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'the Martian,' Nasa and the Rise of a Science-Entertainment Complex
From ACM Opinion

'the Martian,' Nasa and the Rise of a Science-Entertainment Complex

When Navy flyboy Tom Cruise got too close for missiles and switched to guns in the spring of 1986, what seemed like an entire nation got up to follow him.

What's in a Boarding Pass Barcode? A Lot
From ACM Opinion

What's in a Boarding Pass Barcode? A Lot

The next time you're thinking of throwing away a used boarding pass with a barcode on it, consider tossing the boarding pass into a document shredder instead.

How to Make a Rubber Ducky Comet: Smash Two Comets Together! Carefully.
From ACM Opinion

How to Make a Rubber Ducky Comet: Smash Two Comets Together! Carefully.

It was a bit of a surprise when the Rosetta probe, after a decade of travel around the Sun, approached the comet and sent the first decently resolved pictures of...

Apple's 3d Touch Is the Start of a New Interface Revolution
From ACM Opinion

Apple's 3d Touch Is the Start of a New Interface Revolution

If you want to understand the potential of 3D Touch, the new of method of tapping and pressing on the screens of the latest iPhones, forget about the marketing...

Two Paths Toward Our Robot Future
From ACM Opinion

Two Paths Toward Our Robot Future

In 1970, Life magazine published an article about a Stanford University research project that had resulted in the construction of what it called the first-ever...

Fighting Isis Online
From ACM Opinion

Fighting Isis Online

The two men pecked out messages on opposite sides of the country.

How Chicago Got Smart About Sensors
From ACM Opinion

How Chicago Got Smart About Sensors

I've been excited about the Array of Things—a network of beautifully designed sensors poised to capture and make public real-time, non-personal data about the livability...

How to Get to Mars ... And Maybe Even Live There
From ACM Opinion

How to Get to Mars ... And Maybe Even Live There

There's something about the Red Planet—so close yet so far, inhospitable yet perhaps not totally uninhabitable—that keeps us dreaming about getting there one day...

Modelling: Build Imprecise Supercomputers
From ACM Opinion

Modelling: Build Imprecise Supercomputers

Today's supercomputers lack the power to model accurately many aspects of the real world, from the impact of cloud systems on Earth's climate to the processing...

Searching For Life in Martian Water Will Be Very, Very Tricky
From ACM Opinion

Searching For Life in Martian Water Will Be Very, Very Tricky

NASA scientists announced today the best evidence yet that Mars, once thought dry, sterile and dead, may yet have life in it: Liquid water still flows on at least...

Openbci: Control An Air Shark With Your Mind
From ACM Opinion

Openbci: Control An Air Shark With Your Mind

Le's be clear: This is a parlor trick, not neuroscience. Nonetheless, with the help of some friends, I was able to make a toy shark fly through the air using brain...

Stop Googling. Let’s Talk.
From ACM Opinion

Stop Googling. Let’s Talk.

College students tell me they know how to look someone in the eye and type on their phones at the same time, their split attention undetected.

Life After MOOCs
From Communications of the ACM

Life After MOOCs

Online science education needs a new revolution.

Rise of Concerns About AI
From Communications of the ACM

Rise of Concerns About AI: Reflections and Directions

Research, leadership, and communication about AI futures.

Computing Is History
From Communications of the ACM

Computing Is History

Reflections on the past to inform the future.

Thinking Thoughts
From Communications of the ACM

Thinking Thoughts

On brains and bytes.

Storming the Cubicle
From Communications of the ACM

Storming the Cubicle

Acquisitive redux.

In Defense of IBM
From Communications of the ACM

In Defense of IBM

The ability to adjust to various technical and business disruptions has been essential to IBM's success during the past century.

Keys Under Doormats
From Communications of the ACM

Keys Under Doormats

Mandating insecurity by requiring government access to all data and communications.

How Tetris Explains the Promise of the ­ltimate Algorithm
From ACM Opinion

How Tetris Explains the Promise of the ­ltimate Algorithm

Pedro Domingos is a serious guy with big ambitions.
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