Communications of the ACM
A Healthy Dose of AI
Building artificial intelligence into medical devices can speed diagnoses and potentially improve treatments and outcomes.
From ACM NewsAn edited collection of advanced computing news from Communications of the ACM, ACM TechNews, other ACM resources, and news sites around the Web.
From ACM Opinion
Phreaks and Geeks
One of the most heartfelt—and unexpected—remembrances of Aaron Swartz, who committed suicide last month at the age of 26, came from Yale professor Edward Tufte.
From ACM News
Cyberwar's Gray Market
Behind computer screens from France to Fort Worth, Texas, elite hackers hunt for security vulnerabilities worth thousands of dollars on a secretive unregulated...
From ACM News
A Missile-Defense System That Actually Works?
The fighting between Israel and Palestinians in the Gaza strip over the last few days is the latest round of violence in a region that has been torn apart by a...
From ACM News
Watch Your Tongue: Law Enforcement Speech Recognition System Stores Millions of Voices
Intercepting thousands of phone calls is easy for government agencies. But quickly analyzing the calls and identifying the callers can prove a difficult task.
From ACM News
How Apple Really Invented the Iphone
Like many of Apple's inventions, the iPhone began not with a vision, but with a problem.
From ACM News
How Governments and Telecom Companies Work Together on Surveillance Laws
When Americans are displeased with their politicians, they like to threaten to move to Canada. But if you're tempted to move north—or even further afield—to get...
From ACM Opinion
Why Drone Pilots Deserve Medals
The escalating dependence on drone pilots, as Maj. Dave Blair agonized in the May-June issue ofAir & Space Power Journal, is undercutting the ability to award combat...
From ACM News
Research Reveals Why Spammers Claim They're Nigerian
Most of us know the signs: stilted English, "Dear Sir/Madam," a particular fondness for exclamation points.
From ACM News
U.s. Cities Embrace Software To Automatically Detect 'suspicious' Behavior
San Francisco is set to become the latest U.S. city to invest in software, created by Texas-based BRS Labs, that monitors and memorizes movements as they are captured...
From ACM Opinion
What Fearmongers Get Wrong About Cyberwarfare
Should we worry about cyberwarfare? Judging by excessively dramatic headlines in the media, very much so. Cyberwarfare, the argument goes, might make wars easier...
From ACM News
Google's Grand Plan
In a typical month, David Lawee meets two dozen founders of new companies. He grills them on their businesses, their ambitions, their funding, and their clever...
From ACM News
Eye-Tracking Computers Will Read Your Thoughts
Consider, for a moment, the following list: Republican. Abortion. Democrat. Future. Afghanistan. Health care. Same-sex marriage.
From ACM News
Your Kinect Is Watching You
There is a wave of concern—completely justified, to my mind—over the privacy implications of our increasing reliance on Facebook and Google. What most people don’t...
From ACM News
The DIY Copyright Revolution
It is something of a fluke that copyright law has become so intertwined with our online lives. For most people, the first things that were easy to create and distribute...
From ACM News
The Other Academic Freedom Movement
In the summer of 1991, Paul Ginsparg, a researcher at the Los Alamos nuclear laboratory, set up an email system for about 200 string theorists to exchange papers...
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Project Dreamcatcher
How cutting-edge text analytics can help the Obama campaign determine voters' hopes and fears.
From ACM News
Twitter of Terror
Al-Shabaab, the Somali militant group heretofore best known for stoning teenage girls, blowing up soccer fans, and blocking food aid to their starving countrymen...
From ACM News
Did an Illinois Water tility Come nder Cyberattack?
And why was it connected to the Internet, anyway?
From ACM News
A Picture of Democracy
How digital cameras and smartphones might reduce corruption in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
From ACM News