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From ACM Opinion

Smith: Facts Will Overcome Fears

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas)  issued a statement in response to reports that some members have dropped their support of the Stop Online...

From ACM Opinion

Did It Work? 'day After' Results of the Sopa, Pipa Blackout

Google dropped its logo-shroud, Wikipedia returned from limbo, normal service in general has been resumed, and all's right with the world… except that SOPA and...

From ACM Opinion

Why We've Censored Wired.com

We've blacked out the headlines on our Website homepage today as part of a global internet protest against two radical anti-piracy bills pending in Congress—legislation...

From ACM Opinion

The Rise of the New Groupthink

Solitude is out of fashion. Our companies, our schools and our culture are in thrall to an idea I call the New Groupthink, which holds that creativity and achievement...

From ACM Opinion

Looking Backward to Put New Technologies in Focus

More than most of us, the science historian George Dyson spends his days thinking about technologies, old and very new.

How Siri Makes Computers (and Coders) More Human
From ACM TechNews

How Siri Makes Computers (and Coders) More Human

Siri, a program in the latest Apple iPhone that can carry out a wide spectrum of vocal commands without requiring training or special syntax from the user, stands...

From ACM Opinion

Research Bought, Then Paid For

Through the National Institutes of Health, American taxpayers have long supported research directed at understanding and treating human disease.

Why America's Spies Struggle To Keep ­p
From ACM Opinion

Why America's Spies Struggle To Keep ­p

Before Sept. 11, 2011, there were 16 intelligence agencies in the United States.

Read My Email? Get a Warrant
From ACM Opinion

Read My Email? Get a Warrant

Last October the well-known hacking group Chaos Computer Club revealed that the German state police had been monitoring the computers of ordinary citizens using...

From ACM Opinion

China Bankrolls R&d While India Plays the Miser

Did Prime Minister Manmohan Singh underplay China's superiority over India in the field of science, research, and technology? Analysis of new data shared at the...

I Want to Translate the Web
From ACM Opinion

I Want to Translate the Web

I want to translate the Web into every major language: every Webpage, every video, and, yes, even Justin Bieber's tweets.

From ACM Opinion

What I Learned About the Future of Computing from Delving into IT's Past

Turing, Colossus, and even the Jacquard Loom still matter to the iPad generation.

From ACM Opinion

Internet Access Is Not a Human Right

From the streets of Tunis to Tahrir Square and beyond, protests around the world last year were built on the Internet and the many devices that interact with...

Welcome to the 'knowosphere'
From ACM Opinion

Welcome to the 'knowosphere'

Here's my take on what I've begun calling the "knowosphere"—a word intentionally echoing the more allegorical "noosphere," the "planet of the mind" of Vladimir....

The Next Big Thing(s) in Tech
From ACM TechNews

The Next Big Thing(s) in Tech

The next big advances in technology include the replacement of desktop computers with smartphones, the emergence of nanotech batteries, and the rise of augmented...

From ACM Opinion

AI Will Change Our Relationship With Tech

In 1984, Canadian movie director James Cameron imagined a world in which computers achieved self-awareness and set about systematically destroying humankind. ...

From ACM Opinion

Why Books Are Better Than E-Books For Children

Do you read to your children from your iPad or other device, or encourage them to use an e-reader to read to you?

Smoke Screening
From ACM Opinion

Smoke Screening

Not until I walked with Bruce Schneier toward the mass of people unloading their laptops did it occur to me that it might not be possible for us to hang around...

Interfaces For the Ordinary User
From Communications of the ACM

Interfaces For the Ordinary User: Can We Hide Too Much?

Increasing the visibility and access to underlying file structure on consumer devices can vastly improve the user experience.

The IBM PC
From Communications of the ACM

The IBM PC: From Beige Box to Industry Standard

Looking back at three decades of PC platform evolution.
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