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
In Flop of H.p. Touchpad, an Object Lesson For the Tech Sector
The TouchPad tablet from Hewlett-Packard was one of the most closely watched new gadgets of 2011—and quickly turned out to be the year’s biggest flop.
From ACM News
Teachers Resist High-Tech Push in Idaho Schools
Ann Rosenbaum, a former military police officer in the Marines, does not shrink from a fight, having even survived a close encounter with a car bomb in Iraq.
From ACM News
Apropos Appropriation
One recent afternoon in the offices of the Midtown law firm run by David Boies and his powerful litigation partners, a large black clamshell box sat on a conference...
From ACM News
Logging In With a Touch or a Phrase (anything but a Password)
Passwords are a pain to remember. What if a quick wiggle of five fingers on a screen could log you in instead? Or speaking a simple phrase?
From ACM News
Making Science Leap From the Page
When a college textbook, "Principles of Biology," comes out from the Nature Publishing Group in January, one place it won't be is on the shelves of school bookstores...
From ACM News
Digital Data on Patients Raises Risk of Breaches
One afternoon last spring, Micky Tripathi received a panicked call from an employee. Someone had broken into his car and stolen his briefcase and company laptop...
From ACM News
Speed of Light Lingers in Face of New Camera
More than 70 years ago, the MIT electrical engineer Harold (Doc) Edgerton began using strobe lights to create remarkable photographs: a bullet stopped in flight...
From ACM News
A New Secret Weapon For Electronics Shoppers
There was a time not so long ago that buying a car was one of the worst shopping experiences. As you drove off the dealer's lot, you couldn't escape the feeling...
From ACM News
Drone Crash in Iran Reveals Secret .s. Surveillance Effort
The stealth C.I.A. drone that crashed deep inside Iranian territory last week was part of a stepped-up surveillance program that has frequently sent the United...
From ACM News
Creating Artificial Intelligence Based on the Real Thing
Ever since the early days of modern computing in the 1940s, the biological metaphor has been irresistible.
From ACM News
Underwater Drones Giving More Eyes to Police Harbor Unit as Searches Grow
With President Obama in town last week, things were busy for the New York Police Department's Harbor Unit. Federal security agents were disseminating lists of...
From ACM News
Software That Listens For Lies
She looks as innocuous as Miss Marple, Agatha Christie’s famous detective.
From ACM News
Photoshopped or Not? A Tool to Tell
The photographs of celebrities and models in fashion advertisements and magazines are routinely buffed with a helping of digital polish.
From ACM News
Fliers Must Turn Off Devices, but It's Not Clear Why
Millions of Americans who got on a plane over the Thanksgiving holiday heard the admonition: "Please power down your electronic devices for takeoff."
From ACM News
Turn On the Server. It
To satisfy our ever-growing need for computing power, many technology companies have moved their work to data centers with tens of thousands of power-gobbling...
From ACM News
Patent Office Highlights Jobs's Innovations
The United States Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandria, Va., recently unveiled an exhibit of 30 giant iPhone-like models honoring the inventions of the late...
From ACM News
A New Perspective on Crime Scenes
In 2009, to better record crime scenes, the New York City Police Department began using the Panoscan, a camera that creates high-resolution, 360-degree panoramic...
From ACM News
Pursuing a Piracy Claim Against Apple
David Gelernter is known for many things. As a pioneering computer scientist, he first earned renown by connecting computers together into collaborative networks...
From ACM News