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
Do Computers Need Pressure-Sensing Screens?
The computer mouse, when it first went mainstream, was awkward to describe but easy to use.
From ACM News
The High-Stakes Race to Rid the World of Human Drivers
The race to bring driverless cars to the masses is only just beginning, but already it is a fight for the ages.
From ACM News
After 10 Years, Google Books Is Legal
On Friday, a federal circuit court made clear that Google Books is legal.
From ACM News
The Most Mysterious Star in Our Galaxy
In the Northern hemisphere's sky, hovering above the Milky Way, there are two constellations—Cygnus the swan, her wings outstretched in full flight, and Lyra, the...
From ACM Opinion
If You're Not Paranoid, You're Crazy
I knew we'd bought walnuts at the store that week, and I wanted to add some to my oatmeal.
From ACM News
What's Killing Mars?
The question of whether there is life on Mars is woven into a much larger thatch of mysteries. Among them: What happened to the ancient ocean that once covered...
From ACM News
Engineering Humans For War
Retired four-star general Paul F. Gorman recalls first learning about the "weakling of the battlefield" from reading S.L.A. Marshall, the U.S. Army combat historian...
From ACM News
Virtual Reality Gets Real
In 1965, Ivan Sutherland, a computer-graphics pioneer, addressed an international meeting of techies on the subject of virtual reality.
From ACM News
The Computers of Our Wildest Dreams
One of the first electronic, programmable computers in the world is remembered today mostly by its nickname: Colossus.
From ACM Opinion
Beware the Listening Machines
One of my great pleasures in life is attending conferences on fields I'm intrigued by, but know nothing about.
From ACM News
How Stargazing Became a Numbers Game
People have long thought of astronomy as the science of looking to the stars, but discoveries in the cosmos increasingly come from a different kind of observational...
From ACM Opinion
Hacking the Brain
The perfectibility of the human mind is a theme that has captured our imagination for centuries—the notion that, with the right tools, the right approach, the right...
From ACM News
Blueprint For a Better Human Body
When Elizabeth Wright smacks her right leg on a table, she says "ow."
From ACM News
Long-Range Iris Scanning Is Here
An officer pulls someone over on the side of the highway.
From ACM News
The Wearable Device That Could nlock a New Human Sense
In March, the neuroscientist David Eagleman stood on stage to give a TED talk on sensory substitution, the idea of replacing the duties of one sense by using another...
From ACM News
Teaching a Computer Not to Forget
Imagine if every time you learned something new, you completely forgot how to do a thing you'd already learned.
From ACM News
.s. Supreme Court: Gps Trackers Are a Form of Search and Seizure
If the government puts a GPS tracker on you, your car, or any of your personal effects, it counts as a search—and is therefore protected by the Fourth Amendment...
From ACM News
Robot vs. Robot
Beautiful mathematical patterns are hidden in the chaos of Jackson Pollock’s famous drip paintings.
From ACM Opinion
Finding Out What the Past Smelled Like
It was the smell that hit me first, a heady mixture of roasting meat, woodsmoke, and farmyard manure.
From ACM News