Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
June 2016
From ACM TechNews
Computing's Search For Quantum Questions
Scientists are plotting out benchmark problems, classes of problems that are specifically appropriate to hybrid quantum computers.
From ACM News
First Experimental Demonstration of a Quantum Enigma Machine
One of the great unsung heroes of 20th century science was a mathematician and engineer at the famous Bell Laboratories in New Jersey called Claude Shannon.
From ACM News
The Web’s Creator Looks to Reinvent It
On Tuesday, Tim Berners-Lee gathered in San Francisco with other top computer scientists to discuss a new phase for the web.
From ACM News
Why the Economic Payoff From Technology Is So Elusive
Your smartphone allows you to get almost instantaneous answers to the most obscure questions. It also allows you to waste hours scrolling through Facebook or looking for the latest deals on Amazon.
From ACM News
5 Things That Give Self-Driving Cars Headaches
Fully automated cars don’t drink and drive, fall asleep at the wheel, text, talk on the phone or put on makeup while driving.
From ACM News
Mobile Phone Records Reveal Largest Gathering in the History of Humanity
Mobile phones have revolutionized the way scientists study human behavior, allowing them to watch people on a scale that has never been previously imagined.
From ACM TechNews
Smaller Chips May Depend on Vacuum Tube Technology
Vacuum tubes may enjoy a resurgence as computer chips continue to shrink.
From ACM TechNews
A Smartphone to Help Keep the Elderly Safe
A team of researchers at Rutgers University is developing a smartphone app that could help keep senior citizens from falling.
From ACM TechNews
Software Turns Webcams Into Eye Trackers
Brown University researchers have created software designed to help website owners and developers determine which parts of a Web page are attracting users' eyes.
From ACM TechNews
New Devices, Wearable System Aim to Predict, Prevent Asthma Attacks
A wearable system of sensors could help people with asthma predict and prevent asthma attacks by tracking environmental and physiological data.
From ACM TechNews
Google Developing Panic Button to Kill Rogue AI
Researchers at Google's DeepMind and Oxford University are collaborating to create a panic button to interrupt a potentially rogue artificial intelligence agent.
From ACM News
How Mark Zuckerberg Led Facebook’s War to Crush Google Plus
In Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg built not just a business, but a company culture with the fervor of a messianic sect.
From ACM News
Researchers ncover a Flaw in Europe's Tough Privacy Rules
Europe likes to think it leads the world in protecting people’s privacy, and that is particularly true for the region’s so-called right to be forgotten.
From ACM News
CRISPR Gene-Editing System nleashed on RNA
Researchers who discovered a molecular "scissors" for snipping genes have now developed a similar approach for targeting and cutting RNA.
From ACM News
Fifty Years of Moon Dust: Surveyor 1 Was a Pathfinder For Apollo
Before humans could take their first steps on the moon, that mysterious and forbidding surface had to be reconnoitered by robots.
From ACM News
France Embraces Digital Transformation
Despite the challenges, France is providing public funding and investing in infrastructure to support business transition to digital technologies.
From ACM TechNews
All-Female Team to Lead Association For Computing Machinery
ACM has announced its board of directors for the first time will be completely female.
From ACM TechNews
Bill Gates Claims 'ai Dream Is Finally Arriving'--and Says Machines Will Outsmart Humans in Some Areas Within a Decade
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said the progress of artificial intelligence ensures machines will be able to outclass humans in certain knowledge areas within 10 years.
From ACM TechNews
How to Build a Moral Robot
With robots expected to play an increasingly critical role in making judgment calls where human lives are at stake, it is imperative to model moral reasoning in machines.
From ACM TechNews
Tech Turns to Biology as Data Storage Needs Explode
Several technology companies are investigating DNA data storage.
From ACM TechNews
Pittsburgh Roads Wired With 'talking' Traffic Signals
Researchers have installed dedicated short-range communication radios at 35 intersections in Bloomfield and Marshall, PA.
From ACM News
Plan to Synthesize Human Genome Elicits Mixed Response
Proposals for a large public-private initiative to synthesize an entire human genome from scratch—an effort that could take a decade and require billions of dollars for technological development—were formally unveiled today,…
From ACM News
Internet Trends 2016 Code Conference
The 2016 edition of Mary Meeker's annual Internet Trends report covers today's Internet growth.
From ACM News
Pc Hardware Is Physically Leaking Your Encryption Keys
Your computer has an aura. That sentence causes me actual physical pain to type, but there's not really a better way to put it—whether you're surfing really fucked up porn or writing the great American metaphysical novel, there…
From ACM TechNews
Google's Eric Schmidt Says AI Will Make Him Smarter, Cooler
Alphabet executive chairman Eric Schmidt says the next major trend in the technology industry will be artificial intelligence.
From ACM TechNews
How Ad Blockers Have Triggered an Arms Race on the Web
A team at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology has conducted the first large-scale analysis of ad-block detection on the Internet.
From ACM TechNews
IBM Watson's Creative Director on Amazon Echo and How AI Can Save Lives
In an interview, Maya Weinstein, creative director at IBM Watson, discusses artificial intelligence assistants and how the technology can help save lives.
From ACM TechNews
A Car's Computer Can 'fingerprint' You in Minutes Based on How You Drive
Data collected from a car's internal computer network, or its CAN bus, can identify its driver based on driving style, a new study has found.
From ACM News
Pluto's Heart: Like a Cosmic 'lava Lamp'
Combining computer models with topographic and compositional data gathered by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft last summer, New Horizons team members have determined the depth of this layer of solid nitrogen ice within Pluto's…
From ACM News
This 'demonically Clever' Backdoor Hides In a Tiny Slice of a Computer Chip
Security flaws in software can be tough to find. Purposefully planted ones—hidden backdoors created by spies or saboteurs—are often even stealthier.