Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
February 2014
From ACM TechNews
Vibration Energy the Secret to Self-Powered Electronics
A promising solution for charging smartphone batteries on the go uses a nanogenerator to harvest and convert vibration energy from a surface into power for the phone.
From ACM News
Nasa Responds to California's Evolving Drought
NASA is partnering with the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) to develop and apply new technology and products to better manage and monitor the state's water resources and respond to its ongoing drought.
From ACM News
Syria War Stirs New .S. Debate on Cyberattacks
Not long after the uprising in Syria turned bloody late in the spring of 2011, the Pentagon and theNational Security Agency developed a battle plan that featured a sophisticated cyberattack on the Syrian military and President…
From ACM News
Telecom Firms Mine For Gold in Big Data Despite Privacy Concerns
Last year's revelations over the U.S. tapping of phone and internet data gave telecoms firms pause for thought over whether they should sell their "big data" for gain, but the commercial potential could prove irresistible.
From ACM TechNews
Swarm of Bat-Like Flying Robots Could Hunt For Survivors or Terrorists
Bats are the inspiration for an initiative at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University to develop small flying robots.
From ACM TechNews
Qr Codes Threaten Internet Security
Quick Response codes could demand a dangerous level of trust from users, according to Internet security researchers.
From ACM TechNews
Silicon-Germanium Chip Sets New Speed Record
Researchers say they have operated a silicon-germanium transistor at 798 GHz fMAX, which makes it the world's fastest silicon-based device by about 200 GHz.
From ACM News
Can AI Design a Video Game?
Researcher Michael Cook thinks his ANGELINA software can design a video game—and that's not all.
From ACM News
Mt. Gox Disappears From Web in New Setback
Bitcoin suffered a major setback Tuesday as the website of Mt.Gox, the once dominant trading platform for the virtual currency, was all but shut down.
From ACM Opinion
Spy Chief James Clapper: We Can't Stop Another Snowden
Every morning at around 4:30 a.m., James Clapper wakes up and prepares for the worst job in Washington.
From ACM News
Self-Completing Programs
Since he was a graduate student, Armando Solar-Lezama, an associate professor in MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, has been working on a programming language called Sketch, which allows programmers…
From ACM Opinion
Are the Robots About to Rise?
It's hard to know where to start with Ray Kurzweil.
From ACM Careers
The Special Effects Firms Transforming the Film Industry
If you are looking for a sure thing at this year's Oscars look no further than Gravity to win the best visual effects category.
From ACM News
Marginally seful
Bitcoin, a purely digital currency, is backed by no commodity and governed by no central bank, but it exists because a small number of humans have chosen to believe in its legitimacy.
From ACM TechNews
Internationalizing STEM
There is growing interest in programs that allow students to double-major in a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) field and a foreign language.
From ACM TechNews
New Study Reveals Communications Potential of Graphene
Graphene could be used to provide secure wireless connections and improve the efficiency of communications devices.
From ACM TechNews
sing Holograms to Improve Electronic Devices
A new type of holographic memory device could provide unprecedented data storage capacity and data-processing capabilities in electronic devices.
From ACM TechNews
The Joy of Teaching Computer Science in the Age of Facebook
Stanford University professor Mehran Sahami says students today understand computing's potential and are technology consumers.
From ACM TechNews
Smartphones May Be Our First Line of Defense Against Radiation
Smartphones could be used to detect gamma radiation.
From ACM TechNews
A New System Accelerates Verification of Printed Electronic Documents
The new Valid@doc system accelerates online administrative procedures by automatically verifying and validating printed electronic documents.
From ACM TechNews
Taking European Expertise in Computing to Market
The European Commission hopes to complement academics with business expertise through Technology Transfer in Computing Systems.
From ACM News
Willow Garage's Last Days
In 2006, Scott Hassan, a prolific software engineer, started a research lab dedicated to robotics called Willow Garage.
From ACM News
Smarter Caching
Computer chips keep getting faster because transistors keep getting smaller.
From ACM News
Robots with Human-Like Brains to Take on Mars Unaided
It's second nature for us to follow an airplane across the sky, or to walk around a rock we see in our path.
From ACM TechNews
Eu Project to Build Lie Detector For Social Media
Researchers are leading a European Union-funded project to classify online rumors as speculation, controversy, misinformation, or disinformation.
From ACM TechNews
How Hackathons Can Become More Female-Friendly
Anecdotal evidence suggests women sometimes feel they do not fit in at hackathons.
From ACM TechNews
Mitsubishi Develops Predictive Agent to Anticipate Drivers' Needs
Mitsubishi researchers are developing a vehicle assistant system that can anticipate driver needs when controlling car navigation systems and stereos.
From ACM TechNews
Women Fleeing Science, Tech Fields
While the talent pipeline of female workers in science, engineering, and technology is growing, many women are leaving these in-demand fields.
From ACM TechNews
#cursing Study: 10 Lessons About How We se Swear Words on Twitter
A recent study analyzed more than 50 million tweets from about 14 million users to determine how much Twitter users curse.
From ACM News
Nsa Surveillance Exposes Political Party Divisions
The debate about whether to continue the dragnet surveillance of Americans' phone records is highlighting divisions within the Democratic and Republican parties that could transform the politics of national security.