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
James Bond Fails the Tech Test in Skyfall
As a self-confessed technology geek, there have been numerous occasions when my enjoyment of a movie has been marred by technological impossibilities.
From ACM Opinion
9 Wishes For Microsoft's Next Xbox, Whatever It's Called
Citing the usual sources-who-shall-remain-nameless, Bloomberg reports what everyone's been assuming all year—that Microsoft's going to launch its next game system...
From ACM Opinion
Willow Garage Scientists Make Robots to Help Disabled People
If you plan to visit the offices of robotics research scientists Kaijen Hsiao and Matei Ciocarlie in Menlo Park, a word to the wise: The nine PR2 robots they're...
From ACM Opinion
Was a Texas Student Really Expelled for Refusing To Wear an RFID Chip?
The Texas school district that began requiring its students to wear RFID tracking chips this year is now facing a fight in federal court.
From ACM Opinion
How Martin Odersky Rewrote the Rules of Coding For a Mobile World
Next time you pull out your smartphone to use a popular application—whether it's to price check items in a store, to tweet or to check your cloud-based calendar—you...
From ACM Opinion
Security Guru Pledges to Strengthen Critical Computers
Stuxnet, a piece of malicious software discovered in 2010, targeted industrial software controlling Iran’s uranium-enrichment centrifuges. But the code got loose—and...
From ACM Opinion
Can Schools Survive in the Age of the Web?
If you fancy a top-class education but can't afford the fee or the time, there is now an alternative.
From ACM Opinion
The Real Threat to Internet Freedom Isn't the nited Nations
The Internet is often seen as a place of chaos and disorder, a borderless world in which anonymous trolls roam free and vigilante hackers wreak havoc.
From ACM Opinion
Fcc Chief's Painstaking Approach Earns Mixed Reviews in Turbulent Times For Telecom Industry
When he isn't chairing the Federal Communications Commission, Julius Genachowski enjoys a seat at a poker table.
From ACM Opinion
In China, 25 Million People se Only Their Cell Phones to Read Books
On vacation in China earlier this month, I stopped by Shanghai's seven-story downtown "Book City," bustling with activity on a weekday afternoon that, as a publisher...
From ACM Opinion
Moral Machines
Google's driver-less cars are already street-legal in three states, California, Florida, and Nevada, and some day similar devices may not just be possible but mandatory...
From ACM Opinion
Jeff Bezos Wants Amazon in Every Pocket
"People don't want gadgets, they want services," Jeff Bezos has declared.
From ACM Opinion
The Giant nderground Machinery That Runs San Francisco's Famous Cable Cars
Every day and night, beneath the streets of San Francisco, huge wheels turn, pulling cable cars to their far-flung destinations and back again, as if weaving them...
From ACM Opinion
What Sinofsky's Departure Suggests About the Current State, and Likely Future, of Microsoft
Steven Sinofsky, president of Microsoft's Windows division, abruptly left the company on November 12, shortly after introducing the latest version of the company's...
From ACM Opinion
How Far Away Is Mind-Machine Integration?
Okay, great: we can control our phones with speech recognition and our television sets with gesture recognition.
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 News
A Short To-Do List For Intel's Next Ceo
With Paul Otellini heading in May to the nearest 18-hole course, speculation is rampant about who will replace him.
From ACM Opinion
Why Jakob Nielsen's Windows 8 Critique Is Old-School Thinking
Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was once asked what market research went into the creation of the iPad.
From ACM Opinion