acm-header
Sign In

Communications of the ACM

News


Latest News News Archive Refine your search:
subjectComputers And Society
authorNew Scientist
bg-corner

An edited collection of advanced computing news from Communications of the ACM, ACM TechNews, other ACM resources, and news sites around the Web.


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...

Frank Moss: Tech to Help Those Who Can't Help Themselves
From ACM TechNews

Frank Moss: Tech to Help Those Who Can't Help Themselves

Frank Moss, head of the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, says there are real opportunities in developing technology for disabled or disadvantaged...

Amputees Could Get a Helping Hand in the Virtual World
From ACM News

Amputees Could Get a Helping Hand in the Virtual World

What is the best way to for someone to get used to their artificial limb? Put them in a virtual environment. So says Anthony Steed, a computer scientist at University...

Safety Issues Loom as Humanoid Invasion Approaches
From ACM TechNews

Safety Issues Loom as Humanoid Invasion Approaches

As robot technology advances, and their use puts them in closer contact with humans, safety has become a top priority for some researchers. 

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...

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...

How Crowdsourcing Is Helping in Haiti
From ACM TechNews

How Crowdsourcing Is Helping in Haiti

The revolution in texting, social networking, and crowdsourcing has enabled innovations such as the 4636 texting service, which is aiding the disaster relief efforts...

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...

Smart Cctv Learns to Spot Suspicious Types
From ACM TechNews

Smart Cctv Learns to Spot Suspicious Types

An international team of computer scientists at Queen Mary, University of London are developing intelligent video-surveillance software designed to spot suspicious...

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 TechNews

Theme-Park Dummy Trick Becomes Teleconference Tool

A trick used in theme-park animatronics could help people act more naturally during videoconferences. Shader lamps is a technique that projects an animated face...

Living Wallpaper That Devices Can Relate To
From ACM TechNews

Living Wallpaper That Devices Can Relate To

The Living Wall project, led by Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab researcher Leah Buechley, features an electronically enhanced wallpaper that can...

Free-Flying Cyborg Insects Steered From a Distance
From ACM TechNews

Free-Flying Cyborg Insects Steered From a Distance

Engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, have connected electrodes and radio antennas to the nervous systems of beetles and then were able to control...

From ACM TechNews

Computer Detects Abuse Before Doctors

Ben Reis at Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School led a research team that developed software that could spot warning signs of domestic abuse. 

Aid Agencies Turn to Open-Source Software
From ACM TechNews

Aid Agencies Turn to Open-Source Software

Wesleyan University and Trinity College students have developed Collabbit, software that acts as a virtual emergency response center. Collabbit serves as a central...
Sign In for Full Access
» Forgot Password? » Create an ACM Web Account