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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.


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.

Fashion Statement: Designer Creates Line of Drone-Proof Garments to Protect Privacy
From ACM News

Fashion Statement: Designer Creates Line of Drone-Proof Garments to Protect Privacy

As the U.S. government draws up plans to use surveillance drones in domestic airspace, opposition to what many consider an unwarranted and significant invasionprivacy...

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.

Chipmaker Races to Save Stephen Hawking's Speech as His Condition Deteriorates
From ACM Opinion

Chipmaker Races to Save Stephen Hawking's Speech as His Condition Deteriorates

Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking has long relied on technology to help him connect with the outside world despite the degenerative motor neuron disease he has...

Auto-Immune: 'symbiotes' Could Be Deployed to Thwart Cyber Attacks
From ACM News

Auto-Immune: 'symbiotes' Could Be Deployed to Thwart Cyber Attacks

Anti-hacker defenses have long focused mainly on protecting personal computers and servers in homes and offices.

Bluebrain: Noah Hutton's 10-Year Documentary About the Mission to Reverse Engineer the Human Brain
From ACM Opinion

Bluebrain: Noah Hutton's 10-Year Documentary About the Mission to Reverse Engineer the Human Brain

"Nothing quite like it exists yet, but we have begun building it," Henry Markram wrote in the June 2012 issue of Scientific American. He was referring to a "fantastic...

Gps-Free Tech Can Track Miners' and Soldiers' Boots ­nderground
From ACM News

Gps-Free Tech Can Track Miners' and Soldiers' Boots ­nderground

A mining crew is trapped deep underground after a cave-in. Firefighters run into a smoke-spewing high-rise to battle a violent blaze. A team of soldiers breaches...

Virtues of the Virtual Autopsy
From ACM News

Virtues of the Virtual Autopsy

Once a common medical procedure, the standard autopsy is passing out of use.

Quantum Manipulation and Measuring Win Nobel Prize in Physics
From ACM News

Quantum Manipulation and Measuring Win Nobel Prize in Physics

The 2012 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded jointly to Serge Haroche and David J. Wineland for experimental methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual...

Information Nation: Digital Social Experiment to Put a Human Face on Big Data
From ACM News

Information Nation: Digital Social Experiment to Put a Human Face on Big Data

Imagine seeing life through one eyeball but then being given the ability to view the world through two or even three eyeballs at once.

'part-Time' Scientists Aim to Develop Autonomous Rover to Compete For Lunar X Prize
From ACM News

'part-Time' Scientists Aim to Develop Autonomous Rover to Compete For Lunar X Prize

Some people try to make the most of their spare time by exercising, volunteering, or simply recharging their batteries. Others like to use that time to build robots...

Intel Futurist on Why We Should Not Fear the Future
From ACM Opinion

Intel Futurist on Why We Should Not Fear the Future

Much of Intel's success as a microprocessor manufacturer over the past four decades has come from the company's ability to understand and anticipate the future...

Amateur Astronomers Scour the Sky For Government Secrets
From ACM News

Amateur Astronomers Scour the Sky For Government Secrets

Earlier this year Iran's defense minister put the world on notice: His nation had developed the ability to "easily" watch spacewalking astronauts from the ground...

Pentagon Looks to Dna from Plants to Foil Electronic Component Counterfeiters
From ACM News

Pentagon Looks to Dna from Plants to Foil Electronic Component Counterfeiters

Counterfeit electronics embedded in missile guidance systems and hundred-million-dollar aircraft have become a serious problem for the U.S. military and its contractors...

Controversy Surrounds Russia's Claim that Cosmic Rays Caused Mars Mission Failure
From ACM News

Controversy Surrounds Russia's Claim that Cosmic Rays Caused Mars Mission Failure

A heartbreaking, out-of-the-gate failure of Russia's sample return mission early this year created a wide circle of disappointment.

A Bit of Progress: Diamonds Shatter Quantum Information Storage Record
From ACM News

A Bit of Progress: Diamonds Shatter Quantum Information Storage Record

The quantum world and the everyday world of human experience are supposed to be two different realms. Quantum effects, as demonstrated in the lab, are usually confined...
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