acm-header
Sign In

Communications of the ACM

Recent Articles


bg-corner

Have Computers Made Architects Less Disciplined?
From ACM Opinion

Have Computers Made Architects Less Disciplined?

We generally assume that technological advances save time, boost efficiency, increase productivity, and so on. Once we get used to the latest conveniences, we...

Three Cheers For the Judge Who Smacked Down Google Books
From ACM Opinion

Three Cheers For the Judge Who Smacked Down Google Books

For a company with the audacity to make "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible" its mission statement, it takes a lot to take...

From ACM Opinion

Teaching to the Text Message

I've been teaching college freshmen to write the five-paragraph essay and its bully of a cousin, the research paper, for years. But these forms invite font-size...

Platform Wars Come to Social Media
From Communications of the ACM

Platform Wars Come to Social Media

The world can absorb more social media sites, but how many?

Building Castles in the Air
From Communications of the ACM

Building Castles in the Air

Reflections on recruiting and training programmers during the early period of computing.

Berners-Lee Warns Isps on Net Neutrality
From ACM Opinion

Berners-Lee Warns Isps on Net Neutrality

The inventor of the world wide web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, has warned internet service providers (ISPs) that plans for a "two-speed" Internet go against the principles...

Japan Has Shifted 13 Feet!
From ACM News

Japan Has Shifted 13 Feet!

What does Japan's earthquake mean for GPS? Friday's 9.0-magnitude earthquake was so powerful that it actually widened Japan. While parts of the country barely...

The Future of Mobile Gadgets
From ACM Opinion

The Future of Mobile Gadgets

I got my first cell phone a little more than a decade ago, just as I was finishing college and looking for my first job. I didn't need a mobile phone; none of...

The Future of Things "cyber"
From ACM Opinion

The Future of Things "cyber"

Years ago, when I was an ROTC instructor, the first unit of instruction for rising juniors dealt with communication skills. Near the beginning of the unit, I...

Al Franken: 'they're Coming After the Internet'
From ACM Opinion

Al Franken: 'they're Coming After the Internet'

Sen. Al Franken claimed Monday that big corporations are "hoping to destroy" the Internet and issued a call to arms to several hundred tech-savvy South by Southwest...

From ACM News

Search Undergoing Biggest Disruption Since the Dawn of Google

Facing criticism over the quality of search results, Google recently tweaked its famously secretive algorithm to weed out spam sites and so-called "content farms...

From ACM Opinion

Is It Better to Buy Apple Products or Apple Stock?

Sometimes, people have the most wonderful ideas. And not merely people at Apple. A software-engineering intern at Twilio (who also happens to be a computer science...

No Moammar, No Fly: How to Stop Gadhafi
From ACM Opinion

No Moammar, No Fly: How to Stop Gadhafi

Keep the surveillance planes flying. Fry the radar. While the sun hangs in the sky, let Libya’s pilots know they’re on borrowed time if they take off.

Another Win For Artificial Intelligence: The Turing Award
From ACM Opinion

Another Win For Artificial Intelligence: The Turing Award

It's been a banner year or so for artificial intelligence, from the recent triumph of I.B.M.'s Jeopardy-winning supercomputer to a wave of news coverage of the...

The Internet Is a Tyrant's Friend
From ACM Opinion

The Internet Is a Tyrant's Friend

As recent events in Egypt and Tunisia so aptly demonstrate, technology is a double-edged sword: while pro-democracy protesters used sites like Facebook to organise...

Reply All: The Button Everyone Loves to Hate
From ACM Opinion

Reply All: The Button Everyone Loves to Hate

I answered my phone recently to hear a friend shrieking in my ear. "Check your inbox for the email I just sent you," he wailed. "And please, please tell me I...

From ACM Opinion

Google Schools Its Algorithm

To humans, computer intelligence is a puzzle, as if the machines have split personalities. They can be so remarkably smart at times, yet so bafflingly dumb at...

From ACM News

Is the Navy Trying to Start the Robot Apocalypse?

Whenever the military rolls out a new robot program, folks like to joke about SkyNet or the Rise of the Machines. But this time, the military really is starting...

Keep the Internet Fair
From ACM Opinion

Keep the Internet Fair

The government's net neutrality compromise fell flat. Here's a simple fix.

From ACM News

Wiring in a Wireless Age

Is Intel's Thunderbolt cable a brilliant innovation or a worthless grasp at the past?
Sign In for Full Access
» Forgot Password? » Create an ACM Web Account