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A Fuzzy and Shifting Line Between Hacker and Criminal
From ACM Opinion

A Fuzzy and Shifting Line Between Hacker and Criminal

In January 2011, I was assigned to cover a hearing in Newark, where Daniel Spitler, then 26, stood accused of breaching AT&T's servers and stealing 114,000 email...

Guns, Maps and Data That Disturb
From ACM Opinion

Guns, Maps and Data That Disturb

Should data have a conscience?

From ACM Opinion

Sneaky Apps That Track Cellphones

A perversion of smartphone technology called "stalking apps"—precise, secretive trackings of the movements of cellphone users—is increasingly a matter of national...

Planning His Legacy, Cisco Chief Maps an Expansion
From ACM Opinion

Planning His Legacy, Cisco Chief Maps an Expansion

John T. Chambers has readied his last great act as the leader of Cisco Systems, fearing major changes in the technology business that could doom his company.

9 Wishes For Microsoft's Next Xbox, Whatever It's Called
From ACM Opinion

9 Wishes For Microsoft's Next Xbox, Whatever It's Called

Citing the usual sources-who-shall-remain-nameless, Bloomberg reports what everyone's been assuming all year—that Microsoft's going to launch its next game system...

From ACM Opinion

How to ­se Technology to Make You Smarter

Can a calculator make you smarter?

A Touch Literate World: The Global Tablet Craze
From ACM Opinion

A Touch Literate World: The Global Tablet Craze

I haven't been shy about expressing my belief that tablets represent the reinvention of the personal computer.

Eye Am a Camera: Surveillance and Sousveillance in the Glassage
From ACM Opinion

Eye Am a Camera: Surveillance and Sousveillance in the Glassage

Digital eye glasses like Google’s Project Glass, and my earlier Digital Eye Glass, will transform society because they introduce a two-sided surveillance and sousveillance...

How to Devise Passwords That Drive Hackers Away
From ACM Opinion

How to Devise Passwords That Drive Hackers Away

Not long after I began writing about cybersecurity, I became a paranoid caricature of my former self.

Fresh Windows, but Where’s the Start Button?
From ACM Opinion

Fresh Windows, but Where’s the Start Button?

Over the years, Keith McCarthy has become used to a certain way of doing things on his personal computers, which, like most others on the planet, have long run...

And the Firewalls Came Tumbling Down
From ACM Opinion

And the Firewalls Came Tumbling Down

There's much to like about "This Machine Kills Secrets," Andy Greenberg's well-reported history of WikiLeaks and the many projects it has inspired, but one unintentionally...

Google's Little Nemo Tribute: Maybe The Best Google Doodle Ever
From ACM Opinion

Google's Little Nemo Tribute: Maybe The Best Google Doodle Ever

Winsor McCay (1869–1934) was one of the first important creators of both comic strips and animation, and a pretty fair political cartoonist to boot.

What Makes Google's Maps So Good
From ACM Opinion

What Makes Google's Maps So Good

Wow. Nothing makes you appreciate something like losing it.

The Internet? We Built That
From ACM Opinion

The Internet? We Built That

Who created the Internet and why should we care? These questions, so often raised during the Bush-Gore election in 2000, have found their way back into the political...

Why Wi-Fi Is Often So Slow
From ACM Opinion

Why Wi-Fi Is Often So Slow

A number of Internet service providers, including Comcast Corp. and Verizon Communications Inc., have recently upped the maximum speeds of broadband they offer...

From ACM Opinion

When Gps Tracking Violates Privacy Rights

For the right to personal privacy to survive in America in this digital age, courts must be meticulous in applying longstanding privacy protections to new technology...

Breaking ­p the Echo
From ACM Opinion

Breaking ­p the Echo

It is well known that when like-minded people get together, they tend to end up thinking a more extreme version of what they thought before they started to talk...

Despite a Slowdown, Smartphone Advances Are Still Ahead
From ACM TechNews

Despite a Slowdown, Smartphone Advances Are Still Ahead

Apple's new iPhone 5 has faster chips and a bigger screen, but these improvements lack the dramatic impact the first iPhone had in 2007. However, analysts say...

From ACM Opinion

The Iphone Stimulus

Are you, or is someone you know, a gadget freak? If so, you doubtless know that Wednesday was iPhone 5 day, the day Apple unveiled its latest way for people to...

Why '­ser Friendly' Is So Friendly: A Tribute to Bill Moggridge
From ACM Opinion

Why '­ser Friendly' Is So Friendly: A Tribute to Bill Moggridge

Some considered it an inspired choice, others simply surprising, when Bill Moggridge was appointed director of the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum...
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