acm-header
Sign In

Communications of the ACM

Recent Opinion


bg-corner

A Radical Proposal: Replace Hard Disks with Dram
From ACM Opinion

A Radical Proposal: Replace Hard Disks with Dram

When it comes to computer storage, the magnetic disk has been top dog for almost half a century.

Cassini Seeks Insights to Life in Plumes of Enceladus, Saturn’s Icy Moon
From ACM News

Cassini Seeks Insights to Life in Plumes of Enceladus, Saturn’s Icy Moon

Where there is water, is there life?

Why Fully Autonomous Robot Cars Hail from the 20th Century
From ACM Opinion

Why Fully Autonomous Robot Cars Hail from the 20th Century

A vision of fully autonomous, self-driving cars allowing human owners to nap or read in the car seems to come from the future.

How the Internet Has Changed Bullying
From ACM Opinion

How the Internet Has Changed Bullying

This summer, American Psychologist, the official journal of the American Psychological Association, released a special issue on the topic of bullying and victimization...

These 5 Facts Explain the Rise of the Drone
From ACM Opinion

These 5 Facts Explain the Rise of the Drone

The October 15 release of the so-called Drone Papers, leaked reports that appear to document the U.S. use of drone aircraft for military purposes, has given the...

We Don't Need Humans on Mars
From ACM Opinion

We Don't Need Humans on Mars

The two mobile robots Spirit and Opportunity were launched from Earth in 2003 and arrived on opposite sides of Mars in 2004. A suite of cameras, instruments, and...

Max Schrems, Who Torpedoed Safe Harbor 1, Sees No Safe Harbor 2
From ACM Opinion

Max Schrems, Who Torpedoed Safe Harbor 1, Sees No Safe Harbor 2

He's just helped bring down a longstanding trans-Atlantic data-transfer pact used by thousands of businesses and Austrian privacy activist Max Schrems is already...

Fight Isis By Thinking Inside the Bot
From ACM Opinion

Fight Isis By Thinking Inside the Bot

What if we told you that fighting ISIS could be done cheaply, relatively easily, in a manner that would not escalate or put any in harm’s way?

Hackers Make Cars Safer. Don't Ban Them From Tinkering
From ACM Opinion

Hackers Make Cars Safer. Don't Ban Them From Tinkering

Virtually every new car sold today has some sort of network connection.

How the Scariest Video Games ­se Our Own Minds to Terrify ­s
From ACM Opinion

How the Scariest Video Games ­se Our Own Minds to Terrify ­s

I think he’s gone—Oh! He's not gone he’s not gone no no no he’s not gone oh Jesus Christ look at his face

Guys, Lots of Signals from Space Seem Like Aliens
From ACM Opinion

Guys, Lots of Signals from Space Seem Like Aliens

Last week, astronomers—amateur and pro—got excited about some strange results from the Kepler Space Telescope, the NASA observatory tasked with searching for Earth...

What Machines Can Learn from People and We Can Learn from Them
From ACM Opinion

What Machines Can Learn from People and We Can Learn from Them

Guruduth Banavar is an executive at IBM leading the team developing a new generation of cognitive systems—don't call it artificial intelligence—known as Watson.

Scores of Scores: How Companies Are Reducing Consumers to Single Numbers
From ACM Opinion

Scores of Scores: How Companies Are Reducing Consumers to Single Numbers

In his novel Super Sad True Love Story, Gary Shteyngart imagined ubiquitous poles installed on sidewalks that display people’s credit scores as they walked by.

China's Xiaomi's Is Changing the ­.s. Too
From ACM Opinion

China's Xiaomi's Is Changing the ­.s. Too

Xiaomi is the most important phone manufacturer you've never heard of.

Apple Is Learning an Expensive Lesson About ­niversities
From ACM Opinion

Apple Is Learning an Expensive Lesson About ­niversities

You may have heard that Apple's on the hook for $862 million in potential penalties after a jury ruled that it infringed on a patent owned by the University of...

If You're Not Paranoid, You're Crazy
From ACM Opinion

If You're Not Paranoid, You're Crazy

I knew we'd bought walnuts at the store that week, and I wanted to add some to my oatmeal.

What Science-Fiction Gadget Would Be Most Valuable in Real Life?
From ACM Opinion

What Science-Fiction Gadget Would Be Most Valuable in Real Life?

Nicole Perlman, screenwriter, Guardians of the Galaxy: As someone who’s both accident-prone and constantly putting her foot in her mouth, my first thought is the...

European Ruling Is Merely a Symbolic Victory For Privacy
From ACM Opinion

European Ruling Is Merely a Symbolic Victory For Privacy

A decision on Tuesday by the European Union’s highest court, striking down an agreement between the E.U. and the United States that allows companies like Facebook...

Why Companies Won't Learn From the T-Mobile/experian Hack
From ACM Opinion

Why Companies Won't Learn From the T-Mobile/experian Hack

Last Thursday, John Legere, the C.E.O. of T-Mobile, joined the ranks of the dozens of chief executives who, in the past few years, have had to inform their customers...

Our ­niverse: It's the 'simplest' Thing We Know
From ACM Opinion

Our ­niverse: It's the 'simplest' Thing We Know

Our universe is actually really simple, it's just our cosmological theories that are getting needlessly complex, argues one of the world's leading theoretical physicists...
Sign In for Full Access
» Forgot Password? » Create an ACM Web Account