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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.


The Jet Propulsion Lab Is Way Weirder (and Awesomer) Than You Even Imagined
From ACM Opinion

The Jet Propulsion Lab Is Way Weirder (and Awesomer) Than You Even Imagined

For a center of cutting-edge scientific research, Caltech's Jet Propulsion Lab seems to be a pretty wacky place. Luke Johnson, a graphic designer at the lab, set...

Harness Unused Smartphone Power For a Computing Boost
From ACM News

Harness Unused Smartphone Power For a Computing Boost

Smarphone owners carry around more processing power in their pocket than a 1970s-era supercomputer, but most of the time it languishes unused.

Helping Utilities Monitor For Network Security
From ACM TechNews

Helping Utilities Monitor For Network Security

Idaho National Laboratory researchers have developed Sophia, software designed to help network operators detect intruders and other anomalies.

Computer Viruses Could Take a Lesson From Showy Peacocks
From ACM TechNews

Computer Viruses Could Take a Lesson From Showy Peacocks

To test theories in mate attraction in nature, Michigan State University researchers developed Avida, a virtual world in which promiscuous computer programs compete...

The Joys of ­rban Tech
From ACM Careers

The Joys of ­rban Tech

For as long as many of us can remember, high-tech industries have flourished in the suburban office parks that are so ubiquitous in Silicon Valley, North Carolina's...

A Who's Who of Mideast-Targeted Malware
From ACM News

A Who's Who of Mideast-Targeted Malware

What do Stuxnet, Duqu, Gauss, Mahdi, Flame, Wiper, and Shamoon have in common?

Visual Programming Means Anyone Can Be a Coder
From ACM TechNews

Visual Programming Means Anyone Can Be a Coder

New York University programmer Toby Schachman has developed Recursive Drawing, an experimental programming interface that enables coders to manipulate source code...

Researchers Hack Brainwaves to Reveal Pin Numbers, Other Personal Data
From ACM News

Researchers Hack Brainwaves to Reveal Pin Numbers, Other Personal Data

Don't you dare even think about your banking account password when you slap on those fancy new brainwave headsets.

A Peace Corps For Civic-Minded Geeks
From ACM TechNews

A Peace Corps For Civic-Minded Geeks

The nonprofit Code for America, a kind of Peace Corps for geeks, has led the way in bringing online efficiency to offline government systems, picking a team of...

Inside Huawei, the Chinese Tech Giant That's Rattling Nerves in D.c.
From ACM News

Inside Huawei, the Chinese Tech Giant That's Rattling Nerves in D.c.

Chen Lifang is a bit flummoxed.

Software Meant to Fight Crime Is ­sed to Spy on Dissidents
From ACM TechNews

Software Meant to Fight Crime Is ­sed to Spy on Dissidents

Commercially available spyware originally designed to aid in criminal investigations is being used by repressive regimes to track political dissidents, according...

From Smart to Genius: Will Design Define Future Gadgets?
From ACM News

From Smart to Genius: Will Design Define Future Gadgets?

In a pre-iPhone age, mobile phones came in all shapes and sizes. Remember the clamshell, candy bar, swivel, backflip, slider, dual-slider, lipstick, and, of course...

How Steve Jobs' Love of Simplicity Fueled A Design Revolution
From ACM Opinion

How Steve Jobs' Love of Simplicity Fueled A Design Revolution

Steve Jobs' interest in design began with his love for his childhood home.

Nasa's Dawn Prepares For Trek Toward Dwarf Planet
From ACM News

Nasa's Dawn Prepares For Trek Toward Dwarf Planet

NASA's Dawn spacecraft is on track to become the first probe to orbit and study two distant destinations to help scientists answer questions about the formation...

New Zealand Software Patent Law 'betrays' Developers
From ACM TechNews

New Zealand Software Patent Law 'betrays' Developers

A New Zealand politician has advanced a proposed software patent measure that contains an exemption for software embedded in other inventions. Critics say that ...

From Bug Drones to Disease Assassins, Super Weapons Rule ­.s. War Game
From ACM News

From Bug Drones to Disease Assassins, Super Weapons Rule ­.s. War Game

A rogue state is on the verge of developing a deadly biological weapon against which the rest of the world has no defense.

How Pacific Island Missile Tests Helped Launch the Internet
From ACM News

How Pacific Island Missile Tests Helped Launch the Internet

There are a thousand stories about the origin of the internet, each with their own starting point and their own heroes. Charles Herzfeld's tale began in 1961 on...

Active in Cloud, Amazon Reshapes Computing
From ACM News

Active in Cloud, Amazon Reshapes Computing

Within a few years, Amazon.com's creative destruction of both traditional book publishing and retailing may be footnotes to the company’s larger and more secretive...

Analysis Shows Traces of Wiper Malware But No Links to Flame
From ACM News

Analysis Shows Traces of Wiper Malware But No Links to Flame

One of the things about the investigation into the Flame malware that's remained unclear for several months now is what ever became of the so-called Wiper virus...

Cutting the Costs of Secure, Evolving Software
From ACM TechNews

Cutting the Costs of Secure, Evolving Software

The European Union-funded SecureChange project found that only about one-third of a program's code changed from one version to the next.
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