Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
September 2012
From ACM TechNews
Open Source Education Software Unveiled By Google
Google has released Course Builder, open source software for creating online education courses.
From ACM TechNews
Optimizing Popularity Versus Similarity in Networks
UCSD researchers recently published a paper exploring the concept of popularity versus similarity and how it impacts the growth of networks.
From ACM TechNews
A Network to Guide the Future of Computing
The European Network of Excellence on High Performance and Embedded Architecture and Compilation aims to steer and increase European research in the area of high-performance and embedded computing systems.
From ACM TechNews
Perfecting Email Security
City University of Hong Kong researchers have defined perfect forward secrecy for email and suggested a technical solution to enable email security to be independent of the server used to send the message.
From ACM News
Ibm Images Molecular Bonds
IBM researchers who won the Nobel Prize for imaging individual atoms have gone a step further by imaging individual bonds between atoms.
From ACM News
Microsoft Xbox 3D-Projected Games Outlined in Patent
Details of an immersive video games display system that projects images of the title's environment around a player's room have been revealed in a U.S. patent belonging to Microsoft.
From ACM News
With Kinect-Like Gestures, Softkinetic Leads the Way to Intel's Perceptual Computing
The age of perceptual computing starts with devices that can be controlled with the wave of your hand or the sound of your voice rather than just a mouse, keyboard, or touchscreen.
From ACM News
Difference Engine: The Pc All Over Again?
What could well be the next great technological disruption is fermenting away, out of sight, in small workshops, college labs, garages, and basements. Tinkerers with machines that turn binary digits into molecules are pioneering…
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Devise More Accurate Method For Predicting Hurricane Activity
North Carolina State University researchers report that their new method for forecasting seasonal hurricane activity is 15 percent more accurate than previous techniques.
From ACM TechNews
Collaborative STEM Programs at Rutgers-Camden Produce New Opportunities and Friendships
STEM students at Rutgers University-Camden have access to scholarship and academic support thanks to a $600,000 U.S. NSF grant that aims to support high-achieving STEM students with financial need through annual and tenure scholarships…
From ACM TechNews
Nsf’s Cise, Oci Leadership Issue Letter to Community
The U.S. National Science Foundation recently announced an organizational realignment, including plans to integrate the Office of Cyberinfrastructure within the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering…
From ACM TechNews
Emv Flaw Allows 'pre-Play' Attacks on Chip-Enabled Payment Cards
University of Cambridge researchers have found that many automated teller machines and point of sale terminals do not properly generate random numbers, as required by the Eurocard, MasterCard, and Visa protocol, to securely authenticate…
From ACM TechNews
Fujitsu to Build Software Robot to Pass College Entrance Exams
IDG News ServiceFujitsu will develop software designed to enable artificial intelligence to pass the math portion of the University of Tokyo's entrance exam by 2021. Fujitsu says the software will complete exactly the same math…
From ACM News
Malware Inserted on Pc Production Lines, Says Study
Cybercriminals have opened a new front in their battle to infect computers with malware—PC production lines.
From ACM News
New Breed of Robotics Aims to Help People Walk Again
When Joey Abicca pokes a metal crutch into the ground with his right arm, tiny motors start whirling around his left leg, lifting it and moving it forward.
From ACM News
Mars Rover Curiosity Arm Tests Nearly Complete
NASA's Mars Curiosity team has almost finished robotic arm tests in preparation for the rover to touch and examine its first Martian rock.
From ACM News
New York Police Dept. Issues First Rules For se of Social Media During Investigations
The NYPD has for the first time laid out rules for using social media during investigations—but critics say the guidelines raise questions about privacy issues.
From ACM News
How Google Builds Its Maps—and What It Means For the Future of Everything
Behind every Google Map, there is a much more complex map that's the key to your queries but hidden from your view.
From ACM News
Research Paints Shamoon Creators as 'skillful Amateurs'
Despite seemingly endless pontification, it's still too early to definitively say whether there's a connection between the Shamoon malware and recent attacks on Middle Eastern oil firms, yet some of the attackers' intentions…
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Craft Program to Stop Cloud Computer Problems Before They Start
NCSU researchers have developed software that prevents performance disruptions in cloud computing systems by automatically identifying and responding to abnormal activities before they develop into larger problems.
From ACM TechNews
Southampton Engineers a Raspberry Pi Supercomputer
University of Southampton researchers have developed Iridis-Pi, a supercomputer made from 64 Raspberry Pi computers and Lego.
From ACM TechNews
Towards Computing With Water Droplets
Water droplets could serve as bits of digital information for a new type of computing, according to researchers at Aalto University.
From ACM TechNews
Intel and Hp to Build World's Most Efficient Supercomputer
Researchers at Hewlett-Packard and Intel are developing an energy-efficient supercomputing system for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
From ACM TechNews
Get Ready For Computers Worldwide to Automatically Smother Cyber Strikes
The U.S. government is planning to build a cyberecosystem that would prompt computers around the world to instantly suppress cyberattacks.
From ACM News
How Apple Really Invented the Iphone
Like many of Apple's inventions, the iPhone began not with a vision, but with a problem.
From ACM News
Vesta in Dawn's Rear View Mirror
NASA's Dawn mission is releasing two parting views of the giant asteroid Vesta, using images that were among the last taken by the spacecraft as it departed its companion for the last year.
From ACM News
The Mesmerizing Beauty of Nature's Fractals
Google Earth: source of information, source of wonder, source of art. In 2010, Paul Bourke, a research associate professor at the University of Western Australia, began using the service to capture images for his ongoing Google…
From ACM News
Super-Fast Broadband: Build It and They will Come–Maybe
When the Internet pipelines in cities like Chattanooga and Kansas City are accelerated to super-fast broadband, the leading-edge technology is expected to generate new business opportunities, but there are no guarantees.
From ACM News
The Accidental History of the @ Symbol
Called the "snail" by Italians and the "monkey tail" by the Dutch, @ is the sine qua non of electronic communication, thanks to email addresses and Twitter handles.
From ACM TechNews
Mind Control Will Shape Future of Gaming and Cell Phones
In an interview, University of Alabama at Huntsville professor Jason T. Cassibry shares his thoughts about the new technological advances on the horizon.