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Apple Is Learning an Expensive Lesson About ­niversities
From ACM Opinion

Apple Is Learning an Expensive Lesson About ­niversities

You may have heard that Apple's on the hook for $862 million in potential penalties after a jury ruled that it infringed on a patent owned by the University of...

If You're Not Paranoid, You're Crazy
From ACM Opinion

If You're Not Paranoid, You're Crazy

I knew we'd bought walnuts at the store that week, and I wanted to add some to my oatmeal.

What Celebrities Can Teach Companies About Social Media
From ACM Opinion

What Celebrities Can Teach Companies About Social Media

Let's face it: Corporate America's social presence could use a celebrity makeover.

What Science-Fiction Gadget Would Be Most Valuable in Real Life?
From ACM Opinion

What Science-Fiction Gadget Would Be Most Valuable in Real Life?

Nicole Perlman, screenwriter, Guardians of the Galaxy: As someone who’s both accident-prone and constantly putting her foot in her mouth, my first thought is the...

European Ruling Is Merely a Symbolic Victory For Privacy
From ACM Opinion

European Ruling Is Merely a Symbolic Victory For Privacy

A decision on Tuesday by the European Union’s highest court, striking down an agreement between the E.U. and the United States that allows companies like Facebook...

Why Companies Won't Learn From the T-Mobile/experian Hack
From ACM Opinion

Why Companies Won't Learn From the T-Mobile/experian Hack

Last Thursday, John Legere, the C.E.O. of T-Mobile, joined the ranks of the dozens of chief executives who, in the past few years, have had to inform their customers...

Review: Littlebits Makes Robot Building Easier For Junior Engineers
From ACM Opinion

Review: Littlebits Makes Robot Building Easier For Junior Engineers

In the recent surge of electronic building toys, my early favorite was LittleBits. The individual pieces each have a specific job, and they magnetically interlock...

Human Missions to Mars Will Look Completely Different from The Martian
From ACM Opinion

Human Missions to Mars Will Look Completely Different from The Martian

Landing in U.S. theaters last week, Ridley Scott's The Martian is being acclaimed as one of the most realistic portrayals of human space exploration ever filmed...

Convicted By Code
From ACM Opinion

Convicted By Code

Secret code is everywhere—in elevators, airplanes, medical devices.

Tech Companies Can Blame Snowden For Data Privacy Decision
From ACM Opinion

Tech Companies Can Blame Snowden For Data Privacy Decision

A ruling the Europe Union’s highest court yesterday may create enormous headaches for US tech companies like Google and Facebook.

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...
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