Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
September 2019
From ACM TechNews
Google Draws House Antitrust Scrutiny of Internet Protocol
Congressional antitrust investigators are vetting Google's plans to use a new Internet protocol out of worry it could limit competitors' access to consumer data.
From ACM TechNews
Smart Cities Could Give Visually Impaired New Outlook on Urban Life
Smart-city projects promise to enhance the quality of life for the visually impaired, with Poland's Virtual Warsaw initiative a case in point.
From ACM TechNews
When It Comes to Robots, Reliability May Matter More Than Reasoning
A study by U.S. Army Research Laboratory and University of Central Florida found that human confidence in robots decreases after a robot makes a mistake, even when its reasoning process is transparent.
From ACM TechNews
Hackers Say They Took Over Vote Scanners Like Those Coming to Georgia
A report from the DEF CON Voting Machine Hacking Village conference described the discovery of a hack for commandeering ballot-scanning machines similar to those soon to be deployed in Georgia.
From ACM TechNews
Virtual Airport to Improve Accessibility for Passengers with Additional Mobility Needs
Scientists in the U.K. have built a virtual airport environment in order to find ways to improve the air travel experience for passengers with mobility restrictions.
From ACM TechNews
Huawei Suspended From Global Forum Aimed at Combating Cybersecurity Breaches
Huawei Technologies' membership in the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams has been suspended.
From ACM TechNews
At Least 70 Countries Have Had Disinformation Campaigns, Study Finds
Researchers have found that governments worldwide are stepping up their online disinformation campaigns despite more aggressive regulatory efforts by Internet platforms and governments.
From ACM TechNews
Croc-Spotting Drone Patrol Takes Off Down Under
High-tech aerial drones known as "croc spotters," which patrol along riverbeds to detect crocodiles, recently were tested in Cairns, Queensland, Australia.
From ACM News
Number Theorist Fears All Published Math Is Wrong
"I think there is a non-zero chance that some of our great castles are built on sand," he said, arguing that we must begin to rely on AI to verify proofs.
From ACM TechNews
Decoding How Kids Get Into Hacking
Michigan State University's Thomas Holt identified characteristics and gender-specific behavioral patterns that could inspire children to become hackers.
From ACM TechNews
U.S. Energy Department Is First Customer for World's Biggest Chip
The U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories will be among the first organizations to deploy artificial intelligence computers built from the largest-ever silicon chip.
From ACM TechNews
Research Suggests How Environmental Toxin Produced by Algae May Lead to ALS
Pennsylvania State University researchers used a digital simulation to explore how a toxin generated by saltwater algae might cause Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.
From ACM TechNews
IBM Will Soon Launch 53-Bit Quantum Computer
IBM announced the forthcoming launch of a 53-quantum-bit (qubit) quantum computer, for use by IBM Q Network clients.
From ACM TechNews
Fast Swimming Fish Robot Could Perform Underwater Surveillance
University of Virginia researchers have built a fish-inspired robot that can swim as fast as actual fish, and faster than similar robots.
From ACM TechNews
Microsoft Poses Threat to Germany's Digital Sovereignty, Warns Study
An analysis by PricewaterhouseCoopers has confirmed that the German government is too dependent on the software of just a few software providers.
From ACM TechNews
U.S. Government Urged to Boost R&D Spending
The nonprofit Information Technology and Innovation Foundation think tank has called on the U.S. government to invest an additional $40 billion annually in technology research and development.
From ACM TechNews
Australia Using Technology to Catch Drivers on Phones
The Australian state of New South Wales will be the first jurisdiction in the world to use cameras to catch distracted drivers on their smartphones.
From ACM TechNews
Virtual Human Hand Simulation Holds Promise for Prosthetics, VR, Education
Researchers integrated visual effects techniques and magnetic resonance imaging to create an ultra-realistic animated simulation of the human hand in motion.
From ACM TechNews
Map Shows All the Code Connections Between Russia's Hacker Groups
Israeli cybersecurity firms Check Point and Intezer have charted Russian hackers' toolkits from wide-ranging analysis of 2,500 malware samples.
From ACM News
Fending Off Digital Sabotage
Sabotage-resistant industrial machinery combats Stuxnet-like attacks.
From ACM TechNews
PRACE Research Conducts Computer Simulations to Study Properties of Nanosized Particles
A doctoral dissertation at the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland demonstrated how computer models of nanosized particles predicted the atomic structure of a cluster of 11 gold atoms.
From ACM TechNews
A Robot with a Firm Yet Gentle Grasp
A new dynamic gripper mimics the adjustable grip of the human hand, a breakthrough that could improve industrial safety.
From ACM TechNews
Criminologist Builds Computer Model for More Efficient Police Patrols
Analysis by University of Texas at Dallas assistant professor of criminology Andrew Wheeler yielded a computer model to guide the Carrollton, TX, police department in optimizing patrol beats.
From ACM TechNews
AI Helps Shrink Amazon Dams' Greenhouse Gas Emissions
A model developed by a Cornell University-led research team uses artificial intelligence to find the most promising configurations of dam sites to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the Amazon basin.
From ACM TechNews
These States Benefit Most From the Software Industry
A report by the Software.org:BSA Foundation found that the U.S. software industry is growing twice as fast as the nation's economy.
From ACM TechNews
World Catching Up With China on Surveillance Tech
China is the global leader in surveillance technologies, although other countries are catching up, according to a study by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
From ACM TechNews
U.S. Gives 3 States Grants for Self-Driving Car Research
The U.S. Department of Transportation has issued Michigan, Ohio, and Virginia its first three Automated Driving Systems Demonstration Grants to research and develop autonomous vehicles.
From ACM TechNews
Introducing a Virtual Planet Simulator for Modeling Distant Worlds Across Time
The University of Washington's Rory Barnes has developed software for modeling planetary evolution over time.
From ACM TechNews
ACM Forms Global Technology Policy Council
ACM has established a new Technology Policy Council to coordinate its policy initiatives worldwide.
From ACM News
Aristotle Award Presentation TECHCON 2019
The Aristotle Award was initiated in 1995 to recognize professors who best contribute to the development of the industry's most valuable resource, its human resource.