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
The Story of Cortana, Microsoft's Siri Killer
Technically, Cortana isn't supposed to exist for at least another 500 years, but that's not stopping Microsoft from bringing her to life this week.
From ACM Opinion
While Warning of Chinese Cyberthreat, .s. Launches Its Own Attack
The U.S. government has long complained about Chinese hacking and cyberattacks, but new documents show that the National Security Agency managed to penetrate the...
From ACM Opinion
Why the Black Box on Airplanes Needs to Go Away
In another 10 years, the very idea of a "black box" flight data recorder on an airliner will seem as naive and outdated as a smoking section.
From ACM Opinion
Bots on the Beat
On March 24 at 2:36 p.m., the New York Post reported that the body of former Nets basketball player Quinton Ross had been found in a shallow grave on Long Island...
From ACM Opinion
Hey, Robot: Which Cat Is Cuter?
One recent morning, while contemplating writing this column, I scrolled through thousands and thousands of listings for mundane microgigs on Mechanical Turk, or...
From ACM Opinion
10 Years On, Gmail Has Transformed the Web as We Know It
Google loves to unveil a good gag product on April Fool's Day.
From ACM Opinion
Five Ways to Make Sure We Never Lose a Plane Again
For the past few weeks the world's attention has been focussed on the lost Malaysia Airlines plane and its 239 passengers and crew that has apparently crashed in...
From ACM Opinion
What Oculus's $2 Billion Payday Teaches S About Innovation
Tuesday's announcement that Facebook is buying the virtual-reality start-up Oculus for $2 billion no doubt left many people scratching their heads.
From Communications of the ACM
MOOCs Revisited, With Some Policy Suggestions
Assessing the rapidly evolving realm of massive open online courses.
From Communications of the ACM
Thinking Outside the Continent
Encouraging the opportunities for digital innovation and invention to flourish in a variety of social environments.
From Communications of the ACM
This Is the Foo Field
The meaning of bits and avoiding upgrade bogdowns.
From Communications of the ACM
Small Data, Where N = Me
Seeking personalized data-derived insights from analysis of our digital traces.
From Communications of the ACM
Is Multicore Hardware For General-Purpose Parallel Processing Broken?
The current generation of general-purpose multicore hardware must be fixed to support more application domains and to allow cost-effective parallel programming.
From ACM Opinion
Facebook's Security Chief Talks Encryption Plan
Facebook has built its business upon the sharing of content between people worldwide, but protecting that data is a gargantuan responsibility—one that demands an...
From ACM Opinion
Roomba Creator: Robot Doubles Need More Charisma
Colin Angle is co-founder and CEO of iRobot in Bedford, Massachusetts.
From ACM Opinion
When Big Data Marketing Becomes Stalking
Many of us now expect our online activities to be recorded and analyzed, but we assume that the physical spaces we inhabit are different.
From ACM Opinion
Why Google Doesn't Have a Research Lab
Research vice presidents at some computing giants, such as Microsoft and IBM, rule over divisions housed in dedicated facilities carefully insulated from the rat...
From ACM Opinion
The Data Brokers: Selling Your Personal Information
Over the past six months or so, a huge amount of attention has been paid to government snooping, and the bulk collection and storage of vast amounts of raw data...
From ACM Opinion
Bill Gates: The Rolling Stone Interview
At 58, Bill Gates is not only the richest man in the world, with a fortune that now exceeds $76 billion, but he may also be the most optimistic.
From ACM Opinion