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
Innovation Is Messy Business
Nine years ago, Boeing Co. BA executives decided to take the biggest leap in airliner technology in a generation and develop the 787 Dreamliner.
From ACM Opinion
Ito: Think Twice About Immortality and the Singularity
Ray Kurzweil's vision of the "singularity"—when nanobots make humans immortal and computer progress is so fast that the future becomes profoundly unknowable—is...
From ACM Opinion
Don't Divorce Design from Manufacturing
The software company Autodesk doesn't manufacture anything.
From ACM Opinion
Neil Degrasse Tyson: Science Funding Can 'guarantee Your Economic Future'
Neil deGrasse Tyson came to Washington on Wednesday to deliver the science-specific version of President Barack Obama's second inaugural address.
From ACM Opinion
IBM Predicts Cognitive Systems As New Computing Wave
At year's end, IBM selects a new innovation that has the potential to change the world.
From ACM Opinion
Crapware Won't Crap Out
For a few years now, I've been expecting to write an obituary for crapware. Or not an obit, exactly—I was hoping to dance on its grave.
From ACM Opinion
Apple Shouldn't Make Software Look Like Real Objects
Last fall Apple fired executive Scott Forstall, considered by many to be a Steve Jobs protégé.
From ACM Opinion
Hacktivism: Civil Disobedience or Cyber Crime?
When Reddit co-founder and internet freedom activist Aaron Swartz committed suicide, he was facing up to 13 felony counts, 50 years in prison, and millions of dollars...
From ACM Careers
The Trouble With Tinkering Time
It's the latest R&D trend: penciling in tinkering time on the company clock.
From ACM Opinion
Samsung's Secret Weapon in the Mobile Wars: Tizen
You've probably never heard of Tizen, but the companies behind it are some of the most recognizable brands in the tech industry.
From ACM Opinion
Many Hands Make Fractals Tactile
Human beings are born with an innate capacity to learn languages. Yet while mathematics is the language of pattern and form, many people struggle to acquire even...
From ACM Opinion
The Fbi Needs Hackers, Not Backdoors
Just imagine if all the applications and services you saw or heard about at CES earlier this month had to be designed to be "wiretap ready" before they could be...
From ACM Opinion
For Amusement Only: The Life and Death of the American Arcade
If you’ve never been inside a "real" arcade, it could be hard to distinguish one from say, oh, a Dave & Buster's. Authenticity is a hard nut to crack, but there...
From ACM Opinion
Chipmaker Races to Save Stephen Hawking's Speech as His Condition Deteriorates
Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking has long relied on technology to help him connect with the outside world despite the degenerative motor neuron disease he has...
From ACM Opinion
What the Fbi Doesn't Want You To Know About Its 'secret' Surveillance Techniques
The FBI had to rewrite the book on its domestic surveillance activities in the wake of last January’s landmark Supreme Court decision in United States v. Jones.
From ACM Opinion
Forget Oracle's Latest Java Patch. Just Kill the Program in Your Browser For Good
After months of inaction and even a warning from the Department of Homeland Security, Oracle has finally released a fix for yet another security vulnerability in...
From ACM Opinion
Google's Kurzweil on Teaching Human Language to Computers
Famed inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil joined Google last month to work on "some of the hardest problems in computer science," specifically machine learning and...
From ACM Opinion
Where Is Lt. Zuckerberg?
I often wonder how General Billy Mitchell must have felt as he relentlessly advocated for the use of strategic airpower while surrounded by leadership who did not...
From ACM Opinion
Hp Ceo Whitman Dubs Windows 8 a Work in Progress
There are plenty of Meg Whitman doubters out there. Some say the former EBay chief executive officer doesn't have the requisite big company experience to run a...
From ACM Opinion