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
Forget the Desktop
Every morning I wake up too early, reach for my iPad, and scan the morning's tech headlines. This is a pathetic enough existence, but the Web sites I frequent aren't...
From ACM Opinion
Plagiarism, Defamation, and the Power of Hyperlinks
What do Fareed Zakaria, Jonah Lehrer, and Gawker Media have in common? In different ways, the incidents that have thrust all three into the news recently help to...
From ACM Opinion
Will the Next Election Be Hacked?
Two years ago, hackers gained access to an online voting system created by the District of Columbia and altered every ballot on behalf of their own preferred candidates...
From ACM Opinion
Kentucky Lawmakers Shocked to Find Evolution in Biology Tests
A report surfaced this week that suggests Kentucky legislators may be experiencing a sort of cognitive dissonance that is likely to be a preview of things we can...
From ACM Opinion
Five Things I've Learned from 20 Years of Email
It's been 20 years since I got my first-ever email address. Back then, I read email with a 2,400 bps modem. Today, emails reach me instantaneously on my phone whereever...
From ACM Opinion
Epic Mickey Creator Wants to 'shame' Doom and nreal Makers: Why He's Not Wrong
I never got around to playing Epic Mickey, and that’s a shame, because I’ve played nearly everything else by game design luminary Warren Spector.
From ACM TechNews
Climate Science Triggers Torrent of Big Data Challenges
ORNL supercomputers running models to assess climate change ramifications and mitigation tactics are rapidly generating a wide variety of big data in vast volumes...
From ACM Opinion
Paul Otellini on Intel and the Pc's Evolution
Since taking over as CEO in 2005, Otellini has focused on pushing Intel beyond the PC.
From ACM Opinion
Exploring the Planets Enriches S at Home
NASA's newest marvel, a one-ton rover named Curiosity, has been set down with all the delicacy of a carton of eggs on the surface of Mars.
From ACM Careers
In a Valley of Vc Clones, Google Ventures Does More Than Just Write Checks
Joe Kraus isn't just a Google Ventures partner. He's also a poker player, and I think he knows that both pursuits involve a certain amount of gambling, regardless...
From ACM Opinion
There's Only One Truly Open Platform: The Web
As Twitter and Facebook continue to fight a variety of skirmishes in the ongoing "platform wars," with both companies trying to control as much of their networks...
From ACM Opinion
Why High-Frequency Trading Doesn't Compute
Wall Street is no autobahn. Traders pushing pedal to the metal risk hurtling into the Buttonwood Trees.
From ACM TechNews
Developer Interview: How Haiku Is Building a Better Beos
BeOS, an operating system that was originally designed for Apple hardware but was passed over for NeXT's OpenStep, has found a new life thanks to Haiku.
From ACM Opinion
15 Technologies of Today We'll Still Be sing in 2030
Sure, we now have faster, smaller computers, smartphones that talk back to you, and smart TVs, but in so many areas of technology the pace of change is slower than ...
From ACM Opinion
Trust: Ill-Advised in a Digital Age
Bruce Schneieer ordered a Coke, no ice, at the Rio casino on a Saturday afternoon. I ordered Diet Coke, also no ice, and handed the bartender an American Express...
From ACM Opinion
Nasa Mohawk Guy Bobak Ferdowsi on Sci-Fi, Legos, and Becoming a Meme
As space geeks watched nervously to see if NASA's Curiosity rover would land safely on Mars, many found themselves wondering, "Hey, who's that cool dude with the...
From ACM Opinion
Meet Gauss, the Latest Weapon in the nfolding .s.-Israeli Cyberwar
To the steadily growing list of digital weapons that appear to have been jointly created by the combined resources of the U.S. and Israel, we can now add another...
From ACM Opinion
Robot Master
When you visit Manuela Veloso at Carnegie Mellon University, you're not guided to her office by a security officer or even issued instructions by a secretary at...
From ACM Opinion
Why I Love Mars
Every now and then, I spend time on Mars. I dig my naked toes into the fine, red-orange soil, watch how it clings to my skin—and feel an incipient itch.
From ACM Opinion