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
Shape-Shifting Robot Compensates For Damaged Limb
European roboticists have developed software that enables a modular robot to adapt when one part stops working.
From ACM News
Cern Collides with a Patent Reality
You might imagine that vast patent royalties flow into the organisation that invented the touchscreen and the World Wide Web. But the atom-smashing outfit CERN...
From ACM News
Wonder Conductors Will Spin p Cooler Computers
Newly discovered materials called topological insulators could clear the way for blisteringly fast laptops and smartphones that don't warm your lap or singe your...
From ACM News
The Mind's Eye: How the Brain Sorts Out What You See
Can you tell a snake from a pretzel? Some can't—and their experiences are revealing how the brain builds up a coherent picture of the world.
From ACM TechNews
Shake to Adjust Your Smartphone's Privacy Settings
Open University's Lukasz Jedrzejczyk led the development of Privacy Shake, an application that enables users with global positioning system-enabled smartphones...
From ACM News
Apple Reinvents the Audio Jack
Although Apple is known for filing patents on complex multi-touch algorithms, anti-piracy measures and advanced user interfaces, it still has a focus on basic...
From ACM News
Online Games Are a Gold Mine for Design Ideas
Gone are the days when video gaming was a private pursuit. Gaming services such as Microsoft's Xbox Live not only connect players in living rooms the world over...
From ACM News
Flawed Proof shers In Era of Wikimath
His prospects of answering one of the biggest questions in mathematics may be fading, but Vinay Deolalikar of Hewlett-Packard Labs in Palo Alto, California, may...
From ACM News
Atom Images Raise Quantum Computer Hopes
Fast quantum computers made of atoms trapped by beams of light could be a step closer, thanks to the first images of the individual atoms in such a grid.
From ACM News
Tide Turns Against Million-Dollar Maths Proof
Initially hailed as a solution to the biggest question in computer science, the latest attempt to prove P ≠ NP—otherwise known as the "P vs NP" problem—seems to...
From ACM News
Hiding Files in Flickr Pics Will Fool Web Censors
Life is about to become more difficult for countries trying to censor access to foreign Websites. A system dubbed Collage will allow users in these countries...
From ACM News
Gesture-Based Computing Takes a Serious Turn
Call me a creature of habit, but I approach any new computer interface with a sense of apprehension.
From ACM News
'god Couldn't Do Faster': Rubik's Cube Mystery Solved
It has taken 15 years to get to this point, but it is now clear that every possible scrambled arrangement of the Rubik's cube can be solved in a maximum of 20...
From ACM News
P ? Np? It's Bad News For the Power of Computing
Has the biggest question in computer science been solved? On 6 August, Vinay Deolalikar, a mathematician at Hewlett-Packard Labs in Palo Alto, California, sentdraft...
From ACM News
Future on Display: Technology You'll Want to Stroke
Whatever you might expect from the latest computer technology, fur is unlikely to be one of them.
From ACM News
Virtual Walkers Lead the Way for Robots
Children do it with ease, but walking on two feet is challenging for robots. And while animated characters stroll along quite happily, they rarely look human...
From ACM News
Artificial Life Forms Evolve Basic Intelligence
For generations, the Avidians have been cloning themselves quietly in a box. They're not perfect, but most of their mutations go unnoticed. Then something remarkable...
From ACM News
Google, Twitter, and Facebook Build the Semantic Web
A truly meaningful way of interacting with the web may finally be here, and it is called the semantic web. The idea was proposed over a decade ago by Tim Berners...
From ACM News
Team-Working Robots Huddle Together to Boost Comms
When you are in hostile territory, it pays to stick together—especially if you are a robot. Falling into line will be easier with an innovative communication system...
From ACM News