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
Virtual Reality Stinks Because It Does Not Smell
For VR to feel truly immersive, it needs to start stinking it up.
From ACM Opinion
The Future of Robot Nannies
A machine can't love our children, but our children might love them
From ACM Opinion
The Metaverse Is Simply Big Tech, but Bigger
It's a rebrand of Silicon Valley's increasing power and reach, and it's made for companies, not people
From ACM Opinion
The U.S. Needs to Get Back in the Business of Making Chips
Pandemic-induced supply disruptions and competition from China pressuring U.S. companies to manufacture semiconductors at home.
From ACM Opinion
The Future of American Industry Depends on Open Source Tech
Open source has two important, and somewhat counterintuitive, advantages: speed and security.
From ACM Opinion
Stop Saying Driverless Cars Will Help Old People
And maybe start including them in research instead of just assuming we know what they want.
From ACM Opinion
Why American Workers Need to Be Protected From Automation
Bill de Blasio, New York City mayor and a candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, says that as president he would issue a robot tax for corporations...
From ACM Opinion
Caroline Criado Perez Explains the 'Gender Data Gap'
In Invisible Women, Caroline Criado Perez examines elements of the modern world that appear to be designed with less consideration for women, including smartphones...
From ACM Opinion
The FBI Wanted a Backdoor to the iPhone. Tim Cook Said No
In 2016, Tim Cook fought the law—and won.
From ACM Opinion
Huawei's Problem Isn't Chinese Backdoors. It's Buggy Software
A report on Thursday from a British government oversight group found that Chinese telecom-equipment maker Huawei has basic but deeply problematic flaws in its product...
From ACM Opinion
The ncanny Valley Nobody's Talking About: Eerie Robot Voices
Call it the Great Convergence of Creepiness. The first bit, the uncanny valley, we're all familiar with by now: If a humanoid robot looks super realistic, but not...
From ACM Opinion
China Will Likely Corner the 5G Market, and the S Has No Plan
You may have heard that China has cornered much of the world's supply of strategic metals and minerals crucial for new technology, including lithium, rare earths...
From ACM Opinion
There's No Good Reason to Trust Blockchain Technology
In his 2008 white paper that first proposed bitcoin, the anonymous Satoshi Nakamoto concluded with: "We have proposed a system for electronic transactions without...
From ACM Opinion
Trump Pledges Investment, But Is Silent on Key Tech Issues
In his State of the Union address Tuesday, President Trump promised legislation to invest in "the cutting edge industries of the future." But the speech was characteristically...
From ACM Opinion
What the California Wildfires Can Teach s About Data Sharing
When a massive earthquake and tsunami hit the eastern coast of Japan on March 11, 2011, the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant failed, leaking radioactive material...
From ACM Opinion
Try Landing InSight on Mars (Without Exploding)
NASA just parked its InSight lander on Mars. Yes, Mars. This is a pretty big deal since quite a few Mars missions didn't make it.
From ACM Opinion
You Know What? Go Ahead and se the Hotel Wi-Fi
As you travel this holiday season, bouncing from airport to airplane to hotel, you'll likely find yourself facing a familiar quandary: Do I really trust this ...
From ACM Opinion
What the Midterm Election Results Mean for Big Tech
It may not have been the tsunami some expected, but the Democrat's long-promised blue wave was enough to carry the party to a majority in the House of Representatives ...
From ACM Opinion
What the Boston School Bus Schedule Can Teach s About AI
When the Boston public school system announced new start times last December, some parents found the schedules unacceptable and pushed back.
From ACM Opinion