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 News
Big Data Heralds Return of the Cray Supercomputer
"Big data" means big computers, and good news for Cray Inc.
From ACM News
Managing the Deluge of 'big Data' From Space
For NASA and its dozens of missions, data pour in every day like rushing rivers.
From ACM News
Graphics Chips Help Process Big Data Sets in Milliseconds
New software can use the graphics processors found on everyday computers to process torrents of data more quickly than is normally possible, opening up new ways to visually explore everything from Twitter posts to political donations…
From ACM TechNews
The Rapid Advance of Artificial Intelligence
The latest work in the realm of artificial intelligence by scientists, roboticists, and others could potentially transform the world within the next five years.
From ACM TechNews
Ibm Seeks to Marry Biological and Artificial Computing
IBM is seeking insights about biological and artificial computing by building next-generation systems that meld concepts from both worlds.
From ACM TechNews
Dude, Where's My Code?
Stack is a new system that automatically combs through programmers' code, identifying those lines that compilers might discard, but that could be functional.
From ACM News
Electric Cars: Hidden Habits You Are Sharing with Firms
You wouldn't think that anybody would care about your drive to the supermarket to buy milk.
From ACM TechNews
Taking the Internet nderwater
A deep-sea Internet framework could lead to better tsunami detection, offshore oil and natural gas exploration, surveillance, pollution monitoring, and other activities.
From ACM TechNews
The Future Fabric of Data Analysis
A new approach to computation is required for managing big data because of the shift to a decentralized, distributed computer architecture.
From ACM News
Whither Supercomputing?
Even as America’s economic uncertainty over the government shutdown ends, the fate of Supercomputing remains undecided.
From ACM Opinion
Huawei Executive Talks About Cyber Security
As the world's second-largest supplier of telecommunications network equipment, Huawei plays a part in the technology industry's efforts to ensure network security around the world. But last year, some U.S. lawmakers called Huawei…
From ACM News
How IBM Is Making Computers More Like Your Brain. For Real
Despite a strong philosophical connection, computers and brains inhabit separate realms in research.
From ACM News
This Algorithm Can Predict Your Success At niversity
In a large university full of lecture classes, it can be hard to pinpoint the students who are falling through the cracks.
From ACM News
On a New Jersey Islet, Twilight of the Landline
Hurricane Sandy devastated this barrier island community of multimillion-dollar homes, but in Peter Flihan's view, Verizon Communications has delivered a second blow: the telecommunications giant did not rebuild the landlines…
From ACM News
Measuring a Superconducting Qubit by Manipulating Its Environment
Measurement in quantum systems is an inherently challenging problem.
From ACM TechNews
Tweets Have Become Shorter Since 2009, Say Computer Scientists
Twitter users are communicating with fewer and shorter words, researchers have found.
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Discover New Approach to Improve Personalized Cancer Treatments
A new method for targeting mutated cells could lead to a major breakthrough in a personalized medicine approach to treat cancer.
From ACM TechNews
Impact of Aging on Smart Phone se to Be Examined
The University of Strathclyde's Mark Dunlop is launching a project to study the effects of aging on the use of smartphones and other mobile devices.
From ACM TechNews
Google Seeks Student Coders for Code-In, Summer of Code Events
Google is looking for great young software developers to participate in its Google Code-in 2013 and Google Summer of Code 2014 events.
From ACM Opinion
N.s.a. Director Gives Firm and Broad Defense of Surveillance Efforts
The director of the National Security Agency, Gen. Keith B. Alexander, said in an interview that to prevent terrorist attacks he saw no effective alternative to the N.S.A.'s bulk collection of telephone and other electronic metadata…
From ACM News
A Touch of Security
Biometrics hold promise, but haven’t yet paid off in consumer devices.
From ACM News
Cryptographer Adi Shamir Prevented from Attending Nsa History Conference
In this email message to colleagues, Israeli cryptographer Adi Shamir recounts the difficulties he faced in getting a visa to attend the 2013 Cryptologic History Symposium sponsored by the National Security Agency.
From ACM News
Unbreakable Encryption Comes to the U.S.
As revelations about the depth and breadth of the NSA's digital eavesdropping program continue to come to light, Ohio-based Battelle Memorial Institute is rolling out a new kind of network encryption designed to be virtually…
From ACM News
The Rapid Advance of Artificial Intelligence
A gaggle of Harry Potter fans descended for several days this summer on the Oregon Convention Center in Portland for the Leaky Con gathering, an annual haunt of a group of predominantly young women who immerse themselves in a…
From ACM News
The Future Fabric of Data Analysis
When subatomic particles smash together at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland, they create showers of new particles whose signatures are recorded by four detectors.
From ACM TechNews
Privacy Fears Grow as Cities Increase Surveillance
Cities across the United States increasingly are using big data for law enforcement, raising concerns about government tracking the details of citizens' lives.
From ACM Opinion
Think You Can Live Offline Without Being Tracked? Here's What It Takes
Nico Sell, the cofounder of a secure communication app called Wickr, has appeared on television twice.
From ACM TechNews
Cyber Warrior Shortage Hits Anti-Hacker Fightback
The increasing in cybercrime has created a growing need for cybersecurity specialists, but demand far outpaces the number of those qualified to do the job.
From ACM TechNews
NSA Collects Millions of Email Address Books Globally
The U.S. National Security Agency harvests hundreds of millions of contact lists from personal email and instant messaging accounts worldwide.
From ACM TechNews
A Day to Remember the First Computer Programmer Was a Woman
Ada Lovelace wrote the first computer program in 1842, a feat that is commemorated on Oct. 15.