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The Fuzzy Math Behind the Search For Mh370
From ACM Opinion

The Fuzzy Math Behind the Search For Mh370

Five weeks into the search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, more than $30 million has been spent scouring great swatches of the southern Indian Ocean.

The Most Expensive Lottery Ticket in the World
From ACM Opinion

The Most Expensive Lottery Ticket in the World

No Exit, the new book from Gideon Lewis-Kraus, should be required reading for anybody who thinks it might be a good idea to found a startup in Silicon Valley.

If the Robots Kill ­s, It's Because It's Their Job
From ACM Opinion

If the Robots Kill ­s, It's Because It's Their Job

In the movie Transcendence, which opens in theaters on Friday, a sentient computer program embarks on a relentless quest for power, nearly destroying humanity in...

It's Time to Encrypt the Entire Internet
From ACM Opinion

It's Time to Encrypt the Entire Internet

The Heartbleed bug crushed our faith in the secure Web, but a world without the encryption software that Heartbleed exploited would be even worse.

Captchas Are Becoming Security Theater
From ACM Opinion

Captchas Are Becoming Security Theater

CAPTCHAs are a time-worn way for humans to tell computers that we are human.

Why the Web Needs Perfect Forward Secrecy More Than Ever
From ACM Opinion

Why the Web Needs Perfect Forward Secrecy More Than Ever

EFF has long advocated for websites to support HTTPS instead of plain HTTP to encrypt and authenticate data transmitted on the Internet.

Google Wants to Make 'science Fiction' a Reality—and That's Limiting Their Imagination
From ACM Opinion

Google Wants to Make 'science Fiction' a Reality—and That's Limiting Their Imagination

Self-driving cars, extreme life extension, and global wifi provided by weather balloons: Google makes projects that sound like science fiction into reality at its...

Can We Really ­pload Johnny Depp's Brain?
From ACM Opinion

Can We Really ­pload Johnny Depp's Brain?

When Wally Pfister's Transcendence is released on April 17, millions of moviegoers will be asking themselves, "Could we really upload Johnny Depp into a computer...

4 Amazing Things Nasa Invented, and 4 You Think It Did
From ACM Opinion

4 Amazing Things Nasa Invented, and 4 You Think It Did

NASA is everywhere.

Heartbleed: Developer Who Introduced the Error Regrets 'oversight'
From ACM Opinion

Heartbleed: Developer Who Introduced the Error Regrets 'oversight'

The developer who introduced the "Heartbleed" vulnerability to the open-source code used by thousands of websites has told the Guardian it was an "oversight"—but...

900 Years of Tree Diagrams, the Most Important Data Viz Tool in History
From ACM Opinion

900 Years of Tree Diagrams, the Most Important Data Viz Tool in History

You'd be excused for thinking infographics are a modern invention.

Three Questions For Eugene Kaspersky
From ACM Opinion

Three Questions For Eugene Kaspersky

The Moscow-based computer security firm Kaspersky Lab has analyzed major new kinds of malware, including Stuxnet, which four years ago was revealed to have damaged...

Bruce Schneier: Technology Magnifies Power in Survellance Era
From ACM Opinion

Bruce Schneier: Technology Magnifies Power in Survellance Era

History is not entirely kind to those responsible for the Industrial Age in the 19th century.

The Internet's Telltale Heartbleed
From ACM Opinion

The Internet's Telltale Heartbleed

The cryptography expert Bruce Schneier, who has been writing about computer security for more than fifteen years, is not given to panic or hyperbole.

Steve Matteson: Fonts in the Time of Wearables
From ACM Opinion

Steve Matteson: Fonts in the Time of Wearables

As gadgets get smaller, and mobile manufacturers find new ways to shrink their devices to fit on a user's wrist, people like Steve Matteson are focused on keeping...

The Lewis Effect
From ACM Opinion

The Lewis Effect

Michael Lewis couldn't have timed it better if he'd tried.

The Complexonaut
From ACM Opinion

The Complexonaut

When he was in elementary school, Scott Aaronson, like many mathematically precocious kids of his generation, dreamed of making his own video games.

A Veteran Programmer Explains How the Stock Market Became "Rigged"
From ACM Opinion

A Veteran Programmer Explains How the Stock Market Became "Rigged"

A small group of financial firms are using their technological superiority to skim the top off the market, Michael Lewis claims in his new book "Flash Boys."

If You Like Immersion, You'll Love This Reality
From ACM Opinion

If You Like Immersion, You'll Love This Reality

The news that Facebook paid $2 billion for a virtual reality start-up, Oculus VR, might strike you as a bit zany.

The Story of Cortana, Microsoft's Siri Killer
From ACM Opinion

The Story of Cortana, Microsoft's Siri Killer

Technically, Cortana isn't supposed to exist for at least another 500 years, but that's not stopping Microsoft from bringing her to life this week.
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