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Occupy the Net!
From ACM Opinion

Occupy the Net!

What would George Orwell make of Facebook? Nothing really: His account would probably be deactivated by the company. If he were lucky, he would be told to produce...

From ACM Opinion

The End of the Credit Card?

A new app called Card Case foretells a world without cash and plastic.

From ACM Opinion

Will Robots Steal Your Job?

If you're taking a break from work to read this article, I've got one question for you: Are you crazy? I know you think no one will notice, and I know that everyone...

Can Brain Research Keep ­S Safe?
From ACM News

Can Brain Research Keep ­S Safe?

Human conflict is often associated with the emergence of a new science or technology. The Civil War's Gatling gun changed battlefield tactics and led to modern...

From ACM Opinion

What Constitutes an Act of Cyberwar?

Before we get to that, there's a clue in the spelling of the word: cyberwar instead of cyber war. The U.S. Defense Department has determined that cyber is a fifth...

From ACM News

The Death of Booting ­p

Remember "booting up"? It was the first thing you did every morning—you waited two minutes, three minutes, sometimes even longer while your computer ran through...

From ACM Opinion

Google's Instant Pages and the Joys of a Computer that Can Read Your Mind

Chrome is reading my mind. When I type a search query in Google's Web browser, it offers me the most likely results right in the address bar. It doesn't justWikipedia...

Why Twitter Should Double Its Character Limit
From ACM Opinion

Why Twitter Should Double Its Character Limit

Five years ago this month, Twitter opened itself up to the public. The new service, initially called Twttr, was born out of software engineer Jack Dorsey's fascination...

From ACM Opinion

Will Amazon's Recent Server Failures Slow the Rise of Cloud Computing?

Last Thursday morning around 5 a.m. eastern time, Amazon suffered a major data center outage. These sorts of outages happen now and then, but they seldom makewhy...

No More Privacy Paranoia
From ACM Opinion

No More Privacy Paranoia

Want Web companies to stop using our personal data? Be ready to suffer the consequences.

Japan Has Shifted 13 Feet!
From ACM News

Japan Has Shifted 13 Feet!

What does Japan's earthquake mean for GPS? Friday's 9.0-magnitude earthquake was so powerful that it actually widened Japan. While parts of the country barely...

The Future of Mobile Gadgets
From ACM Opinion

The Future of Mobile Gadgets

I got my first cell phone a little more than a decade ago, just as I was finishing college and looking for my first job. I didn't need a mobile phone; none of...

My Puny Human Brain
From ACM Opinion

My Puny Human Brain

Jeopardy! genius Ken Jennings on what it's like to play against a supercomputer.

From ACM News

Every Day We Write the Book

What would happen if Facebook made its data available for research?

From ACM Opinion

Apple's Multitouch Lawsuit Is Both Dumb and Dangerous

When Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone at 2007's Macworld conference, he began by describing the device's groundbreaking user interface. "We have invented...

From ACM Opinion

I'm Sorry, Dave, I'm Afraid I Can't Make a ­-Turn

When Toyota Prius owners take their cars to the dealer under the company's latest recall, they'll likely be out of the shop in about 30 minutes. Even though the...

From ACM Opinion

The Best Web Browser on the Planet

I like to think of myself as the Dick Cheney of the Browser Wars—an unyielding proponent of greater and greater hostilities between the developers working on Chrome...
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