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Digital Tattoos, Mind-Reading Headphones: The Shape of Things to Come?
From ACM Opinion

Digital Tattoos, Mind-Reading Headphones: The Shape of Things to Come?

Forecasting future technology has never been easy. In the 1950s, scientists and technologists envisaged that by now the world would be free from disease, traversed...

Congress Tries to Reset Science Grants, Wants Every One to Be 'groundbreaking'
From ACM Opinion

Congress Tries to Reset Science Grants, Wants Every One to Be 'groundbreaking'

Due to Congressional rules, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology had to choose new leadership this year.

Why I Love the National Internet Sales Tax Plan
From ACM Opinion

Why I Love the National Internet Sales Tax Plan

The Internet, in the popular imagination, is supposed to be free—"the last bastion of our economy untouched by the government," as they say on Fox News.

Governments Won't Need to Issue Ids: Data Brokers Will Identify You For Them
From ACM Opinion

Governments Won't Need to Issue Ids: Data Brokers Will Identify You For Them

Our government collects a lot of information about us. Tax records, legal records, license records, records of government services received—it's all in databases...

20 Years On, the Open Web Faces Challenges
From ACM Opinion

20 Years On, the Open Web Faces Challenges

For people of a certain age in the technology industry, one of the ways of establishing a connection with someone is by asking some version of the following question...

Here's Why Bitcoin Is the Future of Money
From ACM Opinion

Here's Why Bitcoin Is the Future of Money

The interesting thing about Bitcoin isn't what it is today. What's interesting is that this experiment is turning into a serious proving ground for the idea of...

Why the Anatomy Lab Remains a Fixture of Medicine
From ACM Careers

Why the Anatomy Lab Remains a Fixture of Medicine

For hundreds of years, physicians have been dissecting the dead to learn about the inner workings of the human body.

The Medium of the Moment
From ACM Opinion

The Medium of the Moment

After the Boston Marathon bombings, the process by which breaking news and information are generated and disseminated looked more ragged and exposed than ever: ...

How Boston Police Won the Twitter Wars During the Marathon Bomber Hunt
From ACM Opinion

How Boston Police Won the Twitter Wars During the Marathon Bomber Hunt

The first official announcement that law enforcement agencies had concluded their manhunt for Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev didn't come at a...

Bill For Compulsory Science Fiction in West Virginia Schools
From ACM Opinion

Bill For Compulsory Science Fiction in West Virginia Schools

A bill calling for science fiction to be made compulsory reading in schools has been proposed by a politician in West Virginia in order to "stimulate interest in...

­nraveling Boston Suspects' Online Lives, Link By Link
From ACM Opinion

­nraveling Boston Suspects' Online Lives, Link By Link

It is America's first fully interactive national tragedy of the social media age.

The Science in Computer Science
From Communications of the ACM

The Science in Computer Science

Computer science is in a period of renaissance as it rediscovers its science roots.

Human-Centered Computing
From Communications of the ACM

Human-Centered Computing: A New Degree For Licklider's World

Combining computing and psychology, J.C.R. Licklider's prescient ideas are being applied in contemporary educational settings.

Max Newman
From Communications of the ACM

Max Newman: Forgotten Man of Early British Computing

Reflections on a significant, yet often overlooked, computing pioneer.

Fair Use in Europe
From Communications of the ACM

Fair Use in Europe

Examining the mismatch between copyright law and technology-influenced evolving social norms in the European Union.

Innovation vs. Privacy: Why We Shouldn't Fear Drones
From ACM Opinion

Innovation vs. Privacy: Why We Shouldn't Fear Drones

Six new test sites will soon be announced for integrating commercial drones into U.S. airspace. Privacy advocates want drone operators in the test sites to be constrained...

The Dark Side of the Digital Revolution
From ACM Opinion

The Dark Side of the Digital Revolution

How do you explain to people that they are a YouTube sensation, when they have never heard of YouTube or the Internet?

#freejahar Hashtag Rallies Emerging Cult of Boston Bomb Suspect
From ACM Opinion

#freejahar Hashtag Rallies Emerging Cult of Boston Bomb Suspect

Barely two days after cops apprehended Suspect #2 in the Boston Marathon bombings, supporters of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev are rallying online.

'total Noise,' Only Louder
From ACM Opinion

'total Noise,' Only Louder

Kids used to ask each other: If a tree falls in a forest and no one hears, does it make a sound? Now there's a microphone in every tree and a loudspeaker on every...

The $12 Gongkai Phone
From ACM Opinion

The $12 Gongkai Phone

How cheap can you make a phone?
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