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
An Homage to Douglas Engelbart and a Critique of the State of Tech
Theodor Holm Nelson, who coined the term hypertext, has been a thorn in the side of the computing establishment for more than a half century.
From ACM Opinion
Edward Snowden, The Dark Prophet
To avoid surveillance, the first four Americans to visit Edward Snowden in Moscow carried no cell phones or laptops.
From ACM Opinion
Google Puts Money on Robots, sing the Man Behind Android
In an out-of-the-way Google office, two life-size humanoid robots hang suspended in a corner.
From ACM Opinion
Nest's Tony Fadell on Smart Objects, and the Singularity of Innovation
Tony Fadell is the founder and chief executive of Nest, a company that is trying to bring a high-end technology experience to some of the most prosaic areas of...
From ACM Opinion
A Force For Face-to-Face Communication
Clifford I. Nass, a professor of communication at Stanford who died on Saturday, regaled me several times over the years about his method for torturing students...
From ACM Opinion
Google nveils Tools to Access Web From Repressive Countries
Google Ideas, the New York City–based "think/do tank" run by the Internet search giant, is launching several new technologies designed to highlight hacker attacks...
From ACM Opinion
The Information-Gathering Paradox
Consumer trust is a vital currency for every big Internet company, which helps to explain why the giants of Silicon Valley have gone to great lengths in recent...
From ACM Opinion
Dina Katabi
Syrian-born Dina Katabi is a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She was awarded a MacArthur last...
From ACM Opinion
N.s.a. Director Gives Firm and Broad Defense of Surveillance Efforts
The director of the National Security Agency, Gen. Keith B. Alexander, said in an interview that to prevent terrorist attacks he saw no effective alternative to...
From ACM Opinion
The Argument For Making the Misuse of Your Personal Data a Felony
Craig Mundie is Microsoft's senior advisor to the CEO, spending his time on big-picture stuff such as (according to his bio) "key strategic projects within the...
From ACM Opinion
The Fatal Mistake That Doomed Blackberry
Beleaguered gadgetmaker BlackBerry said on Monday that it's signed a tentative agreement to be purchased by a group led by Canadian holding company Fairfax Financial...
From ACM Opinion
Does Digital Age Overcomplicate Design?
There is a scene in the television series "Boss" in which the mayor of Chicago, played by Kelsey Grammer, is discovered by his wife washing bed sheets by hand at...
From ACM Opinion
How Robots Can Trick You Into Loving Them
I like to think of my Roomba as cute and industrious.
From ACM Opinion
Who Will Prosper in the New World
Self-driving vehicles threaten to send truck drivers to the unemployment office.
From ACM Opinion
On the Symmetry Between Microsoft and Apple
I am not a tech industry maven, so I am busy coming up to speed on the implications of the Ballmer resignation.
From ACM News
In Markets' Tuned-p Machinery, Stubborn Ghosts Remain
A generation ago, when the stock market crashed on Oct. 19, 1987, the Nasdaq stock market appeared to have done much better than the New York Stock Exchange.
From ACM Opinion
We Need a Moratorium on 'Brain-Like' Tech Stories
My "aha" moment arrived two decades ago while I was an undergrad student (and dilettante "futurist," though I didn’t know the word then), sitting in the Great Hall...
From ACM Opinion