Computing2326 articles archived since 1845

Alien Intelligence Search Gets Major New Push

Entrepreneur and former physicist Yuri Milner talks about the just-announced $100-million Breakthrough Listen Project to search for extraterrestrial technological civilizations  ...

AI Software Teaches Itself Video Games

Artificial intelligence is coming of age and challenging our belief that being smart and being conscious go hand-in-hand

Stephen Hawking and Yuri Milner Announce $100M Initiative to Seek ET

Milner, a tech start-up entrepreneur and philanthropist, is partnering with scientists around the world to search for life among the stars

How Does Wi-Fi Work?

Have you ever stopped to consider exactly how e-mail or streaming video gets into your smartphone or tablet so quickly, seamlessly, and in real time? That's wi-fi in action. This week, Tech Talker delves into the technology behind wireless devices...

Pluto, Ready for Your Close-Up!

At just before 7:50 A.M. today, July 14, 2015, the New Horizons spacecraft made its closest approach to Pluto. After a 9.5-year, three-billion-mile voyage, the ship got within about 7,750 miles from the surface...

A Computer's Heat Could Divulge Top Secrets

Like smoke signals, puffs of warm air given off by a computer’s processors can reveal information

Smartwatch Makers Finally Design Devices for Women

Despite a wide selection of smartwatches for men, smaller, fashionable versions designed for women have only recently become available—and their choices are limited

Screen Time Linked to Weaker Bones in Teen Boys

Teenaged boys who spend too many hours in front of the computer or television without participating in enough weight-bearing exercise could develop weaker bones as they age, a small study suggests...

Smartphone Battery Drains a Lot Even with Dark Screen

Background app updates, cell tower pings and other hidden activity accounts for almost half the battery drain on Android phones. Christopher Intagliata reports

What Is the Big Secret Surrounding Stingray Surveillance?

State and local law enforcement agencies across the U.S. are setting up fake cell towers to gather mobile data, but few will admit it

Will Millimeter Waves Maximize 5G Wireless?

Wireless companies want next-generation gadgets to download at rates of gigabits per second. The question is how to make it happen

Tricorder XPRIZE Competition Heats Up

The race to make a medical diagnostic device inspired by Star Trek enters the final stage this month, as consumers put competing designs to the test

See-and-Tell AI Machine Can Describe Objects It Observes

Building on advances in object recognition, machine translation and neural networks, scientists have developed software that converts pictures into sentences

System Crashes Will Forestall the Robot Apocalypse

If you find yourself being chased by a crazed bipedal robot, simply enter a room and close the door behind you

Inventions: 70 Years That Changed the World, 1845–1915

Should Software Come in Advanced and Beginner Versions?

How four tech companies tried to fight feature bloat—to greater and lesser success

DARPA Verigames Crowdsourced Formal Verification (CSFV) project

Citizen scientists help software developers detect flaws that make their programs vulnerable to hackers

Why the Upgrade Cycle Will Never End

Software and hardware companies push new, feature-bloated versions on us every year. Why do we keep buying?

Power Grid Cyber Attacks Keep the Pentagon Up at Night

A detailed look at why computers running the U.S. electrical infrastructure are so vulnerable to digital threats

Korean Robot Takes Home $2M Prize in DARPA Challenge

The winning team's robot, a humanoid design that could transform into a wheeled kneeling position, finished all eight tasks in less than 45 minutes...