Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
November 2010
From ACM News
Shunned Profiling Technology on the Verge of Comeback
One of the most potentially intrusive technologies for profiling and targeting Internet users with ads is on the verge of a comeback, two years after an outcry by privacy advocates in the U.S. and Britain appeared to kill…
From ACM News
Analysing Data Is the Future For Journalists, Says Tim Berners-Lee
Inventor of the World Wide Web says reporters should be hunting for stories in datasets.
From ACM News
President Obama Awards Annual National Medals of Science
President Obama presented 10 researchers with United States' highest technical and scientific award, and said that celebrating their contributions was "one of the most important ways to restore science to its rightful place."…
From ACM TechNews
'fingerprint' Software to STEM Cyber Crime
GuardInQ, new digital fingerprinting software developed by researchers at Edinburgh Napier University, offers closed-caption TV-style monitoring of online systems.
From ACM TechNews
Organ Network ses Algorithm to Match Live Kidney Donors With Recipients
Carnegie Mellon University researchers have developed an algorithm that matches living kidney donors with compatible transplant recipients, and initiated a pilot program as part of the U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation…
From ACM News
H-1b at 20: How the 'tech Worker Visa' Is Remaking It in America
The H-1B visa program turns 20 years old this month. Not everyone in IT is saying 'Best Wishes.'
From ACM News
'nowhere to Hide': .s. Army Testing New 'smart' Weapons in Afghanistan
The XM-25 soon will see combat; precision rounds can be programmed to explode before impact.
From ACM News
Windows at 25: A Tech King with Growing Competition
When the first Windows operating system was introduced by Microsoft, Ronald Reagan was in the White House, John Hughes was introducing touching teen stereotypes in "The Breakfast Club," and a young singer named Madonna was…
From ACM News
When the Playroom Is the Computer
A block-shaped robot that seems to roll onto a computer screen is part of an educational-media system that gets kids out of their chairs.
From ACM News
Researchers Create 3-D Models from Online Photo Databases
Computer scientists have invented a technique that automatically creates 3-D models of landmarks and geographical locations, using ordinary two-dimensional pictures available through Internet photo sharing sites like Flickr.
From ACM News
Columbia niversity and Neuromatters to Develop Brain-Computer Interface Technology
Columbia University and Neuromatters LLC have entered into an agreement to develop a novel brain-computer interface technology for rapid identification of relevant images.
From ACM News
Social Media Actually Strengthens Social Ties, Study Says
A University of Texas at Austin study reveals gender differences amid the ubiquitous use of Facebook. College students and graduates are expanding their online social circles and engaging frequently on the social network.
From ACM News
With Kinect Controller, Hackers Take Liberties
When Oliver Kreylos, a computer scientist, heard about the capabilities of Microsoft's new Kinect gaming device, he couldn’t wait to get his hands on it. "I dropped everything, rode my bike to the closest game store and bought…
From ACM News
'berlin' Is Revealed as Kryptos Clue
"Berlin" is the highly anticipated clue from artist Jim Sanborn that’s meant to help crypto sleuths unlock the cipher to his enigmatic Kryptos sculpture. The clue was revealed Saturday in a New York Times article.
From ACM News
Georgia Tech-Led Team Wins Gordon Bell Prize for Supercomputing
A team led by George Biros, associate professor in Georgia Tech's School of Computational Science & Engineering, has won the Association for Computing Machinery's Gordon Bell Prize for the world's fastest supercomputing application…
From ACM News
Globus Online File Transfer Service Debuts
The creators of Globus Online have announced the general availability of the cloud-hosted high-performance, secure file transfer service. Globus Online eliminates the need for complex, custom IT infrastructure to manage large…
From ACM TechNews
World's First Ice Touchscreen Virtually Burns
Nokia researchers have built a computer touchscreen using a block of ice. The researchers say the screen is a step toward a world in which all sorts of surfaces can have computing capabilities.
From ACM TechNews
Social Networking Extends Mobile Battery Life
Researchers at the University of Zagreb, Crotia, are developing a new approach to social networking for mobile devices that is based on the context and preferences of users. The approach would provide a richer and faster experience…
From ACM TechNews
New Device Could Give Boost to Renewable Energy
University of Texas at Dallas professor Babak Fahimi has developed a prototype electronic interface for routing renewable energy sources to the power grid and electrical storage facilities.
From ACM TechNews
IBM, Intel Question Key Top500 Supercomputer Metric
Researchers at IBM and Intel are questioning the methods by which the supercomputing Top500 list is compiled. "The Top500 . . . doesn't measure about 80 percent of the workloads" that are usually run on supercomputers, says…
From ACM TechNews
Hpc Experts Look Past Petaflop to the Exascale
At SC10, the annual supercomputing conference, high-performance computing (HPC) experts debated whether the industry will reach an exaflop by 2020, and if the achievement will be worth the expense, which could exceed $1 billion…
From ACM TechNews
AT&T ps the Ante in Speech Recognition
AT&T says it has devised technologies to boost the accuracy of speech and language recognition technology as well as extend voice activation to other modes of communication.
From ACM News
Silicon's Long Good-Bye
Researchers make transistors out of a material that's better than silicon.
From ACM News
How Wise Are Crowds?
By melding economics and engineering, researchers show that as social networks get larger, they usually get better at sorting fact from fiction.
From ACM News
Effort Seeks to Diversify Cyber-Security Field
In an effort to increase the number of women and minorities in the field of cyber security, Missouri University of Science and Technology is working with the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff to develop a new program for undergraduate…
From ACM News
Insurers Test Data Profiles to Identify Risky Clients
Life insurers are testing an intensely personal new use for the vast dossiers of data being amassed about Americans: predicting people's longevity.
From ACM News
Cell Phone Alerts to Warn Residents of Danger
Two U.S. Department of Homeland Security offices are working with wireless carriers to develop a national capability to send emergency alerts to mobile devices.
From ACM News
Worm Can Deal Double Blow to Nuclear Program
The German software engineer who in September was the first to report that a computer worm was apparently designed to sabotage targets in Iran said Friday that the program contained two separate "digital warheads."
From ACM News
Code Clues Point to Stuxnet Maker
Detailed analysis of the code in the Stuxnet worm has narrowed the list of suspects who could have created it.
From ACM News
Where Cinema and Biology Meet
When Robert A. Lue considers the "Star Wars" Death Star, his first thought is not of outer space, but inner space.