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Abstract: Cyclic difference sets with parameters (v,k,l)= (2m-1,2m-1,2m-2) are equivalent to pseudorandom binary sequences with ideal autocorrelation and thus find much use in such applications as synchronization and randomization. The past year has seen remarkable progress in the construction of such sequences with several theorems and a number of conjectures pointing to fascinating connections with other areas of combinatorics. In this talk we survey these recent developments and show how all these new constructions of difference sets, interpreted as living in the multiplicative group of the finite field F2m, may be established via Fourier analysis on the additive group of the field. Some of this work is joint with Hans Dobbertin.