Communications of the ACM
A Healthy Dose of AI
Building artificial intelligence into medical devices can speed diagnoses and potentially improve treatments and outcomes.
From ACM NewsAn edited collection of advanced computing news from Communications of the ACM, ACM TechNews, other ACM resources, and news sites around the Web.
From ACM TechNews
Robots With Skin Enter Our Touchy-Feely World
A team at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) in May will circulate to various labs the first components of a touch-sensitive skin for their iCub humanoid...
From ACM TechNews
Barcodes Help Objects Tell Their Stories
Five U.K. academic institutions have collaborated to create the Tales of Things, a Web site based on the concept of the Internet of things that enables users to...
From ACM News
Robots Look to the Cloud for Enlightenment
With the phrase "web 2.0" falling out of vogue, the most exciting new uses of the internet are now all about the cloud, a term for servers invisibly doing smart...
From ACM TechNews
Hand-Held Projector Images Respond to the Real World
A prototype of a handheld projector created virtual characters that interacted with the real world at the recent Virtual Reality 2010 meeting in Waltham, MA.
From ACM News
Entangle Qubits for a True Random Number Machine
Pure randomness is surprisingly difficult to create, even if you draw on the inherent randomness of quantum mechanics. Now, though, a "true" random number generator...
From ACM News
Touch Floors Could Be Next Step in Computer Interfaces
Imagine entering your living room and sliding your foot purposefully over a particular stretch of floor. Your hi-fi system springs to life, pumping out the sounds...
From ACM News
Visual Tricks Can Make Downloads Seem Quicker
Twiddling our thumbs while waiting for files to download is one of the great frustrations of our high-speed, technologically interconnected world. Computer scientists...
From ACM TechNews
Diamond Chips to Make Meaner, Greener Electronics
Researchers at Japan's AIST have developed synthetic diamonds that could be used to make microchips capable of processing high-powered signals without requiring...
From ACM News
Can We Make a Conscious Machine?
Challenges don't get much bigger than trying to create artificial consciousness. Some doubt if it can be done--or if it ever should. Bolder researchers are notAntonio...
From ACM News
Look, No Hands: Cars That Drive Better Than You
With his jeans, white trainers and stripy top, Bob is every inch the well-dressed 6-year-old. He's standing in the middle of a hotel car park and, scarily, I'm...
From ACM TechNews
Babbage Nanomachine Promises Low-Energy Computing
Boston University researchers have created a nanoscale mechanical logic gate that could form the basis of tiny mechanical computers, descendants of Babbage's mechanical...
From ACM TechNews
Frank Moss: Tech to Help Those Who Can't Help Themselves
Frank Moss, head of the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, says there are real opportunities in developing technology for disabled or disadvantaged...
From ACM News
Are Machines Ready to Break Down Language Barriers?
Even in an era of global networks and cheap travel, international communication still faces one great barrier: we don't all speak the same language. But that gap...
From ACM TechNews
Electronics 'Missing Link' Brings Neural Computing Closer
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Assistant Professor Wei Lu is leading a research effort to make brain-like computers using memristors.
From ACM TechNews
Human Arm Transmits Broadband
Korea University researchers have developed a method for transmitting data at a rate of 10 megabits per second through a person's arm, between two electrodes on...
From ACM News
Amputees Could Get a Helping Hand in the Virtual World
What is the best way to for someone to get used to their artificial limb? Put them in a virtual environment. So says Anthony Steed, a computer scientist at University...
From ACM TechNews
Sending Botnets the Way of Smallpox
University of Tulsa researchers have published a legal study on three "technically feasible" compulsory vaccination scenarios that governments could consider to...
From ACM TechNews
Safety Issues Loom as Humanoid Invasion Approaches
As robot technology advances, and their use puts them in closer contact with humans, safety has become a top priority for some researchers.
From ACM News
For Smaller Chips, Borrow 18th-Century Tricks
A new take on a centuries-old printing technique could shrink silicon chips and lead to advances in ultra-high-density computer storage. Computer chips are made...
From ACM TechNews