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
How Facebook 'contagion' Spreads
To join Facebook or not to join Facebook? You might think the decision depends on how many of your friends are already on the social-networking site.
From ACM TechNews
Ideas Global Challenge Team Profile: Wecyclers
A participant in MIT's IDEAS Global Challenge is Wecyclers, a crowdsourced recycling platform that will operate in Lagos, Nigeria, and is designed to incentivize...
From ACM News
Google's Grand Plan
In a typical month, David Lawee meets two dozen founders of new companies. He grills them on their businesses, their ambitions, their funding, and their clever...
From ACM News
The '80s Called, and They Want Their Cellphones Back
Julie Barbour-Issa calls her eight-year-old cellphone "the dinosaur. It's a brick, and I could use it as a weapon in an emergency," says the 30-year-old Norwood...
From ACM News
Online Attribution of the French Killer
Mohammed Merah, the culprit of the killing of 7 people in France last week, was found using a mix of traditional and online forensics.
From ACM News
Global Manhunt Will Leverage Social Media to Find 'suspects'
If you had to track down fugitives hidden in five cities around the world, would one day and a $5,000 reward be enough to succeed?
From ACM News
China's Not-So-Super Computers
The supercomputer in this southern boomtown is named Nebulae for the interstellar clouds of gas that give birth to stars.
From ACM News
Just the Facts. Yes, All of Them.
AT 7 years old, Gilad Elbaz wrote, "I want to be a rich mathematician and very smart." That, he figured, would help him "discover things like time machines, robots...
From ACM News
Controversy Surrounds Russia's Claim that Cosmic Rays Caused Mars Mission Failure
A heartbreaking, out-of-the-gate failure of Russia's sample return mission early this year created a wide circle of disappointment.
From ACM News
The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs
His saga is the entrepreneurial creation myth writ large: Steve Jobs cofounded Apple in his parents' garage in 1976, was ousted in 1985, returned to rescue it from...
From ACM News
Hacktivists Out-Stole Cybercriminals in 2011
Just two years ago, cybercriminal gangs were behind record-breaking data breaches that resulted in the theft of millions of customer records. But the year 2011...
From Communications of the ACM
Preserving Digital Data
Scientific data is expanding at an unprecedented rate. While new tools are helping preserve this data, funding must be increased and policy coordination needs improvement...
From Communications of the ACM
Open For Business
Should academic articles be available for free on the Web?
From ACM News
iPad Teardown Reveals $375.10 Total Cost; Samsung Wins Big
The new iPad costs about $364.35 for its bill of materials, according to a teardown analysis by IHS iSuppli.
From ACM News
The Robots Are Coming! Better Get Used to It
For those of you reluctant to welcome our new robot overloads, it might be time to reconsider your stance.
From ACM TechNews
Brain Drain: Where Cobol Systems Go From Here
A recent Computerworld survey of 357 IT professionals found that 46 percent of respondents are noticing a shortage of Cobol programmers, and 50 percent said the...
From ACM News
Google Gives Search a Refresh
Google Inc. is giving its tried-and-true Web-search formula a makeover as it tries to fix the shortcomings of today's technology and maintain its dominant market...
From ACM News
U.s. Army to Soldiers: 'check-Ins' Can Kill
While the U.S. Army knows its soldiers live in the modern world and carry location-aware, socially networked smartphones, it is reiterating the dangers of broadcasting...
From ACM Opinion