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
What Would It Take to Put a Walking Robot on the Moon?
Astro-Technology SOHLA, a small cooperative of companies in Osaka, Japan, wants to put an autonomous humanoid robot on the moon.
From ACM News
The Software Side of Flight Testing the 787 Dreamliner
With nearly 600 hours of testing completed, Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner is in the thick of its nearly year long flight test program. Delays in the program have put the new composite airliner behind schedule, and the company is…
From ACM News
Are Surveillance Cameras Worth It?
In the aftermath of the attempted car bombing in Times Square, the debate surrounding the increasing use of surveillance cameras has once again moved to center stage.
From ACM News
How Google Got Its New Look
Every day 268 million people use Google to search for something. The query goes in, the company's software delivers back the most relevant links. The interaction is so simple--and the hidden calculation behind the results so…
From ACM News
Researchers Identify Critical 'bridging' Connectors in Social Networks
Researchers have developed a new measure that identifies "bridging individuals" in social networks who act as critical connectors, facilitating the flow of information between social networks and communities.
From ICT Results
The Brain: Probing Its Deep Mystery
We know more about the cosmos than we do about the human brain, but work by European researchers is allowing scientists to probe further into the mysteries of our grey matter.
From ACM News
Video Games and Virtual Reality Proven Helpful as Pain Relievers
Children and adults with acute and chronic pain receive some analgesic benefit when they become immersed in video game action, and virtual reality is proving to be effective in reducing anxiety and acute pain caused by painful…
From ACM News
FCC Proposes New Rules on Internet Access
The FCC proposed an approach to regulating broadband Internet service on Thursday (May 6) that would reclassify the transmission component as a basic utility subject to the agency's oversight in order to enforce consumer protections…
From ACM News
'historic' Day as First Non-Latin Web Addresses Go Live
Arab nations are leading a "historic" charge to make the world wide web live up to its name. Net regulator Icann has switched on a system that allows full web addresses that contain no Latin characters.
From ACM News
Tracking H1n1 Through the Internet
Next flu season, mining Internet sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google news may provide a faster way to track the spread of H1N1 than reports from official agencies like the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers…
From ACM TechNews
Project Puts 1M Books Online for Blind, Dyslexic
The nonprofit Internet Archive announced a new effort to more than double the number of books in its digital database that can be used by the visually impaired.
From ACM TechNews
Nasa Official Outlines Plan For Next-Generation Space Robots
NASA engineers are developing a team of robotic rovers that might eventually work alongside astronauts on Mars.
From ACM TechNews
Rensselaer, Army Research Targets Terror Nets
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Social Cognitive Networks Academic Research Center is enlisting engineers and scientists to uncover the signatures of global terror networks.
From ACM News
Who Needs Flash?
In just months, from seemingly nowhere, Apple’s solo campaign to dethrone Flash as the de facto standard for web video has gathered enough momentum to get over the top. The question is no longer whether HTML5 will or should do…
From ACM News
Researcher ses Wii Remote to Teach Computer Engineering
Tom Daniels, an Iowa State University assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, has figured out how to use Wii Remotes as a teaching tool in introductory computer engineering courses.
From ACM News
Georgia Tech Students Sweep Health It Coding Challenge
In a competition to make health data for doctors who are on call more effective, a team of Georgia Tech College of Computing graduate students finished first, second and third at the CONNECT Code-a-Thon Challenge.
From ACM News
FCC Push to Regulate Broadband Is Expected
The chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, Julius Genachowski, will try to regulate broadband Internet service despite a recent court ruling that the commission had limited powers to do so.
From ACM News
Army Spy Plane May Have Snooped on Bomber: Report
Investigators were able to track wannabe terrorist Faisal Shahzad through his anonymous, pre-paid cell phone--exactly how, they won’t say. But there was a tantalizing explanation posted--and then quickly yanked--from the website…
From ACM TechNews
N.y. Bomb Plot Highlights Limitations of Data Mining
The recent failed bombing attempt in New York City shows the limitations of data-mining technology. Using data mining to search for potential terrorists is similar to looking for a needle in a haystack, says BT chief security…
From ACM TechNews
Taking Research to the Next Level
Canadian scientists are developing Canadian Bioinformatics Resources as Semantic Services, a suite of information technology tools designed to aid researchers in locating the online resources the government has made available…
From ACM TechNews
Computerized Agents For Smart Electricity
University of Southampton computer scientists have developed a system of computerized agents that can manage energy use and storage in the home.
From ACM TechNews
Frontier Guides Computing Through the Collision Landscape
Researchers at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) working on the CMS and ATLAS particle detector experiments are using a software system that helps scientists quickly distribute information needed to interpret…
From ACM News
How Isps Could Combat Botnets
Convincing Internet service providers to pinpoint infected computers on their networks could eliminate the lion's share of zombie computers responsible for churning out spam and initiating other online threats, according to a…
From ACM TechNews
Your Face Is All You'll Need at an Atm
Waweru Mwangi, director of the Institute of Computer Science and Information Technology at Kenya's Jomo Kenyatta University, demonstrated his Basic Intelligent Automated Teller Machine at a national scientific conference in Nairobi…
From ACM TechNews
Computer Science Shows How 'twitter-Bombs' Wield Influence
Wellesley College computer science professor P. Takis Metaxas says "Twitter bombs"—sending many Tweets from a large number of Twitter accounts within a short period of time—are being used to affect the outcome of elections…
From ACM TechNews
An Optical Traffic Cop For Rapid Communication
Tel Aviv University's Koby Scheuer has developed a nano-based filtering device using silicon rubber that is designed to enable faster communications over optical fibers.
From ACM News
Intel Launches Chip For Smartphones, Tablets
Intel on Tuesday announced its long-awaited Atom chip for smartphones and tablets, a crowded market populated by a host of formidable rivals--unlike the PC market where it dominates.
From ACM News
Rensselaer Launches $16.75 Million Center To Research Social Cognitive Networks
Funded by the Army Research Lab, the Social Cognitive Networks Academic Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is dedicated to the emerging discipline of network science and will investigate how technology impacts…
From ACM News
Microsoft's Internet Explorer Losing Browser Share
Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) web browser, now accounts for less than 60% of the market, down from 95% at its peak in 2003, according to new figures.
From ACM News
New Technology Generates Database on Spill Damage
A technology with data from social media is now being used to log the effects of the oil spill on the Gulf of Mexico's north coast. Witnesses' texts, tweets and e-mail messages generate the rainbow of dots on a map and database…