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subjectPersonal Computing
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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.


Why Are Countries Creating Public Random Number Generators?
From ACM News

Why Are Countries Creating Public Random Number Generators?

In Chile, politicians resent the Comptroller General, which audits government officials to prevent corruption.

This Computer Knows When to Hold 'em, Knows When to Fold 'em
From ACM News

This Computer Knows When to Hold 'em, Knows When to Fold 'em

Card sharks, beware. A new program cannot be beaten at a variety of poker called heads-up limit Texas Hold 'em—at least in a human lifetime—a team of computer scientists...

World Cup Kickoff Looms For Demo of Brain-Controlled Machine
From ACM Opinion

World Cup Kickoff Looms For Demo of Brain-Controlled Machine

During the World Cup next week, there may be 1 minute during the opening ceremony when the boisterous stadium crowd in São Paulo falls silent: when a paraplegic...

2013 Visualization Challenge
From ACM News

2013 Visualization Challenge

With a Ph.D. in neuroscience and a love of Asian art, it may have been inevitable that Greg Dunn would combine them to create sparse, striking illustrations of...

Computers Can Be Hacked Using High-Frequency Sound
From ACM News

Computers Can Be Hacked Using High-Frequency Sound

Using the microphones and speakers that come standard in many of today's laptop computers and mobile devices, hackers can secretly transmit and receive data using...

Will These Guys Kill The Computer Interface As We Know It?
From ACM News

Will These Guys Kill The Computer Interface As We Know It?

David Holz took the main stage at this year's South by Southwest Interactive, the annual innovation conference in Austin, Texas, looking like a hobbit on casual...

Researchers Reveal Next-Generation Emergency Response Technology
From ACM TechNews

Researchers Reveal Next-Generation Emergency Response Technology

New smartphone apps can virtually place 9-1-1 operators at the scene of an emergency. The software enables operators to remotely control smartphone cameras so they...

How Smart Is Your Home?
From ACM TechNews

How Smart Is Your Home?

Within reach is a smart home that is responsive to residents' wishes and needs due to technological advances that support ambient intelligence, including sensors...

How Facebook 'contagion' Spreads
From ACM News

How Facebook 'contagion' Spreads

To join Facebook or not to join Facebook? You might think the decision depends on how many of your friends are already on the social-networking site.

Will We Ever Learn to Live with Artificial Humans?
From ACM News

Will We Ever Learn to Live with Artificial Humans?

How Japan's AKB48 has created a new level of artificial human—and what it tells us about the infamous Uncanny Valley.

Disabled Patients Mind-Meld With Robots
From ACM News

Disabled Patients Mind-Meld With Robots

They're not quite psychic yet, but machines are getting better at reading your mind. Researchers have invented a new, noninvasive method for recording patterns...

From ACM News

Geo-Immersion Makes Maps Come Alive

When it comes to mapping the real world on computers, University of Southern California computer scientist Cyrus Shahabi takes his work to a whole new dimension...

From ACM News

Mind-Controlled

Video games can be mesmerizing, even for a rhesus monkey. Which may explain, in part, why six-year-old Jasper has been sitting transfixed at a computer screen...

Information Flow Can Reveal Dirty Deeds
From ACM News

Information Flow Can Reveal Dirty Deeds

Political thrillers that portray a "web of corruption" get it all wrong, at least according to an analysis of emails between Enron employees. The flow of the...

Technique for Letting Brain Talk to Computers Now Tunes in Speech
From ACM News

Technique for Letting Brain Talk to Computers Now Tunes in Speech

The act of mind reading is something usually reserved for science-fiction movies but researchers in America have used a technique, usually associated with identifying...

How a Computer Program Became Classical Music's Hot, New Composer
From ACM TechNews

How a Computer Program Became Classical Music's Hot, New Composer

University of California, Santa Cruz professor David Cope has developed Emily Howell, a music-composing program that generates its own compositions by following...

Teens Getting Creative With Web 2.0 Tools
From ACM News

Teens Getting Creative With Web 2.0 Tools

A pilot study shows that teens were able to use Web 2.0 technological tools in new and innovative ways to connect with each other—ways that the tools' creators...

Xo Laptops Inspire Learning In Birmingham Grade Schools
From ACM News

Xo Laptops Inspire Learning In Birmingham Grade Schools

Researchers examine the educational and social effects of making XO laptops available in select classrooms, and their impact on student outcomes.

Cell Phones That Protect Against Deadly Chemicals? Why Not?
From ACM News

Cell Phones That Protect Against Deadly Chemicals? Why Not?

The Cell-All initiative aims to equip cell phones with a sensor capable of detecting deadly chemicals and alerting the public of their danger.

Handheld Camera Brings 'invisible' Into View
From ACM News

Handheld Camera Brings 'invisible' Into View

A group of researchers at Missouri University of Science and Technology has developed a handheld camera that uses microwave signals to non-destructively peek inside...
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