Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
July 2020
From ACM News
Goodbye to the Wild Wild Web
The Internet is changing, and the freewheeling, anything-goes culture of social media is being replaced by something more accountable.
From ACM TechNews
Bar-Ilan Named Co-Winners of Parkinson's Disease Research Challenge
Neuroscientists from Israel's Bar-Ilan University were named winners of The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research and Sage Bionetworks BEAT-PD DREAM Challenge.
From ACM TechNews
Multimodal Mixed Reality Visualization for Intraoperative Surgical Guidance
Researchers at Imperial College London in the U.K. proposed a multimodal mixed reality visualization platform for the Microsoft HoloLens, designed to assist surgeons during surgical procedures.
From ACM TechNews
São Paulo Subway Facial Recognition System Slammed Over User Data Security, Privacy
Consumer rights groups say the agency operating the subway system in São Paulo, Brazil, has not shown that a new facial recognition technology platform protects user privacy.
From ACM News
Windows 10 2004 Update Block Confusion: 'Your PC Settings Aren't Supported'
Hardware drivers still appear to be causing havoc for users trying to upgrade to Windows 10 version 2004.
From ACM News
Towards an Unhackable Quantum Internet
Harvard University researchers achieve “a milestone along the path to a worldwide quantum Internet.”
From ACM News
Can an Algorithm Predict the Pandemic’s Next Moves?
Researchers have developed a model that uses social-media and search data to forecast outbreaks of Covid-19 well before they occur.
From ACM News
Tech Confronts Its Use of the Labels 'Master' and 'Slave'
Companies and programmers are reexamining how technical terms are used amid Black Lives Matter protests. But some worry the changes are empty symbolism.
From ACM TechNews
World's First 3D-Printed 'Steak' to Hit Israeli Restaurants This Year
Israeli company Redefine Meat has unveiled what it calls the world's first three-dimensionally-printed meatless steak.
From ACM TechNews
Using Your Phone's Microphone to Track Possible Covid-19 Exposure
Researchers have proposed a Covid-19 tracking system that would rely on signals sent and received from cellphone microphones and speakers.
From ACM TechNews
Disney's Deepfakes Closer to Big-Screen Debut
Disney researchers have demonstrated what they described as the first photorealistic deepfake at megapixel resolution.
From ACM TechNews
Michigan Law Would Make It Illegal for Companies to Force Employees to Be Implanted With Microchips
The Michigan House has passed the Microchip Protection Act, which would prohibit employers from requiring workers to be implanted with microchips. Although the practice is rare, some companies in other states use small radio-frequency…
From ACM TechNews
Singapore Issues Covid-19 Contact Tracing Wearables to 'Vulnerable Seniors'
Covid-19 contact tracing wearables are being issued to Singapore's "most vulnerable seniors," who are not digitally connected and at higher risk of catching the coronavirus.
From ACM TechNews
Stanford-Led Team Shows How to Store Data Using 2D Materials Instead of Silicon Chips
Researchers led a project to store data by sliding two-dimensional metal layers over each another, which could increase data density with greater energy efficiency than silicon chips.
From ACM TechNews
How the Pandemic Impacts U.S. Electricity Usage
Researchers at Texas A&M University and Tsinghua University in Beijing are studying how the coronavirus pandemic has changed U.S. electricity consumption.
From ACM TechNews
Plug-and-Play Lens Simplifies Adaptive Optics for Microscopy
An international team of researchers have developed a plug-and-play lens that streamlines adaptive optics for microscopy.
From ACM TechNews
Lyft Releases Self-Driving Vehicle Data Set, Launches $30,000 Challenge
Lyft has released a Prediction Dataset, which contains the logs of movements of cars, pedestrians, and other obstacles encountered by its 23 autonomous vehicles in Palo Alto, Calif.
From ACM TechNews
Amazon Launches Cloud Service to Help Non-Coders Build Apps
Amazon Web Services has launched a service that enables non-coders to write applications, which could broaden the cloud service's audience beyond programmers.
From ACM News
Pandemic Makes Modeling's Importance Clear
The number of COVID-19 models was growing so numerous that one laboratory created a COVID-19 forecasting hub featuring an ensemble output of numerous models.
From ACM News
Microsoft Releases Emergency Security Update to Fix Two Bugs in Windows Codecs
Security updates have been silently deployed to customers on Tuesday through the Windows Store app.
From ACM News
Australia Spending Nearly $1 Billion on Cyberdefense as China Tensions Rise
Officials promised to recruit at least 500 cyberspies and build on the country's offensive capabilities to take the online battle overseas.
From ACM TechNews
This AI Robot Just Nabbed the Lead Role in a Sci-Fi Movie
An upcoming science-fiction film will feature the first humanoid robot to take on the lead role in a movie.
From ACM TechNews
Open Source Software Aims to Reduce Cybersickness in VR Use
Researchers have developed the first open-source Unity software toolkit that developers can use to incorporate techniques to reduce cybersickness into extended reality environments.
From ACM TechNews
America's Best-Selling Vehicle Becomes a Cybertruck With a Familiar Face
Ford Motor's new F-150 pickup and upcoming Mach-E electric SUV will be the carmaker's first vehicles to be equipped with electronic systems that enable wireless software upgrades.
From ACM TechNews
Lucifer: Devilish Malware That Abuses Critical Vulnerabilities on Windows Machines
Researchers discovered a new variant of a powerful cryptojacking and DDoS-based malware, called Lucifer, which infects Windows machines by exploiting their vulnerabilities.
From ACM TechNews
Drone With Bubble Machine Can Pollinate Flowers Like a Bee
Researchers have developed a method of pollinating flowers using an aerial drone that emits pollen-infused soap bubbles.
From Communications of the ACM
Your Wish Is My CMD
Artificial intelligence could automate software coding.
From Communications of the ACM
The Quantum Threat
Cryptographers are developing algorithms to ensure security in a world of quantum computing.
From Communications of the ACM
Reducing and Eliminating E-Waste
We need to mitigate the environmental impact of disposing of electronics at their end of useful life.