Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
January 2010
From ACM TechNews
Cmu, Intel Collaborate to Improve Energy Costs and Efficiency in Chip Making
Researchers at Intel and Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) have developed a new class of materials called solder magnetic nanocomposites, which could help streamline the process of computer electronic packaging.
From ACM TechNews
Security Experts Poke Theoretical Holes in 3g Encryption
Weizmann Institute of Science researchers recently created a theoretical attack capable of breaking the encryption protocol that is planned for use on 3G telephony. The researchers say the planned encryption protocol for 3G…
From ACM News
Tech Volunteers Build New Tools to Aid Haiti Relief Efforts
Techies are gathering in person and online to collaborate on the development of new systems to support rescuers and relief workers on the ground in Haiti, and to provide victims with ways to communicate their needs and connect…
From ACM News
Willow Garage to Give Away Personal Robots
Willow Garage unveiled its PR2 Beta robot last week, and announced to research institutions around the world that they can apply to have one at no cost.
From ICT Results
Making Braille Music niversally Accessible
Blind musicians have had restricted access to scores due to the scarcity and limitations of Braille transcriptions. A new European system makes music for the blind more available and far easier to use.
From ACM News
Cybersecurity Expert Stays Creative Baking Bread
Is there a recipe a scientist might follow to spur creativity and cook up new discoveries? Cyber security expert Kevin Fu of the University of Massachusetts Amherst says spending time in the kitchen experimenting with basics…
From ACM News
Web Access Is New Clinton Doctrine
The U.S. plans to make unrestricted access to the Internet a top foreign-policy priority, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton plans to announce Thursday (January 21). Mrs. Clinton sees Internet freedom as critical to America's…
From ACM News
Fearing Hackers Who Leave No Trace
The crown jewels of Google, Cisco Systems or any other technology company are the millions of lines of programming instructions, known as source code, that make its products run.
If hackers could steal those key instructions…From ACM TechNews
U.s. Keeps Science Lead, But Other Countries Gain
The United States remains the world's leader in science and technology, based on factors such as gross dollars spent, relative spending on research, research articles published, and patents granted, according to the National…
From ACM TechNews
Organized Chaos Gets Robots Going
Gottingen scientists have created a walking robot that can switch between multiple gaits depending on the surrounding environment. The robot uses a single central pattern generator to analyze sensor input signals and generate…
From ACM TechNews
China Details Homemade Supercomputer Plan
Researchers at the Chinese Institute of Computing Technology (ICT) have built a supercomputer using only home-grown microprocessors. The supercomputer, known as the Dawning 6000, will run Linux and will be completed by mid 2010…
From ACM TechNews
Intel Joins Search For Thought-Controlled Tech
Researchers are developing technology that would enable people to control electronic devices using only their thoughts. The technology uses software that can analyze and interpret patterns in the brain's electrical activity…
From ACM TechNews
Multilingual Translation System Receives Over 2 Million Euro in Eu Funding
University of Gothenburg professor Aarne Ranta is leading an effort to create a reliable translation tool that covers most of the European Union languages. The open source Multilingual On-Line Translation (MOLTO) project is…
From ACM TechNews
Going Beyond Moore's Law By sing the Third Dimension
Institute of Physics and Chemistry of Materials of Strasbourg researchers have manufactured microwires that self-assemble themselves into a three-dimensional template and connect to electrodes with an accuracy of a few micrometers…
From ACM TechNews
New Toolbar to Aid Web Accessibility
A team at the University of Southampton is working on a toolbar that promises to make the Web more accessible. The Joint Information Systems Committee TechDis toolbar is designed to read text aloud and check spelling. It also…
From ACM News
Google Patents Mapreduce
Google has received a patent for the technique known as MapReduce. The patent, number 7,650,331, applied for in 2004, is entitled "System and method for efficient large-scale data processing" and covers the process of mapping…
From ACM News
Korean Robot Maid Upgraded to do Laundry, Use Microwave
The prospect of a future that includes robot maids took an incremental step forward to reality. Korean scientists have created a domestic robot that cleans, dumps clothes in the washing machine and even heats food in the microwave…
From ACM TechNews
New Groovy Cozies p to Java, Sql
SpringSource recently released version 1.7 of Groovy, a dynamically compiled computer language that runs on Sun Microsystems' Java Virtual Machine (JVM). By running on JVM, Groovy can use all of the available Java libraries…
From ACM TechNews
Software Ensures Translation Accuracy
New software developed by researchers in Malaysia has yielded promising results for translating English into Arabic. The Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia team used a set of grammatical rules to correct word agreement…
From ACM News
Scammers Target Givers After Haiti Earthquake
The earthquake in Haiti has motivated many people to make contributions to help. "Unfortunately, these events also bring out the con artists and scammers who are more interested in making money for themselves rather than contributing…
From ACM News
Engineering Firm Awards Contract To Rowan niversity Computer Science Team
Mission Solutions Engineering has awarded a $100,000 one-year contract to Rowan University to help the firm improve the capabilities of a software system called Advanced Display Infrastructure.
From ACM News
Today's Threat: Computer Network Terrorism
"A fleet of fighter planes is not necessary to attack a power station; a keyboard is sufficient. And if you don't have the skills, there are enough mercenary hackers who can do it for you," says Dr. Yaniv Levyatan, a University…
From ICT Results
Middleware Supports Easy-Build Wireless Networks
Networks that monitor life-threatening situations or improve environmental efficiencies will be easier and cheaper to develop and operate, following the creation of a single middleware solution for the entire spectrum of wireless…
From ACM TechNews
Robots For Surgery, Farming and Valet Parking
Korean Ministry of Knowledge Economy (MKE) officials recently announced the development of robots conceptually similar to the avatar humanoids seen in the movie "Avatar." "Already, domestic robot makers are working on prototypes…
From ACM TechNews
Reading Your Mind to Tag Images (and Work With Computers)
Studies done at Microsoft Research are using electroencephalograph (EEG) measurements to read users' minds in order to help tag online images. The researchers say the mind-reading technique is the first step toward a hybrid…
From ACM TechNews
Computer Vision System Analyzes Human Behavior
European researchers, coordinated by the Autonomous University of Barcelona, have developed a cognitive computational system that uses video cameras and computer vision and artificial intelligence algorithms to recognize and…
From ACM TechNews
How Touch Screens Could Shrug Off Shoulder Surfers
Users of touch-screen gadgets must contend with snoopers, and researchers at Britain's Newcastle University and elsewhere are working on alternative input mechanisms to thwart shoulder surfing, based on touch screens that can…
From ACM TechNews
W3c Posts Draft Standard For Local Database Storage
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has drafted the Indexed Database API, a proposed standard for a set of application programming interfaces (APIs) that could be used to store structured content online.
From ACM TechNews
Breaking Through the Language Barrier
IBM and other technology firms are researching ways to translate online content. IBM's n.Fluent project is developing software designed to instantly translate the Internet, and IBM's Salim Roukos says that researchers have developed…
From ACM TechNews
The Greening of It
A seminar hosted by Science|Business focused on what needs to be done to make information technology (IT) more environmentally friendly. The cross-pollination of various disciplines, including computer science, economics, and…