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
Interview with Computing Pioneer Alan Kay
Born in 1940, computer scientist Alan Curtis Kay is one of a handful of visionaries most responsible for the concepts which have propelled personal computing forward...
From ACM Opinion
The Child, the Tablet, and the Developing Mind
I recently watched my sister perform an act of magic.
From ACM Opinion
Ken Levine: Bioshock Infinite Is Very Much a Bioshock Game
Ken Levine is running. No really! I’m assuming on a treadmill.
From ACM Opinion
The Era of Deep Archiving Begins
As a Dartmouth student in the early 1970s, William McDonough went, somewhat casually, to hear a lecture by a visiting celebrity. Mr. McDonough had little idea beforehand...
From ACM Opinion
Googling You
The settlement last week between a group of state attorneys general and Google over the company’s improper data collection from home wireless networks shows the...
From ACM Opinion
Miyamoto: I Couldn't Have Imagined Where We've Ended p
Where do you go when you're arguably history’s most famous video game designer in a medium that's witnessed explosive growth since its halcyon days?
From ACM Opinion
A Museum's Games Are Not on Pedestals
Video games, as their name suggests, combine the ancient human practice of formal play with moving pictures, a younger form.
From ACM Opinion
The Next Frontier Is Inside Your Brain
The Obama administration is planning a multiyear research effort to produce an "activity map" that would show in unprecedented detail the workings of the human,...
From ACM Opinion
Calling Out the Robocaller
Last month, the Haggler was sitting at home when the phone rang.
From ACM Opinion
With Playstation 4, Sony Aims For Return to Glory
For the Sony Corporation, a tech industry also-ran, the moment of reckoning is here.
From ACM Opinion
The Boy Wonder of Buzzfeed
"BenSmithing is now an official term!" shouted Michael Hastings, a BuzzFeed reporter and author, at his book release party in Chelsea on a subfreezing night in...
From ACM Opinion
Why We Love Beautiful Things
Great design, the management expert Gary Hamel once said, is like Justice Potter Stewart's famous definition of pornography—you know it when you see it.
From ACM Opinion
The Origins of 'big Data': An Etymological Detective Story
Words and phrases are fundamental building blocks of language and culture, much as genes and cells are to the biology of life.
From ACM Opinion
After Adding Online Privacy Protections, F.t.c. Chief Resigns
Jon Leibowitz, the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, said on Thursday that he would resign effective mid-February.
From ACM Opinion
Talking, Walking Objects
Meeting Simon for the first time was one of the most sublime experiences I've had. With every coy head nod, casual hand wave and deep eye gaze, I felt he already...
From ACM Opinion
Many Hands Make Fractals Tactile
Human beings are born with an innate capacity to learn languages. Yet while mathematics is the language of pattern and form, many people struggle to acquire even...
From ACM Opinion
A Touch Literate World: The Global Tablet Craze
I haven't been shy about expressing my belief that tablets represent the reinvention of the personal computer.
From ACM Opinion