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
Don't Break the Internet
Two bills now pending in Congress—the PROTECT IP Act of 2011 (Protect IP) in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House—represent the latest...
From ACM Opinion
Nokia's Stephen Elop Speaks
A little more than a year ago, Microsoft veteran Stephen Elop agreed to become CEO of Nokia, the world's largest maker of mobile handsets. Elop's job at the Finnish...
From ACM Opinion
The Top 10 Tech Trends For 2012
A year is virtually a lifetime in the digital era. And yet we can at least make a guess at what will happen in the early part of next year simply by looking at...
From ACM Opinion
Xbox 720: What Microsoft Should And Shouldn't Do
As whispers of a looming next generation Xbox announcement grow to a fever pitch, it's hard to open a browser window these days without encountering a screaming...
From ACM Opinion
An Open Letter from Internet Engineers to the .s. Congress
Today, a group of 83 prominent Internet inventors and engineers sent an open letter to members of the United States Congress, stating their opposition to the...
From ACM Opinion
Carrier Iq Gets Transparent About Its Mobile Monitoring
It's been a tumultuous few weeks for Carrier IQ, the mobile analytics outfit at the center of a continuing privacy brouhaha over what its diagnostic software...
From ACM Opinion
Five Predictions For the Communications World in 2012
In the coming year, mobile Internet devices and in particular smartphones will continue to bring the biggest changes to the way we communicate. For the first...
From ACM Opinion
Apple: Five Predictions For 2012
Expecting something from Apple can be a dangerous game, but that doesn't mean it's not fun to try and read the tea leaves every once in a while.
From ACM Careers
In Silicon Valley, Rose-Colored Glasses Sometimes Provide Best View
When I heard the news that Google was moving into the indoor-mapping business, I called Ankit Agarwal to offer my condolences.
From ACM Careers
Dna: The Next Big Hacking Frontier
Imagine computer-designed viruses that cure disease, new bacteria capable of synthesizing an unlimited fuel supply, new organisms that wipe out entire populations...
From ACM Opinion
Intelligence, Honesty, and (my Friend) Steve Jobs
Can there be any doubt that Steve Jobs was a modern-day Renaissance man—a latter day da Vinci, brimming with creativity, invention, aesthetic and business acumen...
From ACM Opinion
The Rise of the New Information Gatekeepers
The promise of the Internet age is one of unparalleled access to information of all kinds, but it has also seen the rise of some powerful gatekeepers that control...
From ACM Opinion
The Personal Computer Is Dead
Power is fast shifting from end users and software developers to operating system vendors.
From ACM Opinion
Siri Means You'll (almost) Never Have to Die
Some 80 years ago, philanthropist Spencer Penrose amassed a fortune in Western gold, silver, and copper mines. After building a zoo and hospital, he decided to...
From ACM Opinion
Is Personal Data the New Currency?
What if Facebook paid you? Several startups envision an era in which we are all the brokers, and beneficiaries, of our own personal data.
From ACM Opinion
Cutting Their Own Throats
Traditional publishing is dominated by the Big Six publishing groups—folks like Hachette, Holtzbrinck, Penguin-Putnam, and so on. In general these publishers...
From ACM Opinion
Nobody Needs a Tablet
Tablet manufacturers don't know what you—in the back of your mind—already know. No one needs a tablet. Millions of people already own tablets in the U.S. Millions...
From ACM Opinion
Who Needs Keys When Siri Has Been Hacked to Start Cars?
Last week we showed you how a developer had hacked Siri to operate his internet-connected thermostat. But that's not cool. Starting your car using Siri, now that's...
From ACM Opinion
Internet Anti-Piracy Bill Would Chill Free Expression
A bill in the House aims to fight online piracy, but its blunderbuss approach would cripple online innovation and chill free expression on the Web.
From ACM Opinion