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 Year in Computing
2011 saw the personal computer continue to be marginalized. Although PCs are still the workhorse computing device in homes and offices, the most exciting innovations...
From ACM Opinion
A Few Simple Checks Would Transform Science Reporting
The U.K.'s Leveson inquiry is not just about illegally obtained tittle-tattle, it's a chance to curb sensationalist misreporting of science.
From ACM Opinion
The Emergence of a Digital Money Ecosystem
At the beginning of this year I wrote that the transition to universal mobile digital money is likely to be among the most exciting, important and challenging...
From ACM Opinion
5 Game Stories to Watch in 2012
Goodbye 2011, you tumultuous, fickle, lovely year—hello 2012, another 365-day stretch full of promises, disappointments, and with a little luck, a few pleasant...
From ACM Opinion
The Future of Moral Machines
A robot walks into a bar and says, "I’ll have a screwdriver." A bad joke, indeed. But even less funny if the robot says "Give me what’s in your cash register."...
From ACM Opinion
The Year on the Web
We've been living in the age of social media for a long time, but 2011 was the year that all the information we share online began to accrete into something greater...
From ACM Opinion
Technology and Business in 2012
Although those of us following the Mayan long calendar may be heading into 2012 with some trepidation, for those taking a longer-term view here is our annual...
From ACM Opinion
The Benefits of Video Games
In addition to understanding the many real concerns that today's parents have with video games, it's also worth considering the benefits and positive aspects...
From ACM Opinion
Marc Andreessen: Predictions For 2012 (and Beyond)
Marc Andreessen's view of the world boils down to software.
From ACM Opinion
I Want to Give Poor Children Computers and Walk Away
Can tablet computers "parachuted" into remote areas transform childhood learning, asks Nicholas Negroponte, the man behind One Laptop per Child.
From ACM Opinion
Why Apple's Acquisition of Anobit Matters
Apple reportedly acquired the Israeli flash memory design firm Anobit in a deal that cost the company $500 million.
From ACM Opinion
Don't Break the Internet
Two bills now pending in Congress—the PROTECT IP Act of 2011 (Protect IP) in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House—represent the latest...
From ACM Opinion
Nokia's Stephen Elop Speaks
A little more than a year ago, Microsoft veteran Stephen Elop agreed to become CEO of Nokia, the world's largest maker of mobile handsets. Elop's job at the Finnish...
From ACM Opinion
The Top 10 Tech Trends For 2012
A year is virtually a lifetime in the digital era. And yet we can at least make a guess at what will happen in the early part of next year simply by looking at...
From ACM Careers
Five Questions with Astronaut Rex Walheim
Rex Walheim is an astronaut. He's gone to space three times, including on the last flight of the space shuttle. He has spent an accumulated 36 hours outside the...
From ACM Opinion
Space Elevators and Smart Machines: Life in the Year 2100
In my book, Physics of the Future, I make scores of predictions for this century, based on interviews with over 300 of the world's top scientists, who are inventing...
From ACM Opinion
Xbox 720: What Microsoft Should And Shouldn't Do
As whispers of a looming next generation Xbox announcement grow to a fever pitch, it's hard to open a browser window these days without encountering a screaming...
From ACM Opinion
Patents and the Public Interest
Next week, in a case closely watched both by analysts and retailers, the International Trade Commission will decide whether the handset maker HTC should be allowed...
From ACM Opinion
An Open Letter from Internet Engineers to the .s. Congress
Today, a group of 83 prominent Internet inventors and engineers sent an open letter to members of the United States Congress, stating their opposition to the...
From ACM Opinion