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
Will Netflix Destroy the Internet?
American broadband capacity might not be able to keep up with everyone who wants to stream movies.
From ACM News
Apple Looks to a New Computing Era
Remember the floppy disk? I'm willing to bet Steve Jobs does. I'm also willing to bet he remembers when he killed it.
From ACM News
Implanted Chip 'allows Blind People to Detect Objects'
A man with an inherited form of blindness has been able to identify letters and a clock face using a pioneering implant, researchers say.
From ACM News
Apple Experimenting With Data Transfer Technology For Iphone 5
Apple is reportedly experimenting with Near Field Communication for the upcoming iPhone 5, which would allow the device to be turned into an electronic wallet or key.
From ACM News
Ncsa Director: Gpu Is Future of Supercomputing
The director of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications has seen the future of supercomputing and it can be summed up in three letters: GPU.
From ACM TechNews
Prizewinning Chatbot Steers the Conversation
A chatbot named Suzette recently won the Loebner prize, awarded for a version of the Turing Test, because the system successfully fooled a human judge into thinking Suzette was human after engaging in a 25-minute text-based conversation…
From ACM TechNews
Obama's Chief Scientist Pushes National Broadband Plan
John Holdren, the White House's top science and technology adviser, says the FCC's national broadband plan would lead to an improvement in the productivity of science and engineering enterprises and boost the productivity levels…
From ACM News
Bogus Grass-Roots Politics on Twitter
Data-mining techniques reveal fake Twitter accounts that give the impression of a vast political movement.
From ACM News
At Nasa, a Quiet Quest to Send a Humanoid Robot to the Moon
For $150 billion, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration could have sent astronauts back to the Moon. The Obama administration judged that too expensive, and in September, Congress agreed to cancel the program.
From ACM News
Strengthening the Voice of ndergraduate Research
The Council on Undergraduate Research and the National Conferences on Undergraduate Research have joined forces to form a new organization to strengthen and promote the endeavor of undergraduate research.
From ACM News
Google's Android Software Dominates .s. Smartphone Market
Google's Android software continued its rocket-like ascent over the summer, ending the third quarter with the dominant market share in the United States among smartphone operating systems and a solid No. 2 globally.
From ACM News
A Day Seen Through Google Searches
Google likes to think of itself as the world's information barometer, the most complete repository of human intent as measured by the Internet search query. Around every hour it updates a list of the queries it has determined…
From ACM News
More Than 100,000 Pay For British News Site
News Corp. said Tuesday that it had attracted 105,000 paying customers to the digital versions of The Times and The Sunday Times of London since it started charging for access to their Web sites in June.
From ACM News
Teaching Real-World Programming
In an innovative software-engineering class, students meet for regular "code reviews" with senior programmers from Boston-area companies.
From ACM News
Data-Scope Computer to Allow Data Analysis That's Impossible Today
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University's Institute for Data Intensive Engineering and Science are developing a computer system that will peform data analysis tasks that simply are not possible today.
From ACM TechNews
Ryerson Researchers Are Building Context-Aware Communications Interface
Ryerson University researchers are developing a context-awareness communication system that provides mobile-device users with more control over how, when, and where they receive voice and video calls.
From ACM TechNews
Someone's Watching You
FX Labs has developed myUnity, a communications application that can tell users if a coworker is busy at the desk, talking on the phone, or has left the building. MyUnity gives users a visual contact list showing what their…
From ACM TechNews
Robot Teachers Are the Latest E-Learning Tool
Korea Institute of Science and Technology researchers are building robots to provide English instruction to schoolchildren. The researchers say the goal is to be able to build robots that are less expensive than hiring teachers…
From ACM TechNews
'Wireless' Humans Could Form Backbone of New Mobile Networks
Queen's University Belfast researchers have developed wearable sensors that could create new ultra-high bandwidth mobile Internet infrastructures and reduce the density of mobile phone basestations.
From ACM TechNews
Study Finds Support For Presidential Net 'kill Switch'
Sixty-one percent of U.S. citizens believe the president should be authorized to control or even shut down portions of the Internet in the event key U.S. systems are struck by a cyberattack from a foreign power, according to…
From ACM TechNews
Driverless Vans End 8,000-Mile Test Drive to China
The European Research Council's 8,000-mile robotic car test, which began in Italy on July 20, came to a conclusion as four unmanned electric vans successfully completed their journey in Shanghai, China.
From ACM TechNews
From Touchpad to Thought-Pad?
The U.S. National Institutes of Health recently completed a study using brain-computer interfaces showing that it is possible to manipulate complex visual images on a computer screen by thought.
From ACM News
A New Search Engine, Where Less Is More
Start-ups and big companies alike have tried to take on Google by building a better search engine. That they have failed has not stopped brave new entrants.
From ACM News
'wireless' Humans Could Form Backbone of New Mobile Networks
Members of the public could form the backbone of powerful new mobile Internet networks by carrying wearable sensors, according to researchers from Queen's University Belfast.
From ACM News
Why Rare Earth Metals Matter to Tech
A diplomatic dispute between Japan and China led China in September to temporarily suspend shipments of rare earth elements to Japan, a move that caused a spike in prices and angst around the world.
From ACM News
Software to Combat Hacking Technique Wins Award
One of the serious threats to a user's computer is a software program that might cause unwanted keystroke sequences to occur in order to hack someone's identity. An authentication framework called TUBA has been developed to combat…
From Communications of the ACM
Career Opportunities
What are the job prospects for today's—and tomorrow's—graduates?
From Communications of the ACM
Wide Open Spaces
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission's decision to open frequencies in the broadcast spectrum could enable broadband networks in rural areas, permit smart electric grids, and more.
From Communications of the ACM
Turning Data Into Knowledge
Today's data deluge is leading to new approaches to visualize, analyze, and catalog enormous datasets.
From Communications of the ACM
Security in the Cloud
Cloud computing offers many advantages, but also involves security risks. Fortunately, researchers are devising some ingenious solutions.