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An edited collection of advanced computing news from Communications of the ACM, ACM TechNews, other ACM resources, and news sites around the Web.


Visiting Mauna Kea, the World's Best Spot For Stargazing
From ACM News

Visiting Mauna Kea, the World's Best Spot For Stargazing

I was recently having lunch at a lovely and only slightly overpriced cafe overlooking the Pacific in the historic resort region of Kailua-Kona on the dry side of...

Humans Came Long After Aliens, Scientist Suggests
From ACM News

Humans Came Long After Aliens, Scientist Suggests

I've never thought of humanity as being especially advanced.

Are We in the Matrix? Science Looks For Signs We're Not Real
From ACM News

Are We in the Matrix? Science Looks For Signs We're Not Real

Over the years, some science fiction has popularized the notion that our world might not be what it seems—that we might all be living in the Matrix (to use perhaps...

Remembering Legendary Enigma Code Breaker Mavis Batey
From ACM News

Remembering Legendary Enigma Code Breaker Mavis Batey

Cracking one of the most complicated cipher devices ever created—the Enigma machine—may not have been what Britain's Mavis Batey envisioned when she studied the...

Ibm Seeks to Marry Biological and Artificial Computing
From ACM TechNews

Ibm Seeks to Marry Biological and Artificial Computing

IBM is seeking insights about biological and artificial computing by building next-generation systems that meld concepts from both worlds. 

Nvidia's Graphics Brawn Powers Supercomputing Brains
From ACM News

Nvidia's Graphics Brawn Powers Supercomputing Brains

Nvidia, trying to move its graphics chips into the supercomputing market, has found a niche helping engineers build brain-like systems called neural networks.

Graphics Gurus Master Wispy Hair, Snowballs, Torn Paper
From ACM News

Graphics Gurus Master Wispy Hair, Snowballs, Torn Paper

The computer graphics industry has an insatiable appetite for realism, and researchers next month will show how they plan to feed it with innovations in computerized...

Amateur Effort Finds New Largest Prime Number
From ACM News

Amateur Effort Finds New Largest Prime Number

The Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS) project has scored its 14th consecutive victory, discovering the largest prime number so far.

Ito: Think Twice About Immortality and the Singularity
From ACM Opinion

Ito: Think Twice About Immortality and the Singularity

Ray Kurzweil's vision of the "singularity"—when nanobots make humans immortal and computer progress is so fast that the future becomes profoundly unknowable—is...

Moore's Law: The Rule That Really Matters in Tech
From ACM TechNews

Moore's Law: The Rule That Really Matters in Tech

Moore's Law has sustained its momentum despite worries of it hitting its physical limits, thanks to materials scientists' progress in getting more computing power...

Slow, But Rugged, Curiosity's Computer Was Built For Mars
From ACM News

Slow, But Rugged, Curiosity's Computer Was Built For Mars

The electronic brain controlling NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has far less horsepower than the microchips typically found in a modern smart phone.

Bravely Going Where Pixar Animation Tech Has Never Gone
From ACM News

Bravely Going Where Pixar Animation Tech Has Never Gone

As people, we understand instinctively what flowing hair looks like. Or the way layers of clothes move on someone's body, or how water would splash when a bear...

Jeff Jaffe Lights a Fire ­nder Web Standardization
From ACM Opinion

Jeff Jaffe Lights a Fire ­nder Web Standardization

 It's been an action-packed two years since Jeff Jaffe took over as the World Wide Web Consortium's chief executive, but more action is the order of the day at...

From ACM News

Patent Grants Hit All-Time High in 2011; Ibm Leads the Way

Patents were a hot-button issue in 2011, so there's no wonder so many companies were filling their portfolios with new intellectual property all year.

Microsoft Sees Screens Everywhere in Futuristic Video
From ACM News

Microsoft Sees Screens Everywhere in Futuristic Video

Say what you will about Microsoft's execution in developing cool products and services consumers want, where rivals such as Apple and Google have stolen a beat...

Kevin Mitnick Shows How Easy It Is to Hack a Phone
From ACM News

Kevin Mitnick Shows How Easy It Is to Hack a Phone

British tabloid News of the World said it is closing down over a phone hacking scandal in which workers for the Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper allegedly snooped...

Google+ Contributor and Mac Pioneer Talks with CNET
From ACM Opinion

Google+ Contributor and Mac Pioneer Talks with CNET

Thirty years ago, Andy Hertzfeld was a young computer engineer working at Apple Computer on the first Macintosh under the leadership of Steve Jobs. As Jobs had...

Bin Laden's Computers Will Test U.s. Forensics
From ACM News

Bin Laden's Computers Will Test U.s. Forensics

For the U.S. government, the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan represents a unique opportunity to test advanced computer forensics techniques called...

Kinect For Windows Sdk Means Business
From ACM News

Kinect For Windows Sdk Means Business

Microsoft had some fun while offering up details of the software development kit for Kinect for Windows. A technology evangelist named Clint Rutkas jury-rigged...

IBM Says It Knows How Bad Your Commute Will Be
From ACM News

IBM Says It Knows How Bad Your Commute Will Be

If you're a commuter stuck in traffic, it doesn't help you all that much to know what road conditions are like right now. You already know you're being delayed...
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