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
Humobots in Space
Despite the cancellation of NASA's back-to-the-moon program, the next steps on the moon will likely be taken sometime in the next decade under human control. It's...
From ACM Opinion
Gary Reback: Why the Technology Sector Should Care About Google Books
This Thursday (February 18) leaders of the international publishing industry will watch with bated breath as a federal judge in New York hears arguments over whether...
From ACM Opinion
Being Safe in Cyber World
Themis Papageorge, director of Northeastern University's information assurance program, assesses the real risk associated with cyber threats, and offers advice...
From ACM Opinion
Being Safe in Cyber World
Themis Papageorge, director of Northeastern University's information assurance program, assesses the real risk associated with cyber threats, and offers advice...
From ACM Opinion
Can Silicon Valley Write Software For the 'normal'?
Apple gets a fair amount of criticism for its supposed elitism, but Apple products reveal the opposite: they're made for normal people who generally don't obsess...
From ACM Opinion
Scientists Should Be on Tap, Not on Top
Should scientists have a special voice when it comes to deciding government policy? On Tuesday (February 16) Robert May, the U.K. government's former chief scientific...
From ACM Opinion
I'm Sorry, Dave, I'm Afraid I Can't Make a -Turn
When Toyota Prius owners take their cars to the dealer under the company's latest recall, they'll likely be out of the shop in about 30 minutes. Even though the...
From ACM Opinion
Why Google Wants a Faster Internet
There was no lack of, well, buzz about Google's new Buzz social-media platform last week, but more important were a series of moves that suggest the search giant...
From ACM Opinion
A Mission Statement For Science Educators
"Perspectives in Science Education" a new book by Marvin Druger, professor emeritus at Syracuse University, includes over 20 essays on the mission of teaching...
From ACM Opinion
Lost in #haiti
If Iran's post-election uprising last summer was the world's first "Twitter revolution," the massive Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti was the first "Twitter disaster...
From ACM Opinion
Estimating Programming Time
Accurately estimating programming time is, in part, a process of defining limitations—experience, domain knowledge, speed vs. quality. It is also about thinking...
From ACM Opinion
Don Syme: Geek of the Week
It came as a surprise to many when Microsoft pulled from its hat a rabbit in the form of an exciting, radical, language that offers an effective alternative to...
From ACM Opinion
Don Syme: Geek of the Week
It came as a surprise to many when Microsoft pulled from its hat a rabbit in the form of an exciting, radical, language that offers an effective alternative to...
From ACM Opinion
How Movies Activate Your Neural G-Spot
Here’s a typical “date night” with me and Hollywood: I don’t know what I want to see. Neither does Hollywood. But it bangs on my eyeballs and eardrums like Stanley...
From ACM Opinion
The Best Web Browser on the Planet
I like to think of myself as the Dick Cheney of the Browser Wars—an unyielding proponent of greater and greater hostilities between the developers working on Chrome...
From ACM Opinion
'don't Be Evil,' Meet 'spy on Everyone': How the Nsa Deal Could Kill Google
The company once known for its "don't be evil" motto is now in bed with the spy agency known for the mass surveillance of American citizens. The National Security...
From ACM Opinion
Can You Trust Chinese Computer Equipment?
As you surely know, Google has accused China of hacking into its systems and is considering pulling out of China altogether. The U.S. government is taking this...
From ACM Opinion
Microsoft
As they marvel at Apple’s new iPad tablet computer, the technorati seem to be focusing on where this leaves Amazon’s popular e-book business. But the much more...
From ACM Opinion
Dark Clouds Gather Over Online Security
Google may have threatened to leave China in order to keep us all from concluding that "the cloud" can't be secured. But isn't that precisely what we should conclude...
From ACM Opinion