Computers

A MONIAC at Roosevelt College, pictured with economics professor Abba P. Lerner

This Computer From 1949 Runs on Water

Computers at the time didn’t have displays; one economics student created a visualization using water-filled tanks and tubes

How to Heat Your House With a Cloud Computer Server

A German company is installing servers in homes and offices to recycle heat

The World of Personal Computers in the 1980s Was A Wacky, Wonderful Place

You can experience early video games and operating systems yourself through retrocomputing and ads

Parents Could Be On the Hook for What Their Irresponsible Kid Does on Facebook

A court case in Georgia says parents can be liable for their kids Facebook behavior

All the Things a Hacker Can Find Out About You on Public Wifi

Your vacation, your job, your passwords

From left to right, panelists Eric Hollinger, Rachel Kyte, Cori Wegener and Melissa Songer discuss ideas for living in the Anthropocene.

To Live in the Anthropocene, People Need Grounded Hope

A Smithsonian symposium about human impacts on Earth looked past warnings of global doom to discuss the necessary balance of achievable solutions

More and more people are dealing with routine health ailments through video calls.

Need a Quick Diagnosis? A Prescription for What Ails You? The Doctor Will Video Chat With You Now

One of the hottest trends in health care is telemedicine networks of doctors who diagnose ailments over the phone

A teenage boy sends a text message on his mobile phone as stands in the floodwater on the main street of Bentley in Doncaster.

Programmers Are Creating a Way for Your Phone to Get Online Even When Data Is Down

The Cosmos Browser uses text messages to browse the web

IBM and Mayo Clinic are applying game-show champ Watson's smarts to matching patients with the best clinical trials.

IBM's Watson Will Match Cancer Patients With Trials at Mayo Clinic

By pairing patients with trials in seconds, the supercomputer will help speed the pace of medical innovation

The AverageExplorer software aggregates thousands of wedding photos into representations of what the average shot looks like.

Software Creates One Picture That Says It All

Researchers at UC Berkeley have created software that averages image searches into one artistic result

Oh we're sorry, were you trying to be shifty?

Some Cell Phone Towers Don’t Just Relay Your Call, They Listen In

The surprisingly affordable way to spy on someone's phone

Women Now Outnumber Adolescent Boys in the Gamer Community

Smartphones likely explain the sudden spike in the number of female gamers

How do you want to behave today?

Give Someone a Virtual Avatar and They Adopt Stereotype Behavior

People behave differently depending on the appearance of their digital avatar

Yes, that looks very safe

How You Type Your Password Could Be Its Own Security Measure

Your phone could learn your typing behavior and use that to keep itself safe from intruders

The NSA Seems to Have a Leaker Problem

Signs point to there being more than one NSA leaker

None

Here's One Alternative to Having Your Password Stolen by Russian Hackers

Log in just by clicking your favorite spots on a map

None

The Net’s Dark Side: Watch People Try to Hack Each Other, Live

A honeypot network tracks global hacking attempts in real time

The NaturePatternMatch software identifies visual features on eggs.

Software Used for Facial Recognition Teases Out Secret Messages Hidden on Bird Eggs

Some bird eggs have visual signatures that help them distinguish they own clutch from impostor cuckoo eggs

Atlas V Launches the New Horizons Mission to Pluto.

Take a Peek Into the Future's Present With Our Live Coverage of Smithsonian's Two-Day Festival

The magazine's 2nd annual conference brings together experts, authors and visionaries in the fields of science, science fiction and technology.

50 Years Ago Today, the First BASIC Program Ran in a Dartmouth Basement

The computer language that led the hobbyist computer boom turns 50 today

Page 12 of 15