Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
February 2012
From ACM Careers
Why 'big Data' Is a Magnet For Startups
Armies of entrepreneurs are trying to make money sifting through mountains of data from the Web and other sources, but one of the biggest challenges is simply getting control of the data in the first place.
From ACM News
How to Tell If You're Being Tracked on Safari
If you're on an iPhone or iPad using the most recent version of Apple's operating system, click on the "Settings" icon, and then click on "Safari."
From ACM News
The Machines Are Talking a Lot
As one of the leading manufacturers of the equipment that routes data around the Internet, Cisco Systems is in good position to know just how many 0s and 1s go zipping around all day, every day.
From ACM TechNews
Colleges Looking Beyond the Lecture
Science, technology, engineering, and math departments at many universities are redesigning the lecture as a style of teaching out of concern that it is driving students away.
From ACM TechNews
Best Time For a Coffee Break? There's an App For That
Pennsylvania State University researchers have developed Caffeine Zone, an application that can help people determine when caffeine may give them a mental boost and when it could hurt their sleep patterns.
From ACM TechNews
Share of Workers in Scientific Fields Shrinks
The number of U.S. workers in science and engineering professions fell in the past decade, ending a steady upward trend in the proportion of workers in fields associated with technology.
From ACM TechNews
Activist-Backed Collaboration Platform Set for March Release
A functional prototype of the Global Square, a social network collaboration platform for activists, will be available by March.
From ACM News
How Companies Learn Your Secrets
Andrew Pole had just started working as a statistician for Target in 2002, when two colleagues from the marketing department stopped by his desk to ask an odd question: "If we wanted to figure out if a customer is pregnant, even…
From ACM News
How Google Tracked Safari Users
Google and other advertising companies have been following iPhone and Apple users as they browse the Web, even though Apple's Safari Web browser is set to block such tracking by default. How have they been able to do it?
From ACM News
Microchips' Optical Future
To keep energy consumption under control, future chips may need to move data using light instead of electricity—and the technical expertise to build them may reside in the United States.
From ACM News
Fbi Seeks Social Media Monitoring Tool
The goal is to use the tool to keep on top of breaking events, incidents and emerging threats, the agency said in a recent Request for Information from IT vendors.
From ACM News
Flaw Found in an Online Encryption Method
A team of European and American mathematicians and cryptographers have discovered an unexpected weakness in the encryption system widely used worldwide for online shopping, banking, email, and other Internet services intended…
From ACM News
Ultrafast Trades Trigger Black Swan Events Every Day, Say Econophysicists
On 6 May 2010, shares on U.S. financial markets suddenly dropped on average by around 10% but in over 300 stocks by more than 60%. Moments later the prices recovered.
From ACM TechNews
Turing's Enduring Importance
Modern computing systems owe a sizable debt to Alan Turing, whose breakthrough work set the direction that the future of computing would take by determining that no technique can be developed to ascertain in all cases whether…
From ACM TechNews
Big Data Spawns New Breed of 'data Scientist'
A new breed of data scientists is in demand as a result of the rise of big data. Government, universities, and industry are looking for people with a rare mix of expertise in statistics, technology, and business analysis who…
From ACM TechNews
Java Compiler Would Enable High-Quality Code, Efficient Memory se
Representatives from Oracle and other participants in the OpenJDK discussion group are advocating for the Graal project, an effort to implement a dynamic compiler in Java to improve code quality and memory usage in the Java Virtual…
From ACM TechNews
New System Allows Robots to Continuously Map Their Environment
MIT researchers have developed a system that enables robots to create and continuously update a three-dimensional map of their environment using a low-cost camera.
From ACM News
Infrared and 3D Vision Systems Combine to Help Pilots Avoid Crash Landings
When large airliners approach an airport for a landing, a combination of radio signals and high-intensity lighting shows the pilot exactly where the runway is, even at night or in fog. But millions of people a year fly on smaller…
From ACM News
Social Apps 'harvest Smartphone Contacts'
Twitter has admitted copying entire address books from smartphones and storing the data on its servers, often without customers' knowledge.
From ACM Opinion
What Dropbox Can Teach S About Cloud Computing
Dropbox is the most deceptively simple of services.
From ACM News
Traveling Light in a Time of Digital Thievery
When Kenneth G. Lieberthal, a China expert at the Brookings Institution, travels to that country, he follows a routine that seems straight from a spy film.
From ACM News
The Other Academic Freedom Movement
In the summer of 1991, Paul Ginsparg, a researcher at the Los Alamos nuclear laboratory, set up an email system for about 200 string theorists to exchange papers they had written.
From ACM TechNews
Protests Erupt Across Europe Against Web Piracy Treaty
More than 25,000 demonstrators recently took part in protests across Europe against the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a controversial international anti-piracy pact.
From ACM TechNews
The Joy of Checks
Researchers at Newcastle, York, and Northumbria universities have developed a way of making quick and easy electronic transfers while retaining the paper check as something physical to be handed to the recipient.
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Crack Online Encryption System
An online encryption technique widely used to safeguard email, e-commerce, and other sensitive Internet transactions is crackable, according to a study by U.S. and European cryptanalysts.
From ACM TechNews
Syrian Opposition Seeks to Wipe the Assad Name Off the Map--Via Google
Syrian activists are using Google's Map Maker crowdsourcing software to oppose the Assad regime by renaming streets and landmarks after their revolutionary idols, including protesters who have died during the 11-month uprising…
From ACM TechNews
Computer Programs That Think Like Humans
University of Gothenburg researchers have developed software that can score 150 on a standard IQ test.
From ACM Careers
The Age of Big Data
Good with numbers? Fascinated by data? The sound you hear is opportunity knocking.
From ACM News
How Networks of Biological Cells Solve Distributed Computing Problems
Distributed computing is all the rage these days. The idea is to break down computational tasks into convenient chunks and distribute them across a network to a number of computers.
From ACM News
Official Underlines Iran's Capability to Counter Cyber Attacks Against N. Facilities
Head of Iran's civil defense organization General Gholam Reza Jalali stressed that the Iranian experts and engineers are capable of countering the enemies' cyber attacks launched against the country's nuclear facilities and installations…