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 TechNews
New Help on Testing For Common Cause of Software Bugs
As part of the Automated Combinatorial Testing for Software program, the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology has developed algorithms for automated testing of the multiple variables in software that can cause…
From ACM TechNews
DARPA-Funded Project to Spark Computer Science Education
DARPA recently awarded TopCoder a contract to develop a virtual community featuring competitions and educational resources in order to boost computer science education and help middle and high school students improve their STEM…
From ACM TechNews
Researcher: Rollable Displays Unfold in 2015
Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute has developed a flexible display that uses a plastic material that can withstand the high temperatures of the thin film transistor liquid crystal display processes.
From ACM TechNews
W3c Seeks Help, Patience With Html5 Tests
The technology industry should focus more on helping the W3C improve its tests for HTML5 rather than trying to draw conclusions from the tests or from the results, says Philippe Le Hegaret, who oversees HTML5 and other standards…
From ACM TechNews
Research Team Takes Another Big Step in Creating Small Chips
Researchers at the University of Alberta and the National Institute for Nanotechnology have developed a method for heating plastic in a microwave oven that could help to re-invent the manufacture of computer chips.
From ACM TechNews
Versatile Algorithms For Nanoscale Designs
The ICESTARS project aims to develop and deploy integrated simulation algorithms and prototype tools that will overcome the barriers in existing and future radio frequency design flows.
From ACM News
Web Browsing Takes a Social Turn
Silicon Valley is awash in tales of the "PayPal Mafia," the tight-knit group of PayPal alumni who have helped one another start and finance a crop of new companies. But William V. Campbell, who is something of a godfather…
From ACM News
New Ways Bankers Are Spying on You
Big Banker is watching you—more closely than ever.
From ACM News
Georgia Tech Supports Darpa's $100 Million Next-Generation Hpc Project
The $100 million DARPA Ubiquitous High Performance Computing initiative aims to fit a high performance petaflop computer into a single rack measuring 24 inches wide and powered by a fraction of the electricity consumed by comparable…
From ACM News
China's Supercomputers to Sharpen Competitive Edge
As a China-made supercomputer was recently ranked as the world's fastest, Chinese high performance computer manufacturers are inspired to sharpen their competitive edge and eye a broader international market.
From ACM News
High-Tech Jobs Next Phase of Outsourcing?
In the latest phase of globalization, some economists say, Silicon Valley is in danger of losing a sizable piece of its knowledge-based industry to India in much the same way Detroit lost its lead to Japan in the automotive…
From ACM News
The Emergence of Holographic Video
Experimental networked display refreshes holograms every two seconds.
From ACM News
Intel's Andy Grove on Manufacturing in America
Among the scores of fabless chip companies and product design houses in Silicon Valley, Intel is a standout. It's an American high-tech company that not only creates but builds some of the most sophisticated tech products…
From ACM News
Ftc's First Chief Technologist: Drm Basher Ed Felten
What do you get when you spend your academic career exposing broken DRM schemes, suing the recording industry when they try to silence you, showing the insecurity of e-voting machines, filing DMCA exemption requests, and freeing…
From ACM News
Money For Scientific Research May Be Scarce With a Republican-Led House
Federal financing of science research, which has risen quickly since the Obama administration came to power, could fall back to pre-Obama levels if the incoming Republican leadership in the House of Representatives follows…
From ACM News
New Google Tool Makes Websites Twice as Fast
The optimization tool is the latest result of Google's speed obsession and could add to the company's bottom line.
From ACM News
Web Firms Face Brutal Competition in China
In China's young Internet industry, competitors draw blood.
From ACM News
The New New Andreessen
With Andreessen Horowitz, visionary entrepreneur Marc Andreessen is trying to reinvent himself as a top-tier venture capitalist and world-class power broker.
From ACM News
Social Studies
In MIT's Human Dynamics Lab, Sandy Pentland uses cellphones and wearable sensors to research nonverbal signals, information flow, and the value of face-to-face conversation.
From ACM News
Nasa Mission Successfully Flies By Comet Hartley 2
NASA's EPOXI mission successfully flew by comet Hartley 2 at about 7 a.m. PDT (10 a.m. EDT) today, and the spacecraft has begun returning images. Hartley 2 is the fifth comet nucleus visited by a spacecraft.
From ACM News
Long-Range Undersea Robot Does Its Own Research
A new breed of undersea robot promises to give oceanographers a deeper understanding of ocean life by going faster, farther, and longer than its predecessors—and by doing a little thinking all on its own.
From ACM News
Neighborhood Mischief Caught on Tape
Steve Miller is justifiably proud of the manicured grounds around his stately stucco home in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. So he was nonplussed last year when he discovered that someone had been tossing plastic bags of dog excrement…
From ACM News
Can Science Tell S Right From Wrong?
A distinguished panel will participate in "The Great Debate: Can Science Tell Us Right From Wrong?" this Saturday (Nov. 6) at Arizona State University.
From ACM TechNews
Computer Scientists Make Progress on Math Puzzle
University of Texas at Dallas professors Linda Morales and Hal Sudborough have made progress on the Topswops mathematical puzzle. Stanford University computer scientist Donald Knuth called their proof technique both "elegant"…
From ACM TechNews
Um Researchers Are Studying Child-Mother Interactions to Design Robots With Social Skills
University of Miami developmental psychologists and computer scientists from the University of California, San Diego are studying the interaction between infants and mothers, and will use the findings to program a baby robot…
From ACM TechNews
Robot's Space Debut 'giant Leap For Tinmankind'
NASA is sending a humanoid robot, called Robonaut 2, to the International Space Station for the first time. R2 has more than 350 electrical sensors throughout its body, measures three feet, four inches tall and weighs 330 pounds…
From ACM TechNews
Online Social Networks and Human Behavior
Online social networks have become important laboratories for social scientists. "The volume of online social networking is exploding, and it appears it is becoming more pervasive than real-life social networking," says Suffolk…
From ACM TechNews
Piracy Technology to Revolutionize Market Research in Cinema
Researchers are developing piracy tracking technology for movie theatres. "We plan to build on the capabilities of current technology . . . to detect criminals making pirate copies of films with video cameras," says the University…
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Develop 'Hi-Def' Copy Number Variation Decoder
CNVer, a computer algorithm developed by researchers at the University of Toronto, promises to simplify the discovery of the precise number of copies of genes in the human genome.
From ACM News
Catching p with Multitouch Pioneer Jeff Han
When it comes to the future of technology, Jeff Han literally has his finger on the pulse.