Communications of the ACM
Innovation Is Overrated: A Provocation
Digital innovation is not working in the interest of the whole of society. It is time to radically rethink its purpose without…
From ACM Opinion
Why Everybody Wants a Slice of Raspberry Pi
In a world where computers are increasingly powerful and are concealed within ever more glossy slabs of aluminum, the Raspberry Pi offers surprising proof for the...
From ACM Opinion
Cyborg Anthropologist: We Can All Be Superhuman
Cyborg anthropology is the study of the interaction between humans and technology, and how technology affects culture.
From ACM Opinion
Why We Must Fight For the Internet's Freedom
The Internet empowers each one of us to speak, create, learn, and share.
From ACM Opinion
How Smartphones Make S Superhuman
Both men lit themselves on fire in protest. But only one of them is credited with starting a revolution.
From ACM Opinion
Why I Love Mars
Every now and then, I spend time on Mars. I dig my naked toes into the fine, red-orange soil, watch how it clings to my skin—and feel an incipient itch.
From ACM Opinion
His Other Car Is on Mars
On Earth, Scott Maxwell drives his red Prius without paying much attention to the San Gabriel Mountains in the distance.
From ACM Opinion
We'll Someday Accept Computers as Human
Any author or filmmaker seeking ideas for a sci-fi yarn about the implications of artificial intelligence—good or bad—would be smart to talk to Ray Kurzweil.
From ACM Opinion
Why 2012, Despite Privacy Fears, Isn't Like Orwell's 1984
Last week was a remarkable one for the Web: A week that proved George Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four" incredibly prescient yet woefully incorrect.
From ACM Opinion
I Want to Translate the Web
I want to translate the Web into every major language: every Webpage, every video, and, yes, even Justin Bieber's tweets.
From ACM Opinion
The Top 10 Tech Trends For 2012
A year is virtually a lifetime in the digital era. And yet we can at least make a guess at what will happen in the early part of next year simply by looking at...
From ACM Opinion
Space Elevators and Smart Machines: Life in the Year 2100
In my book, Physics of the Future, I make scores of predictions for this century, based on interviews with over 300 of the world's top scientists, who are inventing...
From ACM Opinion
Why Your Next Phone Might Be Bendable
As we enter the final months of 2011, the thoughts of tech watchers like me are turning to what we can expect in 2012. Voice recognition in all our devices? Touch...
From ACM Opinion
The Scary Prospect of Global Drone Warfare
Drone technology is spreading rapidly. As many as 50 countries are developing or purchasing these systems, including China, Russia, India, Pakistan, and Iran. Even...
From ACM News
Meet Dark Tangent, the Hacker Behind Black Hat and Def Con
The word "hacker" evokes all kinds of scary images. But Jeff Moss says hackers are exactly what the world needs more of, because they can make the Internet safer...
From ACM Opinion
When Will Sci-Fi Tech Become Real? Sooner Than You Think
Growing up, physicist Michio Kaku had two heroes. The first, predictably enough for the man who co-founded a branch of string theory, was Albert Einstein. "Second...
From ACM Opinion
Ftc 'do Not Track' Plan Would Be a Google Killer
The Federal Trade Commission proposed this week that consumers should have a "do not track" option for the Internet, similar to the "do not call" list that exists...
From ACM Opinion
Five Things that Could Topple Facebook's Empire
Facebook is primed to announce this week that it's amassed a half billion active friends, a milestone reinforcing its status as the king of social networks—a company...
From ACM Opinion
What Apple Must Do to Stop the Iphone 4 Bleeding
It'd be an understatement to say that this has been a terrible week for Apple, and we haven't even reached the halfway point.
From ACM Opinion