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The Secret Signals That Rule Transport Networks
From ACM Opinion

The Secret Signals That Rule Transport Networks

It is early morning on Brighton beach, and we are sitting on a slope of pebbles, looking out to sea.

Will Smell Ever Come to Smartphones?
From ACM Opinion

Will Smell Ever Come to Smartphones?

Two years ago, at the American Museum of Natural History, in New York, I witnessed David Edwards receive what he claimed was the world's first transatlantic ...

Do Patent Commons and Standards-Setting Organizations Help Navigate Patent Thickets?
From Communications of the ACM

Do Patent Commons and Standards-Setting Organizations Help Navigate Patent Thickets?

Examining the institutions underlying the patent system for information and communication technologies.

What Cyberwar Against Isis Should Look Like
From ACM Opinion

What Cyberwar Against Isis Should Look Like

Pentagon officials have publicly said, in recent weeks, that they're hitting ISIS not only with bullets and bombs but also with cyberoffensive operations.

Who's Responsible When a Self-Driving Car Crashes?
From ACM Opinion

Who's Responsible When a Self-Driving Car Crashes?

Valentine's Day was a bummer in Mountain View, Calif. For the first time, one of Google's self-driving cars, a modified Lexus SUV, caused a crash.

A Year with the Apple Watch: What Works, What Doesn't, and What Lies Ahead?
From ACM Opinion

A Year with the Apple Watch: What Works, What Doesn't, and What Lies Ahead?

About a year ago, Apple announced and released its first Apple Watch. The long-rumored product was Apple’s first all-new product category since the iPad and its...

A Court Is About to Make One of the Most Important Decisions in the History of the Internet
From ACM Opinion

A Court Is About to Make One of the Most Important Decisions in the History of the Internet

If you thought the battle over net neutrality ended when the Federal Communications Commission slapped a series of unprecedented rules on Internet providers last...

I'm the First Quadriplegic Person to Regain Thought-Control of My Arm
From ACM Opinion

I'm the First Quadriplegic Person to Regain Thought-Control of My Arm

I'm the first quadriplegic person in the world to use my own thoughts to control my own arm. It's a pretty neat experience.

The Internet Archive, Bricks and Mortar Version
From ACM Opinion

The Internet Archive, Bricks and Mortar Version

A heavily rusted cast iron ring sits on a bookshelf inside a neoclassical church a few blocks north of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. The ring is about an inch...

­nite to Build a Quantum Internet
From ACM Opinion

­nite to Build a Quantum Internet

Almost 25 years ago, physicists discovered a way of 'teleporting' a quantum system from one place to another without moving it.

Why Robots Need to Be Able to Say 'no'
From ACM Opinion

Why Robots Need to Be Able to Say 'no'

Should you always do what other people tell you to do?

The Man Selling Shovels in the Machine-Learning Gold Rush
From ACM Opinion

The Man Selling Shovels in the Machine-Learning Gold Rush

Jen-Hsun Huang, CEO of the chipmaker Nvidia, is either very prescient or very lucky.

When Is the Singularity? Probably Not in Your Lifetime
From ACM Opinion

When Is the Singularity? Probably Not in Your Lifetime

Misconception: Computers will outstrip human capabilities within many of our lifetimes.

To Beat Go Champion, Google's Program Needed a Human Army
From ACM Opinion

To Beat Go Champion, Google's Program Needed a Human Army

Nearly 20 years ago, after a chess-playing computer called Deep Blue beat the world grandmaster Garry Kasparov, I wrote an article about why humans would long remain...

Is Alphago Really Such a Big Deal?
From ACM Opinion

Is Alphago Really Such a Big Deal?

In 1997, IBM's Deep Blue system defeated the world chess champion, Garry Kasparov.

­se or Lose Our Navigation Skills
From ACM Opinion

­se or Lose Our Navigation Skills

In 1984, I was part of a team that was developing a receiver for a satellite-navigation system. After weeks of debugging, the blur of random digits settled on a...

Why a Chatbot Creeped Out Microsoft's AI-Focused Ceo
From ACM Opinion

Why a Chatbot Creeped Out Microsoft's AI-Focused Ceo

In February, Microsoft Corp. Vice President Derrick Connell visited the Bing search team in Hyderabad, India, to oversee a Monday morning hackathon.

Linux at 25: Q&a With Linus Torvalds
From ACM Opinion

Linux at 25: Q&a With Linus Torvalds

Linus Torvalds created the original core of the Linux operating system in 1991 as a computer science student at the University of Helsinki in Finland.

GNL Is Not Linux
From Communications of the ACM

GNL Is Not Linux

What's in a name?

Explosive Golf Video Game Has the Best Physics Simulation Ever
From ACM Opinion

Explosive Golf Video Game Has the Best Physics Simulation Ever

Before teeing off, I take a few seconds to line up the shot.
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