Communications of the ACM
An 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
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
Assange's 'Poison Pill' File Impossible to Stop, Expert Says
The Poison Pill. The Doomsday Files. Or simply, The Insurance.
From ACM News
Future Soldiers May Be Wearing 'iron Man' Suits
A lunchtime crowd is gathering beside the parking lot at Raytheon Sarcos, the defense contractor, on a recent day in Salt Lake City. White-collar workers from...
From ACM News
When Glass Touch Screens Feel Like Sandpaper
Glass screens that can feel the touch of your fingers are all the rage these days. You'll find them in all kinds of gadgets, from smartphones to tablet computers...
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
How to Create a 'super Password'
Say goodbye to those wimpy, eight-letter passwords. The 12-character era of online security is upon us, according to a report published this week by the Georgia...
From ACM News
Tech Guilt: 5 'persuasive' Technologies to Help You Be Good
Information is power, but does information—by itself—actually make people change their behavior?
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
Forget India, Outsource to Arkansas
As the U.S. unemployment rate hovers near 10 percent, some companies are starting to eye job-hungry areas of the country as prime candidates for the kind of outsourced...
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