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From ACM Opinion

Zeitgeist 2012: What Piqued Your Curiosity This Year?

As 2012 comes to a close, it's time for our 12th annual Year-End Zeitgeist—an in-depth look at the "spirit of the times" as seen through the billions of searches...

The Psychology of Tetris
From ACM Opinion

The Psychology of Tetris

Shapes fall from the sky, all you have to do is to control how they fall and fit within each other.

Best Inventions of the Year 2012
From ACM Opinion

Best Inventions of the Year 2012

That's not Photoshop.

How Design Can Help Voice Interaction Go Big
From ACM Opinion

How Design Can Help Voice Interaction Go Big

Recently there's been a lot of comparison between Apple's Siri and Google's Voice Search. Microsoft's voice breakthroughs have also captured headlines.

Workplace Distractions: Here's Why You Won't Finish This Article
From ACM Opinion

Workplace Distractions: Here's Why You Won't Finish This Article

In the few minutes it takes to read this article, chances are you'll pause to check your phone, answer a text, switch to your desktop to read an email from the...

The Fog of Cyberwar
From ACM Opinion

The Fog of Cyberwar

In mid-2010, thousands of centrifuges, enriching uranium at Iranian nuclear research facilities, spun out of control.

How London's Silicon Roundabout Really Got Started
From ACM Careers

How London's Silicon Roundabout Really Got Started

Four years ago developer Matt Biddulph jokingly coined "Silicon Roundabout" as a description of East London's small but growing startup scene—now it's become the...

Beyond Quad-Core: What's Next For Mobile Processing Power
From ACM Opinion

Beyond Quad-Core: What's Next For Mobile Processing Power

Remember when a quad-core processor was the ultimate indicator of a super-smartphone?

How Can Computational Science Surpass the Software Error Plateau?
From ACM Opinion

How Can Computational Science Surpass the Software Error Plateau?

Computation plays a crucial role in generating scientific results, but also adds to its complexity. The ability to reproduce code and data that generates results...

No Longer Vaporware: The Internet of Things Is Finally Talking
From ACM Opinion

No Longer Vaporware: The Internet of Things Is Finally Talking

The rise of the machines has begun: Steve Sande’s household fan is now self-aware.

5 Reasons We May Live in a Multiverse
From ACM Opinion

5 Reasons We May Live in a Multiverse

The universe we live in may not be the only one out there. In fact, our universe could be just one of an infinite number of universes making up a "multiverse."

How the ­nited Nations Could Ruin the Internet
From ACM Opinion

How the ­nited Nations Could Ruin the Internet

The Internet has sustained some pretty intense assaults in the past couple of years. There was the heavy-handed attempt to stamp out content piracy with SOPA/PIPA...

From ACM Opinion

At Dawn We Sleep

If you read the newspapers on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, you would have been led to believe that Japan was poised to attack—but in Southeast Asia, not Pearl Harbor...

11 Big Tech Trends You'll See in 2013
From ACM Opinion

11 Big Tech Trends You'll See in 2013

Writing prediction pieces is a funny thing because there is really no such thing as "next year."

No Warrant, No Problem: How the Government Can Still Get Your Digital Data
From ACM Opinion

No Warrant, No Problem: How the Government Can Still Get Your Digital Data

The U.S. government isn’t allowed to wiretap American citizens without a warrant from a judge. But there are plenty of legal ways for law enforcement, from the...

The Next Big Os War Is in Your Dashboard
From ACM Opinion

The Next Big Os War Is in Your Dashboard

Competition in automotive technology has long been about who's got the most horsepower, the best towing capacity or the fastest acceleration. These days, though...

How to Make Almost Anything
From ACM Opinion

How to Make Almost Anything

A new digital revolution is coming, this time in fabrication. It draws on the same insights that led to the earlier digitizations of communication and computation...

James Bond Fails the Tech Test in Skyfall
From ACM Opinion

James Bond Fails the Tech Test in Skyfall

As a self-confessed technology geek, there have been numerous occasions when my enjoyment of a movie has been marred by technological impossibilities.

9 Wishes For Microsoft's Next Xbox, Whatever It's Called
From ACM Opinion

9 Wishes For Microsoft's Next Xbox, Whatever It's Called

Citing the usual sources-who-shall-remain-nameless, Bloomberg reports what everyone's been assuming all year—that Microsoft's going to launch its next game system...

Could a Syria-Style Internet Blackout Happen in the ­.s.?
From ACM Opinion

Could a Syria-Style Internet Blackout Happen in the ­.s.?

The ongoing Internet blackout in Syria, like the one that occurred in Egypt early in 2011, prompts curiosity as to whether such an event could happen in one's own...
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