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
Think Smartphones Are Âbiquitous Now? Just Wait a Few Years
Five years after the first iPhone went on sale, the sales of smartphones—loosely defined as phones that can run third-party "apps," and access the Internet directly—now...
From ACM Opinion
How Flame Virus Has Changed Everything For Online Security Firms
Here's a question: if you connect an unprotected Windows computer to the Internet, how long will it take before it is infected by malicious software?
From ACM Opinion
Now 4 Billion People Know the Joy of Txt
Here's a question: What's bigger and far more important than Facebook? Hint: it's very low-tech and doesn't need a smartphone or even an Internet connection.
From ACM Opinion
How Much Do the Internet Giants Really Know?
To briefly state the obvious, the Internet giants are seriously big: Google is not only the world's largest search engine, it's one of the top three email providers...
From ACM Opinion
Web Freedom Faces Geatest Threat Ever, Warns Google's Sergey Brin
The principles of openness and universal access that underpinned the creation of the Internet three decades ago are under greater threat than ever, according to...
From ACM Opinion
Xbox at 10 in Europe: How the Console Shaped Gaming History
The games industry was a very different place 10 years ago. Still dominated by Japanese games and Japanese games machines, Microsoft's plans to launch its own dedicated...
From ACM Opinion
Graphic Designers Are Ruining the Web
What happens when you click on a Weblink? Here's one answer: A request goes from your computer to a server identified by the URL of the desired link. The server...
From ACM Opinion
The Mathematical Equation that Caused the Banks to Crash
It was the holy grail of investors. The Black-Scholes equation, brainchild of economists Fischer Black and Myron Scholes, provided a rational way to price a financial...
From ACM Opinion
Tides Are Changing For Web Surfers
David Weinberger has a new book out entitled Too Big to Know in which he argues that one of the implications of a comprehensively networked society is that the...
From ACM Opinion
Welcome to the Desktop Degree
Once upon a time, a very long time ago, in 1995 to be precise, a scholar named Eli Noam published an article in the prestigious journal Science under the titleElectronics...
From ACM Opinion
David Karp, Founder of Tumblr, on Realizing His Dream
David Karp, the founder of the blogging platform Tumblr, was 17 when he decided to cut the apron strings and move to Tokyo. With a smattering of Japanese and a...
From ACM Opinion
Can Apple Become the World's First Trillion-Dollar Company?
Almost certainly, Apple will soon hit $500bn in market capitalization—half a trillion dollars. So, based on its current growth, it's fair to wonder if it will become...
From ACM Opinion
Five Predictions For the Communications World in 2012
In the coming year, mobile Internet devices and in particular smartphones will continue to bring the biggest changes to the way we communicate. For the first...
From ACM Opinion
Programming Should Take Pride of Place in Our Schools
If we don't change the way ICT is thought about and taught, we're shutting the door on our children's futures.
From ACM Opinion
Did Android Copy Ios? We Asked Google's Product Manager...
Has Android copied elements from Apple's iOS? It's not a matter that Google's senior managers for the Android operating system want to get involved in.
From ACM Opinion
Steve Jobs: A Man of Contradiction and Genius
When historians look back at the life of Steve Jobs, they will chronicle a man of contradiction and genius. But for the legions of Apple fans, it's personal.
From ACM Opinion
Vint Cerf: Facebook Could Be Next Aol or IBM
Vint Cerf, Google's chief internet evangelist, and the man who designed a key building block of the Internet, warned that Facebook's "closed" architecture meant...
From ACM Opinion
Kids Today Need a Licence to Tinker
Back to school time and millions of British kids are heading back to classrooms to embark on the national curriculum so beloved of busybody ministers.
From ACM Opinion