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Why We're Shutting Off Our Comments
From ACM Opinion

Why We're Shutting Off Our Comments

Comments can be bad for science. That's why, here at PopularScience.com, we're shutting them off.

Does Digital Age Overcomplicate Design?
From ACM Opinion

Does Digital Age Overcomplicate Design?

There is a scene in the television series "Boss" in which the mayor of Chicago, played by Kelsey Grammer, is discovered by his wife washing bed sheets by hand at...

Civics For a Digital Age
From ACM Opinion

Civics For a Digital Age

Over half of the world’s population lives in urban environments, and that number is rapidly growing according to the World Health Organization.

To Boldly Go Nowhere, For Now
From ACM Opinion

To Boldly Go Nowhere, For Now

On Aug. 20, NASA's administrator formally welcomed the newest candidates of the astronaut corpsand released a space exploration roadmap that includes robotic and...

The New National Identity Is What Smartphone You Prefer, and Nobody's Quite Sure Why
From ACM Opinion

The New National Identity Is What Smartphone You Prefer, and Nobody's Quite Sure Why

In a fascinating note at Asymco, mobile analyst and ex-Nokian Horace Dediu details how people's taste in smartphones varies from place to place:

Behold! Jonathan Ive's Apple
From ACM Opinion

Behold! Jonathan Ive's Apple

Apple is today releasing the much-anticipated iOS 7, and with it, the biggest overhaul of its mobile operating system since it debuted in 2007 with the original...

Ios 7, Thoroughly Reviewed
From ACM Opinion

Ios 7, Thoroughly Reviewed

When we reviewed iOS 6 a year ago, we called it a "spit-and-polish" release and stand by that assessment today.

The 'legalization' of China’s Internet Crackdown
From ACM Opinion

The 'legalization' of China’s Internet Crackdown

Internet usage—especially microblogging on Sina Weibo, China’s largest Twitter-like social media site—is presenting new challenges and new attempts to meet them...

Forget Moocs
From ACM Opinion

Forget Moocs

For a year or two there, free online classes seemed like they just might be the future of higher education.

Cryptographers Have an Ethics Problem
From ACM Opinion

Cryptographers Have an Ethics Problem

Last week, I visited the MIT computer science department looking for a very famous cryptographer.

How Robots Can Trick You Into Loving Them
From ACM Opinion

How Robots Can Trick You Into Loving Them

I like to think of my Roomba as cute and industrious.

If 'e.t.' Finds Voyager 1, Will It Phone Earth?
From ACM Opinion

If 'e.t.' Finds Voyager 1, Will It Phone Earth?

In 1519, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan launched the expedition that completed the first circumnavigation of the globe. And so humanity learned the full...

The Message Voyager 1 Carries For Alien Civilizations
From ACM Opinion

The Message Voyager 1 Carries For Alien Civilizations

The year was 1977.

How Facebook Makes ­s ­nhappy
From ACM Opinion

How Facebook Makes ­s ­nhappy

No one joins Facebook to be sad and lonely.

How Startup Culture Is Killing Innovation
From ACM Opinion

How Startup Culture Is Killing Innovation

Far from being the measure of disgrace it once was, failure now seems to be a sort of badge of honor. Somewhere along the way, it got to be uncool to reduce one's...

Should Students ­se a Laptop in Class?
From ACM Opinion

Should Students ­se a Laptop in Class?

There's a widely shared image on the Internet of a teacher's note that says: "Dear students, I know when you're texting in class. Seriously, no one just looks down...

Why a Cyberwar Won't Happen
From ACM Opinion

Why a Cyberwar Won't Happen

Exactly two decades ago, the RAND Corporation, an influential think tank, proclaimed that "cyberwar is coming!"

Nsa Surveillance Makes For Strange Bedfellows
From ACM Opinion

Nsa Surveillance Makes For Strange Bedfellows

The controversy over U.S. government surveillance has produced a king-size collection of strange bedfellows. Beneath the covers one finds both amusing ironies and...

Nsa's Anti-Encryption Efforts Compromise ­.s. Security
From ACM Opinion

Nsa's Anti-Encryption Efforts Compromise ­.s. Security

National Security Agency efforts to overcome encryption of online data weaken American security and undermine the government's duty to protect its own cyberinfrastructure...

From ACM Opinion

Online Data Brokers Know You—surprisingly Well

I'm a middle-aged guy who lives in a house that was built more than 50 years ago.
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