Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
August 2015
From ACM TechNews
Georgia Tech Finds 11 Security Flaws in Popular Internet Browsers sing New Analysis Method
Georgia Institute of Technology researchers have received $100,000 from Facebook to continue research that will help make the Internet safer.
From ACM Careers
Data-Crunching Is Coming to Help Your Boss Manage Your Time
You might be at work, but that hardly means you are working.
From ACM TechNews
Crackdowns Haven't Stopped the Dark Web's $100m Yearly Drug Sales
A new Carnegie Mellon University study suggests law enforcement take-downs of online drug markets have largely failed to dent the traffic in drugs on the Dark Web.
From ACM TechNews
The Rise of the Robo-Meteorologist
Microsoft researchers Ashish Kapoor and Eric Horvitz are using machine learning to make more accurate weather predictions over a 24-hour period.
From ACM TechNews
Could a Pen Change How We Diagnose Brain Function?
Researchers have used artificial intelligence and a digital pen to diagnose dementia earlier than ever before.
From ACM TechNews
Bitcoin's Dark Side Could Get Darker
Programs that can confirm data and hold or use funds could help enable an insidious dimension of cryptocurrency's criminalization, according to newly released research.
From ACM TechNews
Flickr Photo Data sed to Predict People's Locations
Researchers have developed an algorithm that can predict people's location based on the photos they upload to the Flickr file-sharing website.
From ACM News
Cassini to Make Last Close Flyby of Saturn Moon Dione
NASA's Cassini spacecraft will zip past Saturn's moon Dione on Monday, Aug. 17—the final close flyby of this icy satellite during the spacecraft's long mission.
From ACM TechNews
Baidu Explains How It's Mastering Mandarin With Deep Learning
In an interview, Baidu engineer Awni Hannun discusses a new model for handling Mandarin voice queries that tests found is accurate 94 percent of the time.
From ACM News
'next Gen Stats' Offer New Insights For Nfl Fans and Coaches
As Richard Sherman sprints side-by-side with Calvin Johnson, who is running faster?
From ACM News
Crackdowns Haven't Stopped the Dark Web's $100 Yearly Drug Sales
After more than four years and two giant law enforcement busts, the Dark Web's drug market is still just as robust as it was during the Silk Road's heyday.
From ACM News
A Machine in the Co-Pilot's Seat
Joel Walker, a test pilot for Aurora Flight Sciences, a maker of autonomous aircraft, flew his small, twin-engine plane through rain squalls here recently, and before it reached 5,000 feet, he pushed a red button on his joystick…
From ACM News
Computer-Human Hybrids Could Be Best at Scanning For Danger
In A world of algorithms, there are still a few places where humans reign supreme.
From ACM TechNews
Go On – Bend, Punch, and Step On This Transistor
Researchers at Japan's AIST and the Japan Science and Technology Agency have developed stretchable, tough electronics that could be incorporated into clothing, transforming wearable technology.
From ACM TechNews
Building the Next New York Times Recommendation Engine
The New York Times' article recommendation algorithm has been overhauled, using Collaborative Topic Modeling as its inspiration.
From ACM TechNews
Paving the Way for a Faster Quantum Computer
University of Vienna researchers have demonstrated a new quantum computing technique in which operations occur without a well-defined order. Researchers say the breakthrough could provide quantum computers with a larger computational…
From ACM TechNews
The Future of the Internet Is Social
The IMDEA Networks Institute successfully achieved the eCOUSIN research project objective of designing an innovative network architecture that improves the efficiency of online social networks and the quality of the experience…
From ACM TechNews
Summon the Comfy Chairs!
Researchers in Europe and the United States are developing a bevy of roboticized furniture they think will fill the gap between simpler domestic robots such as iRobot's Roomba and the humanoid Pepper servant launched by Softbank…
From ACM News
Lovin' Their Elevator: Why Germans Are Loopy About Their Revolving Lifts
As the paternoster cabin in which he was slowly descending into the bowels of Stuttgart's town hall plunged into darkness, Dejan Tuco giggled infectiously.
From ACM News
For Virtual-Reality Movies, Old Methods Don't Fit New Medium
I'm standing on the bow of what looks to be a sunken pirate ship.
From ACM News
Building the Next New York Times Recommendation Engine
The New York Times publishes over 300 articles, blog posts and interactive stories a day.
From ACM TechNews
DARPA Wants to Transform Vacuum Electronics For Superior Communications, Data Transmissions
DARPA wants to improve the performance and reliability of vacuum electronic devices, critical components of defense and civilian systems that require high power, wide bandwidth, and high efficiency.
From ACM TechNews
Human and Organizational Factors Influence Software Quality
New research from Frank Philip Seth, a doctoral student at Lappeenranta University of Technology in Finland, proposes that human factors in the software development process determine software quality.
From ACM TechNews
See Through Walls By the Glow of Your Wi-Fi
University College London researchers have developed a system that can sense people moving behind masonry walls 25 centimeters thick using only passive radiation.
From ACM News
Rosetta Comet Outburst Captured
The European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft has been witnessing growing activity from comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko as the comet approaches perihelion (its closest point to the sun during its orbit).
From ACM TechNews
Tantalizing Discovery May Boost Memory Technology
Scientists at Rice University have created a solid-state memory technology based on tantalum oxide. Professor James Tour says the technology could be used to make crossbar memory arrays with much higher capacities than other…
From ACM News
Bird-Brained Drones?
Researchers are studying birds and insects in order to make drone flight second nature.
From ACM News
Octopus Genome Holds Clues to Uncanny Intelligence
With its eight prehensile arms lined with suckers, camera-like eyes, elaborate repertoire of camouflage tricks and spooky intelligence, the octopus is like no other creature on Earth.
From ACM News
The Backbone of the Internet Could Detect Earthquakes, but No One's sing It
December 26, 2004: It is an idyllic morning at a beachside resort in Indonesia.
From ACM News
Don't Panic, but the Universe Is Slowly Dying
We know that our universe has already lived through great number of exciting phases. But new research shows the universe has long passed its peak and is slowly but surely dying.