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 TechNews
Ajay Bhatt: Intel's Rock-Star Inventor
Intel engineer Ajay Bhatt invented the universal serial bus (USB) port about 25 years ago. He currently is analyzing PC architecture to provide portable computers...
From ACM Opinion
The Mooc Racket
The word mooc sounds a bit like slang from Goodfellas or the affectionate shortening of the already-affectionate name of a former outfielder for the New York Mets...
From ACM Opinion
Technology to Protect Against Mass Surveillance
In the past several weeks, EFF has received many requests for advice about privacy tools that provide technological shields against mass surveillance.
From ACM Opinion
How Protecting Your Privacy Could Make You the Bad Guy
There's a funny catch-22 when it comes to privacy best practices.
From ACM Opinion
Smart Phones Mean You Will No Longer Have to Memorize Facts
When my father was growing up, his father offered him 25 cents to memorize the complete list of U.S. presidents. "Number one, George Washington. Number two, John...
From ACM Opinion
The Paradox of Wearable Technologies
Ever talk to someone at a party or conference reception only to discover that the person you are talking to is constantly scanning the room, looking this way and...
From ACM Opinion
Did Facebook Miss a Massive Opportunity By Building a Walled Garden Instead of a Truly Open Platform?
When Facebook first launched its platform strategy in 2007, it seemed as though a new world of opportunity had opened up for anyone interested in the social web—a...
From ACM Opinion
Microsoft Is Doomed, But First It's Going to Make a Ton of Money
Microsoft stock lost about 10 percent of its value in the wake of a quarterly earnings report on Thursday that investors deemed sub-par. Yet revenue for the second...
From ACM Opinion
Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales Explains Its Mission to Be Mainstream
Wikipedia is expanding its major new "open data" initiative, expanding tools that allow developers to use its content on other websites and simplifying its editing...
From ACM Opinion
Hands On the Wheel, Mind On the Road–not Cyberspace
Makers of cars and mobile electronics are pushing a tempting vision of the future. It is one in which you can stay fully connected while driving.
From ACM Opinion
E-Book Vs. P-Book
When Barnes & Noble announced, a couple of weeks ago, that its Nook division lost almost five hundred million dollars last year and that its C.E.O. was resigning...
From ACM Opinion
Douglas Engelbart’s nfinished Revolution
Doug Engelbart knew that his obituaries would laud him as "Inventor of the Mouse."
From ACM Opinion
Nsa Can Reportedly Track Phones Even When They're Turned Off
The NSA has a diverse range of surveillance capabilities—from monitoring Google Maps use to sifting through millions of phone call records and spying on Web searches...
From ACM Opinion
Your Creative, Open Hackathon Is Ripe For Legal Challenges
NASA's Space Apps Challenge recently became the world's largest open hackathon, with over 8,000 participants spanning 44 countries.
From ACM Opinion
Virtual Reality For Your Hands
Computers already have keyboards. They have mice and touch pads. They even have touch screens. But is there room for a totally new interface?
From ACM Opinion
Sebastian Thrun on the Future of Learning
Sebastian Thrun has worn many hats in the tech world: Stanford research professor, founder of Google's X Labs, where he oversaw the development of self-drivingUdacity...
From ACM Opinion
Meet the Designer Behind Some of the Web’s Newest Killer Fonts
Thanks to newer browsers and greater bandwidth, there's been an explosion of new Web fonts—tens of thousands of them over the last decade.
From ACM Opinion
Who Scores Games By Hand Anymore?
The first thing Bruce Levy did upon recent entry into Yankee Stadium while accompanied by his in-laws and teenage son was to purchase a program in the area of the...
From ACM Opinion
The End of Digital Tyranny: Why the Future of Computing Is Analog
Our world is ruled by 1s and 0s.
From ACM Opinion