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The Iphone Is 10 Years Old. Here's the Story of Its Birth.
From ACM Opinion

The Iphone Is 10 Years Old. Here's the Story of Its Birth.

Before anybody outside Apple was aware of it, the project that would become the iPhone was referred to internally by the code name Purple.

The Maths of Life and Death: Our Secret Weapon in the Fight Against disease
From ACM Opinion

The Maths of Life and Death: Our Secret Weapon in the Fight Against disease

Maths is the language of science.

First the Cloud, Now AI Takes on the Scientific Method
From ACM Opinion

First the Cloud, Now AI Takes on the Scientific Method

Back when I was doing research, one of my advisors once joked that, if you wait long enough, you can produce an old result using new methods, manage to get it published...

Designing Antiviral Proteins via Computer Could Help Halt the Next pandemic 
From ACM Opinion

Designing Antiviral Proteins via Computer Could Help Halt the Next pandemic 

As Bill Gates sees it, there are three main threats to our species: nuclear war, climate change and the next global pandemic.

A Guide to Challenges Facing Self-Driving Car Technologists
From ACM Opinion

A Guide to Challenges Facing Self-Driving Car Technologists

In the minds of many in Silicon Valley and in the auto industry, it is inevitable that cars will eventually drive themselves.

The Mysterious Printer Code That Could Have Led the Fbi to Reality Winner
From ACM Opinion

The Mysterious Printer Code That Could Have Led the Fbi to Reality Winner

Across the computer security world yesterday, heads were shaking.

Enigma: Why the Fight to Break Nazi Encryption Still Matters
From ACM News

Enigma: Why the Fight to Break Nazi Encryption Still Matters

It was night when three British sailors and a 16-year-old canteen assistant boarded a sinking U-boat off the coast of Egypt.

Why Apple Is Struggling to Become an Artificial-Intelligence Powerhouse
From ACM Opinion

Why Apple Is Struggling to Become an Artificial-Intelligence Powerhouse

In 2011, Apple became the first company to place artificial intelligence in the pockets of millions of consumers when it launched the voice assistant Siri on the...

How to Call B.s. on Big Data: A Practical Guide
From ACM Opinion

How to Call B.s. on Big Data: A Practical Guide

"Nothing that you will learn in the course of your studies will be of the slightest possible use to you," the Oxford philosophy professor John Alexander Smith told...

Military-Funded Prosthetic Technologies Benefit More Than Just Veterans
From ACM Opinion

Military-Funded Prosthetic Technologies Benefit More Than Just Veterans

In 1905, an Ohio farmer survived a railroad accident that cost him both of his legs.

Who Feels the Pain of Science Research Budget Cuts?
From ACM Opinion

Who Feels the Pain of Science Research Budget Cuts?

Science funding is intended to support the production of new knowledge and ideas that develop new technologies, improve medical treatments and strengthen the economy...

Forced Exception Handling
From Communications of the ACM

Forced Exception Handling

You can never discount the human element in programming.

Medical Microbots Need Better Imaging and Control
From ACM Opinion

Medical Microbots Need Better Imaging and Control

More than 50 years ago, physicist Richard Feynman spoke of "swallowing the surgeon" in his classic lecture, 'There's plenty of room at the bottom'.

What Happens When Your Car Gets Hacked?
From ACM Opinion

What Happens When Your Car Gets Hacked?

As devastating as the latest widespread ransomware attacks have been, it's a problem with a solution.

The Vr Future Is Here but No One Can Agree on a Name For It
From ACM Opinion

The Vr Future Is Here but No One Can Agree on a Name For It

At the VR keynote at Google's IO developer conference, a slide appeared on screen to start the morning's presentation. Clay Bavor, head of AR and VR for Google,...

Google, Not the Government, Is Building the Future
From ACM Opinion

Google, Not the Government, Is Building the Future

One persistent criticism of Silicon Valley is that it no longer works on big, world-changing ideas.

Forget Mars, Let's Go Colonize Titan!
From ACM Opinion

Forget Mars, Let's Go Colonize Titan!

For a while now, there's been a debate in the US over how to direct NASA's next major human spaceflight initiative.

Online Voting Won't Save Democracy
From ACM Opinion

Online Voting Won't Save Democracy

Technology can do a lot more to make our elections more secure and reliable, and to ensure that participation in the democratic process is available to all.

Russian Disinformation Technology 
From ACM Opinion

Russian Disinformation Technology 

On July 17, 2014, as passengers checked in at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, "Necro Mancer"(@666_mancer) tweeted about an unusual...

The 'fix' For Net Neutrality That Consumers Don't Need
From ACM Opinion

The 'fix' For Net Neutrality That Consumers Don't Need

Netflix and Amazon have been nominated for hundreds of Emmys and Golden Globe awards in recent years, and that is a testament to both the quality of those companies...
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