Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
June 2009
From ACM TechNews
'secret' Questions Leave Accounts Vulnerable
The secret questions some Web sites ask new users to answer for verification purposes in case a password is forgotten are actually far less secure and far easier for hackers and malicious users to guess, according to a new report…
From ACM TechNews
Web Sites That se the Spoken Word Will Empower the Illiterate
A variety of advancements have been made in Internet technology in the past few years, but the Internet continues to reinforce a fundamental division between those who can read and those who are illiterate. Despite the widespread…
From ACM News
sing Video Game Processors For Defense Needs
Researchers in the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) and the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering are developing programming tools to enable engineers in the defense industry to utilize the processing…
From ACM TechNews
Safety-Critical Software Put nder Scrutiny
The Centre for Safety-Critical Software Certification, a new global research center based at McMaster University, will be dedicated to eliminating the possibility of catastrophic medical, energy, or transportation disasters that…
From ACM TechNews
Interactive Robot Guided By Sensors, Not Remote Controls
Brown University professor Chad Jenkins and his team have developed a robot capable of holding a conversation, gesturing, and following a human's movement without using remote control devices. "We need robots that can adapt…
From ACM TechNews
Managing the Data Deluge
The Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at the University of Texas recently unveiled the Corral, a central repository for data collections designed to handle the processing requirements of data-driven science. Corral features…
From ACM TechNews
Traveling the Web Together
Researchers from the College of William & Mary have developed real-time collaborative browsing (RCB) software that makes it easier for users to interact with each other while browsing the Web. Several ways of navigating the…
From ACM News
U.s. Creates Military Command For Cyber Battlefield
The U.S. military announced a new "cyber command" designed to wage digital warfare and to bolster defenses against mounting threats to its computer networks. Defense Secretary Robert Gates formally established the command — the…
From ACM TechNews
Universities Collaborate on Improved Life Sciences Data Transfer
Information technology leaders from Indiana University (IU) and Germany's Technische Universitat Dresden (TUD) recently announced a collaborative effort to improve the levels of cooperation between scientists and medical researchers…
From ACM TechNews
Bringing Girls and Boys to Computer Science With 'alice'
An animation program called Alice, developed by the late Randy Pausch of Carnegie Mellon University, is being used by computer scientists around the country to engage young students in computer programming by encouraging them…
From ACM News
China Linked to 70 Percent of World's Spam, Expert Says
Nearly three-quarters of the Web sites advertised in computer spam studied by the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Spam Data Mine so far in 2009 are tied to China, according to Gary Warner, director of research at UAB's…
From ICT Results
Eye-Tracking Software Opens Online Worlds to People With Disabilities
Technology that allows gamers to control game functions with only their eyes is helping to open virtual worlds such as "Second Life" and "World of Warcraft" to people with severe motor disabilities. The gaming-with-gaze software…
From ACM TechNews
Computer Scientists Model Cell Division
Harvard University computer scientists have developed a model for studying the arrangement of tissue networks that are created by cell division. "We developed a model that allows us to study the topologies of tissues, or how…
From ACM TechNews
Water-Cooled Supercomputer Doubles as Dorm Space Heater
IBM and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology are building the Aquasar, a new supercomputer that will use water to keep the system cool and will recycle some of its waste heat to help warm buildings at the university. IBM…
From ACM TechNews
Human Eye Inspires Advance in Computer Vision
Boston College (BC) computer scientists have developed a program that enables computers to see quickly moving objects with nearly double the accuracy and 10 times the speed of previously developed methods. The researchers say…
From ACM TechNews
csd Scientists Receive Innovation Research Awards From Hp Labs
University of California, San Diego (UCSD) computer scientists Amin Vahdat and Geoffrey Voelker are two of the 60 professors that will receive awards as part of Hewlett-Packard's 2009 Innovation Research Program. The program…
From ACM News
Roadrunner Continues to Outpace Supercomputing Field
Despite the Jaguar nipping at its heels, Roadrunner continues to speed past the supercomputing pack. That's according to the twice yearly Top500 list of the fastest supercomputers in the world, which is to be announced Tuesday…
From ACM News
North Korea Tries to Ramp Up Tech Infrastructure
North Korea is trying to stimulate its dire economic fortunes by slowly opening its economy to foreign business. Investors now have an ally in Kim Jong Il, who has started upgrading the country's dilapidated communications infrastructure…
From ACM News
Google Claims Breakthrough in Image Search
Humans may excel at pattern recognition, but computers aren't very smart at identifying images. Our brains can immediately identify photos of famous landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty or Great Wall of China, but computers…
From ACM TechNews
Eu Lays Out Plans For the 'internet of Things'
The European Commission (EC) has developed a 14-point action plan to address some of the problems that could develop when everyday objects such as food packaging and prescription drug containers are equipped with radio frequency…
From ACM TechNews
'governor' Would Teach Military Robots the Rules of War
Georgia Institute of Technology robotics engineer Ron Arkin is researching how military robots could be programmed to act ethically and obey the rules of engagement and has developed an "ethical governor" intended to guarantee…
From ACM TechNews
Finding Could Help Electronics Industry Enter New Phase
Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have made a discovery that could lead to smaller, faster, more powerful, and more energy-efficient devices. The discovery revolves around a method…
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Ready Personal Energy Monitoring Devices
Embedded data mining, inertial sensors, and global positioning systems are used in a wireless device being developed to monitor the amount of energy a person consumes on a daily basis. Developed by researchers at Cambridge University's…
From ICT Results
Beating the Bullies: Changing Real-World Behavior Through Virtual Experience
Social problems like bullying and stereotyping involve thoughts, feelings and reactions that resist change. New research shows that when students play active roles in virtual dramas their attitudes and behaviour can change. Researchers…
From ACM News
Twitter Message Could Be Cyber Criminal at Work
Cyber criminals are setting snares that move at the speed of news. Panda Security, a Spain-based antivirus maker, has been monitoring an onslaught of links with malicious software, or "malware," on Twitter that tag hot topics…
From ACM TechNews
Cell Phones That Listen and Learn
A cell phone would be able to track the behavior of its user with SoundSense, new software developed by Dartmouth College researchers. SoundSense automatically classifies sounds as "voice," "music," or "ambient noise," but the…
From ACM TechNews
Ties That Bind: Organizing Large-Scale HPC in the European Union
The European Union (EU) is making a substantial investment in pan-European resources in an effort to place its members on the cutting edge of the computational space. "Supercomputers are the 'cathedrals' of modern science, essential…
From ACM TechNews
Intel Toots Its Research Horn For Chips and More
Intel's recent Research Day provided demonstrations and previews of the variety of projects that extend beyond the company's core computer processor business. Projects on display included efforts to improve WiMax regional wireless…
From ACM TechNews
Computer Idle? Now You Can Donate Its Time to Find a Cure For Major Diseases
More than 6,000 volunteers around the world are contributing computing power to the University of Delaware (UD) in an attempt to help biomedical researchers find cures for HIV, Parkinson's, arthritis, and breast cancer. UD's…
From ACM TechNews
Futurephile: Knowledge Embedded in Everything
The day will come when everyone will wear glasses with a computer overlay capable of processing the faces of passersby and tell wearers if they have met someone before, where the person was met, and his or her name, predicts …