Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
April 2010
From ACM TechNews
Researcher Aims to Secure RFID Tags
Technology for providing alerts when information on RFID tags is being accessed and controlling access to private information was on display during the recent CHI 2010 conference.
From ACM TechNews
Scientists Work to Keep Hackers Out of Implanted Medical Devices
Researchers are developing ways to prevent hackers from accessing and remotely controlling medical devices that emit wireless signals.
From ACM TechNews
Hp Researcher: Power Efficiency Has a Long Way to Go
The information technology and consumer electronics industries could make quantum leaps in terms of improving the power efficiency of electronic systems and devices, says HP researcher Parthasarathy Ranganathan.
From ACM TechNews
Hand-Held Projector Images Respond to the Real World
A prototype of a handheld projector created virtual characters that interacted with the real world at the recent Virtual Reality 2010 meeting in Waltham, MA.
From ACM TechNews
Gridjam: Experimental Music Project
High performance collaborative network computing will allow musicians in distant locations to deliver successful performances, according to Jack Ox, co-creator of Gridjam, a new high-speed international optiphonic network.
From ACM News
Web Coupons Know Lots About You, and They Tell
For decades, shoppers have taken advantage of coupons. Now, the coupons are taking advantage of the shoppers. A new breed of coupon, printed from the Internet or sent to mobile phones, is packed with information about the customer…
From ACM News
Companies Slowly Join Cloud-Computing
This year, Netflix made what looked like a peculiar choice: the DVD-by-mail company decided that over the next two years, it would move most of its Web technology--customer movie queues, search tools and the like--over to the…
From ACM News
The Next Big Thing for Intel: Sandy Bridge
Sandy Bridge is arguably Intel's most important future technology. So, what is it exactly? Intel has been careful to reveal only snippets about the technology over the last 12 months or so. But enough is out there now to understand…
From ACM TechNews
Exposing Hackers as an International Deterrent
An international group of computer scientists, law professors, military leaders, and others recently met at Russia's Moscow State University for a conference on methods of deterrence for online hackers.
From ACM TechNews
Multitoe Project Offers New Touch Interface
Multitoe, a system that turns a floor into a touchscreen, was on display at the recent CHI 2010 conference in Atlanta.
From ACM TechNews
At Internet Conference, Signs of Agreement Between U.s. and Russia
Security specialists from eight countries met at a Russian-sponsored conference on Internet security to discuss their differences on how governments view cyberspace.
From ACM News
Twitter Conference Highlights Booming Growth
Type "I don't get..." into Google and among the first suggestions the search engine makes to complete the sentence is, "I don't get Twitter," right above "I don't get no respect. "While that's funny," Twitter CEO Evan Williams…
From ACM TechNews
How the Internet Will Change the World
Pew Internet & American Life Project director Lee Rainie discusses the results of a survey of experts on how technology will develop and impact society in the year 2020.
From ACM TechNews
Connect 2 Congress Lets You Track Your Senator, One Vote at a Time
Georgia Institute of Technology student Peter Kinnaird has developed Connect 2 Congress, software that tracked how senators voted in the 110th U.S. Congress.
From ACM TechNews
Three Finalists in Prize For Technology Breakthroughs
The Technology Academy of Finland has announced the finalists for the international Millennium Technology Prize.
From ACM News
Google Backs Yahoo in Privacy Fight with Doj
Google and an alliance of privacy groups have come to Yahoo's aid by helping the Web portal fend off a broad request from the U.S. Department of Justice for e-mail messages, CNET has learned.
From ACM News
Networked Networks Are Prone to Epic Failure
Networks that are resilient on their own become fragile and prone to catastrophic failure when connected, suggests a new study with troubling implications for tightly linked modern infrastructures.
From ICT Results
Me and My Files
If you are fed up with juggling too many incompatible devices, European researchers may have the answer. In their 'me-centric' world, you literally wear all your data and transfer what you need to whichever device you happen…
From ACM News
Columbia niversity Licenses Strand Simulation Technology
Columbia University has licensed to Adobe Systems a computer-generated imagery and graphic design technology that can simulate the natural movement and flexibility of strands as fine as a single human hair.
From ACM News
Speedy Scanner Re-Writes Book on Publishing Technology
A Japanese research group at Tokyo University has created new software that allows hundreds of pages of a book to be scanned within minutes.
From ACM News
Tech Sector in Hiring Drive
The technology industry, an engine of innovation and U.S. prosperity for more than half a century, is accelerating its recovery from the recession with earnings that have spurred companies to sharply ramp up their hiring.
From ACM News
Marketers Watch as Friends Interact Online
Birds of a feather flock together. Or, in the Internet age, a customer's friend is a potential customer. Embracing those truisms, some big marketers, including Sprint and eBay, are turning to small start-ups to help them tap…
From ACM News
Entangle Qubits for a True Random Number Machine
Pure randomness is surprisingly difficult to create, even if you draw on the inherent randomness of quantum mechanics. Now, though, a "true" random number generator is on the cards, which may help create the ultimatecryptographic…
From ACM News
ACM Recognizes Leaders Who Have Raised Awareness of Computer Science
ACM has announced Edward Lazowska as winner of its Distinguished Service Award and Moshe Y. Vardi as winner of its Outstanding Contribution to ACM Award.
From ACM TechNews
A Robot's Breakfast
University of Maryland professor Robert Finkelstein is building a robot designed to provide its own fuel source by grabbing sticks and branches, sawing them into pieces, and feeding them to a generator.
From ACM TechNews
Tv Outside the Box
MIT researchers have developed Surround Vision, a system that works with Internet-connected handheld devices to enable TV viewers to see what is happening off screen.
From ACM News
Nist Detector Counts Photons With 99 Percent Efficiency
NIST scientists have developed the world's most efficient single photon detector, which could bring improvements to secure electronic communication, advanced quantum computation and the measurement of optical power.
From ACM News
Cat Brain: A Step Toward the Electronic Equivalent
A cat can recognize a face faster and more efficiently than a supercomputer. That's one reason a feline brain is the model for a biologically-inspired computer project at the University of Michigan.
From ACM News
Intel Gets Personal About Energy Consumption Management
If Intel has its way, its technology will soon be inside not just your personal computer but inside another piece of technology that is way more ubiquitous: the panel you use to control the heat or air-conditioning in your…
From ACM News
Follow the Smart Phones
A service launched last week by Skyhook Wireless will make it possible for other businesses to predict, with new accuracy, which local bars will be hot at 8 p.m. on Monday night, or how many people will walk past a particular…