Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
October 2009
From ACM TechNews
Professor Working to Advance Computing as a Science
University of Arizona professor Richard T. Snodgrass has received a U.S. National Science Foundation grant to promote computation as a true science. "The problem with computer science is that a few people think it equals programming…
From ACM TechNews
MIT Researchers Developing Robotic Driving Companion
Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are developing the Affective Intelligent Driving Agent (AIDA), a robot that would act as a helpful companion for drivers. The robot would be capable of picking up…
From ACM TechNews
Defense niversity Builds China's Fastest Supercomputer
China's National University of Defense Technology (NUDT) has unveiled the Tianhe supercomputer, the fastest supercomputer in China. Tianhe runs at 563.1 teraflops on the Linpack benchmark and is theoretically capable of petaflop…
From ACM TechNews
Open Source Identity: Ruby on Rails Creator David Heinemeier Hansson
One of the most popular and successful open source software development initiatives is Ruby on Rails, created by David Heinemeier Hansson. "I think the fundamental thing that set Rails apart was a culture of putting the programmer…
From ACM TechNews
Muscle-Bound Computer Interface
Researchers at Microsoft, the University of Washington, and the University of Toronto have developed a human-computer interface that uses muscle movement for hands-free, gestural interaction. The researchers say the technology…
From ACM News
Cell Phones Become Data Collection Tools For Global Development
Computer scientists at the University of Washington have used the Android open-source mobile operating system to turn a cell phone into a versatile data-collection device. For the past year UW computer science and engineering…
From ICT Results
Listen, Watch, Read
European researchers have created the first integrated semantic search platform that integrates text, video and audio. The system can 'watch' films, 'listen' to audio and 'read' text to find relevant responses to semantic search…
From ACM TechNews
c Researchers Create All-Electric Spintronics
University of Cincinnati (UC) researchers have developed a way to control an electron's spin orientation using only electrical means. Previous methods to develop spin transistors incorporated local ferromagnets into devices,…
From ACM TechNews
Virtual Surgery Aims to Replace Risky Training
A new haptically enabled computer simulation system is undergoing clinical trials at Cork University Hospital in Ireland and Pecs University in Hungary. The virtual-reality technology could potentially be used by medical students…
From ACM TechNews
Bogus E-Mails From Fdic Link Computer sers to Viruses, Expert Says
Computer forensics researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) have been tracking new spam that claims to come from the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and uses a virus to steal sensitive personal…
From ACM News
DARPA Looks to Send the Internet Into Orbit
There’ve been satellites orbiting Earth for half a century. But getting information to and from them is still a pain. Which is why Pentagon research arm Darpa is looking to finally hook the orbiting spacecraft up with reliable…
From ACM TechNews
Semantic Integration: Meeting the Challenge
Interoperability between data sources is the fundamental challenge of data integration, and NASA computer scientist Richard Keller says that although standards and organizational policies can help to some degree, "data standards…
From ACM TechNews
Crash, Bang, Rumble! Bringing Noise to Virtual Worlds
Cornell University computer scientists have developed a method for generating the crashing and rumbling noises of objects made from thin harmonic shells such as cymbals and garbage can lids. The method, developed by professor…
From ACM TechNews
Science at the Petascale: Roadrunner Results nveiled
Roadrunner, housed at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), recently completed its initial shakedown phase while performing accelerated petascale computer modeling and simulations for several unclassified science projects.…
From ACM News
Consumer Electronics Can Help Improve Patient Health
Electronic tools and technology applications for consumers can help improve health care processes, such as adherence to medication and clinical outcomes like smoking cessation, according to a report by researchers at the Johns…
From ACM TechNews
Report rges Colleges to Emphasize Math, Science, and International Studies
Mathematics, science, and technology must continue to be a priority for U.S. higher education to ensure that the United States remains globally competitive, according to a report by the American Association of State Colleges…
From ACM TechNews
Wiser Owl Learns to nravel Doctor Talk
OWL 2, a new Internet language developed by an international team led by computer scientists from the University of Manchester and Oxford University, is designed to enable computers to understand and interpret the contents of…
From ACM News
Silicon-Air Battery: Non-Stop Power For Thousands of Hours
Scientists at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have developed a new, environmentally friendly silicon-air battery capable of supplying non-stop power for thousands of hours without needing to be replaced. The findings…
From ICT Results
Embedded Design
Embedded computer systems must be fast and efficient. A European consortium has created a new modelling framework that lets designers strike the best balance between static, reconfigurable and analog hardware and the software…
From ACM News
Robert L. Ashenhurst, Former Communications Editor-in-Chief, Dies
Robert L. Ashenhurst, professor emeritus of applied mathematics at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business and a former editor-in-chief of Communications of the ACM, passed away October 21, 2009. He was 80 years…
From ACM TechNews
Eavesdropping on Smartphone Secrets
Security researchers at Cryptography Research say the smart card attack involving differential power analysis could be used to target smartphones. Cryptography Research adapted the technique of analyzing the power consumption…
From ACM TechNews
Internet Set For Change With Non-English Addresses
Internationalized domain names (IDNs) will be one of the central topics at ICANN’s 36th International Public Meeting, which takes place October 25-30 in Seoul, South Korea. "This is an extremely important meeting for ICANN,…
From ACM News
Overseas Chinese Return to Start Companies
TIANJIN, China — This city in northeastern China is a long way from Sand Hill Road, home to the world's greatest concentration of venture capitalists. But a deal too good to pass up led Yong Li to leave his family in Palo Alto…
From ACM News
Faster Maintenance with Augmented Reality
In the not-too-distant future, it might be possible to slip on a pair of augmented-reality (AR) goggles instead of fumbling with a manual while trying to repair a car engine. Instructions overlaid on the real world would show…
From ACM TechNews
Five New Technologies That Will Change Everything
Five new technologies are on their way that will give users unprecedented access to data thanks to new high-speed connections and user interfaces.
From ACM TechNews
IBM Researchers Simplify Mobile Web Browsing
IBM researchers have developed technology that will make it easier to design Web sites for mobile devices. IBM researchers in Tokyo developed a visual editor that enables Web masters to arrange their Web site content in a logically…
From ACM TechNews
Scan of Internet ncovers Thousands of Vulnerable Embedded Devices
A scan of the Internet by Columbia University researchers searching for vulnerable embedded devices has found that nearly 21,000 routers, Webcams, and VoIP products are vulnerable to remote attack. They say there could be as…
From ACM TechNews
Google Envisions 10 Million Servers
The computer industry had an opportunity to learn about the technical details of Google's infrastructure during LADIS 2009, ACM's recent SIGOPS International Workshop on Large Scale Distributed Systems and Middleware. Google…
From ACM TechNews
Carnegie Mellon Expands Mobile Learning Project in India
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) recently announced the expansion of its Mobile and Immersive Learning for Literacy in Emerging Economies (MILLEE) project, which aims to determine the effectiveness of mobile phone-based games…
From ICT Results
Robot Integrates Audio, Visual Data
European researchers developed technology that enables a robot to combine data from both sound and vision to create combined, purposeful perception. In the process, they have taken the field to a new level.