Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
January 2015
From ACM TechNews
Ensuring Security for Networks of the Future
Security for next-generation company networks will be the focus of a presentation at the CeBIT trade fair in Hannover, Germany, in March.
From ACM News
Exoplanet Bounty Includes Most Earth-Like Worlds Yet
NASA's Kepler space telescope has hit a milestone: confirming the existence of 1,000 planets, including a fresh crop of alien worlds that are more Earth-like than any yet found.
From ACM News
Nvidia Demos a Car Computer Trained with 'deep Learning'
Many cars now include cameras or other sensors that record the passing world and trigger intelligent behavior, such as automatic braking or steering to avoid an obstacle.
From ACM News
Someday Soon, You May Pay Your Restaurant Bill With A Retina Scan
The past 30 years have seen payments shift from cash and checks to debit cards and websites, and most recently to mobile phone apps, including Apple Pay and Venmo. But in a few years, you may not need anything you weren't born…
From ACM News
NASA's Messenger Probe Ready for Final Tour of Mercury
The first spacecraft to orbit Mercury is almost out of gas.
From ACM TechNews
Privacy By Design: Protect User Data From 'get-Go'
The Privacy By Design project seeks to develop a framework for governments and companies to consider privacy protection from the start of a product's development.
From ACM TechNews
Heads-Up Technology Puts Data on Car Windshields at Ces
Automakers and third-party vendors at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week are demonstrating windshield-based heads-up displays.
From ACM TechNews
Tougher to se Bitcoin For Crime?
Researchers say they have found ways to determine the identity of anonymous Bitcoin users in between 11 and 60 percent of all Bitcoin transactions.
From ACM TechNews
Nasa to Hack Mars Rover Opportunity to Fix 'amnesia' Fault
The Mars rover Opportunity is having memory problems that the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration will try to fix remotely.
From ACM TechNews
Robots Do Kitchen Duty With Cooking Video Dataset
Researchers have built a self-learning robot that was able to improve its cooking skills by watching YouTube videos.
From ACM Careers
A Visit to the Corporate-Industrial Robotics Competition For Teenagers
Sometimes I think of school as an overlapping set of calendars.
From ACM News
'Internet of Things' Poses Risks, FTC Chairwoman Warns
By 2015, the world will have 25 billion smart thermostats, fitness bands, and other Internet-connected, data-spewing devices, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
From ACM TechNews
New Stanford Course Brings Silicon Valley to the Humanities Classroom
Stanford University's new Literature and Social Online Learning course brings computer science and humanities students together in one classroom.
From ACM News
Galaxy Seen Shuddering from Ancient Collision
Using thousands of exposures from the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have created the sharpest and deepest image ever assembled of the Andromeda galaxy.
From ACM News
Energy Harvesting Extends Life of Small Devices
Capturing ambient energy can keep off-grid devices running.
From ACM News
Simple Pictures That State-of-the-Art AI Still Can't Recognize
Look at these black and yellow bars and tell me what you see.
From ACM TechNews
Predicting Superbugs' Countermoves to New Drugs
Researchers have developed software that can predict a constantly evolving infectious bacterium's countermoves to new drugs before the drug is tested on patients.
From ACM TechNews
Diamond Defect May Lead to a Qubit Computer
A research group is looking to exploit a special kind of diamond defect in a project that could benefit those working to design a quantum computer.
From ACM TechNews
Hacker Claims You Can Steal Fingerprints With Only a Camera
Physical access to a fingerprint may not be required to exploit fingerprint readers, according to a European hacker.
From ACM News
How to Design the Fighter Cockpit of Tomorrow
If you think your office needs a lick of paint and some new furniture, spare a thought for fighter pilots.
From ACM News
The Town Without Wi-Fi
Monique Grimes had just moved to Florida for a new job when the syndrome started.
From ACM News
The Space Missions and Events We're Most Looking Forward to in 2015
This year will be another exciting one for space exploration.
From ACM TechNews
Web Freedom Is Seen as a Growing Global Issue
Efforts by various governments to censor the Internet made headlines in 2014 and are likely to continue in 2015.
From ACM TechNews
Iot Groups Are Like an Orchestra Tuning p: The Music Starts in 2016
Many companies are not waiting for existing organizations to set the standard for the Internet of Things.
From ACM TechNews
Brain-Training For Baseball Robot
Researchers in Japan have developed a model of the part of the brain that is responsible for fine motor control.
From ACM TechNews
'the Imitation Game' Gives Girls a Computer Scientist Role Model
Actress Keira Knightley is providing young women with a role model that could help change the face of computer science and related fields.
From ACM TechNews
Could Sheep Solve the Problem of Poor Wi-Fi Signal in the Countryside? Animals With Digital Collars Could Act as Hotspots
A new project by Lancaster University researchers will explore equipping sheep with digital collars, placing sensors on riverbanks, and deploying rainfall monitors.
From ACM TechNews
FCC to Vote on Net Neutrality Rules in February
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Friday announced it will hold a vote on new net neutrality rules during its upcoming February meeting.
From ACM TechNews
Throwing Money at Data Breach May Make It Worse
Researchers have found that overcompensation of customers affected by a data breach may only raise suspicions, rather than satisfy customers' sense of justice.
From ACM News
New Form of Memory Could Advance Brain-Inspired Computers
A new form of computer memory might help machines match the capabilities of the human brain when it comes to tasks such as interpreting images or video footage.