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subjectSoftware
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.


What Watson Has Been Up To Since “jeopardy!”
From ACM News

What Watson Has Been Up To Since “jeopardy!”

Remember Watson, the computer that won "Jeopardy!" in 2011 and made us all worry about the impending obsolescence of the human race?

Senator: Your Futuristic Car Is Putting Your Privacy and Security At Risk
From ACM News

Senator: Your Futuristic Car Is Putting Your Privacy and Security At Risk

Cars these days have more in common with smart phones than the Model-T. But a new reportfrom Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) warns that the increasing technical complexity...

Associated Press Looks to Expand Its Automated Stories Program Following Successful Launch
From ACM News

Associated Press Looks to Expand Its Automated Stories Program Following Successful Launch

In the last three months of 2014, the Associated Press published 3,000 articles on the earning reports of U.S. companies. Previously it could publish only 300.

America's Best-Selling Cars and Trucks Are Built on Lies: The Rise of Fake Engine Noise
From ACM News

America's Best-Selling Cars and Trucks Are Built on Lies: The Rise of Fake Engine Noise

Stomp on the gas in a new Ford Mustang or F-150 and you’ll hear a meaty, throaty rumble—the same style of roar that Americans have associated with auto power and...

Robots Are Sneaking ­p On Congress (along with Four Other Tech Trends)
From ACM Opinion

Robots Are Sneaking ­p On Congress (along with Four Other Tech Trends)

One of the best Twitter accounts inside the Beltway or out—belongs to former representativeJohn Dingell (D-Mich.), who announced his retirement with self-effacing...

Brainstormers: Obama's Big Research Push Kicks Off With a Meeting of the Minds
From ACM News

Brainstormers: Obama's Big Research Push Kicks Off With a Meeting of the Minds

The motley group included men and women, old and young, in sweatshirts and three-piece suits, shod in socks and sandals, wingtips and heels.

A Q&a With the Hackers Who Say They Helped Break Into Sony's Network
From ACM Opinion

A Q&a With the Hackers Who Say They Helped Break Into Sony's Network

Lizard Squad. That's the hacker group whose name is suddenly on everyone's lips after it took credit for ruining Christmas for PlayStation and Xbox gamers everywhere...

Supreme Court Case Tests the Limits of Free Speech on Facebook and Other Social Media
From ACM News

Supreme Court Case Tests the Limits of Free Speech on Facebook and Other Social Media

About a week after Tara Elonis persuaded a judge to issue a protective order against her estranged husband, Anthony, her soon-to-be ex had this to say: "Fold up...

Verizon, At&t Tracking Their Users with 'supercookies'
From ACM News

Verizon, At&t Tracking Their Users with 'supercookies'

Verizon and AT&T have been quietly tracking the Internet activity of more than 100 million cellular customers with what critics have dubbed "supercookies"—markers...

5 Insights from Vint Cerf on Bitcoin, Net Neutrality and More
From ACM Opinion

5 Insights from Vint Cerf on Bitcoin, Net Neutrality and More

When Vint Cerf, often called the "father of the Internet," is speaking, it's wise to listen.

Protesters in Hong Kong Must Weigh the Promise and Risks of Mesh Networking
From ACM News

Protesters in Hong Kong Must Weigh the Promise and Risks of Mesh Networking

In the heart of Hong Kong, where the largest pro-Democracy protest to challenge Beijing since the 1989 Tiananmen Square gathering has been brewing, some protesters...

So You Want to Hack Apple Pay?
From ACM News

So You Want to Hack Apple Pay?

A decade ago, a group of Johns Hopkins University grad students tried to hack one of the first commercially popular Near Field Communication payment systems—the...

For Sale: Systems that Can Secretly Track Where Cellphone ­sers Go Around the Globe
From ACM News

For Sale: Systems that Can Secretly Track Where Cellphone ­sers Go Around the Globe

Makers of surveillance systems are offering governments across the world the ability to track the movements of almost anybody who carries a cellphone, whether they...

Why Teaching Grandmothers to Code Isn't a Crazy Idea
From ACM TechNews

Why Teaching Grandmothers to Code Isn't a Crazy Idea

The same efforts to teach youngsters coding and entrepreneurship should be extended to older workers and retired people, writes Stanford University fellow Vivek...

Why One of Cybersecurity's Thought Leaders ­ses a Pager Instead of a Smart Phone
From ACM Opinion

Why One of Cybersecurity's Thought Leaders ­ses a Pager Instead of a Smart Phone

In the computer and network security industry, few people are as well known as Dan Geer.

How Spy Agencies Keep Their 'toys' from Law Enforcement
From ACM News

How Spy Agencies Keep Their 'toys' from Law Enforcement

A little over a decade ago, federal prosecutors used keystroke logging software to steal the encryption password of an alleged New Jersey mobster, Nicodemo Scarfo...

When a Computer Ages You
From ACM TechNews

When a Computer Ages You

Researchers are hoping to harness facial-recognition and age-progression technology to estimate people's life spans and future health based on a photograph. 

The Case That Might Cripple Facebook
From ACM Opinion

The Case That Might Cripple Facebook

An Irish judge has rendered a preliminary judgment that may have sweeping consequences for U.S. e-commerce firms.

Forget Touchscreens, 3D Holographic Displays Are Coming
From ACM News

Forget Touchscreens, 3D Holographic Displays Are Coming

As it stands, the touchscreen experience is confined to a flat, two-dimensional world.

Submarines for Saturn, Comet Hitchhikers, Asteroid Wranglers and Other Space Fantasies
From ACM News

Submarines for Saturn, Comet Hitchhikers, Asteroid Wranglers and Other Space Fantasies

If you thought Elon Musk was the only person coming up with innovative ideas for the exploration of outer space, you'd be wrong.
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