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
Cyber Combat: Act of War
The Pentagon has concluded that computer sabotage coming from another country can constitute an act of war, a finding that for the first time opens the door for...
From ACM News
The Best Error Pages on the Web
Anyone who has spent enough time online has at one point reached a dead end–known in Internet parlance as a 404 page. So what causes them? Web designers are coming...
From ACM News
Spy Planes Played Indispensable Role in Mission
The raid on Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan represents probably the biggest success so far of a revolution in military technology: the ability to relay...
From ACM News
Sony Ceo Warns of 'bad New World'
After spending weeks to resolve a massive Internet security breach, Sony Corp. Chief Executive Howard Stringer said he can't guarantee the security of the company's...
From ACM News
A Stitch in Time... at the Speed of Smartphones
Your grandmother's hobby is going high-tech. Amid sewing's pop-culture revival, makers of sewing machines are cutting no corners in their appeal to the next generation...
From ACM News
Good Thinking, Einstein
The longest experiment in space physics began with three men in a university swimming pool arguing about Einstein. It ended Wednesday, after 52 years and $750...
From ACM News
Wall Street's Cult Calculator Turns 30
Matthew Rothman bought an HP 12c financial calculator for his first job out of college in 1989. Years later, he still has the same calculator. And he still uses...
From ACM News
China: 900 Million Mobile sers Asking Themselves "iphone or Android"?
In Apple's second quarter, iPhone sales in China surged nearly 250% year over year, making the country the iPhone's fastest growing market—a title it will retain...
From ACM News
The Really Smart Phone
Researchers are harvesting a wealth of intimate detail from our cellphone data, uncovering the hidden patterns of our social lives, travels, risk of disease—even...
From ACM News
Mobile App Talent Pool Is Shallow
This year, magazine publisher Hearst Corp. intends to add five software engineers to its mobile development staff. Social-networking company Ning Inc. plans to...
From ACM News
Atlas Gives Scientists New View of the Brain
Scientists funded by Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen unveiled a $55 million computerized atlas of the human brain Tuesday, offering the first interactive...
From ACM News
Facebook Shares Server Design
Facebook Inc. said it would share details for its new server systems and computer rooms with other companies, hoping to set off what it characterized as an open...
From ACM News
Tv's Next Wave: Tuning In to You
The television is channeling you. Data-gathering firms and technology companies are aggressively matching people's TV-viewing behavior with other personal data—in...
From ACM News
Aiming to Power Ever More Complex Graphics, Nvidia Plans Quad-Core Mobile Chip This Year
Chipmaker Nvidia plans this year to introduce a four-core processor, code-named Project Kal-El, that should offer roughly five times the processing power of its...
From ACM News
Google Goes to the Cloud For New Idea in Pc System
In the personal-computer industry, where things change fast, one fact has been a constant for years: There are two major, mainstream operating systems for consumers...
From ACM News
Microsoft's Top Visionary To Leave as Ranks Shift
Ray Ozzie, the executive who became Microsoft Corp.'s top technical visionary after the retirement of cofounder Bill Gates, plans to leave the software company...
From ACM News
Apple Blinks in Apps Fight
In an uncharacteristic about-face, Apple Inc. loosened its control over software development for its iPhones and iPads as the company feels heat from a U.S. antitrust...
From ACM News
Spending Soars on Internet's Plumbing
Behind the recovery in business spending is a surge in purchases of the computers that form the backbone of the Internet, as companies scramble to meet growing...
From ACM TechNews
sing Science Against Suicide Bombs
Software that models the effects of suicide bombings has been developed by computer scientist Zeeshan-ul-Hassan Usmani, whose expertise could help inform the construction...
From ACM News