Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
March 2014
From ACM TechNews
A Blueprint For Centralized Research Data Storage and Sharing
The University of Colorado Boulder PetaLibrary storage system has been deployed to address challenges regarding large-scale data storage and data management.
From ACM TechNews
Digital Ears in the Rainforest: Estimating Dynamics of Animal Populations By Using Sound Recordings and Computing
A team of researchers is developing a system to estimate the dynamics of animal populations by using sound recordings, statistics, and scientific computing.
From ACM News
The Face Behind Bitcoin
The reclusive inventor of the troubled virtual currency has been hiding in plain sight.
From ACM News
There is no gender gap in tech salaries
New research shows no statistically significant difference in earnings between male and female engineers who have the same credentials.
From ACM News
Interviewing the Algorithm
Often, when there's talk about algorithms and journalism, the focus is on how to use algorithms to help publishers share content better and make more money.
From ACM News
Russia and kraine in Cyber 'stand-Off'
As diplomatic efforts are stepped up to ease tensions in Ukraine, security experts have warned that Kiev and Moscow are locked in a cyber stand-off.
From ACM News
Europa Mission Gets Boost from President's New Nasa Budget
A dedicated mission to Jupiter's icy moon Europa, one of the best bets for life beyond Earth in our solar system, has inched a little closer to reality today.
From ACM TechNews
Keeping Pace With the Data Explosion
Researchers have developed co-factorization machines that utilize mathematical analysis to study the interaction between social media users and tweets.
From ACM TechNews
Feds Grapple With Big Data vs. Privacy
White House counselor John Podesta is leading a 90-day study examining the intersection of big data and privacy.
From ACM TechNews
Women Talk Tech and Careers in Computer Science
Women from 32 countries attended the womENcourage conference Saturday at Manchester University to encourage women in the field of computer science.
From ACM TechNews
Mitsubishi Planning Predictive User Interface For Cars
Mitsubishi Electric recently demonstrated prototype technology that predicts in-car operations.
From ACM TechNews
New Report Presents Recommendations and Initiatives to Address CS Education Challenges
A new ACM report urges states to provide more opportunities for students to gain the skills and knowledge needed to compete for high-wage computing positions.
From ACM TechNews
Software Maps Ambiguous Names in Texts to the Right Person
Rsearchers have developed AIDA, software that enables accurate disambiguation of named entities by analyzing them with the help of Wikipedia.
From ACM News
N.s.a. Director Says Snowden Leaks Hamper Efforts Against Cyberattacks
Gen. Keith B. Alexander, the director of the National Security Agency, said Tuesday that the leaks by the former agency contractor Edward J. Snowden had slowed the effort to protect the country against cyberattacks on Wall Street…
From ACM News
kraine Crisis: Cyber War with Russia Heating up
If you think the crisis in the Ukraine is limited just to being on the ground, think again.
From ACM Opinion
Remembering Mit, When There Were Just 50 Women in a Class of 1,000
When Radia Perlman attended MIT in the late '60s and '70s, she was one of just a few dozen women (about 50) out of a class of 1,000.
From ACM TechNews
University of Leicester Student Helps Develop Innovative Food Safety Management System
Researchers working with the European Safety Bureau have developed the Navitas online food safety management system.
From ACM TechNews
How Do You Build a Large-Scale Quantum Computer?
Researchers have proposed a modular architecture that offers scalability to address the challenge of physically implementing a full-scale universal quantum computer.
From ACM TechNews
Disney Research Soccer Formations Analysis Suggests Home Advantage Is Result of Execution
An automated analysis of soccer team formations shows visiting teams are less successful than home teams only because they play conservatively.
From ACM Opinion
The Job After Steve Jobs: Tim Cook and Apple
Shortly after Tim Cook succeeded Steve Jobs as CEO of Apple in August 2011, he told a confidant that he got up every morning reminding himself just to do the right thing—and not to think about what Steve would have done.
From ACM News
Brands Take Advantage of Hci Technologies
Technologies demonstrated in motion pictures are coming to life for advertisers.
From ACM News
Rise of the Human Exoskeletons
On the outskirts of Pisa in a back room of a modern block, a machine is waiting for its operator.
From ACM Opinion
What Do Data Brokers Know About Me?
I once ran into a friend and her husband at the playground in our neighborhood in Manhattan.
From ACM News
Experts Urge Conservatism on Crypto Standards
Security people are, by nature, cautious and methodical, and that is even more true of cryptographers.
From ACM News
Meet the Seven People Who Hold the Keys to Worldwide Internet Security
In a nondescript industrial estate in El Segundo, a boxy suburb in south-west Los Angeles just a mile or two from LAX international airport, 20 people wait in a windowless canteen for a ceremony to begin.
From ACM Opinion
Hackers Allegedly Stole $400 Million in Bitcoins. Here's How to Catch Them.
On Friday, what had been the world's leading Bitcoin exchange declared bankrutpcy, claiming that hackers had exploited a technical issue called "transaction malleability" to steal 750,000 bitcoins.
From ACM TechNews
Mobile Voting Systems Potentially Better Than Electronic Ones: Study
Rice University researchers have designed a mobile voting system optimized for use on smartphones and have tested it against traditional voting platforms.
From ACM TechNews
Phone's Wi-Fi Hotspot Acts as Sos Beacon in Disasters
A new app turns a smartphone into a wireless SOS beacon that could help rescuers find people who have been trapped in collapsed buildings.
From ACM TechNews
Battery-Free Technology Brings Gesture Recognition to All Devices
A new gesture-recognition system runs without batteries and enables gesture control for electronic devices that are hidden from sight.
From ACM TechNews
Draft Language Signals More Transparent Nist
The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology has released new guidance on cryptographic standards.