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
Don't Stick It In: The Dangers of sb Drives
Talking to a computer security researcher about Stuxnet is like asking an art critic to describe the finer points of the Mona Lisa. The world's top cybersecurity...
From ACM Opinion
Facebook Knows Where You Are
The social network's new Places feature will make it more difficult to lie to your friends.
From ACM Opinion
Charging the Wikileaks Leaker with Treason Would Be Absurd
Should Pvt. Bradley Manning, the Army intelligence analyst charged with leaking troves of classified documents to WikiLeaks, be tried for treason? And what about...
From ACM Opinion
How Often Does Your Phone Drop Calls?
Apple, Research in Motion, and the rest of the cell phone industry don't want you to know.
From ACM Opinion
Lithium: Why It Makes Such Great Batteries
One theme I ran into over and over while writing about the periodic table was the future of energy and the question of which element or elements will replace carbon...
From ACM Opinion
The Cyborg Insects Are Coming!
Telepathic helmets. Grid-computing swarms of cyborg insects, some for surveillance, some with lethal stingers. New cognitive-enhancement drugs. (What? AdderallProvigil...
From ACM Opinion
Why Publishers Should Beware the App Store
In a brilliant column published 16 years ago, the Italian philosopher Umberto Eco explained the difference between Apple and Microsoft in terms of the divide between...
From ACM Opinion
Has Apple Reached the Limits of Industrial Design?
The next iPhone is going to look amazing. This is as close to a truism as you get in the tech industry--it's sort of like predicting that Warren Buffett will make...
From ACM Opinion
The Idiocy of Text-Message Adultery
"How did you fool so many people for so long?" a reporter asked Tiger Woods at his press conference Monday. Woods replied: "I fooled myself." And how. Woods was...
From ACM Opinion
You Don't Need an Ipad
But once you try one, you won't be able to resist. I picked up my iPad at a San Francisco Apple Store early on Saturday morning, and I spent the rest of the weekend...
From ACM Opinion
Broadbandits
Most of the buildings in Dupree, S.D., population 434, do not have street addresses. The volunteer fire department is listed at P.O. Box 461, and you have to dial...
From ACM Opinion
Apple's Multitouch Lawsuit Is Both Dumb and Dangerous
When Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone at 2007's Macworld conference, he began by describing the device's groundbreaking user interface. "We have invented...
From ACM Opinion
I'm Sorry, Dave, I'm Afraid I Can't Make a -Turn
When Toyota Prius owners take their cars to the dealer under the company's latest recall, they'll likely be out of the shop in about 30 minutes. Even though the...
From ACM Opinion
The Best Web Browser on the Planet
I like to think of myself as the Dick Cheney of the Browser Wars—an unyielding proponent of greater and greater hostilities between the developers working on Chrome...
From ACM Opinion