Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
July 2013
From ACM Opinion
Internet Inventor: No Technological Cure For Privacy Ills
Is there technological solution for protecting people from online surveillance?
From ACM Opinion
What Your Metadata Says About You
As recently as a few weeks ago, "metadata" was an obscure term known mainly to techies and academics.
From ACM Careers
This Is the Woman at the Heart of Everything Google Builds
There was a time when Melody Meckfessel juggled two wardrobes: one for one Google, and one for the rest of her life.
From ACM News
A Quantum Conundrum
D-Wave has helped bring quantum computing into the spotlight, but critics continue to question the company's performance claims.
From ACM News
New Language Helps Quantum Coders Build Killer Apps
Quantum software has finally left the dark ages with the creation of the first practical, high-level programming language for quantum computers.
From ACM News
Future Cops: How Technology Is Set to Change Policing
The sci-fi vision of police officers rushing to the scene of a crime before any crime has even been committed may be rather far-fetched but technology is increasingly playing a role in the modern police force.
From ACM News
Douglas Engelbart, 1925 – 2013
Douglas Engelbart, creator of the computer mouse, died last week at his home in Atherton, CA.
From ACM News
Big Data Spells Trouble For Consumer Privacy
Matt Valentine, head of Microsoft's enterprise solutions for Hong Kong, shares a key piece of advice with his five- and seven-year-old children: when it comes to downloading a mobile or Web application, you're the product, not…
From ACM TechNews
Eu and Japan Team Up For 100 Gbps Internet Connections
A partnership between the European Union and Japan could lead to the creation of more-efficient networks that can handle vast amounts of data.
From ACM TechNews
Protecting Data in the Cloud
A new type of secure hardware component can disguise a server's memory-access patterns.
From ACM TechNews
Humanoid Robot That Sees and Maps
New computer-vision algorithms enable the humanoid robot Roboray to build real-time three-dimensional visual maps for more efficient movement.
From ACM News
How Nasa Steers the International Space Station Around Space Junk
Orbiting about 250 miles (400-ish km) above our heads is one of the most complex and expensive engineering projects that the human race has ever put together: the International Space Station (ISS).
From ACM TechNews
Computer Programs Improve Fingerprint Grading
Researchers have developed a process for grading a fingerprint for sufficient detail for subsequent identification.
From ACM TechNews
Crisis Cleanup Mapping Tool Coordinates Rebuilding Efforts
Crisis Cleanup is a free, open source mapping tool that enables disaster relief organizations to coordinate cleanup and rebuilding efforts after catastrophes.
From ACM TechNews
Y No Go Viral: The Emerging Science of Memes
Scientists are beginning to study how memes are created, which ones fail, and how certain memes go viral.
From ACM TechNews
Technology Workers Are Young (really Young)
Technology industry employees are significantly younger, on average, than those in the workforce overall.
From ACM Careers
Huawei's Best-Kept Secret: An Army of Engineers
Huawei Technologies Co. has made a name supplying network equipment to clients world-wide, but the Chinese company's emphasis on research and development over manufacturing its own hardware is a lesser-known fact.
From ACM News
Why the Airline Industry Needs Another Data Revolution
Over the years, airline travel has been a prime testbed for advanced computing and data tools.
From ACM News
The Internet of Cars Is Approaching a Crossroads
The phrase "vehicle-to-vehicle communications" might currently mean little more than a few choice words hurled through an open car window.
From ACM News
In Worldwide Surveillance Age, U.s. Has Big Edge
The saga of Edward Snowden and the NSA makes one thing clear: The United States' central role in developing the Internet and hosting its most powerful players has made it the global leader in the surveillance game.
From ACM News
Physicists Discover the Secret of Quantum Remote Control
Teleportation is one of the more extraordinary phenomena in the quantum world.
From ACM Careers
The Only Thing Programmers Have to Fear Is... All of These Things
Software developer is generally considered a pretty good job, and with good reason.
From ACM News
The Last Survivors of the End of the World
In 2 billion years' time, life on Earth will be confined to pockets of liquid water deep underground, according to PhD astrobiologist Jack O'Malley James of the University of St Andrews.
From ACM TechNews
Microscopy Technique Could Help Computer Industry Develop 3-D Components
NIST NewsThrough-focus Scanning Optical Microscopy (TSOM) could become a crucial tool for improving computer chips. For decades, computer chips have resembled city maps in that their components are essentially flat, but designers…
From ACM TechNews
Colleges Work to Retain Women in STEM Majors
Higher education institutions are working to encourage women to pursue majors in science, technology, engineering, and math.
From ACM TechNews
Teaching a Computer to Play 'Concentration' Advances Security, nderstanding of the Human Mind
A new software designed to play the game Concentration could lead to better computer security and a greater understanding of how the human mind works.
From ACM TechNews
Pruning the Power Grid
A new algorithm identifies the most dangerous pairs of failures among the millions of possible failures in a power grid.
From ACM TechNews
Move Over Messi, Here Come the Robots
More than 1,000 soccer-playing robots from 40 countries are competing against each other in the RoboCup soccer tournament.
From ACM News
The Immortal Life of the Enron E-Mails
Former Enron executive Vincent Kaminski is a modest, semi-retired business school professor from Houston who recently wrote a 960-page book explaining the fundamentals of energy markets. His most lasting legacy, however, may…
From ACM Opinion
Meet the Most Important Tech Company You've Probably Never Heard Of
Never trust gadget-makers’ claims about battery life.