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
Civilian Photography, Now Rising to New Level
Five years ago, the DJI Phantom 2 Vision would have seemed like a science fiction film prop or a piece of surveillance hardware flown only by the sexiest of superspies...
From ACM Opinion
Stop Pouting About Tech's Next Big Thing, It's Here
It's easy to get jaded when you cover the technology industry.
From ACM Opinion
I, Glasshole: My Year With Google Glass
An anecdote: I wanted to wear Google Glass during the birth of our second child.
From ACM News
Dogecoins and Litecoins and Peercoins Oh My: What You Need to Know About Bitcoin Alternatives
By now, most people have heard of Bitcoin, the peer-to-peer currency whose value has soared over the past couple of years.
From ACM Opinion
I Had My Dna Picture Taken, With Varying Results
I like to plan ahead; that much I knew about myself before I plunged into exploring my genetic code.
From ACM Opinion
7 Gadgets to Watch For in 2014
Turn an ordinary table into a touch screen, monitor your kids' whereabouts, and place the power of 3D printing in the palm of your hand—and there’s more.
From ACM Opinion
Correcting the Record on the Nsa Review
One of the dangers of a 304 -page report on a complex subject is that everyone gets to choose what he or she thinks is the bottom line.
From ACM Opinion
How Microsoft's 1 Percenters Balance Basic Research with Short-Term Success
When Microsoft launched its research labs in 1991, the personal computer was just beginning to blossom into a worldwide phenomenon, thanks in no small part to Windows...
From ACM Opinion
The Great Ideas Hiding nder the Invisibility Cloak
Physicist John Pendry talks about the profound physics obscured by his invisibility cloak and how metamaterials could help realise the perfect lens.
From ACM News
The One Big Question About Rsa and Its Relationship With the Nsa
Last week, the Internet security world was jolted by a Reuters report detailing a secret $10 million payment to the security company RSA from the National Security...
From ACM Opinion
The Dollar Will Never Fall to Bitcoin
Last month, several people appeared before a U.S. Senate committee to defend bitcoin, among them Patrick Murck, general counsel of the Bitcoin Foundation...
From ACM Opinion
Stanford Researchers: It Is Trivially Easy to Match Metadata to Real People
In defending the NSA's telephony metadata collection efforts, government officials have repeatedly resorted to one seemingly significant detail: This is just metadata—numbers...
From ACM Opinion
Do We Want an Erasable Internet?
This is going to sound silly, but I think Snapchat was the most important technology of 2013.
From ACM Opinion
James Kuffner, Google Robotics Researcher
At a racetrack in Florida this weekend, 16 robots competed to complete a series of tasks inspired by challenges faced in cleaning up the destroyed Fukushima-Daiichi...
From ACM Opinion
The Predictive Power of Big Data
Right now, the average person's data footprint—the annual amount of data produced worldwide, per capita—is just a little short of one terabyte.
From ACM Opinion
Edward Snowden, After Months of Nsa Rvelations, Says His Mission's Accomplished
The familiar voice on the hotel room phone did not waste words.
From ACM Opinion
Nsa Debate Shifts in Favor of Surveillance Limits
In a sharp and unexpected shift, the national debate over U.S. government surveillance seems to be turning in favor of reining in the National Security Agency's...
From Communications of the ACM
Publish Now, Judge Later
A proposal to address the problem of too many conference submissions and not enough time for reviewers to carefully evaluate each one.
From ACM Opinion