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 TechNews
Linux Job Openings on the Rise: Dice Report
Dice reports that although Linux skills are in demand, finding talent is difficult for many organizations, which has boosted salaries and bonuses for Linux professionals.
From ACM TechNews
Chemist Applies Google Software to Molecular World
Washington State University researchers have adapted Google's PageRank software to create moleculaRnetworks, a program that enables scientists to virtually study molecular shapes and chemical reactions.
From ACM TechNews
pgrading the Hurricane Forecast
Researchers at Pennsylvania State University and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have developed a hurricane forecasting system that improves on current methods.
From ACM News
Darpa Dodges Obama Budget Death Ray, Keeps Its $2.8 Billion
For most of the U.S. military's far-flung community of scientists and engineers, Monday was a day to pop a Xanax.
From ACM News
Mitx Prototype Open For Enrollment
Enrollment is now open in the first course available through the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's MITx online learning initiative.
From ACM TechNews
Log Onto Facebook, Contribute to Scientific Research
Researchers at Victoria University of Wellington, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, and Cardiff University are developing a cloud computing-based Facebook application that enables users to donate their computing resources…
From ACM TechNews
The Blind Codemaker
Researchers at MIT, Tel Aviv University, and Google have developed a coding scheme that guarantees the fastest possible delivery of data over fluctuating wireless connections without requiring prior knowledge of noise levels.…
From ACM Careers
Mitx Prototype Course Opens For Enrollment
In December, MIT announced the launch of an online learning initiative called "MITx." Starting this week, interested learners can now enroll for free in the initiative’s prototype course—6.002x: Circuits and Electronics.
From ACM TechNews
Nsf Releases Report on Cloud Computing
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) recently released a report on the organization's support for cloud computing, describing the research as a vital area of national importance that requires further research and development…
From ACM TechNews
Kenya Ict Board and CMU Launch International Software Standard
Researchers at the Kenya ICT Board and Carnegie Mellon University launched Chipuka, a certification program for Kenya's software developers in the country that aims to create an international standard for software development…
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Claim 100-Fold Increase in Data Storage Speed
Researchers at the universities of York and Nijmegen have developed a method for accelerating data storage hundredfold.
From ACM News
Commercial Drones: A Dogfight at the Faa
Last fall, Russ Freeman's successful business shooting commercial aerial photos and video flew straight into a political battle over control of the nation's skies.
From ACM News
Spacecraft Computer Issue Resolved
Engineers have found the root cause of a computer reset that occurred two months ago on NASA's Mars Science Laboratory and have determined how to correct it.
From ACM News
Turing's Enduring Importance
When Alan Turing was born 100 years ago, on June 23, 1912, a computer was not a thing—it was a person.
From ACM TechNews
Virtual Internships in Rising Demand
Virtual internships, in which students work for an employer over the Web, increasingly are being offered at college campuses, with advantages for both students and employers.
From ACM TechNews
Weave Open Source Data Visualization Offers Power, Flexibility
The open source Weave project is a platform designed to make it easier for government agencies, nonprofits, and corporate users to offer the public a way to analyze data.
From ACM TechNews
Europe Goes for Computing Technologies as Driver for Competitiveness
The recent HiPEAC 2012 Conference highlighted the goal of getting energy efficient and low-cost computing technologies into the full spectrum of devices and systems, says the European Commission's Max Lemke.
From ACM Careers
Google's Very First Employee, Craig Silverstein
Google's very first employee, Craig Silverstein, is leaving the company to join the high-profile online learning phenom, Khan Academy.
From ACM News
Texas Jury Strikes Down Patent Troll
After threatening web companies for more than a decade, Michael Doyle and his patent-holding company Eolas Technologies—named after the Irish word for knowledge—may be finished.
From ACM TechNews
W3c Co-Chair: Apple, Google Power Causing Open Web Crisis
The dominance of Apple and Google mobile browsers is leading to a situation that is even worse for Web programming than the former dominance of Internet Explorer, according to W3C group co-chairman Daniel Glazman.
From ACM Careers
'cyberspace Requires a World-Class Cyber Warrior'
With growing worries about the threat of "cyber warfare," militaries around the world are racing to recruit the computer specialists they believe may be central to the conflicts of the 21st century.
From ACM News
In Data Deluge, Multitaskers Go to Multiscreens
Workers in the digital era can feel at times as if they are playing a video game, battling the barrage of emails and instant messages, juggling documents, Web sites, and online calendars.
From ACM TechNews
Google Awards $340,000 in STEM Grants
Google recently awarded $340,000 to 26 organizations that provide science, technology, engineering, and math enrichment programs to students in K-12 and higher education. The recipients included 13 organizations in the U.S.,…
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Layer an Electronic Junction Into Optical Fiber
Pennsylvania State University researchers have developed a method for embedding an electronic junction into optical fiber, which could lead to more streamlined optical components.
From ACM TechNews
Ua Researchers Developing Network For Emergency Information
University of Arkansas (UA) researchers are developing a communications network designed to maintain power during natural disasters and other emergencies.
From ACM News
Jobs FBI File Notes Drug Use, Tendency to 'Distort Reality'
The Federal Bureau of Investigation released a decades-old file it kept on Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs that noted his past drug use and cites interviews with people who say he had a penchant to "distort reality."
From ACM News
Poll: Most Back Obama's Use of Drones
As the 2012 election approaches, there’s one area where President Barack Obama can feel confident he has broad voter support—his military policies and use of drones against terror suspects, according to a new poll.
From ACM News
Let the Robot Drive: The Autonomous Car of the Future Is Here
The object, vaguely pink, sits on the shoulder of the freeway, slowly shimmering into view. Is it roadkill? A weird kind of sagebrush? No, wait, it's … a puffy chunk of foam insulation!
From ACM News
Web Traffic Dips 20% During Super Bowl, Yet 2.1 Million Watch Online
Fun with numbers: For the first time ever, the Super Bowl was legally streamed online here in the U.S. and, according to NBC, over 2.1 million people fired up their Web browsers to watch it. Overall Web traffic, however, …
From ACM TechNews
Mit's New Free Courses May Threaten (and Improve) the Traditional Model, Program's Leader Says
In an interview, MIT provost L. Rafael Reif and professor Anant Agarwal say MITx, a new set of online courses, will be run separately from OpenCourseWare.