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Far-Sighted Thinking About Deleterious Computer-Related Events
From Communications of the ACM

Far-Sighted Thinking About Deleterious Computer-Related Events

Considerably more anticipation is needed for what might seriously go wrong.

Three Paradoxes of Building Platforms
From Communications of the ACM

Three Paradoxes of Building Platforms

Insights into creating China's Taobao online marketplace ecosystem.

We Need a Building Code For Building Code
From Communications of the ACM

We Need a Building Code For Building Code

A proposal for a framework for code requirements addressing primary sources of vulnerabilities for building systems.

Bitcoin and the Digital-Currency Revolution
From ACM Opinion

Bitcoin and the Digital-Currency Revolution

About a half-billion dollars worth of it vanished from an online exchange in Tokyo.

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...

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...

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...

Snowden: ­.s. Has Put Too Much Emphasis on Cyber-Offense, Needs Defense
From ACM News

Snowden: ­.s. Has Put Too Much Emphasis on Cyber-Offense, Needs Defense

In an on-camera interview with James Bamford for an upcoming episode of PBS' NOVA, Edward Snowden warned that the U.S. Department of Defense and National Security...

A 100-Year Study of Artificial Intelligence? Microsoft Research's Eric Horvitz Explains
From ACM Opinion

A 100-Year Study of Artificial Intelligence? Microsoft Research's Eric Horvitz Explains

It's challenging enough to sustain any scientific study for a decade. Now Eric Horvitz, managing director of the Microsoft Research lab in Redmond, Washington,...

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.

Digital Connectivity Should Become as Much a Right as Access to School
From ACM Opinion

Digital Connectivity Should Become as Much a Right as Access to School

Speaking at the 102nd Indian Science Congress at Mumbai University, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India needs to nurture future generations of scientists....

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...
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