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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...

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...

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.

The Future of Sex: It Gets Better
From ACM Opinion

The Future of Sex: It Gets Better

When I was 10 years old, my friend Sarah and I found a newly minted copy of "The Joy of Sex" under her parents' bed.

Considering 'the Philosophy of the Web'
From ACM Opinion

Considering 'the Philosophy of the Web'

We associate technology with the shiny and new. But humans have been using technology to change the environment and themselves since at least the lower Paleolithic...

Why the Entire Premise of Tor-Enabled Routers Is Ridiculous
From ACM Opinion

Why the Entire Premise of Tor-Enabled Routers Is Ridiculous

Ars recently reviewed two "Tor routers," devices that are supposed to improve your privacy by routing all traffic through the Tor anonymity network. Although the...

The Fbi's Stance on Encrypted Communications
From ACM Opinion

The Fbi's Stance on Encrypted Communications

Imagine an America where federal, state, and municipal law enforcement agencies cannot access critical communications, even when legally authorized to do so.

Should Law Enforcement Have the Ability to Access Encrypted Communications?
From ACM Opinion

Should Law Enforcement Have the Ability to Access Encrypted Communications?

People's distress over the privacy of their communications has never been more acute. Whether the fear is over U.S. surveillance or breaches by hackers of unknown...

New Laws For New Threats Like Drones and Bioterrorism
From ACM Opinion

New Laws For New Threats Like Drones and Bioterrorism

You walk into your shower and see a spider.

As Moore's Law Turns 50, What Does the Future Hold For the Transistor?
From ACM Opinion

As Moore's Law Turns 50, What Does the Future Hold For the Transistor?

"The future of integrated electronics is the future of electronics itself."

Google's Search ­pdated Will Remake the Web in Its Own Image
From ACM News

Google's Search ­pdated Will Remake the Web in Its Own Image

Some people are calling it Mobilegeddon.

3 Questions on Killer Robots
From ACM Opinion

3 Questions on Killer Robots

Delegates to the United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons are meeting this week in Geneva to discuss fully autonomous weapons—machines that could...

Moore's Law Will Bring Emotional Machines—softbank Ceo
From ACM Opinion

Moore's Law Will Bring Emotional Machines—softbank Ceo

Humans will face their biggest test when computers surpass human intellectual capabilities, according to Masayoshi Son, the billionaire founder and CEO of SoftBank...

The New Spam: Interactive Robo-Calls from the Cloud as Cheap as E-Mail
From ACM Opinion

The New Spam: Interactive Robo-Calls from the Cloud as Cheap as E-Mail

It was the middle of the day, and my cell phone rang with a local number I didn't recognize.

Case Against Google May Be ­ndercut By Rapid Shifts in Tech
From ACM Opinion

Case Against Google May Be ­ndercut By Rapid Shifts in Tech

The antitrust case against Google filed by European Union regulators on Wednesday will inevitably draw comparisons to the long-running prosecution of Microsoft,...

The Inner Lives of Robots: An Interview with Filmmaker Alex Garland
From ACM Opinion

The Inner Lives of Robots: An Interview with Filmmaker Alex Garland

Like self-replicating machines, robot movies are taking over Hollywood.
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