Communications of the ACM
Will AI Replace Computer Programmers?
Advances in artificial intelligence tools that can code could improve productivity, but portend disruption.
From ACM NewsAn edited collection of advanced computing news from Communications of the ACM, ACM TechNews, other ACM resources, and news sites around the Web.
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Replacing Lost Abilities with a Robot
Henry Evans recently shaved himself for the first time since a stroke left him mute and partly paralyzed 10 years ago. His achievement came thanks to researchers...
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Russia's Post-Shuttle Space Plans
With the U.S. manned space program grounded following the last mission of the space shuttle, the Russian Soyuz spacecraft is the only avenue into space for NASA...
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A New Direction for Digital Compasses
Cell phones and many other mobile devices now come packed with sensors capable of tracking them as they move. The digital compasses, gyroscopes, and accelerometers...
From ACM Opinion
Was the Space Shuttle a Mistake?
Forty years ago, I wrote an article for Technology Review titled "Shall We Build the Space Shuttle?" Now, with the 135th and final flight of the shuttle at hand...
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Could This Brain Implant Revive Paralyzed Limbs?
In the annals of great oxymorons, "non-invasive brain implant" would surely rank up there. Misnomer or not, the University of Michigan is touting just such a...
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A Preview of Future Disk Drives
A new type of data storage technology, called phase-change memory, has proven capable of writing some types of data faster than conventional flash based storage...
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Tapping Quantum Effects For Software that Learns
In a bid to enable computers to learn faster, defense company Lockheed Martin has bought a system that uses quantum mechanics to process digital data.
From ACM TechNews
How Friends Influence Gadget Adoption
People are more likely to buy a product that their friends have already purchased, and the spread of adoption within social networks could help predict whether...
From ACM News
Tracking How Mobile Apps Track You
Third-party apps are the weakest link in user privacy on smart phones. They often get access to large quantities of user data, and there are few rules covering...
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How Three-Dimensional Transistors Went from Lab to Fab
Intel's new three-dimensional transistor design, announced last week, is the culmination of more than a decade of research and development work that began in...
From ACM TechNews
Herding Swarms of Microrobots
Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley and Duke University demonstrated that they were able to control a group of microrobots to create complex patterns...
From ACM TechNews
Designs With a Deeper Purpose
Microsoft software design specialist Bill Buxton wants developers to focus on innovations that can improve humans' quality of life.
From ACM News
Reprogrammable Chips Could Enable Instant Gadget Upgrades
Obsolescence is the curse of electronics: no sooner have you bought a gadget than its hardware is outdated. A new, low cost type of microchip that can rearrange...
From ACM TechNews
Speedier Nanotube Circuits
Stanford University researchers recently expanded on an earlier study involving the development of faster nanotube circuits, which could lead to their use in complex...
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Dialing with Your Thoughts
Researchers in California have created a way to place a call on a cell phone using just your thoughts. Their new brain-computer interface is almost 100 percent...
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Companies Hope to 'program' the Internet
Most data networks could be faster, more energy efficient, and more secure. But network hardware—switches, routers, and other devices—is essentially locked down...
From ACM TechNews
The First Plastic Computer Processor
European researchers have developed a computer processor and memory chip made from plastic semiconductors. "Compared to using silicon, this has the advantage of...
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The First Plastic Computer Processor
Silicon may underpin the computers that surround us, but the rigid inflexibility of the semiconductor means it cannot reach everywhere. The first computer processor...
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How Cruise Missiles Would Beat Gps Jammers in Libya
Now that jammers are cheap and potentially ubiquitous, how do Tomahawk missiles stay on course?
From ACM News