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
Shared Supercomputing and Everyday Research
Recent advancements in supercomputer design coupled with falling prices are breaking down the barriers that have traditionally surrounded computing-intensive research...
From ACM News
Adding a Sixth Sense to Your Cellphone
Many Indians bought their first mobile phones before they had their first experiences with personal computers. Pranav Mistry thinks that most of them might also...
From ACM News
Designing a Ride and Learning Math at Epcot
Can children who do not know how many sides a triangle has get excited about learning math and engineering? Maybe a field trip to an amusement park will do the...
From ACM News
Training to Climb an Everest of Digital Data
It is a rare criticism of elite American university students that they do not think big enough. But that is exactly the complaint from some of the largest technology...
From ACM TechNews
DARPA Director Visits niversities in Bid to Re-Energize Partnerships
Regina E. Dugan, the new director of the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), is visiting universities across the United States in an attempt...
From ACM News
Nobel Awarded For Advances in Harnessing Light
The mastery of light through technology was the theme of this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics as the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences honored breakthroughs in fiber...
From ACM News
Netflix Awards $1 Million Prize and Starts a New Contest
Netflix, the movie rental company, has decided its million-dollar-prize competition was such a good investment that it is planning another one. The company’srecommendation...
From ACM News
Defying Experts, Rogue Computer Code Still Lurks
Like a ghost ship, a rogue software program that glided onto the Internet last November has confounded the efforts of top security experts to eradicate the program...
From ACM TechNews
Mining the Web for Feelings, Not Facts
Opinions expressed on the Internet can determine the eventual success or failure of a product, and tools stemming from the emergent field of sentiment analysis...
From ACM TechNews
Study Finds that Online Education Beats the Classroom
Students' performance in online education settings tended to trounce that of those receiving face-to-face instruction, according to a study SRI International carried...
From ACM TechNews
Halted '03 Iraq Plan Illustrates .s. Fear of Cyberwar Risk
At the core of the U.S. Obama Administration and its Pentagon leadership's efforts to develop rules governing cyberwarfare is the question of whether offensive...
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Try to Stalk Botnets sed By Hackers
To track the spread of botnets, Sandia National Laboratories computer security specialists Rob Minnich and Don Rudish have converted a Dell Thunderbird supercomputer...
From ACM TechNews
Netflix Challenge Ends, But Winner Is in Doubt
Netflix's $1 million contest to design a better movie preference-matching algorithm ended on July 26th, with two teams in a near tie and the outcome of the contest...
From ACM TechNews
Scientists Worry Machines May Outsmart Man
Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have spurred a group of computer scientists to consider whether research that might lead to a loss of human control over...
From ACM TechNews
E-Mail Surveillance Renews Concerns in Congress
A National Security Agency (NSA) operation involving surveillance of American residents' communications, especially domestic email, is fueling debate in the U.S...
From ACM News
Data Center Overload
Much of the daily material of our lives is now dematerialized and outsourced to a far-flung, unseen network. The stack of letters becomes the e-mail database on...
From ACM TechNews
Opening Doors on the Way to a Personal Robot
The ability to open doors is a significant step forward for robotics and an important milestone toward a personal robot industry. Such a milestone has been reached...
From ACM News
The Bar Code Is Taking a Leap Forward
Look closely at recent supermarket coupons, and you may see some new markings on them near the traditional bar code: sets of neat black bars stacked in two rows...
From ACM News
The Wars of Words on Wikipedia's Outskirts
It is an interesting twist about Wikipedia that the most controversial, most heavily trafficked articles — on abortion, politics, virgin birth — are often the most...
From ACM TechNews