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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.

No, Scientists Didn't Just 'Reverse Time' with a Quantum Computer
From ACM Opinion

No, Scientists Didn't Just 'Reverse Time' with a Quantum Computer


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...

Berners-Lee Says World Wide Web, at 30, Must Emerge from 'Adolescence'
From ACM Opinion

Berners-Lee Says World Wide Web, at 30, Must Emerge from 'Adolescence'

The fraying World Wide Web needs to rediscover its strengths and grow into maturity, its designer Tim Berners-Lee said on Monday, marking the 30th anniversary of...

FBI Head Christopher Wray: We Can't Let Criminals Hide Behind Encryption
From ACM Opinion

FBI Head Christopher Wray: We Can't Let Criminals Hide Behind Encryption

Encryption should have limits. That's the message FBI Director Christopher Wray had for cybersecurity experts Tuesday.

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 Be Fooled by Fake Images and Videos Online
From ACM Opinion

Don't Be Fooled by Fake Images and Videos Online

One month before the 2016 U.S. presidential election, an "Access Hollywood" recording of Donald Trump was released in which he was heard lewdly talking about women...

AI's Big Challenge
From ACM Opinion

AI's Big Challenge

The recently signed executive order establishing the American AI Initiative correctly identifies artificial intelligence as central to American competitiveness...

Why Scientists Sometimes Make Extraordinary Claims
From ACM Opinion

Why Scientists Sometimes Make Extraordinary Claims

The interstellar object known as 'Oumuamua plunged into our solar system in 2017, leaving a trail of mystery in its wake.

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...

Will AI Achieve Consciousness? Wrong Question
From ACM Opinion

Will AI Achieve Consciousness? Wrong Question

When Norbert Wiener, the father ofcybernetics, wrote his book The Human Use of Human Beings in 1950, vacuum tubes were still the primary electronic building blocks...

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...
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