AI Helps Humans Level Up
Back in the mid-1970s, IEEE Spectrum senior editor Phil Ross played one of the first chess programs capable of vanquishing humans. He capitulated quickly—too quickly, it turned out: Although the program that beat him was good at openings and the.....»»
Why Is Hydroelectricity So Green, and Yet Unfashionable?
I live in Manitoba, a province of Canada where all but a tiny fraction of electricity is generated from the potential energy of water. Unlike in British Columbia and Quebec, where generation relies on huge dams, our dams on the Nelson River are low.....»»
Sophia Muirhead Is IEEE’s Next Executive Director
Sophia “Sophie” Muirhead is the IEEE’s next executive director and chief operating officer. She is the first woman to hold the position. She is set to start her new job on 1 January, succeeding Stephen Welby. Muirhead has been the IEEE’s gen.....»»
Build a Passive Radar With Software-Defined Radio
Normally, when it comes to radio-related projects, my home of New York City is a terrible place to be. If we could see and hear radio waves, it would make an EDM rave feel like a sensory deprivation tank. Radio interference plagues the metropolis......»»
Can Alt-Fuel Credits Accelerate EV Adoption?
The United States is home to the world’s largest biofuel program. For the past decade and a half, the U.S. government has mandated that the country’s government-operated planes, trains, and automobiles run on a fuel blend partly made from corn-.....»»
A Rich Harvest in the Desert
The Big Picture features technology through the lens of photographers.Every month, IEEE Spectrum selects the most stunning technology images recently captured by photographers around the world. We choose images that reflect an important advance, or.....»»
Why Functional Programming Should Be the Future of Software Development
You’d expect the longest and most costly phase in the life cycle of a software product to be the initial development of the system, when all those great features are first imagined and then created. In fact, the hardest part comes later, during t.....»»
Pong-in-a-Dish
Ever hear of the Turk—the 19th-century mechanism topped by a turbaned head that played chess against all comers? In fact, hidden inside was a diminutive chessmaster, one you might imagine deadpanning, “Eh, It’s a living.”Then there’s its n.....»»
Why Cybersecurity Is Key to IoT Sensors
Sensors enabled by the Internet of Things are network-connected smart devices that collect and transmit real-time data about their environment. The data they provide lets people make better-informed decisions.The use of IoT sensors has grown explosi.....»»
Video Friday: Swarm Control
Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your friends at IEEE Spectrum robotics. We also post a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months. Please send us your events for inclusion.IROS.....»»
Craig Partridge Is Still Working to Improve Internet Traffic
For computer pioneer Craig Partridge, pushing the envelope on interesting challenges has been his modus operandi. It’s what led him to make key contributions to the early Internet. Today he’s working on getting a better understanding of traffic.....»»
Andrew Ng: Unbiggen AI
Andrew Ng has serious street cred in artificial intelligence. He pioneered the use of graphics processing units (GPUs) to train deep learning models in the late 2000s with his students at Stanford University, cofounded Google Brain in 2011, and then.....»»
How AI Will Change Chip Design
The end of Moore’s Law is looming. Engineers and designers can do only so much to miniaturize transistors and pack as many of them as possible into chips. So they’re turning to other approaches to chip design, incorporating technologies like AI.....»»
Atomically Thin Materials Significantly Shrink Qubits
Quantum computing is a devilishly complex technology, with many technical hurdles impacting its development. Of these challenges two critical issues stand out: miniaturization and qubit quality.IBM has adopted the superconducting qubit road map of r.....»»
Stratospheric Balloons Take Monitoring and Surveillance to New Heights
These eyes in the sky fly above drones and below satellites StoryTK Alphabet’s enthusiasm for balloons deflated earlier this year, when it announced that its high-altitude Internet company, Loon, could not become co.....»»
This Huge DIY Workbench Gives You a Hand
A little bit of automation and a lot of space makes projects easier James Provost Finally, a bench that helps you build. As an avid experimenter and builder of random contraptions—and who isn’t the best.....»»
We Don’t Need a Jetsons Future, Just a Sustainable One
“Cozy futurism” reimagines tech for the greater good Alvaro Dominguez For decades, our vision of the future has been stuck in a 1960s-era dream of science fiction embodied by The Jetsons and space travel. But that i.....»»
How the IBM PC Won, Then Lost, the Personal Computer Market
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Nothing Can Keep This Drone Down
It uses elytra, a beetle-inspired set of wings, to self-right itself When life knocks you down, you’ve got to get back up. Ladybugs take this advice seriously in the most literal sense. If caught on their backs, the insects ar.....»»
U.S. Mint Honors Game Developer Ralph Baer
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