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Crapware Won't Crap Out
From ACM Opinion

Crapware Won't Crap Out

For a few years now, I've been expecting to write an obituary for crapware. Or not an obit, exactly—I was hoping to dance on its grave.

Apple Shouldn't Make Software Look Like Real Objects
From ACM Opinion

Apple Shouldn't Make Software Look Like Real Objects

Last fall Apple fired executive Scott Forstall, considered by many to be a Steve Jobs protégé.

Hacktivism: Civil Disobedience or Cyber Crime?
From ACM Opinion

Hacktivism: Civil Disobedience or Cyber Crime?

When Reddit co-founder and internet freedom activist Aaron Swartz committed suicide, he was facing up to 13 felony counts, 50 years in prison, and millions of dollars...

The Trouble With Tinkering Time
From ACM Careers

The Trouble With Tinkering Time

It's the latest R&D trend: penciling in tinkering time on the company clock.

Samsung's Secret Weapon in the Mobile Wars: Tizen
From ACM Opinion

Samsung's Secret Weapon in the Mobile Wars: Tizen

You've probably never heard of Tizen, but the companies behind it are some of the most recognizable brands in the tech industry.

Many Hands Make Fractals Tactile
From ACM Opinion

Many Hands Make Fractals Tactile

Human beings are born with an innate capacity to learn languages. Yet while mathematics is the language of pattern and form, many people struggle to acquire even...

The Fbi Needs Hackers, Not Backdoors
From ACM Opinion

The Fbi Needs Hackers, Not Backdoors

Just imagine if all the applications and services you saw or heard about at CES earlier this month had to be designed to be "wiretap ready" before they could be...

For Amusement Only: The Life and Death of the American Arcade
From ACM Opinion

For Amusement Only: The Life and Death of the American Arcade

If you’ve never been inside a "real" arcade, it could be hard to distinguish one from say, oh, a Dave & Buster's. Authenticity is a hard nut to crack, but there...

What the Fbi Doesn't Want You To Know About Its 'secret' Surveillance Techniques
From ACM Opinion

What the Fbi Doesn't Want You To Know About Its 'secret' Surveillance Techniques

The FBI had to rewrite the book on its domestic surveillance activities in the wake of last January’s landmark Supreme Court decision in United States v. Jones.

Forget Oracle's Latest Java Patch. Just Kill the Program in Your Browser For Good
From ACM Opinion

Forget Oracle's Latest Java Patch. Just Kill the Program in Your Browser For Good

After months of inaction and even a warning from the Department of Homeland Security, Oracle has finally released a fix for yet another security vulnerability in...

From ACM Opinion

Where Is Lt. Zuckerberg?

I often wonder how General Billy Mitchell must have felt as he relentlessly advocated for the use of strategic airpower while surrounded by leadership who did not...

Meeting with Biden Is a Mistake for the Game Industry
From ACM Opinion

Meeting with Biden Is a Mistake for the Game Industry

A couple weeks ago, an industry friend of mine told me that the office for Vice President Joe Biden was reaching out to so-called "game industry leaders."

 Aaron Swartz and Me, Over a Loosely Intertwined Decade
From ACM Opinion

Aaron Swartz and Me, Over a Loosely Intertwined Decade

I don't remember the first time I heard about Aaron Swartz. It probably was from reading Dave Winer's blog more than 10 years ago when I was an undergraduate at...

Why We Should Remember Aaron Swartz
From ACM Opinion

Why We Should Remember Aaron Swartz

The Internet is not so old. Its graybeards live still. Vint Cerf, author of the Internet Protocol, has been installed as Google's "chief Internet evangelist," a...

Nvidia Is Taking Big Risks Moving Into Game Hardware
From ACM Opinion

Nvidia Is Taking Big Risks Moving Into Game Hardware

Nvidia grabbed a lot of the coveted media attention this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The world's biggest standalone graphics-chips company...

On Stephen Hawking, Vader, and Being More Machine Than Human
From ACM Opinion

On Stephen Hawking, Vader, and Being More Machine Than Human

Click-click-click: This is what you hear when having a conversation with Stephen Hawking. No voice, no other sounds, no facial expressions.

The Small Business of 2063
From ACM Opinion

The Small Business of 2063

Our world is changing faster than ever and, in recent years, a number of transformative technologies have moved from science fiction and the research and development...

Fonts of Inspiration
From ACM Opinion

Fonts of Inspiration

When did we all become amateur typography experts?

Make Guns Smart
From ACM Opinion

Make Guns Smart

Voices across the political spectrum are debating how to prevent mass shootings such as the one in Newtown, Connecticut.

It's All About the Genes and the Brain Machines
From ACM News

It's All About the Genes and the Brain Machines

The amount of time and money needed to sequence genomes continued to fall in 2012, perhaps to no one’s surprise.
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