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Bubble, Bubble, Fraud and Trouble
From ACM Opinion

Bubble, Bubble, Fraud and Trouble

The other day my barber asked me whether he should put all his money in Bitcoin. And the truth is that if he'd bought Bitcoin, say, a year ago he'd be feeling pretty...

Technology to Watch in 2018
From ACM Opinion

Technology to Watch in 2018

For all the excitement surrounding the gene-editing tool CRISPR, it is not that efficient or precise. It's hard to make many changes at once.

My Pacemaker Is Tracking Me from Inside My Body
From ACM Opinion

My Pacemaker Is Tracking Me from Inside My Body

A month before turning 34, I received an unexpected birthday gift: a cloud-connected pacemaker.

For AI to Get Creative, It Must Learn the Rules, Then How to Break 'em
From ACM Opinion

For AI to Get Creative, It Must Learn the Rules, Then How to Break 'em

American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "Every artist was first an amateur." He likely never thought those words would apply to machines.

Cyberwar: An ­rgent Problem
From ACM Opinion

Cyberwar: An ­rgent Problem

In the desperate scramble to rearm before the second world war there was always an undercurrent of pessimism.

I Wore the VR Glove that Fools Your Skin As Well As Your Eyes
From ACM Opinion

I Wore the VR Glove that Fools Your Skin As Well As Your Eyes

I weigh the rock in my hand, then toss it back to the ground.

Artificial Intelligence's 'black Box' Is Nothing to Fear
From ACM Opinion

Artificial Intelligence's 'black Box' Is Nothing to Fear

Alongside the excitement and hype about our growing reliance on artificial intelligence, there's fear about the way the technology works.

Apple Can't Resist Playing By China's Rules
From ACM Opinion

Apple Can't Resist Playing By China's Rules

Apple is selling out. It's not about the latest version of the iPhone, but the huge cache of personal data that will be going directly to the largest, and one of...

Why the I.r.s. Fears Bitcoin
From ACM Opinion

Why the I.r.s. Fears Bitcoin

The extraordinary rise in the value of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has led many people to worry that this market is a giant bubble.

The New Way Your Computer Can Be Attacked
From ACM Opinion

The New Way Your Computer Can Be Attacked

On January 3, the world learned about a series of major security vulnerabilities in modern microprocessors. Called Spectre and Meltdown, these vulnerabilities were...

China's Breathtaking Transformation Into a Scientific Superpower
From ACM Opinion

China's Breathtaking Transformation Into a Scientific Superpower

The National Science Foundation and the National Science Board have just released their biennial "Science & Engineering Indicators," a voluminous document describing...

I Am a Roboticist in a Cheese Factory
From ACM Opinion

I Am a Roboticist in a Cheese Factory

Most people think about robots as autonomous machines guided by artificial intelligence.

Forget the Robot Singularity Apocalypse. Let's Talk About the Multiplicity
From ACM Opinion

Forget the Robot Singularity Apocalypse. Let's Talk About the Multiplicity

For a species that's conquered Earth and traveled through space and invented the Slapchop, we humans sure are insecure when it comes to technology.

Can Robots Tighten the Bolts on a Rickety Caregiver Sector?
From ACM Opinion

Can Robots Tighten the Bolts on a Rickety Caregiver Sector?

In 2015 I was watching a dress rehearsal for a play about love, loss and aging. In a climactic scene, the lead actress gesticulated and shouted, while her co-star...

Beyond The bitcoin Bubble
From ACM Opinion

Beyond The bitcoin Bubble

layer innocent nothing argue pottery winner cotton menu task slim merge maid   The sequence of words is meaningless: a random array strung together by an algorithm...

In 2018, Voice Assistants Will Make the Leap Out of Your Home
From ACM Opinion

In 2018, Voice Assistants Will Make the Leap Out of Your Home

At one section of Google's giant outdoor booth at CES was an impromptu, carney-style one-man show, with a guy wearing dark sunglasses and a white Google Assistant...

Congress Renews Warrantless Surveillance, and Makes It Even Worse
From ACM Opinion

Congress Renews Warrantless Surveillance, and Makes It Even Worse

In 2013, Edward Snowden revealed that the National Security Agency was legally collecting millions of Americans' phone calls and electronic communications—including...

Nissan Wants to Make You a Better Driver By Reading Your Mind
From ACM Opinion

Nissan Wants to Make You a Better Driver By Reading Your Mind

Might the car of the future be able to read your mind?

There Is No Such Thing as 'the' Blockchain
From ACM Opinion

There Is No Such Thing as 'the' Blockchain

How do you quadruple your stock price without lifting a finger?

Exoplanet Science 2.0
From ACM Opinion

Exoplanet Science 2.0

It is more than two decades since we learnt that the Universe is awash with other worlds. Since 1992, more than 3,500 exoplanets have been discovered orbiting stars...
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