Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
September 2014
From ACM TechNews
Teaching Computers the Nuances of Human Conversation
Natural-language processing has become very good at recognizing human speech, but it still struggles to understand subtle nuances.
From ACM TechNews
Three Pilot Projects Receive Grants to Improve Online Security and Privacy
Nearly $3 million in grants will be issued to support three pilot projects as part of the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace program.
From ACM TechNews
Scientists Twist Radio Beams to Send Data
Scientists have twisted radio beams together to send data at high speeds without some of the problems experienced with optical systems.
From ACM TechNews
Mapping Big Data
Researchers are applying geographic mapping principals to large sets of unstructured data in hopes of gaining insights into the relationships between them.
From ACM News
The Smithsonian Works to Digitize Millions of Documents
During the past six months, retired pharmaceutical researcher Irv Cantor helped transcribe a 641-page field book written by an archaeologist traveling through 1920s China.
From ACM News
Nsa Director Rogers rges Cyber-Resiliency
In his keynote address at the Billington Cybersecurity Summit, NSA Director and Commander of U.S. Cyber Command, Admiral Mike Rogers, explained that the Defense Department and corporate information security teams must focus on…
From ACM TechNews
New Nsa-Funded Programming Language Could Close Long-Standing Security Holes
Steve McConnell, author of "Code Complete," says coding errors create software vulnerabilities that criminal hackers can use to enter and attack an enterprise.
From ACM TechNews
Battling Bacteria With Software
Researchers have developed software to help track a potentially dangerous bug which has become resistant to some of the most potent antibiotics.
From ACM TechNews
Njit Computer Scientists Win a Major Grant to Network Mobile Devices in the Cloud
New Jersey Institute of Technology researchers have received a multi-year grant to develop a platform enabling mobile devices to interact with each other via the cloud.
From ACM TechNews
Fighting Lung Cancer: Faster Image Processing For Low-Radiation Ct Scans
The University of Michigan hopes to reduce the image-reconstructon process time for low-dose computed tomography scans from 30 minutes or more to five minutes.
From ACM News
Dawn Operating Normally After Safe Mode Triggered
The Dawn spacecraft has resumed normal ion thrusting after the thrusting unexpectedly stopped and the spacecraft entered safe mode on September 11.
From ACM News
Seeking Human Cyber Consciousness
An American lawyer, author, and entrepreneur is using computer science to advance towards "the coming age of our own cyber consciousness and techno-immortality."
From ACM News
MIT Invents a Magic Lens That Combines All Your Screens Into a Single Experience
When we need to send a command or a file from our smartphone to our laptop, we do it through menus.
From ACM News
How Network Theory Is Revealing Previously nknown Patterns in Sport
If you've ever watched soccer, you'll know of the subtle differences in tactics and formation between different teams.
From ACM Opinion
Tim Cook Interview: The Iphone 6, the Apple Watch, and Remaking a Company's Culture
Steve Jobs’s office remains Steve Jobs's office.
From ACM Opinion
The Internet Is Losing Interest in Computers
You may know Google Trends.
From ACM TechNews
Cutting the Cord on Soft Robots
A new untethered soft robot has four legs and can stand up and walk away from its designers.
From ACM TechNews
Ethical Trap: Robot Paralyzed By Choice of Who to Save
Bristol Robotics Laboratory's Alan Winfield and colleagues recently tested an ethical challenge for a robot.
From ACM TechNews
Herb: A Robot That Can nload a Dishwasher and (sometimes) Take Apart an Oreo
The Home Exploring Robot Butler has advanced manipulation skills that enable it to perform multiple functions.
From ACM TechNews
Will Tomorrow's Robots Move Like Snakes?
Researchers have developed a soft robotic arm, inspired by octopus tentacles, that can snake through a pipelike environment without a human operator.
From ACM TechNews
Why the .S. Might Just Need a Federal Commission on Robots
A Federal Robot Commission could help extract sense and insight from the many technological applications that separate human agency from execution.
From ACM News
How Main Street Will Pay For Home Depot's Data Breach
Federal law protects consumers from the cost of fraudulent charges incurred when thieves steal credit-card and debit-card numbers.
From ACM News
With Tech Taking Over in Schools, Worries Rise
At a New York state elementary school, teachers can use a behavior-monitoring app to compile information on which children have positive attitudes and which act out.
From ACM TechNews
Researchers' New App Outs Iphone and Android Phone Energy Hogs
New, free iOS and Android software identifies which apps drain the most power from device batteries.
From ACM News
.s. Scientists See Long Fight Against Ebola
The deadly Ebola outbreak sweeping across three countries in West Africa could infect hundreds of thousands of people before it is brought under control.
From ACM News
ACM Awards Knuth Prize to Pioneer for Advances in Algorithms and Complexity Theory
Georgia Tech's Lipton cited for introduction of new ideas and techniques
From ACM Opinion
Julian Assange on Snowden, Disliking Google, and His 'inevitable' Freedom
It would be too much to say that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange feels optimistic.
From ACM News
Google and Edx Put ‘youtube For Courses’ Platform on Hold
Their collaboration opens the edX platform to some new organizations, but individuals will have to wait a while longer.
From ACM Opinion
Nsa Chief on Tech-Savvy Islamic State: 'i'm Watching'
While U.S. military leaders appeared before Congress to outline their strategy to fight Islamic State militants on the battlefield, the National Security Agency chief said on Tuesday he was watching the media-savvy group's cyber…
From ACM TechNews
White House Introduces New Class of Innovation Fellows
The White House has revealed the assignments and backgrounds of its third class of Presidential Innovation Fellows.