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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.


­.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...

From ACM TechNews

Organic Crystals Promise Low-Power Green Computing

Researchers at Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology have discovered ferroelectric behavior in crystalline croconic acid, which...

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...

Learning to Love to Hate Robots
From ACM TechNews

Learning to Love to Hate Robots

Several studies have recently been conducted to determine how humans and robots interact and how to improve the human-robot relationship. For example, a Carnegie...

Five Ways to Revolutionize Computer Memory
From ACM TechNews

Five Ways to Revolutionize Computer Memory

Various technologies are under development in labs worldwide to dramatically enhance computer memory capacity beyond that of flash memory. 

Paper Screens Could Provide Depth to Computer Display
From ACM TechNews

Paper Screens Could Provide Depth to Computer Display

Researchers have designed an inexpensive interface system that uses a ceiling-mounted projector and an infrared camera to detect the placement of objects on a horizontal...

Medibots: The World's Smallest Surgeons
From ACM News

Medibots: The World's Smallest Surgeons

A man lies comatose on an operating table. The enormous spider that hangs above him has plunged four appendages into his belly. The spider, made of white steel,...

From ACM News

Quantum Computers Are Coming

WHATEVER happened to quantum computers? A few years ago, it seemed, it was just a case of a tweak here, a fiddle there, and some kind of number-crunching Godzilla...

Electronics 'Missing Link' ­nited With Rest of the Family
From ACM TechNews

Electronics 'Missing Link' ­nited With Rest of the Family

Memristors were identified by Hewlett-Packard (HP) as the missing link of electronics 18 months ago, and since then the same team of HP researchers has upgraded...

Fly-By-Wireless Set For Take-Off
From ACM TechNews

Fly-By-Wireless Set For Take-Off

Aircraft manufacturers eager to reduce the weight of planes are looking into the replacement of copper wiring with wireless networks. Imbuing fly-by-wireless networks...

Lobsters Teach Robots Magnetic Mapping Trick
From ACM TechNews

Lobsters Teach Robots Magnetic Mapping Trick

Computer scientist Janne Haverinen reports that a small wheeled robot was able to use a magnetic map to determine where it was in a hospital and move along a corridor...

New Microprocessor Runs on Thin Air
From ACM TechNews

New Microprocessor Runs on Thin Air

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor researchers Minsoung Rhee and Mark Burns have developed a series of channels and valves that process binary signals by sucking...

'spiderbots' Talk Amongst Themselves Inside Active Volcano
From ACM TechNews

'spiderbots' Talk Amongst Themselves Inside Active Volcano

A group of "spiderbots" released inside Mount St. Helens in Washington is the first network of volcano sensors capable of automatically communicating with each...

From ACM TechNews

Robots to Get Their Own Operating System

Robots are limited by the fact that they are often designed and built in isolation for specific functions, and roboticists have started to consider what aspects...

Space Probe to Sport 'transforming' Hardware
From ACM TechNews

Space Probe to Sport 'transforming' Hardware

A new satellite, planned for launch in 2012, will contain a flight computer built with field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) that can be completely reconfigured...

Dark Flash Camera Takes Photos Without the Glare
From ACM TechNews

Dark Flash Camera Takes Photos Without the Glare

New York University researchers have developed a camera that uses ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (IR) light to take photos in the dark without the use of a traditional...

From ACM TechNews

Robo-Wheels Go Where Caterpillar Tracks Fear to Tread

Rescue robots could be more useful in snowy conditions thanks to an adjustable wheel that has been developed by researchers in Japan. A team led by Taro Iwamoto...
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