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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.


Brain-Training For Baseball Robot
From ACM TechNews

Brain-Training For Baseball Robot

Researchers in Japan have developed a model of the part of the brain that is responsible for fine motor control. 

Could Sheep Solve the Problem of Poor Wi-Fi Signal in the Countryside? Animals With Digital Collars Could Act as Hotspots
From ACM TechNews

Could Sheep Solve the Problem of Poor Wi-Fi Signal in the Countryside? Animals With Digital Collars Could Act as Hotspots

A new project by Lancaster University researchers will explore equipping sheep with digital collars, placing sensors on riverbanks, and deploying rainfall monitors...

New Form of Memory Could Advance Brain-Inspired Computers
From ACM News

New Form of Memory Could Advance Brain-Inspired Computers

A new form of computer memory might help machines match the capabilities of the human brain when it comes to tasks such as interpreting images or video footage.

Brainstormers: Obama's Big Research Push Kicks Off With a Meeting of the Minds
From ACM News

Brainstormers: Obama's Big Research Push Kicks Off With a Meeting of the Minds

The motley group included men and women, old and young, in sweatshirts and three-piece suits, shod in socks and sandals, wingtips and heels.

Speech Recognition Better Than a Human's Exists. You Just Can't ­se It Yet
From ACM News

Speech Recognition Better Than a Human's Exists. You Just Can't ­se It Yet

Researchers say recent breakthroughs in speech recognition and artificial intelligence will soon make gadgets dramatically better at understanding people.

Dawn Spacecraft Begins Approach to Dwarf Planet Ceres
From ACM News

Dawn Spacecraft Begins Approach to Dwarf Planet Ceres

NASA's Dawn spacecraft has entered an approach phase in which it will continue to close in on Ceres, a Texas-sized dwarf planet never before visited by a spacecraft...

Our Brains Are Being 'continuously Reshaped' By Smartphone ­se
From ACM News

Our Brains Are Being 'continuously Reshaped' By Smartphone ­se

Extensive use of smartphone touchscreens is changing the sensory relationship between our brains and our thumbs, a study published in Current Biology has revealed...

The Scoreboards Where You Can't See Your Score
From ACM News

The Scoreboards Where You Can't See Your Score

The characters in Gary Shteyngart's novel "Super Sad True Love Story" inhabit a continuously surveilled and scored society.

Mars Rover Opportunity Suffers Worrying Bouts of 'amnesia'
From ACM News

Mars Rover Opportunity Suffers Worrying Bouts of 'amnesia'

Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has been exploring the Martian surface for over a decade, an amazing 10 years longer than the 3-month primary mission it began...

2014 in Computing: Breakthroughs in Artificial Intelligence
From ACM News

2014 in Computing: Breakthroughs in Artificial Intelligence

The holy grail of artificial intelligence—creating software that comes close to mimicking human intelligence—remains far off. But 2014 saw major strides in machine...

This Year's 8 Smartest ­i Design Ideas
From ACM News

This Year's 8 Smartest ­i Design Ideas

When your family gathered for the holidays this year, did you take note of the technology everyone was using?

The Search For Et: How Close Are We?
From ACM News

The Search For Et: How Close Are We?

In 1950, Nobel prizewinning physicist Enrico Fermi posed his famous paradox: if extraterrestrial intelligence exists, why haven't we found it?

Spider's Web Weaves Way to Advanced Networks and Displays
From ACM TechNews

Spider's Web Weaves Way to Advanced Networks and Displays

The structures of spider webs and leaves could serve as a design model for next-generation light-manipulating networks, according to researchers at Boston College...

A Common Logic to Seeing Cats and Cosmos
From ACM News

A Common Logic to Seeing Cats and Cosmos

When in 2012 a computer learned to recognize cats in YouTube videos and just last month another correctly captioned a photo of "a group of young people playing...

A Q&a With the Hackers Who Say They Helped Break Into Sony's Network
From ACM Opinion

A Q&a With the Hackers Who Say They Helped Break Into Sony's Network

Lizard Squad. That's the hacker group whose name is suddenly on everyone's lips after it took credit for ruining Christmas for PlayStation and Xbox gamers everywhere...

Google Lunar Xprize: Astrobotic's Rover Rakes in $750,000
From ACM News

Google Lunar Xprize: Astrobotic's Rover Rakes in $750,000

It's been a little while since we checked in with Team Astrobotic.It's been a little while since we checked in with Team Astrobotic.

How To Change Your Past
From ACM News

How To Change Your Past

"Too late" might be the two most tragic words in English, but what if you could rewind the clock?

Are These the Five Craziest Space Missions?
From ACM Opinion

Are These the Five Craziest Space Missions?

The landing of the Philae Lander—on a comet travelling at 135,000km/h (84,000mph)—has been hailed as the start of a new chapter in space exploration.

Google Boosts ACM's Turing Award Prize to $1 Million
From Communications of the ACM

Google Boosts ACM's Turing Award Prize to $1 Million

The increase reflects the escalating impact of computing on daily life, through the innovations and technologies it enables.

Data Brokers Are Watching You
From Communications of the ACM

Data Brokers Are Watching You

You would be surprised by how much they know about you, and what they are doing with your information.
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