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dateMore Than a Year Ago
subjectPersonal Computing
authorThe Atlantic
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The Internet of Things Needs a Code of Ethics
From ACM Opinion

The Internet of Things Needs a Code of Ethics

In October, when malware called Mirai took over poorly secured webcams and DVRs, and used them to disrupt internet access across the United States, I wondered who...

Chinese Characters Are Futuristic and the Alphabet Is Old News
From ACM Opinion

Chinese Characters Are Futuristic and the Alphabet Is Old News

On a bright fall morning at Stanford, Tom Mullaney is telling me what's wrong with QWERTY keyboards.

Incessant Consumer Surveillance Is Leaking Into Physical Stores
From ACM Opinion

Incessant Consumer Surveillance Is Leaking Into Physical Stores

You just wanted to shop for a birthday gift in peace—instead, you got ads that follow you around the internet, and coupons in your email that remember exactly which...

The Lopsided Geography of Wikipedia
From ACM Opinion

The Lopsided Geography of Wikipedia

Think about how often, in the course of a week, you visit Wikipedia.

The Long and Winding History of Encryption
From ACM Opinion

The Long and Winding History of Encryption

Never in history have more people had access to advanced encryption in their homes, offices, and pockets.

How Darpa's Augmented Reality Software Works
From ACM Opinion

How Darpa's Augmented Reality Software Works

Six years ago, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) decided that they had a new dream. The agency wanted a system that would overlay digital tactical...

How to Win $1 Billion on Ncaa Basketball: A Mathematician's Tips
From ACM Opinion

How to Win $1 Billion on Ncaa Basketball: A Mathematician's Tips

Last Thursday, the underground classroom at the National Museum of Mathematics in New York was filled to capacity for a college professor's PowerPoint-aided lecture...

The Joy of Teaching Computer Science in the Age of Facebook
From ACM Opinion

The Joy of Teaching Computer Science in the Age of Facebook

Over the last two decades, it can be argued, no area of study has seen larger growth in span and general application than computer science.

Ron Wyden: Lonely Hero of the Battle Against the Surveillance State
From ACM Opinion

Ron Wyden: Lonely Hero of the Battle Against the Surveillance State

When historians write about the civil-liberties crisis of this decade, the story will be full of vivid figures—Bradley, now Chelsea, Manning, the fragile soldier...

Paul Otellini's Intel: Can the Company That Built the Future Survive It?
From ACM Opinion

Paul Otellini's Intel: Can the Company That Built the Future Survive It?

Forty-five years after Intel was founded by Silicon Valley legends Gordon Moore and Bob Noyce, it is the world's leading semiconductor company.

How Facebook Designs the 'perfect Empty Vessel' For Your Mind
From ACM News

How Facebook Designs the 'perfect Empty Vessel' For Your Mind

One day in March, I was sitting across from Facebook's design director, Kate Aronowitz, at 1 Hacker Way in Menlo Park when she told me, "It takes a lot of work...

How Augmented-Reality Content Might Actually Work
From ACM Opinion

How Augmented-Reality Content Might Actually Work

Augmented reality is very exciting. The promise of it is this: all the information on the Internet overlaid on the real world exactly where and when you need it...

The Places You'll Go
From ACM TechNews

The Places You'll Go

In an interview, Google chief technology advocate Michael Jones discusses new technology in digital mapping and how it will change travel. Jones says the major...

The Measured Man
From ACM Opinion

The Measured Man

Like many people who are careful about their weight, Larry Smarr once spent two weeks measuring everything he put in his mouth. He charted each serving of food...

Inside Google's Plan to Build a Catalog of Every Single Thing, Ever
From ACM Opinion

Inside Google's Plan to Build a Catalog of Every Single Thing, Ever

The ugly truth is that computers don't know anything. They have no common sense.

The Philosopher Whose Fingerprints Are All Over the Ftc's New Approach to Privacy
From ACM Opinion

The Philosopher Whose Fingerprints Are All Over the Ftc's New Approach to Privacy

A mile or two away from Facebook's headquarters in Silicon Valley, Helen Nissenbaum of New York University was standing in a basement on Stanford's campus explaining...

From ACM Opinion

Factcheck.org's Brooks Jackson on Overcoming Motivated Skepticism

Once upon a time, before the age of the Internet, we lived in a world of "many economists." If a newspaper reporter was writing a story on inflation, for instance...
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