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 TechNews
Army Avatars Join the Battle For Hearts and Minds
Researchers at the University of Southern California are developing realistic, immersive virtual-reality programs for the U.S. military in which the soldiers are...
From ACM TechNews
Part Moth, Part Machine: Cyborgs Are on the Move
Researchers are developing methods to produce complex behavior from robots by tapping into the nervous system of living organisms and using algorithms that already...
From ACM TechNews
Prizewinning Chatbot Steers the Conversation
A chatbot named Suzette recently won the Loebner prize, awarded for a version of the Turing Test, because the system successfully fooled a human judge into thinking...
From ACM News
Better Hands May Help Robots Grasp Meaning
Two recent studies show that roboticists are applying some fresh thinking to the building and operation of robot hands, and a third suggests why the work is so...
From ACM News
Robot Limbs to Plug Into the Brain with Light
Imagine a bionic arm that plugs directly into the nervous system, so that the brain can control its motion, and the owner can feel pressure and heat through their...
From ACM News
Cellphones Reveal Emerging Disease Outbreaks
Your cellphone could be a key tool in the fight against disease by relaying a telltale signature of illness to doctors and agencies monitoring new outbreaks.
From ACM News
Robot Arm Punches Human to Obey Asimov's Rules
Isaac Asimov would probably have been horrified at the experiments under way in a robotics lab in Slovenia. There, a powerful robot has been hitting people over...
From ACM News
The Green City That Has a Brain
The planned city of PlanIT Valley in northern Portugal is aiming to be an environmentally sustainable city. And, like an organism, it will have a brain: a central...
From ACM News
The Smartphone's Shape-Shifting Future
The smartphone of the future might lose its sleek, solid shell to become a shape-shifter, able to alter its appearance to signal an alert in situations where...
From ACM News
Computer Beats Human at Shogi, Japanese Chess, For First Time
A computer has beaten a human at shogi, otherwise known as Japanese chess, for the first time. Shogi is more complex than western chess, offering about 10224...
From ACM News
Body Organs Can Send Status pdates to Your Cellphone
For cardiac patients such as myself, too much excitement can be a shocking experience. If my heart rate gets too high the implanted defibrillator in my chest can...
From ACM News
You Too Can Have a Dream Body
If you dislike the way you look on video, a new kind of image-manipulation software could make you feel better about yourself.
From ACM News
Breaking the Noise Barrier: Enter the Phonon Computer
Noise is a chip designer's worst enemy. But handled properly it could become a powerful ally—and usher in the age of phonon computing.
From ACM News
Charge Your Phone With a Beach Towel
With a view to bringing down the costs of solar cells, Brian Korgel and colleagues at the University of Texas at Austin have developed a light-harvesting ink that...
From ACM TechNews
Nokia Touchscreen Creates Texture Illusion
Nokia has developed a prototype of its N900 smartphone featuring technology that lets users feel the texture of icons on the screen. "The idea is to have everything...
From ACM News
Why the Stuxnet Worm Is Like Nothing Seen Before
Stuxnet is the first worm of its type capable of attacking critical infrastructure like power stations and electricity grids: those in the know have been expecting...
From ACM News
What's the Right Path for Indoor Satnav?
Tracking down one of the last few parking spots in the cramped confines of a dimly lit multi-storey car park is not among life's pleasures. German car maker BMW...
From ACM TechNews
Navigation App Gives You Freedom to Explore
Swansea University's Simon Robinson and colleagues have developed a smartphone navigation application that gives pedestrians the opportunity to explore unfamiliar...
From ACM TechNews
Cern Collides With a Patent Reality
Previously reluctant to patent the inventions, the CERN particle physics laboratory recently struck a deal with the World Intellectual Property Organization to...
From ACM News