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 Greatest Trick the Government Ever Pulled Was Convincing the Public the 'hacker Threat' Exists
The U.S. government is already fighting wars on several fronts, including the perpetual War on Terror.
From ACM Opinion
How New Military Technologies Can Help Prevent the Next Boston or Newtown
This week, it's bombs. In December, it was guns.
From ACM Opinion
How Pixar sed Moore's Law to Predict the Future
Whether you call it a data-driven prediction or think of it as a self-fulfilling prophecy, Moore's Law has been going strong.
From ACM Opinion
Bitcoin: Whatever It Is, It's Not Money!
When governments undermine faith in their currencies people turn to alternatives.
From ACM Opinion
Interview with Brain Project Pioneer: Miyoung Chun
Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) project, which President Obama announced in his State of the Union address in February, will...
From ACM Opinion
Will Google's Ray Kurzweil Live Forever?
Ray Kurzweil must encounter his share of interviewers whose first question is: What do you hope your obituary will say?
From ACM Opinion
Google Chief rges Action to Regulate Mini-Drones
The influential head of Google, Eric Schmidt, has called for civilian drone technology to be regulated, warning about privacy and security concerns.
From ACM Opinion
Proceed with Caution Toward the Self-Driving Car
Driving on Interstate 495 toward Boston in a Ford Fusion one chilly afternoon in March, I did something that would've made even my laid-back long-ago driving instructor...
From ACM Opinion
Human Genome, Then and Now
Eight years of work, thousands of researchers around the world, $1 billion spent—and finally it was done.
From ACM Opinion
A Talk With Computer Graphics Pioneer Ivan Sutherland
Dr. Ivan Sutherland is the 2012 winner of the Kyoto Prize for Advanced Technology. The award, created by Dr. Kazuo Inamori, founder of not one but two major Japanese...
From ACM Opinion
Time and Navigation: How We Found Our Way in the World
Type an address into your phone, and up will pop a step-by-step route from where you are to where you want to be. This is, in its way, magic—magic that has, at...
From ACM Opinion
Should We Fall Out of Love with Robot Surgery?
Last fall, shoppers outside a Macy's store in Boston were given a chance to test drive a robot. They were invited, compliments of Brigham and Women’s Hospital,...
From ACM Opinion
More Cracks ndermine the Citadel of Tv Profits
For the longest time in the media business, the concept of the bundle has been foundational.
From ACM Opinion
How Technology Is Slowly Developing Its Sense of Smell
Last week I attended what was, I think it is fair to say, the oddest conference I have been to yet. It was the first world congress of the Digital Olfaction Society...
From ACM Opinion
Immigration and the Knowledge Economy
Earlier this year I started teaching a class on entrepreneurship at an after-school program in my community.
From ACM Opinion
Bitcoin Is No Longer a Currency
Bitcoin might be a bubble or it might be THE FUTURE, but there's one thing it's not: a currency. It's a tech stock. The question is whether it's Pets.com or Paypal...
From ACM Opinion
The Coming Golden Age For Mobile-Game Developers
Do you like video games? More to the point, do you like developing games and making money? Then here's some great news: The gaming boom that's been underway for...
From ACM Opinion
Will Bitcoins Make Me Rich?
Let me begin this column with a lengthy disclosure. One morning last week, I stopped at my bank, filled out a withdrawal slip for $1,027.51, and walked away with...
From ACM Opinion
If You Hate Red-Light Cameras, You'll Really Hate Speeding Ticket Robots
Four academics from West Point and Samford University in Alabama set out to answer a seemingly simple question: how would one write a computer program to issue...
From ACM Opinion