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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.


Want to Know Julian Assange's Endgame? He Told You a Decade Ago
From ACM News

Want to Know Julian Assange's Endgame? He Told You a Decade Ago

Amid a seemingly incessant deluge of leaks and hacks, Washington, DC staffers have learned to imagine how even the most benign email would look a week later on...

Meet Noto, Google's Free Font For More Than 800 Language
From ACM News

Meet Noto, Google's Free Font For More Than 800 Language

Something funny happens when your computer or phone can’t display a font: A blank rectangular box pops up in place of the missing glyph.

How to Steal an AI
From ACM News

How to Steal an AI

In the burgeoning field of computer science known as machine learning, engineers often refer to the artificial intelligences they create as "black box" systems:...

Google's Internet-Beaming Balloon Gets a New Pilot: AI
From ACM News

Google's Internet-Beaming Balloon Gets a New Pilot: AI

This summer, the Google X lab launched a balloon into the stratosphere over Peru, and it stayed there for 98 days.

Tech Giants Team ­p to Fix Typography's Biggest Problem
From ACM News

Tech Giants Team ­p to Fix Typography's Biggest Problem

Fonts have a serious image problem.

Inside Google's Internet Justice League and Its AI-Powered War on Trolls
From ACM TechNews

Inside Google's Internet Justice League and Its AI-Powered War on Trolls

Online forums and social media platforms are havens for trolls and bullies who launch campaigns of harassment can lead to the self-censorship of the people they...

How Police Trace Cellphones in Ieds Like the Ones in Nyc
From ACM News

How Police Trace Cellphones in Ieds Like the Ones in Nyc

A cellphone makes a convenient detonator for an improvised explosive device. But it's also one of the most conveniently trackable devices under the eye of American...

How the Fbi Could Have Hacked the San Bernardino Shooter's Iphone
From ACM News

How the Fbi Could Have Hacked the San Bernardino Shooter's Iphone

More than six months have passed since the FBI first ordered Apple to help the agency bypass the encryption on the iPhone 5c of Rizwan Syed Farook, an ISIS supporter...

How Space Scientists Turn Exoplanets Into Places We Can 'see'
From ACM News

How Space Scientists Turn Exoplanets Into Places We Can 'see'

Do a Google image search for "exoplanet."

AI Can Recognize Your Face Even If You're Pixelated
From ACM News

AI Can Recognize Your Face Even If You're Pixelated

Pixelation has long been a familiar fig leaf to cover our visual media’s most private parts.

Google's Clever Plan to Stop Aspiring Isis Recruits
From ACM News

Google's Clever Plan to Stop Aspiring Isis Recruits

Google has built a half-trillion-dollar business out of divining what people want based on a few words they type into a search field.

This AI Software Can Tell If You're at Risk From Cancer Before Symptoms Appear
From ACM TechNews

This AI Software Can Tell If You're at Risk From Cancer Before Symptoms Appear

Artificial intelligence software developed by researchers at the Houston Methodist Research Institute in Texas can accurately predict breast cancer risk.

Forget Software: Now Hackers Are Exploiting Physics
From ACM News

Forget Software: Now Hackers Are Exploiting Physics

Practically every word we use to describe a computer is a metaphor.

Linux Took Over the Web. Now, It’s Taking Over the World
From ACM News

Linux Took Over the Web. Now, It’s Taking Over the World

The roots of Linux stretch all the way back to the creation of Unix at AT&T’s Bell Labs in 1969.

The Shadow Brokers Mess Is What Happens When the Nsa Hoards Zero-Days
From ACM News

The Shadow Brokers Mess Is What Happens When the Nsa Hoards Zero-Days

When the NSA discovers a new method of hacking into a piece of software or hardware, it faces a dilemma.

Ironic Windows Vulnerability Shows Why Backdoors Can't Work
From ACM News

Ironic Windows Vulnerability Shows Why Backdoors Can't Work

Apple's refusal to comply with a court order to help the FBI crack an iPhone highlighted the pressure tech companies face to include backdoors in their software...

A New Wireless Hack Can Unlock 100 Million Volkswagens
From ACM News

A New Wireless Hack Can Unlock 100 Million Volkswagens

In 2013, when University of Birmingham computer scientist Flavio Garcia and a team of researchers were preparing to reveal a vulnerability that allowed them todelayed...

Martians Might Be Real. That Makes Mars Exploration Way More Complicated
From ACM News

Martians Might Be Real. That Makes Mars Exploration Way More Complicated

History will note that the guy who discovered liquid water on Mars was an undergraduate at the University of Arizona, a 20-year-old who played guitar in a death...

Hackers Hijack a Big Rig Truck's Accelerator and Brakes
From ACM News

Hackers Hijack a Big Rig Truck's Accelerator and Brakes

When cybersecurity researchers showed in recent years that they could hack a Chevy Impala or a Jeep Cherokee to disable the vehicles' brakes or hijack their steering...

America's Electronic Voting Machines Are Scarily Easy Targets
From ACM News

America's Electronic Voting Machines Are Scarily Easy Targets

This week, GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump openly speculated that this election would be "rigged." Last month, Russia decided to take an active role in...
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