Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
May 2020
From ACM TechNews
Gap Rushes in More Robots to Warehouses to Solve Virus Disruption
Gap Inc. is deploying warehouse robots more quickly amid the coronavirus pandemic.
From ACM TechNews
States Plead for Cybersecurity Funds as Hacking Threat Surges
Cash-strapped state and local governments are looking to Congress for funds to improve cybersecurity.
From ACM TechNews
Arizona Sues Google Over Allegations It Illegally Tracked Android Smartphone Users' Locations
Arizona has filed a lawsuit against Google for allegedly monitoring the locations of Android smartphone users even when such features purportedly were disabled,
From ACM TechNews
Programming Languages: Developers Reveal What They Love, Loathe, and What Pays Best
A survey of developers found that that TypeScript has overtaken Python as the second most-preferred programming language.
From ACM News
Watson's Creator Wants to Teach AI a New Trick: Common Sense
David Ferrucci built a computer that mastered Jeopardy! Since then, he's been attacking a more challenging task.
From ACM TechNews
Cellphone Data Helps Track Mobility Patterns During Social Distancing
Researchers in Colorado used cellphone data to estimate how much Colorado residents have changed their behavior since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
From ACM TechNews
Microsoft to Adapt Its Cloud Software for Healthcare Industry
Microsoft plans to launch a version of its cloud-based software to meet the needs of healthcare organizations.
From ACM TechNews
Verifying, Validating the Clinical Usefulness of Wearable Technology
An international team of engineers and researchers created a framework to assess and document the clinical usefulness of wearable computing devices.
From ACM TechNews
Technology Aids 911 Centers During COVID-19 Crisis
Dispatchers and first responders are using technology like live video streams, text messaging, and crowdsourced data to help 911 centers during the COVID-19 pandemic. E
From ACM News
Teaming Up with Artificial Intelligence
What makes a human-AI dream team?
From ACM News
Artificial Intelligence Is Driving A Silicon Renaissance
Artificial intelligence has ushered in a new golden age of semiconductor innovation.
From ACM News
China’s Virus Apps May Outlast the Outbreak, Stirring Privacy Fears
With the disease there mostly under control, officials are looking for new uses for the government software that's now on many phones.
From ACM News
Scanning the Skies for Danger
Finding dangerous asteroids by reverse-engineering their orbits.
From ACM TechNews
Researchers: Nearly Half Of Accounts Tweeting About Coronavirus Are Likely Bots
Computer scientists have determined that nearly half of all Twitter accounts spreading messages about the Covid-19 pandemic are likely bots.
From ACM TechNews
Smartphone App to Help Assess Anemia by Taking Picture of a Person's Eyelid
New software allows medical staff to obtain a patient’s hemoglobin count in real time by capturing an image of the patient's inner eyelid with a smartphone.
From ACM TechNews
Supercomputer Model Simulations Reveal Cause of Neanderthal Extinction
Supercomputer models determined that competition between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens was likely responsible for the former's extinction in Eurasia.
From ACM TechNews
Israeli Researchers Stop Cyberattacks with Discovery of Major DDoS Exploit
Researchers at Tel Aviv University and the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya discovered a previously unknown Distributed Denial of Service exploit.
From ACM TechNews
Wearable Sensor Tracks Vitamin C Levels in Sweat
Researchers developed a new wearable sensor that monitors vitamin C levels in perspiration.
From ACM TechNews
Fashion Turns to Technology to Tailor Sustainable Solutions
The fashion industry is seeking technological solutions to the growing problem of unwanted textiles through tailored apparel.
From ACM TechNews
Australian Researchers Record World's Fastest Internet Speed from Single Optical Chip
Researchers in Australia recorded the world's fastest Internet data speed from a single optical chip: 44.2 terabits per second.
From ACM News
Yoshua Bengio and Collaborators Unveil the Name of Their COVID-19 Tracing Application, Launch a White Paper
Bengio was co-recipient of the 2018 A.M. Turing Prize, considered the "Nobel Prize of Computer Science." In 2020, he was elected by his peers to The Royal Society.
From ACM TechNews
ACM Honors Computing Innovators for Advances in Research, Education, Industry
ACM has named leading innovators to receive three prestigious awards for their contributions to research, education, and industry.
From ACM TechNews
Engineers Develop Low-Cost, High-Accuracy System for Flexible Medical Robots
Roboticists developed a low-cost system to track the location of flexible surgical robots operating inside the human body.
From ACM TechNews
Human-like Cyborg Eye Could Power Itself Using Sunlight
A new spherical visual sensor mimics the structure of the human eye.
From ACM TechNews
Comedy Club Performances Provide Insights on How Robots, Humans Connect via Humor
Two studies evaluated a robot comedian's performance at comedy clubs to gather data to enable more effective robot-human interplay through humor.
From ACM TechNews
White House Panel: Build New Tech Infrastructure for Future Jobs
The White House American Workforce Policy Advisory Board has called on the U.S. government and private industry to collaboratively build a technological infrastructure to support future jobs.
From ACM News
Prepare to be Tracked and Tested as You Return to Work
Many reopening businesses will ask workers to take coronavirus tests, report symptoms, don masks, wear dongles, and work under the gaze of new sensors and cameras.
From ACM News
A New Class of AI Ethics
The ethics of artificial intelligence is increasingly part of school curricula. Will it lead to a better world?
From ACM News
Alabama, North Dakota, South Carolina to Debut Apple/Google’s Covid-19 Contact Tracing
Apple and Google released software on Wednesday that will allow public health agencies around the world to build their own apps to track who may have been exposed to Covid-19.
From ACM News
Google Inks Deal with Defense Department to Help Respond to Cyberthreats
The contract is for "seven figures," Google says.