News – Page 64 – Communications of the ACM

Sep 21 2012

Christos Papadimitriou's recently published reminiscences include the fascinating story of how he learned about Turing Machines: As a bored undergraduate in a Greek university, he happened to see the definition buried within an article about pattern recognition, and he was immediately entranced.

Donald Knuth

Computing Profession

Sep 18 2012

Ethical Robots: Let Their Artificial Consciences Be Their Guides

When lethal autonomous robots take their place on the field of battle and function independent of human control, what will govern the decisions of these next-gen weapons to either shoot or hold their fire?

Paul Hyman

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Sep 11 2012

Super-Fast Broadband: Build It and They will Come–Maybe

When the Internet pipelines in cities like Chattanooga and Kansas City are accelerated to super-fast broadband, the leading-edge technology is expected to generate new business opportunities, but there are no guarantees.

Paul Hyman

Computing Applications

Sep 1 2012

Chips Go Upscale

After decades in Flatland, the end of Moore's Law is pushing semiconductors into the third dimension.

Gary Anthes

Architecture and Hardware

electronic 'glue' and stacked semiconductors, illustration

Sep 1 2012

In Honor of Alan Turing

Thirty-two of the 39 living A.M. Turing Award laureates gathered in San Francisco to pay tribute to "the father of CS" and discuss the past, present, and future of computing.

Paul Hyman

Computing Applications

Turing Award laureates at the Turing Centenary Celebration

Sep 1 2012

Atomic-Level Computing

Thanks to the University of New South Wales and IBM Research, scientists are moving closer to the junction of quantum and digital computing.

Gregory Goth

Architecture and Hardware

Sep 1 2012

Garbage In, Info Out

Security researchers used malware to investigate large-scale Internet censorship in Egypt and Libya.

Marina Krakovsky

Architecture and Hardware

Sep 1 2012

Why ACM?

"Another reason to ditch ACM," thundered an ACM member in a social-media posting during recent debate over the Research Works Act, introduced by Congress in 2011. While deep concerns with the bill were widespread, the nasty tone of the posting was surprising to me.

Moshe Y. Vardi

Computing Applications

Aug 29 2012

The Secretive Life of Apple

The Apple-Samsung trial revealed some secrets about Apple's inner workings such as — despite founder Steve Jobs' public statements — the Cupertino company conducts market research.

Samuel Greengard

Computing Profession

Aug 21 2012

The Technology Race For Intelligent E-Textbooks

The next-generation college textbook will undoubtedly be an "intelligent e-textbook."

Paul Hyman

Education

Aug 14 2012

Success of Wpi’s Robotics Program Inspires Other niversities

The success of the nation’s first undergrad robotics engineering program has inspired two universities that are now experiencing the very same challenges.

Paul Hyman

Architecture and Hardware

Aug 7 2012

Software Enables Pcs to Solve Problems That Once Required the Cloud

A new software program running on a single laptop or PC can, in some cases, solve bigger problems in less time than other available distributed frameworks.

Paul Hyman

Computing Applications

Aug 1 2012

DARPA Shredder Challenge Solved

The eight-person winning team used original computer algorithms to narrow the search space and then relied on human observation to move the pieces into their final positions.

Tom Geller

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Aug 1 2012

Broader Horizons

ACM's Committee for Women in Computing (ACM-W) is widening its reach to involve women in industry as well as academia, including community college faculty and students.

Karen A. Frenkel

Computing Applications

Aug 1 2012

Cosmic Simulations

With the help of supercomputers, scientists are now able to create models of large-scale astronomical events.

Jeff Kanipe

Architecture and Hardware

visualization from the Bolshoi simulation

Aug 1 2012

Advertising Gets Personal

Online behavioral advertising and sophisticated data aggregation have changed the face of advertising and put privacy in the crosshairs.

Samuel Greengard

Computing Applications

Jul 29 2012

Should Computer Scientists Change How They Publish?

One of the most popular panels at Snowbird was "Publication Models in Computing Research: Is a Change Needed? Are We Ready for a Change?"

Jack Rosenberger

Computing Profession

Jul 23 2012

Assistance Systems Help Out Distracted Drivers

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) are changing the way we drive — and paving the way for cars that can drive themselves.

Logan Kugler

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Jul 17 2012

Five Reasons Why It’s A Great Time to Major in Computer Science

While computer science always seems to be an excellent career choice, this happens to be a particularly great time to pursue a CS major, say experts.

Paul Hyman

Computing Profession

Jul 6 2012

The nified Theory of Wu

Virginia Tech Associate Professor at Wu-chun Feng, commonly known as "Wu," talks about productivity and his latest work on supercomputers.

Logan Kugler

Architecture and Hardware

Virginia Tech Associate Professor Wu-chun Feng

Jul 3 2012

Jobs vs. Gates, Redux

It’s difficult to find two people who have had a greater influence on people’s lives than Steve Jobs and Bill Gates.

Samuel Greengard

Architecture and Hardware

Jul 1 2012

HTML5 Leads a Web Revolution

Propelled by a proliferation of mobile devices and social networks, an enhanced family of Web specifications is bringing new power to developers and new capabilities to users.

Gary Anthes

Computing Applications

New York City geolocation map on mobile screen

Jul 1 2012

Patently Inadequate

The biggest change to U.S. patent law in nearly 60 years brings many changes, but fails to solve the software industry's most vexing problems.

Marina Krakovsky

Computing Applications

President Obama signing the America Invents Act

Jul 1 2012

Lost and Found

Researchers discover computer pioneer Konrad Zuse's long-forgotten Z9, the world's first program-controlled binary relay calculator using floating-point arithmetic.

Paul Hyman

Architecture and Hardware

Konrad Zuse with reproduction of a mechanical computer

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