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
Data Doesn't Belong to the Democrats
One of the leading narratives of the 2012 campaign is that data trumped all.
From ACM Opinion
How Star Wars Tech Changed Silicon Valley
When Oren Jacob was a teenager, he hung up Star Wars posters on his bedroom wall. In his early 20s at a college dorm at Berkeley, he replaced them with a smallPixar...
From ACM Opinion
Inside the Secret World of the Data Crunchers Who Helped Obama Win
In late spring, the backroom number crunchers who powered Barack Obama's campaign to victory noticed that George Clooney had an almost gravitational tug on West...
From ACM Opinion
Wrath of the Math: Obama Wins Nerdiest Election Ever
Congratulations, Barack Obama: You have prevailed in the nerdiest election in the history of the American Republic.
From ACM Opinion
Future Mars Missions: Can Humans Actually Trump Robots?
For decades scientists have backed the idea of sending robots to collect Martian rocks and return them to Earth, a project that should be possible well before humans...
From ACM Opinion
I Meet Tumblr Whizz-Kid David Karp
There's a joke running around about social media: Facebook is how you want people to see you, Twitter is how you see yourself; Tumblr is—"Hey look! Funny cat picture...
From ACM Opinion
The Most Important Education Technology in 200 Years
If you were asked to name the most important innovation in transportation over the last 200 years, you might say the combustion engine, air travel, Henry Ford’s...
From ACM Opinion
Should a Calendar App Look Like a Calendar?
This week, Apple fired Scott Forstall, its longtime chief of mobile software. In the wake of the shake-up—which reportedly had to do with Forstall's refusal to for...
From ACM Opinion
What Tumblr Can Tell S About the Future of Media
If there was any doubt left that Tumblr is trying to become more of a mainstream media entity, albeit with its own odd twist, it was removed recently when the service...
From ACM Opinion
The Flop That Saved Microsoft
It wasn't very easy to get my hands on a Zune. After Microsoft's long-pitied music player wonSlate's Reader Takeover poll—in which I'd promised to reassess an overlooked...
From ACM Opinion
The Consequences of Machine Intelligence
The question of what happens when machines get to be as intelligent as and even more intelligent than people seems to occupy many science-fiction writers.
From ACM Opinion
Few Winners in Heated Cellphone Wars
If you are wondering who will be your cellphone provider next year, so are the cellphone companies.
From ACM Careers
Gartner: Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends For 2013
On Monday, the research firm laid out "10 critical tech trends for the next five years." Tuesday, it took a look at a little closer in, providing a list of the...
From ACM Opinion
Can We Trust Voting Machines?
Last week, a congressional report claimed that using Chinese telecommunications companies’ goods and services in the United States could threaten national security...
From Communications of the ACM
Keeping Technology Promises
Considering new models for educational technology and methods.
From Communications of the ACM
Societal Implications of the Emerging Smart Grid
Seeking solutions to concerns that go beyond the engineering of the smart grid.
From Communications of the ACM
Learning to Teach Computer Science: The Need For a Methods Course
A multipronged approach to preparing computer science teachers is critical to success.
From Communications of the ACM
Decentralization Versus Centralization in IT Governance
It's not as simple as you might think.
From Communications of the ACM
Oracle v. Google: Are APIs Copyrightable?
Assessing the first phase of the trial based on claims that Google's Android platform infringes Oracle's Java-related copyrights and patents.
From Communications of the ACM