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dateMore Than a Year Ago
subjectSoftware
authorNew Scientist
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Robots Will Be More ­seful If They Are Made to Lack Confidence
From ACM Opinion

Robots Will Be More ­seful If They Are Made to Lack Confidence

Confidence in your abilities is usually a good thing—as long as you can recognise when it's time to ask for help.

Checklist of Worst-Case Scenarios Could Help Prepare For Evil AI
From ACM Opinion

Checklist of Worst-Case Scenarios Could Help Prepare For Evil AI

Artificial intelligence—what's the worst that can happen? For Roman Yampolskiy, a computer scientist at the University of Louisville in Kentucky, the sky’s the...

Virtual Zombie Apocalypse Can Prepare ­S For Disaster
From ACM Opinion

Virtual Zombie Apocalypse Can Prepare ­S For Disaster

Why use online games to study our responses to catastrophic events?

Forget Turing—i Want to Test Computer Creativity
From ACM Opinion

Forget Turing—i Want to Test Computer Creativity

What are the elements of the Turing test?

What It's Like to Fly Passenger Planes from the Ground
From ACM Opinion

What It's Like to Fly Passenger Planes from the Ground

Bob Fraser explains what it feels like to pilot a Jetstream airliner containing passengers on 800-kilometre trips from his desk at BAE Systems in Warton, U.K.

Dobby, Pikachu, and Kermit Are My Robots' Role Models
From ACM Opinion

Dobby, Pikachu, and Kermit Are My Robots' Role Models

Humanoid robots aren't very charismatic yet.

My Duolingo Learning App Can Reshape Education
From ACM Opinion

My Duolingo Learning App Can Reshape Education

Duolingo users are making new courses for people who speak Asian languages like Chinese and Hindi. How does that work?

Roomba Creator: Robot Doubles Need More Charisma
From ACM Opinion

Roomba Creator: Robot Doubles Need More Charisma

Colin Angle is co-founder and CEO of iRobot in Bedford, Massachusetts.

Lifelogging: What It's Like to Record Your Whole Life
From ACM Opinion

Lifelogging: What It's Like to Record Your Whole Life

Gordon Bell, one of the first people to chronicle his existence digitally, explains how it has changed his life and the potential pitfalls.

The Great Ideas Hiding ­nder the Invisibility Cloak
From ACM Opinion

The Great Ideas Hiding ­nder the Invisibility Cloak

Physicist John Pendry talks about the profound physics obscured by his invisibility cloak and how metamaterials could help realise the perfect lens.

My Quantum Algorithm Won't Break the Internet… Yet
From ACM Opinion

My Quantum Algorithm Won't Break the Internet… Yet

Internet security relies on the fact that our computers can't break its cryptosystems. But the quantum algorithm you devised has the potential to do just that.

Craig Venter: Why I Put My Name in Synthetic Genomes
From ACM Opinion

Craig Venter: Why I Put My Name in Synthetic Genomes

How has the definition of life changed during your lifetime?

Nasa Is Turning Science Fiction Into Fact
From ACM Opinion

Nasa Is Turning Science Fiction Into Fact

As a new moon orbiter gets set to launch, Pete Worden, director of NASA Ames, says forget the 20th—this is the real space century.

Meet the Nasa Scientist Devising a Starship Warp Drive
From ACM Opinion

Meet the Nasa Scientist Devising a Starship Warp Drive

The idea that nothing can exceed the speed of light limits our interstellar ambitions. How do we get round this?

'we Will Be Amazed By the Diversity of Exoplanets'
From ACM Opinion

'we Will Be Amazed By the Diversity of Exoplanets'

The Kepler space telescope's search may be at an end, but Didier Queloz, who found the first world around a sunlike star, says more planet hunts are afoot.

Tony Fadell: From Iphones to Sexing ­p Thermostats
From ACM Opinion

Tony Fadell: From Iphones to Sexing ­p Thermostats

After you left Apple, you developed a "smart" thermostat. Was that always your plan?

'the Idea We Live in a Simulation Isn't Science Fiction'
From ACM Opinion

'the Idea We Live in a Simulation Isn't Science Fiction'

If the universe is just a Matrix-like simulation, how could we ever know? Physicist Silas Beane thinks he has the answer.

'biology Is a Manufacturing Capability'
From ACM Opinion

'biology Is a Manufacturing Capability'

Soon we'll be able to engineer living things with mechanical precision, says Tom Knight, father of synthetic biology.

Meet the Man Who Gave the Mars Rover Its Eyes
From ACM Opinion

Meet the Man Who Gave the Mars Rover Its Eyes

Iconic pictures from the latest mission to the Red Planet are coming courtesy of space-imaging expert Michael Malin.

Kinect Lab Boss on the Future of Computer Interfaces
From ACM Opinion

Kinect Lab Boss on the Future of Computer Interfaces

Andrew Blake is managing director of Microsoft Research Cambridge, the U.K. lab responsible for the machine learning software behind Kinect.
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