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
Data Highways For Quantum Information
Vienna University of Technology researchers have developed a quantum technique that makes it possible to store quantum information over a sufficiently long period, and could be used to help develop global quantum networks based…
From ACM TechNews
Google to Use Balloons to Provide Free Internet Access to Remote or Poor Areas
Google plans to provide free Internet access to disaster-stricken, rural, or poor areas using giant helium balloons that beam Wi-Fi signals to the ground below.
From ACM TechNews
Danger Maps Backed By Alibaba Pinpoint Chinese Pollution
Danger Maps, a crowdsourced mapping project, is helping users locate China's high pollution areas.
From ACM News
Computer Memory Can Be Read with a Flash of Light
Modern computer-memory technologies come with a trade-off. There is speedy but short-term storage for on-the-fly processing—random-access memory, or RAM—and slow but enduring memory for data and programs that need to be stored…
From ACM TechNews
Making Online Translation Accurate, Reliable, and Efficient
The European Union is funding Multilingual On-Line Translation, a project designed to create an online tool that will enable Web-content providers to automatically produce high-quality translations without specific training.
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Reveal Next-Generation Emergency Response Technology
New smartphone apps can virtually place 9-1-1 operators at the scene of an emergency. The software enables operators to remotely control smartphone cameras so they can view an emergency scene.
From ACM News
Secret Court Ruling Put Tech Companies in Data Bind
In a secret court in Washington, Yahoo's top lawyers made their case.
From ACM News
CIA Releases Analyst's Fascinating Tale of Cracking the Kryptos Sculpture
It took eight years after artist Jim Sanborn unveiled his cryptographic sculpture at the CIA's headquarters for someone to succeed at cracking Kryptos's enigmatic messages.
From ACM News
China Could Supplant U.S. as the Supercomputing Superpower
Two weeks ago, Jack Dongarra flew to Changsha, China for a meeting with researchers at the National University of Defense Technology, home to the country's top supercomputing program.
From ACM News
Now Hear This: Navy Abandons All Caps
MESSAGES SENT WITHIN THE U.S. NAVY NO LONGER HAVE TO BE WRITTEN OUT IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS.
From ACM TechNews
New Tasks Become as Simple as Waving a Hand With Brain-Computer Interfaces
People could learn to control robotic or prosthetic limbs without ongoing concentration, thanks to the way the human brain approaches brain-computer interfaces.
From ACM TechNews
Computer Scientists Grapple With How to Manage the Digital Legacy of the Departed
Current concerns for privacy and access shows a disconnect between the disposition of digital legacies and the technological advancements for generating them.
From ACM TechNews
Big Data: When Cars Can Talk
The technologies already exist to allow vehicles to communicate with each other, with an ultimate benefit of safer roads.
From ACM TechNews
The Body Electric: Researchers Move Closer to Low-Cost, Implantable Electronics
Technology currently under development could lead to low-cost electronic devices that work in direct contact with living tissue inside the human body.
From ACM TechNews
Carnegie Mellon Method Uses Network of Cameras to Track People in Complex Indoor Settings
Researchers have developed a method for tracking the locations of multiple individuals in complex, indoor settings using a network of video cameras.
From ACM News
The Remarkable Properties of Mythological Social Networks
Ten years ago, few people would have heard of a social network.
From ACM Careers
Study Gauges Value of Technology in Schools
With school districts rushing to buy computers, tablets, digital white boards, and other technology, a new report questions whether the investment is worth it.
From ACM Opinion
Why Google Is the Big Data Company That Matters Most
Every now and then, someone asks "Who’ll be the Google of big data?"
From ACM News
Quantum Invisibility Cloak Hides Objects from Reality
Invisibility cloaks are all the rage these days.
From ACM TechNews
Study Suggests Second Life For Possible Spintronic Materials
Researchers have made two important changes that will allow them to combine manganese and gallium nitride, which could allow them to create spintronics.
From ACM TechNews
Graffiti Codes Let You Surf With a Wave of Your Phone
Researchers want to enable people to create quick response (QR) codes on the spot, like graffiti.
From ACM TechNews
Graphene and Semiconductor Technology Together: Smaller, Cheaper, Better
Researchers are developing semiconductors grown on graphene, which is 200 times stronger than steel, conducts electricity 100 times faster than silicon, and is the best known material for conducting heat.
From ACM TechNews
NIST Researchers Offer Tool to Aid Standards Development, Implementation
Researchers at the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology are creating a computer-aided method for developing standards.
From ACM News
Supreme Court Says Human Genes Aren't Patentable
The Supreme Court unanimously ruled Thursday that human genes isolated from the body can't be patented, a victory for doctors and patients who argued that such patents interfere with scientific research and the practice of medicine…
From ACM News
The Nsa Could Collect Far More Than Your Phone Records from Mobile Operators
The revelation that the National Security Agency is collecting our phone records has generated considerable outrage, but phone call metadata is just the beginning of what our nation’s spooks could gather from our mobile carriers…
From ACM News
Using Robots to Treat Autism
Therapists and researchers are experimenting with robots to interact with children with autism; the technology, and the technique, could revolutionize the field.
From ACM News
How Thoughts Can Control a Flying Robot
It's a staple of science fiction: people who can control objects with their minds.
From ACM News
New Tasks Become As Simple As Waving a Hand with Brain-Computer Interfaces
Small electrodes placed on or inside the brain allow patients to interact with computers or control robotic limbs simply by thinking about how to execute those actions.
From ACM News
Big Data Sleuthing, 1960s Style
America's intelligence agencies have long prodded the frontiers of computing and data analysis as the most demanding of customers, willing to pay whatever it takes for advanced surveillance technology.
From ACM News
'chinese Google' nveils Visual Search Engine Powered By Fake Brains
Chinese search giant Baidu has served up its first ever visual search engine, which allows users to finally query the web using only images as input instead of keywords.