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From ACM Opinion

The Year on the Web

We've been living in the age of social media for a long time, but 2011 was the year that all the information we share online began to accrete into something greater...

From ACM Opinion

Why Transparent Tracking Needs Its Own App

Amid widespread concern over an obscure piece of smart-phone diagnostic software that some experts say could be used to collect and transmit sensitive information...

From ACM Opinion

The Personal Computer Is Dead

Power is fast shifting from end users and software developers to operating system vendors.

From ACM Opinion

Is Personal Data the New Currency?

What if Facebook paid you? Several startups envision an era in which we are all the brokers, and beneficiaries, of our own personal data.

Why Microsoft Embraced Gaming
From ACM Opinion

Why Microsoft Embraced Gaming

When the original Xbox video-game console went on sale in 2001, it wasn't clear why Microsoft, known for staid workplace software, was branching out into fast...

From ACM Opinion

Don't ­nderestimate the Singularity

Although Paul Allen paraphrases my 2005 book, The Singularity Is Near, in the title of his essay (cowritten with his colleague Mark Greaves), it appears that he...

From ACM Opinion

The Singularity Isn't Near

 Futurists like Vernor Vinge and Ray Kurzweil have argued that the world is rapidly approaching a tipping point, where the accelerating pace of smarter and smarter...

From ACM Opinion

A Cloud Over Ownership

Online services set content free from the physical world's constraints—including those that have defined the very idea of possession.

From ACM News

Cryptocurrency

The bitcoin, a virtual medium of exchange, could be a real alternative to government-issued money—but only if it survives hoarding by speculators.

From ACM Opinion

Why Isn't America Innovating Like It ­sed To?

America isn't innovating like it used to. And by "like it used to," I mean the period from after World War II to 1973, when an explosion of new technologies increased...

From ACM News

Can We Make Machines Listen More Carefully?

You probably use voice recognition technology already, if in a limited capacity. Maybe you use Google's voice-activated search, or take advantage of its (somewhat...

Was the Space Shuttle a Mistake?
From ACM Opinion

Was the Space Shuttle a Mistake?

Forty years ago, I wrote an article for Technology Review titled "Shall We Build the Space Shuttle?" Now, with the 135th and final flight of the shuttle at hand...

What Big Data Needs: A Code of Ethical Practices
From ACM Opinion

What Big Data Needs: A Code of Ethical Practices

In this era of Big Data, there is little that cannot be tracked in our online lives—or even in our offline lives. Consider one new Silicon Valley venture, called...

From ACM Opinion

Iran's Answer to Stuxnet

Might a "halal Internet" be in the wings?

From ACM Opinion

Video Game Shapes Leadership Style of the New Head of Mit's Media Lab

Joi Ito has a knack for leading people, which he demonstrated, of all places, in World of Warcraft.

A Worthwhile Contest For Artificial Intelligence
From ACM Opinion

A Worthwhile Contest For Artificial Intelligence

If IBM's Watson machine defeats people on TV's Jeopardy this week, does that mean that computers are smarter than humans? Maybe not. But the performance could...

From ACM Opinion

Bing Is Copying Your Clicks, Not Google's Results

Google's results can be accessed because Bing is snooping on IE users.

A Less Personal Computer
From ACM Opinion

A Less Personal Computer

In Web parlance, "chrome" is the part of the browser that surrounds the page: the address bar, the "Back" button, and those all-important bookmarks. Chrome is also...
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