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Communications of the ACM

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The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.

June 2019


From ACM TechNews

A Simple Online System That Could End Plastic Pollution

A Simple Online System That Could End Plastic Pollution

Bounties Network collected tons of garbage from Manila Bay as part of a pilot project that pays a small network of people in digital currency for such trash.


From ACM TechNews

­.S. ­niversities Reconsider Links With Chinese AI Company

­.S. ­niversities Reconsider Links With Chinese AI Company

U.S. universities are reevaluating their ties to Chinese artificial intelligence firm iFlyTek, whose voice recognition and analysis products are used by Chinese police.


From ACM TechNews

Google's Language Techniques Help O2 Czech Republic Reveal Network Secrets

Google's Language Techniques Help O2 Czech Republic Reveal Network Secrets

Word2vec, a neural network technique developed to understand human languages, also can interpret raw cell tower data.


From ACM TechNews

Petaflop Systems Dominate the Supercomputer Landscape

Petaflop Systems Dominate the Supercomputer Landscape

For the first time, every entry in this year's TOP500 list delivers petaflop-level capabilities.


From ACM TechNews

Domino's Will Start Delivering Pizzas via Autonomous Robot This Fall

Domino's Will Start Delivering Pizzas via Autonomous Robot This Fall

Robotics startup Nuro has announced plans to dispatch robots this fall to deliver Domino's pizzas to customers in Houston.


From ACM TechNews

Environmental DNA Program Makes Conservation Research Faster, More Efficient

Environmental DNA Program Makes Conservation Research Faster, More Efficient

New open source software simplifies environmental DNA research by allowing scientists to quickly recognize a broad spectrum of species.


From ACM TechNews

Computer 'Geek' Stereotype Puts Girls Off Subject

Computer 'Geek' Stereotype Puts Girls Off Subject

A U.K. study found stereotyping of computing as "a male-oriented domain consisting of anti-social 'nerds, geeks, or hackers,'" discourages female students from pursuing the discipline.


From ACM TechNews

Facebook Plans Global Financial System Based on Cryptocurrency

Facebook Plans Global Financial System Based on Cryptocurrency

Facebook has unveiled a plan to create an alternative financial system that relies on a new cryptocurrency.


From ACM News

The Quantum Internet Is Emerging, One Experiment at a Time

The Quantum Internet Is Emerging, One Experiment at a Time

Although a fully realized quantum network is still a far-off vision, recent breakthroughs have convinced some physicists that a simple proof-of-principle is imminent.


From ACM News

Eavesdropping on the Brain

Eavesdropping on the Brain

Putting sound to thought, to hear what the brain is 'hearing.'


From ACM News

Who Owns Your Face?

Who Owns Your Face?

Today's facial recognition tools raise new questions about how, where, and when data can be used.


From ACM News

Fighting Crime on the Dark Web

Fighting Crime on the Dark Web

The Dark Web presents new challenges for law enforcement officials.


From ACM TechNews

Ford Motor Opens Research Center in Tel Aviv

Ford Motor Opens Research Center in Tel Aviv

Ford Motor has opened a research laboratory in Tel Aviv, Israel, to leverage the city's technology ecosystem to develop autonomous vehicles.


From ACM TechNews

HSM Vulnerabilities Impact Banks, Cloud Providers, Governments

HSM Vulnerabilities Impact Banks, Cloud Providers, Governments

Researchers have discovered vulnerabilities that can be exploited remotely to retrieve sensitive data stored inside Hardware Security Modules .


From ACM TechNews

The Wikipedia Gender Gap

The Wikipedia Gender Gap

Wikipedia, one of the most successful online communities in history, struggles to attract and retain female editors.


From ACM News

How Computation is Changing Journalism

How Computation is Changing Journalism

Nicholas Diakopoulos has helped to make journalism is increasingly computational. 


From ACM News

­ber Eats To Test Flying Food To Customers By Drone In San Diego

­ber Eats To Test Flying Food To Customers By Drone In San Diego

Uber will start delivering food with drones in San Diego this summer, aiming to test out ways to connect a payload to customers in a dense urban environment where there's no easy way to fly to their front door.


From ACM TechNews

Engine Behind 'Fortnite' Powers Business Technology

Engine Behind 'Fortnite' Powers Business Technology

Businesses are tapping the gaming-engine software of "Fortnite" and other videogames for applications ranging from car design to drug discovery. \]


From ACM TechNews

­ber Tests Drone Food Delivery, Launches Autonomous S­V

­ber Tests Drone Food Delivery, Launches Autonomous S­V

The Uber ride-hailing company is conducting a pilot of restaurant food deliveries via drone in San Diego.


From ACM TechNews

Algorithm Tells Robots Where Nearby Humans are Headed

Algorithm Tells Robots Where Nearby Humans are Headed

A new algorithm accurately aligns partial trajectories in real time, allowing motion predictors in self-driving cars to accurately anticipate the timing of a person's motion.


From ACM TechNews

Software ­pgrade (After 40 Years) Aims to Improve ­.S. Weather Forecasts

Software ­pgrade (After 40 Years) Aims to Improve ­.S. Weather Forecasts

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has significantly upgraded the software that guides its weather prediction capability for the first time in four decades.


From ACM TechNews

Research Moves Closer to Brain-Machine Interface Autonomy

Research Moves Closer to Brain-Machine Interface Autonomy

A brain-computer interface developed by researchers at the University of Houston can sense when its user is expecting a reward.


From ACM TechNews

­TSA Develops Cyber Agility Framework to Measure Network Protection Over Time

­TSA Develops Cyber Agility Framework to Measure Network Protection Over Time

Researchers have developed what they’re calling the first quantifiable cyber agility framework for scoring hackers and cybersecurity defenders over time.


From ACM TechNews

­nderwater Drones Nearly Triple Ocean Floor Data

­nderwater Drones Nearly Triple Ocean Floor Data

Several projects now underway are using submersible drones to explore the ocean floor.


From ACM TechNews

From Brueghel to Warhol: AI Enters the Attribution Fray

From Brueghel to Warhol: AI Enters the Attribution Fray

Art historians are starting to utilize machine learning to provide empirical support for theories previously limited to the subjective eye of the beholders.


From ACM TechNews

'Photo Wake-­p' Makes Still Photographs--and Picasso Paintings--Come Eerily Alive

'Photo Wake-­p' Makes Still Photographs--and Picasso Paintings--Come Eerily Alive

A new software application can bring still images to "life."


From ACM TechNews

Even Voting Machine Company Pushes for Election Security Legislation

Even Voting Machine Company Pushes for Election Security Legislation

Voting machine vendor Election Systems & Software has called on Congress to pass legislation requiring paper trails for all votes to protect against hacking.


From ACM TechNews

Stanford Team Aims at Alexa, Siri With Privacy-Minded Alternative

Stanford Team Aims at Alexa, Siri With Privacy-Minded Alternative

Stanford University researchers are designing voice-operated virtual assistants that give users more control over personal information.


From ACM News

Harvey Mudd President Maria Klawe Has a Message for CS grads—and the Tech Industry

Harvey Mudd President Maria Klawe Has a Message for CS grads—and the Tech Industry

Klawe made diversity her top priority when she took the helm at Harvey Mudd College 13 years ago.


From ACM TechNews

DOE Maps Out Quantum Research Centers

DOE Maps Out Quantum Research Centers

The U.S. Department of Energy will build at least two new research centers to support quantum information science .