Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
October 2020
From ACM News
Activists Turn Facial Recognition Tools Against the Police
"We're now approaching the technological threshold where the little guys can do it to the big guys," one researcher said.
From ACM News
Schools Clamored for Seesaw’s App. That Was Good News, and Bad News.
It wasn't simple to become a do-it-all education tool almost overnight.
From ACM News
The U.S.-China Conflict Over Chips Is About to Get Uglier
Politics is roiling the semiconductor business model, sparking a drive for more autonomy from the U.S. to China, Europe and Japan.
From ACM News
Driverless Cars Go Humble to Get Real
Recent developments point to promise for driverless car technology, if we stay realistic.
From ACM TechNews
Remote Work Not Just for White-Collar Jobs Anymore
Technology that allows people to perform physical work remotely is proliferating across a host of occupations.
From ACM TechNews
Simple Software Creates Complex Wooden Joints That Interlock with No Nails, Glue, or Tools
Researchers at Japan's University of Tokyo created novel three-dimensional design software for producing sophisticated, interlocking wooden joints that do not require nails, glue, or tools.
From ACM TechNews
Cybersecurity Company Finds Hacker Selling Info on 186 Million U.S. Voters
Cybersecurity company Trustwave says it discovered a hacker selling personally identifying information on 245 million Americans, including voter registration data for 186 million.
From ACM TechNews
MonoEye: A Human Motion-Capture System Using Single Wearable Camera
Researchers have developed a human motion-capture system using an ultra-wide fisheye camera strapped to the user's chest.
From ACM TechNews
2020's Fastest-Rising Tech Jobs? Programming Language PHP Leads the Way
Job search engine Indeed said entry-level PHP developer is the fastest-growing technology job industry-wide.
From ACM TechNews
Alphabet Trialing Solar-Paneled, Robotic Buggies to Inspect Crops
Google parent Alphabet is piloting a project to revolutionize agriculture and food production by using solar-powered electric buggies to monitor crops.
From ACM News
Faculty Expected to Return to Campus for Spring Semester per Updated Remote WorkPolicy
While Northeastern University faculty are expected to return, requests for remote work will still be accepted and addressed on a case-by-case basis.
From ACM News
Forget Antitrust Laws. To Limit Tech, Some Say a New Regulator Is Needed.
Even as the Justice Department sued Google, some antitrust experts wondered whether a different government response would be more effective.
From ACM TechNews
The Police Can Probably Break Into Your Phone
Washington DC-based nonprofit Upturn found law enforcement officials regularly break into encrypted smartphones, and police in all U.S. states have phone-hacking tools.
From ACM TechNews
Programming Language Popularity: JavaScript Leads--5 Million New Developers Since 2017
SlashData's State of the Developer Nation Q3 2020 survey found JavaScript remains the reigning coding language for developers.
From ACM TechNews
Pufferfish-Inspired Robot Could Improve Drone Safety
Engineers at the University of Colorado, Boulder have designed a pufferfish-inspired robot that could enhance the safety of flying drones.
From ACM TechNews
A Radical Technique Lets AI Learn with Practically No Data
Scientists at Canada's University of Waterloo suggest artificial intelligence models should be capable of “less than one”-shot learning.
From ACM TechNews
Tesla Putting 'Self-Driving' in the Hands of Drivers, Amid Criticism the Tech Is Not Ready
Electric automaker Tesla has providing a number of owners of its vehicles a software update to enable the cars to steer better and accelerate without human control.
From ACM News
25 Moments in Tech that Defined the Past 25 Years
From the obvious (Steve Jobs unveils the iPhone) to the obscure (AT&T stops charging an hourly rate for internet access), these events were landmarks.
From ACM TechNews
Cyber Command Sought to Disrupt World's Largest Botnet, Hoping to Reduce Its Potential Impact on the Election
U.S. Cyber Command (CyberCom) has launched a campaign to temporarily disrupt the world's largest botnet, in order to mitigate its potential interference in the presidential election.
From ACM TechNews
Many Corporate Boards Still Face Shortage of Tech Expertise
Corporate boards could soon be looking for technology talent amid a shortfall, with digital business models gaining due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
From ACM TechNews
Hackers Targeting IoT Devices With a P2P Botnet Malware
Qihoo 360's Netlab security team has discovered the HEH Botnet, which hijacks Internet-connected smart devices to carry out nefarious tasks.
From ACM TechNews
AI Is About to Face a Major Test: Can It Differentiate Covid-19 From Flu?
Researchers are turning to artificial intelligence to help doctors differentiate between Covid-19 and the flu.
From ACM News
RISC-V Business: Tech Foundation Moving to Switzerland Because of Geopolitical Concerns
Unanimous decision of board to up sticks from Delaware.
From ACM News
First European Quantum Computing Facility Goes Online
Quantum Inspire is smaller than IBM's Quantum Experience, but offers the first online quantum processor that uses electron spins in quantum dots as qubits.
From ACM TechNews
WEF Says Machines Will Create More Jobs Than They Destroy, but Warns of Pandemic 'Double-Disruption'
The World Economic Forum predicts robotics and artificial intelligence advancements will lead to a net increase in jobs over the next five years.
From ACM TechNews
Microsoft, SpaceX Team Up to Bring Cloud Computing to Space
Microsoft has partnered with SpaceX and others to make its Azure cloud technology available and accessible to people anywhere on Earth, and potentially to those who travel to space.
From ACM TechNews
GM to Run Driverless Cars in San Francisco Without Human Backups
General Motors' Cruise autonomous vehicle unit said it will remove human backup drivers from the driverless vehicles it is testing on San Francisco streets by year's end.
From ACM TechNews
Drones to Drop Seeds to Boost Koala Gum Tree Numbers After Devastating Australia Bushfires
Specialized drones are being tested in a program to increase koala populations on Australia's east coast by dropping gum tree seeds.
From ACM TechNews
Use AI to Convert Ancient Maps Into Satellite-Like Images
Researchers have developed a machine learning algorithm that can transform ancient maps into Google-style satellite image.
From ACM TechNews
Opening the Black Box of Neural Networks
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory researchers used deep learning neural networks to model water molecule interactions.