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 TechNews
Can Businesses Keep Up With Cyber Threats?
Market research firm Gartner forecasts cybersecurity spending by companies and governments will grow 9% annually from 2021 to 2024.
From ACM TechNews
Squeezing Light Inside Memory Devices Could Help Improve Performance
Researchers led by the U.K.'s University of Cambridge have developed a technique for "squeezing" visible light in order to probe nanoscale memory devices,.
From ACM News
The LAFD just hired America's first firefighting robot
On Tuesday, the 3,500-pound RS3 helped to put out a fire in downtown Los Angeles.
From ACM News
Banishing Blackouts
An Argonne researcher upgrades supercomputer optimization algorithms to boost reliability and resilience in U.S. power systems.
From ACM News
AI Shakes Up the Seismology World
Artificial intelligence is reshaping our understanding of earthquakes and other seismological events
From ACM TechNews
China's Quiet Experiment Let Millions View Long-Banned Websites
China allowed millions of its citizens access to long-banned foreign websites like YouTube and Instagram in a two-week experiment of the Tuber mobile browser application.
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Use Flying Insects to Drop Sensors Safely
Researchers have created a 98-milligram sensor that can be deployed by riding on a small drone or an insect and being dropped when it reaches its destination.
From ACM TechNews
Software Spots, Fixes Hang Bugs in Seconds
New software developed at North Carolina State University can identify and fix so-called hang bugs.
From ACM TechNews
Split-Second 'Phantom' Images Can Fool Tesla's Autopilot
Researchers at Israel's Ben Gurion University of the Negev found they could fool Tesla's Autopilot driver-assistance systems into automatically reacting without warning.
From ACM TechNews
VR Software Allows Scientists to 'Walk' Inside Cells
New software enables super-resolution microscopy data to be visualized and analyzed in virtual reality.
From ACM TechNews
Woolworths Launches Automated eStore in Melbourne
Woolworths in Australia is using technology to accelerate delivery of online orders and potentially improve order accuracy.
From ACM TechNews
AI Researchers Challenge a Robot to Ride a Skateboard in Simulation
Researchers have developed a framework for controlling four-legged robots that is more energy efficient and adaptable than traditional model-based gait control.
From ACM TechNews
Tax Agency Watchdog Is Investigating IRS Use of Cellphone Location Data
U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration J. Russel George said he will review Internal Revenue Service use of software that enables warrantless surveillance of cellphones.
From ACM TechNews
12 European Companies, Research Labs Join Forces to Boost Industrial Quantum Computing Applications
The NExt ApplicationS of Quantum Computing project hopes to demonstrate practical use cases for the Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum devices that soon will be available.
From ACM News
Here Come the Swarmbots
Switzerland's EFPL has developed inexpensive prototype bots that can be used to form, and act as, swarms.
From ACM News
Microsoft Takes Down a Risk to the Election, and Finds the U.S. Doing the Same
Fearing Russian ransomware attacks on the election, the company and U.S. Cyber Command mounted similar pre-emptive strikes. It is not clear how long they may work.
From ACM News
The Army is Testing AR Goggles for Dogs
The U.S. military is working on new ways for soldiers and their dogs to communicate.
From ACM TechNews
Here Comes the Internet of Plastic Things, No Batteries or Electronics Required
Researchers at the University of Washington have developed a technique for three-dimensionally printing plastic objects that communicate with Wi-Fi devices without batteries or electronics.
From ACM TechNews
Israeli Researchers Find Breach Allowing Hackers to Spy Through Remotes
Researchers in Israel discovered a security breach that would let hackers eavesdrop on users through voice-command remote controls from the Comcast cable TV service.
From ACM TechNews
Japan Post Delivery Robot Debuts in Tokyo
Japan Post Co. is testing in Tokyo a self-driving mail delivery robot that can maneuver around obstacles and cross intersections with traffic lights.
From ACM TechNews
Algorithm Sharpens Focus of Most Powerful Microscopes
Researchers have developed an algorithm to enhance the resolution and accuracy of the world's most powerful microscopes.
From ACM TechNews
AI Could Help Find Cheaper, Smarter Ways to Raise Fish
Artificial intelligence researchers at Norwegian telecommunications carrier Telenor's Norwegian Open AI Lab are testing AI models to reduce costs and increase efficiency in salmon breeding.
From ACM News
Astronauts Will Vote From Space – Here’s How It Works
A SpaceX Crew Dragon IS scheduled to carry three additional U.S. crew members to the space station on October 31, just in time to cast their ballots there,
From ACM News
Facebook Widens Ban on Political Ads as Alarm Rises Over Election
Political ads will be banned indefinitely after polls close on Nov. 3 and the company plans new steps to limit misinformation about the results.
From ACM News
Memristor Breakthrough: First Single Device To Act Like a Neuron
Analog computing with neuron-like devices could efficiently solve problems traditional computers struggle to solve.
From ACM TechNews
4G, 5G Networks Could Be Vulnerable to Exploit Due to 'Mishmash' of Old Technologies
Positive Technologies' Sergey Puzankov said that outstanding issues in the Signaling System 7 protocol continue to plague the telecommunications industry as it transitions to 5G.
From ACM TechNews
Bowls, Vases, Lamps: How 3D Printing Came Home
Designers and engineers are modifying three-dimensional printing technology to make domestic products, like furniture and homeware, that would be impossible or unaffordable to fabricate otherwise.
From ACM TechNews
'Liking' an Article Online May Mean Less Time Spent Reading It
Ohio State University researchers suggest that when people are offered the option to "like" an online article, they spend less time actually reading it.
From ACM TechNews
Conservative Unease With Science Is Global, but Extreme in the U.S.
A Pew Research Center survey of about 1,000 people from 20 countries immediately before the Covid-19 pandemic found widespread trust in scientists and a strong desire to act on their findings in certain areas
From ACM News
It's a New Digital Ballgame
Digital technology brings new elements to sports.