Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
January 2011
From ACM News
Hidden Fractals Suggest Answer to Ancient Math Problem
Researchers have found a fractal pattern underlying everyday math. In the process, they’ve discovered a way to calculate partition numbers, a challenge that’s stymied mathematicians for centuries.
From ACM TechNews
'radical Redesign' rged For Future Computers
University of Maryland professor Uzi Vishkin believes that computer architecture needs to be redesigned in order to effectively use multicore processors.
From ACM TechNews
Stanford and Intel Test the Boundaries of Visual Computing
Researchers from Intel and Stanford University are collaborating on a five-year, $10 million project to advance the field of visual computing. Intel is funding research involving several U.S. universities to promote innovation…
From ACM TechNews
European Project Keeps Personal Details Private
The European Union recently launched the ABC4Trust project, which will use encryption technology developed by IBM Research, academic institutions, Microsoft, and others to increase online privacy by requiring that users submit…
From ACM TechNews
Robots Get Ready For Mass Markets
The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology's Laboratory of Intelligent Systems and a group of laboratories are collaborating to launch the National Center of Competence in Research, which is aimed at designing robots based on…
From ACM News
Intel
Intel Corp. surprised investors Monday with news that it has found a design flaw found in a support chip that works with its ballyhooed new chip, code-named Sandy Bridge, and it has to replace systems in the market.
From ACM News
Intel Spreads Its niversity Research Bets
Computing in general is increasingly applying the old engineering dictum, divide and conquer. Look at the engines behind cloud computing—vast, distributed armies of server computers.
From ACM TechNews
Future Phone Networks to se Miniature Base Stations
University of York researchers are working on the BuNGee project, which is developing a network infrastructure to support future mobile devices that can receive data faster than current 3G smartphones using intelligent miniature…
From ACM TechNews
Hardware, Software Advances Help Protect Operating Systems From Attack
North Carolina State University researchers have developed a system that utilizes hardware and software to restore an operating system if it is attacked. The focus is on attacks involving compromised computer applications that…
From ACM News
Egypt's Internet Goes Dark During Political nrest
Egypt has gone offline.
From ACM News
Intel Agency: Without Videogames, We
American intelligence analysts are biased, and therefore make lousy decisions—even the spooky agencies admit that. The spy guys’ new hope for introducing some objectivity: Get the analysts to start playing a videogame.
From ACM News
Dealing With Assange and the Secrets He Spilled
This past June, Alan Rusbridger, the editor of The Guardian, phoned me and asked, mysteriously, whether I had any idea how to arrange a secure communication. Not really, I confessed.
From ACM News
New Meters Aim to Cure Parking Headaches
Soon San Francisco drivers won't need to cruise endlessly in search of an available parking spot.
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Build Flying Robotic 'tree Helicopter'
University of Maryland researchers have developed a robotic flying device based on samaras — single-winged seeds that are released by trees. The researchers built three robotic samaras ranging in size from 7.5 centimeters to…
From ACM TechNews
Grin Plasmonics: A Practical Path to Superfast Computing
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and UC Berkeley researchers have completed the first experimental demonstration of gradient index (GRIN) plasmonics, a technology that could lead to superfast computers based on light instead…
From ACM TechNews
Headless Conficker Worm Lives in Computers
The people who control the Conficker computer worm have been prevented from using it to control computers and create a botnet, according to a new report. However, the report says that more than 5 million computers remain infected…
From ACM News
Public Art? There's an App For That
"Take It Artside!," a free smartphone application developed by students and faculty at the University of Kentucky, includes images, descriptions, and the location of public art in Central Kentucky.
From ACM TechNews
The Fantastical Promise of Reversible Computing
University of South Florida researchers are studying computation that takes place in steps that are time reversible, known as reversible computing, as a way to make computing more efficient overall.
From ACM News
Sandia's Heroux Named Editor of ACM Transactions on Mathematical Software
Sandia National Laboratories researcher Mike Heroux has been named editor-in-chief of the ACM journal Transactions on Mathematical Software.
From ACM News
The Triumph of Hacker Culture
Stuxnet and the iconic, pioneering hacker Captain Crunch.
From ACM News
3D Tv? How About Holographic Tv?
Using a single Xbox Kinect and standard graphics chips, MIT researchers demonstrate the highest frame rate yet for streaming holographic video.
From ACM TechNews
Binghamton CS Grad Designs Android Application
Binghamton University researchers have developed Lake Sunapee Protective Association Recorder, an Android application that enables users to record observations on environmental data around Lake Sunapee in Sunapee, N.H.
From ACM TechNews
Carnegie Mellon Researcher Creates Song-O-Matic
Carnegie Mellon University's Burr Settles has developed Titular, software that helps songwriters come up with titles for their new songs. Titular produces five new potential song titles each time the user clicks the "get new…
From ACM News
Supercomputers Increase Research Competitiveness
Consistent investment in high-performance computing leads to greater research competitiveness for U.S. academic institutions, according to a new study on the impact of investment.
From ACM News
Domestic se of Aerial Drones By Law Enforcement Likely to Prompt Privacy Debate
The suspect's house, just west of this city, sat on a hilltop at the end of a steep, exposed driveway. Agents with the Texas Department of Public Safety believed the man inside had a large stash of drugs and a cache of weapons…
From ACM News
Qualified Success Claimed Against Computer Worm
Cybersecurity experts combating the Conficker worm claimed qualified success but said millions of computers world-wide were still infected by the malicious software.
From ACM News
Engineers Increasing Wireless Speed
As part of a study funded by InterDigital, Virginia Tech researchers have made great strides in the development of more reliable and efficient spectrum sensing techniques that will be needed to meet the ever-expanding demand…
From ACM TechNews
Rise of the Robot Astronomers
Mount Palomar Observatory's Palomar Transient Factory uses AI to locate variable stars, or transients. "Our grand goal is to remove astronomers from the real-time loop of looking at images and doing discovery of astronomical…
From ACM TechNews
Smart se of Mobile Phone Power
University of Portsmouth's Mohamed Gaber is researching how smartphones could be combined to quickly collect and process information without using centralized computers. He says the combined phones could revolutionize healthcare…
From ACM TechNews
The Human Touch, in Robots
Researchers at the A*STAR Institute of High Performance Computing are developing robots that can respond directly to human speech.