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Even Computers Are ­nsure About Their March Madness Brackets
From ACM Opinion

Even Computers Are ­nsure About Their March Madness Brackets

By this point of March Madness, with three games left in the men's NCAA basketball tournament, most brackets are busted.

Is 'making a Game Out of Learning' Bad For Learning?
From ACM Opinion

Is 'making a Game Out of Learning' Bad For Learning?

In MIT's Education Arcade, classic game consoles line the office corridor, rafters are strung with holiday lights, and inflatable, stuffed and papier-maché creatures...

Toolkits For the Mind
From ACM Opinion

Toolkits For the Mind

When the Japanese computer scientist Yukihiro Matsumoto decided to create Ruby, a programming language that has helped build Twitter, Hulu, and much of the modern...

A New Way to Navigate the Streets of Google Maps
From ACM Opinion

A New Way to Navigate the Streets of Google Maps

Today we're introducing our most ambitious update yet: PAC-Maps.

Modern Explorers Seek a Place in a Gps World
From ACM Opinion

Modern Explorers Seek a Place in a Gps World

Eric Larsen seemed ill at ease in his tuxedo.

Germanwings Flight 9525, Technology, and the Question of Trust
From ACM Opinion

Germanwings Flight 9525, Technology, and the Question of Trust

Shortly before the dreadful crash of Germanwings Flight 9525, I happened to be reading part of "The Second Machine Age," a book by two academics at M.I.T., Erik...

David and Goliath: What Do We Do About Surveillance?
From ACM Opinion

David and Goliath: What Do We Do About Surveillance?

"Dear subscriber, you have been registered as a participant in a mass disturbance."

Learning to See Data
From ACM Opinion

Learning to See Data

For the past year or so genetic scientists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York have been collaborating with a specialist from another universe...

How Technology Is Making ­S Tip More Than Ever
From ACM Opinion

How Technology Is Making ­S Tip More Than Ever

By now, you've probably experienced it: After grabbing a cup of espresso, buying some ice cream or taking a cab, you swipe your credit card and prepare to sign—but...

Nsa Doesn't Need to Spy on Your Calls to Learn Your Secrets
From ACM Opinion

Nsa Doesn't Need to Spy on Your Calls to Learn Your Secrets

Governments and corporations gather, store, and analyze the tremendous amount of data we chuff out as we move through our digitized lives.

What If Web Search Results Were Based on Accuracy?
From ACM Opinion

What If Web Search Results Were Based on Accuracy?

Imagine, for a moment, that every Web search gave only accurate, verified information.

Best Medical Science Images of 2015
From ACM Opinion

Best Medical Science Images of 2015

The Wellcome Trust has announced the 20 winners of its 2015 Image Awards for medical science images. Here are our favourites.

Mathematicians of the Future?
From ACM Opinion

Mathematicians of the Future?

Herbert Simon, the Nobel-prize winning economist, was a techno-enthusiast. In 1956 he predicted that, "within 10 years, computers would beat the world chess champion...

The War Over Who Steve Jobs Was
From ACM Opinion

The War Over Who Steve Jobs Was

On October 16, 2011, the early evening weather on the Stanford University campus in Palo Alto, California, was almost unspeakably gorgeous—mild as a warm bath,...

The Math of March Madness
From ACM Opinion

The Math of March Madness

The N.C.A.A. men's basketball tournament started Thursday, but for most Americans the real action began days before, as they pored over brackets, competing to make...

Reality Check: Comparing Hololens and Magic Leap
From ACM Opinion

Reality Check: Comparing Hololens and Magic Leap

I've seen two competing visions for a future in which virtual objects are merged seamlessly with the real world.

Why Some of Google's Coolest Projects Flop Badly
From ACM Opinion

Why Some of Google's Coolest Projects Flop Badly

In public, companies try to trot out any hint of a success story—real or imagined. At SXSW this week, Google took a different tack: It talked all about its failures...

Love in the Time of Bots
From ACM Opinion

Love in the Time of Bots

Convincing people to have a romantic relationship with a computer might be easier than it sounds.

How Isis Succeeds on Social Media Where #stopkony Fails
From ACM Opinion

How Isis Succeeds on Social Media Where #stopkony Fails

Social networks offer an incredible tool for tapping into the collective unconscious, a virtual Jungian arena in which competition might be expected to amplify...

Don't Want Nsa to Spy on Your Email? 5 Things You Can Do
From ACM Opinion

Don't Want Nsa to Spy on Your Email? 5 Things You Can Do

More than half of Americans are worried about the U.S. government's digital spies prying into their emails, texts, search requests and other online information,...
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