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
subjectHardware
authorSlate
bg-corner

Nsa Can Reportedly Track Phones Even When They're Turned Off
From ACM Opinion

Nsa Can Reportedly Track Phones Even When They're Turned Off

The NSA has a diverse range of surveillance capabilities—from monitoring Google Maps use to sifting through millions of phone call records and spying on Web searches...

Meet the Most Important Tech Company You've Probably Never Heard Of
From ACM Opinion

Meet the Most Important Tech Company You've Probably Never Heard Of

Never trust gadget-makers’ claims about battery life.

The Taming of the Spook
From ACM Opinion

The Taming of the Spook

On March 24, 2009, the National Security Agency’s inspector general issued a 51-page draft report on the President’s Surveillance Program, the warrantless authority...

Connecting the Dots, Missing the Story
From ACM Opinion

Connecting the Dots, Missing the Story

Could Big Data have prevented 9/11? Perhaps—Dick Cheney, for one, seems to think so.

I Would Have Hired Edward Snowden
From ACM Opinion

I Would Have Hired Edward Snowden

I don't know Edward Snowden, but I know his kind.

Why Americans Don't Fear the Nsa
From ACM Opinion

Why Americans Don't Fear the Nsa

Cybersnooping was always scheduled to be an important topic during President Obama’s meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Who's Watching You? Not Just the Nsa.
From ACM Opinion

Who's Watching You? Not Just the Nsa.

While you were tweeting an Instagram of your home-cooked tikka masala last night, we learned that the National Security Agency (NSA) has been collecting data on...

Our Guts May Hate Mars
From ACM Opinion

Our Guts May Hate Mars

Eighty thousand people recently applied for a trip to Mars, an excursion that will allegedly be funded by selling reality-TV show rights for the voyage.

Government Plan to Build 'back Doors' For Online Surveillance Could Create Dangerous Vulnerabilities
From ACM Opinion

Government Plan to Build 'back Doors' For Online Surveillance Could Create Dangerous Vulnerabilities

Recently, the FBI has been attacking the "going dark" problem—that is, its inability to read all electronic communications—from both legal and technological angles...

Steve Jobs' Dream Device Has Arrived
From ACM Opinion

Steve Jobs' Dream Device Has Arrived

Just before he died, Steve Jobs told his biographer Walter Isaacson about his dream for revolutionizing television.

Google Glass Isn't Lame
From ACM Opinion

Google Glass Isn't Lame

I've spent the last few weeks lowering my expectations for Google Glass.

Escape Plans
From ACM Opinion

Escape Plans

When the Russian asteroid became a fireball in the air over Chelyabinsk, destroying buildings and injuring hundreds, we were lucky it wasn’t worse.

Ok, Glass, Don't Make Me Look Stupid
From ACM Opinion

Ok, Glass, Don't Make Me Look Stupid

A man sitting alone at his kitchen table pauses before eating his breakfast.

What Is the Syrian Electronic Army Trying to Accomplish, Anyway?
From ACM Opinion

What Is the Syrian Electronic Army Trying to Accomplish, Anyway?

In June 2011, just a few short months after protests first erupted in Syria, the country's president, Bashar Al-Assad, made a speech in which he thanked a group...

Superhero or Supervillain?
From ACM Opinion

Superhero or Supervillain?

From invisibility to superhuman strength to telekinesis, a wave of emerging technologies promise to give people powers once reserved for comic-book characters.

How Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen See the Future
From ACM Opinion

How Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen See the Future

Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt is ready for a future where his smart mattress monitors sleep patterns and alerts the curtains to allow daylight in, waking...

Apple's Next Big Thing
From ACM Opinion

Apple's Next Big Thing

The iPad has always labored under the shadow of its little brother the iPhone.

We Need More Cameras, and We Need Them Now
From ACM Opinion

We Need More Cameras, and We Need Them Now

On Thursday afternoon, the FBI released photos and video of two persons of interest in the Boston Marathon bombing.

How New Military Technologies Can Help Prevent the Next Boston or Newtown
From ACM Opinion

How New Military Technologies Can Help Prevent the Next Boston or Newtown

This week, it's bombs. In December, it was guns.

Will Bitcoins Make Me Rich?
From ACM Opinion

Will Bitcoins Make Me Rich?

Let me begin this column with a lengthy disclosure. One morning last week, I stopped at my bank, filled out a withdrawal slip for $1,027.51, and walked away with...
Sign In for Full Access
» Forgot Password? » Create an ACM Web Account