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Crispr Germline Engineering—the Community Speaks
From ACM Opinion

Crispr Germline Engineering—the Community Speaks

With the first papers appearing in the literature that describe CRISPR-Cas9 engineering of human reproductive cells, are we at a new Asilomar moment?

Google's Vint Cerf Warns Against Fragmentation of Internet
From ACM Opinion

Google's Vint Cerf Warns Against Fragmentation of Internet

Internet pioneer Vinton G. Cerf warned Thursday that political and technological forces threaten universal access and integrity, which he described as the foundation...

Behind the Indie Video Game Sensation that Caught Nasa's Attention
From ACM Careers

Behind the Indie Video Game Sensation that Caught Nasa's Attention

"Here let's zoom in so you can see your Kerbal floating above Kerbin," my boyfriend suggests before hitting the "M" key on his keyboard.

Moore's Law Turns 50
From ACM Opinion

Moore's Law Turns 50

On April 19, 1965, just over 50 years ago, Gordon Moore, then the head of research for Fairchild Semiconductor and later one of the co-founders of Intel, was asked...

New Ways to Crash the Market
From ACM Opinion

New Ways to Crash the Market

Five years ago, on the afternoon of May 6, 2010, the Dow and the S. & P. fell more than six per cent in a matter of minutes, losing a trillion dollars in value.

The White House Just Snagged One of the Most Valuable Players in the Tech Policy World
From ACM Opinion

The White House Just Snagged One of the Most Valuable Players in the Tech Policy World

The White House is adding one of the tech policy world's most valuable players to its roster: Princeton Professor Ed Felten.

Intel's Gordon Moore Speculates on the Future of Tech and the End of Moore's Law
From ACM Opinion

Intel's Gordon Moore Speculates on the Future of Tech and the End of Moore's Law

Gordon Moore appeared in person to talk about the 50th anniversary of Moore's Law, the prediction that he made that has fueled the tech industry and driven the...

'rise of the Robots' and 'shadow Work'
From ACM Opinion

'rise of the Robots' and 'shadow Work'

In the late 20th century, while the blue-collar working class gave way to the forces of globalization and automation, the educated elite looked on with benign condescension...

Why Nsa Surveillance Is Worse Than You've Ever Imagined
From ACM Opinion

Why Nsa Surveillance Is Worse Than You've Ever Imagined

Last summer, after months of encrypted emails, I spent three days in Moscow hanging out with Edward Snowden for a Wired cover story.

Why the Ruling Against the Nsa's Phone Records Program Could Have Huge Implications
From ACM Opinion

Why the Ruling Against the Nsa's Phone Records Program Could Have Huge Implications

A federal appeals court ruling that the National Security Agency's collection of millions of Americans' phone records is illegal could undercut more than just that...

The Illegal Phone-Data Sweeps
From ACM Opinion

The Illegal Phone-Data Sweeps

There is a lot to praise in the powerful ruling issued by a three-judge federal appeals panel in New York on Thursday, which held that the government's vast, continuing...

The Void's Creator Details His Vision For ­nleashing Virtual Reality's Full Potential
From ACM Opinion

The Void's Creator Details His Vision For ­nleashing Virtual Reality's Full Potential

In a 60-by-60-foot room in Salt Lake City, Ken Bretschneider is taking virtual reality experiences to another level.

Are We to Become Gods, the Destroyers of Our World?
From ACM Opinion

Are We to Become Gods, the Destroyers of Our World?

In the stylish new sci-fi thriller Ex Machina, Frankenstein's old theme re-emerges in a beautifully designed setting: Instead of the Gothic castle we have a spectacular...

Concerns of an Artificial Intelligence Pioneer
From ACM Opinion

Concerns of an Artificial Intelligence Pioneer

In January, the British-American computer scientist Stuart Russell drafted and became the first signatory of an open letter calling for researchers to look beyond...

40 Busy Years Later, a Microsoft Founder Considers His Creation
From ACM Opinion

40 Busy Years Later, a Microsoft Founder Considers His Creation

Looking at Microsoft’s sprawling product line and 118,000 or so employees, it’s easy to forget that the company started with one modest product made by two ambitious...

Quantum Computers Will Make Your Laptop Look Like an Abacus
From ACM Opinion

Quantum Computers Will Make Your Laptop Look Like an Abacus

The race to make the first quantum computer is becoming as important as the race 75 years ago to get the first nuke. It could change the balance of power in politics...

The Hidden Politics of Video Games
From ACM Opinion

The Hidden Politics of Video Games

Imagine that video games had been invented in the Middle Ages.

Brace Yourself: Microsoft Wants to Guess How Old You Are
From ACM News

Brace Yourself: Microsoft Wants to Guess How Old You Are

Like a distant relative who makes you feel bad at the annual holiday get together, Microsoft has created a website that analyzes a photo of a person's face and...

Eff at 25: Remembering the Case that Established Code as Speech
From ACM Opinion

Eff at 25: Remembering the Case that Established Code as Speech

One of EFF's first major legal victories was Bernstein v. Department of Justice, a landmark case that resulted in establishing code as speech and changed United...

Facebook Is Eating the Internet
From ACM Careers

Facebook Is Eating the Internet

Facebook, it seems, is unstoppable. The social publishing site, just 11 years old, is now the dominant force in American media.
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