Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
October 2010
From ACM News
The Tax Haven That's Saving Google Billions
Google uses a complicated structure to send most of its overseas profits to tax havens, keeping its corporate rate at a super-low 2.4 percent.
From ACM News
Chinese Chip Closes In on Intel, Amd
China may finally have a processor to power a homegrown supercomputer.
From ACM News
FCC Wants Broadcasters' Unused Spectrum to Help Meet Growing Wireless Demand
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski said he plans to encourage broadcasters to give up unused spectrum for auction to wireless carriers, an initial step toward achieving an agency goal of making networks…
From ACM News
Pentagon Seeks Tight Ties With Cyber Contractors
The U.S. Department of Defense aims to tighten ties with its cyber security contractors in an effort to better protect sensitive computer networks against growing cyber threats.
From ACM News
Europeans Play Catch p on Math and Science
Europe is suffering more than other parts of the world from the decline in the number of students pursuing math and science careers. At the same time, Europe is spending less in research investment than either the United States…
From ACM News
Britain's Biggest Security Threat
Cyberwarfare, not conventional armed conflict, is the country’s No. 1 national-security concern, says a new report from the U.K.'s National Security Council.
From ACM TechNews
Drivel on Facebook More Valuable Than We Think
The seemingly meaningless comments and updates that appear on Facebook are valuable to users because they serve as constant reminders of a highly useful network of old classmates, acquaintances of acquaintances, and the like,…
From ACM TechNews
I Win, You Lose
University of Bristol researchers led by Paul Howard-Jones and Rafal Bogacz recently conducted a study using brain imaging to reveal how people can learn from failure and success using a computer.
From ACM TechNews
Flexible Leds For Implanting Under the Skin
A team of researchers from the United States, China, Korea, and Singapore have developed flexible ultra-thin sheets of inorganic light-emitting diodes and photodetectors for implanting under the skin.
From ACM TechNews
Adding Human Intelligence to Software
MIT researchers have developed TurKit, a toolkit that enables users to write algorithms to coordinate online workers using Javascript and create human intelligence-equipped applications.
From ACM TechNews
3-D Maps Without the Glasses
Students at Washington University in St. Louis' Media and Machines Lab have developed Project Live3D, an Internet application that uses webcams from around the world and Google Earth scenes to create real-time 3-D images of international…
From ACM TechNews
Spambot Wants to Be Your Friend
Vienna University of Technology researchers, studying security issues related to social networking websites, were able to match more than 1.2 million social network profiles with their corresponding private email addresses.
From ACM TechNews
Officials Push to Bolster Law on Wiretapping
U.S. law enforcement and counterterrorism officials are urging the revamping of a federal statute requiring phone and broadband carriers to guarantee that their networks can be wiretapped, citing gaps in compliance with surveillance…
From ACM News
Giant Science Party
Mondo science party this weekend in DC! The USA Science & Engineering Festival and Expo features 1,500 exhibits, 750 organizations, 75 stage shows, and more.
From ACM News
Tech Job Candidates Face Head-Spinning Questions
Maybe you've had the nightmare. You show up late for the job interview, or perhaps you forgot to prepare at all. Then they pop off the kind of question that has you sitting there mute, an intellectual deer in the headlights…
From ACM News
Get in Synch
Understanding conditions that cause oscillators to fall in or out of synchronization is necessary to achieve the optimal functioning of oscillator networks. The transition from synchronization to desynchronization is the subject…
From ACM News
md Cyber Security Center Stresses 'more-Than-Tech' Solutions
The University of Maryland is launching a new cyber security initiative to stimulate public-private partnerships and address U.S. vulnerabilities, including those facing industry. Its new Maryland Cybersecurity Center will stress…
From ACM News
Bendable Memory Made from Nanowire Transistors
A new type of device could ultimately hold more data than flash memory.
From ACM News
In a Digital Age, Students Still Cling to Paper Textbooks
They text their friends all day long. At night, they do research for their term papers on laptops and commune with their parents on Skype. But as they walk the paths of Hamilton College, a poster-perfect liberal arts school…
From ACM News
Nanotube Thermopower
Researchers from MIT have found a way to store energy in thin carbon nanotubes by adding fuel along the length of the tube, which can later be turned into electricity by heating one end of the nanotubes.
From ACM News
Expand Human Resource Pool in Science, Technology: India's Pm
"We need to expand human resource pool in the area of science and technology to maintain our competitive advantage in the knowledge economy that is now on the horizon in the world," India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said…
From ACM News
Twitter Can Predict the Stock Market
The emotional roller coaster captured on Twitter can predict the ups and downs of the stock market, a new study finds. Measuring how calm the Twitterverse is on a given day can foretell the direction of changes to the Dow…
From ACM TechNews
Effective Search Terms Yield the Right Information
University of Gothenburg doctoral student Karin Friberg Heppin says that asking for information in the right way would help improve the performance of search engines.
From ACM TechNews
Triple-Mode Transistors Show Potential
Rice University researchers are using graphene to develop circuits that could be more compact and versatile than what is currently possible with silicon-based technologies. Graphene-based amplifiers could become key components…
From ACM News
Festival Visitors Get Virtual 3-D Tour of the niverse
As part of the USA Science and Engineering Festival, the Thirty Meter Telescope will present a tour of the cosmos with a portable planetarium.
From ACM News
German Radar Satellites Fly Tight Space Waltz
It is a remarkable acrobatic display. Two German radar satellites are now flying in tight formation as they prepare to make the most detailed ever 3D map of the Earth's entire surface.
From ACM News
Robots, Solar Cars and Rockets at the White House Science Fair
Students from across the United States descended on the White House on Monday (Oct. 18) with their award-winning science fair projects in tow. President Obama checked out the projects and congratulated the students on their…
From ACM News
Microsoft's Top Visionary To Leave as Ranks Shift
Ray Ozzie, the executive who became Microsoft Corp.'s top technical visionary after the retirement of cofounder Bill Gates, plans to leave the software company.
From ACM News
The Business Of Burying Internet Search Results
Unseen battles are waged every day on the Internet to protect and destroy brands and reputations. The Internet can be a hostile place, with powerful companies paying handsome sums to hide negative content in Google search results…
From ACM News
Robot Limbs to Plug Into the Brain with Light
Imagine a bionic arm that plugs directly into the nervous system, so that the brain can control its motion, and the owner can feel pressure and heat through their robotic hand. This prospect has come a step closer with the…