Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
July 2011
From ACM News
Global Race on to Match U.s. Drone Capabilities
At the most recent Zhuhai air show, the premier event for China's aviation industry, crowds swarmed around a model of an armed, jet-propelled drone and marveled at the accompanying display of its purported martial prowess.
From ACM TechNews
Xbrl Group Offers Cash Prize For Open Source Tools
XBRL U.S. has created a competition to encourage the development of better tools that work with the Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) standard for financial reporting.
From ACM TechNews
Computer Learns Language By Playing Games
Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Regina Marzilay has adapted a system she developed to generate scripts for installing software on a Windows computer based on postings from a Microsoft help site to learn to play…
From ACM TechNews
Ict and Automotive: New App Reduces Motorway Pile-ps By 40 Percent
University of Bologna researchers have developed an automatic car accident detection system that could reduce the number of vehicles involved in a crash by up to 40 percent.
From ACM TechNews
Prettier Websites Make For More Trusting Web Surfers, Study Finds
More visually appealing Web sites have led to an increase in online consumer trust, says University of Melbourne professor Brent Coker.
From ACM TechNews
Computer Science Tops List of Best Major For Jobs
Computer science has topped the National Association of Colleges and Employers' list of best majors for jobs for the first time since 2008.
From ACM TechNews
Raspberry Pi: Rise of the $25 Computer
Raspberry Pi developers have created a computer designed to inspire a new generation of computer programmers but inexpensive enough to enable schools to give them to students for free.
From ACM News
Bradley Manning's Army of One
How a lonely, five-foot-two, gender-questioning soldier became a WikiLeaks hero, a traitor to the U.S., and one of the most unusual revolutionaries in American history.
From ACM News
Five Tips To Improve Enterprise Mobile Security
Mobile devices are increasingly connected with an ecosystem of third-party cloud and desktop services outside an enterprise's control. Here's five tips that enterprises — as well as end users — can follow to improve their mobile…
From ACM News
The Race to Zero: Speech By Andrew Haldane
In a speech at the International Economic Association 16th World Congress in Beijing, Andrew Haldane, Executive Director for Financial Stability and member of the interim Financial Policy Committee, outlines how dramatic shifts…
From ACM News
Questioning the Inca Paradox
Did the civilization behind Machu Picchu really fail to develop a written language?
From ACM News
In Search of a Robot More Like S
The robotics pioneer Rodney Brooks often begins speeches by reaching into his pocket, fiddling with some loose change, finding a quarter, pulling it out and twirling it in his fingers.
From ACM News
As Smartphones Proliferate, Some sers Cut the Computer Cord
A third of all American adults own a smartphone and for many minority and low-income users, those mobile devices have replaced computers for Internet access. The findings released Monday by the Pew Internet & American Life Project…
From ACM TechNews
It Security: Staying Ahead of the Curve
The size and scope of cybersecurity needs to account for the integration of information technology into everything, says Robert Brammer with the Northrop Grumman Cybersecurity Research Consortium in an interview.
From ACM News
Former CIA Director: Build a New Internet to Improve Cybersecurity
The United States may seriously want to consider creating a new Internet infrastructure to reduce the threat of cyberattacks, said Michael Hayden, President George W. Bush's CIA director.
From ACM News
Building a Better Quantum Computer with Lasers and (impure) Diamonds
If the development of a quantum computer were like motor racing, then we would currently be in the twisty-turny bit that comes before we barrel over the mountain and hit the long, fast straightaway.
From ACM TechNews
New Software Aids Fight Against Nitrates in Florida's Groundwater
Florida State University researchers have developed software designed to help state and local governments measure the amount of nitrates from septic systems that end up in surface water bodies such as lakes and rivers.
From ACM TechNews
Computer Scientists, Computational Biologists, Statisticians Designing Hiv Vaccine
The medical community is calling on computer scientists, computational biologists, and statisticians to help its work on a safe and effective vaccine against HIV.
From ACM News
Silicon Valley Status Symbols Emphasize Mind Over Material
Aaron Patzer lives in a 600-square-foot, one-bedroom apartment in Palo Alto with an old couch and TV. His favorite shoes are hand-me-down brown leather wingtips that, at 39, are older than he is. He gets $12 haircuts.
From ACM News
Spies Want to Mine Your Tweets For Signs of the Next Tsunami
The intelligence community has seen the future, and the future is Google Trends. Actually, more like a highly sophisticated version of Google Trends, with Twitter and YouTube thrown in for good measure.
From ACM TechNews
China Unveils Another Supercomputer
China recently launched its newest supercomputer, known as the Tianhe-1 system, using the same technology that it used to build the Tianhe-1A system.
From ACM TechNews
Improving Recommendation Systems
MIT professor Devavrat Shah thinks that the most common approach to recommendation systems is fundamentally flawed; he says recommendation systems should ask users to compare products in pairs instead of using the standard five…
From ACM TechNews
Can Anyone Create a Hacker-Proof Cyberspace?
The opportunity for cyberattacks increases every day as corporations and governments continue stockpiling information about individuals in complex networks across the Internet, while new generations of cybercrooks continue to…
From ACM TechNews
Protecting Protestors With Photos That Never Existed
In a response to protestors getting arrested for taking pictures of government-instigated violence, researchers have developed a method that uses graphics processors to artificially create photos taken from a perspective where…
From ACM TechNews
A Futures Market For Computer Security
A pilot prediction market that can forecast major information security incidents before they occur is under development by information security researchers from academia, industry, and the U.S. intelligence community for the…
From ACM TechNews
Old Dominion U. Researchers Ask How Much of the Web Is Archived
Old Dominion University researchers, led by professor Michael L. Nelson, are trying to determine how much of the public Web is archived and where it is being stored to preserve the digital record.
From ACM TechNews
Mind-Controlled
Brain-computer interfaces have enabled patients to execute basic thought-controlled tasks in the lab, but researchers say the technology is close to enabling people to carry out simple everyday tasks, such as tying shoes and…
From ACM News
Kevin Mitnick Shows How Easy It Is to Hack a Phone
British tabloid News of the World said it is closing down over a phone hacking scandal in which workers for the Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper allegedly snooped on voice mail messages left on the mobile phones of murder victims…
From ACM News
Phone Hacking Can Extend Beyond Voice Mail
While the phone hacking by British tabloid News of the World was unexceptional by technical standards, security experts say the scandal portends how the growth of smartphones will lead to more sophisticated breaches.
From ACM News
Safer Skies
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has mandated that by 2020, all commercial aircraft—and small aircraft flying near most airports—must be equipped with a new tracking system that broadcasts GPS data, providing more…