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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.

Has Dopamine Got ­s Hooked on Tech?
From ACM News

Has Dopamine Got ­s Hooked on Tech?

In an unprecedented attack of candour, Sean Parker, the 38-year-old founding president of Facebook, recently admitted that the social network was founded not to...

In ­S v. Microsoft, a Decades-Old Law Leaves Few Good Options
From ACM Opinion

In ­S v. Microsoft, a Decades-Old Law Leaves Few Good Options

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in United States v. Microsoft, a case that many observers believe could have significant ramifications for how...

The Limits of Explainability
From ACM Opinion

The Limits of Explainability

When we look at a stack of blocks or a stack of Oreos, we intuitively have a sense of how stable it is, whether it might fall over, and in what direction it may...

Tech Companies Should Stop Pretending AI Won't Destroy Jobs
From ACM Opinion

Tech Companies Should Stop Pretending AI Won't Destroy Jobs

I took an Uber to an artificial-­intelligence conference at MIT one recent morning, and the driver asked me how long it would take for autonomous vehicles to take...

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...

How Trump Conquered Facebook, Without Russian Ads
From ACM Opinion

How Trump Conquered Facebook, Without Russian Ads

It's not every day that a former work colleague gets retweeted by the president of the United States.

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...

Russia's Troll Operation Was Not That Sophisticated
From ACM Opinion

Russia's Troll Operation Was Not That Sophisticated

It might be nice for Democrats and #NeverTrumpers to believe that Russia's troll factory brought Donald Trump the 2016 Presidential Election.

How to Monitor Fake News
From ACM Opinion

How to Monitor Fake News

The indictment of 13 Russians filed on Friday by Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating Russian efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election,...

How Russia Turned the Internet Against America
From ACM Opinion

How Russia Turned the Internet Against America

The indictment released Friday by special counsel Robert Mueller makes plain how prosecutors believe Russia pursued its multiyear scheme to undermine the 2016 presidential...

2 Years After FBI vs. Apple, Encryption Debate Remains
From ACM News

2 Years After FBI vs. Apple, Encryption Debate Remains

It's been two years since the FBI and Apple got into a giant fight over encryption following the San Bernardino shooting, when the government had the shooter's...

China's Dystopian Tech Could Be Contagious
From ACM Opinion

China's Dystopian Tech Could Be Contagious

For all the particularities of life in China, its big cities offer a familiar cosmopolitanism.

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.

How Technology Can Make Valentine's Day Much, Much Better
From ACM Opinion

How Technology Can Make Valentine's Day Much, Much Better

Every February I agonize over the Valentine's Day Dilemma. How can I show my girlfriend, whom I'll call Emily, how much I love her?

How Snapchat Is Sending #MeToo Down the Memory Hole
From ACM Opinion

How Snapchat Is Sending #MeToo Down the Memory Hole

If you have something personal or private to communicate, you know where to turn.

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.

Computational Propaganda: Bots, Targeting, and the Future
From ACM Opinion

Computational Propaganda: Bots, Targeting, and the Future

A long time ago, when I was working on my Ph.D. research, I learned to use supercomputers to track the complex 3-D motions of gas blown into space by dying stars...
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