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
What the World Will Speak in 2115
In 1880 a Bavarian priest created a language that he hoped the whole world could use.
From ACM Opinion
Sony Made It Easy, but Any of S Could Get Hacked
Earlier this month, a mysterious group that calls itself Guardians of Peace hacked into Sony Pictures Entertainment’s computer systems and began revealing many...
From ACM Opinion
Artificial Intelligence Isn't a Threat—Yet
Does artificial intelligence threaten our species, as the cosmologist Stephen Hawking recently suggested?
From ACM News
Trends to Watch in 2015: From Algorithmic Accountability to the ber of X
Year-end technology prediction lists can be dull fodder devoted to pie-in-the-sky concepts, outlandish marketing claims or rehashes of familiar trends.
From ACM Opinion
What Could Be Lost as Einstein's Papers Go Online
When I heard that Albert Einstein's papers were going to be published free online, I was thrilled—at least initially.
From ACM Opinion
Why All Employees Must Learn to Code
The most important technological skill for all employees is being able to code.
From ACM Opinion
Countering Tech's Damaging Effect on Jobs
Advances in information and communications technology are destroying more jobs in advanced economies than the advances are creating. This poses a political challenge...
From ACM Opinion
Google's Schmidt Fires Back Over Encryption
To hear Google Inc. Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt tell it, the U.S. government has only itself to blame for new efforts by Google and Apple Inc. to keep police...
From ACM Opinion
Why the Public Library Beats Amazon—for Now
A growing stack of companies would like you to pay a monthly fee to read e-books, just like you subscribe to Netflix to binge on movies and TV shows.
From ACM Opinion
Okcupid's Co-Founder on Experiments, Data Science and the Myth of the 'unicorn'
Christian Rudder, co-founder and president of the IAC/InterActiveCorp.'s OkCupid, caused a stir recently when he responded to Facebook's news feed controversy with...
From ACM Opinion
How the .s. Stumbled Into the Drone Era
On Sept. 7, 2000, in the waning days of the Clinton administration, a U.S. Predator drone flew over Afghanistan for the first time.
From ACM Opinion
Billy Beane on the Future of Sports: A Tech-Driven Revolution
Baseball—my passion and profession for three decades—has been at the forefront of the analytics revolution sweeping through sports.
From ACM Opinion
Studying Your sers: Facebook's Greatest Hits
Facebook's massive psychological experiment involving almost 700,000 unwitting users has attracted plenty of attention and outrage, but it's far from the only time...
From ACM Opinion
Why I'm Not in a Hurry For a 'smart Home'
Here's what it's like to wake up in America's smartest home.
From ACM Opinion
When Is It Ok to Check a Smartphone at the Dinner Table?
Not long ago, I went to a nice restaurant with five friends. Good food. Better cocktails.
From ACM Opinion
How to se Tech Like a Teenager
Enough with complaining that young people these days are addicted to their phones. The question you should be asking is: What do they know that you don't?
From ACM Opinion
How to Make Robots Seem Less Creepy
Robots may be poised to enter a new frontier in the workplace—but that doesn't mean the public is ready for it.
From ACM Opinion