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
Carrier Iq Gets Transparent About Its Mobile Monitoring
It's been a tumultuous few weeks for Carrier IQ, the mobile analytics outfit at the center of a continuing privacy brouhaha over what its diagnostic software...
From ACM Opinion
Five Predictions For the Communications World in 2012
In the coming year, mobile Internet devices and in particular smartphones will continue to bring the biggest changes to the way we communicate. For the first...
From ACM Careers
In Silicon Valley, Rose-Colored Glasses Sometimes Provide Best View
When I heard the news that Google was moving into the indoor-mapping business, I called Ankit Agarwal to offer my condolences.
From ACM Opinion
Why Transparent Tracking Needs Its Own App
Amid widespread concern over an obscure piece of smart-phone diagnostic software that some experts say could be used to collect and transmit sensitive information...
From ACM Careers
Dna: The Next Big Hacking Frontier
Imagine computer-designed viruses that cure disease, new bacteria capable of synthesizing an unlimited fuel supply, new organisms that wipe out entire populations...
From ACM Opinion
Programming Should Take Pride of Place in Our Schools
If we don't change the way ICT is thought about and taught, we're shutting the door on our children's futures.
From ACM Opinion
Siri Means You'll (almost) Never Have to Die
Some 80 years ago, philanthropist Spencer Penrose amassed a fortune in Western gold, silver, and copper mines. After building a zoo and hospital, he decided to...
From ACM Opinion
Is Personal Data the New Currency?
What if Facebook paid you? Several startups envision an era in which we are all the brokers, and beneficiaries, of our own personal data.
From ACM Opinion
Who Watches the Watchers?
Once again, specialized security technology from a western vendor was found being used by foreign regime on the U.S. trade embargo list.
From ACM Opinion
Who Needs Keys When Siri Has Been Hacked to Start Cars?
Last week we showed you how a developer had hacked Siri to operate his internet-connected thermostat. But that's not cool. Starting your car using Siri, now that's...
From ACM Opinion
Internet Anti-Piracy Bill Would Chill Free Expression
A bill in the House aims to fight online piracy, but its blunderbuss approach would cripple online innovation and chill free expression on the Web.
From ACM Opinion
Voice Recognition: Has It Come of Age?
The man sits down in front of the computer and says, affably: "Computer!"
From ACM Opinion
The Big Data Boom Is the Innovation Story of Our Time
The data revolution has turned customers into unwitting business consultants, as our purchases and searches are tracked to improve everything from Web sites to...
From Communications of the ACM
Debugging on Live Systems
It is more of a social than a technical problem.
From Communications of the ACM
Life, Death, and the iPad: Cultural Symbols and Steve Jobs
In the days that followed Steve Jobs' death, he was frequently compared to Henry Ford and Thomas Edison. But Jobs was creating experiences, not technologies or...
From Communications of the ACM
The Most Ancient Marketing
Before Apple, Steve Jobs famously went to India with a college friend. While I never had occasion to talk to Jobs about it, I have a theory I wish I had a chance...
From ACM Opinion
Occupy the Net!
What would George Orwell make of Facebook? Nothing really: His account would probably be deactivated by the company. If he were lucky, he would be told to produce...
From ACM Opinion
Google and Microsoft Talk Artificial Intelligence
Google and Microsoft don't share a stage often, being increasingly fierce competitors in areas such as Web search, mobile, and cloud computing. But the rivals...
From ACM Opinion
Misconceptions in Ai: Or Why Watson Can't Talk to Siri
On Tuesday night, I was schooled by Watson on playing Jeopardy in an exhibition match at the Computer History Museum. I discovered that despite our fear of the...
From ACM Opinion