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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.


Make Way for Mathematical Matter
From ACM News

Make Way for Mathematical Matter

We already have solid, liquid, gas, plasma and Bose-Einstein condensate. Now it seems we may be on the verge of discovering a whole host of new forms of matter...

Wireless at the Speed of Plasma
From ACM TechNews

Wireless at the Speed of Plasma

A new type of antenna could dramatically change high-speed wireless communications, miniature radar, and energy weapons. The antenna consists of thousands of diodes...

World's First Ice Touchscreen Virtually Burns
From ACM TechNews

World's First Ice Touchscreen Virtually Burns

Nokia researchers have built a computer touchscreen using a block of ice. The researchers say the screen is a step toward a world in which all sorts of surfaces...

From ACM TechNews

Ice and a Slice Makes Transistors More Precise

Transistors can be built more precisely by using ice as a mask, according to researchers at Harvard University. The ice lithography process resembles how computer...

From ACM News

Breaking the Noise Barrier: Enter the Phonon Computer

Noise is a chip designer's worst enemy. But handled properly it could become a powerful ally—and usher in the age of phonon computing.

From ACM News

Steampunk Chip Takes the Heat

Steampunk, the reimagining of modern day technology through a Victorian perspective, has found an unlikely follower in the US Defense Advanced Research Projects...

Wonder Conductors Will Spin ­p Cooler Computers
From ACM News

Wonder Conductors Will Spin ­p Cooler Computers

Newly discovered materials called topological insulators could clear the way for blisteringly fast laptops and smartphones that don't warm your lap or singe your...

From ACM News

Flawed Proof ­shers In Era of Wikimath

His prospects of answering one of the biggest questions in mathematics may be fading, but Vinay Deolalikar of Hewlett-Packard Labs in Palo Alto, California, may...

Atom Images Raise Quantum Computer Hopes
From ACM News

Atom Images Raise Quantum Computer Hopes

Fast quantum computers made of atoms trapped by beams of light could be a step closer, thanks to the first images of the individual atoms in such a grid.

From ACM News

Tide Turns Against Million-Dollar Maths Proof

Initially hailed as a solution to the biggest question in computer science, the latest attempt to prove P ≠ NP—otherwise known as the "P vs NP" problem—seems to...

From ACM News

Hiding Files in Flickr Pics Will Fool Web Censors

Life is about to become more difficult for countries trying to censor access to foreign Websites. A system dubbed Collage will allow users in these countries...

Gesture-Based Computing Takes a Serious Turn
From ACM News

Gesture-Based Computing Takes a Serious Turn

Call me a creature of habit, but I approach any new computer interface with a sense of apprehension.

'god Couldn't Do Faster': Rubik's Cube Mystery Solved
From ACM News

'god Couldn't Do Faster': Rubik's Cube Mystery Solved

It has taken 15 years to get to this point, but it is now clear that every possible scrambled arrangement of the Rubik's cube can be solved in a maximum of 20...

From ACM News

P ? Np? It's Bad News For the Power of Computing

Has the biggest question in computer science been solved? On 6 August, Vinay Deolalikar, a mathematician at Hewlett-Packard Labs in Palo Alto, California, sentdraft...

Artificial Life Forms Evolve Basic Intelligence
From ACM News

Artificial Life Forms Evolve Basic Intelligence

For generations, the Avidians have been cloning themselves quietly in a box. They're not perfect, but most of their mutations go unnoticed. Then something remarkable...

Team-Working Robots Huddle Together to Boost Comms
From ACM News

Team-Working Robots Huddle Together to Boost Comms

When you are in hostile territory, it pays to stick together—especially if you are a robot. Falling into line will be easier with an innovative communication system...

Crunching Cancer With Numbers
From ACM News

Crunching Cancer With Numbers

When Danny Hillis spent a day watching a top surgeon perform keyhole cancer surgery, he was left both exhilarated and depressed. The clinical precision with which...

Invisibility Cloaks and How to ­se Them
From ACM News

Invisibility Cloaks and How to ­se Them

The "invisibility cloaks" being made in labs today can hide objects when viewed from a wide range of directions and in visible light--both considered implausible...

Dna Logic Gates Herald Injectable Computers
From ACM TechNews

Dna Logic Gates Herald Injectable Computers

Hebrew University of Jerusalem researchers have developed DNA-based logic gates that could carry out calculations inside the body and may lead to injectable biocomputers...

From ACM TechNews

Nanotube Transistor Will Help US Bond With Machines

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers have developed a transistor, which they say could be a step toward making prosthetic devices that can be wired...
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