Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
May 2010
From ACM TechNews
Technology Linked to Happiness, Study Claims
A recent Chartered Institute for IT worldwide survey found there are positive links between access to technology and feelings of well-being. Access to communication devices was found to be the most valued.
From ACM TechNews
Nasa Looking to Six-Legged Robot to Build Human Outpost on Mars
NASA is developing a six-legged robot called Athlete that can walk or roll on wheels, and ultimately aims to have it help set up a habitat on Mars for future astronauts.
From ACM TechNews
.s. Struggles to Ward Off Evolving Cyber Threat
U.S. Department of Defense official James Miller says authorities have failed to stay ahead of the cyberattacks, which have resulted in the loss of an enormous amount of data.
From ACM TechNews
Teachers Plan to Teach in 3d
Computer scientists at the universities of Hertfordshire and Southern Denmark are on track to finish building technology that would bring virtual reality to Europe's classrooms.
From ACM TechNews
'Tamper Evident' CPU Warns of Malicious Backdoors
Columbia University scientists have developed a chip design that prevents microprocessors from being equipped with malicious backdoors that could be used to steal sensitive information or receive instructions from adversaries…
From ACM TechNews
Operation Reboot: It Professionals Become Computer Science Teachers
A three-year, Georgia Tech-sponsored program called Operation Reboot is helping 30 information technology professionals reenter the work force as high school computer science teachers.
From ACM TechNews
Evolution of Large-Scale Social Networks Focus of MSU Study
A team from Michigan State University will study how large-scale social networks such as YouTube and Wikipedia change as users come and go over time in order to understand how interaction on social networks benefits users.
From ACM TechNews
When Good Enough is Better
MIT researchers have developed a system that automatically finds parts of computer code where accuracy can be traded for significant increases in speed.
From ACM TechNews
W3c Launches Xproc Spec
The W3C has released XProc, an XML pipeline specification that "provides a standard framework for composing XML processes [and] streamlines the automation, sequencing, and management of complex computations involving XML."
From ACM News
Legal Experts: LimeWire Likely Doomed
A federal court judge has likely dealt a death blow to LimeWire, one of the most popular and oldest file-sharing systems, according to legal experts.
From ACM News
Can Social Networks Be Generated Automatically?
When Google launched Buzz, a microblogging social network, several months ago, the company boasted that the network had been generated automatically, by algorithms that could connect users to each other based on communications…
From ACM News
Cellphones Now Used More For Data Than For Calls
She taps out her grocery lists, records voice memos, listens to music at the gym, tracks her caloric intake and posts frequent updates to her Twitter and Facebook accounts.
The one thing she doesn’t use her cellphone for? Making…From ACM News
Can Cameras and Software Replace Referees?
Tennis has adopted Hawk-Eye's line-calling technology with (mostly) open arms. Why are other sports resisting the more accurate, high-tech refs?
From ACM News
Concerns as Sixth Foxconn Worker Commits Suicide
Foxconn Technology, the world's biggest contract maker of electronics, has been forced to answer allegations about the welfare of employees in China after its sixth worker committed suicide this year.
From ACM News
Cars' Computer Systems Called at Risk to Hackers
Automobiles, which will be increasingly connected to the Internet in the near future, could be vulnerable to hackers just as computers are now, two teams of computer scientists are warning in a paper to be presented next week…
From ACM News
Internet Approaches Addressing Limit
Experts say that the net's entire existing address space will be exhausted about a year after that date. A newer scheme is being rolled out but many firms and countries are being slow to switch, experts warn.
From ICT Results
Online Tools Help Professionals Share Their Expertise
Online tools developed in Europe have created completely new approaches in pedagogy – the science of education.
From ACM News
Interface Expert Knocks Ipad Apps For Inconsistent Usability
The iPad has been hailed as an interface triumph. But one usability expert has published an exhaustive critique of the iPad, taking it to task for the inconsistency and obscurity of its apps’ interfaces.
From ACM News
They Walk. They Work. New Dna Robots Strut Their Tiny Stuff.
For the first time, microscopic robots made from DNA molecules can walk, follow instructions and work together to assemble simple products on an atomic-scale assembly line, mimicking the machinery of living cells, two independent…
From ACM News
Student Researchers Advance Emergency Alert Technology
A group of Northeastern University student researchers have developed a wireless wrist device that monitors a user's vital signs and may serves as an automated emergency alert system for elderly people.
From ACM News
Decline Is Seen in Nasa
The decline of basic research at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration jeopardizes the agency’s ability to study and explore the cosmos, a review panel of scientists and engineers said Tuesday.
From ACM News
Computers Can Effectively Detect Disease-Related Eye Problems
Cost-effective computerized systems can successfully screen diabetic patients to detect early eye problems related to the disease, University of Iowa analysis shows.
From ACM News
Four Nerds and a Cry to Arms Against Facebook
How angry is the world at Facebook for devouring every morsel of personal information we are willing to feed it?
From ACM News
Comments Sought on Guide for Assessing Federal IT Security Controls
NIST has issued the final draft of its Guide for Assessing Security Controls in Federal Information Systems and Organizations and is seeking public comments.
From ACM News
Virtualization Moves Closer to the Desktop
Virtual computing has moved closer with the unveiling of a new client-based hypervisor that allows users to run multiple virtual machines on a single laptop.
From ACM News
Molecular Robots On the Rise
Researchers have created and programmed robots the size of single molecule that can move independently across a nanoscale track. This development marks an important advancement in the nascent fields of molecular computing and…
From ACM TechNews
Dna Could Be Backbone of Next Generation Logic Circuits
Duke University professor Chris Dwyer has mixed customized parts of DNA and other molecules to produce tiny, waffle-like structures that can be used as building blocks for computational applications.
From ACM TechNews
Nsf Will Require Scientists Seeking Funding to Submit Data Management Plans
Beginning in October 2010, the National Science Foundation plans to require that all proposals for funding include a data management plan. The changes are designed to address the needs of data-driven science.
From ACM TechNews
Web Science: Exploring the Network Without Guesswork
University of Southampton professor Nigel Shadbolt, speaking at a recent conference on the emerging discipline of Web science, says the Internet has become such an important technology that it needs its own field of study.
From ACM TechNews
One Group's Answer to Transistors Behaving Badly
Researchers are developing error-prone stochastic processors in the hope that their looser architecture will make their mass production much less expensive and simpler.