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
Here's Your Chance to Decode President Lincoln's Secret Messages
On April 12, 1865—three days after Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox and two days before President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated—the president sent...
From ACM Opinion
Too Cute For Their Own Good, Robots Get Self-Defense Instincts
At a shopping mall here one recent Friday, six-year-old Ruby Dowling made friends with a friendly egg-shaped robot.
From ACM Opinion
How New Technology Is Illuminating a Classic Ethical Dilemma
On a pleaant Friday afternoon in April, the grassy quadrangle at the center of the Carnegie Mellon University campus is buzzing with activity.
From ACM Opinion
To Beat the Blues, Visits Must Be Real, Not Virtual
Imagine being stranded on a desert island with a roof over your head and sufficient provisions—but no human contact other than what you can get from your smartphone...
From ACM Opinion
Smart Tampon? The Internet of Every Single Thing Must Be Stopped
Let's play a game. Which of the following is a real smartphone-connected product?
From ACM Opinion
What If Facebook Gave S an Opposing-Viewpoints Button?
Imagine if you could flip a switch on Facebook, and turn all the conservative viewpoints that you see liberal, or vice versa. You'd realize your news might look...
From ACM Careers
Is the Tech Bubble Popping? Ping Pong Offers an Answer
Twitter's gloomy quarterly report last week unsettled investors. They might have anticipated trouble more than a year ago had they noticed one key indicator.
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 Careers
Sarah Parcak, Space Archaeologist
Sarah Parcak can see looting at ancient sites—from space.
From ACM Opinion
'crispr' Breaks Out Of the Lab
A new gene-editing technology has been relentlessly hyped over the past year, and it goes by a catchy if rather incongruous acronym: Crispr.
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
The Myth of Basic Science
Innovation is a mysteriously difficult thing to dictate. Technology seems to change by a sort of inexorable, evolutionary progress, which we probably cannot stop—or...
From ACM Opinion
Max Schrems, Who Torpedoed Safe Harbor 1, Sees No Safe Harbor 2
He's just helped bring down a longstanding trans-Atlantic data-transfer pact used by thousands of businesses and Austrian privacy activist Max Schrems is already...
From ACM Opinion
What Celebrities Can Teach Companies About Social Media
Let's face it: Corporate America's social presence could use a celebrity makeover.
From ACM Opinion