Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
March 2010
From ACM News
Experience Hubble's niverse in 3-D
Supercomputers and 3-D models helped visualization specialists at the Space Telescope Science Institute transformed Hubble Telescope 2-D images into 3-D environments for a new Imax film.
From ICT Results
See-Through Networks
Promising faster, more efficient and cheaper computer networking, transparent networks are the paradigm of the future. But thanks to European researchers, they are on their way already.
From ACM News
Are Machines Ready to Break Down Language Barriers?
Even in an era of global networks and cheap travel, international communication still faces one great barrier: we don't all speak the same language. But that gap is narrowing as online translation services advance.
RecentlyMeedan…From ACM TechNews
Electronics 'Missing Link' Brings Neural Computing Closer
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Assistant Professor Wei Lu is leading a research effort to make brain-like computers using memristors.
From ACM TechNews
Recognition Technology to Transform Mobile Devices
MobileLab researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas, in collaboration with Texas Instruments and GetFugu, are developing next-generation human-device interaction technologies that combine a physical, real-world environment…
From ACM TechNews
An Express Lane From Camera to Computer
Intel is developing the Light Peak fiber-optic link, cable technology that will transmit 10 gigabits of data per second bidirectionally, and is expected to scale to 100 gigabits in the next decade.
From ACM News
China Drawing High-Tech Research From .s.
U.S. companies—and their engineers—are being drawn to China more and more as the country develops a high-tech economy that increasingly competes directly with the United States.
From ACM News
Intel Powers Its Way Inside the Smart Grid
Intel wants you to take more interest in your energy use but isn't fussy about how you do it.
The chip giant has developed a broad strategy to make money on smart-grid technologies, touching on everything from high-performance…From ACM TechNews
Amarsi Project Could See Robots Learn From Co-Workers
The AMARSi project aims to build humanoid robots that can autonomously learn and develop motor skills in open-ended environments just as humans do.
From ACM TechNews
Mobile Phone Allows Boss to Snoop
KDDI Corp. has developed mobile phone technology that detects even the tiniest actions of the user by analyzing the movement of accelerometers embedded in the devices.
From ACM TechNews
Human Arm Transmits Broadband
Korea University researchers have developed a method for transmitting data at a rate of 10 megabits per second through a person's arm, between two electrodes on their skin placed 30 centimeters apart.
From ACM TechNews
UIC Researcher Looks Toward a Communication Revolution
Andy Johnson, a professor in the University of Illinois at Chicago's Electronic Visualization Laboratory, is developing ultra-high-speed connections paired with high-definition video.
From ACM TechNews
Expert: Bracket Seedings Irrelevant After Sweet Sixteen Round
University of Illinois computer science professor Sheldon Jacobson recently completed a study on the NCAA's men basketball tournament showing that picking the higher-seeded team to beat the lower-seeded team usually only works…
From ACM TechNews
Msu Programmers Develop Land Mine Avoidance Game
Michigan State University (MSU) instructors and students are fine-tuning a computer video game designed to help unsuspecting children avoid land mines and other explosives in the Cambodian jungle.
From ACM TechNews
A New System Makes Household Communication Networks More Versatile
Universidad Carlos III de Madrid researchers have developed a configuration for a residential gateway device, which would connect a residential communications network to an access network from any server to assist all household…
From ACM News
How Privacy Vanishes Online
If a stranger came up to you on the street, would you give him your name, Social Security number and e-mail address?
Yet people often dole out all kinds of personal information on the Internet that allows such identifying data…From ACM TechNews
Asian Health Research Gets the Grid Treatment
Biomedical and health researchers discussed how they were using grid computing at the recent International Symposium on Grid Computing in Taipei, Taiwan.
From ACM News
Workshop to Focus on Preserving Digital Data
Experts on digital preservation will gather at a workshop at NIST in Gaithersburg, Md., later this month to develop a standards roadmap for long-term preservation of the vast and growing amount of digital data.
From ACM News
Teens Win $630,000 in 2010 Intel Science Talent Search
Intel Science Talent Search 2010, a program of Society for Science & the Public, announced its top 10 winners in Washington, DC. Winners received $630,000 in awards with the top winner, Erika DeBenedictis of New Mexico, receiving…
From ACM News
Nist, Partners Develop Testing Infrastructure For Health It Systems
NIST has released the first of four installments of a new health IT test method and related software, developed in collaboration with a broad array of public and private groups, to help develop modern information technology systems…
From ACM News
Undercover Feds on Social Networking Sites Raise Questions
The next time someone tries to "friend" you on Facebook, it may turn out to be an undercover fed looking to examine your private messages and photos, or surveil your friends and family. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has …
From ACM News
Amputees Could Get a Helping Hand in the Virtual World
What is the best way to for someone to get used to their artificial limb? Put them in a virtual environment.
So says Anthony Steed, a computer scientist at University College London, who has been studying how the rubber hand…From ACM News
Fingertip Bacteria: A Promising Forensic Tool
It's not just our genomes that make us unique. The genomic profile of bacteria that rub off our fingertips and onto objects we touch--a computer keyboard, for instance--also provides a "fingerprint" that could be used for forensic…
From ACM TechNews
Turning Smartphones Into Air Quality Monitors
Intel Labs has developed Common Sense, a portable device that collects and analyzes nitrous oxide, carbon monoxide, and ozone information, and enables users to share the air quality data with other people over the Internet.
From ACM TechNews
Sending Botnets the Way of Smallpox
University of Tulsa researchers have published a legal study on three "technically feasible" compulsory vaccination scenarios that governments could consider to help combat cybercrime.
From ACM News
Privacy in the Age of Digital Glass Houses
The private e-mails and texts that keep you closely connected could quickly turn embarrassing if made public by a spurned friend or partner. How much privacy can you find, and will courts let you keep, when more and more personal…
From ICT Results
Software: Running Commentary For Smarter Surveillance?
Cutting-edge surveillance software that automatically detects human motion, behaviour and facial expressions, generates a running commentary of what's happening and re-enacts events virtually could soon be helping police and…
From ACM News
Telling Friends Where You Are (or Not)
As Jordan Viator roams the conference rooms, dimly lit bars and restaurants here at the South by Southwest Interactive conference, she often pulls out her cellphone and uses the Foursquare service to broadcast her location.
…From ACM TechNews
Berkeley Prof Helped Divvy Up Search to Many Servers
ACM has named University of California, Berkeley computer science professor Eric Brewer the recipient of the 2009 ACM-Infosys Foundation Award for his contribution to the development of highly scalable Internet services.
From ACM TechNews
Supercapacitors Boost Efficiency
University of Waikato researchers have developed working prototypes of a supercapacitor that could enable mobile phones and laptop computers to run longer between charges.