Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
November 2016
From ACM TechNews
Google's Deepmind AI Can Lip-Read Tv Shows Better Than a Pro
Researchers at Google's DeepMind and the University of Oxford are using deep-learning techniques to create a lip-reading system that can perform better than professional lip readers.
From ACM TechNews
Internet of Things Will Demand a Step-Change in Search Solutions
New Internet search mechanisms will need to be developed to support the growing Internet of Things.
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Build Tool to Help Prevent 'selfie Deaths'
A growing number of people die every year while taking photos of themselves at dangerous locations, leading researchers at Carnegie Mellon University to look for ways to reduce this risk.
From ACM TechNews
Will AI sher in a New Era of Hacking?
Advanced artificial intelligence systems developed to defend assets in cyberspace might be turned to malevolent purposes by cybercriminals.
From ACM News
China's Secretive Space Program Threatens Nasa's Dominance
The launch of the Shenzhou 11 spacecraft in western China last month marked another great leap forward for the nation's space program and its ambition to send manned missions to the moon and, eventually, Mars.
From ACM News
Richard Tapia Receives the Aaas Public Engagement with Science Award
The award recognizes Tapia’s “remarkable career blending world-class scholarship, admirable mentoring and profound contributions to science, technology, engineering and mathematics education and public engagement.”
From ACM News
Nasa Saturn Mission Prepares For 'ring-Grazing Orbits'
A thrilling ride is about to begin for NASA's Cassini spacecraft.
From ACM News
Japan Plans Supercomputer to Leap Into Technology Future
Japan plans to build the world's fastest-known supercomputer in a bid to arm the country's manufacturers with a platform for research that could help them develop and improve driverless cars, robotics and medical diagnostics.
…From ACM News
Making Sense of Exabytes of Data at Sc16
“Think about how you got here,” said Katharine Frase, head of strategy and business development for IBM’s Watson Education unit, at the SC16 conference in Salt Lake City last week.
From ACM TechNews
Malware Turns Pcs Into Eavesdropping Devices
Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev have demonstrated SPEAKE(a)R, malware that can turn computers into perpetual eavesdropping machines. The malware can secretly transform headphones into a pair of microphones, …
From ACM TechNews
Single Photon Converter – A Key Component of Quantum Internet
Physicists from the University of Warsaw and the University of Oxford have constructed an electro-optical device capable of modifying the quantum properties of individual photons.
From ACM TechNews
Miniature Wi-Fi Device Supplies Missing Link For the Internet of Things
Stanford University researchers have developed HitchHike, a tiny, ultra-low-energy wireless radio that enables data transmission using just micro-watts of energy.
From ACM TechNews
Neural Network Learns to Identify Criminals By Their Faces
Researchers from Shanghai Jiao Tong University applied a variety of machine-vision algorithms to study faces of criminals and noncriminals. Their neural network was able to correctly identify criminals and non criminals with …
From ACM TechNews
AI Academic Warns on Brain Drain to Tech Groups
As artificial intelligence (AI) professionals increasingly seek positions within major technology companies, the exodus threatens to stall academic research in the field, according to University of Montreal Professor Yoshua Bengio…
From ACM News
Cracked, Frozen, and Tipped Over: New Clues From Pluto's Past
Sputnik Planitia, a 1,000-kilometer-wide basin within the iconic heart-shaped region observed on Pluto's surface, could be in its present location because accumulation of ice made the dwarf planet roll over, creating cracks and…
From ACM News
Mars Ice Deposit Holds as Much Water as Lake Superior
Frozen beneath a region of cracked and pitted plains on Mars lies about as much water as what's in Lake Superior, largest of the Great Lakes, researchers using NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have determined.
From ACM News
Great. Now Even Your Headphones Can Spy on You
Cautious computer users put a piece of tape over their webcam.
From ACM News
Cognitive Computers Work Like the Human Brain
Neural networks and cognitive computing software emulate the way humans think.
From ACM TechNews
World's First Silicon Photonic Neural Network nveiled
Alexander Tait and colleagues at Princeton University say they have built the world's first integrated silicon photonic neuromorphic chip, a development that could lead to superfast optical computers based on neural networks. …
From ACM TechNews
Tracking the Flow of Quantum Information
Yale University researchers have developed a formula for understanding where quantum objects land when they are transmitted, which they say provides insight for controlling open quantum systems in a range of situations.
From ACM TechNews
Computers Learn to Recognize Molecules That Can Enter Cells
Researchers at UCLA and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign determined that a computer program they developed started to recognize features of peptides that could alter the shape of membranes. This shape-altering feature…
From ACM News
Fire p the Atom Forge
Electron microscopy is on the brink of a transition.
From ACM News
Artificial Intelligence Robots: Why Human Baby Brains Are Smarter Than AI
Machines are capable of understanding speech, recognizing faces and driving cars safely, making recent technological advancements seem impressively powerful.
From ACM News
Google, Facebook, and Microsoft Are Remaking Themselves Around AI
Fei-Fei Li is a big deal in the world of AI. As the director of the Artificial Intelligence and Vision labs at Stanford University, she oversaw the creation of ImageNet, a vast database of images designed to accelerate the development…
From ACM News
China's Driverless Trucks Are Revving Their Engines
China is gearing up to overhaul its road delivery with fleets of self-driving long-haul trucks.
From ACM TechNews
Microsoft Spends Big to Build a Computer Out of Science Fiction
Microsoft is dedicating significant funding and manpower to its efforts related to quantum computing. Microsoft's decision to build a working prototype highlights a global competition to develop the world's first quantum computing…
From ACM TechNews
Research Chip Modeled After the Brain Aims to Bring Smarts to Computers
University of Tennessee, Knoxville researchers have developed a neuromorphic chip designed for intelligent computers that are structured to discover patterns through probabilities and association in order to help with decision…
From ACM TechNews
Google Translate: 'this Landmark pdate Is Our Biggest Single Leap in 10 Years'
Google says it is has vastly improved the accuracy of Google Translate through its new Neural Machine Translation system, which utilizes neural networks to train machines how to produce more natural, grammatically correct translations…
From ACM TechNews
An Efficient Approach For Tracking Physical Activity With Wearable Health-Monitoring Devices
A new technique developed by researchers at North Carolina State University could enable wearable health devices to track user physical activity accurately and efficiently.
From ACM TechNews
Certikos: A Breakthrough Toward Hacker-Resistant Operating Systems
Researchers at Yale University have developed CertiKOS, a new operating system they say could lead to a new generation of reliable and secure systems.