Communications of the ACM
The Promise of Holographic Displays
The computational expense of creating three-dimensional images that can be viewed by all is just one factor holding them back… From ACM NewsAn edited collection of advanced computing news from Communications of the ACM, ACM TechNews, other ACM resources, and news sites around the Web.
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Immortal Avatars: Back Up Your Brain, Never Die
Zoe Graystone is a girl with two brains. Only one of them is human: the other is an exact digital copy that has become conscious in its own right. When the human...
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Visual Tricks Can Make Downloads Seem Quicker
Twiddling our thumbs while waiting for files to download is one of the great frustrations of our high-speed, technologically interconnected world. Computer scientists...
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Cellphone Traces Reveal You're So Predictable
We may all like to consider ourselves free spirits. But a study of the traces left by 50,000 cellphone users over three months has conclusively proved otherwise...
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Unplugged: Goodbye Cables, Hello Energy Beams
LET'S face it: power cables are unsightly dust-traps. PCs, TVs and music players are becoming slicker every year, but the nest of vipers in the corner of everyAn...
From ACM TechNews
How Crowdsourcing Is Helping in Haiti
The revolution in texting, social networking, and crowdsourcing has enabled innovations such as the 4636 texting service, which is aiding the disaster relief efforts...
From ACM TechNews
How Touch Screens Could Shrug Off Shoulder Surfers
Users of touch-screen gadgets must contend with snoopers, and researchers at Britain's Newcastle University and elsewhere are working on alternative input mechanisms...
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Microsoft's Body-Sensing, Button-Busting Controller
A LONG-lived videogaming skill could be on the way out this year as Microsoft hones an add-on to its Xbox 360 console aimed at making button-studded games controllers...
From ACM TechNews
Motion-Sensing Phones That Predict Your Every Move
Technical University of Delft researchers have developed a smartphone program that learns users' behavior patterns to provide better cell phone service. The program...
From ACM TechNews
Cellphones Team p to Make Wi-Fi Where You Want It
Scientists at Microsoft Research India and colleagues at the University of California, Santa Barbara have developed Cool-Tether, a system that combines the Internet...
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Mobile Botnets Show Their Destructive Potential
Denial-of-services (DoS) attacks are a common tactic used by "black hats" intent on bringing down a high-profile Web site. Now Patrick Traynor of the Georgia Institute...
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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
Living Wallpaper That Devices Can Relate To
The Living Wall project, led by Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab researcher Leah Buechley, features an electronically enhanced wallpaper that can...
From ACM TechNews
To Protect Your Privacy, Hand Over Your Data
A new proposal from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT's) Human Dynamics Laboratory suggests that digital identities would be more secure if they...
From ACM TechNews
Augmented Reality Gets Off to a Wobbly Start
Although the iPhone can superimpose navigation routes or reviews on top of real-time images, augmented reality (AR) still has a long way to go. The iPhone's application...
From ACM TechNews
Magic Ink Offers Full-Color Printing in an Instant
Engineers at Seoul National University in South Korea have developed M-Ink, technology capable of producing full-color prints in a fraction of a second. M-Ink...
From ACM TechNews
Smart Machines: What's The Worst That Could Happen?
A panel of 25 artificial intelligence (AI) scientists, roboticists, and ethical and legal scholars have spent the past year discussing the risks of developing machines...
From ACM TechNews
How New Technologies Will Ease Our Traffic Woes
A new generation of monitoring and data-gathering technologies could drastically alter how people travel by car by providing them with more accurate information...
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'secret' Questions Leave Accounts Vulnerable
The secret questions some Web sites ask new users to answer for verification purposes in case a password is forgotten are actually far less secure and far easier...
From ACM TechNews
Looking Forward to the Smarter Smartphone
Cutting-edge research suggests there are major changes in store for smartphones. For example, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Brandon Taylor and Michael...
From ACM TechNews