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How Design Can Help Voice Interaction Go Big
From ACM Opinion

How Design Can Help Voice Interaction Go Big

Recently there's been a lot of comparison between Apple's Siri and Google's Voice Search. Microsoft's voice breakthroughs have also captured headlines.

Workplace Distractions: Here's Why You Won't Finish This Article
From ACM Opinion

Workplace Distractions: Here's Why You Won't Finish This Article

In the few minutes it takes to read this article, chances are you'll pause to check your phone, answer a text, switch to your desktop to read an email from the...

Beyond Quad-Core: What's Next For Mobile Processing Power
From ACM Opinion

Beyond Quad-Core: What's Next For Mobile Processing Power

Remember when a quad-core processor was the ultimate indicator of a super-smartphone?

5 Reasons We May Live in a Multiverse
From ACM Opinion

5 Reasons We May Live in a Multiverse

The universe we live in may not be the only one out there. In fact, our universe could be just one of an infinite number of universes making up a "multiverse."

11 Big Tech Trends You'll See in 2013
From ACM Opinion

11 Big Tech Trends You'll See in 2013

Writing prediction pieces is a funny thing because there is really no such thing as "next year."

The Next Big Os War Is in Your Dashboard
From ACM Opinion

The Next Big Os War Is in Your Dashboard

Competition in automotive technology has long been about who's got the most horsepower, the best towing capacity or the fastest acceleration. These days, though...

How to Make Almost Anything
From ACM Opinion

How to Make Almost Anything

A new digital revolution is coming, this time in fabrication. It draws on the same insights that led to the earlier digitizations of communication and computation...

Was a Texas Student Really Expelled for Refusing To Wear an RFID Chip?
From ACM Opinion

Was a Texas Student Really Expelled for Refusing To Wear an RFID Chip?

The Texas school district that began requiring its students to wear RFID tracking chips this year is now facing a fight in federal court.

From ACM Opinion

How to ­se Technology to Make You Smarter

Can a calculator make you smarter?

In China, 25 Million People ­se Only Their Cell Phones to Read Books
From ACM Opinion

In China, 25 Million People ­se Only Their Cell Phones to Read Books

On vacation in China earlier this month, I stopped by Shanghai's seven-story downtown "Book City," bustling with activity on a weekday afternoon that, as a publisher...

A Touch Literate World: The Global Tablet Craze
From ACM Opinion

A Touch Literate World: The Global Tablet Craze

I haven't been shy about expressing my belief that tablets represent the reinvention of the personal computer.

Will We Ever ­nderstand How Our Brains Work?
From ACM News

Will We Ever ­nderstand How Our Brains Work?

When it comes to the human brain, many scientists believe that we are incapable of understanding how it works because we lack the tools and intelligence to measure...

Data Doesn't Belong to the Democrats
From ACM Opinion

Data Doesn't Belong to the Democrats

One of the leading narratives of the 2012 campaign is that data trumped all.

Eye Am a Camera: Surveillance and Sousveillance in the Glassage
From ACM Opinion

Eye Am a Camera: Surveillance and Sousveillance in the Glassage

Digital eye glasses like Google’s Project Glass, and my earlier Digital Eye Glass, will transform society because they introduce a two-sided surveillance and sousveillance...

Inside the Secret World of the Data Crunchers Who Helped Obama Win
From ACM Opinion

Inside the Secret World of the Data Crunchers Who Helped Obama Win

In late spring, the backroom number crunchers who powered Barack Obama's campaign to victory noticed that George Clooney had an almost gravitational tug on West...

Wrath of the Math: Obama Wins Nerdiest Election Ever
From ACM Opinion

Wrath of the Math: Obama Wins Nerdiest Election Ever

Congratulations, Barack Obama: You have prevailed in the nerdiest election in the history of the American Republic.

Future Mars Missions: Can Humans Actually Trump Robots?
From ACM Opinion

Future Mars Missions: Can Humans Actually Trump Robots?

For decades scientists have backed the idea of sending robots to collect Martian rocks and return them to Earth, a project that should be possible well before humans...

Why Jony Ive Shouldn't Kill Off Apple's Skeuomorphic Interfaces
From ACM Opinion

Why Jony Ive Shouldn't Kill Off Apple's Skeuomorphic Interfaces

Last week Apple fired Scott Forstall, the architect of its iOS platform, and handed his duties over to the company's chief industrial designer, Jonathan Ive. Ive...

The Strange Science of Translating Sarcasm Online
From ACM Opinion

The Strange Science of Translating Sarcasm Online

Seriously, did he really mean that?

Should a Calendar App Look Like a Calendar?
From ACM Opinion

Should a Calendar App Look Like a Calendar?

This week, Apple fired Scott Forstall, its longtime chief of mobile software. In the wake of the shake-up—which reportedly had to do with Forstall's refusal to for...
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