Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
October 2013
From ACM TechNews
100 Percent of an Image Is Restored Using a Reduced Version of the Original
University of Navarre researchers have developed algorithms to reduce and optimize images. Using a reduced image with between 1 and 10 percent of the original information, the researchers say the algorithms enable 100 percent…
From ACM News
Germany Wants a German Internet as Spying Scandal Rankles
As a diplomatic row rages between the United States and Europe over spying accusations, state-backed Deutsche Telekom wants German communications companies to cooperate to shield local Tnternet traffic from foreign intelligence…
From ACM News
Can Technology Help Avoid Stampedes?
It seems the cruellest and most unnecessary of deaths—to be crushed in the midst of a crowd.
From ACM TechNews
Why Google's Rapid Growth Means Faster Search
USC has released a study showing that Google search has greatly expanded and increased in speed over the past 10 months. Google search has increased by about 600 percent the number of worldwide locations from which it serves…
From ACM TechNews
Sharing the Power of the Crowd
Three years ago, McGill University researchers launched Phylo, an online puzzle game with more than 300,000 users worldwide that helped with genomic research. Now the researchers are making this crowd of players available to…
From ACM TechNews
Angry Birds – The Rise of the Machines
A research team from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology won an international artificial intelligence contest at a recent conference with software that replicates a human-like way of playing the Angry Birds video game.
From ACM Opinion
The Information-Gathering Paradox
Consumer trust is a vital currency for every big Internet company, which helps to explain why the giants of Silicon Valley have gone to great lengths in recent months to show how hard they are fighting back against government…
From ACM TechNews
Killer Apps That Could Keep You Healthy
The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory recently hosted a competition in which graduate students designed two mobile apps, called FoodFeed and FL•U, to fight the threats of food-related illnesses and the flu, respectively.
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Draw Romantic Insights From Maps of Facebook Networks
The shape of a person's social network is a powerful signal that can identify one's spouse or romantic partner, according to Cornell University's Jon Kleinberg and Facebook engineer Lars Backstrom.
From ACM News
Cassini Swings Above Saturn to Compose a Portrait
It's a view as good as gold. A loop high above Saturn by NASA's Cassini spacecraft revealed this stately view of the golden-hued planet and its main rings.
From ACM Opinion
The Man Who Would Teach Machines to Think
"It depends on what you mean by artificial intelligence."
From ACM News
Haunted House Business Gets Boost As Techs p Thrill Ante
Ed Terebus was an 18-year-old high school student when he and his big brother Jim, a laid-off auto worker, decided to build their first haunted house 34 years ago.
From ACM News
Roller Coaster Technology: 'bigger! Faster! Scarier!'
Alton Towers in Staffordshire has just opened the world's first 14-loop roller coaster, called The Smiler, while in Abu Dhabi, Ferrari World claims to have the world's fastest coaster.
From ACM TechNews
Smuggler-Spotting Software Sniffs Out Dodgy Shipments
Machine intelligence could make it easier to spot illicit cargo among the goods that move through the world's ports.
From ACM TechNews
Synthetic Biology Ramps Semiconductors
Researchers in the initial phase of the Semiconductor Synthetic Biology program will distribute $2.25 million in funding over three years.
From ACM TechNews
Why Facebook Is Teaching Its Machines to Think Like Humans
Facebook is turning to deep learning to teach computers to more closely imitate the human brain, with the goal of gaining greater insight into individual users.
From ACM TechNews
Technology Mimics the Brushstrokes of Masters
Emerging printing technologies are enabling high-quality reproductions of art masterpieces that copy color, brushstrokes, and paint thickness precisely.
From ACM Opinion
.k. Official rges .s. Government to Adopt a Digital Core
When he read about the technical failures plaguing HealthCare.gov, Mike Bracken said it felt like a real-life version of the movie Groundhog Day.
From ACM TechNews
Noise Pollution Maps Crowdsourced From Smartphone Data
Researchers say they have developed an improved method of creating noise pollution maps that uses crowdsourced smartphone data.
From ACM News
Study: 80% of College Students Say They Text in Class
From the front of his classroom, University of Nebraska-Lincoln associate professor Barney McCoy noticed that students’ smart phones were making regular appearances during his classes.
From ACM News
Big Plans For Small Spacecraft
It's hard to miss the rocket engine in Paulo Lozano's MIT office.
From ACM News
Nasa Laser Communication System Sets Record with Data Transmissions to and from Moon
NASA's Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration (LLCD) has made history using a pulsed laser beam to transmit data over the 239,000 miles between the moon and Earth at a record-breaking download rate of 622 megabits per second…
From ACM News
In Cyberarms Race, North Korea Emerging As a Power, Not a Pushover
Often dismissed as a laggard in the global cyberarms race, North Korea has long been seen as a chronic cyber-superpower wannabe.
From ACM News
The Secrets of Online Money Laundering
Money laundering is increasingly becoming a cybercrime.
From ACM TechNews
Google's 'project Shield' Will Offer Free Cyberattack Protection to Hundreds of At-Risk Sites
Google Shield, a product of the Google Ideas initiative, will offer certain websites free protection from distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks.
From ACM TechNews
Interview With 13-Year-Old MIT App Inventor Winner Arjun Kumar
A chat with Arjun Kumar, winner of the 2012 Massachusetts Institute of Technology App Inventor contest in the K-8 division for his EZ School Bus Locator.
From ACM TechNews
Two-Legged Robots Learn to Walk Like a Human
An international team of researchers from seven institutions are teaching two-legged robots a stable, robust human way of walking.
From ACM TechNews
Mozilla Launches Real-Time Web Collaboration Framework
Mozilla recently launched TogetherJS, a JavaScript framework designed to simplify the process of adding real-time collaboration features to Web pages.
From ACM Careers
The Cybersecurity Industry Is Hiring, But Young People Aren't Interested
Check it out, I'm working on a reboot of The Graduate, set in 2013.
From ACM News
Shall We Play a Game?
Gamification, the use of game mechanics and game design techniques in non-gaming contexts, is beginning to grab hold in many industries.