Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
April 2015
From ACM News
As Encryption Spreads, U.s. Grapples with Clash Between Privacy, Security
For months, federal law enforcement agencies and industry have been deadlocked on a highly contentious issue: Should tech companies be obliged to guarantee government access to encrypted data on smartphones and other digital…
From ACM TechNews
'robobarista' Can Figure Out Your New Coffee Machine
A Cornell University research team has developed a deep-learning algorithm that enables a robot to operate a machine it has never seen before.
From ACM TechNews
An App That Hides Secret Messages in Starcraft-Style Games
Stony Brook University researchers are developing a prototype tool they believe will be able to send encoded messages using real-time strategy computer games.
From ACM TechNews
Columbia Engineering Professor Invents Video Camera That Runs Without a Battery
Columbia University researchers have invented a self-powered prototype video camera that can produce an image each second, indefinitely, of a well-lit indoor scene.
From ACM TechNews
Europe Faces 800,000 Shortfall in Skilled Ict Workers By 2020
A shortfall in workers with information and communication technology skills could keep Europe from enjoying the benefits of big data and cloud computing.
From ACM TechNews
Can We Stop Killer Robots? U.N. Meets to Debate Possible Treaty
The United Nations' Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons this week heard from experts on the subject of killer robots, or "lethal autonomous weapons systems."
From ACM Opinion
Top 10 Hubble Images
As the famous telescope turns 25, scientists who worked on the project choose their favourite pictures.
From ACM Careers
Inside the Multibillion-Dollar Quest to Make Faster, Cheaper Gadgets
Mark Bohr peers through the yellow-tinted windows outside D1D, one of Intel's secretive computer chip factories housed at its 300-acre campus here, about a 30-minute drive west from Portland.
From ACM Opinion
Moore's Law Hits 50, but It May Not See 60
Moore's Law turns 50 years old this Sunday. It may not make it to 60.
From ACM News
Welcome to Robot Hotel
A new generation of autonomous robots will usher in changes in the hospitality industry and beyond.
From ACM News
Rule Rewrite Aims to Clean Up Scientific Software
The finding seemed counterintuitive: warming in North America was driving plant species to lower elevations—not towards higher, cooler climes, as ecologists had long predicted.
From ACM News
Happy Birthday to Moore's Law
Few revolutions can be said to have lasted for half a century, or to have wrought disruptive change at a predictable pace.
From ACM TechNews
Amazing Bug-Sized Robots Can Build Microstructures
Researchers at SRI International have developed tiny robots that can manufacture microstructures too small and complex to be built by current machinery or by hand.
From ACM TechNews
Hackprinceton Attracts Close to 500 Hackers
This year's HackPrinceton event, a semiannual hackathon run by the Princeton Entrepreneurship Club, had nearly 500 participants.
From ACM TechNews
Smart Phones Could Be sed to Detect Earthquakes
Researchers have demonstrated it is possible to use smartphone global-positioning system data to detect tremors in the earth.
From ACM TechNews
Survey Shows Most Female Software Developers in 15 Years
The number of female software developers has doubled since Evans Data first examined the group in 2001, according to Evans Data's Developer Marketing 2015 survey.
From ACM News
The Printed Organs Coming to a Body Near You
The advent of three-dimensional (3D) printing has generated a swell of interest in artificial organs meant to replace, or even enhance, human machinery.
From ACM News
Robots Go Deep Inside Fukushima Nuclear Plant to Map Radiation
In the dark abandoned shell of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, Rosemary and Sakura shoot what looks like a dystopian first-person shooter game.
From ACM News
Why Zapping the Brain Helps Parkinson's Patients
Sending pulses of electricity through the brain via implanted electrodes—a procedure known as deep brain stimulation—can relieve the symptoms of Parkinson's and other movement disorders.
From ACM Opinion
Case Against Google May Be ndercut By Rapid Shifts in Tech
The antitrust case against Google filed by European Union regulators on Wednesday will inevitably draw comparisons to the long-running prosecution of Microsoft, in which regulators on both sides of the Atlantic pursued the software…
From ACM News
Google Has Patented the Ability to Control a Robot Army
After getting a patent for giving robots personalities last month, Google now wants to unleash an army of Rodney Dangerfield bots on the world.
From ACM News
Hackers Could Commandeer New Planes Through Passenger Wi-Fi
Seven years after the Federal Aviation Administration first warned Boeing that its new Dreamliner aircraft had a Wi-Fi design that made it vulnerable to hacking, a new government report suggests the passenger jets might still…
From ACM TechNews
Space Scientists Create Common Data Hub, Universal Language For Mission Data
A consortium of European researchers have debuted a new common data hub that allows space scientists to compare data from different space missions.
From ACM TechNews
Teaching Tykes to Program Robots
Tufts University professor and Scratch Jr. creator Marina Umaschi Bers has developed a kit to teach programming to students in pre-kindergarten through second grade.
From ACM TechNews
Alan Turing Manuscript Sells for $1 Million
A 56-page handwritten manuscript by mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing has sold at auction for more than $1 million.
From ACM TechNews
Why the 'position Gap' Is More Important Than the Wage Gap For Women in Tech
Despite the recent focus on the bias against women in the technology sector, research has shown that the tech sector is far less unequal than other fields.
From ACM TechNews
Vest Helps Deaf Feel, Understand Speech
Rice University computer and electrical engineering students are developing a vest that will enable deaf people to sense and understand speech.
From ACM News
Eu Officially Strikes at Google on Shopping Service, Android
The European Union officially accused Google of violating antitrust laws, claiming it abused its dominance in search to favor its shopping results.
From ACM TechNews
Turning Tiny Robots Into Student Recruiters
The Santa Fe Institute, in collaboration with the University of New Mexico, hopes to excite high school students about the possibilities of computer programming.
From ACM News
Nasa Mars Rover's Weather Data Bolster Case For Brine
Martian weather and soil conditions that NASA's Curiosity rover has measured, together with a type of salt found in Martian soil, could put liquid brine in the soil at night.