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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.


Computerized Critics Could Find the Music You'll Like
From ACM TechNews

Computerized Critics Could Find the Music You'll Like

University of California, San Diego artificial intelligence researcher Luke Barrington is developing software that can analyze a piece of music and compile information...

Thumbs Up For Gesture-Based Computing
From ACM News

Thumbs Up For Gesture-Based Computing

Fashion crime it may be, but a multicoloured dayglo glove could bring Minority Report-style computing to your home PC.

Impossible Figures Brought to Life in Virtual Worlds
From ACM TechNews

Impossible Figures Brought to Life in Virtual Worlds

Chinese University of Hong Kong computer scientists have developed software that depicts physically impossible images in three-dimensional virtual environments. ...

Why Labs Love Gaming Hardware
From ACM News

Why Labs Love Gaming Hardware

Blasting zombies may seem to have little to do with serious research, but video game hardware is helping scientists in a variety of ways including helping them...

Army of Smartphone Chips Could Emulate the Human Brain
From ACM News

Army of Smartphone Chips Could Emulate the Human Brain

If you have a smartphone, you probably have a slice of Steve Furber's brain in your pocket. By the time you read this, his 1-billion-neuron silicon brain will be...

Putting the Touch Into Touchscreens
From ACM News

Putting the Touch Into Touchscreens

Your eyes tell you that your hand is locked in a vice-like mechanical device, but your fingertips tell you you're stroking fur. Welcome to the world of haptics,...

From ACM TechNews

Barcodes Help Objects Tell Their Stories

Five U.K. academic institutions have collaborated to create the Tales of Things, a Web site based on the concept of the Internet of things that enables users to...

Hand-Held Projector Images Respond to the Real World
From ACM TechNews

Hand-Held Projector Images Respond to the Real World

A prototype of a handheld projector created virtual characters that interacted with the real world at the recent Virtual Reality 2010 meeting in Waltham, MA.

Touch Floors Could Be Next Step in Computer Interfaces
From ACM News

Touch Floors Could Be Next Step in Computer Interfaces

Imagine entering your living room and sliding your foot purposefully over a particular stretch of floor. Your hi-fi system springs to life, pumping out the sounds...

Can We Make a Conscious Machine?
From ACM News

Can We Make a Conscious Machine?

Challenges don't get much bigger than trying to create artificial consciousness. Some doubt if it can be done--or if it ever should. Bolder researchers are notAntonio...

From ACM News

Are Machines Ready to Break Down Language Barriers?

Even in an era of global networks and cheap travel, international communication still faces one great barrier: we don't all speak the same language. But that gap...

From ACM TechNews

Boring Conversation? Let Your Computer Listen For You

Researchers are developing software that can make conversing with a computer more productive. Existing automatic speech recognition technology is unreliable. 

From ACM News

Cellphone Traces Reveal You're So Predictable

We may all like to consider ourselves free spirits. But a study of the traces left by 50,000 cellphone users over three months has conclusively proved otherwise...

From ACM News

Typos May Earn Google $500m a Year

Google may be earning $500 million a year via companies and individuals who register deceptive Web site addresses. The claim centers on a controversial scheme known...

­.s. Networks and Power Grid ­nder (mock) Cyber-Attack
From ACM News

­.s. Networks and Power Grid ­nder (mock) Cyber-Attack

Unknown hackers have taken out U.S. cellphone networks in an ongoing cyber-attack that will soon knock out parts of the nation's electricity grid – say the officials...

Smart Dust Could Give Early Warning of Space Storms
From ACM News

Smart Dust Could Give Early Warning of Space Storms

A SWARM of "smart dust" spacecraft, positioned at a sweet spot between the Earth and the sun, could alert us to the approach of dangerous space storms well before...

Unplugged: Goodbye Cables, Hello Energy Beams
From ACM News

Unplugged: Goodbye Cables, Hello Energy Beams

LET'S face it: power cables are unsightly dust-traps. PCs, TVs and music players are becoming slicker every year, but the nest of vipers in the corner of everyAn...

From ACM News

Touchscreen Merges the Real and Digital Worlds

For all the advances in table-top and tablet computing, some design professionals will always prefer the feel of pen on paper to stylus on glass. A new device could...

From ACM News

Microsoft's Body-Sensing, Button-Busting Controller

A LONG-lived videogaming skill could be on the way out this year as Microsoft hones an add-on to its Xbox 360 console aimed at making button-studded games controllers...

Motion-Sensing Phones That Predict Your Every Move
From ACM TechNews

Motion-Sensing Phones That Predict Your Every Move

Technical University of Delft researchers have developed a smartphone program that learns users' behavior patterns to provide better cell phone service. The program...
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