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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.


The Snails of War
From ACM News

The Snails of War

The electric snail is here. There's an electric cockroach too.

New Interest in Hacking as Threat to Security
From ACM News

New Interest in Hacking as Threat to Security

During the five-month period between October and February, there were 86 reported attacks on computer systems in the United States that control critical infrastructure...

Life on Mars? Funds to Find Answer Fade
From ACM News

Life on Mars? Funds to Find Answer Fade

Just as NASA is on the cusp of answering the most fascinating questions about Mars—is there, was there or could there be life there?—the money needed to provide...

The First Google Maps War
From ACM News

The First Google Maps War

Did Google Maps almost cause a war in 2010? On Nov. 3 of that year, Edén Pastora, the Nicaraguan official tasked with dredging the Rio San Juan, justified his country's...

The Bright Side of Being Hacked
From ACM News

The Bright Side of Being Hacked

Hackers operating under the banner Anonymous have been poking a finger in the eye of one private company after another for two years now.  

Et Tu, Google? Android Apps Can Also Secretly Copy Photos
From ACM News

Et Tu, Google? Android Apps Can Also Secretly Copy Photos

It's not just Apple. Photos are vulnerable on Android phones, too.

For Impatient Web Users, an Eye Blink Is Just Too Long to Wait
From ACM News

For Impatient Web Users, an Eye Blink Is Just Too Long to Wait

Wait a second. No, that's too long.

Microsoft Ponders Future of Kinect, Tech
From ACM News

Microsoft Ponders Future of Kinect, Tech

When Microsoft thinks about the future of technology, it seems to do so with its stomach.

In Attack on Vatican Web Site, a Glimpse of Hackers' Tactics
From ACM News

In Attack on Vatican Web Site, a Glimpse of Hackers' Tactics

The elusive hacker movement known as Anonymous has carried out Internet attacks on well-known organizations like Sony and PBS. In August, the group went after its...

A Law Apple Would Like to Break
From ACM News

A Law Apple Would Like to Break

These days, it’s hard to find a superlative that adequately describes Apple. But maybe simplest is best: biggest.

Behind the Google Goggles, Virtual Reality
From ACM News

Behind the Google Goggles, Virtual Reality

It wasn't so long ago that legions of people began walking the streets, talking to themselves. On closer inspection, many of them turned out to be wearing tiny...

How Companies Learn Your Secrets
From ACM News

How Companies Learn Your Secrets

Andrew Pole had just started working as a statistician for Target in 2002, when two colleagues from the marketing department stopped by his desk to ask an odd question...

From ACM News

Flaw Found in an Online Encryption Method

A team of European and American mathematicians and cryptographers have discovered an unexpected weakness in the encryption system widely used worldwide for online...

Traveling Light in a Time of Digital Thievery
From ACM News

Traveling Light in a Time of Digital Thievery

When Kenneth G. Lieberthal, a China expert at the Brookings Institution, travels to that country, he follows a routine that seems straight from a spy film.

From ACM News

Wolfram, a Search Engine, Finds Answers Within Itself

Stephen Wolfram, a 52-year-old scientist, software designer and entrepreneur, tends to go his own way—often with noteworthy results.

From ACM News

For $2 a Star, an Online Retailer Gets 5-Star Product Reviews

In the brutal world of online commerce, where a competing product is just a click away, retailers need all the juice they can get to close a sale.

From ACM News

Build ­p Your Phone's Defenses Against Hackers

Chuck Bokath would be terrifying if he were not such a nice guy. A jovial senior engineer at the Georgia Tech Research Institute in Atlanta, Mr. Bokath can hack...

From ACM News

Pursuing Iphone Thief, Officer Knew Right Buttons to Push

As crime-solving tools go, it may not have the same pedigree as, say, the oversize magnifying glass.

From ACM News

When Self-Driving Cars and the Real World Collide

Even as Google tests its small fleet of self-driving vehicles on California highways, legal scholars and government officials are warning that society has only...

From ACM News

Sign Says What? Park at Your Peril

Writing is a craft whose basic purpose is to transmit meaning, but there are certain writers who seem to have different goals in mind: patent lawyers, many poets...
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