Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
December 2010
From ACM News
World's Smallest Battery Created at DoE Nanotechnology Center
The Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies' study of a single nanowire anode provides researchers with the closest view so far of what happens during the charging of a battery, and offers information that could improve new generations…
From ACM News
Gov't Crackdown Spurs Initiatives to Route Around Dns
The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it.
From ACM News
MIT Expands and Strengthens its Links to China
MIT's connections to China, already well-established, are set to be strengthened and expanded as part of a major, long-term effort to promote intellectual and technological exchange with multiple research universities.
From ACM TechNews
Light Speed Now a Bottleneck in Fastest Networks
High-frequency trading firms should consider where they locate their data centers, according to researchers studying light propagation delays in fiber-optic based networks. Delays could allow firms to take advantage of momentary…
From ACM TechNews
Developing Robots For the Hospital Emergency Room
Vanderbilt University researchers formed an interdisciplinary team to study the use of robots in hospital emergency rooms. The researchers are developing a robotic system designed to work with emergency room patients with non…
From ACM TechNews
Army Researchers Study Computer, Human Networks
U.S. Army researchers are exploring the interactions between individuals that form the basis of computer and social networks in an effort to find feasible warfighting and military solutions.
From ACM News
With Video Everywhere, Stark Evidence Is on Trial
In a world that is always on camera, the centuries-old courtroom experience is becoming a lot more complicated.
From ACM News
Criminals Find the Key to Car Immobilizers
For 16 years, car immobilisers have kept car thieves at bay, but that may now be changing.
From ACM News
Criminals Find the Key to Car Immobilizers
For 16 years, car immobilisers have kept car thieves at bay, but that may now be changing.
From ACM News
Big Patent Firm Sues Nine Tech Firms
Technology companies on Wednesday received troubling news that some had feared for years: Intellectual Ventures LLC has started suing.
From ACM News
Anonymous Hacktivists Say Wikileaks War to Continue
A member of the Anonymous group of hackers, which has been targeting firms it sees as being anti-Wikileaks has said the campaign is not over.
From ACM News
High Hopes, Hard Realities for India's $35 Tablet Computer
The Indian government won headlines around the world when it unveiled a prototype $35 tablet computer in July, but questions are now growing over whether the project is just a pipe dream.
From ACM TechNews
Preventing Gridlock: Developing Next Generation Internet Infrastructure
The MODE-GAP project is working to boost capacity of broadband networks 100 times by developing data-transmission technologies based on special long-haul transmission fibers and associated enabling technologies and data-processing…
From ACM TechNews
Civil-Rights Panel Weighs in on Where Minorities Fare Best in STEM Fields
A recently released report that examined minority students' pursuit of degrees found that admissions preferences based on race led to more minority students giving up on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) degrees…
From ACM TechNews
Supercomputer Hunts Child Abusers
Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers are using the Jaguar supercomputer to analyze Internet traffic, looking for clues that will lead law enforcement officers to sources of child pornography.
From ACM TechNews
Pay-As-You-Go Internet Plan From FCC Is Raising Questions
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission recently submitted a proposal that would regulate Internet providers, and includes a provision that would allow companies to charge users for how much they surf the Web.
From ACM News
Cyberattacks Are Retaliation for Pressure on WikiLeaks
A small army of activist hackers orchestrated a broad campaign of cyberattacks on Wednesday in support of the beleaguered antisecrecy organization WikiLeaks, which has drawn governmental criticism from around the globe for…
From ACM TechNews
Special Report
The current state of North American computer science education includes an upward trend in university enrollment for undergraduate programs, but also the erosion of CS education in the K-12 systems, writes ACM CEO John White. …
From ACM News
'smart' Hospital Beds Could Enhance Patient Care
New research into hospital bed technology could soon represent a leap forward in patient care. A University of New Hampshire professor is negotiating with manufacturers to adopt his technology as the basis for "smart" computerized…
From ACM News
Nsf Celebrates Computer Science Education Week 2010
The High-Low Tech research group at MIT's Media Lab seeks to engage diverse people in developing their own technologies. The research is part of the NSF-funded E-Textiles program.
From ACM News
Suit to Snuff Out 'history Sniffing' Takes Aim at Tracking Web sers
A lawsuit filed last Friday for alleged use of "history sniffing," a method for surreptitiously detecting what websites a person has visited, is the latest to take aim at technologies that harvest Internet users' personal…
From ACM Opinion
"this Paper Should Not Have Been Published"
Scientists see fatal flaws in the NASA study of arsenic-based life.
From ACM TechNews
China to Lead World in Innovation by 2020
China is on track to be the world's leading country in terms of innovation by 2020, according to an AstraZeneca survey of 6,000 people in six nations. China currently comes in third place in terms of innovation, behind the United…
From ACM TechNews
Microsoft to Ramp p Browser Privacy
Microsoft says that Internet Explorer 9 will feature Tracking Protection, a privacy feature that will enable users to stop websites and Internet tracking companies from collecting information about them.
From ACM News
Top Test Scores From Shanghai Stun Educators
With China’s debut in international standardized testing, students in Shanghai have surprised experts by outscoring their counterparts in dozens of other countries, in reading as well as in math and science, according to the…
From ACM News
Wikileaks Armors Itself to Survive Cyberattacks
As its operations have come under increasing financial and political pressure, WikiLeaks has quietly bolstered its electronic defenses in an attempt to become more difficult to censor.
From ACM News
Let Your Coaster Do the Talking
An interactive surface encourages conversation by letting coasters communicate.
From ACM News
World's Fastest Computer Brings Incalculable Benefits
Using the fastest supercomputer in the world, researchers in China can significantly shortened the amount of time it takes to process data and analyze solutions in geology, meteorology, medicine, commercial design, construction…
From ACM News
Abi Announces First Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing India
Almost 600 attendees from 79 organizations participated in the opening day of the first Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing India Conference, the only annual conference exclusively for technical women in India.
From ACM News
Service Members Face New Threat: Identity Theft
The government warns Americans to closely guard their Social Security numbers. But it has done a poor job of protecting those same numbers for millions of people: the nation’s soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines.