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An AI Pal That Is Better Than 'her'
From ACM Opinion

An AI Pal That Is Better Than 'her'

In the movie Her, which was nominated for the Oscar for Best Picture this year, a middle-aged writer named Theodore Twombly installs and rapidly falls in love with...

5 Questions For Edward Snowden That Aren't Exactly About the Nsa
From ACM Opinion

5 Questions For Edward Snowden That Aren't Exactly About the Nsa

The world's most famous former intelligence contractor, Edward Snowden, is scheduled to answer questions posted on Twitter in an hour-long Webcast on Thursday.

What If Your Autonomous Car Keeps Routing You Past Krispy Kreme?
From ACM Opinion

What If Your Autonomous Car Keeps Routing You Past Krispy Kreme?

On a future road trip, your robot car decides to take a new route, driving you past a Krispy Kreme Doughnut shop.

Why Bitcoin Matters
From ACM Opinion

Why Bitcoin Matters

A mysterious new technology emerges, seemingly out of nowhere, but actually the result of two decades of intense research and development by nearly anonymous researchers...

Pretty Good Privacy
From ACM Opinion

Pretty Good Privacy

Few critics of the NSA will find much satisfaction in President Obama's speech this morning or in the set of reforms that he announced.

Bitcoin Is Not Just Digital Currency. It's Napster For Finance.
From ACM Opinion

Bitcoin Is Not Just Digital Currency. It's Napster For Finance.

In 2013, bitcoin's valuation didn't just skyrocket, but its infrastructure, services, and adoption exploded as well, culminating in recent announcements that major...

From ACM Opinion

Bitcoin—boom or Bubble?

The baffling Bitcoin boom is either an exercise in self-delusion—a high-tech Ponzi scheme that will come crashing down—or an imaginative new Internet technology...

It's the 30th Anniversary of the Supreme Court's Monumental Decision About Betamax
From ACM Opinion

It's the 30th Anniversary of the Supreme Court's Monumental Decision About Betamax

Those of us who came of age in the Internet era may not know that they owe their ability to go online to a court decision 30 years ago today about a mechanically...

When Google Closes the Nest Deal, Privacy Issues For the Internet of Things Will Hit the Big Time
From ACM Opinion

When Google Closes the Nest Deal, Privacy Issues For the Internet of Things Will Hit the Big Time

Google rocked the smart home market Monday with its intention to purchase connected home thermostat maker Nest for $3.2 billion, which will force a much-needed...

A Victory For an ­nfettered Internet
From ACM Opinion

A Victory For an ­nfettered Internet

A federal appeals court in Washington slapped the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday for overstepping its legal authority by trying to regulate Internet...

I Spent Two Hours Talking With the Nsa's Bigwigs. Here's What Has Them Mad
From ACM Opinion

I Spent Two Hours Talking With the Nsa's Bigwigs. Here's What Has Them Mad

My expectations were low when I asked the National Security Agency to cooperate with my story on the impact of Edward Snowden’s leaks on the tech industry.

Why Google Bought Nest: A Theory
From ACM Opinion

Why Google Bought Nest: A Theory

Google is acquiring Nest, makers of a smart thermostat, for a reported $3.2 billion.

Why We Don't Trust Technology Companies
From ACM Opinion

Why We Don't Trust Technology Companies

Last October, T-Mobile made an astonishing announcement: from now on, when you travel internationally with a T-Mobile phone, you get free unlimited text messages...

8 Hypotheses About Tech in 2014
From ACM Opinion

8 Hypotheses About Tech in 2014

If there was a feeling that defined the cultural backdrop for 2013, it was technoanxiety.

10 Bold Predictions For 2014
From ACM Opinion

10 Bold Predictions For 2014

At the beginning of each year, it's possible to make predictions about the future of the tech sector simply by extrapolating from data in the latest Mary Meeker...

When Doctors 'google' Their Patients
From ACM Opinion

When Doctors 'google' Their Patients

I remember when I first looked up a patient on Google.

The Internet of Things Is Wildly Insecure—and Often ­npatchable
From ACM Opinion

The Internet of Things Is Wildly Insecure—and Often ­npatchable

We're at a crisis point now with regard to the security of embedded systems, where computing is embedded into the hardware itself—as with the Internet of Things...

Why Snowden Won't (and Shouldn't) Get Clemency
From ACM Opinion

Why Snowden Won't (and Shouldn't) Get Clemency

I regard Daniel Ellsberg as an American patriot.

Edward Snowden, Whistle-Blower
From ACM Opinion

Edward Snowden, Whistle-Blower

Seven months ago, the world began to learn the vast scope of the National Security Agency's reach into the lives of hundreds of millions of people in the United...

The Nsa's Metadata Program Is Perfectly Constitutional
From ACM Opinion

The Nsa's Metadata Program Is Perfectly Constitutional

Last month two judges issued two different opinions about the NSA's controversial bulk metadata collection program.
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