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
Stimulus Funding to Help Search Engines Learn on the Job
Cornell University researchers are developing search engine software that can learn by noticing which links are clicked on in a list of search results, and how searches are reworded when the first results are unsatisfactory.…
From ACM TechNews
Queue ICPC Challenge
ACM Queue readers have an opportunity to compete in an online programming competition based on the 2009 ACM International Collegiate Programming Competition (ICPC) Challenge problem. Working under the same rules used for the…
From ACM News
India's Labs Waking p, Surge in Global Science Papers
Often referred to as a "sleeping giant" in scientific literature, India seems to be waking out of its slumber, says a recent global research report by Thomson Reuters. In a testament to its strength in information technology,…
From ACM News
$10.3 Million Stimulus Funds Will Build Advanced Quantum Lab
The University of Maryland has been awarded $10.3 million in stimulus funds by the National Institute of Standards and Technology to build an advanced quantum science lab. The lab will be built underground with exacting environmental…
From ACM News
Bringing Color to E-Readers
One of the hot topics at the Consumer Electronics Show this week in Las Vegas is color e-readers, with several companies showcasing new products. While E-Ink has been a leader in e-reader display technology, the company has yet…
From ACM News
Binary Body Double: Microsoft Reveals the Science Behind Project Natal for Xbox 360
When Nintendo's Wii game console debuted in November 2006, its motion-sensing handheld "Wiimotes" got players off the couch and onto their feet.
Now Microsoft is trying to outdo its competitor by eliminating the controller …From ACM News
Are Doctors Ready for Virtual Visits?
For over a decade now, health care experts have been promoting telemedicine, or the use of satellite technology, video conferencing and data transfer through phones and the Internet, to connect doctors to patients in far-flung…
From ACM News
Analysts Wonder If People Will Buy the Google Nexus One Without Trying It
Press and analysts who convened at Google's Mountain View, Calif., headquarters for the Nexus One launch event earlier this week got a special treat after the show proceedings wrapped: a free, unlocked Nexus One GSM smartphone…
From ACM News
Jobs Report: Tech Hiring Grew In December
U.S. employers added approximately 5,200 tech jobs last month even as the broader economy shed 85,000 positions from November to December, according to data released Friday, January 8 by the U.S. Department of Labor and analyzed…
From ACM News
More Flash Drive Firms Warn of Security Flaw; NIST Investigates
SanDisk Corp. and Verbatim Corp. have joined Kingston Technology Inc. in warning customers about a potential security threat posed by a flaw in the hardware-based AES 256-bit encryption on their USB flash drives.
The hole could…From ACM News
Ballmer ses Ces Keynote to Tout Windows 7
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer kicked off the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas with a speech largely about how the information technology industry had stayed focused and worked hard, despite 2009 being a year of "unprecedented…
From ACM News
Google Applies to Become Power Marketer
Google is stepping up its forays into the energy world.
The Internet search company, which consumes vast amounts of electricity to run the computers in its data centers, created a subsidiary last month called Google Energy. …From ACM News
Cerf rges Standards for Cloud Computing
Vint Cerf, a co-designer of the Internet's TCP/IP protocols, ACM Fellow and A.M. Turing Award winner, and considered a father of the Internet itself, emphasized the need for data portability standards for cloud computing during…
From ACM TechNews
Wanted: Cyber Ninjas
U.S. colleges are adding courses and specialized degrees in the once-exotic field of cybersecurity to try to meet the growing demands for computer security skills in the public and private sectors. Banks, military contractors…
From ACM TechNews
At Argonne Lab, a Shift From Radioactivity to Supercomputers
Argonne National Laboratory is phasing out its use of radioactive materials in favor of supercomputers for the purpose of conducting research. "The past was the past, and that really involved reactor experiments," says lab director…
From ACM News
How Vegas Security Drives Surveillance Tech Everywhere
Las Vegas casinos are incubators of the world's most advanced surveillance tech. Here's how the spy gear that helps Sin City has taught everyone from government to big banks how to snoop more effectively.
It is 2 AM inside the…From ACM News
Rogue Marketers Can Mine Your Info on Facebook
Got an e-mail list of customers or readers and want to know more about each — such as their full name, friends, gender, age, interests, location, job and education level?
Facebook has just the free feature you’re looking for…From ACM News
Microsoft's Body-Sensing, Button-Busting Controller
A LONG-lived videogaming skill could be on the way out this year as Microsoft hones an add-on to its Xbox 360 console aimed at making button-studded games controllers obsolete. The device, called Natal after the city in northern…
From ACM News
Computers Guide Traffic Lights to Reduce Congestion For Commuters, Other Drivers
There probably are just two times when you think about a traffic light.
When one just turned yellow. ("Can I make it?")
When one has been red for too long. ("Come on, change!")
Traffic lights, on the other hand, are much more…From ACM News
Despite Risks, Internet Creeps Onto Car Dashboards
LAS VEGAS — To the dismay of safety advocates already worried about driver distraction, automakers and high-tech companies have found a new place to put sophisticated Internet-connected computers: the front seat.
Technology…From ACM TechNews
10 Fool-Proof Predictions For the Internet in 2020
Network World offers 10 “surefire bets” about what the Internet will look like in 10 years.
From ACM TechNews
Intelligent Wheelchairs Will Navigate on Their Own
A smart wheelchair developed at Lehigh University will be different from previous intelligent models in that the technology will cross-reference the maps it makes of its surroundings, using a light detection and ranging system…
From Communications of the ACM
Amir Pnueli: Ahead of His Time
Remembering a legacy of practical and theoretical innovation.
From Communications of the ACM
New Search Challenges and Opportunities
If search engines can extract more meaning from text and better understand what people are looking for, the Web's resources could be accessed more effectively.
From Communications of the ACM
Future Internet Design Summit
The National Science Foundation's meeting on Internet architectures focused on designs related to emerging social and economic realities. The four-day, invitation-only summit drew 90 U.S.-based researchers…
From Communications of the ACM
Robert Lovett Ashenhurst: 1929 - 2009
Former Communications editor-in-chief Robert L. Ashenhurst, who died last October at age 80, served ACM for 35 years with dedication, humor, and panache, according to fellow ACM volunteers.
From Communications of the ACM
Rebuilding For Eternity
Buildings collapse. Wind and rain beat them, temperatures cycle from freezing to blistering, and random strikes of lightning threaten sudden obliteration. Even…
From Communications of the ACM
ACM and India
ACM is in the process of establishing ACM India as a legal entity and will hold its first conference in late January. Four A.M. Turing award winners, including Barbara Liskov…
From Communications of the ACM
Automated Translation of Indian Languages
India faces a daunting task trying to manually translate among 22 official languages, but assistance, in the form of advanced technology enabled by a lot of hard work, is on the way.