acm-header
Sign In

Communications of the ACM

News


bg-corner

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


Growing Bio-Inspired Shapes With Hundreds of Tiny Robots
From ACM TechNews

Growing Bio-Inspired Shapes With Hundreds of Tiny Robots

Researchers have found that hundreds of small robots can work in a team to create biology-inspired shapes without an underlying master plan.

Hardware-Software Co-Design Approach Could Make Neural Networks Less Power Hungry
From ACM TechNews

Hardware-Software Co-Design Approach Could Make Neural Networks Less Power Hungry

A neuro-inspired hardware-software co-design approach could make neural network training more energy-efficient and faster.

One Giant Step for a Chess-Playing Machine
From ACM News

One Giant Step for a Chess-Playing Machine

In early December, researchers at DeepMind, the artificial-intelligence company owned by Google's parent corporation, Alphabet Inc., filed a dispatch from the frontiers...

­.S. Passes Bill to Inject $1.2 Billion Into the Quantum Tech Race
From ACM News

­.S. Passes Bill to Inject $1.2 Billion Into the Quantum Tech Race

The new law, called the National Quantum Initiative Act, allocates up to $1.2 billion in funding to keep American quantum information science competitive on the...

Machine Vision Can Create Harry Potter-Style Photos for Muggles
From ACM TechNews

Machine Vision Can Create Harry Potter-Style Photos for Muggles

New software can animate the central character in a photograph while leaving the rest of the image untouched.

Brazilian Museum Destroyed by Fire Lives on Through Google
From ACM TechNews

Brazilian Museum Destroyed by Fire Lives on Through Google

Google is helping preserve Brazil's National Museum via a virtual exhibition, three months after the institution's destruction by fire.

An Amoeba Just Found an Entirely New Way to Solve a Classic Computing Problem
From ACM TechNews

An Amoeba Just Found an Entirely New Way to Solve a Classic Computing Problem

Researchers gave the Traveling Salesman Problem to a "true slime mold" amoeba.

How AI Spotted Every Solar Panel in the ­.S.
From ACM TechNews

How AI Spotted Every Solar Panel in the ­.S.

Stanford University engineers have developed a method for locating every solar panel in the contiguous U.S.

A Robotic Hand Plays the Piano With a More Human Touch
From ACM TechNews

A Robotic Hand Plays the Piano With a More Human Touch

Researchers have developed a robotic hand that can play the piano.

These Incredibly Realistic Fake Faces Show How Algorithms Can Now Mess with ­s
From ACM News

These Incredibly Realistic Fake Faces Show How Algorithms Can Now Mess with ­s

These faces don't seem particularly remarkable. They could easily be taken from, say, Facebook or LinkedIn. In reality, they were dreamed up by a new kind of AI...

NASA's InSight Places First Instrument on Mars
From ACM News

NASA's InSight Places First Instrument on Mars

NASA's InSight lander has deployed its first instrument onto the surface of Mars, completing a major mission milestone. New images from the lander show the seismometer...

Computer Hardware for 3D Games Could Hold the Key to Replicating the Brain
From ACM TechNews

Computer Hardware for 3D Games Could Hold the Key to Replicating the Brain

Researchers have developed what they describe as the fastest, most energy-efficient simulation of part of a rat brain, using off-the-shelf computer hardware.

Network Orchestration: SL­ Researcher ­ses Music to Manage Networks
From ACM TechNews

Network Orchestration: SL­ Researcher ­ses Music to Manage Networks

Saint Louis University researchers have proposed a sound-based traffic-management solution for network orchestration.

A Toaster on Wheels to Deliver Groceries? Self-Driving Tech Tests Practical ­ses
From ACM TechNews

A Toaster on Wheels to Deliver Groceries? Self-Driving Tech Tests Practical ­ses

Slow uptake of driverless passenger services is spurring the autonomous industry to experiment with offerings like food deliveries from small, self-driving vehicles...

Then One Foggy Christmas Eve, Reindeers Got Connected
From ACM TechNews

Then One Foggy Christmas Eve, Reindeers Got Connected

Reindeer herders in Finland are fitting their animals with Internet-connected collars to keep track of their whereabouts in the wilderness, using a mobile app. ...

Meet 'Millie' the Avatar. She'd Like to Sell You a Pair of Sunglasses
From ACM TechNews

Meet 'Millie' the Avatar. She'd Like to Sell You a Pair of Sunglasses

A Canadian startup has created a life-size digital avatar to help retail brands looking for ways to boost falling in-store sales in the face of growing competition...

How Computers Got Shockingly Good at Recognizing Images
From ACM News

How Computers Got Shockingly Good at Recognizing Images

Right now, I can open up Google Photos, type "beach," and see my photos from various beaches I've visited over the last decade.

Robot Hand That Plays Jingle Bells Could Help Make Better Limbs
From ACM News

Robot Hand That Plays Jingle Bells Could Help Make Better Limbs

It's not the best version of Jingle Bells you'll ever hear—it's being played by a rubber robot hand. But the hand could point the way to better designs for robot...

China's Tech Giants Want to Go Global. Just One Thing Might Stand in Their Way.
From ACM News

China's Tech Giants Want to Go Global. Just One Thing Might Stand in Their Way.

In the early 1980s, a cluster of fledging computer companies opened up shop in a chaotic corner of northwest Beijing, near the campuses of Peking and Tsinghua Universities...

Deep Learning Technique Reveals 'Invisible' Objects in the Dark
From ACM TechNews

Deep Learning Technique Reveals 'Invisible' Objects in the Dark

Engineers used a deep neural network to train a computer to reconstruct transparent objects from images captured in almost total darkness.
Sign In for Full Access
» Forgot Password? » Create an ACM Web Account