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In Search of Blockchain's Killer-Apps
From ACM Opinion

In Search of Blockchain's Killer-Apps

Blockchain has been in the news lately, but beyond knowing that it has something to do with payments and digital currencies, most people don't know what blockchain...

Does Your Code Stand ­p to Scrutiny?
From ACM Opinion

Does Your Code Stand ­p to Scrutiny?

Computer code written by scientists forms the basis of an increasing number of studies across many fields—and an increasing number of papers that report the results...

­sing Blockchain to Secure the 'Internet of Things'
From ACM Opinion

­sing Blockchain to Secure the 'Internet of Things'

The world is full of connected devices—and more are coming. In 2017, there were an estimated 8.4 billion internet-enabled thermostats, cameras, streetlights and...

How to Make A.I. Human-Friendly
From ACM Opinion

How to Make A.I. Human-Friendly

For a field that was not well known outside of academia a decade ago, artificial intelligence has grown dizzyingly fast. Tech companies from Silicon Valley to Beijing...

Don't Blame China, Mr. President. Blame the Robots.
From ACM Opinion

Don't Blame China, Mr. President. Blame the Robots.

Mr. President, if you're looking for someone to demonize for killing blue-collar jobs in your favorite industries, don't blame China and "bad trade deals." Blame...

Computing With Random Pulses Promises to Simplify Circuitry and Save Power
From ACM Opinion

Computing With Random Pulses Promises to Simplify Circuitry and Save Power

In electronics, the past halfcentury has been a steady march away from analog and toward digital. Telephony, music recording and playback, cameras, and radio and...

Retweets Are Trash
From ACM Opinion

Retweets Are Trash

A couple of months ago, I made a small tweak to my Twitter account that has changed my experience of the platform.

A Framework for Building Artificial Intelligence Capabilities
From ACM Opinion

A Framework for Building Artificial Intelligence Capabilities

After decades of promise and hype, artificial intelligence has finally reached a tipping point of market acceptance.

Where the 'Crisis Actor' Conspiracy Theory Comes From
From ACM Opinion

Where the 'Crisis Actor' Conspiracy Theory Comes From

The term "crisis actor" has been in the news a lot lately, because conspiracy theorists have accused survivors of the Douglas High School mass shooting in Parkland...

Cryptocurrency: The Hail Mary Pass for People Who Missed the Tech Boom
From ACM Opinion

Cryptocurrency: The Hail Mary Pass for People Who Missed the Tech Boom

Between mid-December and early February, bitcoin lost more than half its value, dropping from a high of nearly twenty thousand dollars to just below seven thousand...

The Computing Profession
From Communications of the ACM

The Computing Profession

Taking stock of progress toward a computing profession since this column started in 2001.

How to Make Replication the Norm
From ACM Opinion

How to Make Replication the Norm

Replication is essential for building confidence in research studies, yet it is still the exception rather than the rule.

19th-Century Paleontology Was at the Forefront of Big Data
From ACM Opinion

19th-Century Paleontology Was at the Forefront of Big Data

In 1981, when I was 9 years old, my father took me to see Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Blockchain Explained: It Builds Trust When You Need It Most
From ACM Opinion

Blockchain Explained: It Builds Trust When You Need It Most

These days, we're having a harder and harder time trusting each other.

Want Awesome Robots? You'll Have to Best These Challenges
From ACM Opinion

Want Awesome Robots? You'll Have to Best These Challenges

We are living in the midst of a profound technological restructuring of human society. The machines that once only frolicked in science fiction have begun to infiltrate...

My Pacemaker Is Tracking Me from Inside My Body
From ACM Opinion

My Pacemaker Is Tracking Me from Inside My Body

A month before turning 34, I received an unexpected birthday gift: a cloud-connected pacemaker.

For AI to Get Creative, It Must Learn the Rules, Then How to Break 'em
From ACM Opinion

For AI to Get Creative, It Must Learn the Rules, Then How to Break 'em

American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "Every artist was first an amateur." He likely never thought those words would apply to machines.

I Wore the VR Glove that Fools Your Skin As Well As Your Eyes
From ACM Opinion

I Wore the VR Glove that Fools Your Skin As Well As Your Eyes

I weigh the rock in my hand, then toss it back to the ground.

Artificial Intelligence's 'black Box' Is Nothing to Fear
From ACM Opinion

Artificial Intelligence's 'black Box' Is Nothing to Fear

Alongside the excitement and hype about our growing reliance on artificial intelligence, there's fear about the way the technology works.

Why the I.r.s. Fears Bitcoin
From ACM Opinion

Why the I.r.s. Fears Bitcoin

The extraordinary rise in the value of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has led many people to worry that this market is a giant bubble.
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