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
Can We Trust Voting Machines?
Last week, a congressional report claimed that using Chinese telecommunications companies’ goods and services in the United States could threaten national security...
From ACM Opinion
Will Neuroscience Radically Transform the Legal System?
Although academic fields will often enjoy more than Andy Warhol's famous 15 minutes of fame, they too are subject to today's ever-hungry machinery of hype. Like...
From ACM Opinion
The Chinese Steve Jobs Is Probably a Pirate
When discussing innovation, the Chinese like to tout the country’s "Four Great Inventions"—paper, gunpowder, the compass, and woodblock printing—and their enormous...
From ACM Opinion
The Supreme Court Needs To Weigh In on Warrantless Cell Phone Tracking By Law Enforcement
Americans should have no reasonable expectation of privacy over the location data stored by their mobile phone.
From ACM Opinion
Could the Internet Ever 'Wake Up'?
In the world of sci-fi movie geekdom, Aug. 29, 1997, was a turning point for humanity: On that day, according to the Terminator films, the network of U.S. defense...
From ACM News
How Apple Really Invented the Iphone
Like many of Apple's inventions, the iPhone began not with a vision, but with a problem.
From ACM Opinion
Samsung Defeats Apple (in South Korea and Japan)
Did Samsung really steal Apple’s innovations? It all depends on where you live.
From ACM Opinion
Why You Should Probably Disable Java on Your Browser Right Now
Hackers have found a flaw in Oracle's Java software that allows them to break into users' computers and install nasty malware, security experts report.
From ACM Opinion
The ncanny Valley of Internet Advertising
If you ask an Internet ad guy to defend himself—to explain why you, dear Web surfer, should feel comfortable letting him serve you ads based on everything you do...
From ACM Opinion
Forget the Desktop
Every morning I wake up too early, reach for my iPad, and scan the morning's tech headlines. This is a pathetic enough existence, but the Web sites I frequent aren't...
From ACM Opinion
Why Drone Pilots Deserve Medals
The escalating dependence on drone pilots, as Maj. Dave Blair agonized in the May-June issue ofAir & Space Power Journal, is undercutting the ability to award combat...
From ACM Opinion
Obama Was Right: The Government Invented the Internet
Earlier this month, President Obama argued that wealthy business people owe some of their success to the government's investment in education and basic infrastructure...
From ACM Opinion
Marissa Mayer Is in Over Her Head
One evening in the spring of 1999, Marissa Mayer got a recruiting email from a tiny search company. "I was in a long-distance relationship at the time, so I was...
From ACM Opinion
Are Guidelines Issued By Drone Industry an Attempt to Avoid Government Regulation?
The growing use of drones in the United States is facing firm opposition from civil liberties groups and some legislators, like Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Rep. ...
From ACM Opinion
gly Buttons
I can't figure out how to watch my brother's TV. He's explained it to me a hundred times, but that's the curse of the baby-sitting uncle: It's harder to work a...
From ACM Opinion
How To Make a Viral Hit in Four Easy Steps
Last Wednesday, BuzzFeed's Jack Shepherd published an irresistible piece called, "21 Pictures That Will Restore Your Faith in Humanity." The post is exactly as...
From ACM Opinion
How To Fix the Gender Gap in Technology
The United States has produced viable female presidential candidates, women athletes who command millions of dollars in endorsements, and the first female Nobel...
From ACM Opinion
Can America Ever Have Another 'sputnik Moment'?
In his 2011 State of the Union Address, President Obama declared, "This is our generation's Sputnik moment." Sputnik was the satellite that the Soviets had launched...
From ACM Opinion
