Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
December 2022
From ACM TechNews
Europe Taps Power-Hungry Data Centers to Heat Homes
Looking to provide recycled heat, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft have started connecting, or announced plans to connect, major data centers to district heating systems in Ireland, Denmark, and Finland.
From ACM TechNews
Cambridge Researchers Develop VR Tool for Cancer Treatment
Video game designers and cancer researchers have teamed up at the University of Cambridge's IMAXT Laboratory to turn spreadsheet data into highly detailed virtual reality imagery of cancer cells.
From ACM TechNews
To the Highest Bidder: A Military Database of Fingerprints, Iris Scans
Security researcher Matthias Marx successfully bid on eBay for a Secure Electronic Enrollment Kit, which contained the names, nationalities, photographs, fingerprints, and iris scans of 2,632 people, including terrorists.
From ACM TechNews
Quantum Computer Helps Ford Find Better EV Battery Materials
Quantum researchers at Ford modeled crucial electric vehicle battery materials using a quantum computer.
From ACM TechNews
Chat Bot Is 'Code Red' for Google's Search Business
Google's management issued a "code red" in response to the release of OpenAI's ChatGPT and its potential to disrupt the tech industry, and Google's search business.
From ACM TechNews
Universities, Rich in Data, Struggle to Capture Its Value
Universities are struggling to make sense of their vast administrative datasets, according to researchers Christine L. Borgman at UCLA and Amy Brand at MIT.
From ACM TechNews
Tracking Fraudulent Mouse Movements
An international research team led by Markus Weinmann at the University of Cologne identified online fraudsters by their mouse movements, which were found to be longer and more deliberate than those of honest users.
From ACM TechNews
AI Is Here, and It's Making Movies. Is Hollywood Ready?
Artificial intelligence software is changing movie-making, including recreating filmed scenes by altering an actor's face to match newly recorded dialogue.
From ACM TechNews
Designing with DNA
An open-source software program developed by researchers at Duke and other universities lets users take drawings or digital models of rounded shapes and turn them into 3-D structures made of DNA.
From ACM TechNews
Tech Spending Pressures Fuel Demand for Specialized Industry Clouds
Corporate technology leaders looking to cut costs are turning to industry-specific cloud platforms that provide purpose-built digital tools for companies in a given industry.
From ACM TechNews
Dendrocentric AI Could Run on Watts, Not Megawatts
A study by Stanford University's Kwabena Boahen proposes a method that would allow neural networks to run on watts drawn from a smartphone battery instead of megawatts of power in the cloud.
From ACM TechNews
Police Tap COVID-19 Tech to Expand Global Surveillance
Police forces worldwide are tapping technologies developed for coronavirus contact tracing for mass surveillance.
From ACM TechNews
OpenAI's ChatGPT Raises Alarm Over Student Cheating
Universities need new ways to assess and respond to threats to academic integrity posed by AI tools that students could use to cheat on written assignments.
From ACM TechNews
Russia Is Jamming More GPS Satellite Signals Around Moscow
Russia has accelerated its jamming of GPS satellites around Moscow, apparently to deter long-range strikes by Ukrainian drones, according to GPSJam.
From ACM News
Donald Knuth's 2022 'Christmas Tree' Lecture Is About Trees
Every year around Christmas time, Donald Knuth gives a special lecture for a small audience at Stanford University, and to a larger audience online. This year's lecture, the first in three years, was greeted with an extra sense…
From ACM TechNews
This Is Your Brain. This Is Your Brain on Code
Researchers found that the brain's demand and language systems encode specific code properties that correlate with machine-learned representations.
From ACM TechNews
Virtual Clothes Could Help Solve Fashion's Waste Problem
The fashion industry is tapping digital technologies to cut waste and modernize.
From ACM TechNews
Even the FBI Says You Should Use an Ad Blocker
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation has issued an alert advising online users to install and use ad blockers.
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Construct Computer-Derived Marker for Coronary Artery Disease
A new computer-derived marker for coronary artery disease is based on machine learning and clinical data from electronic health records.
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Pioneer Biocompatible All-Water 'Aquabots'
Researchers have developed a robotic system consisting of ultrasoft liquid robots comprised mainly of water.
From ACM TechNews
Google Wallet Will Host Digital Driver's License in Maryland
Google has started beta testing hosting of digital driver's licenses and state ID cards for its Wallet application on Android, which will be exclusive to Maryland.
From ACM News
Sonic Lift-Off Tech Aims to Reduce Semiconductor Costs
From ACM News
How Hackers Used One Software Flaw to Take Down a County Computer System
An information technology director was put on leave for negligence after Suffolk County officials released the results of their investigation.
From ACM News
New Pilot Line Initiative Receives 19 million euros to Accelerate European Quantum Technology Commercialization
The Qu-Pilot Specific Grant agreement is part of a broader Framework Partnership agreement approved by the European Union earlier this year .
From ACM News
Elon Musk to Step Down as Twitter CEO Once He Finds 'Someone Foolish' Enough as Successor
As the owner of Twitter, following his purchase of the company for $44 billion (€41.4 billion) in October, no one could have forced him to step down as CEO.
From ACM TechNews
Inventor of World Wide Web Wants Us to Reclaim Our Data from Tech Giants
World Wide Web inventor and 2016 ACM A.M. Turing Award recipient Tim Berners-Lee founded the startup Inrupt with John Bruce to help users reclaim their personal data.
From ACM TechNews
Wi-Fi Could Help Identify When You're Struggling to Breathe
Researchers developed the BreatheSmart algorithm to analyze a person's movements and determine whether they have difficulty breathing via Wi-Fi routers and devices.
From ACM TechNews
Jetsons-Style Robots Invading Chicago-Area Hospitals
Roughly human in shape, Moxi robots have been deployed in at least three Chicago-area hospitals amid a shortage of medical workers.
From ACM News
The Number of Master's Degrees in This Field Nearly Tripled in a Decade
While lucrative jobs may be the primary driver of demand in computer science, there are other reasons that students are pouring into these programs.
From ACM News
Meta CEO Zuckerberg Testifies in FTC Case to Block Virtual-Reality Deal
Federal Trade Commission seeks to prevent social-media company from acquiring Within Unlimited.