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 TechNews
Quantum Computer Gets Closer: Quantum Particles Pinned Down
Scientists at the Delft University of Technology were able to gain control over the environment of a quantum particle, which is a key step in the potential development...
From ACM TechNews
Tinkering Makes Comeback Amid Crisis
The economic crisis and the reduced costs of high-tech tools and materials are fueling a resurgence in tinkering and experimentation. U.S. engineering schools...
From ACM News
Secret Math of Fly Eyes Could Overhaul Robot Vision
By turning the brain cell activity underlying fly eyesight into mathematical equations, researchers have found an ultra-efficient method for pulling motion patterns...
From ACM News
Digital Cloud Plan For City Skies
A giant "digital cloud" that would "float" above London's skyline has been outlined by an international team of architects, artists and engineers. The construction...
From ACM News
Wi-Fi Certification Might Be Tweaked For Smart Grids
The Wi-Fi Alliance has formed a task group to determine what standards need to be modified to ensure Wi-Fi is the tool of choice for smart-grid applications. The...
From ACM News
Netbook Apps Demand Dedicated Development Techniques
Netbooks have grown in popularity and with them a demand for software. But developers who assume there's no need to create applications differently when they enter...
From ACM TechNews
What Happens When Good Robots Go 'bad'?
A study by University of Washington researchers led by doctoral student Tamara Denning calls attention to the possibility of household robots being hacked by malevolent...
From ACM TechNews
Nasa Showcases 'green' Missions at Sc09 Conference
Milestones by five NASA research centers in the fields of science, engineering, and technology will be showcased at the ACM-sponsored SC09 supercomputing conference...
From ACM TechNews
Web Security Tool Copies Apps' Moves
Scientists at Microsoft research have unveiled Ripley, a new way to secure complex Web applications by effectively cloning the user's browser and running it remotely...
From ACM TechNews
China Plans For Humanoid Olympics
China has announced plans to hold a robot Olympics in 2010, in which humanoid robots will compete in 16 different events ranging from athletics to machine-related...
From ACM News
Adding a Sixth Sense to Your Cellphone
Many Indians bought their first mobile phones before they had their first experiences with personal computers. Pranav Mistry thinks that most of them might also...
From ACM News
Splitting p Search
Searching the Web could become faster for users and much more efficient for search companies if search engines were split up and distributed around the world, according...
From ACM TechNews
Futurists' Report Acknowledges Dangers of Smart Robots
A forthcoming report from the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) will explore whether robots could eventually become so intelligent...
From ACM TechNews
.s. and Australia Dominate Magic Robot Competition Short List
The organizers of the Multi-Autonomous Ground-robotic International Challenge (MAGIC) have created a list of 12 teams and has asked them to develop their proposals...
From ACM News
Nsf Awards $20 Million to Sdsc to Develop Shared-Memory Supercomputer
The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California, San Diego has been awarded a five-year, $20 million grant from the U.S. National Science...
From ACM News
World's First Arabic-Speaking Robot to Serve as Staff in Shopping Malls
A laboratory in the United Arab Emirate has built what it says is the world's first Arabic-speaking robot which could soon go into mass production to serve as staff...
From ACM TechNews
K-State Freshman Manages Largest Supercomputer in Kansas
Kansas State University's (KSU's) Beocat is a cluster of 122 servers that work together to form Kansas' largest academic research supercomputer. "It's easier to...
From ACM TechNews
Xerox Claims Breakthrough in Printable Circuitry
Xerox says it has developed a new form of silver ink that aligns its molecules to conduct electricity more efficiently. The breakthrough enables electronics to...
From ACM TechNews
The Past, Present and Future of AI
The idea that fully-fledged artificial intelligence (AI) — thinking machines that could mimic human intelligence precisely — would be realized by the year 2000...
From ACM TechNews