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 Big Data Has Some Big Problems When It Comes to Public Policy
For all the talk about using big data and data science to solve the world’s problems—and even all the talk about big data as one of the world’s problems—it seems...
From ACM Opinion
5 Things That Will Remake Big Data in the Next 5 Years
Big data has evolved a lot of the past few years; from a happy buzzword to a hated buzzword, and from a focus on volume to a focus on variety and velocity.
From ACM Opinion
dacity Founder: Moocs Can Help the Economy, Even If They Can't Replace College
Sebastian Thrun was instrumental in building Google's self-driving car and Glass projects, and helped launch the company's Google X wing to spearhead "moonshot"...
From ACM Opinion
The White House Is Going to Study Big Data. Here Are 5 Things It Should Know
The White House announced via blog post on Thursday that it's forming working group focused on understanding the promises and pitfalls of big data (with a heavy...
From ACM Opinion
When Google Closes the Nest Deal, Privacy Issues For the Internet of Things Will Hit the Big Time
Google rocked the smart home market Monday with its intention to purchase connected home thermostat maker Nest for $3.2 billion, which will force a much-needed...
From ACM Opinion
Design Thinker Don Norman on His Stealth Startup, Apple vs. Android vs. Microsoft, and Experience Design
Don Norman's The Design of Everyday Things is the bible for design thinking and technology.
From ACM Opinion
Here's What You Need to Know About the Future of Gesture-Based i Design
Smartphone screens across the globe are embracing clean design in an effort to feature content on high-end pixel real estate.
From ACM Opinion
Pgp Inventor and Silent Circle Co-Founder Phil Zimmermann on the Surveillance Society
Phil Zimmermann might be a technologist, but he tends to get philosophical when it comes to the issues of privacy and security and how they intersect with our society...
From ACM Opinion
Hacktivist Richard Stallman Takes On Proprietary Software, Saas, and Open Source
Richard Stallman, revered by some as a genius (after all, he won a McArthur "genius" grant in 1990) and by others as a crackpot, was in New York Monday where he...
From ACM Opinion
Did Facebook Miss a Massive Opportunity By Building a Walled Garden Instead of a Truly Open Platform?
When Facebook first launched its platform strategy in 2007, it seemed as though a new world of opportunity had opened up for anyone interested in the social web—a...
From ACM Opinion
Meet the Designer Behind Some of the Web’s Newest Killer Fonts
Thanks to newer browsers and greater bandwidth, there's been an explosion of new Web fonts—tens of thousands of them over the last decade.
From ACM Opinion
Why Microsoft's Reorganization Closes the Books on an Era of Computing
Nothing ever stays the same. On more than one occasion, it has taken Microsoft, one of the most important engines powering the rise of the technology industry,...
From ACM Opinion
Internet Inventor: No Technological Cure For Privacy Ills
Is there technological solution for protecting people from online surveillance?
From ACM Opinion
Why Google Is the Big Data Company That Matters Most
Every now and then, someone asks "Who’ll be the Google of big data?"
From ACM Opinion
The Future of Propaganda: Sean Gourley on Big Data and the 'war of Ideas'
In 2009, Sean Gourley, an Oxford-trained physicist, gave a TED talk called "The Mathematics of War."
From ACM Opinion
How Technology Is Slowly Developing Its Sense of Smell
Last week I attended what was, I think it is fair to say, the oddest conference I have been to yet. It was the first world congress of the Digital Olfaction Society...
From ACM Opinion
Yes, You Should Care About Bitcoin, and Here's Why
Everybody's talking about Bitcoin these days, which is quite remarkable given the highly technical nature of the crypto-currency. So why is it such a big deal?
From ACM Opinion
Why the Pencil Is Still the Most Important Tool For Digital Designers
Looking for digital inspiration, or staring at an empty computer screen?
From ACM Opinion
Why Marissa Mayer's Ban on Remote Working at Yahoo Could Backfire Badly
Not long after her arrival at Yahoo, new CEO Marissa Mayer started handing out carrots to her new employees, including new smartphones, free food, and other Google...
From ACM Opinion
How Google Did the Right Thing with the Nascar Crash Video, and Why It Matters
At a NASCAR event on Saturday, debris created by a serious crash flew into the stands and injured a number of fans.12