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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.


E-Zpasses Get Read All Over New York (not Just at Toll Booths)
From ACM News

E-Zpasses Get Read All Over New York (not Just at Toll Booths)

After spotting a police car with two huge boxes on its trunk—that turned out to be license-plate-reading cameras—a man in New Jersey became obsessed with the loss...

Life After Siri: Nuance's ­phill Climb To Being Your Digital Assistant
From ACM Opinion

Life After Siri: Nuance's ­phill Climb To Being Your Digital Assistant

In the gleaming Silicon Valley branch office of speech-recognition firm Nuance Communications, a small room has been made to look like a homey den.

IBM Develops Programming Language Inspired By the Human Brain
From ACM TechNews

IBM Develops Programming Language Inspired By the Human Brain

IBM has created a programming architecture for a cognitive computer chip inspired by the human brain.

Your Body Is the Computer
From ACM News

Your Body Is the Computer

The last few years have presented an unprecedented shift in the computing world as PCs are being replaced with mobile devices. But now that a large portion of the...

Pin-Punching Robot Can Crack Your Phone's Security Code In Less Than 24 Hours
From ACM News

Pin-Punching Robot Can Crack Your Phone's Security Code In Less Than 24 Hours

There's nothing particularly difficult about cracking a smartphone’s four-digit PIN code.

Microsoft Gives ­ser Data to the ­.s. Government Less Often Than Google, But to Foreign Governments Far More
From ACM News

Microsoft Gives ­ser Data to the ­.s. Government Less Often Than Google, But to Foreign Governments Far More

Microsoft has finally joined Google and a small group of Internet firms that voluntarily reveal how often governments demand they hand over their users’ private...

Cryptographers Demonstrate New Crack For Common Web Encryption
From ACM News

Cryptographers Demonstrate New Crack For Common Web Encryption

It's long been known that one of the oldest and most widely used standards for encrypting Web sites has some serious weaknesses. But one group of researchers has...

Here's What Law Enforcement Can Recover From a Seized Iphone
From ACM News

Here's What Law Enforcement Can Recover From a Seized Iphone

You may think of your iPhone as a friendly personal assistant. But once it’s alone in a room full of law enforcement officials, you might be surprised at the revealing...

Google Offers $3.14159 Million in Total Rewards For Chrome Os Hacking Contest
From ACM Careers

Google Offers $3.14159 Million in Total Rewards For Chrome Os Hacking Contest

Google has never been stingy when it comes to paying for information about security vulnerabilities in products.

Security Flaw In Common Keycard Locks Exploited In String Of Hotel Room Break-Ins
From ACM News

Security Flaw In Common Keycard Locks Exploited In String Of Hotel Room Break-Ins

Whoever robbed Janet Wolf's hotel room did his work discreetly.

How I Accidentally Helped Compromise the Secret Keys of High-Security Handcuffs
From ACM Opinion

How I Accidentally Helped Compromise the Secret Keys of High-Security Handcuffs

In the age of freely available modeling software, laser cutters and 3D printers, shapes that must stay secret for security's sake don't stay secret for long. Especially...

More Mobile News Consumers Choosing Web Over Apps
From ACM News

More Mobile News Consumers Choosing Web Over Apps

Mobile apps were supposed to be the reset button for the news industry.

U.s. Law Enforcement Is Tracking Who Calls, Texts, and Emails Whom More Often Than Ever Before
From ACM News

U.s. Law Enforcement Is Tracking Who Calls, Texts, and Emails Whom More Often Than Ever Before

Law enforcement isn't just interested in what Americans are saying on the phone or on the Internet.

Meet 'rakshasa,' The Malware Infection Designed To Be ­ndetectable And Incurable
From ACM News

Meet 'rakshasa,' The Malware Infection Designed To Be ­ndetectable And Incurable

Malicious software, like all software, gets smarter all the time. In recent years it’s learned to destroy physical infrastructure, install itself through Microsoft...

Want To Find Jay-Z's Or Bill Gates' Private Jets? Openbarr Tracks 'untrackable' Flights
From ACM News

Want To Find Jay-Z's Or Bill Gates' Private Jets? Openbarr Tracks 'untrackable' Flights

Good news for paparazzi, stalkers, and corporate spies: "Private" jets are about to become significantly less private.

DARPA-Funded Researcher Can Take Over Android And Nokia Phones By Merely Waving Another Device Near Them
From ACM News

DARPA-Funded Researcher Can Take Over Android And Nokia Phones By Merely Waving Another Device Near Them

Smartphones' growing adoption of so-called "near field communications" promises to let the device in your pocket wirelessly make payments, beam info to other phones...

Hacker Opens High Security Handcuffs with 3D-Printed and Laser-Cut Keys
From ACM News

Hacker Opens High Security Handcuffs with 3D-Printed and Laser-Cut Keys

The security of high-end handcuffs depends on a detainee not having access to certain small, precisely-shaped objects. In the age of easy 3D printing and other...

New Grad Looking For a Job? Pentagon Contractors Post Openings For Black-Hat Hackers
From ACM Careers

New Grad Looking For a Job? Pentagon Contractors Post Openings For Black-Hat Hackers

Mikko Hypponen enjoys his position as the chief research officer at the Helsinki-based security firm F-Secure. He has no intention of leaving. But lately, he's...

Here's The Best (and Prettiest) Way To See Exactly How You're Being Tracked Online
From ACM News

Here's The Best (and Prettiest) Way To See Exactly How You're Being Tracked Online

Firefox-browser provider Mozilla has released an awesome new tool for seeing how you're being tracked on the Web.

DARPA-Funded Hacker's Tiny $50 Spy Computer Hides in Offices, Drops From Drones
From ACM TechNews

DARPA-Funded Hacker's Tiny $50 Spy Computer Hides in Offices, Drops From Drones

A U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency researcher has developed the Falling or Ballistically-launched Object that Makes Backdoors (F-BOMB), a sensor-equipped...
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