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
Dedication at Stanford Engineering Building Good For a Few Laughs
A nerd walks into an engineering building dedication...
From ACM News
You Too Can Have a Dream Body
If you dislike the way you look on video, a new kind of image-manipulation software could make you feel better about yourself.
From ACM News
Now Your App Knows Where You Are
Geolocation analytics could help companies to improve their apps—and make more money from them.
From ACM News
China Poised to Lead World in Patent Filings
Having passed Germany (exports), Japan (gross domestic product) and the United States (auto sales) over the past year, China is now poised to lead the world in yet another category: patent application filings.
From ACM TechNews
Mit Researchers Tout Network Intrusion Recovery System
Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers are developing RETRO, a system designed to make it easier for organizations to recover from security breaches.
From ACM TechNews
A Tracking Device That Fits on the Head of a Pin
Tel Aviv University researchers have developed nano-sized optical gyroscopes that can fit on standard-sized computer chips without compromising their sensitivity. The key to the device are extremely small semiconductor lasers…
From ACM TechNews
Infer Project Seeks Smart Software Solution
Bournemouth University is leading INFER, an EU-funded project involving researchers and organizations in three countries. INFER will develop automated systems that help companies react and adjust to changes in market, behavior…
From ACM TechNews
Intel Labs Creating Robots of the Future
Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and scientists from the Intel Labs site on the CMU campus recently held an open house to show off their projects, including the CoBot2 collaborative robot and the HERB personal robot…
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Argue For Smarter Traffic Lights
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich's Dirk Helbing and Dresden University of Technology's Stefan Lammer have proposed using a combination of sensing technology, analytics, and networking to change the way traffic lights…
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Honored For Influential Contributions to Software Engineering Field
"Bandera: Extracting Finite-State Models From Java Source Code," published in 2000, received the Most Influential Paper Award at the recent International Conference on Software Engineering.
From ACM TechNews
Therapeutic Computer Games Target Stroke Sufferers
A therapeutic computer game developed in Ireland uses 3-D goggles to improve the brain's sense of perspective and balance in stroke sufferers. A motion-controlled game console is designed to help users adjust bodily movements…
From ACM News
Iran Denies Malware Connection to Nuclear Delay
Iranian officials announced Monday that a "small leak" was the cause of the latest setback to starting up its first nuclear power plant, and said the delay had nothing to do with a malicious computer worm that has infected…
From ACM News
Cell Phones Make a Touch Surface Smarter
A new system identifies users by their mobile phones.
From ACM News
Blade Software Eliminates 'drive-By Downloads' from Malicious Websites
Researchers have developed a new tool that eliminates so-called 'drive-by download' threats. BLADE is browser-independent and when tested, it blocked all drive-by malware installation attempts from more than 1,900 malicious websites…
From ACM News
Common Misconceptions About Software Engineering
Many undergraduates have misconceptions about software engineering that lead to an "impoverished" view of industry that and hinder their transition to the workplace.
From ACM News
Georgia Tech Releases Cyber Threats Forecast for 2011
The Georgia Tech Information Security Center (GTISC) has released the GTISC Emerging Cyber Threats Report for 2011, outlining the top three areas of security risk and concern for consumer and business Internet and computer users…
From ACM News
Japan Recycles Minerals From Used Electronics
Two decades after global competition drove the mines in this corner of Japan to extinction, Kosaka is again abuzz with talk of new riches.
From ACM News
Power Hackers: The U.s. Smart Grid Is Shaping Up to Be Dangerously Insecure
Achieving greater efficiency and control of the electricity grid requires hooking almost every aspect of it up to the Internet, making it more vulnerable to cyber attacks. As currently envisaged, it's a dangerously dumb idea…
From ACM TechNews
Futuristic Computing Designs Inside Beetle Scales
Brigham Young University researchers are studying beetle scales to develop designs for future optical computers.
From ACM News
New Type of Liquid Crystal Promises to Improve Performance of Digital Displays
Chemists at Vanderbilt University have created a new class of liquid crystals with unique electrical properties that could improve the performance of digital displays used on everything from digital watches to flat panel televisions…
From ACM News
Tapping the Powers of Persuasion
B.J. Fogg's lab at Stanford focuses on the ways technology can influence behavior.
From ACM News
Digital 'fingerprints' to Stop Phone Phishing Scams
Phishing scams are making the leap from email to the world's voice systems, and a team of researchers in the Georgia Tech College of Computing has found a way to tag fraudulent calls with a digital "fingerprint" that will help…
From ACM News
Breaking the Noise Barrier: Enter the Phonon Computer
Noise is a chip designer's worst enemy. But handled properly it could become a powerful ally—and usher in the age of phonon computing.
From ACM News
Aiming to Learn As We Do, a Machine Teaches Itself
Give a computer a task that can be crisply defined—win at chess, predict the weather—and the machine bests humans nearly every time. Yet when problems are nuanced or ambiguous, or require combining varied sources of information…
From ACM News
University Startup Creation, Licensing Activity Strong Despite Downturn
In fiscal year 2009, in the midst of the Great Recession, 596 new U.S. companies were formed as a result of university research, according to new survey data from the Association of University Technology Managers.
From ACM News
Stuxnet: Fact vs. Theory
The Stuxnet worm has taken the computer security world by storm, inspiring talk of a government-sponsored cyberwar, and of a software program laden with obscure biblical references. Here's a breakdown of fact versus theory…
From ACM News
One Goal: 10 Quadrillion Calculations
Installation has begun in Kobe, Japan, on a government-funded supercomputer project, aimed at giving Japan the world's fastest computer, the "K Computer," which will be capable of performing 10 quadrillion calculations per…
From ACM News
Powerful Supercomputer Peers Into the Origin of Life
Supercomputer simulations at the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory are helping scientists unravel how nucleic acids could have contributed to the origins of life.
From ACM News
Gtri Creates Cyber Technology and Information Security Laboratory
The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) has created a new Cyber Technology and Information Security Laboratory to apply GTRI's broad expertise and systems engineering experience in cyber-related research to a wide range of…
From ACM News
Iran Detains 'Spies' As It Moves to Ease Fears Over Stuxnet Cyber Attack
Intelligence chief blames western powers for computer worm targeting nuclear systems.