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dateMore Than a Year Ago
subjectSoftware
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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.


Pre-Crime Software Recruited to Track Gang of Thieves
From ACM News

Pre-Crime Software Recruited to Track Gang of Thieves

They always choose the line at the bank farthest from CCTV—that's how the Felony Lane Gang got its name.

Facebook Invents an Intelligence Test For Machines
From ACM News

Facebook Invents an Intelligence Test For Machines

John is in the playground. Bob is in the office. Where is John?

Google Wants to Rank Websites Based on Facts Not Links
From ACM News

Google Wants to Rank Websites Based on Facts Not Links

The internet is stuffed with garbage.

The Plan to Find Alien Life in Europa's Icy Seas
From ACM News

The Plan to Find Alien Life in Europa's Icy Seas

How do you solve a problem like Europa?

Beijing Subway Swipe Data Betrays Social Class
From ACM News

Beijing Subway Swipe Data Betrays Social Class

Beijing is an enormous city, sprawling over an area 10 times larger than Greater London.

The Computer that Crunches Cloud Data to Heat Your Home
From ACM News

The Computer that Crunches Cloud Data to Heat Your Home

Each photo we "like", email we send, and search we run creates heat.

Portable Mind-Reader Gives Voice to Locked-In People
From ACM News

Portable Mind-Reader Gives Voice to Locked-In People

You wake up in hospital unable to move, to speak, to twitch so much as an eyelid.

Laser Flight Path Caught On Camera For the First Time
From ACM News

Laser Flight Path Caught On Camera For the First Time

Pew pew! Researchers have created the first video of a laser bouncing off a mirror.

What You 'like' on Facebook Gives Away Your Personality
From ACM News

What You 'like' on Facebook Gives Away Your Personality

Be careful what you "like" on Facebook. You're opening a small window on your soul.

NASA's Messenger Probe Ready for Final Tour of Mercury
From ACM News

NASA's Messenger Probe Ready for Final Tour of Mercury

The first spacecraft to orbit Mercury is almost out of gas.

The Search For Et: How Close Are We?
From ACM News

The Search For Et: How Close Are We?

In 1950, Nobel prizewinning physicist Enrico Fermi posed his famous paradox: if extraterrestrial intelligence exists, why haven't we found it?

Thought Control Makes Robot Arm Grab and Move Objects
From ACM News

Thought Control Makes Robot Arm Grab and Move Objects

A woman paralysed from the neck down can now grab a ball with a robotic arm—just by thinking about it.

Optical Illusions Fool Computers Into Seeing Things
From ACM TechNews

Optical Illusions Fool Computers Into Seeing Things

University of Wyoming researchers are studying algorithms working together that may resulting in a program that could generate creative pictures by itself.

The Sun and Jupiter Could Reveal Space-Time Ripples
From ACM News

The Sun and Jupiter Could Reveal Space-Time Ripples

Ripples in space-time could squeeze and stretch the sun and Jupiter, forming a gigantic gravitational-wave detector in our own celestial backyard.

Haptic Holograms Let You Touch the Void in Vr
From ACM News

Haptic Holograms Let You Touch the Void in Vr

Feeling is believing. A system that uses sound waves to project "haptic holograms" into mid-air—letting you touch 3D virtual objects with your bare hands—is poised...

Google and Nasa Ride D-Wave to a Quantum Future
From ACM News

Google and Nasa Ride D-Wave to a Quantum Future

They could be the most powerful computers in the world—so perhaps it's no surprise that the biggest internet company on the planet is testing one out.

Time Cloak ­sed to Hide Messages in Laser Light
From ACM News

Time Cloak ­sed to Hide Messages in Laser Light

A "time cloak" that conceals events rather than objects can hide secret messages through a trick of light, making information invisible to all but the intended...

Polite Drones Do Awkward Dance to Avoid Crashing
From ACM News

Polite Drones Do Awkward Dance to Avoid Crashing

No, I insist, after you.

Human Thoughts ­sed to Switch on Genes
From ACM News

Human Thoughts ­sed to Switch on Genes

Could a futuristic society of humans with the power to control their own biological functions ever become reality? 

Ghost Universes Kill Schrödinger's Quantum Cat
From ACM News

Ghost Universes Kill Schrödinger's Quantum Cat

The wave function has collapsed—permanently.
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