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
Brain-Like Chip Outstrips Normal Computers
Computer chips that mimic the human brain are outstripping conventional chips in crucial ways. They could also revolutionise our understanding of how the brain...
From ACM News
Graphics Chips Are For More Than Just Eye Candy
Chances are there is a graphics chip in your desktop computer, and it is fuelling a revolution.
From ACM TechNews
Jazz-Singing Robot Could Shed Light on Consciousness
The University of Palermo's Antonio Chella is working to teach a singing robot how to improvise jazz duets with a human with hopes of learning more about the nature...
From ACM TechNews
Fbi Launches $1 Billion Face Recognition Project
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation is using facial-recognition technology to identify criminals and the system will be rolled out nationwide by 2014.
From ACM News
Harness Unused Smartphone Power For a Computing Boost
Smarphone owners carry around more processing power in their pocket than a 1970s-era supercomputer, but most of the time it languishes unused.
From ACM TechNews
Watson Turns Medic: Supercomputer to Diagnose Disease
IBM's supercomputer Watson is learning to use its language skills to help doctors diagnose patients.
From ACM TechNews
Robot Learns to Recognise Itself in the Mirror
Yale University researchers have developed Nico, a humanoid robot that can recognize its reflection in a mirror and identify its arms' location and orientation...
From ACM News
3D Printers Tell You When Your Design Will Fail
Make a mistake with your average office printer and the worst that happens is a paper jam and some wasted ink. Do the same with a 3D printer, though, and your newly...
From ACM TechNews
Bot With Boyish Personality Wins Biggest Turing Test
The chatbot Eugene Goostman fooled Turing test judges 29 percent of the time into thinking it was human to take first place in the recent contest in the United...
From ACM TechNews
Touch and Go: Fondling the Digital World
A new generation of touchscreens on the brink of commercialization use tactile illusions to trick the brain into feeling texture, and could transform how users...
From ACM TechNews
The AI Game That Knows You Better Than Anyone
Many computer science researchers are trying to create an AI system that offers video game players a more tailored experience.
From ACM TechNews
Mind-Reading Robot Teachers Keep Students Focused
University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have developed a robotic teacher that monitors students' attention levels and mimics the techniques human teachers use...
From ACM TechNews
Font for Digits Lets Numbers Punch Their Weight
Researchers at the St. Andrews and Calgary universities have developed FatFonts, a font that offers a way to write numbers so that their areas equal their numerical...
From ACM TechNews
Network Your Stuff: Amateurs Inventing a New Internet
A growing number of computer hobbyists are merging the online and physical worlds in new ways.
From ACM TechNews
Controversial Quantum Computer Beats Factoring Record
Chinese researchers recently used a process called adiabatic computing to find the prime factors of the number 143, beating the previous record for a quantum computer...
From ACM TechNews
Driverless Cars Ready to Hit Our Roads
Driverless cars are moving closer to becoming a reality, as politicians in several U.S. states rush to get such cars on the roads.
From ACM News
Better Living Through Video Gaming
From AI-designed games to realistic virtual worlds and social physics, gaming is changing our world view.
From ACM News
Seven Equations That Rule Your World
The alarm rings. You glance at the clock. The time is 6.30 am. You haven't even got out of bed, and already at least six mathematical equations have influenced...
From ACM News
Slow Graphene Down, Speed Computers Up
Astonishing conductivity helped the discoverers of graphene win the Nobel prize in physicsin 2010. Now a way to switch off the easy flow of electrons in this wonder...
From ACM TechNews