Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
January 2013
From ACM News
Nasa's Robotic Refueling Demo Set to Jumpstart Expanded Capabilities in Space
In mid-January, NASA will take the next step in advancing robotic satellite-servicing technologies as it tests the Robotic Refueling Mission, or RRM, aboard the International Space Station.
From ACM TechNews
Internet2 Eyes Cloud Boost From Silicon Valley Office
The Internet2 technology consortium recently opened its first Silicon Valley office. "It will serve as a hub for our West Coast campuses and our Asian partners," says Internet2's senior vice president Shelton Waggener.
From ACM News
Rocra Espionage Malware Campaign ncovered After Five Years of Activity
For five years, it hid in the weeds of networks used by Eastern European diplomats, government employees and scientific research organizations, stealing data and infecting more machines in an espionage campaign rivaling Flame…
From ACM News
Drivers With Hands Full Get a Backup: The Car
Car makers increasingly are adopting technologies for use in autonomous vehicles that take advantage of the array of optical and radar sensors in new cars. The sensors can offer auditory, visual, and mechanical warnings if a…
From ACM News
In Video-Streaming Rat Race, Fast Is Never Fast Enough
On average, YouTube streams 4 billion hours of video per month.
From ACM News
Their Apps Track You. Will Congress Track Them?
There are three things that matter in consumer data collection: location, location, location.
From ACM Opinion
The Future According to Google's Larry Page
When Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP Group, the giant advertising agency, visited Google this past fall, CEO Larry Page sent a car to pick him up at the Rosewood Hotel about 20 miles away. Only this was no ordinary car.
From ACM TechNews
Intel Plans on Controlling Computers With a Dirty Look
Perceptual computing was the focus of Intel researchers at the recent International CES conference. Intel views gestures, voice commands, and facial expressions as ways to control computers in the not-so-distant future.
From ACM TechNews
Berkeley Lab Contemplates Stepping Stone to Exascale Supercomputer
The National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center at Berkeley Lab recently began installing Edison, a Cray supercomputer that will exceed two peak petaflops when it is fully deployed.
From ACM TechNews
Your Gadgets Are Slowly Breaking the Internet
Ever-mounting numbers of wireless devices are straining Internet capacity, and a number of U.S. labs aim to address this problem, with the overarching challenge being a Web overhaul to accommodate an anticipated 15 billion network…
From ACM News
U.s. Warns on Java Software As Security Concerns Escalate
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security urged computer users to disable Oracle Corp's Java software, amplifying security experts' prior warnings to hundreds of millions of consumers and businesses that use it to surf the Web…
From ACM TechNews
Nsa Documents on 'perfect Citizen' Program Raise Many More Questions
More than two years after The Wall Street Journal disclosed the Perfect Citizen program, the Electronic Privacy Information Center released NSA documents detailing the initiative, the materialcontinues to provoke questions from…
From ACM News
Leap Motion, Others Look Beyond the Mouse and Keyboard
There was a time when the mouse and keyboard were the two primary ways to interact with a computer. Then came touch screens, and the idea of "natural input" became all the rage.
From ACM News
Mobile Apps Drive Rapid Change in Searches
When the Federal Trade Commission decided last week to close its antitrust investigation of Google without charges, one important factor, though hardly mentioned, was just beneath the surface: the mobile revolution.
From ACM TechNews
The Future of Search
Google fellow Amit Singhal and colleagues are working on improving Web search so that Google will understand terms as things with an Internet life and a history of their own, keying them to individual searchers through increasingly…
From ACM News
A Peek Inside China's Internet Giants and Their Massive Scale
Here's the thing about China: It's very, very big.
From ACM News
At Ces, Chinese Electronics Giants Compete For American Eyes
You’ve heard the complaints. The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is too unwieldy and too outdated for tech titans such as Apple, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft to even show up in Las Vegas.
From ACM TechNews
Looking Forward to a Future Internet
The future of the Internet was in doubt heading into December and the World Conference on International Telecommunications. Neither those who want to control the Internet nor those who want a more hands-off future got the result…
From ACM TechNews
How Delays Propagate Across the U.s. Airport Network
The Institute for Cross-Disciplinary Physics and Complex Systems has simulated how flight delays spread across the U.S. airport network like wildfires.
From ACM TechNews
Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace Meeting
The recent U.S. National Science Foundation Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace Principal Investigator Meeting gave NSF an opportunity to build the community of principal investigators, encourage new research and collaboration,…
From ACM TechNews
F# Foundation: Taking Microsoft's F# Language to a Higher Ground
The recently formed F# Software Foundation maintains a free open source F# code repository which is available to the public free of charge.
From ACM News
How Fast Does 'Virtual Reality' Have to Be to Look Like 'Actual Reality'?
For decades now, virtual reality has been a pipe dream concept, well ahead of the technology needed to realize it.
From ACM News
Digital Globes Offer a Dynamic Vision
In the main hall of the hands-on science exhibits at the Cape Town Science Center in South Africa, a lifeless, tattered globe stands under naked fluorescent bulbs, all but ignored by children passing through on school tours.
From ACM News
Mapping Malware's Genome to Fight Future Attacks
Every year a computer worm emerges to stalk the Internet, each one seemingly bigger and badder than the last (see diagram).
From ACM TechNews
Online College Courses to Grant Credentials, For a Fee
Free online college course providers are experimenting with security features that will enable students who successfully complete the courses to pay a small fee and obtain credentials.
From ACM TechNews
New 2-D Material for Next Generation High-Speed Electronics
Researchers at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization and RMIT University have developed a two-dimensional material they say could revolutionize the electronics market.
From ACM TechNews
U.s. Library of Congress Saving 500 Million Tweets Per Day in Archives
The U.S. Library of Congress expects to finish the initial stage of building a Twitter archive by the end of January. The Library is storing 500 million tweets a day, and has added a total of about 170 billion tweets to its collection…
From ACM TechNews
Chattanooga Tests Ultra-Fast System for Disaster Response
Chattanooga, Tenn., will test a system that will run computerized disaster scenarios using a detailed layout of the city, with the goal of training emergency workers and delivering real-time information to workers and the public…
From ACM Careers
Can This Man Save Pinball?
The last guys who tried to save pinball bet all their quarters on a bunch of 3D aliens.
From ACM News
Student Suspended For Refusing to Wear Rfid Tracker Loses Lawsuit
A Texas high school student who claimed her student identification was the "Mark of the Beast" because it was implanted with a radio-frequency identification chip has lost her federal court bid Tuesday challenging her suspension…