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An edited collection of advanced computing news from Communications of the ACM, ACM TechNews, other ACM resources, and news sites around the Web.


Supercomputing's Exaflop Target
From Communications of the ACM

Supercomputing's Exaflop Target

The twin challenges of parallelism and energy consumption are enlivening supercomputers' progress.

How to Grow Wires and Tiny Plates
From ACM TechNews

How to Grow Wires and Tiny Plates

Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have developed a method for controlling the shapes of submicroprocessors that makes it possible to build entire...

­sing Light to Send Data Across the Room
From ACM News

­sing Light to Send Data Across the Room

After Wi-Fi, will there be… Li-Fi?

Replacing Lost Abilities with a Robot
From ACM News

Replacing Lost Abilities with a Robot

Henry Evans recently shaved himself for the first time since a stroke left him mute and partly paralyzed 10 years ago. His achievement came thanks to researchers...

To Track Militants, U.s. Has System That Never Forgets a Face
From ACM News

To Track Militants, U.s. Has System That Never Forgets a Face

When the Taliban dug an elaborate tunnel system beneath the largest prison in southern Afghanistan this spring, they set off a scramble to catch the 475 inmates...

Soft Memory Device Opens Door to New Biocompatible Electronics
From ACM TechNews

Soft Memory Device Opens Door to New Biocompatible Electronics

Carolina State University researchers have developed a memory device that it is soft, pliable, and works well in wet environments. The researchers used a liquid...

Robots Get Kinect's 'eyes and Ears'
From ACM TechNews

Robots Get Kinect's 'eyes and Ears'

Microsoft has added Kinect's software development kit (SDK) to its free Robotics Developer Studio. Access to raw data as well as Kinect's pattern-recognition algorithms...

The Truth About Nasa's Space Tech Spinoffs
From ACM News

The Truth About Nasa's Space Tech Spinoffs

Tang. Velcro. Teflon. Each is popularly known as a product of the space age, and yet none of them represent actual NASA tech spinoffs. The real truth behind the...

Russia's Post-Shuttle Space Plans
From ACM News

Russia's Post-Shuttle Space Plans

With the U.S. manned space program grounded following the last mission of the space shuttle, the Russian Soyuz spacecraft is the only avenue into space for NASA...

The Ghost Space Shuttle: Nasa Ship in Houston For Every Mission
From ACM News

The Ghost Space Shuttle: Nasa Ship in Houston For Every Mission

For 30 years, every time a space shuttle has flown, so has OV-095, the ghost orbiter.

Nasa Spacecraft to Enter Large Asteroid's Orbit on July 15
From ACM News

Nasa Spacecraft to Enter Large Asteroid's Orbit on July 15

On July 15, NASA's Dawn spacecraft will begin a prolonged encounter with the asteroid Vesta, making the mission the first to enter orbit around a main-belt asteroid...

A New Direction for Digital Compasses
From ACM News

A New Direction for Digital Compasses

Cell phones and many other mobile devices now come packed with sensors capable of tracking them as they move. The digital compasses, gyroscopes, and accelerometers...

Wireless Power Could Cut Cord For Patients With Implanted Heart Pumps
From ACM TechNews

Wireless Power Could Cut Cord For Patients With Implanted Heart Pumps

Researchers at the universities of Washington and Pittsburgh have developed a wireless power system for ventricular assist devices, which are implanted in people...

Stanford Engineers Build a Nanoscale Device For Brain-Inspired Computing
From ACM TechNews

Stanford Engineers Build a Nanoscale Device For Brain-Inspired Computing

Stanford University researchers have developed a nanoelectronic device that mimics human brain synapses, which they say could lead to portable, energy-efficient...

Sandia's 'cooler' Technology Offers Fundamental Breakthrough in Heat Transfer For Microelectronics, Other Cooling Applications
From ACM TechNews

Sandia's 'cooler' Technology Offers Fundamental Breakthrough in Heat Transfer For Microelectronics, Other Cooling Applications

Sandia National Laboratories researchers have developed the Sandia Cooler, air-cooling technology that has the potential to greatly improve the heat-transfer capabilities...

'Talking' Cars Could Reduce Motorway Pile-­ps
From ACM News

'Talking' Cars Could Reduce Motorway Pile-­ps

Scientists from the University of Bologna in Italy have developed software that lets cars "communicate" with one another on the road.

Actuated Ankles Make Fake Feet Fitter
From ACM News

Actuated Ankles Make Fake Feet Fitter

A bionic foot with a battery pack could put the spring back in the step of people who wear leg prostheses.

Global Race on to Match U.s. Drone Capabilities
From ACM News

Global Race on to Match U.s. Drone Capabilities

At the most recent Zhuhai air show, the premier event for China's aviation industry, crowds swarmed around a model of an armed, jet-propelled drone and marveled...

From ACM TechNews

Raspberry Pi: Rise of the $25 Computer

Raspberry Pi developers have created a computer designed to inspire a new generation of computer programmers but inexpensive enough to enable schools to give them...

In Search of a Robot More Like ­S
From ACM News

In Search of a Robot More Like ­S

The robotics pioneer Rodney Brooks often begins speeches by reaching into his pocket, fiddling with some loose change, finding a quarter, pulling it out and twirling...
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