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
Three Questions For Computing Pioneer Carver Mead
Computer scientist Carver Mead gave Moore's Law its name in around 1970 and played a crucial role in making sure it's held true in the decades since.
From Communications of the ACM
A Lesson in Resource Management
Waste not memory, want not memory — unless it doesn't matter.
From Communications of the ACM
Design Thinking
Design thinking is the newest fashion for finding better solutions to problems. Combining it with computational thinking offers some real possibilities for improving...
From ACM Opinion
Wikimedia Foundation Sends Cease and Desist Letter to Wikipr
On October 21, the Wikimedia Foundation issued a statement from Sue Gardner, our executive director, condemning the black hat practice of paid advocacy editing...
From ACM Opinion
A Neuroscientist's Radical Theory of How Networks Become Conscious
It's a question that’s perplexed philosophers for centuries and scientists for decades: Where does consciousness come from?
From ACM Opinion
Why Google's Fair Use Victory In Google Books Suit Is A Big Deal—And Why It Isn't
Federal judge Denny Chin rejected a copyright challenge Google’s practices of scanning books into digital format and presenting snippets of those scans in search...
From ACM Opinion
Will Ibm's Watson sher in a New Era of Cognitive Computing?
Computers as we know them have are close to reaching an inflection point—the next generation is in sight but not quite within our grasp.
From ACM Opinion
Blinded By the Light
The probe sails through space, traveling the distance of the LA-to-Chicago red-eye in a minute.
From ACM Opinion
Our Government Has Weaponized the Internet. Here's How They Did It
The internet backbone—the infrastructure of networks upon which internet traffic travels—went from being a passive infrastructure for communication to an active...
From ACM Opinion
Drm in Cars Will Drive Consumers Crazy
Forget extra cupholders or power windows: the new Renault Zoe comes with a "feature" that absolutely nobody wants.
From ACM Opinion
The Head of Google X Thinks We're All Too Risk-Averse
Google X is responsible for some of Google's most literally fantastic projects: Google Glass, self-driving cars, gigantic inflatable balloons that beam Internet...
From ACM Opinion
A Stronger 'online Eraser' Law Would Be a Mistake
Excited teenagers—in other words normal teenagers—have never been famous for consistently wise decisions, nor should they be.
From ACM Opinion
Should Tech Designers Go With Their Guts—or the Data?
For many tech companies, design is no longer subjective.
From ACM Opinion
Nest's Tony Fadell on Smart Objects, and the Singularity of Innovation
Tony Fadell is the founder and chief executive of Nest, a company that is trying to bring a high-end technology experience to some of the most prosaic areas of...
From ACM Opinion
The False Promise of Classroom Technology
The cover story of Life magazine on Oct. 16 was "U.S. Schools: They Face a Crisis."
From ACM Opinion
No, Bitcoin Isn't Broken
"Bitcoin Is Broken," proclaimed Ittay Eyal and Emin Gun Sirer, two Cornell computer scientists.
From ACM Opinion
Bitcoin Is Broken
And not just superficially so, but fundamentally, at the core protocol level.
From ACM Opinion
Markus 'notch' Persson: The Mind Behind Minecraft
Markus Persson, known also by the online handle "Notch," is an indie game success story like no other.
From ACM Opinion