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
How Technology Is (and Isn't) Changing Our Reading Habits
Given that you write about the books industry, how do you prefer to read books? On a Kindle or iPad or some other device, or printed books?
From ACM Opinion
I Am a Roboticist in a Cheese Factory
Most people think about robots as autonomous machines guided by artificial intelligence.
From ACM Opinion
Forget the Robot Singularity Apocalypse. Let's Talk About the Multiplicity
For a species that's conquered Earth and traveled through space and invented the Slapchop, we humans sure are insecure when it comes to technology.
From ACM Opinion
Can Robots Tighten the Bolts on a Rickety Caregiver Sector?
In 2015 I was watching a dress rehearsal for a play about love, loss and aging. In a climactic scene, the lead actress gesticulated and shouted, while her co-star...
From ACM Opinion
In 2018, Voice Assistants Will Make the Leap Out of Your Home
At one section of Google's giant outdoor booth at CES was an impromptu, carney-style one-man show, with a guy wearing dark sunglasses and a white Google Assistant...
From ACM Opinion
Nissan Wants to Make You a Better Driver By Reading Your Mind
Might the car of the future be able to read your mind?
From ACM Opinion
Meltdown and Spectre Expose the Dark Side of Superfast Computers
Hundreds of gadget makers and software companies at this week's annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas are staking the success of their newest products...
From ACM Opinion
There Is No Such Thing as 'the' Blockchain
How do you quadruple your stock price without lifting a finger?
From ACM Opinion
10 Ways Tech Will Shape Your Life in 2018, For Better and Worse
Is the outlook for technology in 2018 exciting—or slightly terrifying? Flip a coin. You'd be right either way.
From ACM Opinion
3 Brain Technologies to Watch in 2018
Technologies to detect brain activity—fine, we'll come right out and call it mind reading—as well as to change it are moving along so quickly that "a bit of a gold...
From ACM Opinion
License Expired: The Ars Technica 2018 Deathwatch
Wow, that 2017, though. Quite a year. Let's grab a Juicero and take a moment to reflect on the utter dumpster fires that we've witnessed over the past 12 months...
From ACM Opinion
New York City's Bold, Flawed Attempt to Make Algorithms Accountable
The end of a politician's time in office often inspires a turn toward the existential, but few causes are as quixotic as the one chosen by James Vacca, who this...
From ACM Opinion
How Nasa's Search For Et Relies on Advanced AI
The biggest knock against sending robots to explore the solar system for signs of life has always been their inability to make intuitive, even creative decisions...
From ACM Opinion
Driverless Cars Could Make Transportation Free For Everyone, With a Catch
As self-driving cars inch closer to everyday reality, journalists, futurists, economists, and ethicists have weighed in with numerous predictions about autonomous...
From Communications of the ACM
How Law and Computer Science Can Work Together to Improve the Information Society
Seeking to remedy bad legislation with good science.
From ACM Opinion
We Ignore Iran at Our Peril
When it comes to cyberweapons, America is an elephant and Iran is a flea. Still, a flea can be a persistent nuisance, especially for the unprotected.
From ACM Opinion
Don't Get Your Kid an Internet-Connected Toy
For last-minute shoppers, tech toys hold a special appeal.
From ACM Opinion
Augmented Reality's Real Power Will Come From Substance, Not Flash
Last week the pilot light for my water heater went out. I tried to relight it by following the instructions pasted on the side of the heater, but they were as inscrutable...
From ACM Opinion
Goodbye Internet: How Regional Divides pended the World Wide Web
So, there you have it: 2017 was the year that finally broke the internet.
From ACM Opinion