Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
March 2009
From ACM TechNews
Scholarship Program Targets Need For Cyber Security Skills
The Scholarship for Service (SFS) program, jointly run by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is becoming a widely recognized, indispensable program, particularly at a time when…
From ACM TechNews
Scholarships Available to Attendees of the 2009 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing
The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (ABI) expects to draw more scholarship applications for the 2009 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Conference than the more than 700 received last year. Undergraduate…
From ACM TechNews
Wireless Charging: Adaptor Die
A movement is underway to eliminate power cables from consumer mobile devices by using wireless recharging. However, while the technology may be sound, a profitable business model remains elusive. Developments that may help…
From ACM TechNews
Latest 3d Tv Technology Offers Interactive Control
Researchers at the University of Tokyo and Hitachi recently demonstrated TransCAIP, a three-dimensional (3D) TV system that captures a live scene in real time and reproduces it on an autostereoscopic display. In addition to…
From ACM TechNews
Shifting Sound to Light May Lead to Better Computer Chips
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers have reversed the process that converts electrical signals into sounds, which could lead to a new tool that enhances how computer chips, light-emitting diodes, and transistors…
From ACM News
Rfid Technology Tracks and Monitors Nuclear Materials
Scientists from U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory have developed a unique radio frequency identification (RFID) tracking technology that also monitors in real-time the environmental and physical conditions…
From ACM News
Sensor Network Turns Soldiers' Helmets Into Sniper Location System
Engineers at Vanderbilt University's Institute for Software Integrated Systems (ISIS) have developed a system that turns a soldiers' combat helmets into "smart nodes" in a wireless sensor network by collecting acoustic signals…
From ACM TechNews
The Emerging Science of Dna Cryptography
The massively parallel nature of DNA computing represents a significant threat to existing encryption schemes, but the technology also could be used to encrypt and secure data. Researchers have suggested using the sequence of…
From ACM TechNews
Swimming Pool Game 'marco Polo' Used to Develop Robot Control
Researchers at Duke University and the University of New Mexico (UNM) have developed a system for controlling moving robots capable of autonomously detecting and capturing other moving targets. The system, which is based on…
From ACM TechNews
Mood Player Creates the Right Atmosphere
Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology in Ilmenau have created a mood player that finds images to suit the rhythm of music. The approach makes use of software to train a PC to recognize different…
From ACM News
Catering to Car Buyers' Desires
Buying a new car is one of the biggest purchases most people make. But how can you be sure that the car you order will live up to your expectations? The EU-funded CATER project uses immersive virtual reality to efficiently present…
From ACM News
Rivals Say I.b.m. Stifles Competition to Mainframes
I.B.M. has dominated the mainframe computer business since the category was created four decades ago. And it still gets about one-quarter of its $100 billion in annual revenue from sales, software, services and financing related…
From ACM News
The Youngest Ethical Hacker in India
Sixteen-year-old Sahil Khan calls himself a hacker, not a cracker, a distinction that puts him on the ethical side of computer security. A "cracker" is a cyber criminal, but a "hacker" is "a computer professional who is [an]Hackers…
From ACM TechNews
Scientists Make Quantum Leap in Developing Faster Computers
Researchers have developed components that could someday be used to develop quantum computers, say scientists at the University of Manchester and the University of Edinburgh. The breakthrough components were created by combining…
From ACM TechNews
Multicore Chips Pose Next Big Challenge For Industry
Increasing the number of processing cores has become the main way of improving the performance of server and PC chips, but any added benefits will be significantly reduced if the industry is unable to overcome hardware and programming…
From ACM TechNews
Brown Scientists Build Robot That Responds to Nonverbal Commands
A Brown University-led team of robotics researchers has demonstrated how a robot can detect and respond to nonverbal commands in various environments without having to adjust for variations in lighting. "We have created a novel…
From ACM TechNews
Sign Language By Cellphone
Researchers at the University of Washington and Cornell University are working on the mobileASL project, which is developing a mobile phone that would enable deaf users to have real-time conversations in American Sign Language…
From ACM TechNews
Computer Learning, Electrical Stimulation Offer Hope for Paralyzed
University of Florida professor Warren Dixon says electrical stimulation can be combined with computer learning technologies to help people regain precise, life-like control of paralyzed limbs. Dixon's research is still in the…
From ACM TechNews
Tapia 2009 Celebration Announces Technical Program
The 2009 Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computer Conference will feature papers, panels, workshops, poster sessions, Birds-of-a-Feather meetings, a doctoral consortium, and a robotics competition. The Tapia Celebration…
From ACM TechNews
Uc San Diego and IBM Launch Center For Next-Generation Digital Media to Power Tomorrow's Virtual Worlds
The University of California, San Diego (UCSD) has announced the launch of the Center for Next-Generation Digital Media, a new campus center dedicated to inventing the next generation of virtual worlds, online games, and high…
From ACM News
Powerful Computer Cluster Helps Fight Disease
A university in Sweden is gearing up to provide researchers with a powerful system for large scale computing and data storage. Grants are helping Uppsala University's UPPMAX (Uppsala Multidisciplinary Center for Advanced Computational…
From ACM News
Hackers Based in China Break Into Florida Senator's Office Computers
China-based hackers breached the office computers of Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, the senator's office confirmed March 20. In three separate attacks, two in March and one in February, cyberhackers targeted the work…
From ACM News
U.S. Economy Spurs Foreign Students to Return Home, Study Says
Most foreign nationals studying at universities in the United States say American higher education is the best in the world, but few plan to remain permanently in this country after graduation to pursue their careers, according…
From ACM TechNews
Venture Looks to Deliver Data Via Light Rather Than Wires
Visible light communications is a new data transmission technique in which data is sent to devices via light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The method is being researched by Keio University professor Shinichiro Haruyama, and practical…
From ACM TechNews
Safer Net Surfing Is Goal of Nist Domain Name Security Experts
Scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) are developing standards, guidance, and testing procedures designed to improve the security of the Domain Name System (DNS). Currently, the DNS system…
From ACM TechNews
Mathematical System Helps to Cut Bus Journey Times
Researchers from the University of Burgos (UBU) have used heuristic algorithms and the "taboo search" method to improve bus service in Burgos, Spain. The approach enables their system to handle imprecise data and to only look…
From ACM TechNews
Improved NITRD to Address Computer Science Education Issues
ACM, the Computing Research Association (CRA), and National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT) are working to improve the profile of computer science education efforts as part of the federal government's Networking…
From ACM TechNews
No Catch: Robot Fish to Hunt Pollution
Researchers at Britain's University of Essex and the BMT Group have developed robotic fish that will be released into the port of Gijon in northern Spain to monitor the water's quality. The fish are lifelike in appearance and…
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Sniff Pc Keyboard Strokes From Thin Air
Research teams from the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland and Inverse Path say they have discovered new techniques to read what a person is typing. The techniques developed by the two separate teams are…
From ACM TechNews
Scientists Publish Map of Knowledge
Scientists at the research library of the Los Alamos National Laboratory have developed a map of knowledge that better reflects the actual use of information by scholars. The map is based on the electronic data searches of users…