Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
August 2010
From ACM News
How Canadian 'science Fiction' Drives Subway Trains Abroad
Inside a north Toronto office building, rows of bulky computers operate virtual subway systems half a world away in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Dubai, managing trains as they pull into stations, drop off passengers, and…
From ACM TechNews
Mobile Flaw Could Cloak Clicks
Stanford University researchers have found that mobile websites are extremely vulnerable to attacks from malicious sites using a technique known as tapjacking, which tracks users' clicks as a way to steal passwords and other…
From ACM TechNews
Clothing to Power Personal Computers
Researchers at the University of Southampton's School of Electronics and Computer Science are developing technology that would enable individuals to power electronic devices through their clothes and the carpets they walk on. …
From ACM TechNews
Feds Strengthen Cybersecurity Workforce Plans
Representatives from both the public and the private sector who attended a recent cybersecurity conference said that progress has been made in developing and executing strategies for creating a stronger U.S. federal cybersecurity…
From ACM TechNews
Tell Me Where You Are and I'll Tell You What I See
Fondazione Bruno Kessler researchers have developed a system that can analyze a mobile phone-produced photo and generate information about the location.
From ACM TechNews
Safe Travels
University of Texas at San Antonio researchers have developed SMall Aircraft Risk Technology (SMART), software that can run thousands of simulations on a given part of a plane and produce detailed reports on its structural integrity…
From ACM News
An Implantable Antenna
A prototype silk biosensor could someday alert doctors to signs of disease.
From ACM News
Survey, Personal Stories Show How Quickly Tv Time Shifting Has Established Itself
From ACM News
How Much Smaller Can Chips Go?
Seven of the finest minds Intel can muster are lined up on stage, ready to take questions from a pack of visibly intimidated European journalists.
From ACM News
Finding Our Way with Digital Bread Crumbs
A Microsoft research project explores whether sensors in mobile devices could help us navigate without GPS.
From ACM News
How the Internet Is Changing Language
"To Google" has become a universally understood verb, and many countries are developing their own Internet slang. But is the Web changing language, and is everyone up to speed?
From ACM News
Researchers Develop Ultrahigh Energy Density Supercapacitors
A team of researchers from the United States and France have developed micro-supercapacitors with the potential to power nomad electronics, wireless sensor networks, biomedical implants, embedded microsensors, and other devices…
From ACM News
A New Kind of Microchip
A computer chip that performs calculations using probabilities, instead of binary logic, could accelerate everything from online banking systems to the flash memory in smart phones and other gadgets.
From ACM News
Tcs to Offer Cheap Cloud Computing Service in India
TCS plans to launch an affordable cloud computing service to small and medium businesses in India. The service is expected to be launched by mid-September.
From ACM TechNews
Survey: Broadband Growth Slowing in the US
Broadband adoption in the United States is slowing, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center. The number of U.S. residents with broadband Internet service at home has grown 5 percent since 2009, the smallest increase…
From ACM TechNews
Innovation Could Bring Super-Accurate Sensors, Crime Forensics
Purdue researchers have developed technology that enables microelectromechanical systems to self-calibrate, which they say could lead to super-accurate sensors for crime-scene investigators, environmental testing, and medical…
From ACM News
Cult of Less: Living Out of a Hard Drive
Many have begun trading in CD, DVD, and book collections for digital music, movies, and e-books. But this trend in digital technology is now influencing some to get rid of nearly all of their physical possessions—from photographs…
From ACM News
Software Predicts Criminal Behavior
Algorithm could influence sentencing recommendations and bail amounts.
From ACM News
Is Sending Signals to Aliens Really a Good Idea?
If we are not alone in the universe, then—considering what happened to the Indians after Columbus landed in America—shouldn't we be keeping a pretty low profile?
From ACM News
Top It Jobs For 2010 and Beyond
The economy is picking up (albeit more slowly than we would like) and employers are hiring again (though we will hope the pace increases and not have the larger businesses sit on a pile of cash instead of hiring). There will…
From ACM News
Tech Guilt: 5 'persuasive' Technologies to Help You Be Good
Information is power, but does information—by itself—actually make people change their behavior?
From ACM News
New System Tests and Evaluates High-Energy Laser Weapons
A system developed by the Georgia Tech Research Institute that can measure the power and spatial energy distribution of high-energy lasers will help accelerate the development of high-energy laser systems and reduce the time…
From ACM News
Wto Backs .s., Japan Complaint Over Eu Import Duties on Electronic Goods
The European Union broke global trade laws by imposing import duties on $11 billion of high-tech electronic goods such as computer monitors, the World Trade Organization ruled on Monday (August 16), backing a complaint by the…
From ACM News
Researchers Control Collective Spin States Electrically at Room Temperature
Physicists at the University of Nebraska Lincoln have changed the orientation of a large number of electron spins collectively at room temperature by pure electrical means, a significant breakthrough in the field of spintronics…
From ACM News
Step 1: Post Elusive Proof. Step 2: Watch Fireworks.
The potential of Internet-based collaboration was vividly demonstrated this month when complexity theorists used blogs and wikis to pounce on a claimed proof for one of the most profound and difficult problems facing mathematicians…
From ACM News
Courses Charge Up Future Electric-Vehicle Engineers
When Professor Mehdi Ferdowsi and Ph.D. student Andrew Meintz offered the inaugural class on electric and hybrid vehicles at Missouri University of Science and Technology, they made an instant connection with students from…
From ACM TechNews
Building a Cloud Out of Smart Phones
An international group of researchers has developed Misco, a version of Google's MapReduce algorithm powered by cell phones in a self-contained cloud computing environment.
From ACM TechNews
Multicore Processing: Breaking Through the Programming Wall
Significant challenges remain for applications to take advantage of the first petascale supercomputers, which feature distributed memory architectures and multicore systems with more than 100,000 processor cores each.
From ACM TechNews
Machine, Heal Thyself
Florida Institute of Technology researchers are developing ways for computers to sense damage to their systems and automatically make repairs. "We're exploring ways that we might make computers more aware of pain," says professor…
From ACM TechNews
Smudges on Touchscreen Phones Could Reveal User Passwords
University of Pennsylvania researchers have found that smartphone passwords can be deciphered by analyzing the smudges left on their touchscreens.