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Will We Ever… Speak Faster Than Light Speed?
From ACM Opinion

Will We Ever… Speak Faster Than Light Speed?

Light travels so fast it can make the transatlantic journey between London and New York more than 50 times each second. With speed like that, you might wonder why...

The Pluto Punch-Through
From ACM Opinion

The Pluto Punch-Through

On July 14, 2015 NASA's New Horizons spacecraft finally reaches Pluto. But the encounter is brief.

Why Robots and Humans Struggled with Darpa's Challenge
From ACM Opinion

Why Robots and Humans Struggled with Darpa's Challenge

When some of the world's most advanced rescue robots are foiled by nothing more complex than a doorknob, you get a good sense of the challenge of making our homes...

The Myth of a Borderless Internet
From ACM Opinion

The Myth of a Borderless Internet

Almost a decade ago now, McDonald's made a seemingly innocuous decision.

It's Time to Let Edward Snowden Come Home
From ACM Opinion

It's Time to Let Edward Snowden Come Home

Now that Congress has passed, and President Obama has signed, the U.S.A. Freedom Act, which places some limits on the domestic-surveillance powers of the National...

The Real Winners in the Fight Over Government Surveillance
From ACM Opinion

The Real Winners in the Fight Over Government Surveillance

After the Senate passed legislation aimed at reforming a program that collected data about the phone calls of millions of Americans, Senate Majority Leader Mitch...

I Made an ­ntraceable 'ghost Gun' in My Office—and It Was Easy
From ACM Opinion

I Made an ­ntraceable 'ghost Gun' in My Office—and It Was Easy

This is my ghost gun. To quote the rifleman's creed, there are many like it, but this one is mine.

Want Your Writing to Look Like Einstein's? Computers Mimic Handwriting of the Famous
From ACM Opinion

Want Your Writing to Look Like Einstein's? Computers Mimic Handwriting of the Famous

Harald Geisler wants to make you as brilliant as Albert Einstein. Or at least let you write like him. Or at least write in his handwriting.

The Military Origins of Wearable Tech, a Century Before the Apple Watch
From ACM Opinion

The Military Origins of Wearable Tech, a Century Before the Apple Watch

On July 9, 1916, The New York Times puzzled over a fashion trend: Europeans were starting to wear bracelets with clocks on them.

Lust and the Turing Test
From ACM Opinion

Lust and the Turing Test

By and large, we watch movies to be entertained, not to be provoked into deep thought. Occasionally, a film does both.

Immortal But Damned to Hell on Earth
From ACM Opinion

Immortal But Damned to Hell on Earth

Imagine a supercomputer so advanced that it could hold the contents of a human brain.

Looking For Creativity in Brains Will Take More Creativity
From ACM Opinion

Looking For Creativity in Brains Will Take More Creativity

About a decade and a half ago, the neuroscience world got super-stoked about a sexy new way to look at living brains: functional magnetic resonance imaging.

A Murky Road Ahead For Android, Despite Market Dominance
From ACM Opinion

A Murky Road Ahead For Android, Despite Market Dominance

In 2005, Google bought a tiny mobile software company named Android, and almost nobody in the technology industry saw its potential—not even Eric Schmidt, Google's...

Project Exodus
From ACM Opinion

Project Exodus

On March 27th, an American astronaut named Scott Kelly blasted off from Earth and, six hours later, clambered onto the International Space Station.

An Npr Reporter Raced a Machine to Write a News Story. Who Won?
From ACM Opinion

An Npr Reporter Raced a Machine to Write a News Story. Who Won?

Even the most creative jobs have parts that are pretty routine—tasks that, at least in theory, can be done by a machine. Take, for example, being a reporter.

Java at 20: How It Changed Programming Forever
From ACM Opinion

Java at 20: How It Changed Programming Forever

Java synthesized sound ideas, repackaging them in a practical format that turned on a generation of coders.

As Congress Haggles Over Patriot Act, We Answer 6 Basic Questions
From ACM Opinion

As Congress Haggles Over Patriot Act, We Answer 6 Basic Questions

The rest of the month is setting up to be pretty dramatic in the Senate.

Lazarus Code
From Communications of the ACM

Lazarus Code

No one expects the Spanish Acquisition.

Why Robots Will Always Need ­S
From ACM Opinion

Why Robots Will Always Need ­S

"Human beings are ashamed to have been born instead of made," wrote the philosopher Günther Anders in 1956. Our shame has only deepened as our machines have grown...

The Second Job You Don’t Know You Have
From ACM Opinion

The Second Job You Don’t Know You Have

Technology has knocked the bottom rung out of the employment ladder, which has sent youth unemployment around the globe skyrocketing and presented us with a serious...
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