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
When Will Genomics Cure Cancer?
Since the beginning of this century, the most rapidly advancing field in the life sciences, and perhaps in human inquiry of any sort, has been genomics.
From ACM Opinion
A Creator of Skynet Ponders Google
After an eight-year detour in which he served as governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger has returned to his true calling as a cyborg assassin.
From ACM Opinion
The Case of the Hacked Refrigerator—could 'the Internet of Things' Connect Everything?
Somebody hacked a refrigerator recently, and it could mark a tipping point for civilization.
From ACM Opinion
Bitcoin: How Its Core Technology Will Change the World
Bitcoin has been called many things, from the future of money to a drug dealer's dream and everything else in between.
From ACM Opinion
The Lost Ancestors of Ascii Art
ASCII art is as much a part of the Internet as emoticons, cats, or lol.
From ACM Opinion
How Real Is Spike Jonze's 'her'? Artificial Intelligence Experts Weigh In
In Spike Jonze's Oscar-nominated, futuristic film 'Her,' computers compose music, carry on seamless conversations with humans, organize emails instantaneously,...
From ACM Opinion
dacity Founder: Moocs Can Help the Economy, Even If They Can't Replace College
Sebastian Thrun was instrumental in building Google's self-driving car and Glass projects, and helped launch the company's Google X wing to spearhead "moonshot"...
From ACM Opinion
How a Database of the World's Knowledge Shapes Google's Future
For all its success, Google's famous Page Rank algorithm has never understood a word of the billions of Web pages it has directed people to over the years.
From Communications of the ACM
Digital Platforms: When Is Participation Valuable?
Assessing the benefits and challenges of knowledge spillovers.
From ACM Opinion
The White House Is Going to Study Big Data. Here Are 5 Things It Should Know
The White House announced via blog post on Thursday that it's forming working group focused on understanding the promises and pitfalls of big data (with a heavy...
From ACM Opinion
How Isaac Asimov Got 2014 Both So Right and So Wrong
In 1964, legendary writer of science fiction and science fact Isaac Asimov visited the World's Fair, where a General Electric pavilion chronicling advances in electric...
From ACM Opinion
This Company Sold Google a Quantum Computer. Here's How It Works.
I thought it would be interesting to hear from D-Wave, a start-up that has raised more than $130 million in venture capital and employs over 100 people.
From ACM Opinion
Confused About the Nsa's Quantum Computing Project? This MIT Computer Scientist Can Explain.
My Washington Post colleagues have reported on a National Security Agency program to to build a quantum computer.
From ACM Opinion
Why Her Will Dominate i Design Even More Than Minority Report
A few weeks into the making of Her, Spike Jonze's new flick about romance in the age of artificial intelligence, the director had something of a breakthrough.
From ACM Opinion
8 Hypotheses About Tech in 2014
If there was a feeling that defined the cultural backdrop for 2013, it was technoanxiety.
From ACM Opinion
Making It
In January of 1903, the small Boston magazine Handicraft ran an essay by the Harvard professor Denman W. Ross, who argued that the American Arts and Crafts movement...
From ACM Opinion
Stop Pouting About Tech's Next Big Thing, It's Here
It's easy to get jaded when you cover the technology industry.
From ACM Opinion