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
How Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen See the Future
Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt is ready for a future where his smart mattress monitors sleep patterns and alerts the curtains to allow daylight in, waking...
From ACM Opinion
Why I Love the National Internet Sales Tax Plan
The Internet, in the popular imagination, is supposed to be free—"the last bastion of our economy untouched by the government," as they say on Fox News.
From ACM Opinion
Apple's Next Big Thing
The iPad has always labored under the shadow of its little brother the iPhone.
From ACM Opinion
We Need More Cameras, and We Need Them Now
On Thursday afternoon, the FBI released photos and video of two persons of interest in the Boston Marathon bombing.
From ACM Opinion
Will Bitcoins Make Me Rich?
Let me begin this column with a lengthy disclosure. One morning last week, I stopped at my bank, filled out a withdrawal slip for $1,027.51, and walked away with...
From ACM Opinion
The Facebook Phone Is Not As Dumb As I Thought It Was Going to Be.
People have been waiting for the Facebook Phone for years. Not real people, mind you, just technology reporters.
From ACM Opinion
Save a Soccer Referee. Hire a Machine to Rule on Goals.
Referees are the worst. Anyone who plays, coaches, or watches sports will agree. They call either too little or too much. They're blind, stupid, paid off, or just...
From ACM Opinion
The Chilling Effects of the Dmca
It was hard to believe, but the student insisted it was true.
From ACM Opinion
Stop Pagination Now
This weekend’s New York Times Magazine features a fascinating, 7,200-word epic profile of Metropolitan Opera General Manager Peter Gelb. Like most NYT Magazine...
From ACM Opinion
Can Your Boss Read Your Email?
Harvard faculty members responded with shock after the Boston Globe revealed that theuniversity’s administration had searched 16 faculty deans’ email accounts to...
From ACM Opinion
Eye-Tracking Smartphones Have Arrived. What About the Privacy Implications?
Last March, I wrote in Slate about eye-tracking, which could allow computers and smartphones of the future to collect information not only about what we read, but...
From ACM Opinion
On Today's Battlefield, Is Information More Important Than Firepower?
Halo, Borderlands, Call of Duty, Medal of Honor, Battlefield, Metal Gear Solid—these kinds of games taught a generation to see enemies as red dots on a mini-map...
From ACM Opinion
Is It Time To Take Cyborg Rights Seriously? A Q&a With Neil Harbisson.
Harbisson was born without the ability to see color, but a device he calls his "eyeborg" allows him to now "hear" color.
From ACM Opinion
The Art of Cyberwar
The New York Times’ front-page report last week that the Chinese army is hacking into America's most sensitive computer networks from a 12-story building outside...
From ACM Careers
Letter 'to a Future Woman in Tech' Hopes For Long Ladies' Room Lines at Conferences
Stacey Mulcahy, who is currently a lead developer at the digital creative agency Big Spaceship, has been in the tech industry since 2001.
From ACM Careers
The Threat of Silence
For the past few months, some of the world's leading cryptographers have been keeping a closely guarded secret about a pioneering new invention.
From ACM Opinion
Phreaks and Geeks
One of the most heartfelt—and unexpected—remembrances of Aaron Swartz, who committed suicide last month at the age of 26, came from Yale professor Edward Tufte.
From ACM Opinion
The Two Classes of Cyber Threats
There is one number that matters most in cybersecurity.
From ACM Opinion