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Robots on the Run
From ACM Opinion

Robots on the Run

Young animals gallop across fields, climb trees and immediately find their feet with enviable grace after they fall.

Facebook and Google Aren't the Only Ones Tracking Your Clicks
From ACM Opinion

Facebook and Google Aren't the Only Ones Tracking Your Clicks

Criticism of big tech companies that track us across the internet without our informed consent misses a bigger picture: There are hundreds of ad-tracking companies...

The ­ncanny Valley Nobody's Talking About: Eerie Robot Voices
From ACM Opinion

The ­ncanny Valley Nobody's Talking About: Eerie Robot Voices

Call it the Great Convergence of Creepiness. The first bit, the uncanny valley, we're all familiar with by now: If a humanoid robot looks super realistic, but not...

How 2D Semiconductors Could Extend Moore's Law
From ACM Opinion

How 2D Semiconductors Could Extend Moore's Law

The number of components in electronic circuits has doubled every two years since the 1960s—a trend known as Moore's law.

The FAA Rigorously Tested the Boeing 737's Software
From ACM Opinion

The FAA Rigorously Tested the Boeing 737's Software

Two Boeing 737 Max 8 airplanes have crashed under similar circumstances in the past six months, one in October in Indonesia and the other in Ethiopia last week....

A Second 737 Max Crash Raises Questions about Airplane Automation
From ACM Opinion

A Second 737 Max Crash Raises Questions about Airplane Automation

As you read this, over a million people are in flight. Close to a third of the commercial airplanes in the sky at any given moment are Boeing 737s: it is the best...

NSA's Top Policy Advisor: It's Time to Start Putting Teeth in Cyber Deterrence
From ACM Opinion

NSA's Top Policy Advisor: It's Time to Start Putting Teeth in Cyber Deterrence

At an industry event in Hanover, Maryland last week, former National Security Council cybersecurity policy coordinator and acting Homeland Security Advisor Rob...

Limiting Your Digital Footprints in a Surveillance State
From ACM Opinion

Limiting Your Digital Footprints in a Surveillance State

What are your most important tech tools for reporting in Shanghai, especially with a government known for surveillance?

Are We Really the Smartest Kid on the Cosmic Block?
From ACM Opinion

Are We Really the Smartest Kid on the Cosmic Block?

It is unclear how many intelligent civilizations have arisen in the Milky Way galaxy so far, but if some have, a pressing question comes to mind: Were they or are...

'The Risk Paid Off': How Apple Prevailed in the ­.S.-China Trade War
From ACM Opinion

'The Risk Paid Off': How Apple Prevailed in the ­.S.-China Trade War

President Donald Trump's trade war with China has left a trail of economic wreckage across American industries from soybean farms to auto manufacturers.

China Is Catching ­p to the ­S on Artificial Intelligence Research
From ACM News

China Is Catching ­p to the ­S on Artificial Intelligence Research

Researchers, companies and countries around the world are racing to explore—and exploit—the possibilities of artificial intelligence technology.

Don't Let Robots Pull the Trigger
From ACM Opinion

Don't Let Robots Pull the Trigger

The killer machines are coming. Robotic weapons that target and destroy without human supervision are poised to start a revolution in warfare comparable to the...

Beware of Plausible Predictions of Fantasy Materials
From ACM Opinion

Beware of Plausible Predictions of Fantasy Materials

The hunt is on for materials that have exotic properties, to enhance quantum computers, touch screens and electronic displays, and to double the efficiency of solar...

Don't Fight the Robots. Tax Them.
From ACM Opinion

Don't Fight the Robots. Tax Them.

When Bill Gates floated the idea of imposing a tax on robots a couple of years ago, Lawrence Summers, a former top economic adviser to President Barack Obama, called...

China Will Likely Corner the 5G Market, and the ­S Has No Plan
From ACM Opinion

China Will Likely Corner the 5G Market, and the ­S Has No Plan

You may have heard that China has cornered much of the world's supply of strategic metals and minerals crucial for new technology, including lithium, rare earths...

An Intrepid Explorer of Mars Falls Silent
From ACM Opinion

An Intrepid Explorer of Mars Falls Silent

Opportunity, formally known as Mars Exploration Rover B but as Oppy to its many friends and admirers, was pronounced dead on Wednesday after a final round of beamed...

The ­S Cannot Crush ­s, Says Huawei Founder
From ACM Opinion

The ­S Cannot Crush ­s, Says Huawei Founder

The founder of Huawei has said there is "no way the US can crush" the company, in an exclusive interview with the BBC.

There's No Good Reason to Trust Blockchain Technology
From ACM Opinion

There's No Good Reason to Trust Blockchain Technology

In his 2008 white paper that first proposed bitcoin, the anonymous Satoshi Nakamoto concluded with: "We have proposed a system for electronic transactions without...

How Silicon Valley Puts the 'Con' in Consent
From ACM Opinion

How Silicon Valley Puts the 'Con' in Consent

The average person would have to spend 76 working days reading all of the digital privacy policies they agree to in the span of a year. Reading Amazon's terms and...

Google Assistant Is Getting Sci-Fi Ambitious
From ACM Opinion

Google Assistant Is Getting Sci-Fi Ambitious

From 550 feet in the air, Google's Scott Huffman peers down at the Las Vegas skyline. It's a sunny afternoon in early January and, at the moment, Google owns this...
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