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subjectHuman Computer Interaction
authorNew Scientist
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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.


'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...

Future on Display: Technology You'll Want to Stroke
From ACM News

Future on Display: Technology You'll Want to Stroke

Whatever you might expect from the latest computer technology, fur is unlikely to be one of them.

From ACM News

Google, Twitter, and Facebook Build the Semantic Web

A truly meaningful way of interacting with the web may finally be here, and it is called the semantic web. The idea was proposed over a decade ago by Tim Berners...

Perfecting Synthetic Sounds For Animated Worlds
From ACM News

Perfecting Synthetic Sounds For Animated Worlds

If computers can generate the imagery in animated movies like Toy Story 3 and Despicable Me, why can't they also generate the sound effects to go with them?

Social Web: The Great Tipping Point Test
From ACM News

Social Web: The Great Tipping Point Test

Every move you make, every twitter feed you update, somebody is watching you. You may not think twice about it, but if you use a social networking site, a cellphone...

Twitter Mood Maps Reveal Emotional States of America
From ACM News

Twitter Mood Maps Reveal Emotional States of America

America, are you happy? The emotional words contained in hundreds of millions of messages posted to the Twitter website may hold the answer.

From ACM News

Google May Know Your Desires Before You Do

Google attempts to return relevant search results in the blink of an eye. But in future it could go one better, delivering search results to its users even before...

Shrewd Search Engines Know What You Want
From ACM News

Shrewd Search Engines Know What You Want

For better or worse, search engines have become the gateway to the Web. They help users to find information, advertisers to sell products—they even help hackers...

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...

Search Engines Learn How to Watch and Listen to Video
From ACM News

Search Engines Learn How to Watch and Listen to Video

 Missed the winning goal in that crucial football match at the 2010 FIFA World Cup? Just get on the net and you'll find hours of user-generated video content of...

From ACM News

The Tech Refresher Russia's Spies Needed

From James Bond to Johnny English, the movies give us the impression that spies are top of the tree when it comes to money-no-object espionage technology. But that...

Drone Alone: How Airliners May Lose Their Pilots
From ACM News

Drone Alone: How Airliners May Lose Their Pilots

Would you fly in an airliner knowing there were no pilots in the cockpit? This is no mere hypothetical question. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration is taking...

From ACM News

Microsoft's Kinect Isn't Just For Games

Microsoft's long-awaited body-sensing technology, Project Natal, got a new name last week at the E3 expo in Los Angeles. Kinect, as it is now called, is a set-top...

19th-Century Tech Makes a Smarter iPhone
From ACM News

19th-Century Tech Makes a Smarter iPhone

Rarely has 19th-century technology stirred an audience of 21st-century technophiles as it did last week when Apple co-founder Steve Jobs revealed that the next-generation...

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.

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...

Teaching Robots Some Manners
From ACM TechNews

Teaching Robots Some Manners

People are more likely to adapt to and use robots if they behave more like humans, even if that means they operate less efficiently. 

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...

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,...
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