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
New Surveillance Technology Can Track Everyone in an Area for Several Hours at a Time
Shooter and victim were just a pair of pixels, dark specks on a gray streetscape.
From ACM News
One Day an Elevator Might Ask—are You Getting On?
Microsoft researchers have enabled elevators in a company building to detect the likelihood that a person walking by will want to board it.
From ACM Opinion
This Company Sold Google a Quantum Computer. Here's How It Works.
I thought it would be interesting to hear from D-Wave, a start-up that has raised more than $130 million in venture capital and employs over 100 people.
From ACM Opinion
Confused About the Nsa's Quantum Computing Project? This MIT Computer Scientist Can Explain.
My Washington Post colleagues have reported on a National Security Agency program to to build a quantum computer.
From ACM Opinion
The Head of Google X Thinks We're All Too Risk-Averse
Google X is responsible for some of Google's most literally fantastic projects: Google Glass, self-driving cars, gigantic inflatable balloons that beam Internet...
From ACM Opinion
Here's What the Morris Worm Prosecutor Thinks About Aaron Swartz
It was 25 years ago Tuesday that The New York Times first named 23-year-old Cornell graduate student Robert Morris as the culprit behind what became known as the...
From ACM Careers
How a Grad Student Trying to Build the First Botnet Brought the Internet to Its Knees
On November 3, 1988, 25 years ago Sunday, people woke up to find the Internet had changed forever.
From ACM Opinion
Here's Why the Feds Didn't Have More Skilled Programmers For Healthcare.gov
HealthCare.gov, the Web site at the center of President Obama's federal health insurance exchange, has been plagued with problems since it opened for business Oct...
From ACM News
Here's Everything You Should Know About Nsa Address Book Spying in One Faq
A new report from The Washington Post, based on documents provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden, reveals that the National Security Agency is collecting hundreds...
From ACM Opinion
Nsa Chief Defends Collecting Americans' Data
The head of the National Security Agency delivered a vigorous defense Wednesday of his agency's collection of Americans' phone records for counterterrorism purposes...
From ACM News
The Skies. The Limits.
Long ago, in a dreamier era, space stations were imagined as portals to the heavens.
From ACM News
The Nsa Sponsors 'cyber Operations' Training at niversities. Here's What Students Learn.
Last week, Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh became one of the latest—and most prestigious—schools to partner with the National Security Agency on a program...
From ACM News
The New York Times Web Site Was Taken Down By Dns Hijacking. Here's What That Means.
Just weeks after The Washington Post had our own run-in with the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA), the New York Times is down, and the SEA is claiming responsibility...
From ACM Opinion
Google Maps Trained S to Follow Directions. Now Its Former Developer Wants S to Explore.
It's not evident from the way his hair flops casually down and across, nor from his equally relaxed demeanor, but John Hanke is one of Google's most important idea...
From ACM News
Here's What You Find When You Scan the Entire Internet in an Hour
Until recently, scanning the entire Internet, with its billions of unique addresses, was a slow and labor-intensive process.
From ACM News
The New York Times Was Losing $5 Per Second Thanks to Its Web Site Outage
The New York Times is still reeling from a massive Web outage that took down its homepage, its corporate Web site, and everything in between.
From ACM News
Nsa Growth Fueled By Need to Target Terrorists
Twelve years later, the cranes and earthmovers around the National Security Agency are still at work, tearing up pavement and uprooting trees to make room for a...
From ACM News
For Nsa Chief, Terrorist Threat Drives Passion to 'collect It All,' Observers Say
In late 2005, as Iraqi roadside bombings were nearing an all-time peak, the National Security Agency's newly appointed chief began pitching a radical plan for halting...
From ACM Opinion
The Coming Political Battle Over Bitcoin
Given that Bitcoin first broke into mainstream attention when Gawker explained how to use it to buy drugs, perhaps the surprise is that it took federal regulators...
From ACM News