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Latest News News Archive Refine your search:
dateMore Than a Year Ago
subjectComputers And Society
authorThe Washington Post
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An edited collection of advanced computing news from Communications of the ACM, ACM TechNews, other ACM resources, and news sites around the Web.


The Big Data of Bad Driving, and How Insurers Plan to Track Your Every Turn
From ACM News

The Big Data of Bad Driving, and How Insurers Plan to Track Your Every Turn

For years, insurance companies have used estimates of your annual mileage to determine your car insurance rates.

The A.i. Anxiety
From ACM News

The A.i. Anxiety

The world’s spookiest philosopher is Nick Bostrom, a thin, soft-spoken Swede.

The Billion-Dollar Robot Question--How Can We Make Sure They're Safe?
From ACM TechNews

The Billion-Dollar Robot Question--How Can We Make Sure They're Safe?

The advent of unsupervised robots raises the question of how to ensure their safety. 

Tech Companies Are Slamming a Proposed ­k Terrorism Law. Here's Why.
From ACM News

Tech Companies Are Slamming a Proposed ­k Terrorism Law. Here's Why.

The world's biggest tech firms—including Apple, Microsoft, and Yahoo—are pressing for changes to a proposed British law aimed at expanding the government's electronic...

5 Amazing and Alarming Things That May Be Done with Your Dna
From ACM Opinion

5 Amazing and Alarming Things That May Be Done with Your Dna

"You're a male, you're 34-years-old and your 5-foot-10 1/2 inches tall." That's a prediction that Craig Venter, long a pioneer on the frontier of genomics, offered...

How Artificial Intelligence Could Change the Way We Watch Sports
From ACM TechNews

How Artificial Intelligence Could Change the Way We Watch Sports

Machine learning and computer vision are being combined to provide commentary on professional sporting events as they occur.

The Nsa School: How the Intelligence Community Gets Smarter, Secretly
From ACM Careers

The Nsa School: How the Intelligence Community Gets Smarter, Secretly

Leonard Reinsfelder's wife found a note on her car as she was leaving a shopping center one day: "Have your husband give us a call. We think we could use him."

Net of Insecurity: The Kernel of the Argument
From ACM TechNews

Net of Insecurity: The Kernel of the Argument

The Linux operating system has come to dominate the online world, but critics increasingly warn of security weaknesses that should have been corrected long ago. ...

A Data Genius Has Figured Out the ­ltimate Beer-Drinking Road Trip
From ACM TechNews

A Data Genius Has Figured Out the ­ltimate Beer-Drinking Road Trip

Data scientist Nathan Yau created a map of the top breweries in the U.S., and then determined the most efficient route to use to visit them. 

Everything You Need to Know About the Vast ­ndersea Network that Makes the Internet Work
From ACM News

Everything You Need to Know About the Vast ­ndersea Network that Makes the Internet Work

Russians submarines and spy ships are "ggressively operating" near the undersea cables that are the backbone of the global Internet—worrying some U.S. intelligence...

How Human Nature Could Foil Tesla's New Autopilot
From ACM TechNews

How Human Nature Could Foil Tesla's New Autopilot

Researchers and driving safety experts warn the new autopilot option installed in most Tesla vehicles could cause unsafe conditions. 

With Court Order, Federal Judge Seeks to Fuel Debate About Data Encryption
From ACM News

With Court Order, Federal Judge Seeks to Fuel Debate About Data Encryption

A federal judge in New York is seeking to expand to the courts the hot debate over whether tech companies should be forced to find ways to unlock encrypted smartphones...

How Artificial Intelligence Could Lead to Self-Healing Airplanes
From ACM TechNews

How Artificial Intelligence Could Lead to Self-Healing Airplanes

Boeing and Carnegie Mellon University have launched an Aerospace Data Analytics Lab to mine insights from the vast body of data generated by the aerospace industry...

Thought Process: Building an Artificial Brain
From ACM TechNews

Thought Process: Building an Artificial Brain

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is funding a pair of parallel projects to understand the nature of intelligence. 

How Google's Self-Driving Cars May Handle the Toughest Situations
From ACM News

How Google's Self-Driving Cars May Handle the Toughest Situations

Left-hand turns are one of the tougher things drivers have to do.

The Strange Link Between Global Climate Change and the Rise of the Robots
From ACM TechNews

The Strange Link Between Global Climate Change and the Rise of the Robots

A recent paper concluded humans would not stand a chance against super-intelligent robots following a hypothetical mass extinction event. 

­.S. Developing Sanctions Against China Over Cyberthefts
From ACM News

­.S. Developing Sanctions Against China Over Cyberthefts

The Obama administration is developing a package of unprecedented economic sanctions against Chinese companies and individuals who have benefited from their government's...

Standardized Tests May Be Holding Back the Next Generation of Computer Programmers
From ACM TechNews

Standardized Tests May Be Holding Back the Next Generation of Computer Programmers

Educating students to pass standardized tests, which command most school administrators' time, leaves little room for computer science classes to train the next...

Could Hackers Take Down a City?
From ACM TechNews

Could Hackers Take Down a City?

Researchers warn of the possibility of cyberattackers crippling a city because of urban centers' increasing reliance on technology. 

Why the Ftc Is Showing ­p at Hackers' Biggest Conferences
From ACM Opinion

Why the Ftc Is Showing ­p at Hackers' Biggest Conferences

The Federal Trade Commission, the de facto federal watchdog for consumers' privacy and data security, knows it needs help.
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