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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.


Wanna See Around Corners? Better Get Yourself a Laser
From ACM News

Wanna See Around Corners? Better Get Yourself a Laser

You can't see the bunny, but the picosecond laser certainly can.

Latest ­S Weather Satellite Highlights Forecasting Challenges
From ACM News

Latest ­S Weather Satellite Highlights Forecasting Challenges

The United States filled a crucial gap in its weather-forecasting arsenal when it launched its latest geostationary satellite on 1 March. The craft will enable...

AI's Dirty Little Secret: It's Powered by People
From ACM News

AI's Dirty Little Secret: It's Powered by People

There's a dirty little secret about artificial intelligence: It's powered by hundreds of thousands of real people.

The Decentralized Internet Is Here, With Some Glitches
From ACM News

The Decentralized Internet Is Here, With Some Glitches

I usually write in Google's online word processor Google Docs, even when noting the company's shortcomings.

These Provocative Images Show Russian Trolls Sought to Inflame Debate Over Climate Change, Fracking and Dakota Pipeline
From ACM News

These Provocative Images Show Russian Trolls Sought to Inflame Debate Over Climate Change, Fracking and Dakota Pipeline

Russian trolls used Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to inflame U.S. political debate over energy policy and climate change, a finding that underscores how the Russian...

Has Dopamine Got ­s Hooked on Tech?
From ACM News

Has Dopamine Got ­s Hooked on Tech?

In an unprecedented attack of candour, Sean Parker, the 38-year-old founding president of Facebook, recently admitted that the social network was founded not to...

Spoof, Jam, Destroy: Why We Need a Backup for GPS
From ACM News

Spoof, Jam, Destroy: Why We Need a Backup for GPS

Earth got a warning shot on January 25, 2016. On that day, Air Force engineers were scheduled to kill off a GPS satellite named SVN-23—the oldest in the navigation...

Astronomers Detect Light from the ­niverse's First Stars
From ACM News

Astronomers Detect Light from the ­niverse's First Stars

Astronomers have for the first time spotted long-sought signals of light from the earliest stars ever to form in the Universe—around 180 million years after the...

A New Data Trove Could Teach Computers to Tell Blind People What They Need to Know
From ACM TechNews

A New Data Trove Could Teach Computers to Tell Blind People What They Need to Know

Researchers are publishing a database of images and challenging the machine-vision community to use it to train machines as effective assistants for those with...

Enigma: Up Close with a Nazi Cipher Machine
From ACM News

Enigma: Up Close with a Nazi Cipher Machine

A black metal mechanical device resembling a typewriter sits in a wooden box.

How Flashing Lights and Pink Noise Might Banish Alzheimer's, Improve Memory and More
From ACM News

How Flashing Lights and Pink Noise Might Banish Alzheimer's, Improve Memory and More

In March 2015, Li-Huei Tsai set up a tiny disco for some of the mice in her laboratory. For an hour each day, she placed them in a box lit only by a flickering...

Curiosity Tests a New Way to Drill on Mars
From ACM News

Curiosity Tests a New Way to Drill on Mars

NASA's Mars Curiosity rover has conducted the first test of a new drilling technique on the Red Planet since its drill stopped working reliably.

China's Internet ­nderground Fights for Its Life
From ACM News

China's Internet ­nderground Fights for Its Life

For years, thousands of virtual private networks (VPNs) have allowed people in China to circumvent restrictions on internet access and visit Facebook, Google, YouTube...

If There's Life on Saturn's Moon Enceladus, It Might Look Like This
From ACM News

If There's Life on Saturn's Moon Enceladus, It Might Look Like This

Saturn's moon Enceladus has become an alien-hunting hot spot, and not just for the tinfoil hat crowd.

Why ­.S. 'Cyber-Warriors' Can't Do Anything About Russian 'Cyber-Meddling'
From ACM News

Why ­.S. 'Cyber-Warriors' Can't Do Anything About Russian 'Cyber-Meddling'

In testimony before the US Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, National Security Agency Director and US Cyber Command Commander Admiral Michael Rogers told...

Justices Struggle with ­.S. Demands for Overseas Data
From ACM News

Justices Struggle with ­.S. Demands for Overseas Data

The Supreme Court appeared to be divided Tuesday as it struggled to interpret whether a three-decade-old federal law gives the U.S. government the right to access...

­ncovering the Secrets of the 'Girl With a Pearl Earring'
From ACM News

­ncovering the Secrets of the 'Girl With a Pearl Earring'

"How did the 'Girl With a Pearl Earring' come to life? What steps did Vermeer take to make this painting?"

How Did Life Begin? It's Chemistry 101, but in Space
From ACM News

How Did Life Begin? It's Chemistry 101, but in Space

How did life start? There may not be a bigger question.

Microsoft's Supreme Court Case Has Big Implications For Data
From ACM News

Microsoft's Supreme Court Case Has Big Implications For Data

Five years ago, US law enforcement served Microsoft a search warrant for emails as part of a US drug trafficking investigation. In response, Microsoft handed over...

Apple Moves to Store iCloud Keys in China, Raising Human Rights Fears
From ACM News

Apple Moves to Store iCloud Keys in China, Raising Human Rights Fears

When Apple Inc begins hosting Chinese users' iCloud accounts in a new Chinese data center at the end of this month to comply with new laws there, Chinese authorities...
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