Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
January 2014
From ACM News
Meet the Man Google Hired to Make AI a Reality
Geoffrey Hinton was in high school when a friend convinced him that the brain worked like a hologram.
From ACM TechNews
Cyberwar Surprise Attacks Get a Mathematical Treatment
Two University of Michigan professors have written a mathematical model that could help predict the timing of cyberattacks.
From ACM TechNews
Google Is Developing a Smart Contact Lens
Google researchers are developing a smart contact lens that uses tiny chips, sensors, and antennas to continuously test diabetics' blood sugar levels.
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Aim to Revolutionize 3D Printing, Global Manufacturing
Researchers are developing new materials to be used for 3D printing, and are working on a technique for building multiple materials into the same product.
From ACM TechNews
How the Friendship Paradox Makes Your Friends Better Than You Are
The friendship paradox applies to happiness and wealth, according to researchers at the University of Toulouse and Aalto University.
From ACM TechNews
Feeling Mad? New Devices Can Sense Your Mood and Tell--or Even Text--Others
Microsoft Research cognitive psychologist Mary Czerwinski is an affective computing expert who creates technology that monitors a person's mood and stress level.
From ACM TechNews
The Search For the Lost Cray Supercomputer Os
In an effort to preserve an important piece of computing history, hobbyists are recreating the renowned Cray-1 supercomputer on a desktop scale.
From ACM TechNews
Coming Soon: Control Your Computer With Your Brain via Open Source
The team behind the OpenBCI project hopes to release the third iteration of the OpenBCI board sometime around April.
From ACM News
The Malware That Duped Target Has Been Found
The malicious program used to compromise Target and other companies was part of a widespread operation using a Trojan tool known as Trojan.POSRAM, according to a new report released Thursday about an operation that investigators…
From ACM Opinion
It's the 30th Anniversary of the Supreme Court's Monumental Decision About Betamax
Those of us who came of age in the Internet era may not know that they owe their ability to go online to a court decision 30 years ago today about a mechanically intricate analog tape recorder.
From ACM News
Moth Drone Stays Rock Steady in Gale-Force Winds
They might not seem at all stable as they batter into light bulbs but moths have inspired an autopilot for drones.
From ACM TechNews
Programming Drones to Fly Like Birds
Researchers re developing autonomous robotic planes that could eventually think, or at least react, for themselves.
From ACM Careers
The Search For the Lost Cray Supercomputer Os
In 1976, famed computer architect Seymour Cray released one of the most successful supercomputers ever made: the Cray-1, a stylish 5.5-ton C-shaped tower that was quickly embraced by laboratories all over the world.
From ACM TechNews
New Fujitsu Labs Tech Can Do Batch Searches of Encrypted Data
Fujitsu Laboratories has developed a fast method to perform secret searches of data that is encrypted.
From ACM TechNews
A New, More Economical Sonification Prototype to Assist the Blind
A doctoral student has developed a sound-based assistive technology system designed to improve the autonomy of people with visual impairments.
From ACM TechNews
Quantum Physics Could Make Secure, Single-se Computer Memories Possible
Technology based on quantum physics could be used to make a memory device whose contents could only be read a single time.
From ACM News
Is the $1,000 Genome For Real?
From ACM News
Experimental Surgery Aims to Revive a Paralyzed Limb
Doctors will attempt to reanimate a patient’s paralyzed arm with a pioneering surgery that involves capturing signals from his brain and restoring movement through a fine network of electronics linked to arm muscles.
From ACM News
'master the Mainframe' Contest Lures Next Generation to Big Iron
IBM's zEnterprise Academic Initiative is using a contest to spark student interest in coding for mainframes.
From ACM News
Comet Craft Ready to Wake
Space scientists are used to moments of high tension.
From ACM Opinion
'a Fema-Level Fail': The Law Professor Who Coined 'net Neutrality' Lashes Out at the Fcc's Legal Strategy
Back in 2003, when he was a law professor at the University of Virginia, Tim Wu wrote the definitive paper on net neutrality.
From ACM News
Why You Should Care About Net Neutrality (faq)
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Tuesday struck down rules adopted by the Federal Communications Commission in 2010 meant to protect the openness of the Internet.
From ACM TechNews
.s. Innovation Boosted By Silicon Valley-Detroit Team-up
Rising consumer demand for more technology in cars has sparked a convergence between the auto and computer industries.
From ACM TechNews
'Invisibility' Materials Could Do Computer's Work
Metamaterials, which can alter the properties of light waves often to render an object invisible, also could carry out mathematical operations.
From ACM TechNews
Rowan Computer Professor Pushes the Right Buttons
Rowan University professor Jennifer Kay this year won a $34,000 grant from Google to teach robotics in a new massive open online course.
From ACM TechNews
Robots Learn From Each Other on 'wiki For Robots'
The RoboEarth platform, described as a kind of Wikipedia for robots, connects robots to the Internet so they can flexibly deal with new situations and conditions.
From ACM TechNews
Out in the Open: An Nsa-Proof Twitter, Built With Code From Bitcoin and Bittorrent
Miguel Freitas is building a decentralized social network called Twister, which no single entity should be able to shut down.
From ACM TechNews
The Tricky Problem of Making Smart Fridges Smart
CloudFridge is a prototype smart refrigerator system designed to study and improve the user experience.
From ACM News
What Secrets Your Phone Is Sharing About You
Fan Zhang, the owner of Happy Child, a trendy Asian restaurant in downtown Toronto, knows that 170 of his customers went clubbing in November.
From ACM News
N.s.a. Devises Radio Pathway Into Computers
The National Security Agency has implanted software in nearly 100,000 computers around the world that allows the United States to conduct surveillance on those machines and can also create a digital highway for launching cyberattacks…