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 Careers
Jerry Merryman, Co-Inventor of the Pocket Calculator, Dies at 86
Jerry Merryman, a self-taught electrical engineer who helped design the first pocket calculator, died on Feb. 27 in Dallas. He was 86.
From ACM TechNews
The Auto Show of the Future is Already Here
Top auto shows are increasingly incorporating technology, along with hands-on experiences like driving simulators and virtual reality demos.
From ACM News
For Gamers With Disabilities, Creative Controllers Open Worlds
Erin Hawley grew up immersed in video games, progressing from Pong on the Atari 2600 to Sonic the Hedgehog on the Sega Genesis to Tomb Raider on the Sony PlayStation...
From ACM News
.S. Revives Secret Program to Sabotage Iranian Missiles and Rockets
The Trump White House has accelerated a secret American program to sabotage Iran's missiles and rockets, according to current and former administration officials...
From ACM News
Making New Drugs With a Dose of Artificial Intelligence
You can think of it as a World Cup of biochemical research.
From ACM News
The Rise of the Robot Reporter
As reporters and editors find themselves the victims of layoffs at digital publishers and traditional newspaper chains alike, journalism generated by machine is...
From ACM News
'This Could Be the End' for NASA's Mars Opportunity Rover
NASA's Opportunity rover began its 15th year on Mars this week, although the intrepid robotic explorer may already be dead.
From ACM TechNews
Robotic Milkers and an Automated Greenhouse: Inside a High-Tech Small Farm
Small farms are starting to upgrade to high-tech operations.
From ACM News
Robotic Milkers and an Automated Greenhouse: Inside a High-Tech Small Farm
About 150 Jersey cows in the rolling terrain at Rivendale Farms in Bulger, some 25 miles west of Pittsburgh, wear Fitbit-like collars that monitor their movement...
From ACM News
Another Day, Another Exoplanet: NASA's TESS Keeps Counting More
NASA's new planet-hunting machine, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, is racking up scores of alien worlds.
From ACM News
NASA’s New Horizons Mission Releases Snowman-like Picture of ltima Thule
Ultima Thule, an icy world 4 billion miles from the sun, looks like a big snowman.
From ACM News
One Giant Step for a Chess-Playing Machine
In early December, researchers at DeepMind, the artificial-intelligence company owned by Google's parent corporation, Alphabet Inc., filed a dispatch from the frontiers...
From ACM TechNews
A Robotic Hand Plays the Piano With a More Human Touch
Researchers have developed a robotic hand that can play the piano.
From ACM TechNews
A Toaster on Wheels to Deliver Groceries? Self-Driving Tech Tests Practical ses
Slow uptake of driverless passenger services is spurring the autonomous industry to experiment with offerings like food deliveries from small, self-driving vehicles...
From ACM News
All the Light There Is to See? 4 x 10⁸⁴ Photons
In one of those exercises that you think should be impossible or perhaps a punishment for some infraction, a team of astronomers has now measured the total amount...
From ACM News
The Race Is On to Protect Data From the Next Leap in Computers. And China Has the Lead.
The world's leading technology companies, from Google to Alibaba in China, are racing to build the first quantum computer, a machine that would be far more powerful...
From ACM TechNews
Smart Headlights Inch Closer to American Roads
Adaptive driving beam headlights are not currently permitted in the U.S., but that could soon change.
From ACM TechNews
Meet Zora, the Robot Caregiver
Jouarre, a nursing facility outside Paris, is using a robot to help care for elderly patients.
From ACM TechNews
As Immigrant Farmworkers Become More Scarce, Robots Replace Humans
In response to the diminishing supply of immigrant labor, the U.S. agriculture sector is increasingly turning to robots that can do the work traditionally done...
From ACM News