Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
October 2021
From ACM TechNews
Virtual Obstacle Courses Help Real Robots Learn to Walk
Researchers developed an army of more than 4,000 simulated doglike robots and used them to train an algorithm to control a real-world robot's legs.
From ACM News
AI's Smarts Now Come With a Big Price Tag
As language models get more complex, they also get more expensive to create and run. Some companies are locked out.
From ACM News
Global Chip Hunger Is Showing Early Signs of Indigestion
Even as the world continues to grapple with chip shortages, it's time to be on the lookout for a clearing of that backlog where insatiable hunger might quickly turn to nasty indigestion.
From ACM News
Dead-End SF Street Plagued With Confused WayMo Cars
The cars, packed with self-driving technology, stop in a queue as if they are completely baffled by the dead end.
From ACM TechNews
Tool for Predicting Pedestrian Flow Expands Its Reach
Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have developed and applied a predictive model of pedestrian traffic to Melbourne, Australia.
From ACM TechNews
AI-Generated Deepfake Voices Can Fool Humans, Smart Assistants
Freely available voice-mimicking software can deceive people and voice-activated tools like smart assistants, according to University of Chicago scientists.
From ACM TechNews
Los Alamos Supercomputers Uncover Subtleties of the X Chromosome
A new model shows the X chromosome inactivation process, paving the way for drug treatments for gene-based disorders and diseases.
From ACM TechNews
NIST, Collaborators Develop Sensitive Way of Detecting Transistor Defects
Researchers have developed a sensitive model for detecting and counting transistor defects.
From ACM News
The Outlook for Virtual Meetups
Future online meetings could include people in disparate locations cutting a virtual birthday cake together.
From ACM News
Apple Warns of Cybercrime Risks if EU Forces it to Allow Others' Software
An Apple analysis of the threats of side-loading warned of malicious apps migrating to third-party stores and infecting consumer devices.
From ACM News
A New Link to an Old Model Could Crack the Mystery of Deep Learning
To help them explain the shocking success of deep neural networks, researchers are turning to older but better-understood models of machine learning.
From ACM TechNews
Google Wants to Use AI to Time Traffic Lights More Efficiently
Google said it intends to test the use of artificial intelligence to optimize traffic-signal timing in Rio de Janeiro.
From ACM TechNews
Professional Footballers Threaten Data Firms with GDPR Legal Action
Hundreds of professional footballers (soccer players) have threatened litigation against the data collection industry.
From ACM TechNews
Engineers 3D-Print Personalized, Wireless Wearables That Never Need Charging
University of Arizona engineers have developed personalized biosymbiotic devices that can operate without recharging.
From ACM TechNews
Simulated AI Creatures Demonstrate How Mind, Body Evolve, Succeed Together
Stanford University scientists engineered virtual artificial intelligences performing tasks in simulated environments to mimic the evolution of mind and body.
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Use AR to See Radiation Defects in Nuclear Reactors
A machine learning platform uses augmented reality to detect and quantify radiation-induced defects in parts and testing materials in nuclear reactors.
From ACM TechNews
Study Reveals Scale of Data-Sharing from Android Phones
Vendor-customized Android variants transmit significant amounts of data from mobile phones to the operating system developer and third parties.
From ACM News
IBM Turns to AI to Predict and Mitigate Climate Risk
Extreme weather is already affecting supply chains around the planet.
From ACM News
Edge Computing: The Architecture of the Future
To fully digitize the last mile of business, you need to distribute compute power where it's needed most -- next to IoT devices that collect data from the real world.
From ACM TechNews
Allstate Wants to Track Your Driving to Determine Your Car Insurance Rate
Allstate Corp. is in talks with state insurance regulators to spur an industry-wide transition to the use of telematics to set car insurance rates.
From ACM TechNews
County DA Pilots Race-Blind Charging Algorithm
The Yolo County, CA, District Attorney's Office incorporated a redaction algorithm into its digital case management system to analyze racial bias in charging decisions.
From ACM TechNews
ML Helps Reveal Cells' Inner Structures in Detail
Researchers combined electron microscopy with machine learning to identify structures within cells.
From ACM News
Google's AI Upscaling Technology Outperforms Previous Models
New models developed by the search giant upgrade the resolution of photos.
From ACM News
Digital Gender Gap Has Cost Over $1 Trillion - So Far
Men are more than half as likely to have Internet access than women in the world's poorest countries.
From ACM News
The Rise of the Robo-Voices
New technology lets filmmakers create foreign-language versions of their movies using samples of the original actors' voices.
From ACM TechNews
The Future Farmers of France Are Tech-Savvy
The Hectar venture hopes to address France's farmer shortage by nurturing technologically adept next-generation growers.
From ACM TechNews
Lack of Engineers Keeping Some Firms Out of the Cloud
Major cloud computing companies are competing to hire engineers, squeezing out others as the pandemic has driven up demand for an already scarce workforce.
From ACM TechNews
Singapore Inks Pact with Finland to Mutually Recognize IoT Security Labels
Singapore and Finland have agreed to recognize each other's cybersecurity labels for Internet of Things devices.
From ACM TechNews
Bipedal Robot Can Ride a Skateboard, Walk a Slackline
The bipedal LEgs ONboARD drOne (LEONARDO) robot combines walking with flying to perform nimble, complex movements.
From ACM TechNews
AI Is Smart, but Does It Play Well with Others?
Researchers explored humans' ability to play a card game with an artificial intelligence model trained to play with teammates never before encountered.