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dateMore Than a Year Ago
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An edited collection of advanced computing news from Communications of the ACM, ACM TechNews, other ACM resources, and news sites around the Web.


Talking Paperclip Inspires Less Irksome Virtual Assistant
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...

Space Probe to Sport 'transforming' Hardware
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...

Dark Flash Camera Takes Photos Without the Glare
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...

Cyborg Crickets Could Chirp at the Smell of Survivors
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...

Emotional Robots: Will We Love Them or Hate Them?
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...

'governor' Would Teach Military Robots the Rules of War
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...

Virtual Power Plants Could Tame Coming Grid Chaos
From ACM News

Virtual Power Plants Could Tame Coming Grid Chaos

Fears over energy security and climate change have led to record investment in renewable energy. But a major problem threatens to stall progress towards a more...

From ACM TechNews

Instant Sex Change Served ­p By Video Software

Software developed by University of East Anglia computer scientist Barry-John Theobald and Weta Digital's Iain Matthews can take a live video feed of a person talking...

From ACM News

Fake Web Traffic Can Hide Secret Chat

The Internet's underlying technology can be harnessed to let people exchange secret messages, perhaps allowing free, coded speech under oppressive regimes. So says...

From ACM TechNews

Six Ways to Build Robots That Do Humans No Harm

A new book by Yale University ethicist Wendell Wallach and Indiana University professor Colin Allen, titled "Moral Machines: Teaching Robots Right From Wrong,"...
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