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
Is Predictive Policing the Law-Enforcement Tactic of the Future?
As big data transforms industries ranging from retailing to health care, it’s also becoming a more important tool for police departments, which are turning to data...
From ACM Opinion
Telegraph to the Iphone: A Short History of Corporate Defiance
The high-stakes stalemate between Apple and the Justice Department isn’t the first time that Washington and Silicon Valley have come to a showdown over security...
From ACM Opinion
The Language Barrier Is About to Fall
It used to be the case when I traveled abroad that I would take a little pocket dictionary that provided translations for commonly used phrases and words.
From ACM Opinion
Max Levchin Wants to School Lawmakers on Encryption
PayPal Inc. co-founder Max Levchin wants to make sure lawmakers know "what the hell they're talking about" when they talk about encryption.
From ACM Opinion
Learning to Apply Data Science to Business Problems
One of the most exciting parts of data science is that it can be applied to many domains of knowledge, given our newfound ability to gather valuable data on almost...
From ACM Opinion
How the Science in 'star Wars’ Is Actually Real
For a story that takes place "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away" a great deal of the technology in the "Star Wars" series actually has parallels today on...
From ACM Opinion
Get Ready For Your Digital Model
Entrusting your money to a bank once seemed strange and risky.
From ACM Opinion
Review: Littlebits Makes Robot Building Easier For Junior Engineers
In the recent surge of electronic building toys, my early favorite was LittleBits. The individual pieces each have a specific job, and they magnetically interlock...
From ACM Opinion
Apple Carplay Review: Siri's Finally on the Right Road
I take back all—OK most—of the expletives I’ve ever hurled at Siri.
From ACM Opinion
Palmer Luckey: Making Virtual Reality a Reality
"Why shouldn't people be able to teleport wherever they want?" asks Palmer Luckey, the 22-year-old founder of Oculus VR, the virtual-reality company that Facebook...
From ACM Opinion
Moxie Marlinspike: The Coder Who Encrypted Your Texts
In the past decade, Moxie Marlinspike has squatted on an abandoned island, toured the U.S. by hopping trains, he says, and earned the enmity of government officials...
From ACM Opinion
A Social Network For Talkers
No group needs social network software more than the elderly.
From ACM Opinion
Want Your Writing to Look Like Einstein's? Computers Mimic Handwriting of the Famous
Harald Geisler wants to make you as brilliant as Albert Einstein. Or at least let you write like him. Or at least write in his handwriting.
From ACM Opinion
Does Artificial Intelligence Pose a Threat?
After decades as a sci-fi staple, artificial intelligence has leapt into the mainstream.
From ACM News
Brace Yourself: Microsoft Wants to Guess How Old You Are
Like a distant relative who makes you feel bad at the annual holiday get together, Microsoft has created a website that analyzes a photo of a person's face and...
From ACM Opinion
The Future of Sex: It Gets Better
When I was 10 years old, my friend Sarah and I found a newly minted copy of "The Joy of Sex" under her parents' bed.
From ACM Opinion
The Fbi's Stance on Encrypted Communications
Imagine an America where federal, state, and municipal law enforcement agencies cannot access critical communications, even when legally authorized to do so.
From ACM Opinion
Should Law Enforcement Have the Ability to Access Encrypted Communications?
People's distress over the privacy of their communications has never been more acute. Whether the fear is over U.S. surveillance or breaches by hackers of unknown...
From ACM Opinion
New Laws For New Threats Like Drones and Bioterrorism
You walk into your shower and see a spider.
From ACM Opinion