Communications of the ACM
The opinion archive provides access to past opinion stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
December 2010
From ACM Opinion
Android Programming's ps and Downs
As smartphones using Google's Android operating system become mainstream, James Steele and Nelson To are in a pretty good position.
From ACM Opinion
10 Things Web sers Should Fear in 2011
As in the real world, cyberspace has bad neighborhoods. But unlike the real world, risks in cyberspace are not easy to spot—and the location of those digital bad neighborhoods can change all the time.
From ACM News
Intel: Why a 1,000-Core Chip Is Feasible
Chipmaker Intel has been investigating the issue of scaling the number of cores in chips through its Terascale Computing Research Program, which has so far yielded two experimental chips of 80 and 48 cores.
From ACM Opinion
2011 Preview: Million-Dollar Mathematics Problem
A draft solution to the so-called "P versus NP" problem generated excitement in 2010; will 2011 bring a correct proof?
From ACM News
Google's Marissa Mayer
Who says you have to be a guy to be a geek? This Google senior executive is teaching a new generation that femininity and technology are a winning formula.
From ACM Opinion
Why I Don't Want an Ipad For Christmas
Everyone wants an iPad this Christmas, right?
From ACM News
The Brainy Learning Algorithms of Numenta
How the inventor of the PalmPilot studied the workings of the human brain to help companies turn a deluge of data into business intelligence.
From ACM News
Web Giants Get Bigger, Location Takes Off
The easiest way to sum up the Web in 2010 is that it was a year of growth. The big got bigger and smaller companies came out of the woodwork with new plays on old ideas. It was also the year of location services, HTML5, and…
From ACM Opinion
Careful When Shooting the Messenger
In May 2009, The Daily Telegraph set off a political storm in Britain when it detailed widespread expense-account abuse by members of Parliament. Among the claims: £1,645, or $2,547, for a floating duck house in one lawmaker’s…
From ACM Opinion
Stuxnet's Finnish-Chinese Connection
I recently wrote a white paper entitled “Dragons, Tigers, Pearls, and Yellowcake” in which I proposed four alternative scenarios for the Stuxnet worm other than the commonly held assumption that it was Israel or the U.S. targeting…
From ACM Opinion
Time to Loosen Google's Grip?
In case you hadn't noticed, Google isn't just a Web search company any longer. In addition to online advertising, it's moving into operating system and application software, mobile telephone software, e-mail, Web browsers,…
From ACM News
Google Goes to the Cloud For New Idea in Pc System
In the personal-computer industry, where things change fast, one fact has been a constant for years: There are two major, mainstream operating systems for consumers.
From ACM News
Don't Prosecute Wikileaks
As faculty members and officers of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, we are concerned by recent reports that the Department of Justice is considering criminal charges against Julian Assange or others associated…
From ACM TechNews
Why a Moore's Law For Green Tech Doesn't Compute
Expecting green technology to follow a Moore's Law-type axiom is a formula for disappointment, according to CNet's Martin LaMonica.
From ACM TechNews
It's Time For E-Sputnik
The launch of the Soviet Union's Sputnik satellite is an apt metaphor for the threat of a surprise cyberattack on the United States and as a catalyst for spurring development of effective cybersecurity, according to former U.S…
From ACM Opinion
biquity Symposium: 'what Is Computation?'
A new series on ACM's Ubiquity seeks to answer the question: 'What is computation?' In this opening article, Ubiquity's editor-in-chief Peter J. Denning and co-author Peter Wegner frame the debate. The ongoing symposium is available…
From ACM News
Multitouch Pioneer Jeff Han Starts to Think Small (devices)
For years now, Jeff Han has been working on large-screen multitouch displays. Han and his company, Perceptive Pixel, are best known for creating the giant touch wall that John King and others at CNN use to break down the elections…
From ACM Opinion
Prosecute Assange nder the Espionage Act
Just as the First Amendment is not a license to yell 'Fire!' in a crowded theater, it is also not a license to jeopardize national security.
From ACM Opinion
The 24-Hour Athenian Democracy
"I'm aware of your need to stay anonymous, but I have to be able to describe the scope of this movement. Can any of you tell me where you're typing from?"
From ACM Opinion
The Man Behind Tumblr
The head of the microblogging site talks about the future of social networking and whether being a 24-year-old CEO makes it harder to command respect.
From ACM Opinion
How Google Plans to Clone You
Google is working on a virtual version of you. Will you call it 'Mini-Me?'
From ACM Opinion
Everything You Need to Know About Wikileaks
Two experts lay out the facts surrounding the controversy.
From ACM Opinion
"this Paper Should Not Have Been Published"
Scientists see fatal flaws in the NASA study of arsenic-based life.
From ACM Opinion
Seven Technologies Where China Has the .s. Beat
U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu recently highlighted the growing list of sectors where China's emerging leadership threatens U.S. players.
From ACM Opinion
Why Wikileaks Is Good For America
A truly free press—one unfettered by concerns of nationalism—is apparently a terrifying problem for elected governments and tyrannies alike.
From ACM News
.s. Chip Manufacturing in the Age of the Ipad
Behind the fly-off-the-shelf popularity of products like Apple's iPad and iPhone are hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs—mostly overseas. Is it possible to create more of those jobs here in the U.S. to combat chronically…
From ACM News
Every Day We Write the Book
What would happen if Facebook made its data available for research?
From ACM Opinion
Primal Rage: A Conversation with John Carmack, and a Look at Id's Latest
If there were a Mt. Rushmore of computer gaming, John Carmack's head would not only be on it, it would have the highest polygon count.
From ACM Opinion
Ftc 'do Not Track' Plan Would Be a Google Killer
The Federal Trade Commission proposed this week that consumers should have a "do not track" option for the Internet, similar to the "do not call" list that exists to block telemarketers.
From ACM Opinion
Assange on Secrecy, China, and Wikileaks' Growth
"Secrecy is important for many things," said WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in an interview with Time over Skype on Monday. Managing editor Richard Stengel had just asked him whether there were instances when secrecy could…