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Hugh Herr and the Liberating Age of Bionics
From ACM Opinion

Hugh Herr and the Liberating Age of Bionics

"It's extraordinary that we live in this day and age with all our wonderful modern technology, and still we have shoes that give us blisters," says Hugh Herr, with...

From ACM Opinion

Your Brain at Work

When Apple fanatics lined up to get the new iPhone in 2011, the New York Times published an op-ed titled "You Love Your iPhone. Literally." It described an unpublished...

Why Microsoft's Reorganization Closes the Books on an Era of Computing
From ACM Opinion

Why Microsoft's Reorganization Closes the Books on an Era of Computing

Nothing ever stays the same. On more than one occasion, it has taken Microsoft, one of the most important engines powering the rise of the technology industry,...

Censoring the News Before It Happens
From ACM Opinion

Censoring the News Before It Happens

Every day in China, hundreds of messages are sent from government offices to website editors around the country that say things like, "Report on the new provincial...

Free Online MIT Courses Are An Education Revolution
From ACM Opinion

Free Online MIT Courses Are An Education Revolution

Online learning is the biggest shake-up of education since the advent of the printing press, says Anant Agarwal, an MIT computing specialist.

In Head-Hunting, Big Data May Not Be Such a Big Deal
From ACM Careers

In Head-Hunting, Big Data May Not Be Such a Big Deal

Q. How is Big Data being used more in the leadership and management field? 

From ACM Opinion

Lost (and Gained) in Translation

The international movement of scientists and the internationalization of science rank among the most striking trends in today's scientific world.

The Hut Where the Internet Began
From ACM Opinion

The Hut Where the Internet Began

Let's start at the end point: what you're doing right now. You are pulling information from a network onto a screen, enhancing your embodied experience with a communication...

From ACM Opinion

The Crypto-Currency Ecosystem

Just like the IP protocol, bitcoin is the culmination of several important advancements, all combining to form a paradigm-changing innovation.

Internet Inventor: No Technological Cure For Privacy Ills
From ACM Opinion

Internet Inventor: No Technological Cure For Privacy Ills

Is there technological solution for protecting people from online surveillance?

What Your Metadata Says About You
From ACM Opinion

What Your Metadata Says About You

As recently as a few weeks ago, "metadata" was an obscure term known mainly to techies and academics.

Edward Snowden's Nightmare Comes True
From ACM Opinion

Edward Snowden's Nightmare Comes True

Snowden's worst fear, by his own account, was that "nothing will change."

A Eulogy For Altavista, the Google of Its Time
From ACM Opinion

A Eulogy For Altavista, the Google of Its Time

Goodbye AltaVista. You deserved better than this.

From ACM Opinion

Social Media Free Speech Rights Complicated For Workers

An anonymous "Suzy Citizen" leaves fliers criticizing management in a public area of the St. Cloud Public Library, and the Great River Regional Library board of...

Intel's Justin Rattner on New Laser Chip Business
From ACM Opinion

Intel's Justin Rattner on New Laser Chip Business

Intel came to dominate computing by consistently beating others at packing transistors ever more densely onto chips for desktop computers and servers.

Meet the Most Important Tech Company You've Probably Never Heard Of
From ACM Opinion

Meet the Most Important Tech Company You've Probably Never Heard Of

Never trust gadget-makers’ claims about battery life.

What It's Like to Get a National-Security Letter
From ACM Opinion

What It's Like to Get a National-Security Letter

In the summer of 2011, while he was fighting an indictment for alleged computer crimes, Aaron Swartz, an information activist, read Kafka’s "The Trial" and ...

Social Media Images Form a New Language Online
From ACM Opinion

Social Media Images Form a New Language Online

Sergey Brin, Google’s co-founder, had an epiphany about the simplicity of communication through images while wearing Google Glass, the company’s controversial high...

The 12 Best Designs from the Past 100 Years
From ACM Opinion

The 12 Best Designs from the Past 100 Years

Is the much-loved Piaggio Vespa more iconic than the floppy disk? Is the iPod more of a design classic than the Airbus A380?

Apple's Power Over Design, in 4 Words
From ACM Opinion

Apple's Power Over Design, in 4 Words

"Apple just permeates everything."
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