Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
June 2013
From ACM TechNews
Fast Fiber: Apps Coming at 70 Percent the Speed of Light
The speed of data transfer will rise dramatically as Gigabit Ethernet grows increasingly available.
From ACM TechNews
Multiview 3-D Photography Made Simple
Researchers have developed a system that helps users transform a regular camera into a light-field camera that can record high-resolution, multiview images.
From ACM TechNews
How Smart Technology Could Change Public Transit
Ryerson University professor Joseph Chow is working to improve Canada's urban transportation systems using data analysis and mobile computing.
From ACM News
Secret to Prism Program: Even Bigger Data Seizure
In the months and early years after 9/11, FBI agents began showing up at Microsoft Corp. more frequently than before, armed with court orders demanding information on customers.
From ACM News
A New Era For Signatures
The market for e-signature software and services is poised for dramatic growth.
From ACM News
Billion-Pixel View of Mars Comes From Curiosity Rover
A billion-pixel view from the surface of Mars, from NASA's Mars rover Curiosity, offers armchair explorers a way to examine one part of the Red Planet in great detail.
From ACM News
3D Printing Powered By Thought
It's definitely not a bird. Nor is it a plane. The garish orange piece of plastic, small enough to hold in the palm of a hand, could pass for a missing limb of a toy tyrannosaurus.
From ACM News
The Secret War
Inside Fort Meade, Maryland, a top-secret city bustles.
From ACM TechNews
NASA Issues Grand Challenge, Calls for Public, Scientific Help in Tracking Threatening Asteroids
NASA announced two programs that call on organizations around the world to help spot, track, and possibly alter the direction of asteroids headed for Earth.
From ACM TechNews
.s. and Russia Sign Pact to Create Communication Link on Cybersecurity
The United States and Russia have agreed to use real-time communications about national security incidents to lower the risk of conflict in cyberspace.
From ACM TechNews
Now You Can Build Google's $1m Artificial Brain on the Cheap
A researcher is trying to make deep learning more accessible to researchers.
From ACM TechNews
Mapping a Room in a Snap
Researchers have developed an algorithm that makes it possible to measure the dimensions of a room using a few microphones and a snap of the fingers.
From ACM TechNews
This Robot Wants to Beat You at Air Hockey
Researchers have developed an air-hockey robot that can change its strategy in response to the playing style of its human opponent.
From ACM TechNews
Mathematical Algorithms Cut Train Delays
New software is reducing delays and waiting times for commuters using railways in European countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, and Greece.
From ACM News
Nasa Announces Asteroid Grand Challenge
NASA announced Tuesday a Grand Challenge focused on finding all asteroid threats to human populations and knowing what to do about them.
From ACM News
Drones in Science: Fly, and Bring Me Data
The Tempest—wingspan 3.2 metres, cruising speed 75 knots—was designed to fly into severe storms.
From ACM News
The Limitations Of Crowdsourcing: On The Hunt For The Boston Bombers
Crowdsourcing demonstrated some of its limitations after the Boston Marathon bombing.
From ACM News
Europe Says Farewell to Prolific Herschel Space Telescope
From ACM TechNews
Don't Hurt the Web With Rushed Intellectual Property Laws, rges Internet Society
The Internet Society hopes to get as many different voices as possible involved in bringing intellectual property policies in line with leading online platforms.
From ACM TechNews
Materials Scientists Build Chlorophyll-Based Phototransistor
A newly developed method incorporates chlorophyll into graphene transistors to make light-activated switches.
From ACM TechNews
Neuroscience to Benefit From Hybrid Supercomputer Memory
Researchers are studying how to combine different types of memory for less expensive and optimal supercomputing performance.
From ACM Careers
3d Printer Brings Dexterity to Children With No Fingers
Richard Van As was working in his home near Johannesburg, South Africa, in May of 2011, when he lost control of his table saw.
From ACM News
Echolocating App Will Let You Map a Room with Sound
Bats, dolphins, and even some blind people use echoes to create a mental 3D map of their environment and where they are in it. A smartphone's chirp could soon let us do the same.
From ACM News
GPS Maps Reveal Where Cats Go All Day
The mysterious comings and goings of our feline friends just got a little less mysterious. Researchers at the Royal Veterinary College loaded a group of cats in Shamley Green, Surrey, with cameras and GPS trackers to figure out …
From ACM News
Phones Leave a Telltale Trail
The April robbery at the Cartier store in Chevy Chase, Md., was brazen and quick.
From ACM News
Now You Can Build Google's $1m Artificial Brain on the Cheap
Andrew Ng wants to bring deep learning—an emerging computer science field that seeks to mimic the human brain with hardware and software into the DIY era.
From ACM TechNews
China Trounces .s. in Top500 Supercomputer Race
China's Tianhe-2 supercomputer has overtaken the U.S.'s Titan system as the world's most powerful computer, according to the latest Top500 List, a twice-yearly ranking of the world's fastest publicly known supercomputers.
From ACM TechNews
Programming Model for Supercomputers of the Future
Next-generation supercomputers could benefit from an asynchronous programming model developed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics.
From ACM News
A Revolution in the Making
On a dark and stormy night two weeks ago in Schenectady, N.Y., Ken Hislop was relaxing at home when his cellphone suddenly began buzzing in his pocket. It was an urgent text message—from the General Electric Co. factory where…
From ACM Opinion
Will the Nsa Rethink Its Data Collection System?
Weekend Edition Sunday Host Rachel Martin talks to Joel Brenner, former senior counsel at the National Security Agency, about whether the NSA can protect Americans' privacy while also collecting foreign intelligence through its…