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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.


Mathematical Model Simulating Rat Whiskers Provides Insight Into Sense of Touch
From ACM News

Mathematical Model Simulating Rat Whiskers Provides Insight Into Sense of Touch

Researchers at Northwestern University have developed a mathematical model that will allow them to simulate how rats use their whiskers to sense objects around...

Universities, Industry Clash on Need For Open-Source Fpgas
From ACM News

Universities, Industry Clash on Need For Open-Source Fpgas

Would open-source field-programmable gate arrays simplify academic research on reconfigurable computing? Researchers say yes, but industry disagrees.

Technique for Letting Brain Talk to Computers Now Tunes in Speech
From ACM News

Technique for Letting Brain Talk to Computers Now Tunes in Speech

The act of mind reading is something usually reserved for science-fiction movies but researchers in America have used a technique, usually associated with identifying...

From ACM News

Internet Probe Can Track You Down to Within 690 Metres

Online adverts could soon start stalking you. A new way of working out where you are by looking at your internet connection could pin down your current location...

Supercomputers Let ­p on Speed
From ACM TechNews

Supercomputers Let ­p on Speed

Smarter rather than faster design appears to be coming into vogue as a gauge of a supercomputer's success. A federal report urges a more balanced portfolio of...

Facebook Shares Server Design
From ACM News

Facebook Shares Server Design

Facebook Inc. said it would share details for its new server systems and computer rooms with other companies, hoping to set off what it characterized as an open...

Military
From ACM News

Military

The Pentagon has spent decades and gazillions of dollars trying to build the perfect translation device. Now, its far-out research arm is looking at a new direction...

Self-Cooling Observed in Graphene Electronics
From ACM TechNews

Self-Cooling Observed in Graphene Electronics

University of Illinois researchers have found that graphene transistors have a nanoscale cooling effect that reduces their temperatures.

From ACM News

Darpa's Humanoid Robbie Never Takes His Eyes Off You

In preparation for National Robotics Week, an initiative of the Congressional Robotics Caucus, at the National Museum of American History, which kicks off on...

Nasa Readies Jobs For Robonaut
From ACM News

Nasa Readies Jobs For Robonaut

The space android called Robonaut 2 was just unpacked from its box last month, but NASA is already thinking up jobs for the darn thing to do, such as replacing...

From ACM News

'predator' Smart Camera Locks Onto, Tracks Anything

Zdenek Kalal’s Predator object-tracking software is almost uncanny. Show anything to its all-seeing camera eye, and it will quickly learn to recognize it and...

Ancient Greek Computer Had Surprising Sun Tracker
From ACM News

Ancient Greek Computer Had Surprising Sun Tracker

The world's oldest astronomical calculator is famous for having intricate gear systems centuries ahead of their time. But new work shows the Antikythera mechanism...

Silicene: It Could Be the New Graphene
From ACM TechNews

Silicene: It Could Be the New Graphene

Japanese researchers have created atom-thin sheets of silicon, called silicene, that resemble graphene and could have electronic applications.

Companies Hope to 'program' the Internet
From ACM News

Companies Hope to 'program' the Internet

Most data networks could be faster, more energy efficient, and more secure. But network hardware—switches, routers, and other devices—is essentially locked down...

From ACM TechNews

Multicore Coding Standards Aim to Ease Programming

The Multicore Association has established specifications for a programming model designed to make it easier to write software for multicore chips, particularly...

From ACM News

Flying Robots Team ­p to Juggle

Our flying robot overlords seem to have a fun side after all. In this video, watch two quadrocopters team up to skillfully juggle a ball, thanks to software developed...

Kaashoek Wins Acm's Prize For Young Researchers
From ACM News

Kaashoek Wins Acm's Prize For Young Researchers

Frans Kaashoek, a professor in the MIT Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and associate director of the Computer Science and Artificial...

Spiders and Crabs Inspire Robot Locomotion
From ACM News

Spiders and Crabs Inspire Robot Locomotion

The walking patterns of crabs, lobsters and spiders are helping to inspire new ways of getting robots to move around.

The First Plastic Computer Processor
From ACM TechNews

The First Plastic Computer Processor

European researchers have developed a computer processor and memory chip made from plastic semiconductors.  "Compared to using silicon, this has the advantage of...

Researchers Find a New Way to Mix Computers and Neurons
From ACM TechNews

Researchers Find a New Way to Mix Computers and Neurons

Nerve cell tendrils recently grew through tiny tubes made of semiconductor material in groundbreaking research conducted by University of Wisconsin, Madison graduate...
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