Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
June 2021
From ACM News
Silver Lining for Ransomware Victims: Payments May be Tax Deductible
The incentive could entice businesses to pay ransoms, funding continued criminal activity.
From ACM News
Mathematicians Welcome Computer-assisted Proof in 'Grand Unification' Theory
Proof-assistant software handles an abstract concept at the cutting edge of research, revealing a bigger role for software in mathematics.
From ACM News
Google Totally Changing How Ads Track People Around the Internet
The Internet giant is throwing tracking cookies in the dustbin, prompting big questions about privacy, competition, and advertising.
From ACM TechNews
Robotic Ship Sets Off to Retrace the Mayflower's Journey
The Mayflower Autonomous Ship set off this week to retrace the journey of its 1620 namesake across the Atlantic Ocean.
From ACM TechNews
Invention Uses Machine-Learned Human Emotions to 'Drive' Autonomous Vehicles
A Florida Atlantic University' researcher has designed technology for autonomous systems that uses machine-learned human moods to respond to emotions.
From ACM TechNews
Canadian Regulators Seek Policy Amendments for Facial Recognition
Canada's Office of the Privacy Commissioner has cited the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for illegally using facial recognition software from Clearview AI.
From ACM TechNews
McAfee Finds Security Vulnerability in Peloton Products
McAfee researchers discovered a vulnerability in the Peloton Bike+ that could enable attackers to install malware in the system through a USB port.
From ACM TechNews
Germany Unveils Quantum Computer to Keep Europe in Global Tech Race
Germany unveiled a quantum computer this week.
From ACM News
Facebook Researchers Say They Can Detect Deepfakes And Where They Came From
Facebook's artificial intelligence program looks for cracks left behind in the manufacturing process used to change an image's digital "fingerprint."
From ACM News
USPS Uses Edge AI Apps to Help Track Down Missing Packages Faster
The U.S. Postal Service is using artificial intelligence technology from NVIDIA to help it gain efficiencies.
From ACM TechNews
U.S. Army Scientists Create Formula for the Perfect Walking Robot
U.S. Army Research Laboratory scientists have determined that current legged robots could be far more efficient.
From ACM TechNews
Self-Driving Waymo Trucks to Haul Loads Between Houston, Fort Worth
Waymo and trucking company JB Hunt have partnered to haul cargo loads autonomously between Houston and Fort Worth, TX.
From ACM TechNews
Smartphone Camera Can Illuminate Bacteria Causing Acne, Dental Plaque
Researchers have developed a technique to identify potentially harmful bacteria on skin and in the mouth, using images taken by smartphone cameras.
From ACM TechNews
Ballet's Brave New World in VR
The Boston Ballet has commissioned three choreographers to develop original ballets designed for viewing entirely in virtual reality.
From ACM News
Keeping Control of the Wheel
Developments in automotive cybersecurity.
From ACM News
South Korean Police Arrest Computer Repairmen Who Made and Distributed Ransomware
Investigators said the rogue employees would restore systems impacted by ransomware attacks, but leave a backdoor for another ransomware attack.
From ACM News
Amazon India Introduces Machine Learning Summer School
Amazon India's three-day ML Summer School will cover fundamental concepts in Machine Learning, while linking them to practical industry applications.
From ACM News
Google's Logica Language Addresses SQL's Flaws
Open source logic programming language compiles to SQL and runs on Google BigQuery, with experimental support for PostgreSQL and SQLite.
From ACM News
Computer Trouble Hits Hubble Space Telescope, Science Halted
Launched in 1990, Hubble is showing more and more signs of aging, despite a series of repairs and updates by spacewalking astronauts during NASA's shuttle era.
From ACM News
Most Firms Face 2nd Ransomware Attack after Paying Off 1st
Some 80% of businesses that pay to regain access to encrypted systems experience a subsequent ransomware attack.
From ACM TechNews
WWW Code That Changed the World Up for Auction as NFT
Tim Berners-Lee's original source code for what would become the World Wide Web is part of a non-fungible token soon to be auctioned off.
From ACM TechNews
A Big Step Towards Cybersecurity's Holy Grail
Scientists have unveiled a provably secure computing environment that employs users' device communications to grant them immunity from compromised components.
From ACM TechNews
Computers Predict People's Tastes in Art
Researchers have come up with a program to predict people's art preferences.
From ACM TechNews
UW Researchers Can Turn a Single Photo into a Video
A new deep learning method can convert a single photo of any flowing material into an animated video running in a seamless loop.
From ACM TechNews
Creating 'Digital Twins' at Scale
Researchers have designed a model for generating digital twins—precise computer simulations—at scale.
From ACM TechNews
DeepMind AI Taught Digital People to Play Football from Scratch
An artificial intelligence-trained computer learned to play football from scratch, using digital players.
From ACM TechNews
Drone Refuels U.S. Navy Fighter Jet in Midair for the First Time
U.S. Navy officials said an aerial drone successfully refueled a fighter jet in midair for the first time during a June 4 test flight.
From ACM TechNews
Forget Wearables: Future Washable Smart Clothes Powered by Wi-Fi Will Monitor Your Health
Purdue University engineers have developed a technique to turn apparel into washable smart clothes that operate without batteries.
From ACM News
Honoring the Ties Between Computer Science and Mathematics
László Lovász and Avi Wigderson were awarded the 2021 Abel Prize.
From ACM News
The Global Chip Shortage is Creating a New Problem: More Fake Components
Industry analysts believe that the global chip shortage is creating the perfect environment for counterfeit semiconductors to enter the market.