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subjectComputer Applications
authorScientific American
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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.


How Microsoft's 1 Percenters Balance Basic Research with Short-Term Success
From ACM Opinion

How Microsoft's 1 Percenters Balance Basic Research with Short-Term Success

When Microsoft launched its research labs in 1991, the personal computer was just beginning to blossom into a worldwide phenomenon, thanks in no small part to Windows...

Supercomputer-Driven Materials Design
From ACM News

Supercomputer-Driven Materials Design

The job of a materials scientist—to warp matter into new and useful forms—has historically involved a ridiculous amount of guesswork.

Will Ibm's Watson ­sher in a New Era of Cognitive Computing?
From ACM Opinion

Will Ibm's Watson ­sher in a New Era of Cognitive Computing?

Computers as we know them have are close to reaching an inflection point—the next generation is in sight but not quite within our grasp.

What Is 4d Printing?
From ACM Opinion

What Is 4d Printing?

The biggest breakthroughs in how we make things lie not in the technology to manipulate materials but in the materials themselves.

Software Firm Claims Breakthrough in Computer Vision Will Lead to Better AI
From ACM News

Software Firm Claims Breakthrough in Computer Vision Will Lead to Better AI

Luis von Ahn has heard it all before.

Intel Sees a Future Where We Will Form 'relationships' with Our Gadgets
From ACM Opinion

Intel Sees a Future Where We Will Form 'relationships' with Our Gadgets

Rugged individualists aside, many people find themselves increasingly connected not just to one another but also to the devices that make those connections possible...

2013 Chemistry Nobel Goes to Computer Modeling of Chemical Reactions
From ACM News

2013 Chemistry Nobel Goes to Computer Modeling of Chemical Reactions

What is actually happening at the atomic scale when two elements react?

How the Fifa 14 Soccer Video Game Finally Got Its Physics Right
From ACM News

How the Fifa 14 Soccer Video Game Finally Got Its Physics Right

When the soccer video game FIFA 14 went on sale last week, it boasted a ball that, at long last, could sail smartly through the air.

Cache and Not Carry: Next Mars Rover to Collect Samples For Return to Earth—someday
From ACM News

Cache and Not Carry: Next Mars Rover to Collect Samples For Return to Earth—someday

Have rover, need payload. That's the state of things for NASA, which is planning to launch its next rover to Mars in 2020.

Nsa Efforts to Evade Encryption Technology Damaged ­.s. Cryptography Standard
From ACM News

Nsa Efforts to Evade Encryption Technology Damaged ­.s. Cryptography Standard

In the three months since Edward Snowden began his whistle-blowing campaign against the National Security Agency (NSA) the former government contractor has exposed...

Fact or Fiction: Encryption Prevents Digital Eavesdropping
From ACM News

Fact or Fiction: Encryption Prevents Digital Eavesdropping

Since the dawn of the Web and ubiquitous free e-mail services over the past two decades, the need to secure personal information online has been evident but often...

Manage Your Smart Home with a Single Gesture
From ACM News

Manage Your Smart Home with a Single Gesture

Our homes will get a lot smarter in the coming years, allowing us to use a smartphone to manage an integrated system of appliances and other electronics from any...

How Social Media Is Changing Disaster Response
From ACM News

How Social Media Is Changing Disaster Response

When Hurricane Katrina ravaged the U.S. Gulf Coast in 2005, Facebook was the new kid on the block. There was no Twitter for news updates, and the iPhone was not...

When Will Smartglasses and Other Wearable Computers Hit the Mainstream?
From ACM Opinion

When Will Smartglasses and Other Wearable Computers Hit the Mainstream?

Google has stoked our collective imagination via relentless promotion of its Google Glass wearable computer in recent months.

In the Fog of Battle Acoustic Sensors Pinpoint Gunfire By Measuring Air Movement
From ACM News

In the Fog of Battle Acoustic Sensors Pinpoint Gunfire By Measuring Air Movement

Sensors originally designed to alert pilots of single-engine planes to the location of nearby aircraft are instead finding a military role locating unseen battle...

The Reading Brain in the Digital Age: The Science of Paper Versus Screens
From ACM News

The Reading Brain in the Digital Age: The Science of Paper Versus Screens

In a viral YouTube video from October 2011 a one-year-old girl sweeps her fingers across an iPad's touchscreen, shuffling groups of icons.

Is High-Tech Security at Public Events Counterproductive?
From ACM Opinion

Is High-Tech Security at Public Events Counterproductive?

Which is more intrusive: security screening and metal detectors every few blocks, or a drone flying high above it taking video of every little thing you do?

Crash Course: Training the Brain of a Driverless Car
From ACM News

Crash Course: Training the Brain of a Driverless Car

Early attempts at driverless cars have had little difficulty gathering the loads of data required to operate autonomously.

Small Gadgets That Make You Healthier
From ACM News

Small Gadgets That Make You Healthier

At any moment, someone in the U.S. most likely is having an asthma attack.

When Will the Internet Reach Its Limit (and How Do We Stop It from Happening)?
From ACM Opinion

When Will the Internet Reach Its Limit (and How Do We Stop It from Happening)?

The number of smartphones, tablets and other network-connected gadgets will outnumber humans by the end of the year.
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