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 TechNews
Triple Shadows and Fake Reflections: Future Graphics
At the second annual ACM SIGGRAPH Asia conference, which takes place December 16-19 in Yokohama, Japan, computer graphics professionals and researchers will demonstrate...
From ACM News
Virtual Crashes and Clatters Get Real
The clatter of a dropped trash can and the crash of a cymbal – both easily recognisable sounds. That's why computer games or CGI movies that feature such noises...
From ACM TechNews
Computer Detects Abuse Before Doctors
Ben Reis at Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School led a research team that developed software that could spot warning signs of domestic abuse.
From ACM TechNews
Aid Agencies Turn to Open-Source Software
Wesleyan University and Trinity College students have developed Collabbit, software that acts as a virtual emergency response center. Collabbit serves as a central...
From ACM TechNews
Locust Flight Simulator Helps Robot Insects Evolve
A team at the University of Oxford has built a computer model of the wing motion of a locust, and says the surface structures of the wings are key to generating...
From ACM TechNews
Robots Get Smarter By Asking For Help
Willow Garage researchers are developing robots that ask human for help when they cannot recognize objects. Willow Garage computer scientist Alan Sorokin has designed...
From ACM TechNews
Super-Dense Data Stores Cool Down
Super-dense "millipede"-style data storage systems could be enabled to function at room temperature with the development of a material that becomes soft when placed...
From ACM News
Quantum Computers Are Coming
WHATEVER happened to quantum computers? A few years ago, it seemed, it was just a case of a tweak here, a fiddle there, and some kind of number-crunching Godzilla...
From ACM TechNews
'spiderbots' Talk Amongst Themselves Inside Active Volcano
A group of "spiderbots" released inside Mount St. Helens in Washington is the first network of volcano sensors capable of automatically communicating with each...
From ACM TechNews
Robots to Get Their Own Operating System
Robots are limited by the fact that they are often designed and built in isolation for specific functions, and roboticists have started to consider what aspects...
From ACM TechNews
Talking Paperclip Inspires Less Irksome Virtual Assistant
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has spent an estimated $150 million developing an artificially intelligent (AI) virtual assistant. DARPA's...
From ACM TechNews
Space Probe to Sport 'transforming' Hardware
A new satellite, planned for launch in 2012, will contain a flight computer built with field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) that can be completely reconfigured...
From ACM TechNews
Dark Flash Camera Takes Photos Without the Glare
New York University researchers have developed a camera that uses ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (IR) light to take photos in the dark without the use of a traditional...
From ACM TechNews
Cyborg Crickets Could Chirp at the Smell of Survivors
Research supported by the U.S. Pentagon is attempting to turn insects into search-and-rescue systems capable of locating trapped victims in earthquake rubble and...
From ACM TechNews
Computer Learns Sign Language By Watching Tv
Software developed by researchers at the University of Oxford and the University of Leeds has autonomously determined the basics of sign language by watching TV...
From ACM TechNews
Emotional Robots: Will We Love Them or Hate Them?
Scientists have theorized that many technologies would function better if they were aware of their users' emotional states, and progress in this field includes...
From ACM TechNews
Building a Crash-Proof Internet
The Internet's susceptibility to earthquakes, accidents, and other disruptions appears to be greater than people originally assumed, and a great deal of the Net's...
From ACM TechNews
Physics Brings Realism to Virtual Reality
The latest multi-core processors and smart software are enabling physicists and engineers to simulate the real world with unprecedented accuracy to create more...
From ACM TechNews
'governor' Would Teach Military Robots the Rules of War
Georgia Institute of Technology robotics engineer Ron Arkin is researching how military robots could be programmed to act ethically and obey the rules of engagement...
From ACM News