Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
March 2021
From ACM TechNews
Robots Increase Gender Pay Gap Despite Raising Wages Overall
U.K. researchers found that automation pushed up all wages on average, but widened the gender pay gap.
From ACM TechNews
Smart Device Push Brings IT, R&D Teams Together
Information Technology staffers at consumer packaged goods companies increasingly work with research and development teams to develop more connected devices.
From ACM TechNews
How AI Can Help Curb Traffic Accidents in Cities
An interdisciplinary research team led by Spain's Universitat Oberta de Catalunya is leveraging artificial intelligence to reduce traffic accidents in cities.
From ACM TechNews
U.S. Grid at Rising Risk to Cyberattack, Says GAO
The U.S. Government Accountability Office says that distribution systems within the country's electrical grid are increasingly vulnerable to cyberattack
From ACM News
Carmakers Strive to Stay Ahead of Hackers
The effects of a breach of a car, or fleet, could be devastating. Auto manufacturers and suppliers have aggressive plans, and a lot of firewalls.
From ACM TechNews
Massive Hacks Linked to Russia, China Exploited U.S. Internet Security Gap
A new report found hackers targeting servers running Microsoft Exchange software used U.S.-based computers from at least four service providers.
From ACM TechNews
ML Model Could Remove Bias From Social Network Connections
A novel machine learning framework can calculate sensitive attributes to help graph neural networks make fair recommendations.
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Explore Possibilities for Ultra-Secure Gun Registry
Brown University computer scientists have proposed an ultra-secure, decentralized firearm registry database that allays privacy concerns with encryption.
From ACM TechNews
AI Can Stop the Cybersickness Some People Get When Using VR Headsets
Researchers at U.K. startup Kagenova have developed a system that can reduce nausea or cybersickness induced by virtual reality.
From ACM News
DARPA's Subterranean Challenge Scores
The U.S. Defense Department agency has been sponsoring underground circuit competitions for robotic hardware systems for the last three years.
From ACM News
Pioneers Linking Math and Computer Science Win the Abel Prize
Avi Wigderson and László Lovász won for their work developing complexity theory and graph theory, respectively, and for connecting the two fields.
From ACM TechNews
California Passes Regulation Banning 'Dark Patterns' Under Landmark Privacy Law
New rules enacted under California's Consumer Privacy Act bar dark patterns, underhanded practices that encourage users to behave atypically.
From ACM TechNews
Drive-Throughs That Predict Your Order? Restaurants Are Thinking Fast
Many restaurants expect digital ordering and drive-throughs to remain key business channels, and some are testing artificial intelligence to predict and suggest personalized orders.
From ACM TechNews
Fire Safety App Simulates Wildfires, Shows Route to Avoid Them
Researchers have built a mobile wildfire simulation application that provides personalized evacuation routes to anyone in the path of a fire.
From ACM TechNews
Coming 'Vaccine Passports' Aim for Simplicity
Developers of the first digital "vaccine passports" for post-pandemic travel said the applications are designed for ease of use.
From ACM TechNews
Cybersecurity Report: 'Smart Farms' Are Hackable Farms
Researchers at China's Nanjing Agricultural University discovered unique cybersecurity issues stemming from agricultural Internet of Things applications.
From ACM TechNews
ML Models for Diagnosing Covid-19 Not Yet Suitable for Clinical Use
Studies describing machine learning models for diagnosing Covid-19 are not yet suitable for detecting or diagnosing the virus from standard medical imaging.
From ACM News
Who Is Making Sure the A.I. Machines Aren't Racist?
When Google forced out two well-known artificial intelligence experts, a long-simmering research controversy burst into the open.
From ACM TechNews
A Quantum Trick with Photons Gives ML a Speed Boost
Researchers at Austria's University of Vienna have accelerated machine learning using a quantum trick involving photons.
From ACM TechNews
Rancho Mirage Lands the Country's First 3D-Printed Housing Community
Developer Palari is planning the first three-dimensional-printed housing community in the U.S. in Rancho Mirage, CA.
From ACM TechNews
High Severity Linux Network Security Holes Found, Fixed
Positive Technologies' Alexander Popov detected five high-severity security vulnerabilities in the Linux kernel's virtual socket implementation.
From ACM News
Valuing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Computing Community
Improving diversity is everybody’s job.
From ACM News
Livestreaming, Still Niche, Grows as a Tool for Retailers
Amazon Live is a prominent example of how interactive video shopping, popularized by TV networks like QVC, has moved online.
From ACM News
White House Weighs New Cybersecurity Approach After Failure to Detect Hacks
The intelligence agencies missed massive intrusions by Russia and China, forcing the administration and Congress to look for solutions, including closer partnership with private industry.
From ACM TechNews
Computing Clean Water
Researchers have computationally modeled affinity between solutes and membrane surfaces, to characterize their effects on water purification.
From ACM TechNews
NTSB Asks NHTSA for More Self-Driving Car Rules, Citing Tesla's 'Full Self-Driving' Beta
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board has requested tougher rules for advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) and self-driving car development.
From ACM TechNews
License-Plate Scans Aid Crime-Solving But Spur Little Privacy Debate
Law enforcement agencies increasingly are using data gathered by the vast network of automated license-plate scanners to solve crimes.
From ACM TechNews
Tool Makes Students Better at Detecting Fake Imagery, Videos
Researchers have devised a digital self-test that trains users to assess news items, images, and videos posted on social media for credibility.
From ACM TechNews
Faulty Software Snarls Vaccine Sign-Ups
Persistent flaws in software for setting up COVID-19 vaccination appointments online threaten to slow the U.S. vaccine rollout.
From ACM News
How Facebook Got Addicted to Spreading Misinformation
The company's AI algorithms gave it an insatiable habit for lies and hate speech. Now the man who built them can't fix the problem.