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We Can Survive Killer Asteroids
From ACM Opinion

We Can Survive Killer Asteroids

The chances that your tombstone will read "Killed by Asteroid" are about the same as they'd be for "Killed in Airplane Crash."

Jeffrey Bigham: ­sing the Crowd to Help People With Disabilities
From ACM News

Jeffrey Bigham: ­sing the Crowd to Help People With Disabilities

Jeffrey Bigham's research uses Web-based applications and crowdsourcing to help people with disabilities in near real-time. Is it any surprise he won a NSF Career...

How China Steals Our Secrets
From ACM Opinion

How China Steals Our Secrets

For the last two months, senior government officials and private-sector experts have paraded before Congress and described in alarming terms a silent threat: cyberattacks...

Living on a Stream: The Rise of Real-Time Video
From ACM Opinion

Living on a Stream: The Rise of Real-Time Video

A couple of weeks ago, I was talking to a friend about streaming. I was marveling how easy it’s becoming to beam a live video feed, anywhere, not only to a friend...

A Rosie Future: Jetsons-Like Gadgets with 'ambient Intelligence' Are Key to Smart Homes and Cities
From ACM Opinion

A Rosie Future: Jetsons-Like Gadgets with 'ambient Intelligence' Are Key to Smart Homes and Cities

Fifty years after The Jetsons promised us a future of robot maids, flying cars, video phones and meals at the push of a button, it seems that reality may actually...

Review: Bad Apple
From ACM Opinion

Review: Bad Apple

Apple's 1997 "Think Different" marketing campaign was one of its most memorable ever.

Dns Changer
From ACM Opinion

Dns Changer

One fine night in November 2011 I got an opportunity to get my hands dirty, working on a project for the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation.

From ACM Opinion

Your Privacy Is a Sci-Fi Fantasy

The assault on personal privacy has ramped up significantly in the past few years. From warrantless GPS tracking to ISP packet inspection, it seems that everyone...

Windows 8 a Big Misstep For Microsoft
From ACM Opinion

Windows 8 a Big Misstep For Microsoft

The venerable PC is at a crossroads.

Was Cameron's Deep Dive as ­seless as Manned Space Flight?
From ACM Opinion

Was Cameron's Deep Dive as ­seless as Manned Space Flight?

Ninety-nine percent of what we know about the solar system came to us from unmanned probes.  

A National Id Card that Protects Voting Rights
From ACM Opinion

A National Id Card that Protects Voting Rights

In December, the U.S. Department of Justice intervened under the Voting Rights Act to stay a South Carolina voter ID law.

A Robot Stole My Pulitzer!
From ACM Opinion

A Robot Stole My Pulitzer!

Can technology be autonomous?

The Network Protocol Battle
From Communications of the ACM

The Network Protocol Battle

A tale of hubris and zealotry.

Dangerously Vague Cybersecurity Legislation Threatens Civil Liberties
From ACM Opinion

Dangerously Vague Cybersecurity Legislation Threatens Civil Liberties

There is a spate of proposed cybersecurity legislation working its way through the House and Senate. The bills are aimed primarily at facilitating cooperation regarding...

Can Speech-Recognition Software Work in Mandarin?
From ACM Opinion

Can Speech-Recognition Software Work in Mandarin?

In anticipation of Apple’s introduction of Siri in Chinese this year, I decided to try Dragon, a line of smartphone voice apps by Nuance Communications—the company...

The 4g Fakeout
From ACM Opinion

The 4g Fakeout

Not long ago, when desktops and laptops were the main computers we used every day, PC makers peddled what's known as the megahertz myth.

The Personalized Web Is Just an Interest Graph Away
From ACM Opinion

The Personalized Web Is Just an Interest Graph Away

You know how our social graphs are creeping into every aspect of our Web lives, from search results to coupons? Well, get ready for something a lot more personal...

Safecast Geiger Counter Reference Design
From ACM Opinion

Safecast Geiger Counter Reference Design

This past weekend marked the anniversary of the Tohoku-Oki earthquake that devastated Japan.

Was Our Interview with Lulzsec Hacker an Fbi Set-­p?
From ACM Opinion

Was Our Interview with Lulzsec Hacker an Fbi Set-­p?

In the early hours of 30 June last year, my time spent monitoring the Anonymous chat room finally paid off: "Sabu" would grant me an interview. 

From ACM Opinion

The Technology of a Better Footnote

Footnotes—or endnotes, or just notes; whatever you want to call them—are a problem. They're a problem for writers and a problem for readers and a problem for typesetters...
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