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Cloud Computing and SaaS as New Computing Platforms
From Communications of the ACM

Cloud Computing and SaaS as New Computing Platforms

To become an industry platform, vendors must open their infrastructure technology to other product companies.

Be Careful What You Wish For
From Communications of the ACM

Be Careful What You Wish For

Reflections on the decline of mathematical tables.

A Tale of 20 Interns, One Project and One Fiery Debate
From ACM Opinion

A Tale of 20 Interns, One Project and One Fiery Debate

Few geeks are unfamiliar with the concept of the "Mythical Man-Month" from Fred Brooks' classic software engineering tome by the same name. It's a classic for good...

From ACM Opinion

Braking Bad

 The Obama administration has said that it may require automakers to install “smart pedals” on all new cars. This kind of system—already used in BMWs, Chryslers...

From ACM Opinion

Apple's Multitouch Lawsuit Is Both Dumb and Dangerous

When Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone at 2007's Macworld conference, he began by describing the device's groundbreaking user interface. "We have invented...

Orchestrating Coordination in Pluralistic Networks
From Communications of the ACM

Orchestrating Coordination in Pluralistic Networks

Learning to build virtual teams of people of diverse backgrounds is an urgent challenge.

Gaming Will Save Us All
From Communications of the ACM

Gaming Will Save Us All

How gaming, as the first media market to successfully transition toward media-as-a-service, is an exemplar for a similar evolutionary transition of content and...

Nhtsa Has No Software Engineers or Ees To Analyze Toyotas
From ACM Opinion

Nhtsa Has No Software Engineers or Ees To Analyze Toyotas

A report in The Washington Post on the Congressional investigation of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's response to multiple reports of Toyota...

Google's Diplomatic Alliance with ­.s. Carries Risks
From ACM Opinion

Google's Diplomatic Alliance with ­.s. Carries Risks

Google Inc.'s mastery of Internet search technology is unrivaled, but the high-tech pioneer is in uncharted territory as it finds itself embroiled in U.S. diplomatic...

Humobots in Space
From ACM Opinion

Humobots in Space

Despite the cancellation of NASA's back-to-the-moon program, the next steps on the moon will likely be taken sometime in the next decade under human control. It's...

Can Silicon Valley Write Software For the 'normal'?
From ACM Opinion

Can Silicon Valley Write Software For the 'normal'?

Apple gets a fair amount of criticism for its supposed elitism, but Apple products reveal the opposite: they're made for normal people who generally don't obsess...

From ACM Opinion

I'm Sorry, Dave, I'm Afraid I Can't Make a ­-Turn

When Toyota Prius owners take their cars to the dealer under the company's latest recall, they'll likely be out of the shop in about 30 minutes. Even though the...

From ACM Opinion

Why Google Wants a Faster Internet

There was no lack of, well, buzz about Google's new Buzz social-media platform last week, but more important were a series of moves that suggest the search giant...

From ACM Opinion

Lost in #haiti

If Iran's post-election uprising last summer was the world's first "Twitter revolution," the massive Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti was the first "Twitter disaster...

From ACM Opinion

Estimating Programming Time

Accurately estimating programming time is, in part, a process of defining limitations—experience, domain knowledge, speed vs. quality. It is also about thinking...

From ACM Opinion

Don Syme: Geek of the Week

It came as a surprise to many when Microsoft pulled from its hat a rabbit in the form of an exciting, radical, language that offers an effective alternative to...

From ACM Opinion

Don Syme: Geek of the Week

It came as a surprise to many when Microsoft pulled from its hat a rabbit in the form of an exciting, radical, language that offers an effective alternative to...

From ACM Opinion

How Movies Activate Your Neural G-Spot

Here’s a typical “date night” with me and Hollywood: I don’t know what I want to see. Neither does Hollywood. But it bangs on my eyeballs and eardrums like Stanley...

From ACM Opinion

The Best Web Browser on the Planet

I like to think of myself as the Dick Cheney of the Browser Wars—an unyielding proponent of greater and greater hostilities between the developers working on Chrome...

From ACM Opinion

'don't Be Evil,' Meet 'spy on Everyone': How the Nsa Deal Could Kill Google

The company once known for its "don't be evil" motto is now in bed with the spy agency known for the mass surveillance of American citizens. The National Security...
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