Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
September 2011
From ACM TechNews
Carriers May Be Handicapping Cell Phone Networks
Researchers at the University of Michigan and Microsoft Research found that wireless operators may unknowingly be degrading performance on their networks as the technology they use to move traffic gets more complex.
From ACM News
In Case You Wondered, a Real Human Wrote This Column
"WISCONSIN appears to be in the driver's seat en route to a win, as it leads 51–10 after the third quarter. Wisconsin added to its lead when Russell Wilson found Jacob Pedersen for an eight-yard touchdown to make the score…
From ACM News
Hacking Made Easier, Thanks To New Tools
Time was when it took a fair amount of expertise to launch the kinds of illegal computer attacks that have become the hallmarks of "hacktivist" groups like Anonymous.
From ACM News
On the Internet, Nobody Knows You
Hackers have proven they can crack just about any computer network, from Sony’s to Citigroup’s. Afterward, they face another challenge: unloading the virtual booty.
From ACM News
Walked Into a Lamppost? Hurt While Crocheting? Help Is on the Way
Today, hospitals and doctors use a system of about 18,000 codes to describe medical services in bills they send to insurers. Apparently, that doesn't allow for quite enough nuance.
From ACM News
Nasa's Dawn Collects a Bounty of Beauty from Vesta
A new video from NASA's Dawn spacecraft takes us on a flyover journey above the surface of the giant asteroid Vesta.
From ACM News
Nasa Mars Research Helps Find Buried Water on Earth
A NASA-led team has used radar sounding technology developed to explore the subsurface of Mars to create high-resolution maps of freshwater aquifers buried deep beneath an Earth desert, in the first use of airborne sounding…
From ACM TechNews
Objective-C, C#, D Language: Winners in Programming Popularity
Objective-C rose to sixth place on the Tiobe Programming Community index of most popular programming languages; it ranked eighth a year ago. C# rose two spots from last year to become the fourth most popular programming language…
From ACM TechNews
Ursi Project Pushes Bounds of Artificial Intelligence
Professor Ken Livingston and his team at Vassar College's Undergraduate Research Summer Institute explored ways to optimize a robot's processing speed and allow it to better mimic the way in which a human cortex processes data…
From ACM News
Microsoft
Reading my RSS and Twitter feeds Tuesday night, I turned to a tech writer friend and said, "the Wintel Era just ended, and half of these people are fighting over whether demo tablets should have fans."
From ACM TechNews
In-Car Algorithm Could Rapidly Dissolve Traffic Jams
University of Seoul researchers Hyun Keun Lee and Beom Jun Kim have developed an algorithm that could automate and improve the process for dissolving traffic jams, and could be implemented relatively easily in the next generation…
From ACM TechNews
Nsf Seeking Proposals at the Interface of Computing, Economics
Two U.S. National Science Foundation entities have issued a joint solicitation for interdisciplinary research and education projects that develop new knowledge at the locus of computer science and economics and social sciences…
From ACM TechNews
5 Tech Breakthroughs: Chip-Level Advances That May Change Computing
Chip-level advances, including new processors and circuits, could be the building blocks that lead to a new generation of computing products and devices.
From ACM TechNews
Newly Published Cyber Security Report Identifies Key Research Priorities
The U.K. National Center for Secure Information Technologies recently released a report identifying key research priorities for protecting the future Internet.
From ACM News
Family Pioneers in Exploration of the Genome
A group of researchers said that by examining the whole genome of a family of four, they were able to make unusually specific findings, including the daughter's risk of blood clots, and suggestions for preventive care.
From ACM News
Remote Control, With a Wave of a Hand
Playing a computer game once meant sitting on the couch and pushing buttons on a controller, but those buttons have been disappearing of late, replaced by human gestures that guide the action.
From ACM News
Post-9/11 Technology Brings Exoskeletons, Laser Cannons to 21st-Century U.S. Military
The U.S. military has evolved so fast in the post-September 11th era that much of its technology would be nearly unrecognizable to commanders, soldiers, airmen, marines, and sailors only a few decades ago.
From ACM TechNews
Air Traffic System Vulnerable to Cyber Attack
Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) technology uses unencrypted global positioning system signals to broadcast a plane's position to networks. The technology is simple and inexpensive, but also very vulnerable,…
From ACM TechNews
No-Borders Mouse Runs Across Screens
Microsoft has released a new program that enables users to navigate multiple computers with a single mouse and keyboard. The Mouse Without Borders program synchs up to four PCs with one unit, as long as all computers run on…
From ACM TechNews
Swedish Researcher Invents Fast Switching and Printable Transistor
Linkoping University's Lars Herlogsson has developed a fully functional, fast switching, and printable transistor made of inexpensive plastic. The transistor is made of two polymers, one of which acts as a semiconductor and…
From ACM TechNews
Students Create Virtual Realities in Campus Lab
The University of Maine's Virtual Environment and Multimodal Integration Lab has given undergraduate students the opportunity to explore their interests in human-computer interaction and three-dimensional animation.
From ACM News
Chinese Students Are Storming .s. Grad Schools: They Have the Money and the Brains
If you build it, they will come. No, I'm not talking about a baseball field amidst stalks of corn but the educational institutions dotting the U.S. landscape that attract the best and brightest from all parts of the world.
From ACM News
How Many Pages Are on the Internet?
It seems like an answerable question, right? But no one really knows how many Websites or individual Web pages make up this seemingly infinite digital universe that is the Internet.
From ACM TechNews
Nsa Extends Label-Based Security to Big Data Stores
The National Security Agency recently submitted Accumulo, new label-based data store software, to the Apache Software Foundation, hoping that more parties will continue to develop the technology for use in future secure systems…
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Find Way to Measure Effect of Wi-Fi Attacks
North Carolina State University researchers have developed a way to measure how badly a Wi-Fi network would be disrupted by different kinds of attacks.
From ACM TechNews
Safeped Helps Cities Fix Dangerous Intersections
TAU researchers have developed SAFEPED, a computer simulation that integrates robotics and statistics on driver and pedestrian behavior to determine the environmental features that lead to intersections that experience a high…
From ACM TechNews
Rice Breakthrough Could Double Wireless Capacity With No New Towers
Rice University researchers have developed technology that could enable wireless phone companies to double their network's throughput without adding new cell towers.
From ACM News
Data Analytics: Crunching the Future
The technicians at SecureAlert's monitoring center in Salt Lake City sit in front of computer screens filled with multicolored dots. Each dot represents someone on parole or probation wearing one of the company’s location-reporting…
From ACM News
In Plane View
An airplane’s digital flight-data recorder, or "black box," holds massive amounts of data, documenting the performance of engines, cockpit controls, hydraulic equipment and GPS systems, typically at regular one-second intervals…
From ACM News
On Your Mark, Get Set, Hack!
During a "hackathon" last year, GroupMe co-founders Steve Martocci and Jared Hecht built a group text-messaging service in one 24-hour stretch. In August, the co-founders sold GroupMe to Skype for around $80 million.