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Trump Pledges Investment, But Is Silent on Key Tech Issues
From ACM Opinion

Trump Pledges Investment, But Is Silent on Key Tech Issues

In his State of the Union address Tuesday, President Trump promised legislation to invest in "the cutting edge industries of the future." But the speech was characteristically...

How to Land a Journal Cover
From ACM Opinion

How to Land a Journal Cover

Researchers: Felice Frankel will make photographers of you all. Photography—both macro- and microscopic—is an essential tool in science, because pictures are both...

Technologies to Watch in 2019
From ACM Opinion

Technologies to Watch in 2019

Seven specialists forecast the developments that will push their fields forward in the year ahead.

Cinematic and Scientific Techniques Combine to Show How a Long-Extinct Creature Moved
From ACM Opinion

Cinematic and Scientific Techniques Combine to Show How a Long-Extinct Creature Moved

The trolls and orcs in The Lord of the Rings films aren't real. The dragons and dire wolves on the hit television show Game of Thrones are simulated. The dinosaurs...

Have Aliens Found ­s? A Harvard Astronomer on the Mysterious Interstellar Object 'Oumuamua
From ACM Opinion

Have Aliens Found ­s? A Harvard Astronomer on the Mysterious Interstellar Object 'Oumuamua

On October 19, 2017, astronomers at the University of Hawaii spotted a strange object travelling through our solar system, which they later described as "a red...

Offices Are Too Hot or Too Cold; Is There a Better Way to Control Room Temperature?
From ACM Opinion

Offices Are Too Hot or Too Cold; Is There a Better Way to Control Room Temperature?

In any office, home or other shared space, there's almost always someone who's too cold, someone who's too hot—and someone who doesn't know what the fuss around...

Five Emerging Cyber-Threats to Worry About in 2019
From ACM Opinion

Five Emerging Cyber-Threats to Worry About in 2019

Last year was full of cybersecurity disasters, from the revelation of security flaws in billions of microchips to massive data breaches and attacks using malicious...

What the Future of Work Means for Cities
From ACM Opinion

What the Future of Work Means for Cities

Two weeks ago, MIT's David Autor gave the prestigious Richard T. Ely lecture at the annual meeting of American economists in Atlanta. Introduced by the former chair...

The Quiet Threat Inside 'Internet of Things' Devices
From ACM Opinion

The Quiet Threat Inside 'Internet of Things' Devices

As Americans increasingly buy and install smart devices in their homes, all those cheap interconnected devices create new security problems for individuals and...

Tiny Computers Could Transform Our Lives
From ACM Opinion

Tiny Computers Could Transform Our Lives

Remember Innerspace, the comedy sci-fi movie from the '80s about a microscopic manned pod injected into a human?

To Cover China, There's No Substitute for WeChat
From ACM Opinion

To Cover China, There's No Substitute for WeChat

How do New York Times journalists use technology in their jobs and in their personal lives? Li Yuan, a technology columnist in Hong Kong, discussed the tech she's...

When Chinese Hackers Declared War on the Rest of ­s
From ACM Opinion

When Chinese Hackers Declared War on the Rest of ­s

Late one Wednesday in March 2015, an alarm sounded in the offices of GitHub, a San Francisco-based software firm. The company's offices exemplified the kind of...

Etch a Sketch Lives On in Browser-Based Chrome Labs Project
From ACM Opinion

Etch a Sketch Lives On in Browser-Based Chrome Labs Project

Everyone who remembers the Etch A Sketch slabs of yesteryear remembers how difficult it was to translate your vision onto its "magic screen," and how proud youWeb...

Dreaming of Death Rays: The Search for Laser Weapons
From ACM Opinion

Dreaming of Death Rays: The Search for Laser Weapons

Lasers first emerged nearly 60 years ago, but the idea of using powerful beams of heat or light is hardly new.

Never Mind Killer Robots; Here Are Six Real AI Dangers to Watch Out for in 2019
From ACM Opinion

Never Mind Killer Robots; Here Are Six Real AI Dangers to Watch Out for in 2019

Once it was fashionable to fret about the prospect of super-intelligent machines taking over the world. The past year showed that AI may cause all sorts of hazards...

In Memory of Lawrence Roberts
From ACM Opinion

In Memory of Lawrence Roberts

Beeeeeeep.

What's Behind China's Space Programme Expansion
From ACM Opinion

What's Behind China's Space Programme Expansion

China is a relative late-bloomer when it comes to the world of space exploration. But just 15 years after it first sent an astronaut into orbit, China has become...

Is Quantum Computing a Cybersecurity Threat?
From ACM Opinion

Is Quantum Computing a Cybersecurity Threat?

Cybersecurity researchers and analysts are rightly worried that a new type of computer, based on quantum physics rather than more standard electronics, could ...

7 Arguments Against the Autonomous-Vehicle ­Utopia
From ACM Opinion

7 Arguments Against the Autonomous-Vehicle ­Utopia

Self-driving cars are coming. Tech giants such as Uber and Alphabet have bet on it, as have old-school car manufacturers such as Ford and General Motors.

The Tech That Was Fixed in 2018 and the Tech That Still Needs Fixing
From ACM Opinion

The Tech That Was Fixed in 2018 and the Tech That Still Needs Fixing

Personal technology was so awful this year that nobody would think you were paranoid if you dug a hole and buried your computer, phone and smart speaker under six...
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