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 News
How Do Americans Weigh Privacy Versus National Security?
Three years ago, Edward Snowden leaked troves of previously classified information that laid bare the American government's widespread surveillance of its citizens...
From ACM News
A Search Engine For Your Memories
People are always forgetting names. That's because, at least in part, names are arbitrary. A name, in and of itself, doesn't offer much context.
From ACM Careers
The Strange Rituals of Silicon Valley Intern Recruiting
The Wozniak Lounge, located on the northern side of campus at the University of California, Berkeley, looks like it was decorated by engineers, to the extent that...
From ACM News
The Convenience-Surveillance Tradeoff
People love free stuff. That's the principle that helps explain the complicated series of privacy-related calculations that modern life increasingly requires.
From ACM News
What Does the Internet Actually Look Like?
It’s difficult to define "the cloud." Even more difficult, perhaps, is photographing it. But that's precisely what Peter Garritano set out to do with his photoThe...
From ACM News
Do Computers Need Pressure-Sensing Screens?
The computer mouse, when it first went mainstream, was awkward to describe but easy to use.
From ACM News
The High-Stakes Race to Rid the World of Human Drivers
The race to bring driverless cars to the masses is only just beginning, but already it is a fight for the ages.
From ACM News
Why New York Subway Lines Are Missing Countdown Clocks
There are people who stand every morning outside the Carroll Street station in Brooklyn staring dead-eyed into the middle distance.
From ACM News
After 10 Years, Google Books Is Legal
On Friday, a federal circuit court made clear that Google Books is legal.
From ACM News
The Most Mysterious Star in Our Galaxy
In the Northern hemisphere's sky, hovering above the Milky Way, there are two constellations—Cygnus the swan, her wings outstretched in full flight, and Lyra, the...
From ACM Opinion
If You're Not Paranoid, You're Crazy
I knew we'd bought walnuts at the store that week, and I wanted to add some to my oatmeal.
From ACM News
What's Killing Mars?
The question of whether there is life on Mars is woven into a much larger thatch of mysteries. Among them: What happened to the ancient ocean that once covered...
From ACM News
Engineering Humans For War
Retired four-star general Paul F. Gorman recalls first learning about the "weakling of the battlefield" from reading S.L.A. Marshall, the U.S. Army combat historian...
From ACM TechNews
Not Even the People Who Write Algorithms Really Know How They Work
Not only are the algorithms that determine what people see on the Web — search results, status updates, or product recommendations — inscrutable to users, the...
From ACM News
Virtual Reality Gets Real
In 1965, Ivan Sutherland, a computer-graphics pioneer, addressed an international meeting of techies on the subject of virtual reality.
From ACM TechNews
Computers Can Predict Schizophrenia Based on How a Person Talks
A new algorithmic analysis technique can identify the disjointed patterns of speech considered a hallmark of schizophrenia.
From ACM News
The Secret Agents Who Stake Out the gliest Corners of the Internet
When President Obama launched his Twitter account in May, people noticed his rapid accumulation of followers, a silly back-and-forth with President Clinton, but...
From ACM News
The Camera Behind the New Pluto Photos
For decades after its discovery in 1930, Pluto looked like nothing more than a gray smudge in the abyss of space.
From ACM News
The Computers of Our Wildest Dreams
One of the first electronic, programmable computers in the world is remembered today mostly by its nickname: Colossus.
From ACM Opinion