Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
May 2011
From ACM News
Air France 447: How Scientists Found a Needle in a Haystack
Two weekends ago, investigators announced that they had recovered the flight data recorder from the wreckage of Air France 447—a jetliner that crashed in the deep Atlantic two years ago. But, while the discovery of the data…
From ACM News
How Three-Dimensional Transistors Went from Lab to Fab
Intel's new three-dimensional transistor design, announced last week, is the culmination of more than a decade of research and development work that began in a lab at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1999.
From ACM TechNews
Hide Files Within Files For Better Data Security
Indian researchers have targeted executable files for use in stenanography because that can vary enormously in size and are usually difficult to examine because they comprise compiled computer code.
From ACM TechNews
How to Suck Face Over the Internet
Researchers at the University of Electro-Communications have developed a tactile communication system dubbed the Kiss Transmission Device, which involves one user using their mouth to submit data through a straw attached to a…
From ACM TechNews
Better Glasses-Free 3-D
MIT researchers have developed HR3D, a new method for glasses-free 3D displays. The researchers say their method could double the battery life of devices such as Nintendo's 3DS portable gaming system.
From ACM News
Domestic Surveillance Court Approved All 1,506 Warrant Applications in 2010
The secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court approved all 1,506 government requests to electronically monitor suspected "agents" of a foreign power or terrorists on U.S. soil last year, according to a Justice Department…
From ACM News
Google's Annual Developers Conference Gets nderway
Whether or not Google makes any blockbuster announcements at its annual developers conference that starts Tuesday—a news report on Monday said it may unveil its own streaming music service—many of the software developers converging…
From ACM Opinion
Five Gadgets that Will Be Dead in Five Years
If there's one thing that's predictable in the technology world, it's that things change. Products that were commonplace 10 years ago (PDAs, CRT televisions, fax machines) are quickly fading with the sands of time.
From ACM News
Chinese Entrepreneurs See Apple's App Store as Entryway to Global Market
Lu Miao speaks very little English. He's never traveled outside of Asia. He's not a software engineer. But in a few short months, he became the founder of a successful software company selling apps in the United States and…
From ACM News
'reverse Brain Drain' as Entrepreneurs Return to India, China
A study of highly educated Indian and Chinese entrepreneurs who leave tech hubs like Silicon Valley to return to their homeland to launch startups reports that they have found that economic opportunity truly is better in India…
From ACM News
Long-Prized Tech Visas Lose Cachet
A visa program designed to supply skilled foreign workers to companies in the U.S. has slowed sharply, attracting about 50% fewer petitions so far this year than last year, and 80% fewer than in 2009.
From ACM News
Parting with Privacy with a Quick Click
When Scott Fitzsimones turned 13, he got an iPhone, set up accounts for Facebook and Pandora and went on an apps downloading spree. At the same time, the new teenager lost many protections over his privacy online.
From ACM News
The Class That Built Apps, and Fortunes
All right, class, here’s your homework assignment: Devise an app. Get people to use it. Repeat.
From ACM News
Bin Laden's Computers Will Test U.s. Forensics
For the U.S. government, the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan represents a unique opportunity to test advanced computer forensics techniques called "media exploitation" it's developed over the last few years.
From ACM News
Darpa Apes Nick Fury to Map Social Networks
If the military is going to disrupt insurgent cells or understand how revolutionary movements congeal, it needs to perceive the connections between people that hide in plain sight. Naturally, the Pentagon's mad scientists…
From ACM TechNews
Unthinking Machines
An artificial intelligence panel discussion at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's recent Brains, Minds and Machines symposium called for a return to the research style driven more by curiosity rather than narrow applications…
From ACM News
Customers Had More Faith in Sony Than It Deserved
In the wake of the recent hacking attacks, which compromised more than 100 million account records on its PlayStation Network and Sony Online Entertainment services, Sony has beefed up security—a tacit admission it could have…
From ACM TechNews
Revolutionary New Paper Computer Shows Flexible Future for Smartphones and Tablets
Researchers at Queen's University, Arizona State University, and E Ink Corp. have developed the PaperPhone, an interactive paper-sized computer that "looks, feels, and operates like a small sheet of interactive paper," says Roel…
From ACM TechNews
Exploring the Future With Modern Information Technology
The goal of the FuturICT global knowledge accelerator platform proposed by European researchers is to understand how the world works so that imminent crises can be predicted and possibly ameliorated or even prevented.
From ACM News
Good Thinking, Einstein
The longest experiment in space physics began with three men in a university swimming pool arguing about Einstein. It ended Wednesday, after 52 years and $750 million, with scientists affirming his theory of relativity after…
From ACM News
Cyber-Sleuth Sniffs Out Possible Online Threats in Homage of Osama Bin Laden
While law enforcement officers monitor airports and U.S. embassies for possible retaliatory attacks following Osama Bin Laden's death, a renowned cyber-sleuth is doing the same thing online. So far, Gary Warner has found heavy…
From ACM News
Intel Increases Transistor Speed by Building pward
Intel announced that by building a key portion of a microprocessor's transistor above the chip's surface, it has found a way to make smaller, faster, lower-power computer chips.
From ACM News
China Sets Up Office For Internet Information Management
The Chinese government announced Wednesday the setting up of an office to manage Internet information in a statement of the State Council General Office. The department, known as the State Internet Information Office, will…
From ACM News
May 5, 1992: Wolfenstein 3-D Shoots First-Person Shooter Into Stardom
Id Software releases Wolfenstein 3-D, launching a huge computer-game category.
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Use Xbox Technology to Improve Programs
University of Texas at Arlington researchers are using Microsofte's Xbox Kinect technology to improve virtual sign language software.
From ACM TechNews
Engineering Universal Access For Learning
Bowie State University is promoting a universal design for learning to overcome the technological, social, and psychological barriers to equal education.
From ACM TechNews
Learning: No Longer a Textbook Case
Wake Forest University researchers are using emerging technologies to develop a new teaching method that better engages students who have learning disabilities and have struggled with traditional lecture-and-reading methods.
From ACM TechNews
Humanoid Robots Catch Imagination at National Symposium in Pune
Research and Development Establishment, Engineers, recently held a two-day symposium on robotics and autonomous vehicles, which featured 250 delegates who discussed humanoid robots, unmanned aerial vehicles, and wall-climbing…
From ACM News
Best Practices For Keeping Your Home Network Secure
The cyber threat is no longer limited to your office network and work persona.
From ACM News
How Credit Card Data Is Stolen and Sold
Last week, after the Sony PlayStation Network was attacked by a group of unknown hackers, Sony's 77 million customers, along with security specialists and government officials, were surprised by the amount of information that…