Communications of the ACM
Generative AI Degrades Online Communities
How large language models are influencing online communities.
From ACM Opinion
Hydrogen Molecule Falls to Quantum Computer
We are at the beginning of a revolution. I've been going on about quantum computing for as long as I've been writing, but it has always been in the future tense...
From ACM Opinion
Dark Patterns Are Designed to Trick You (and They're All Over the Web)
It happens to the best of us. After looking closely at a bank statement or cable bill, suddenly a small, unrecognizable charge appears.
From ACM Opinion
Turkish Coup Plotters' Cyber Fail: Not Turning Off Internet
A failed coup attempt in Turkey, which began during the evening of July 15, was apparently coordinated using the WhatsApp mobile messaging service, according to...
From ACM Opinion
Learning to Code as a 30-Year-Old Kid with Apple’s Swift Playgrounds
If you've installed the iOS 10 public beta since it came out last week, you’ll know that compatible iPads come loaded with the "Swift Playgrounds" app that Apple...
From ACM Opinion
It'll Be Very Hard For Terrorism Victim's Family to Win Lawsuit Against Twitter
Legal experts say that it will be an uphill battle for the plaintiffs who filed a lawsuit this week against Twitter, Facebook, and Google.
From ACM Opinion
Dear Apple: Please se These Ideas to Modernize the Mac
I took a vacation last month. I traveled some. I read a lot. And I refurbished an old late 2008 MacBook Pro, one of the original aluminum unibody models.
From ACM Opinion
A Year with the Apple Watch: What Works, What Doesn't, and What Lies Ahead?
About a year ago, Apple announced and released its first Apple Watch. The long-rumored product was Apple’s first all-new product category since the iPad and its...
From ACM Opinion
Ford's Futurist Knows Kids Today See Status in Their Smartphones, Not Cars
There can't be many job titles out there cooler than "futurist." And earlier this week, I sat down with Sheryl Connelly, who holds that position at the Ford Motor...
From ACM Opinion
If Apple Aids Terrorists and the Fbi Is Big Brother… Whom Do We Root For?
There's been a lot of bluster about the ongoing encryption saga between the FBI and Apple.
From ACM Opinion
Is D-Wave's Quantum Processor Really 10⁸ Times Faster Than a Normal Computer?
We have been following D-Wave's claims about its quantum hardware at Ars for a number of years. Over that time, my impression has oscillated between skepticism,...
From ACM Opinion
Power Wars: How Obama Justified, Expanded Bush-Era Surveillance
Over the winter holidays, I took some well-needed time offline, away from e-mail and social media.
From ACM Opinion
In 2016, Terror Suspects and 7-Eleven Thieves May Bring Surveillance to Supreme Court
It has now been 2.5 years since the first Snowden revelations were published. And in 2015, government surveillance marched on in both large (the National Security...
From ACM Opinion
In 2015, Promising Surveillance Cases Ran Into Legal Brick Walls
Today, the first Snowden disclosures in 2013 feel like a distant memory.
From ACM Opinion
What the Government Should've Learned About Backdoors from the Clipper Chip
In the face of a Federal Bureau of Investigation proposal requesting backdoors into encrypted communications, a noted encryption expert urged Congress not to adopt...
From ACM Opinion
We Flew a Simulated 747 at Nasa and Didn't Crash or Barf
From a viewing spot in a high bay room at NASA Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, I peer through a glass window at a cab that simulates the cockpit of a commercial...
From ACM Opinion
Movies That Predicted the Future—and Some That Didn't
Making fun of how movies screw up the future is one of the main reasons why the Internet was invented.
From ACM News
Here Are Eff's Most Influential Cases from Its First 25 Years
On Friday, July 10, the Electronic Frontier Foundation celebrated its 25th anniversary.
From ACM Opinion
Why the Entire Premise of Tor-Enabled Routers Is Ridiculous
Ars recently reviewed two "Tor routers," devices that are supposed to improve your privacy by routing all traffic through the Tor anonymity network. Although the...
From ACM Opinion
As Moore's Law Turns 50, What Does the Future Hold For the Transistor?
"The future of integrated electronics is the future of electronics itself."
From ACM Opinion