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
A Plan to Make Police Data Open Source Started on Reddit
The Police Data Accessibility Project aims to request, download, clean, and standardize public records that right now are overly difficult to find.
From ACM News
Tech Confronts Its Use of the Labels 'Master' and 'Slave'
Companies and programmers are reexamining how technical terms are used amid Black Lives Matter protests. But some worry the changes are empty symbolism.
From ACM News
Google Will Delete Your Data by Default—in 18 Months
Starting Wednesday, the search giant will make a previously opt-in auto-delete feature the norm.
From ACM News
President Trump Just Suspended the Tech Industry's Favorite Visa
The administration said the move will give U.S. workers access to an additional 525,000 jobs. But sectors with lots of H-1B visas tend to have low unemployment....
From ACM TechNews
Spies Can Eavesdrop by Watching a Light Bulb's Vibrations
Researchers have developed a long-distance eavesdropping method that exploits vibrations on the glass surface of a light bulb's interior.
From ACM News
Watson's Creator Wants to Teach AI a New Trick: Common Sense
David Ferrucci built a computer that mastered Jeopardy! Since then, he's been attacking a more challenging task.
From ACM TechNews
This Robot Can Guess How You're Feeling by the Way You Walk
A new algorithm enables a small four-wheeled robot to perform real-time gait analysis in order to determine a walker's emotional state.
From ACM News
Is the Brain a Useful Model for Artificial Intelligence?
Thinking machines think just like us—but only up to a point.
From ACM News
Inside Big Tech’s High-stakes Race for Quantum Supremacy
Quantum computers used to be an impossible dream. Now, after a decade of research by some of the world's biggest tech companies, they're on the verge of changing...
From ACM News
The Confessions of Marcus Hutchins, the Hacker Who Saved the Internet
At 22, he single-handedly put a stop to the worst cyberattack the world had ever seen. Then he was arrested by the FBI. This is his untold story.
From ACM TechNews
After 50 Years of Effort, Researchers Made Silicon Emit Light
Researchers at the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands say they have induced the emission of light from silicon.
From ACM TechNews
How a Real Dog Taught a Robot Dog to Walk
Researchers at Google have developed a robotic dog and taught it to walk by showing it motion-capture videos of real dogs walking on treadmills.
From ACM TechNews
Hackers Can Clone Millions of Toyota, Hyundai, Kia Keys
Researchers found previously unknown vulnerabilities in encryption systems used by in-vehicle devices that communicate at close range with key fobs to unlock the...
From ACM TechNews
This Clever Robotic Finger Feels With Light
A new robotic skeleton is embedded with 32 photodiodes and 30 adjacent LEDs, and is covered by a squishy skin of reflective silicone that keeps the device's own...
From ACM News
We’re not prepared for the end of Moore’s Law
It has fueled prosperity of the last 50 years. But the end is now in sight.
From ACM News
Python Is More Popular Than Ever
Despite a rocky transition from Python 2 to Python 3, developers are still flocking to the programming language.
From ACM News
The Secret History of Facial Recognition
Sixty years ago, a sharecropper's son invented a technology to identify faces. Then the record of his role all but vanished.
From ACM TechNews
Intel Patching the Patch for the Patch for 'Zombieload' Flaw
Intel said it will release yet another patch for a microarchitectural data sampling vulnerability that allows hackers to fool microprocessors into exposing protected...
From ACM News
AI Can Do Great Things—if It Doesn't Burn the Planet
The computing power required for AI landmarks, such as recognizing images and defeating humans at Go, increased 300,000-fold from 2012 to 2018.
From ACM News