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Why the Days Are Numbered For Hadoop As We Know It
From ACM Opinion

Why the Days Are Numbered For Hadoop As We Know It

Hadoop is everywhere. For better or worse, it has become synonymous with big data. In just a few years it has gone from a fringe technology to the de facto standard...

How to Fly the ­.s.'s Trillion-Dollar Stealth Fighter Jet
From ACM Opinion

How to Fly the ­.s.'s Trillion-Dollar Stealth Fighter Jet

The first rule of flying the world's most advanced fighter jet: Do not push the red button until you absolutely mean to.

Future Planetary Rovers May Make Their Own Decisions
From ACM Opinion

Future Planetary Rovers May Make Their Own Decisions

It's a hot summer day, and your eyes spot an ice cream cart up ahead. Without even really thinking, you start walking that direction. Planetary scientists would...

We Already ­se Wi-Fi More Than Cellular; Why Not Continue the Trend?
From ACM Opinion

We Already ­se Wi-Fi More Than Cellular; Why Not Continue the Trend?

We think of our mobile phones as connecting to mobile networks, but that’s really not the case. When it comes to mobile data, our smartphones are far more reliant...

Why Google Glass Is the Next Frontier For Developers
From ACM Opinion

Why Google Glass Is the Next Frontier For Developers

When Google co-founder Sergey Brin demoed Google Glass, the search giant's attempt to build a next-generation wearable computer, with skydivers live streaming their...

What the Well's Rise and Fall Tell ­S About Online Community
From ACM Opinion

What the Well's Rise and Fall Tell ­S About Online Community

In the late 1980s, decades before the term "social media" existed, in a now legendary and miraculously still living virtual community called "The WELL," a fellow...

Automate or Perish
From ACM Careers

Automate or Perish

In Automate This, a book due out next month, author and entrepreneur Christopher Steiner tells the story of stockbroker Thomas Peterffy, the creator of the first...

Google Glass Team: 'wearable Computing Will Be the Norm'
From ACM Opinion

Google Glass Team: 'wearable Computing Will Be the Norm'

Even though I followed Google's I/O Conference from across the country, the event made it obvious that a company created with a strict focus on search has become...

Would Apple Iglass Be Better Than Google's Glasses?
From ACM Opinion

Would Apple Iglass Be Better Than Google's Glasses?

Apple just got awarded a new patent that may become the wearable version of the iPad one day: eyeglasses that would display apps, video, images, and overlay information...

From ACM Opinion

Are Guidelines Issued By Drone Industry an Attempt to Avoid Government Regulation?

The growing use of drones in the United States is facing firm opposition from civil liberties groups and some legislators, like Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Rep. ...

Battle Plan: Apple vs. Microsoft vs. Google
From ACM Opinion

Battle Plan: Apple vs. Microsoft vs. Google

In the past few weeks, the tech industry's biggest players have shown off their newest software and hardware, all aiming to make big moves before the end of the...

­gly Buttons
From ACM Opinion

­gly Buttons

I can't figure out how to watch my brother's TV. He's explained it to me a hundred times, but that's the curse of the baby-sitting uncle: It's harder to work a...

From ACM Opinion

'lightweight' Drm Isn't the Answer

The world doesn't need another DRM platform, regardless of whether it's called "lightweight." DRM is annoying for customers and provides a false sense of security...

Think Smartphones Are ­biquitous Now? Just Wait a Few Years
From ACM Opinion

Think Smartphones Are ­biquitous Now? Just Wait a Few Years

Five years after the first iPhone went on sale, the sales of smartphones—loosely defined as phones that can run third-party "apps," and access the Internet directly—now...

A Weapon We Can't Control
From ACM Opinion

A Weapon We Can't Control

The decision by the United States and Israel to develop and then deploy the Stuxnet computer worm against an Iranian nuclear facility late in George W. Bush's presidency...

From ACM Opinion

Microsoft Is the Most Exciting Company in Tech, Hands Down

I never thought I'd ever hear myself utter such words post-1995. But after the reveal of the Surface tablet—complete with an ultra-thin, pressure-sensitive keyboard...

The First Five Years of the Iphone Obsession
From ACM Opinion

The First Five Years of the Iphone Obsession

The big question: Is the iPhone a "bicycle for the mind," as the late Steve Jobs said about the first Mac, or a crutch that does too much of our thinking for us...

Free Speech For Computers?
From ACM Opinion

Free Speech For Computers?

Do machines speak? If so, do they have a constitutional right to free speech?

How Garmin Failed to See the Iphone Threat
From ACM Opinion

How Garmin Failed to See the Iphone Threat

About nine years ago, I had a question for Min Kao, the CEO of the GPS concern Garmin. His answer was determined, and I thought of it as I watched the news from...

Why Faces Matter to Facebook
From ACM Opinion

Why Faces Matter to Facebook

Facebook really wants to know what you look like.
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