Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
June 2012
From ACM News
What Facebook Knows
If Facebook were a country, a conceit that founder Mark Zuckerberg has entertained in public, its 900 million members would make it the third largest in the world.
From ACM News
U.s. Cities Embrace Software To Automatically Detect 'suspicious' Behavior
San Francisco is set to become the latest U.S. city to invest in software, created by Texas-based BRS Labs, that monitors and memorizes movements as they are captured on security cameras.
From ACM TechNews
Researcher: Interdependencies Could Lead to Cloud 'meltdowns'
As cloud computing becomes increasingly common, serious operational "meltdowns" could take place as end users and vendors mix, match, and bundle services for various means, warns Yale University professor Bryan Ford.
From ACM TechNews
Online Freedom: An App For That Is Coming
The U.S. government and the New America Foundation are developing the Commotion Wireless project, which aims to promote free expression online and takes advantage of the fact that more people are using mobile devices.
From ACM TechNews
Touch and Go: Fondling the Digital World
A new generation of touchscreens on the brink of commercialization use tactile illusions to trick the brain into feeling texture, and could transform how users interact with the digital world.
From ACM TechNews
Industry Consortium to Tackle Open Spec for Software Use Across Multicore Devices
Several companies have formed the Heterogeneous System Architecture Foundation, a consortium to provide an open specification for software to be written and deployed in a cost-effective way across multiple hardware configurations…
From ACM TechNews
Robotic Assistants May Adapt to Humans in the Factory
MIT researchers have developed an algorithm that enables a robot to quickly learn an individual's preference for a certain task and adapt accordingly to help complete the task.
From ACM News
In the Afghan War, a Little Robot Can Be a Soldier's Best Friend
The 310 SUGV is a distant cousin of the Roomba, the robotic vacuum cleaner currently being promoted as a Father's Day gift. In Afghanistan, the Marines call him the Devil Pup.
From ACM News
Get Ready, Because Voyager I Is *this Close* to Leaving Our Solar System
Last week, in the corners of the Internet devoted to outer space, things started to get a little, well, hot. Voyager 1, the man-made object farthest away from Earth, was encountering a sharp uptick in the number of a certain.…
From ACM Careers
H-1B Visas Hit the Cap, Sending Companies to Plan B
For Silicon Valley, a day of ritual disappointment came on June 12: The U.S. announced that the slots for 2013 H-1B visas had all been filled.
From ACM News
The Future of Medical Visualization
Medical visualization is the use of computers to create 3D images from medical imaging data sets. It's a relatively young field of science, relying heavily on advances in computing for its horsepower.
From ACM News
The Tiny Island with a Huge Web Presence
If you're among the companies vying for one of the nearly 2,000 new generic top-level domains, or gTLDs, you've got big pockets. The application alone costs about $185,000.
From ACM TechNews
Pandemic Preparedness
University of Texas at Austin researcher Lauren Ancel Meyers is working with the Texas Advanced Computing Center to enhance data-driven science.
From ACM TechNews
Tech World Preps to Honor 'father of Computer Science' Alan Turing, as Centenary Nears
Worldwide celebrations will mark the 100th anniversary of Alan Turing's birth on June 23.
From ACM TechNews
Nih Seeking Advances in Spatial ncertainty
NIH recently issued a solicitation for innovative research that identifies sources of spatial uncertainty in public health data, incorporates the inaccuracy into statistical methods, and develops tools to visualize the nature…
From ACM News
Amazon, Google Lead Rush For New Web Real Estate
An unprecedented land grab for new Web addresses began in earnest on Wednesday with fierce competition for new internet real estate including .app, .blog, and .web from applicants hoping to break the near-monopoly of the .com…
From ACM Careers
Experts Warn of Shortage of U.s. Cyber Pros
Leading cyber experts warned of a shortage of talented computer security experts in the United States, making it difficult to protect corporate and government networks at a time when attacks are on the rise.
From ACM TechNews
Research at the University of Twente: Wi-Fi Will Soon Reach Its Limits
University of Twente researchers have found that in some cases, Wi-Fi's efficiency can drop to less than 20 percent in areas where many different networks and wireless Internet devices are operating.
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Predict Advent of 'resource-as-a-Service' Clouds
The cloud model of rented virtualized servers and storage on demand could be sold in a much more efficient and granular manner, with specific resources rented for just a few seconds at a time, according to Technion-Israel Institute…
From ACM Careers
Apple vs. Google: Starkly Different China Experiences
In China, sometimes having the first-mover advantage is often no advantage at all. Case in point: Apple vs. Google.
From ACM News
What Is an Internet Troll?
I'm sitting waiting for the House of Commons to start debating a Law Against Trolls or, as they would call it, an amendment to the Defamation Act. It would basically let Internet providers off the hook for the publication of…
From ACM News
'big Data' from Social Media, Elsewhere Online Redefines Trend-Watching
From a trading desk in London, Paul Hawtin monitors the fire hose of more than 340 million Twitter posts flying around the world each day to try to assess the collective mood of the populace.
From ACM News
The Antivirus Era Is Over
Two weeks ago today, computer security labs in Iran, Russia, and Hungary announced the discovery of Flame, "the most complex malware ever found," according to Hungary's CrySyS Lab.
From ACM TechNews
Analyzing the Cybersecurity Threat Posed By Hackers
In an interview, Northeastern University professor Themis Papageorge discusses the cybersecurity threat presented by rogue hacker groups such as Anonymous, and how the U.S. government can shield itself against future cyber sieges…
From ACM TechNews
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University of Wyoming professor Liqiang Wang is helping optimize a supercomputer at the NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center and improving the reliability of high-performance computing programs.
From ACM TechNews
on{X}: Microsoft Automatic-Message Tool Is for (Gasp) Android
A new service from Microsoft enables developers and technology enthusiasts to remotely program their smartphones via automated messages that send text messages and alerts to jog the recipient's memory or relay a message.
From ACM TechNews
Online Classes See Cheating Go High-Tech
As online classes grow in popularity, the issue of online cheating also may grow in prominence unless courses are designed carefully.
From ACM News
Georgia Tech Launches Malware Intelligence Project
Got malware? If so, the Georgia Tech Research Insititute is interested in hearing from you.
From ACM News
Microsoft Wants to Serve You Ads Based on What You Do in Your Living Room
A new patent application from Microsoft points to a future in which your Kinect watches you, and sends ads based on your mood.
From ACM News
Apple, Google Just Killed Portable GPS Devices
If it wasn't obvious before, it’s crystal clear today. The dedicated portable GPS device is dead, with Apple and Google playing pallbearer to Garmin, Magellan, and TomTom's hardware businesses.