Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
December 2013
From ACM TechNews
Ten Times More Throughput on Optic Fibers
Researchers say they can dramatically increased the capacity of optical fibers by reducing the space required between pulses of light that transport data.
From ACM TechNews
Explained: Matrices
Researchers say they have built one of the first chips to implement the new high-efficiency video-coding standard for ultrahigh-definition TVs.
From ACM Opinion
Falling in Love with AI Virtual Assistants: A Creepy Love Affair Nearer Than You Think
"I've never loved anyone the way I've loved you," swoons Joaquin Phoenix, in the movie Her.
From ACM News
Nasa Curiosity: First Mars Age Measurement and Human Exploration Help
NASA's Curiosity rover is providing vital insight about Mars' past and current environments that will aid plans for future robotic and human missions.
From ACM News
Body of Knowledge
Electronic textiles and smart clothing promise to weave new, improved computing capabilities into the fabric of our lives.
From ACM News
Could Atomically Thin Tin Transform Electronics?
Scientists have been trying to develop room-temperature superconductors—materials that conduct electrons with zero resistance, and do so without cumbersome, energy-sucking supercooling—for more than three decades.
From ACM News
The Global Classroom
Vint Cerf goes inside the online revolution in education
From ACM News
Supreme Court to Decide on Patent Protections For Software
The Supreme Court agreed last Friday to rule on the divisive issue of what kinds of software are eligible for patent protection in a case being closely watched by the technology industry.
From ACM News
World of Spycraft: Nsa and CIA Spied in Online Games
Not limiting their activities to the earthly realm, American and British spies have infiltrated the fantasy worlds of World of Warcraft and Second Life, conducting surveillance and scooping up data in the online games playedclassified…
From ACM News
Laser Instrument on Nasa Mars Rover Tops 100,000 Zaps
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has passed the milestone of 100,000 shots fired by its laser. It uses the laser as one way to check which chemical elements are in rocks and soils.
From ACM TechNews
Database Tracks Toxic Side Effects of Pharmaceuticals
Updates to an extensive toxicology database should make it easier to track information about the unintentional toxic effects of therapeutic drugs.
From ACM TechNews
How to se Mind-Controlled Robots in Manufacturing, Medicine
Researchers are developing brain-computer interfaces that will allow them to control robots with their minds.
From ACM TechNews
Tech Giants Issue Call For Limits on Government Surveillance of Users
Eight major technology companies on Monday called on the Obama administration and Congress to set limits on government surveillance activities.
From ACM TechNews
Coding Kids
As the importance of programming as a life skill grows, parents are beginning to seek coding education for their children.
From ACM TechNews
Love Connection
Researchers have developed an algorithm for dating sites that uses a person's contact history to recommend compatible partners.
From ACM TechNews
Students Can Create Animations of Garfield the Cat With New Version of Carnegie Mellon's Alice Software
A new version has been released of the Alice Project, free educational programming software that enables beginners to create animations.
From ACM News
Old School vs. New School As Academic Publishers Brawl Over Web
The competition for prominence in academic publishing heated up this week as a traditional company, Elsevier, tangled with a Digital Era rival, Academia.edu.
From ACM News
Identifying Signs of Chronic Brain Injury in Living Football Players
Eight former pro football players learned this year that they have signs of a degenerative brain disorder called chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a condition linked to depression, dementia, and memory loss.
From ACM Opinion
Moore's Law Isn't Making Chips Cheaper Anymore
At a wine bar in San Francisco on Wednesday, Broadcom Chairman and CTO Henry Samueli delivered some sobering news: Moore's Law isn't making chips cheaper anymore.
From ACM News
Someone's Been Siphoning Data Through a Huge Security Hole in the Internet
In 2008, two security researchers at the DefCon hacker conference demonstrated a massive security vulnerability in the worldwide internet traffic-routing system—a vulnerability so severe that it could allow intelligence agencies…
From ACM TechNews
Data Mining Reveals the Secret to Getting Good Answers
A new algorithm can rank the questions and answers on question and answer websites, while weeding out off-topic and irrelevant entries.
From ACM TechNews
Can You Read My Mind? Uc Researchers Engineer the Framework For Helpful Robots With Human Intuition
Robots are expected to play an increasingly large role in daily life over the next 50 years.
From ACM TechNews
Experimental Malware ses Inaudible Sound to Defeat Network Air Gaps
Researchers have tested the feasibility of creating a covert acoustical mesh network between multiple laptops to exchange data using near-ultrasonic frequencies.
From ACM TechNews
Students pdate Classic Animation Technique
Much of the repetitive manual work involved in the classic squash and stretch animation technique has been automated in a new software program.
From ACM TechNews
Google's C Alternative Gets an Update, but Will Developers Bite?
Google this week released version 1.2 of its Go open source programming language, designed to improve on certain aspects of languages similar to C.
From ACM News
An Artificial Hand with Real Feelings
There have been remarkable mechanical advances in prosthetic limbs in recent years, including rewiring nerve fibers to control sophisticated mechanical arms (see "A Lifelike Prosthetic Arm"), and brain interfaces that allow for…
From ACM News
3-D Images, With Only One Photon Per Pixel
Lidar rangefinders, which are common tools in surveying and in autonomous-vehicle control, among other applications, gauge depth by emitting short bursts of laser light and measuring the time it takes for reflected photons to…
From ACM News
China Bars Banks from Bitcoin Transactions
China's government banned financial institutions from trading in bitcoin on Thursday, in what analysts said was a restrained first step towards regulating the digital currency that has exploded in popularity in China and soared…
From ACM TechNews
Self-Replicating Usbs Spread Software Faster Than an Internet Connection
An easy, inexpensive way to transmit large software packages rapidly without using the Internet utilizes a self-replicating bootable USB stick.
From ACM TechNews
Enhancing the Efficiency of Complex Computations
The science and industry sectors are showing considerable interest in the Karlsruhe High Quality Partitioner.