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How the Home Telephone Sparked the ­ser-Centered Design Revolution
From ACM Opinion

How the Home Telephone Sparked the ­ser-Centered Design Revolution

Have you ever thought about why doorknobs are positioned at around two-fifths of the door's height, instead of right in the middle? Or why a washing machine is...

Will Autocomplete Make You Too Predictable?
From ACM Opinion

Will Autocomplete Make You Too Predictable?

Do you know what you really want?

Ex Machina: Quest to Create an AI Takes No Prisoners
From ACM Opinion

Ex Machina: Quest to Create an AI Takes No Prisoners

It's a rare thing to see a movie about science that takes no prisoners intellectually.

A Retreat For Google Glass and a Case Study in the Perils of Making Hardware
From ACM Opinion

A Retreat For Google Glass and a Case Study in the Perils of Making Hardware

You won't have Glass to kick around anymore. At least not for a while.

'soft' Artificial Intelligence Is Suddenly Everywhere
From ACM Opinion

'soft' Artificial Intelligence Is Suddenly Everywhere


The Cathedral of Computation
From ACM Opinion

The Cathedral of Computation

Algorithms are everywhere, supposedly.

Blackhat Brings Some Hacking Realism to Hollywood, but to What Effect?
From ACM Opinion

Blackhat Brings Some Hacking Realism to Hollywood, but to What Effect?

During one scene in the upcoming hacker action movie Blackhat, a team is sent into the control room of a burned-out nuclear power plant to gather clues about the...

Rosie or Jarvis: The Future of the Smart Home Is Still in the Air
From ACM Opinion

Rosie or Jarvis: The Future of the Smart Home Is Still in the Air

The tech industry once again can't decide: When it comes to the home of the future, will it have a centralized computer telling you when to mop floors, clean windows...

Why the Silk Road Trial Matters
From ACM Opinion

Why the Silk Road Trial Matters

Ross Ulbricht is finally getting his day in court, 15 months after plainclothes FBI agents grabbed him in the science fiction section of a San Francisco library...

The Importance of Deleting Old Stuff—another Lesson from the Sony Attack
From ACM Opinion

The Importance of Deleting Old Stuff—another Lesson from the Sony Attack


Death By Robot
From ACM Opinion

Death By Robot

Imagine it's a Sunday in the not-too-distant future.

Robots Are Sneaking ­p On Congress (along with Four Other Tech Trends)
From ACM Opinion

Robots Are Sneaking ­p On Congress (along with Four Other Tech Trends)

One of the best Twitter accounts inside the Beltway or out—belongs to former representativeJohn Dingell (D-Mich.), who announced his retirement with self-effacing...

The Little-Known Programming Problem Inside Dynamic Scoring
From ACM Opinion

The Little-Known Programming Problem Inside Dynamic Scoring

Dynamic scoring, as adopted on Jan. 6 by the House of Representatives, seems like the ultimate no-brainer.

Why Cheap Cameras and Boring Sensors Make the Best Smart Home Stuff
From ACM Opinion

Why Cheap Cameras and Boring Sensors Make the Best Smart Home Stuff

The twin fixations of CES this year are, to no one's surprise, wearable technology and the internet of things.

How to Design the Fighter Cockpit of Tomorrow
From ACM News

How to Design the Fighter Cockpit of Tomorrow

If you think your office needs a lick of paint and some new furniture, spare a thought for fighter pilots.

What the World Will Speak in 2115
From ACM Opinion

What the World Will Speak in 2115

In 1880 a Bavarian priest created a language that he hoped the whole world could use.

If the Supreme Court Tackles the Nsa in 2015, It'll Be One of These Five Cases
From ACM Opinion

If the Supreme Court Tackles the Nsa in 2015, It'll Be One of These Five Cases

Roughly a year and a half since the first Snowden disclosures, there's already been a judicial order to shut down the National Security Agency's bulk metadata collection...

The Biggest Security Threats We'll Face in 2015
From ACM Opinion

The Biggest Security Threats We'll Face in 2015

As the clock strikes midnight on the new year, so begins the countdown to a new round of security threats and breaches that doubtless will unfold in 2015. But this...

2014 in Computing: Breakthroughs in Artificial Intelligence
From ACM News

2014 in Computing: Breakthroughs in Artificial Intelligence

The holy grail of artificial intelligence—creating software that comes close to mimicking human intelligence—remains far off. But 2014 saw major strides in machine...

This Year's 8 Smartest ­i Design Ideas
From ACM News

This Year's 8 Smartest ­i Design Ideas

When your family gathered for the holidays this year, did you take note of the technology everyone was using?
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