Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
August 2013
From ACM TechNews
Strands Project Develops Robot Security Guards
The European Union's Seventh Framework Program is funding the Strands project, which is developing software for robot brains that can be used as security guards and care assistants.
From ACM TechNews
A Robot to Beat Humans at Foosball
Students from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne have developed a foosball-playing robot. The machine uses one computer to control the movement of its robotic arm and another to provide information about the…
From ACM News
The Insane and Exciting Future of the Bionic Body
Bertolt Meyer pulls off his left forearm and gives it to me.
From ACM News
How 'cell Tower Dumps' Caught the High Country Bandit—and Why It Matters
On February 18, 2010, the FBI field office in Denver issued a "wanted" notice for two men known as "the High Country Bandits"—a rather grandiose name for a pair of middle-aged white men who had been knocking down rural banks …
From ACM TechNews
DARPA Creates Cloud sing Smartphones
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is testing new software-based approaches for creating cloud-like computing networks using smartphones and radios.
From ACM TechNews
.s. Appetite For Internet ser Data Not nique
Despite recent concerns about information collection by the United States, law enforcement agencies in Europe and other nations appear to gather equal or greater volumes of data, according to a whitepaper by law firm Hogan Lovells…
From ACM TechNews
Adept Emphasizes Energy-Efficient Parallelism
The European Union-funded ADEPT project is exploring the energy-efficient use of parallel technologies. ADEPT aims to help high-performance computing software developers exploit parallelism for performance and assist with managing…
From ACM TechNews
Nissan Plans to Offer Affordable Self-Driving Cars By 2020
Nissan says it is on track to begin selling self-driving cars by the end of this decade.
From ACM TechNews
3-D Mapping in Real Time, Without the Drift
A new mapping algorithm that creates real-time, detailed three-dimensional maps of indoor and outdoor environments.
From ACM Careers
Vending Machines Get Smart to Accommodate the Cashless
More than 40 percent of U.S. adults say they can go a week without paying for something with cash, according to a survey conducted by Rasmussen Reports last year, but most of the roughly 5 million vending machines in the U.S.…
From ACM News
Inside the Response to the New York Times Attack
Late Tuesday morning, one of the engineers in CloudFlare's San Francisco office saw a message on Twitter saying that the New York Times Web site was down. Minutes later, more messages appeared, as security researchers and others…
From ACM News
The Proof in the Quantum Pudding
In early May, news reports gushed that a quantum computation device had for the first time outperformed classical computers, solving certain problems thousands of times faster.
From ACM News
A Camera That Sees Like the Human Eye
The retina is an enormously powerful tool. It sorts through massive amounts of data while operating on only a fraction of the power that a conventional digital camera and computer would require to do the same task.
From ACM TechNews
Html5 Now Neck and Neck With Native Apps For Developer Love
More developers will trade a superior native experience for the lower cost of maintaining a common code base using HTML5 code in a native app container.
From ACM TechNews
New Tool Enhances the Search For Genetic Mutations
New software uses statistical probabilities to help identify mutations and more accurately pinpoint their source and their possible significance for health.
From ACM TechNews
'zero Knowledge' May Answer Computer Security Question
A new protocol for the creation of a "zero-knowledge proof" involves answering questions that depend on having a secret bit of knowledge.
From ACM TechNews
Scientist Creates Solution For Looming Broadband Shortage
A new method to solve the approaching broadcast spectrum deficit examines how cell networks could optimize spectrum use.
From ACM News
How Syrian Hackers Found the New York Times's Australian Weak Spot
A hacking attack launched by the Syrian Electronic Army may have targeted the New York Timesand other U.S. media companies, but the weak link was Melbourne IT (MLB:AU), a domain registrar that directs Internet traffic to theTimes…
From ACM News
Think You Can Drive a Bulldozer?
As he closed the door, leaving me alone at the controls of a 41,000-pound bulldozer with list price of nearly $432,000, a Komatsu Ltd. executive shouted, "No worries!"
From ACM News
Plan B For Navigation
Scientists and engineers are exploring alternative navigation systems against the possibility of GPS failing.
From ACM Careers
Here's How One Hacker Is Waging War on the Syrian Government
As President Obama weighed U.S. air strikes in Syria this week, a lone American hacker was waging his own attack on the Syrian government.
From ACM News
Researcher Controls Colleague's Motions in First Human Brain-to-Brain Interface
University of Washington researchers have performed what they believe is the first noninvasive human-to-human brain interface, with one researcher able to send a brain signal via the Internet to control the hand motions of a…
From ACM News
Nasa's Mars Curiosity Debuts Autonomous Navigation
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has used autonomous navigation for the first time, a capability that lets the rover decide for itself how to drive safely on Mars.
From ACM News
How Scholars Hack the World of Academic Publishing Now
If you want to understand the modern academy, it wouldn't hurt to start at "impact factor."
From ACM News
The New York Times Web Site Was Taken Down By Dns Hijacking. Here's What That Means.
Just weeks after The Washington Post had our own run-in with the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA), the New York Times is down, and the SEA is claiming responsibility.
From ACM TechNews
Princeton Researchers se Mobile Phones to Measure Happiness
Researchers used mobile phones to capture information in a study exploring the connection between environment and happiness.
From ACM TechNews
A Glimpse Into the Future of Robotic Technology
The European Union-funded EYESHOTS project has developed a model robot that can acquire awareness of its surroundings and use its memory to reach for objects.
From ACM TechNews
Hacked Feature Phone Can Block Other People's Calls
A few changes to a standard phone can block calls and text messages intended for nearby users of the same GSM cellular network.
From ACM TechNews
Computer Science Teacher Certification 'deeply Flawed,' Report Says
State systems for certifying computer science teachers are fundamentally flawed, according to a report from the Computer Science Teachers Association.
From ACM TechNews
Ios and Android Weaknesses Allow Stealthy Pilfering of Website Credentials
A weakness in both the iOS and Android mobile operating systems makes it possible for hackers to steal sensitive user data and login credentials.