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 Opinion
'biology Is a Manufacturing Capability'
Soon we'll be able to engineer living things with mechanical precision, says Tom Knight, father of synthetic biology.
From ACM TechNews
How Metadata Brought Down CIA Boss David Petraeus
U.S. Central Intelligence Agency director David Petraeus was brought down by metadata, which is not covered by the Stored Communications Act.
From ACM TechNews
Ok, App, What Should I Wear to This Wedding?
New software could help people decide what to wear for weddings, job interviews, or first dates.
From ACM TechNews
First Evidence For Iran's Parallel Halal Internet
Iranian officials have long discussed developing a religiously acceptable internal network, known as the "halal" Internet, which is isolated from the World Wide...
From ACM TechNews
Reality Checker: How to Cut Nonsense From the Net
Several organizations are developing technologies that can prevent falsehoods from spreading on the Internet.
From ACM News
Cameras Know You By Your Walk
Everyone knows how easy it is to recognize a friend or family member from their walk—even from a distance.
From ACM News
Wired Is the New Wireless: Spreading the Web in China
It's not easy to give over 1.3 billion people access to the internet—especially if that population is spread across a vast area that ranges from hinterland to sprawling...
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 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 News
Watson Turns Medic: Supercomputer to Diagnose Disease
It is more than a year since Watson, IBM's famous supercomputer, opened a new frontier for artificial intelligence by beating human champions of the quiz show Jeopardy...
From ACM News
Micro-Drones: The New Face of Cutting-Edge Warfare
Micro-aerial vehicles (MAVs) with uncanny navigation and real-time mapping capabilities could soon be zipping through indoor and outdoor spaces, running reconnaissance...
From ACM TechNews
Snow Snaps Give You a Better Weather Picture
Photos taken of snowfall and posted online could help fill holes in satellite weather data caused by cloud cover, says Indiana University Ph.D. student Haipeng...
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
Software Helps Spot Groups of Fake Online Reviews
Researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago and Google have developed software that can identify groups of fraudulent online reviews that attempt to...
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 TechNews
Would You Pay to Block Your Own Internet Connection?
Carnegie Mellon University researcher Fred Stutzman has developed productivity apps designed to maintain workers' focus on tasks and prevent them from being distracted...
From ACM News
Nash's Beautiful Mind Pre-Empted Million-Dollar Puzzle
John Nash's mind is even more exquisite than we thought. The Nobel laureate, famous for both his work in game theory and his schizophrenia—as portrayed in the book...
From ACM TechNews
Art-Ificial: The Virtual Virtuosos Redefining Creativity
Imperial College London computer scientist Simon Colton has created Painting Fool, software that can seek artistic inspiration and has basic creativity.
From ACM News
What Is the Higgs Boson and Why Does It Matter?
As the world awaits news of the possible discovery of the Higgs boson, there remains a lot of confusion about what it is, why we have had to work hard to find...
From ACM News