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dateMore Than a Year Ago
subjectHardware
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Metadata Surveillance Didn't Stop the Paris Attacks
From ACM Opinion

Metadata Surveillance Didn't Stop the Paris Attacks

Since terrorists struck Paris last Friday night, the debate over whether encryption prevents intelligence services from stopping attacks has reignited.

­pdate: Seti Sees No Alien Signals From Weird Star
From ACM Opinion

­pdate: Seti Sees No Alien Signals From Weird Star

A few weeks ago, I (and a zillion other people) reported on a star about 1,500 light-years away that was acting … weirdly.

We Don't Need Humans on Mars
From ACM Opinion

We Don't Need Humans on Mars

The two mobile robots Spirit and Opportunity were launched from Earth in 2003 and arrived on opposite sides of Mars in 2004. A suite of cameras, instruments, and...

Fight Isis By Thinking Inside the Bot
From ACM Opinion

Fight Isis By Thinking Inside the Bot

What if we told you that fighting ISIS could be done cheaply, relatively easily, in a manner that would not escalate or put any in harm’s way?

Convicted By Code
From ACM Opinion

Convicted By Code

Secret code is everywhere—in elevators, airplanes, medical devices.

How to Make a Rubber Ducky Comet: Smash Two Comets Together! Carefully.
From ACM Opinion

How to Make a Rubber Ducky Comet: Smash Two Comets Together! Carefully.

It was a bit of a surprise when the Rosetta probe, after a decade of travel around the Sun, approached the comet and sent the first decently resolved pictures of...

The Government Needs to Work with Silicon Valley to Create Our Military Future
From ACM Opinion

The Government Needs to Work with Silicon Valley to Create Our Military Future

In 1931, the city fathers of Sunnyvale, California, came up with a unique plan to rescue their town from the doldrums of the Great Depression.

What a Comet Looks Like … From 9 Meters Away!
From ACM News

What a Comet Looks Like … From 9 Meters Away!

The European Space Agency has just released some fantastic close-up images taken by the Philae lander of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

The Social Security Number's Insecurities
From ACM Opinion

The Social Security Number's Insecurities

In both the Anthem insurance hack and the two Office of Personnel Management hacks this year, attackers gained access to Social Security numbers, affecting 80 million...

Is Star Trek Tech Possible?
From ACM Opinion

Is Star Trek Tech Possible?

My friend Veronica Belmont is pretty cool. Nerd, writer, TV host… and now she’s doing an online video series with Engadget called "Dear Veronica," where she answers...

Meet the Bots
From ACM Opinion

Meet the Bots

The day that science fiction writers have feared for so long has finally come—the machines have risen up.

Why Mlb Fans Should Lament the Failure of Google Glass
From ACM Opinion

Why Mlb Fans Should Lament the Failure of Google Glass

The consumer tech world received a jolt in January when the Wall Street Journal reported that Google executives were freezing all sales of its futuristically goofy...

Mathematicians of the Future?
From ACM Opinion

Mathematicians of the Future?

Herbert Simon, the Nobel-prize winning economist, was a techno-enthusiast. In 1956 he predicted that, "within 10 years, computers would beat the world chess champion...

So Sayeth Google
From ACM Opinion

So Sayeth Google

Search for "vaccines." At least within our filter bubble, the top item in Google's "In the news" section earlier this week was an anti-vax column about the "feds'...

How to Fight the Next $1 Billion Bank Hack
From ACM Opinion

How to Fight the Next $1 Billion Bank Hack

Good news! A major hack you don't have to worry about! Unless, that is, you happen to be an executive or security employee at one of the hundreds of banks targeted...

Nasa Has Its Sights Set on Europa
From ACM News

Nasa Has Its Sights Set on Europa

Yesterday, NASA announced its Fiscal Year 2016 budget request.

The Sony Hackers Are Terrorists
From ACM Opinion

The Sony Hackers Are Terrorists

The Sony Pictures hack is important, and the Sony Pictures hack is terrifying.

William Gibson Sees the Future
From ACM Opinion

William Gibson Sees the Future

"The thing to keep in mind," William Gibson tells me when we meet in the quiet lounge of a Victorian-style hotel in Chicago, "is that I’m not actually predicting...

Dumbing It Down in the Cockpit
From ACM Opinion

Dumbing It Down in the Cockpit

Long gone are the leather jackets, goggles, and silk scarves flung over the shoulders of aviators who wrestled with flight controls, furiously scanned instruments...

We Might Be Able to 3-D-Print an Artificial Mind One Day
From ACM Opinion

We Might Be Able to 3-D-Print an Artificial Mind One Day

I'm an artificial-intelligence skeptic.
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