Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
May 2013
From ACM TechNews
Good, Better, Best Practices in Terminology
The Legal Language Interoperability Services project is focused on improving terminological databases, with an emphasis on legal and administrative terminology.
From ACM TechNews
Age and Gender? Dutch Develop Analyzer for Twitter
A new online program can determine the age and gender of Twitter users, based on the content they post.
From ACM TechNews
Improving Communication During Disasters
The BRIDGE project aims to improve emergency response collaboration during disasters, and is examining how technology can help to enhance response strategies.
From ACM Opinion
Moshe Vardi: Robots Could Put Humans Out of Work By 2045
Robots began replacing human brawn long ago—now they're poised to replace human brains.
From ACM News
Google Introduces New Search Tools to Try to Read Our Minds
The company revealed some new search tools on Wednesday at I/O, its annual developers conference.
From ACM News
A New 'smart Rifle' Decides When To Shoot And Rarely Misses
A new rifle goes on sale on Wednesday, and it's not like any other. It uses lasers and computers to make shooters very accurate.
From ACM TechNews
Photonic Quantum Computers: a Brighter Future Than Ever
Researchers say a prototype boson-sampling photonic computer they developed is a new and highly efficient model of a quantum computer.
From ACM TechNews
Wayne State University Researcher's Technique Helps Robotic Vehicles Find Their Way, Help Humans
Researchers have developed a technique which they say provides robots with accurate, real-time, 3D positions in both indoor and outdoor environments.
From ACM TechNews
Google Go Programming Language Moves to Version 1.1
Google's Go open source programming language recently was updated to version 1.1, providing developers with new capabilities and performance improvements.
From ACM TechNews
Data Storage: Synchronized at the 'Write Time'
Researchers say they have established several important design principles to consider when developing a potential high-density magnetic recording system.
From ACM News
Kepler Telescope's Planet-Hunting Days Crunch to a Close
"Kepler was my North, my South, my East and West, my working week, no weekend rest, my noon, my midnight, my talks, my song; I thought Kepler would last forever: I was wrong."
From ACM News
Computer-Automated Traffic Control
Smarter cars and smarter roads are paving the way to smoother, safer traffic
From ACM News
Google Overhauling Flagship Search with 'answer, Converse, Anticipate'
During its Keynote today, Google announced new features coming to its flagship search function—you know, that thing we all started using Google for. VP Amit Singhal spent some time discussing what Google's search functionality…
From ACM News
Laptop
Gregory Nagy, a professor of classical Greek literature at Harvard, is a gentle academic of the sort who, asked about the future, will begin speaking of Homer and the battles of the distant past.
From ACM News
Stuxnet Worm 'increased' Iran's Nuclear Potential
The report, published in the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) journal, claims the Stuxnet worm exposed vulnerabilities in Iranian enrichment facilities that would otherwise have gone unnoticed, and that production actually…
From ACM News
Why Even Google Will Embrace Cellphone Chips in the Data Center
Jason Mars is a rarity. He's an outsider with regular access to Google's data centers.
From ACM TechNews
iPlant: It's Not Just for Plants Anymore!
The iPlant Collaborative, which helps biologists leverage data sets and computational techniques, now serves the animal agricultural community with iAnimal.
From ACM TechNews
How to Mine Cellphone Data Without Invading Your Privacy
Researchers have found a way to eliminate personally identifiable information in cellphone data, which could improve data mining by removing privacy concerns.
From ACM TechNews
Google Search Scratches Its Brain 500 Million Times a Day
Google processes about 100 billion search requests a month, and about 15 percent of them take longer to process because the request is totally new to it.
From ACM TechNews
'winners-Take-Some' Markets For Electronic Products Are Increasingly Common
Digital converters are reducing the risk of choosing formats that become obsolete.
From ACM TechNews
Microsoft, It Industry Push Software Security Standard
Two new initiatives aim to make the process of developing secure software more attainable to smaller software makers.
From ACM TechNews
When Cars Talk, This Is What They'll Tell Each Other
Researchers are giving Internet Protocol addresses to all vehicles, allowing them to be instantly identifiable to nearby cars on the same network.
From ACM Opinion
The Coming Political Battle Over Bitcoin
Given that Bitcoin first broke into mainstream attention when Gawker explained how to use it to buy drugs, perhaps the surprise is that it took federal regulators this long to take action against it.
From ACM News
Dawn of the Bot? New Era Nears, Experts Say
Science fiction is quickly taking a back seat to science fact. Just look at a new report by the country's leading roboticists.
From ACM News
MIT Robots Can Assemble Your Ikea Furniture For You
Oh, IKEA. Your modern and affordable Scandinavian-inspired furniture is full of such promise.
From ACM Opinion
New Android Boss Finally Reveals Plans For World's Most Popular Mobile Os
For the past few years, Sundar Pichai has been part of a tag-team routine staged at Google's annual I/O developer conference.
From ACM TechNews
Iowa State Professor Weighs Benefit vs. Risk of Facial Recognition Technology
An Iowa State University professor questions whether society is ready for advanced facial-recognition technology.
From ACM TechNews
Spintronics Discovery
Researchers have confirmed the presence of a magnetic field generated by electrons, a finding they say expands the potential to harness the "spin" of electrons.
From ACM TechNews
Scientists Develop Device For Portable, Ultra-Precise Clocks and Quantum Sensors
A new portable device can produce ultra-cold atoms for quantum technology and quantum information processing.
From ACM News
Touching the Future: Artificial Skin Isn't Sci-Fi
A whisper-thin new pressure sensor could be a step toward creating artificial skin that is able to actually feel.