Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
April 2014
From ACM News
What's The Nsa Doing Now? Training More Cyber Warriors
The U.S. needs more cyber warriors, and it needs them fast, according to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.
From ACM News
Watson in Your Pocket: Supercomputer Gets Own Apps
If you could quiz Watson, IBM's all-knowing supercomputer, from an app on your phone, what would you ask it?
From ACM News
Justices Appear Divided on Cellphone Warrants
The Supreme Court on Tuesday seemed torn as it considered a pair of cases about whether the police need warrants to search the cellphones of people they arrest.
From ACM TechNews
Pig Farmers Get Smart
The ALL-SMART-PIGS project is a European Union-backed research effort developing technologies for turning pig farms into smart farms.
From ACM TechNews
Research Shows Smartphone Sensors Leave Trackable Fingerprints
Researchers have demonstrated that fingerprints exist within smartphone sensors because of imperfections during the hardware manufacturing process.
From ACM TechNews
College Celebrates Half Century of Basic Language
Dartmouth University faculty, students, and national experts today will mark the 50th anniversary of the BASIC computing language developed at Dartmouth.
From ACM TechNews
New Material For Flat Semiconductors
Researchers have discovered a two-dimensional material whose properties are very similar to those of graphene, but with some distinct advantages.
From ACM News
Hackers Can Mess With Traffic Lights to Jam Roads and Reroute Cars
The hacker in the Italian Job did it spectacularly.
From ACM TechNews
A System Detects Global Trends in Social Networks Two Months in Advance
A new monitoring method identifies what information will be relevant on social networks as far as two months in advance.
From ACM TechNews
This 3D Printer Technology Can Print a Game Controller, Electronics and All
The Rabbit Proto is an open source three-dimensional printer attachment that enables the device to make functioning electronic prototypes.
From ACM News
Ohio Surgeons Hope Chip in Man's Brain Lets Him Control Paralyzed Hand with Thoughts
Chad Bouton snapped awake at 5 a.m.
From ACM Opinion
How to Build a Gesture-Controlled Web Game with Leap Motion
Modern smartphones have helped shed a light on the power of user interfaces that are driven by gesture and touch. It’s increasingly clear that touch will play a prominent role in the future of computing, but there are still challenges…
From ACM News
sing ltrasound to Feel Virtual Objects
A startup called Ultrahaptics aims to make gesture control and virtual reality more engaging by using ultrasound waves to let you feel like you’re touching virtual objects and surfaces with your bare hands.
From ACM News
Fifty Years of Basic, the Programming Language That Made Computers Personal
Knowing how to program a computer is good for you, and it's a shame more people don't learn to do it.
From ACM News
Bitcoin Vies with New Cryptocurrencies as Coin of the Cyber Realm
At a bitcoin conference in Miami this January, Jeffrey Tucker, a laissez-faire economist and libertarian icon, made an unexpected observation.
From ACM News
Few Consumers Are Buying Premise of Mobile Wallets
Millions of Americans use smartphones for tasks like hailing a taxi or checking in for a flight. But for buying something in a store?
From ACM TechNews
Microsoft Research Special Projects Group Tipped to Take on Google X
Microsoft Research's new Special Projects Group is tasked with working on disruptive technologies that could benefit both the company and society.
From ACM TechNews
For Women in Tech, Pay Gap Is nusually Small
The pay gap between women and men in the technology sector is one of the smallest, according to newly released research.
From ACM News
Stanford Bioengineers Create Circuit Board Modeled on the Human Brain
Stanford bioengineers have developed a new circuit board modeled on the human brain, possibly opening up new frontiers in robotics and computing.
From ACM TechNews
Flexible Battery, No Lithium Required
A new flexible material with nanoporous nickel-fluoride electrodes layered around a solid electrolyte can deliver battery-like supercapacitor performance.
From ACM News
Cyber Insurance Is on the Rise
Companies are discovering traditional insurance policies may not cover the costs of privacy breaches and data loss.
From ACM News
Supreme Court to Weigh Cellphone Searches
The Supreme Court will consider Tuesday whether police need a warrant to search a suspect's cellphone, in two appeals that could define the parameters of law enforcement tapping into the trove of data stored on smartphones.
From ACM News
Snowden Retained Expert in Espionage Act Defense
Edward J. Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who provided journalists a trove of classified documents, retained a well-known Washington defense lawyer last summer in hopes of reaching a plea deal with federal…
From ACM News
Increasingly, Robots of All Sizes Are Human Workmates
Most industrial robots are far less friendly than the Roomba robot vacuum cleaner, which is safe enough to be a surprisingly popular means of feline transportation.
From ACM News
Conjuring Images of a Bionic Future
Dick Loizeaux recently found himself meandering through a noisy New York nightclub.
From ACM TechNews
Study: People Pay More Attention to the pper Half of Field of Vision
People focus more on the upper half of their field of vision, according to a new study .
From ACM TechNews
Homeland Security Struggles to Tempt, Retain Cyber Talent
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is struggling to hire cybersecurity experts.
From ACM TechNews
Computer Program Could Help Solve Arson Cases
Researchers say they have developed software that can cut the time needed to determine the cause of a deliberately set fire.
From ACM TechNews
Microsoft Wants You to Educate Its Virtual Assistant
Microsoft's forthcoming mobile operating system upgrade will include Cortana, a virtual personal assistant designed to become more intelligent as people use it.
From ACM TechNews
Researcher Proposes Alert Tool For Managing Online Privacy Risks
A Princeton University professor has proposed the creation of a "privacy alert" system to help the average Internet user better manage their privacy.