acm-header
Sign In

Communications of the ACM

Recent Opinion


Articles Interviews Vardi's Insights Chien's Vantage Opinion Archive Refine your search:
dateMore Than a Year Ago
subjectHuman Computer Interaction
authorScientific American
bg-corner

When Will We Be Able to Vote Online?
From ACM Opinion

When Will We Be Able to Vote Online?

Sooner or later everything seems to go online. Newspapers. TV. Radio. Shopping. Banking. Dating.

Human Missions to Mars Will Look Completely Different from The Martian
From ACM Opinion

Human Missions to Mars Will Look Completely Different from The Martian

Landing in U.S. theaters last week, Ridley Scott's The Martian is being acclaimed as one of the most realistic portrayals of human space exploration ever filmed...

Do We Need to Prepare For the Robot ­prising?
From ACM Opinion

Do We Need to Prepare For the Robot ­prising?

For most of my life, I've been disappointed in robots.

­sing Technology to Break the Speed Barrier of Reading
From ACM Opinion

­sing Technology to Break the Speed Barrier of Reading

I grew up in a tiny New York City apartment, packed in alongside our four cats and my father's immense personal library of some 3000 books.

Move Over, Siri—the Next Generation of Virtual Assistants Is Almost Here
From ACM Opinion

Move Over, Siri—the Next Generation of Virtual Assistants Is Almost Here

Virtual voice-controlled assistants such as Siri, Cortana and Google Now are magical.

Why Is Blue Light Before Bedtime Bad For Sleep?
From ACM Opinion

Why Is Blue Light Before Bedtime Bad For Sleep?

In the modern age of technology it is not uncommon to come home after a long day at work or school and blow off steam by reading an e-book or watching television...

Will Artificial Intelligence Surpass Our Own?
From ACM Opinion

Will Artificial Intelligence Surpass Our Own?

Famed science-fiction writer Fredric Brown (1906–1972) delighted in creating the shortest of short stories. "Answer," published in 1954, encapsulated a prescient...

What Is the Big Secret Surrounding Stingray Surveillance?
From ACM Opinion

What Is the Big Secret Surrounding Stingray Surveillance?

Given the amount of mobile phone traffic that cell phone towers transmit, it is no wonder law enforcement agencies target these devices as a rich source of data...

Will Millimeter Waves Maximize 5g Wireless?
From ACM Opinion

Will Millimeter Waves Maximize 5g Wireless?

Every decade or so since the first cellular networks appeared the companies that make mobile devices and the networks linking them have worked out new requirements...

The Inner Lives of Robots: An Interview with Filmmaker Alex Garland
From ACM Opinion

The Inner Lives of Robots: An Interview with Filmmaker Alex Garland

Like self-replicating machines, robot movies are taking over Hollywood.

First White House Data Chief Discusses His Top Priorities
From ACM Opinion

First White House Data Chief Discusses His Top Priorities

Data science is not entirely new to Washington, D.C.—nor is DJ Patil, who was recently named as the U.S.'s first chief data scientist.

Nanotech Pioneer Langer Wins Award By Thinking Small
From ACM Opinion

Nanotech Pioneer Langer Wins Award By Thinking Small

Bioengineer Robert Langer has spent his career looking for the next not-so-big thing.

Search Gives ­s Superpowers
From ACM News

Search Gives ­s Superpowers

Machine learning—an area of AI focusing on systems that "learn" from data in order to navigate future similar scenarios—is one of the ways we’ve managed to give...

How the Smartphone Killed Typing—but Started an AI Revolution
From ACM Opinion

How the Smartphone Killed Typing—but Started an AI Revolution

Steve Jobs often swam against the tide of prevailing opinion.

What Is It Like to Control a Robotic Arm with a Brain Implant?
From ACM Opinion

What Is It Like to Control a Robotic Arm with a Brain Implant?

Jan Scheuermann is not your average experimental subject.

'glass Brain' Offers Tours of the Space Between Your Ears
From ACM Opinion

'glass Brain' Offers Tours of the Space Between Your Ears

Former Grateful Dead percussionist Mickey Hart takes pride in his brain.

The Case For Kill Switches in Military Weaponry
From ACM Opinion

The Case For Kill Switches in Military Weaponry

This summer the insurgent group ISIS captured the Iraqi city of Mosul—and along with it, three army divisions' worth of U.S.-supplied equipment from the Iraqi army...

Could Google Glass Ruin Your Memory?
From ACM Opinion

Could Google Glass Ruin Your Memory?

We’ve all done it: We’re at an event, we take a bunch of photos with our phones, we take a selfie and maybe one with a friend, we post all the images online,...

Beyond Classic Brain Illustrations That Make ­S Drool
From ACM Opinion

Beyond Classic Brain Illustrations That Make ­S Drool

I threw down a bit of a challenge last month at the Association of Medical Illustrators Conference in Minnesota.

When Big Data Marketing Becomes Stalking
From ACM Opinion

When Big Data Marketing Becomes Stalking

Many of us now expect our online activities to be recorded and analyzed, but we assume that the physical spaces we inhabit are different.
Sign In for Full Access
» Forgot Password? » Create an ACM Web Account