be the Next Tech Hot Button For Regulators
From ACM News

Data Could Be the Next Tech Hot Button For Regulators

Wealth and influence in the technology business have always been about gaining the upper hand in software or the machines that software ran on.

Coming From Automakers: Voice Control That Understands You Better
From ACM News

Coming From Automakers: Voice Control That Understands You Better

Every once in a while, just for laughs, Kevin Smith-Fagan tries to call a friend of his, Priscilla, using the voice-recognition system in his 2013 Chevrolet Volt...

Cyberwar For Sale
From ACM News

Cyberwar For Sale

On the morning of May 18, 2014, Violeta Lagunes was perplexed by a series of strange messages that appeared in her Gmail inbox.
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