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subjectHuman Computer Interaction
authorThe Wall Street Journal
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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.


Poor Penmanship Spells Job Security For Post Office's Scribble Specialists
From ACM News

Poor Penmanship Spells Job Security For Post Office's Scribble Specialists

A man in Emden, Mo., recently mailed a letter that he had addressed, in a scribble, to somebody in "Shelhjreille, Mo." That's the way his handwriting made it...

Software Finds Place in Posse
From ACM News

Software Finds Place in Posse

Law-enforcement and intelligence agencies are increasingly relying on information from the Web and electronic records to help solve crimes and evaluate threats...

Feds Shift Tracking Defense
From ACM News

Feds Shift Tracking Defense

The U.S. Department of Justice now says its use of a cellphone-tracking device in a controversial Arizona case could be considered a "search" under the Fourth...

Zot! Uc Irvine Team Proves Stellar at Mapping Dark Matter
From ACM News

Zot! Uc Irvine Team Proves Stellar at Mapping Dark Matter

When David Kirkby and Daniel Margala entered a contest to find out who could most accurately map dark matter in the universe, the first algorithm they submitted...

Design Spotlight Is Thrown on Ive
From ACM News

Design Spotlight Is Thrown on Ive

Without Steve Jobs, Apple Inc. investors and customers are asking a big question: Can it continue to turn out innovative products without its co-founder and design...

Decoding Our Chatter
From ACM News

Decoding Our Chatter

Want to monitor an earthquake, track political activity or predict the ups and downs of the stock market? Researchers have found a bonanza of real-time data in...

'stingray' Phone Tracker Fuels Constitutional Clash
From ACM News

'stingray' Phone Tracker Fuels Constitutional Clash

For more than a year, federal authorities pursued a man they called simply "the Hacker." Only after using a little known cellphone-tracking device—a stingray—were...

From ACM News

Walked Into a Lamppost? Hurt While Crocheting? Help Is on the Way

Today, hospitals and doctors use a system of about 18,000 codes to describe medical services in bills they send to insurers. Apparently, that doesn't allow for...

Family Pioneers in Exploration of the Genome
From ACM News

Family Pioneers in Exploration of the Genome

A group of researchers said that by examining the whole genome of a family of four, they were able to make unusually specific findings, including the daughter's...

On Your Mark, Get Set, Hack!
From ACM News

On Your Mark, Get Set, Hack!

During a "hackathon" last year, GroupMe co-founders Steve Martocci and Jared Hecht built a group text-messaging service in one 24-hour stretch. In August, the...

A Roboticist's Trip From Mines to the Moon
From ACM News

A Roboticist's Trip From Mines to the Moon

Robots created by William "Red" Whittaker have crawled into mines and volcanoes, crossed deserts, won a 60-mile road race, helped clean up nuclear waste and harvested...

From ACM News

Google Takes On Friend Sprawl

Google Inc. launched its most ambitious social-networking effort yet, broadening a battle with Facebook Inc. to grab the attention of Web users and future advertising...

The Cop on the Cyber Beat
From ACM Opinion

The Cop on the Cyber Beat

Homeland Security's Bruce McConnell on the government's role in helping companies fight online attacks.

From ACM News

Ftc to Serve Google With Subpoenas in Broad Antitrust Probe

The Federal Trade Commission is poised to serve Google Inc. with civil subpoenas, according to people familiar with the matter, signaling the start of a wide-ranging...

Web Addresses Enter New.era
From ACM News

Web Addresses Enter New.era

On Monday, the organization that regulates the world's Internet domain names—yes, there is central coordination—approved changes that could allow anyone to register...

Firms Adjust to Hacks
From ACM News

Firms Adjust to Hacks

When email-marketing firm Epsilon Data Management discovered in March that hackers had stolen consumer email addresses it maintains for major banks and retailers...

Security 'tokens' Take Hit
From ACM News

Security 'tokens' Take Hit

RSA Security is offering to provide security monitoring or replace its well-known SecurID tokens—devices used by millions of corporate workers to securely log...

Chefs Who Spy? Tracking Google's Hackers in China
From ACM News

Chefs Who Spy? Tracking Google's Hackers in China

From this city of six million, Shandong Lanxiang Vocational School quietly churns out 30,000 mechanics, barbers, and welders each year. One of its triumphs was...

Google Missed 'friend Thing'
From ACM News

Google Missed 'friend Thing'

Google Inc. executive chairman Eric Schmidt said one of his biggest failures as chief executive of the search giant over the last decade was grappling with the...

From ACM News

Cyber Combat: Act of War

The Pentagon has concluded that computer sabotage coming from another country can constitute an act of war, a finding that for the first time opens the door for...
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