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Read My Email? Get a Warrant
From ACM Opinion

Read My Email? Get a Warrant

Last October the well-known hacking group Chaos Computer Club revealed that the German state police had been monitoring the computers of ordinary citizens using...

Microsoft Reinvents Wi-Fi For White Spaces
From ACM TechNews

Microsoft Reinvents Wi-Fi For White Spaces

Microsoft researchers have developed WiFi-NC, a type of Wi-Fi network that runs at peak performance even when interference is present. 

iPhone Celebrates 5th Birthday
From ACM Opinion

iPhone Celebrates 5th Birthday

Gadget fans may be focused on the CES trade show this week, but there’s something else notable going on today: It’s the iPhone’s fifth birthday.

I Want to Translate the Web
From ACM Opinion

I Want to Translate the Web

I want to translate the Web into every major language: every Webpage, every video, and, yes, even Justin Bieber's tweets.

From ACM Opinion

Internet Access Is Not a Human Right

From the streets of Tunis to Tahrir Square and beyond, protests around the world last year were built on the Internet and the many devices that interact with...

Four Industries Apple Can Disrupt in the Near Future
From ACM Opinion

Four Industries Apple Can Disrupt in the Near Future

Over the past 10 years, Apple has done a rather amazing job of disrupting quite a few industries.

Welcome to the 'knowosphere'
From ACM Opinion

Welcome to the 'knowosphere'

Here's my take on what I've begun calling the "knowosphere"—a word intentionally echoing the more allegorical "noosphere," the "planet of the mind" of Vladimir....

Flying Robots Build a Tower
From ACM Opinion

Flying Robots Build a Tower

Construction workers please note: Somebody just built a 20-foot tower using flying robots. The demo took place in a warehouse-like art gallery called FRAC, just...

From ACM Opinion

10 Tech Wishes For 2012

2011 was top-notch gadget-wise, but there's always room for improvement. Here, some hopes and wants for the new year.

From ACM Opinion

2011 Was a Terrible Year For Tech

If you read tech criticism often, there’s a good chance that you’ve come upon a staple of the form that I like to call the "mommy dearest" review.

Smoke Screening
From ACM Opinion

Smoke Screening

Not until I walked with Bruce Schneier toward the mass of people unloading their laptops did it occur to me that it might not be possible for us to hang around...

Why Windows 8 Tablets Will Surprise Everyone
From ACM Opinion

Why Windows 8 Tablets Will Surprise Everyone

Windows-based tablets haven't been treated kindly by the test of time. Those released in the Windows XP era relied on wonky, stylus-based data entry, and even...

Interfaces For the Ordinary User
From Communications of the ACM

Interfaces For the Ordinary User: Can We Hide Too Much?

Increasing the visibility and access to underlying file structure on consumer devices can vastly improve the user experience.

The IBM PC
From Communications of the ACM

The IBM PC: From Beige Box to Industry Standard

Looking back at three decades of PC platform evolution.

The Difference Engine
From Communications of the ACM

The Difference Engine

Observations on cognitive diversity and team performance.

The Yin and Yang of Copyright and Technology
From Communications of the ACM

The Yin and Yang of Copyright and Technology

Examining the recurring conflicts between copyright and technology from piano rolls to domain-name filtering.

From ACM Opinion

The Year in Computing

2011 saw the personal computer continue to be marginalized. Although PCs are still the workhorse computing device in homes and offices, the most exciting innovations...

From ACM Opinion

A Few Simple Checks Would Transform Science Reporting

The U.K.'s Leveson inquiry is not just about illegally obtained tittle-tattle, it's a chance to curb sensationalist misreporting of science.

The Emergence of a Digital Money Ecosystem
From ACM Opinion

The Emergence of a Digital Money Ecosystem

At the beginning of this year I wrote that the transition to universal mobile digital money is likely to be among the most exciting, important and challenging...

From ACM Opinion

5 Game Stories to Watch in 2012

Goodbye 2011, you tumultuous, fickle, lovely year—hello 2012, another 365-day stretch full of promises, disappointments, and with a little luck, a few pleasant...
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