Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
October 2015
From ACM TechNews
Electronics Get a Power Boost With the Addition of a Simple Material
Pennsylvania State University researchers say they have given transistors a big boost by incorporating vanadium dioxide into the electronic devices.
From ACM TechNews
You've Been Misled About What Makes a Good Password
Symantec researchers recently found requiring numbers and uppercase characters in passwords does not do much to make them stronger.
From ACM News
How Iceland Is Reeling in its Newest Catch: Global Data Centers
Think "electricity," green and cheap; no chilling required.
From ACM News
Nasa's K2 Finds Dead Star Vaporizing a Mini 'planet'
Scientists using NASA's repurposed Kepler space telescope, known as the K2 mission, have uncovered strong evidence of a tiny, rocky object being torn apart as it spirals around a white dwarf star.
From ACM News
Car Infotainment Systems Distract Even with Voice Commands
Car infotainment systems that use voice commands may let drivers keep their hands on the wheel, but they're still highly distracting.
From ACM News
Why Self-Driving Cars Must Be Programmed to Kill
When it comes to automotive technology, self-driving cars are all the rage.
From ACM TechNews
'our Time to Lead': An Interview With Telle Whitney at Grace Hopper 2015
Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology CEO Telle Whitney said 2015 is "our time to lead."
From ACM News
You Wouldn't Think It, But Typeface Piracy Is a Big Problem
It's safe to assume that most people have no idea that fonts, like music or movies, are protected by intellectual property laws, they usually come with a hefty price tag, and they are uncommonly vulnerable to unjust adaptation…
From ACM News
Search For Intelligent Aliens Near Bizarre Dimming Star Has Begun
The search for signs of life in a mysterious star system hypothesized to potentially harbor an "alien megastructure" is now underway.
From ACM TechNews
md Researchers' Computer Beats 'jeopardy!' Star Ken Jennings at Trivia
A new computerized question-answering system defeated former "Jeopardy!" champion Ken Jennings in an exhibition trivia bowl match.
From ACM TechNews
Why Robot That Gets 'tired and Hormonal' Is a Good Thing
Having certain robots operate using the electronic equivalent of an endocrine system could present advantages, according to researchers.
From ACM TechNews
Academics Present New Breakthroughs For Fundamental Problems in Computer Science
Researchers this week presented papers on two fundamental problems in computer science at the IEEE symposium on Foundations of Computer Science.
From ACM TechNews
New Report on Energy-Efficient Computing
Novel research could help overcome the barriers that are limiting progress in computing, according to a new report.
From ACM TechNews
Toward a Smarter Grid
California Institute of Technology professor Steven Low believes the electric grid is on the verge of accommodating distributed, interconnected, and omnipresent intelligence.
From ACM News
Museum Specimens Find New Life Online
In a brightly lit room on the third floor of the Museum of Natural History here, stacks of wooden drawers are covered in glass, some panes so dusty that it is difficult to discern exactly what’s inside. When the glass is removed…
From ACM News
X-Ray Scans Expose an Ingenious Chip-and-Pin Card Hack
The chip-enabled credit card system long used in Europe, a watered down version of which is rolling out for the first time in America, is meant to create a double check against fraud.
From ACM News
After 10 Years, Google Books Is Legal
On Friday, a federal circuit court made clear that Google Books is legal.
From ACM TechNews
Can Myriad Wireless Networks Connect as One Fast, Secure System?
U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency researchers are working on a program that aims to solve critical wireless technology problems.
From ACM TechNews
New Research Method Identifies Stealth Attacks on Complicated Computer Systems
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University researchers have developed a program anomaly-detection approach to discovering stealth attacks on computers.
From ACM TechNews
Wi-Fi Trick Gives Devices Super-Accurate Indoor Location Fixes
New technology promises to offer more accurate indoor location technology based on Wi-Fi.
From ACM News
Taking Advantage of Workers With Experience
An escalating number of available workers over 50 means lots of opportunity for training and engagement in computer occupations.
From ACM News
Most Americans Would Be Fine with Some Internet Surveillance If They Were Notified
Despite increasingly heated rhetoric from opponents of government surveillance, a recent survey shows that most Americans would be okay with many kinds of Internet snooping as long as the snoopers told them first.
From ACM News
Apple Ceo Defends Encryption, Opposes Government Back Door
Apple Inc.'s Chief Executive Officer and the director of the National Security Agency squared off on Monday in a debate over how much access technology companies should afford U.S. intelligence agencies.
From ACM News
A Robot Finds Its Way sing Artificial 'gps' Brain Cells
The behavior and interplay of two types of neurons in the brain helps give humans and other animals an uncanny ability to navigate by building a mental map of their surroundings.
From ACM Careers
Seeing Stars, Again: Naval Academy Reinstates Celestial Navigation
The same techniques guided ancient Polynesians in the open Pacific and led Sir Ernest Shackleton to remote Antarctica, then oriented astronauts when the Apollo 12 was disabled by lightning, the techniques of celestial navigation…
From ACM News
The Most Mysterious Star in Our Galaxy
In the Northern hemisphere's sky, hovering above the Milky Way, there are two constellations—Cygnus the swan, her wings outstretched in full flight, and Lyra, the harp that accompanied poetry in ancient Greece, from which we…
From ACM TechNews
Alan Turing: The Man Behind the Myth
Famed mathematician and codebreaking pioneer Alan Turing's nephew, Sir Dermot Turing, is seeking to debunk myths about his uncle.
From ACM TechNews
niversities, tility Research Protecting Nation's Power Grid From Cyberattacks
The U.S. Department of Energy Center for Securing Electric Energy Delivery Systems aims to help safeguard U.S. power utilities from cyberattacks.
From ACM TechNews
Mobile Phone Navigation Service for Older People--Gets Them There Step by Step
A new mobile-phone navigation service promises to guide older people using public transportation to their destination, even when lost in a strange town.
From ACM TechNews
Affordable Camera Reveals Hidden Details Invisible to the Naked Eye
Researchers are developing camera technology that could soon enable consumers to tell if fruits or vegetables are ripe or starting to rot underneath the surface.