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
The Harmony That Keeps Trappist-1's 7 Earth-Size Worlds From Colliding
In February, astronomers announced the discovery of a nearby star with seven Earth-size planets, and at least some of the planets seemed to be in a zone that could...
From ACM TechNews
Nasa Challenges Coders to Speed p Its Supercomputer
The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration has issued a challenge to programmers to boost the performance of its Pleiades supercomputer.
From ACM Careers
How to Prepare For an Automated Future
We don't know how quickly machines will displace people's jobs, or how many they'll take, but we know it's happening—not just to factory workers but also to ...
From ACM News
Sent to Prison By a Software Program's Secret Algorithms
When Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. visited Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute last month, he was asked a startling question, one with overtones of science fiction...
From ACM Careers
Meet the People Who Train the Robots (to Do Their Own Jobs)
What if part of your job became teaching a computer everything you know about doing someone's job—perhaps your own?
From ACM Careers
50 Years Ago, a Computer Pioneer Got a New York Subway Race Rolling
Fifty years ago, Peter Samson, one of the inventors of Spacewar, considered the world's first video game, began another craze underground.
From ACM Careers
How Youtube's Shifting Algorithms Hurt Independent Media
At the age of 21, David Pakman started a little Massachusetts community radio talk program.
From ACM News
That Fingerprint Sensor on Your Phone Is Not as Safe as You Think
Fingerprint sensors have turned modern smartphones into miracles of convenience.
From ACM News
A Lizard With Scales That Behave Like a Computer Simulation
The ocellated lizard—known as the jeweled lacerta in the pet trade—is born rusty brown with white polka dots.
From ACM Careers
Canada Tries to Turn Its A.i. Ideas Into Dollars
Long before Google started working on cars that drive themselves and Amazon was creating home appliances that talk, a handful of researchers in Canada—backed by...
From ACM News
Learning to Think Like a Computer
In "The Beauty and Joy of Computing," the course he helped conceive for nonmajors at the University of California, Berkeley, Daniel Garcia explains an all-important...
From ACM News
Trump Completes Repeal of Online Privacy Protections From Obama Era
President Trump on Monday signed a congressional resolution to complete the overturning of internet privacy protections created by the Federal Communications Commission...
From ACM News
Evidence That Robots Are Winning the Race For American Jobs
Who is winning the race for jobs between robots and humans?
From ACM News
It's Possible to Hack a Phone With Sound Waves, Researchers Show
A security loophole that would allow someone to add extra steps to the counter on your Fitbit monitor might seem harmless. But researchers say it points to the...
From ACM News
Cosmos Controversy: The niverse Is Expanding, but How Fast?
There is a crisis brewing in the cosmos, or perhaps in the community of cosmologists. The universe seems to be expanding too fast, some astronomers say.
From ACM News
China's Intelligent Weaponry Gets Smarter
Robert O. Work, the veteran defense official retained as deputy secretary by President Trump, calls them his "A.I. dudes."
From ACM News
A Darker Theme in Obama's Farewell: Automation Can Divide S
Underneath the nostalgia and hope in President Obama's farewell address Tuesday night was a darker theme: the struggle to help the people on the losing end of technological...
From ACM News
N.s.a. Gets More Latitude to Share Intercepted Communications
In its final days, the Obama administration has expanded the power of the National Security Agency to share globally intercepted personal communications with the...
From ACM News
Robots Will Take Jobs, but Not as Fast as Some Fear, New Report Says
The march of automation will displace jobs more gradually than some alarming forecasts suggest.
From ACM News