Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
March 2013
From ACM TechNews
Berkeley Lab Researchers Use Metamaterials to Observe Giant Photonic Spin Hall Effect
A newly developed two-dimensional sheet of gold nanoantennas has recorded the strongest signal yet of the photonic spin Hall effect.
From ACM TechNews
Robot-Delivered Speech and Physical Therapy a Success in Umass Amherst Test
A humanoid robot used to deliver speech and physical therapy to a stroke patient has resulted in noticeable improvement in quality of life.
From ACM News
It's Like They’re Reading My Mind
Whether it's our location, contact lists, calendars, photo albums, or search requests, app developers, advertising companies, and other tech firms are scrambling to learn everything they can about us in order to sell us things…
From ACM Careers
Carnegie Mellon, Nsa Seek High School Hackers
Bored with classes? Carnegie Mellon University and one of the government's top spy agencies want to interest high school students in a game of computer hacking.
From ACM News
Hong Kong Looks to Build nderground Datacentre Caves
With more than seven million people squeezed in to around 1,100sq km of land space, and property prices regularly ranking among the highest in the world, Hong Kong has realised it needs to get inventive if it wants to attract…
From ACM News
U.s. Cybersecurity Policy Draws Interest from Companies, Lobbyists
The determination by Congress and President Obama to protect networks of critical U.S. industries from hackers and cyberspies is creating an explosive growth opportunity—for lobbyists.
From ACM TechNews
From Complex Living Systems to Smarter Computers
The European Commission is funding a project to study complex living systems and apply its findings to technological systems, particularly robot swarms.
From ACM TechNews
How to Find the Right Twitter User in a Crisis
Researchers have developed a way to find people on Twitter who are tweeting useful information during a crisis.
From ACM TechNews
European Computing Network of Excellence Sets Course For the Future
The HiPEAC European Network of Excellence recently released its latest computer systems roadmap.
From ACM TechNews
Fewer Women Pursue Jobs in Science Because They Have More Career Options
The gender gap in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers may be more due to greater career options than less ability in math and science.
From ACM TechNews
Humanoid Robot Helps Train Children With Autism
The new NAO system of sensors, computers, and robots is designed to help children with autism spectrum disorder.
From ACM TechNews
Swiss Supercomputer Aims to Predict Mountain Weather With Help of Gpus
The Swiss National Supercomputing Center will upgrade its supercomputer to more accurately predict the weather in the mountains of the Swiss Alps.
From ACM News
Asteroid-Smashing Space Probes Set for Cosmic Crash in 2022
Scientists in Europe and the United States are moving forward with plans to intentionally smash a spacecraft into a huge nearby asteroid in 2022 to see inside the space rock.
From ACM TechNews
A Screen at Your Fingertips
A fingernail-based display could revolutionize the way people use devices like smartphones.
From ACM News
A Strange Computer Promises Great Speed
From ACM News
Bitcoin: Fastest Growing Currency in the World
Bitcoin is an unregulated, uncontrolled online currency—worth more than £500m, it's the world's fastest growing.
From ACM News
Radio Frequency Chip Makers Tune In to Smartphone Race
Radio frequency chip makers are set to gain as Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Apple Inc unveil ever more sophisticated smartphones and tablets to battle for the No. 1 spot in the global mobile devices market.
From ACM News
So It Begins: DARPA Sets Out to Make Computers That Can Teach Themselves
The Pentagon's blue-sky research agency is readying a nearly four-year project to boost artificial intelligence systems by building machines that can teach themselves—while making it easier for ordinary schlubs like us to build…
From ACM News
China to Create Home-Grown Operating System
China is working with software firm Canonical on an open-source operating system customised for Chinese users.
From ACM News
Planck Mission Brings niverse Into Sharp Focus
The Planck space mission has released the most accurate and detailed map ever made of the oldest light in the universe, revealing new information about its age, contents and origins.
From ACM TechNews
Georgia Tech Computer System Predicts Ncaa Basketball Champion
Georgia Tech’s Logistic Regression/Markov Chain (LRMC) computerized college basketball ranking system predicts the University of Florida will win this year's NCAA men's college basketball tournament.
From ACM TechNews
Can Control Theory Make Software Better?
Researchers recently demonstrated the application of control theory principles to formal verification, in a method that could benefit approximate computation.
From ACM TechNews
Where Siri Has Trouble Hearing, a Crowd of Humans Could Help
A new rapid-fire crowdsourcing program could provide new ways to enhance voice-recognition applications.
From ACM TechNews
Hackers Can Be Battlefield Targets, Says Nato Report
NATO's cyberwarfare handbook says that civilian hackers who carry out cyberattacks during coordinated military campaigns can be targeted as combatants.
From ACM Careers
Youtube Reaches a Billion Monthly Viewers, Boosted By 'generation C'
YouTube has a billion unique users visiting the video-sharing website every month, equivalent to one out of every two people on the Internet—and the generation that has grown up with it watches video on smartphones just as much…
From ACM TechNews
Gender Gap in Tech Salaries Is All Gone, Dice Reports
Women in the information technology (IT) field now make as much as men, according to the latest salary survey from Dice.
From ACM News
Domestic Drones Stir Imaginations, and Concerns
On the pilot's computer screen, planted at ground level a few yards from the airport runway here, the data streaming across the display tracked an airplane at 1,300 feet above a small city on the coast, making perfect circles…
From ACM News
Revealed: The 1962 CIA Paper That Predicts the Big Deal With Big Data
The Central Intelligence Agency has published for the first time "Some Far-Out Thoughts on Computers," a 1962 internal document that shows how eager the agency was to exploit the power of data for Cold War spying purposes.
From ACM News
Internet of Things: Trash Talk Signals Mobile Future
Wander through the historic streets of the Roman city of Bath in the U.K., and you might sense that they are smarter than average. And you would be right.
From ACM News
Supercomputer Helps Planck Mission Expose Ancient Light
Like archeologists carefully digging for fossils, scientists with the Planck mission are sifting through cosmic clutter to find the most ancient light in the universe.