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 First Five Years of the Iphone Obsession
The big question: Is the iPhone a "bicycle for the mind," as the late Steve Jobs said about the first Mac, or a crutch that does too much of our thinking for us...
From ACM Opinion
Free Speech For Computers?
Do machines speak? If so, do they have a constitutional right to free speech?
From ACM Opinion
What, Exactly, Is a Supercomputer?
It's official: The United States is home to the world's fastest supercomputer. But what exactly are supercomputers and why should we care about them? I decidedLawrence...
From ACM Opinion
Microsoft's Research Boss Celebrates Legacy of Alan Turing
What does Alan Turing mean to Microsoft and the rest of the modern tech world? Rick Rashid can tell you.
From ACM TechNews
Exascale Computing: The View From Argonne
In an interview, U.S. Argonne National Laboratory directors Rick Stevens, Michael Papka, and Marc Snir contextualize the challenges and advantages of developing...
From ACM Opinion
How Garmin Failed to See the Iphone Threat
About nine years ago, I had a question for Min Kao, the CEO of the GPS concern Garmin. His answer was determined, and I thought of it as I watched the news from...
From ACM Opinion
The Measured Man
Like many people who are careful about their weight, Larry Smarr once spent two weeks measuring everything he put in his mouth. He charted each serving of food...
From ACM Opinion
Alan Turing: Is He Really the Father of Computing?
When Alan Turing arrived to start work at the National Physical Laboratory at Teddington, south-west London, he was 33 years old. It was October 1945 and he was...
From Communications of the ACM
The Challenges of Privacy By Design
Heralded by regulators, Privacy by Design holds the promise to solve the digital world's privacy problems. But there are immense challenges, including management...
From Communications of the ACM
Google's Hybrid Approach to Research
By closely connecting research and development Google is able to conduct experiments on an unprecedented scale, often resulting in new capabilities for the company...
From Communications of the ACM
Alan Turing's Other Universal Machine
All computer scientists know about the Universal Turing Machine, one of the foundation stones of theoretical computer science. Much less well known is the practical...
From Communications of the ACM
An Information Strategy For Environmental Sustainability
Many proposed solutions to the species-threatening transformations born of human industrialization have an engineering orientation. Often the suggested remedies...
From Communications of the ACM
Can Online Piracy Be Stopped By Laws?
Considering the legal responsibilities of Internet intermediaries in the aftermath of the Stop Online Privacy Act controversy.
From Communications of the ACM
Business Models For Strategy and Innovation
While often ambiguously defined, business models are central to innovation.
From ACM Opinion
Why Microsoft's Surface Tablet Shames the Pc Industry
On June 18, Microsoft beckoned 200 or so members of the media to a grimy, industrial part of Hollywood for what it described as a can’t-miss affair.
From ACM News
The Highly Productive Habits of Alan Turing
June 23 marks the 100th birthday of Alan Turing. If I had to name five people whose personal efforts led to the defeat of Nazi Germany, the English mathematician...
From ACM Opinion
How Flame Virus Has Changed Everything For Online Security Firms
Here's a question: if you connect an unprotected Windows computer to the Internet, how long will it take before it is infected by malicious software?
From ACM Opinion
Meet the Intel Man Who's Out to Beat Arm in Smartphones
It's not often you meet someone in the tech industry for whom the only way is up, but Intel's Michael A. Bell is one of those people.
From ACM Opinion