Communications of the ACM
Organizing Unstructured Data
Vector databases, commonly used for similarity search and product recommendations, are a shining light in the era of Artificial… From ACM NewsAn edited collection of advanced computing news from Communications of the ACM, ACM TechNews, other ACM resources, and news sites around the Web.
From ACM News
Cell Phone Users Are Talking Less
Call Kimberly Brown a smartphone junkie if you want. "I'm sure everyone around me will say I'm most definitely addicted," said Brown, an archaeologist at The...
From ACM News
Why Gadget Makers Wield a 'Kill Switch'
When you buy a video game from Best Buy, you don't give the retailer the right to barge into your house whenever it wants. So why do we give that permission to...
From ACM News
Online Photos: Are They New Digital Fingerprints?
For Mike Smith, Facebook is a fort for communicating freely with friends online. Within the confines of that giant yet access-restricted network, the music-software...
From ACM News
California High Court: Retailers Can't Request Cardholders' Zip Code
California's high court ruled Thursday that retailers don't have the right to ask customers for their ZIP code while completing credit card transactions, saying...
From ACM News
Google, Twitter Help Give Voice to Egyptians
Google has launched the latest salvo in an effort to overcome internet blackouts in Egypt during anti-government protests there.
From ACM News
The End of Credit Cards Is Coming
Credit cards may soon be as outdated as vinyl records. (Remember them?) And this is the year that the slow, steady march to oblivion begins.
From ACM News
10 Ways a Digital Big Brother Can Be Good For You
The opening passage from George Orwell's "1984" depicts a guy hustling up a stairwell that's plastered with giant posters of a man's face staring at him.
From ACM News
Court Allows Agents to Secretly Put GPS Trackers on Cars
Law enforcement officers may secretly place a GPS device on a person's car without seeking a warrant from a judge, according to a recent federal appeals court...
From ACM News
Is This the 'Safest Bridge in America?'
Just about everyone who worked to build the new Interstate Highway 35W bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota, knew that their project would never be "just a bridge."
From ACM News
The Technical Muscle Behind Wikileaks
WikiLeaks isn't much to look at. The Website's homepage is largely composed of a plain-text logo and a giant hyperlink that simply says: "Submit documents."
From ACM News
We're Running Out of Internet Addresses
Don't panic, but we're running out of internet addresses. Not domain names—those Website names that you see at the top of this page and which always start with...
From ACM News
Inventor of Cell Phone: We Knew Someday Everybody Would Have One
In 1973, Martin Cooper changed the world, although he didn't know it yet.
From ACM News
Why Face Recognition Isn't Scary
Most of the time, Stacey Schlittenhard finds facial recognition technology to be extremely useful. When she uploads her family photos to the Website Picasa, for...
From ACM News
The Website That Reveals State Secrets
If Daniel Ellsberg wanted to leak secret documents today, he probably would send them to a powerful and controversial new venue for whistle-blowing: a Website called...
From ACM News
Biometric Atm Gives Cash Via 'finger Vein' Scan
Poland's cooperative BPS bank says it's the first in Europe to install a biometric ATM--allowing customers to withdraw cash simply with the touch of a fingertip...
From ACM News
New Tech Moves Beyond the Mouse, Keyboard and Screen
Goodbye computer mouse, keyboard and monitor. Say hello to a new, simpler era of human-computer interaction--this time, with no clunky hardware standing between...
From ACM News
China's Censorship Could Lead to a Brain Drain
They are coming from cities across China, including Beijing and Shanghai. Students are leaving mainland China for the opportunity to study in Hong Kong instead.
From ACM News
Divorce Attorneys Catching Cheaters on Facebook
Before the explosion of social media, Ken Altshuler, a divorce lawyer in Maine, dug up dirt on his client's spouses the old-fashioned way: with private investigators...
From ACM News
How Apps, Texting Can Improve Your Health
Before iPhones, Foursquare and Facebook, B.J. Fogg envisioned a mobile fitness device that coaches the user, tracks her location, and shows her friends also exercising...
From ACM News