Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
July 2009
From ACM TechNews
Georgia Tech to Lead Fight Against Cell Phone Hackers
The Georgia Institute of Technology has won a three-year, $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to conduct research into securing cell phones. Georgia Tech professor Jon Griffin says the danger of cell phone viruses…
From ACM TechNews
Social Networking Helping Women Turn on to Tech
A new report from Orange Labs suggests that technology will play a key role in drawing more women to careers in information technology. The report, "Her Code: Engendering Change in the Silicon Valley," notes that the appointment…
From ACM TechNews
Australia's Top Models at Science Conference
Australia's IMACS/MODSIM Congress will feature more than 650 modeling and simulation experts from around the world. Mathematical models describe the actions of complex natural and man-made systems by quantifying their key components…
From ACM TechNews
Microsoft Releases New Software Tools for Researchers
Microsoft's External Research division launched a pair of new research tools — the Project Trident workbench and the Dryad/DryadLINQ programming environment — at the recent Microsoft Research Faculty Summit.
From ACM News
Ward Off Espionage: India to Design a Home-Grown Microprocessor
Top scientists at some of India's ace scientific institutions are pooling energies, and the government some money, in an ambitious attempt to design a home-grown microprocessor, which they hope will ward off the rising threat…
From ACM TechNews
Futuristic Fibers Could Replace Camera Lenses
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a new type of fiber that is capable of producing images without the need for a lens. Multimaterial fibers are flexible and translucent, consist of…
From ACM TechNews
Catching Spammers in the Act
Indiana University researchers have exposed some of the methods spammers use to collect email addresses and send junk mail through multiple computers. In a paper scheduled to be presented at the Conference on E-mail and Anti…
From ACM TechNews
Computer Learns Sign Language By Watching Tv
Software developed by researchers at the University of Oxford and the University of Leeds has autonomously determined the basics of sign language by watching TV programs that are subtitled and signed. The researchers first designed…
From ACM TechNews
Capturing Images in Non-Traditional Way May Benefit Af
Research funded by the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research could lead to advancements in data encryption and wide-area, high-resolution photography. The researchers, led by Princeton University's Jason W. Fleischer,…
From ACM TechNews
In Search For Intelligence, a Silicon Brain Twitches
Blue Brain is a supercomputer-powered software model designed to closely simulate the activity of a rat's neocortical column (NCC) in the hope of gaining insights into the emergence of human intelligence so that a virtual human…
From ACM TechNews
DAC Workshops Focus on Design Techniques, Careers, Emerging EDA Apps
ACM's 46th Design Automation Conference (DAC) will give industry professionals an opportunity to learn more about front- and back-end design issues and to participate in special-interest workshops. "This year's workshop lineup…
From ACM TechNews
Japanese Scientists Aim to Create Robot-Insects
Japanese scientists are working to create insect-robot hybrids, including robot-moths capable of detecting drug stashes and robot-bees capable of navigating earthquake rubble to find survivors. Tokyo University Research Centre…
From ICT Results
Optical Chip Detects Blood Molecules
A portable 'lab on a chip' that can identify specific targeted molecules in blood samples has been created by European researchers. It is being used to measure fertility hormones and detect the genes associated with certain types…
From ACM TechNews
Algorithms Map Centaurus A Galaxy and Supermassive Black Hole
The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope team has developed an algorithm that enabled researchers at Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) to map Centaurus…
From ACM TechNews
Semantic Web Technology to Get pdate
A proposal before the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) would dramatically improve SPARQL, the query technology for the Semantic Web, for application development. SPARQL Query 1.1 is part of a proposal submitted by W3C in early…
From ACM TechNews
Recognition at Last
Florida Atlantic University researchers have significantly reduced the amount of computer power that is needed to operate face recognition systems without compromising their accuracy. Lin Huang and colleagues Hanqi Zhuang and…
From ACM News
IBM Tops Green500 Supercomputer List
Big Blue's supercomputers are among the greenest in the world. The June Green500 list, published by Green500.org, showed that 18 of the top 20 greenest supercomputers in the world are made by IBM. The most energy-efficient system…
From ACM News
Technology Offers Virtual Visualization of the Human Body
From a command center resembling the bridge of the Starship Enterprise, doctors at The Methodist Hospital have developed 3-D technology that enables them to view the human body like never before. With a video game controller,…
From ACM News
Computer Scientists Track the Life and Death of News
By observing global flow of news online, Cornell computer scientists have managed to track and analyze the "news cycle" — the way stories rise and fall in popularity. They found a consistent rhythm as stories rose into prominence…
From ACM Careers
Merage Foundation Gives Technion $12 Million to Start Mba Program
The Andre and Katherine Merage Foundation of Southern California has given the American Technion Society a $12 million gift to start a business school at Israel's premier technical college. The gift will go to start the new Andre…
From ACM News
China Bans Electric Shock Treatment to Cure Internet 'Addiction'
China's ministry of health has banned the use of electric shock treatment to cure Internet addiction. The move follows growing concern in the country about young people's compulsive use of chat rooms, Web sites and online gaming…
From ACM TechNews
Robo-Bats With Metal Muscles May Be Next Generation of Remote Control Flyers
North Carolina State University (NCSU) researchers are developing a highly maneuverable bat-sized flying robot that could be used for a variety of purposes, including indoor surveillance or exploring collapsed mines or buildings…
From ACM TechNews
Memristor Minds: The Future of Artificial Intelligence
The lack of a rigorous mathematical foundation for electronics impelled engineer Leon Chua to develop one, which led to the formulation of the memristor — a theoretical fourth basic circuit element in addition to the resistor…
From ACM TechNews
New Bluetooth Application Will Let Sports Fans Share Experiences in Real Time
Researchers at the University of Glasgow are using ad hoc networking to make direct phone-to-phone communication possible in real-world settings without sending messages. The team has developed computer programs that will allow…
From ACM TechNews
Tossing a Coin in the Microcosm
Physicists at the University of Bonn say they have demonstrated for the first time the "quantum walk" effect in an experiment with cesium. At the microscopic level, the phenomenon of superposition allows atoms to maintain several…
From ACM TechNews
Plastic Circuits to Make Tougher, Greener Computers
Australian engineers have found a way to make circuits out of plastic. The Circuits in Plastic (CIP) technology is made from recycled plastic, does not contain hazardous substances, and the packaging is part of the base circuit…
From ACM TechNews
.s. Scientists See H1-B Visas as Major Issue Against Progress, Says Survey
U.S. residents hold a high opinion of scientists, but only a minority feel that U.S. scientific achievements are the best in the world, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. Among scientists, a majority said that a…
From ACM TechNews
The Next Hacking Frontier: Your Brain?
Some scientists are concerned that as brain-computer interfaces become widely used and incorporate wireless technologies, "brain hacking" could become a reality. "Neural devices are innovating at an extremely rapid rate and…
From ACM TechNews
IBM Security Software Masks Confidential Info
IBM researchers have developed Masking Gateway for Enterprises (MAGEN), software that uses optical character recognition and screen scraping technology to identify and conceal confidential information. IBM says MAGEN can prevent…
From ACM News
'Smart' House Texts You If There's a Problem
It may look low-tech, but a smart doll's house could one day change the way we live, its inventors claim. Part of a project called InterHome, it is designed to test and demonstrate how much greener and secure our homes could…