Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
April 2021
From ACM TechNews
AI Agent Helps Identify Material Properties Faster
Researchers have demonstrated that artificial intelligence can speed up X-ray diffraction data analysis and improve accuracy in searches for new materials.
From ACM TechNews
Google Play Apps Steal Texts, Pepper You With Unauthorized Purchases
McAfee mobile researchers have discovered malware hidden in eight Google Play apps that steals users' text messages and makes unauthorized purchases.
From ACM TechNews
Coding to Hide Health Prices From Web Searches Is Barred by Regulators
Federal regulators now require hospitals and insurers to disclose long-confidential pricing data, including rates that insurers pay for services.
From ACM News
Quantum Sensing Takes Shape
Opening up the world around us by detecting changes in quantum states.
From ACM News
This Researcher Says AI Is Neither Artificial nor Intelligent
Kate Crawford, who holds positions at USC and Microsoft, says in a new book that even experts working on the technology misunderstand AI.
From ACM News
Now for AI's Latest Trick: Writing Computer Code
Programs such as GPT-3 can compose convincing text. Some people are using the tool to automate software development and hunt for bugs.
From ACM TechNews
AI's Carbon Footprint Is Big, But Easy to Reduce, Google Researchers Say
Researchers have released the most accurate estimates to date for the carbon footprint of large artificial intelligence systems.
From ACM TechNews
Chemical Code Used to Store Jane Austen Quote in Plastic Molecules
University of Texas at Austin researchers encoded a quote from Jane Austen's novel Mansfield Park in software-readable plastic molecules.
From ACM TechNews
Newer Planes Providing Airlines a Trove of Useful Data
The retirement of older aircraft during the pandemic has resulted in a fleet increasingly equipped with digital technologies.
From ACM TechNews
Which City Rates as Best Place to Work in Tech?
A professional social network surveyed users at technology firms in five U.S. cities to determine which cities they think treat tech workers best.
From ACM TechNews
Multiple Agencies Breached by Hackers Using Pulse Secure Vulnerabilities
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said hackers had infiltrated federal agencies and other critical organizations.
From ACM TechNews
Robot Taught Table Etiquette Can Explain Why It Won't Follow the Rules
Researchers programmed a humanoid robot with software that models human cognitive processes.
From ACM News
A Tiny Part's Big Ripple: Global Chip Shortage Hobbles the Auto Industry
Almost every carmaker has had to curtail production, hampering the economic recovery.
From ACM TechNews
Amazon Bringing Palm-Scanning Payment System to Whole Foods Stores
Amazon's palm-scanning payment system will be rolled out to a Whole Foods store in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood.
From ACM TechNews
New Rules Allowing Small Drones to Fly Over People in U.S. Take Effect
Final rules from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration that permit small drones to fly over people and to fly at night took effect April 21.
From ACM TechNews
Computer Modeling Suggests That T. Rex Was Slow Walker
Computer models created by researchers suggest the dinosaur Tyrannosaurus rex had a slow walking speed.
From ACM TechNews
AI Shows 2 Scribes Wrote One of the Dead Sea Scrolls
One of the Dead Sea Scrolls was written by two scribes with very similar handwriting, according to researchers at the Netherlands' University of Groningen.
From ACM TechNews
Study: 'Fingerprint' for 3D Printer Accurate 92% of Time
To reduce illicit use of three-dimensional printers, researchers devised a method to accurately identify each machine’s unique "fingerprint."
From ACM News
Facebook's Ad Algorithms Still Excluding Women from Seeing Jobs
Its ad-delivery system is excluding women from opportunities without regard to their qualifications. That would be illegal under U.S. employment law.
From ACM News
Tech Chiefs Get Creative to Cure Employee Burnout
More than a year into the pandemic's remote work, corporate tech leaders try to help staff fight feelings of loneliness, fatigue.
From ACM News
Walmart Is Pulling Plug on More Robots
The retailer has been phasing out automated pickup towers as curbside services have become popular.
From ACM News
How Has the COVID-19 Pandemic Affected STEM Pay and Job Prospects?
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a bumpy ride for many sectors, but a New Scientist Jobs/SRG survey shows science and tech have weathered the storm better than most.
From ACM News
Will Quantum Computing Ever Live Up to Its Hype?
One expert warns that the field is overpromising, while another says his firm is on the verge of building "useful" machines.
From ACM TechNews
Brazilian Government Launches Toolkit to Support Data Protection Compliance
Brazil's Digital Government Secretariat has rolled out a toolkit to facilitate central government agencies' compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation.
From ACM TechNews
Facebook Dataset Addresses Algorithmic Bias
Facebook has made public its Casual Conversations dataset, comprised of more than 45,000 videos of 3,000 individuals of different skin tones sharing their age and gender.
From ACM TechNews
A Molecule That Responds to Light
Researchers have advanced the development of molecule-based materials that can serve as light-addressable fundamental quantum bits.
From ACM News
15 Graphs You Need to See to Understand AI in 2021
The 2021 AI Index provides insight into jobs, publications, diversity, and more.
From ACM News
The Economic Payoff of Federally Funded IT Research
How basic IT research has yielded huge commercial benefits.
From ACM News
A Global Tipping Point for Reining In Tech Has Arrived
Never before have so many countries, including China, moved with such vigor at the same time to limit the power of a single industry.
From ACM TechNews
Brain-on-a-Chip Would Need Little Training
Researchers used a spiking neural network on a microchip as a foundation for developing more efficient hardware-based artificial intelligence systems.