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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.


A Call From Outer Space, or a Cosmic Wrong Number?
From ACM News

A Call From Outer Space, or a Cosmic Wrong Number?

It's probably just a piece of cosmic spam, the astrophysical equivalent of butt dialing. But nobody really knows for sure.

How Driverless Cars May Interact With People
From ACM News

How Driverless Cars May Interact With People

There are plenty of unanswered questions about how self-driving cars would function in the real world, like understanding local driving customs and handing controls...

G.e., the 124-Year-Old Software Start-­p
From ACM Careers

G.e., the 124-Year-Old Software Start-­p

It may not qualify as a lightning-bolt eureka moment, but Jeffrey R. Immelt, chief executive of General Electric, recalls the June day in 2009 that got him thinking...

Chip Technology Keeps Checked Luggage in Check
From ACM News

Chip Technology Keeps Checked Luggage in Check

On a recent Southwest Airlines flight from Baltimore, Shvilla Rasheem arrived in Indianapolis, but her luggage did not.

China Launches Quantum Satellite in Bid to Pioneer Secure Communications
From ACM News

China Launches Quantum Satellite in Bid to Pioneer Secure Communications

China launched the world's first quantum communications satellite from the Gobi Desert early Tuesday, a major step in the country’s bid to be at the forefront of...

Envisioning Bitcoin's Technology at the Heart of Global Finance
From ACM Careers

Envisioning Bitcoin's Technology at the Heart of Global Finance

A new report from the World Economic Forum predicts that the underlying technology introduced by the virtual currency Bitcoin will come to occupy a central place...

How to Give Rural America Broadband? Look to the Early 1900s
From ACM News

How to Give Rural America Broadband? Look to the Early 1900s

From the sofa in his living room, Clinton Creason can see the electric pole outside that his father staked 70 years ago to bring power to this remote area of hilly...

Meet Luca, the Ancestor of All Living Things
From ACM News

Meet Luca, the Ancestor of All Living Things

A surprisingly specific genetic portrait of the ancestor of all living things has been generated by scientists who say that the likeness sheds considerable light...

They Promised ­S Jet Packs. They Promised the Bosses Profit.
From ACM News

They Promised ­S Jet Packs. They Promised the Bosses Profit.

Project Foghorn is one of those straight-from-science-fiction concepts we've come to expect from Alphabet, the sprawling conglomerate formerly known as Google.

How Mountains Obscured By Venus's Clouds Reveal Themselves
From ACM News

How Mountains Obscured By Venus's Clouds Reveal Themselves

Colossal clouds cloak the surface of Venus, making it difficult for researchers to probe its secrets.

Artificial Intelligence Swarms Silicon Valley on Wings and Wheels
From ACM TechNews

Artificial Intelligence Swarms Silicon Valley on Wings and Wheels

Artificial intelligence and robotics are leading a transformation in Silicon Valley expected to be as significant as the personal computing and commercial Internet...

What We've Learned About Pluto
From ACM News

What We've Learned About Pluto

In the year since NASA's New Horizons spacecraft flew by Pluto, the dwarf planet has maintained its icy heart.

Europe Approves New Trans-Atlantic Data Transfer Deal
From ACM News

Europe Approves New Trans-Atlantic Data Transfer Deal

European officials approved a new agreement on Tuesday that will allow some of the world’s largest companies, including Google and General Electric, to move digital...

Makers of Self-Driving Cars Ask What to Do With Human Nature
From ACM TechNews

Makers of Self-Driving Cars Ask What to Do With Human Nature

The push by some automakers to make fully autonomous vehicles a commercial reality is being tempered by others arguing against elimination of human driver intervention...

Makers of Self-Driving Cars Ask What to Do With Human Nature
From ACM Careers

Makers of Self-Driving Cars Ask What to Do With Human Nature

Even before Tesla revealed that a fatal accident had occurred while one of its cars was in semiautonomous driving mode, a debate was well underway between researchers...

The Fully Self-Driving Car Is Still Years Away
From ACM TechNews

The Fully Self-Driving Car Is Still Years Away

The arrival of fully autonomous automobiles is complicated by the debate over how much self-supervision should be allowed.

How China Took Center Stage in Bitcoin's Civil War
From ACM News

How China Took Center Stage in Bitcoin's Civil War

A delegation of American executives flew to Beijing in April for a secret meeting just blocks from Tiananmen Square.

Artificial Intelligence's White Guy Problem
From ACM TechNews

Artificial Intelligence's White Guy Problem

Artificial intelligence (AI) may be worsening inequality, given the biases being embedded within the underlying machine-learning algorithms, says Kate Crawford,...

Should Your Driverless Car Hit a Pedestrian to Save Your Life?
From ACM TechNews

Should Your Driverless Car Hit a Pedestrian to Save Your Life?

Most people believe self-driving vehicles should ultimately put their passengers' lives first, according to a new study.

Goodbye, Password. Banks Opt to Scan Fingers and Faces Instead.
From ACM News

Goodbye, Password. Banks Opt to Scan Fingers and Faces Instead.

The banking password may be about to expire—forever.
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