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
Say Hello, or 你好, to China’s Siri
You might not have heard of iFlyTek. The company is hardly a household name in its domestic market of China, either.
From ACM News
How to Steal Data from Your Neighbor in the Cloud
Cloud computing teaches people not to worry about physical equipment for hosting data and running software.
From ACM Opinion
Moore's Law Is Becoming Irrelevant
Companies like Apple and Samsung are the public face of the smartphone and tablet boom, but they all rely on ARM, the British company that licenses the energy-efficient...
From ACM TechNews
Microsoft Brings Star Trek's Voice Translator to Life
Microsoft has developed and publicly demonstrated nearly instantaneous Chinese-to-English spoken word translation software capable of preserving the distinctive...
From ACM News
Why You Can't Vote Online Tuesday
A decade and a half into the Web revolution, we do much of our banking and shopping online. So why can't we vote over the Internet? The answer is that voting presents...
From ACM News
The States with the Riskiest Voting Technology
Next Tuesday's presidential election will likely be extremely close, magnifying the potential impact of vote-counting errors.
From ACM News
Microsoft's Plan to Bring About the Era of Gesture Control
While most of the headlines about Microsoft this fall will concern its new operating system, Windows 8, and its new Surface tablet, the company is also working...
From ACM News
Computer Viruses Are 'rampant' on Medical Devices in Hospitals
Computerized hospital equipment is increasingly vulnerable to malware infections, according to participants in a recent government panel. These infections can clog...
From ACM News
Ever Wondered What a Live Botnet Looks Like?
The idea of a network of malware-infected zombie computers rigged to do the bidding of criminals conjures up a frightening image on its own. A new visualization...
From ACM News
What Comes After the Touch Screen?
In a few short years, the technologies found in today's mobile devices—touch screens, gyroscopes, and voice-control software, to name a few—have radically transformed...
From ACM News
Stuxnet Tricks Copied By Computer Criminals
Malicious code apparently used by governments to spy on, harass, and sabotage one another has grabbed headlines in recent years, yet the highly targeted nature...
From ACM TechNews
This Touch Screen Knows Your Touch
Rutgers University researchers have developed a device that could identify an individual user and rapidly switch a system's settings to adjust to the user, providing...
From ACM News
Disney Researchers Add Virtual Touch to the Real World
Researchers at Disney have demonstrated a computer interface that changes the way ordinary, everyday objects feel using a weak electric signal fed through a user's...
From ACM News
Augmented Reality Is Finally Getting Real
In the summer of 2009, Yelp quietly added a feature to its iPhone app that blurred the line between the real and the virtual. If you held your handset up and looked...
From ACM News
Hey, Hackers: Defense Is Sexy, Too
Pleasing the crowd at the Black Hat and Def Con computer security conferences that took place in Las Vegas last week is relatively easy: simply hop on stage and...
From ACM News
Nsa Boss Wants More Control Over the 'net
The U.S. Internet's infrastructure needs to be redesigned to allow the NSA to know instantly when overseas hackers might be attacking public or private infrastructure...
From ACM News
Gps Weakness Could Enable Mass Smartphone Hacking
Weaknesses in the technology that allows smartphone users to pinpoint themselves on a map, or check into restaurants and bars using apps such as Foursquare, could...
From ACM News
Smart Headlights See through Rain and Snow
A prototype headlight system can detect raindrops or snow streaks and "dis-illuminate" them, thereby increasing visibility on the road ahead.
From ACM News
A Robot Takes Stock
The short figure creeping around the Carnegie Mellon University campus store in a hooded sweatshirt recently isn't some shoplifter, but a robot taking inventory...
From ACM Opinion