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
11 Big Tech Trends You'll See in 2013
Writing prediction pieces is a funny thing because there is really no such thing as "next year."
From ACM Careers
Lenovo's Quest to Be Cool
China's Lenovo is on a roll. It has just been named the world's number one PC seller, and it has rapidly won the number two spot in mobile phones in its home market...
From ACM Opinion
Cyborg Anthropologist: We Can All Be Superhuman
Cyborg anthropology is the study of the interaction between humans and technology, and how technology affects culture.
From ACM Opinion
Nest Ceo Fadell: Internet of Things Is a Decade Away
It will take 10 years before the "Internet of things" catches on widely, said Nest Labs Chief Executive Tony Fadell, whose smart-thermostat startup embodies the...
From ACM Opinion
The Next Big Os War Is in Your Dashboard
Competition in automotive technology has long been about who's got the most horsepower, the best towing capacity or the fastest acceleration. These days, though...
From ACM Opinion
Eight Questions For Rick Smolan About the Human Face of Big Data
If you work anywhere near anything that might be described as "Big Data" and have ever had trouble explaining to someone you care about why what you do matters,...
From ACM Opinion
How to Make Almost Anything
A new digital revolution is coming, this time in fabrication. It draws on the same insights that led to the earlier digitizations of communication and computation...
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 Future of the Internet Is Intelligent Machines
As we know it today, the Internet has been largely about connecting people to information, people to people, and people to business.
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
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