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3 Ways to Make Software Patents Suck Less (without Abolishing Them Altogether)
From ACM Opinion

3 Ways to Make Software Patents Suck Less (without Abolishing Them Altogether)

This week, the Supreme Court tackled one of the thorniest problems in tech policy: software patents.

Bots on the Beat
From ACM Opinion

Bots on the Beat

On March 24 at 2:36 p.m., the New York Post reported that the body of former Nets basketball player Quinton Ross had been found in a shallow grave on Long Island...

Hey, Robot: Which Cat Is Cuter?
From ACM Opinion

Hey, Robot: Which Cat Is Cuter?

One recent morning, while contemplating writing this column, I scrolled through thousands and thousands of listings for mundane microgigs on Mechanical Turk, or...

10 Years On, Gmail Has Transformed the Web as We Know It
From ACM Opinion

10 Years On, Gmail Has Transformed the Web as We Know It

Google loves to unveil a good gag product on April Fool's Day.

From ACM Opinion

Abstract Ideas Don't Deserve Patents

The Constitution gives Congress the power to grant inventors a temporary monopoly over their creations to "promote the progress of science and useful arts."

Five Ways to Make Sure We Never Lose a Plane Again
From ACM Opinion

Five Ways to Make Sure We Never Lose a Plane Again

For the past few weeks the world's attention has been focussed on the lost Malaysia Airlines plane and its 239 passengers and crew that has apparently crashed in...

The Dream of Intelligent Robot Friends
From ACM Opinion

The Dream of Intelligent Robot Friends

Karotz is an Internet-enabled console in the shape of an abstracted rabbit.

What Oculus's $2 Billion Payday Teaches ­S About Innovation
From ACM Opinion

What Oculus's $2 Billion Payday Teaches ­S About Innovation

Tuesday's announcement that Facebook is buying the virtual-reality start-up Oculus for $2 billion no doubt left many people scratching their heads.

Will We Ever Travel in Wormholes?
From ACM News

Will We Ever Travel in Wormholes?

The universe is huge.

Who's Afraid of Nate Silver?
From ACM Opinion

Who's Afraid of Nate Silver?

Nate Silver doesn't look very threatening.

MOOCs Revisited, With Some Policy Suggestions
From Communications of the ACM

MOOCs Revisited, With Some Policy Suggestions

Assessing the rapidly evolving realm of massive open online courses.

Thinking Outside the Continent
From Communications of the ACM

Thinking Outside the Continent

Encouraging the opportunities for digital innovation and invention to flourish in a variety of social environments.

Small Data, Where N = Me
From Communications of the ACM

Small Data, Where N = Me

Seeking personalized data-derived insights from analysis of our digital traces.

Anger on Weibo Over Flight 370
From ACM Opinion

Anger on Weibo Over Flight 370

Tragedy, when its cause and the fate of its victims are still unknown, is supposed to occasion solidarity.

Discovering Two Screens Aren't Better Than One
From ACM Opinion

Discovering Two Screens Aren't Better Than One

For years, techies have argued that getting an extra monitor or two for your desktop computer is an especially effective way to increase personal productivity.

When Big Data Marketing Becomes Stalking
From ACM Opinion

When Big Data Marketing Becomes Stalking

Many of us now expect our online activities to be recorded and analyzed, but we assume that the physical spaces we inhabit are different.

From ACM Opinion

Why Google Doesn't Have a Research Lab

Research vice presidents at some computing giants, such as Microsoft and IBM, rule over divisions housed in dedicated facilities carefully insulated from the rat...

Three Things to Take Away from Cansecwest, Pwn2own
From ACM Opinion

Three Things to Take Away from Cansecwest, Pwn2own

Browsers, brokers, and BIOS: You could safely call that triumvirate the past, present, and future of security, but you'd be wrong.

The Future of Brain Implants
From ACM News

The Future of Brain Implants

What would you give for a retinal chip that let you see in the dark or for a next-generation cochlear implant that let you hear any conversation in a noisy restaurant...

Hacking Your Dna
From ACM Opinion

Hacking Your Dna

Keeping track of what we reveal about ourselves each day—through email and text messages, Amazon purchases and Facebook "likes"—is hard enough.
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