Digital Government

Do People in Silicon Valley Ever Turn Off Their Phones?

Even the world's tech leaders crave moments without Wi-Fi. (Well, some of them.)

Emerging Tech

The (Hypothetical) President of Silicon Valley

Elon Musk is the tech world's favorite potential future candidate.

Digital Government

What WIll Happen when Humans and Robots Share Roads?

Safety may actually worsen before dramatically improving.

Emerging Tech

Self-Driving Cars Could Save 300,000 Lives Per Decade in America

Automation on the roads could be the great public-health achievement of the 21st century.

Emerging Tech

Water Is Flowing on Mars

In a major scientific finding, researchers confirm briny water flows seasonally on the Red Planet.

Digital Government

Computers Can Predict Schizophrenia Based on How a Person Talks

A new study finds an algorithmic word analysis is flawless at determining whether a person will have a psychotic episode.

Digital Government

Why the Definition of 'Computer' Keeps Changing

It used to be a person. Now, it's a machine. What's next?

Modernization

Tech Tools That Let You Get Closer to Sharks

A roundup of apps, websites and livecams that will get you close—but not too close—to hammerheads, great whites and other ocean beasts.

Cybersecurity

Hacking and the Future of Warfare

The latest massive data breach, which could affect up to 14 million people, is a reminder that the U.S. government has been hacked before and it will be hacked again.

Emerging Tech

The Internet in Space? Slow as Dial-Up

Astronauts gripe that connectivity is “very slow,” but that could change with laser-based data transmission NASA has already tested.

Emerging Tech

When Google Self-Driving Cars Are in Accidents, Humans Are to Blame

The autonomous vehicles have been in a dozen crashes since 2009, but haven’t caused any of them, the company says in a new report.

Emerging Tech

Unbreakable: A Robot That Can't Be Stopped

New research shows that artificial intelligence can use trial and error to finish a job even when a robot's body is damaged.

Emerging Tech

Long Live Secrets on the Internet

The app Secret may be dead, but people have been confessing things to strangers for centuries.

Digital Government

Google Joins the Search for the Loch Ness Monster

Now anyone with an Internet connection can search for Nessie using Street View imaging of murky Scottish waters.

Artificial Intelligence

Teaching a Computer Not to Forget

One of the keys to unlocking artificial intelligence will be to figure out why biological brains are so good at remembering old skills—even when learning new things.

Modernization

The Amazon Button Isn't an April Fools' Joke

Designed to correlate with specific products around your house, it's basically a physical manifestation of the one-click-to-buy feature on Amazon's site.

Emerging Tech

Remember ‘Computerphobia?’ When People Feared PCs

When the machine became ubiquitous in homes across America, a new kind of anxiety captivated consumers.

Emerging Tech

Inspector Gadget, but for Nuclear Waste

Four years after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, robots are cleaning up the contaminated power plant.