Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
January 2009
From ACM TechNews
Obama Unveils Cybersecurity Agenda
U.S. President Barack Obama has laid out a number of goals for improving the security of the nation's information networks. For instance, he has promised to declare the nation's IT infrastructure a strategic asset. In addition…
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Cool Cpus With Nano-Size Fridges
As chips become increasingly dense, the extreme heat they generate has pushed researchers to search for ways to mitigate it. Intel, RTI International, and Arizona State University researchers have developed a micro-refrigerator…
From ACM TechNews
Predicting Breakdowns
Researchers at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and Lockheed Martin are working on a sensor-based monitoring system that assesses the health of a vehicle and alerts the driver to potential problems. The system uses…
From ACM TechNews
Fight Brews Over How to Build a Better Internet
The U.S. Internet infrastructure is slower and more expensive than many other developed nations, and reaches fewer of its citizens. About 10 percent of U.S. households do not have access to a high-speed or broadband data connection…
From ACM TechNews
Pcs Will Become Sensitive
Over the next decade, IT will become increasingly pervasive but computers will be less prevalent as they are incorporated into vehicles, desks, and even furniture, predicts Rob Gear, manager of PA Consulting's IT Innovation Unit…
From ACM TechNews
AI Comes of Age
Artificial intelligence (AI) research has taken great strides in recent years, proliferating and being incorporated into practical applications. Significant AI milestones include the emergence of ubiquitous computing and more…
From ACM TechNews
Intel Researchers Demo Rf Energy Harvester
Moore's law is a key factor in an ambient radio frequency (RF) energy-harvesting project from researchers at the Intel Research Seattle Lab. At the recent Rawcon Conference in San Diego, Intel's Joshua Smith presented a paper…
From ACM TechNews
Technology Will Ease Healthcare Dilemma
University of Ulster researchers predict that high-tech, home-based health monitoring will be a critical part of alleviating some of the pressures the healthcare system will experience as the world's population continues to age…
From ACM TechNews
Report Calls For Boost in It Research, Policies
U.S. President Barack Obama's transition team has received a copy of a National Academy of Sciences report that recommends several strategies the United States could follow as information technology research and development becomes…
From ACM TechNews
Technology Gets a Piece of Stimulus
The $825 billion stimulus plan proposed by U.S. President Barack Obama and House Democrats includes a $37 billion investment in three high-technology areas: broader high-speed Internet access, computerized medical records, and…
From ACM TechNews
'horizon Report' Names Top Technology Trends to Watch in Education
The use of smart phones and other mobile devices to run more services will be one of the top technology trends to watch in education, according to Educause's Learning Initiative and the New Media Consortium. The 2009 Horizon…
From ACM TechNews
New Administration, Congress Aim to Boost Federal R&d
The Obama administration and the U.S. Congress want to provide significant new funding for science and technology research and development. The America COMPETES Act, ratified in 2007, supported doubling the funding for basic…
From ACM TechNews
It Professionals See Salary Increase But Job Security Remains Top Concern
The average IT salary rose 4.6 percent to an average of $78,035 in 2008, and by more than 5 percent to an average of $87,257 for IT professionals working in the banking and financial services industry, according to Dice. IT…
From ACM TechNews
Crowd-Sourcing the World
Santa Fe Institute research fellow Nathan Eagle is launching txteagle, a project that will distribute tasks using cell phones in an effort to leverage an underused workforce in some of the poorest parts of the world. Eagle says…
From ACM TechNews
New Report Reveals That Girls Have the Edge in New Technologies
More girls are using computers at home than boys, and mothers are usually assisting their children with the technology, according to the new Learning in the Family report. In the survey of thousands of children aged six to 14…
From ACM TechNews
Human Face of the Human Interface
John M. Carroll, founder of the User Interface Institute at IBM's Watson Research lab and a professor at Pennsylvania State University, says the ability to pick up a new device and start using it without having to read a manual…
From ACM TechNews
How Google Is Making S Smarter
Various articles have recently appeared that question whether blogs, text messaging, and the Internet are making people less intelligent. "As we come to rely on computers to mediate our understanding of the world, it is our…
From ACM TechNews
Semantic Search Engine Helps Scientists Do Productive Searches
Scientists at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAHuntsville) have developed Noesis, a new semantic Web search engine that enables researchers to obtain more focused and productive results. Noesis performs searches based…
From ACM TechNews
ACM Names 44 Fellows For Contributions to Computing and Information Technology
ACM has named 44 of its members as 2008 ACM Fellows for their contributions to computing technology. ACM says their work has led to a variety of innovations in industry, commerce, entertainment, and education and will play a…
From ACM TechNews
More Chip Cores Can Mean Slower Supercomputing, Sandia Simulation Shows
Simulations at Sandia National Laboratory have shown that increasing the number of processor cores on individual chips may actually worsen the performance of many complex applications. The Sandia researchers simulated key algorithms…
From ACM TechNews
Girls and Gadgets Computer Conference Held at niversity of Teesside
The University of Teesside's recent Girls and Gadgets Computer Conference attracted about 200 teenage girls in the United Kingdom. Organized by Alison Brown, a senior lecturer in the School of Computing, the conference gave…
From ACM TechNews
Let the Cracking Begin
Analysts have started the process of testing new Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA) candidates for flaws as part of the first round of the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST's) competition to select the next government…
From ACM TechNews
Group Details 25 Most Dangerous Coding Errors Hackers Exploit
A group of 35 high-profile organizations, including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the National Security Agency's Information Assurance Division, has released a list of the 25 most serious programming errors. The…
From ACM TechNews
Auto Gear-Change Bicycle: Computer Controlled Bicycle Gear Changes Optimize Power, Comfort
Researchers in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at National Defense University in Tashi, Taiwan, are developing a computer system for bicyclists that tells them when to change gears to optimize power while maintaining…
From ACM TechNews
Internet Service Speed Is Fast-Track Issue For New Administration
U.S. President-elect Barack Obama wants to provide everyone in the United States with access to high-speed Internet service and create thousands of jobs in the process, but experts are debating what qualifies as high-speed service…
From ACM TechNews
Operating on the Virtual Human
Oxford University physiologist Peter Kohl believes surgeons will be using virtual reality to simulate alternative operations within 10 years. Computer models will enable surgeons to experiment on a virtual surgical table, discover…
From ACM TechNews
Revealed: The Environmental Impact of Google Searches
Harvard University physicist Alex Wissner-Gross has been researching the environmental impact of Google searching and claims that one search generates about 7 grams of CO2 emissions. "Google operates huge data centers around…
From ACM TechNews
Nsf Looking For Wicked Cool Visual and Data Analysis Algorithms
The National Science Foundation (NSF) wants to develop highly interpretive mathematical and computational algorithms and techniques to help the U.S. government and private researchers evaluate the data generated by health care…
From ACM TechNews
P2P Traffic Control
Researchers at the University of California, Irvine believe that peer-to-peer style information sharing could be used to improve road conditions for drivers. Using local-area wireless technology, vehicles could form an ad hoc…
From ACM TechNews
Get Them While They're Young: Tomorrow's It Pros
The Canadian Coalition for Tomorrow's ICT Skills (CCICT) is hoping to increase the number of students studying information technology through its new National ICT Week event. "We need to get the word out as to how the world…