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
Google's Vint Cerf Warns Against Fragmentation of Internet
Internet pioneer Vinton G. Cerf warned Thursday that political and technological forces threaten universal access and integrity, which he described as the foundation...
From ACM News
Brace Yourself: Microsoft Wants to Guess How Old You Are
Like a distant relative who makes you feel bad at the annual holiday get together, Microsoft has created a website that analyzes a photo of a person's face and...
From ACM Opinion
The Future of Sex: It Gets Better
When I was 10 years old, my friend Sarah and I found a newly minted copy of "The Joy of Sex" under her parents' bed.
From ACM Opinion
Should Law Enforcement Have the Ability to Access Encrypted Communications?
People's distress over the privacy of their communications has never been more acute. Whether the fear is over U.S. surveillance or breaches by hackers of unknown...
From ACM Opinion
The 12 Tech Nuisances That Annoy s Most
You know those days when your phone battery doesn't even make it to dinner?
From ACM Opinion
Get Creative at Your Desk With a Little Playtime
Playing with a geometric puzzle or stress ball at your desk can seem like idle diversion. It may also spark clearer or more creative thinking.
From ACM Opinion
What Could Be Lost as Einstein's Papers Go Online
When I heard that Albert Einstein's papers were going to be published free online, I was thrilled—at least initially.
From ACM Opinion
Google's Schmidt Fires Back Over Encryption
To hear Google Inc. Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt tell it, the U.S. government has only itself to blame for new efforts by Google and Apple Inc. to keep police...
From ACM Opinion
Why the Public Library Beats Amazon—for Now
A growing stack of companies would like you to pay a monthly fee to read e-books, just like you subscribe to Netflix to binge on movies and TV shows.
From ACM Opinion
Okcupid's Co-Founder on Experiments, Data Science and the Myth of the 'unicorn'
Christian Rudder, co-founder and president of the IAC/InterActiveCorp.'s OkCupid, caused a stir recently when he responded to Facebook's news feed controversy with...
From ACM Opinion
Billy Beane on the Future of Sports: A Tech-Driven Revolution
Baseball—my passion and profession for three decades—has been at the forefront of the analytics revolution sweeping through sports.
From ACM Opinion
Studying Your sers: Facebook's Greatest Hits
Facebook's massive psychological experiment involving almost 700,000 unwitting users has attracted plenty of attention and outrage, but it's far from the only time...
From ACM Opinion
Why I'm Not in a Hurry For a 'smart Home'
Here's what it's like to wake up in America's smartest home.
From ACM Opinion
When Is It Ok to Check a Smartphone at the Dinner Table?
Not long ago, I went to a nice restaurant with five friends. Good food. Better cocktails.
From ACM Opinion
How to se Tech Like a Teenager
Enough with complaining that young people these days are addicted to their phones. The question you should be asking is: What do they know that you don't?
From ACM Opinion
Ray Kurzweil
Ray Kurzweil is teaching computers how to read better—one more step in the march of technological progress.
From ACM Opinion
Forget 'the Cloud'; 'the Fog' Is Tech's Future
I'm as big a believer in the transformational power of cloud computing as anyone you'll meet.
From ACM News
The Future of Brain Implants
What would you give for a retinal chip that let you see in the dark or for a next-generation cochlear implant that let you hear any conversation in a noisy restaurant...
From ACM Opinion