Building a Brain-Machine Interface
Researchers are tapping the brain signals of "locked-in" patients to help them control computers and communicate directly with the outside world.
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Communications' Virtual Extension brings more quality articles to ACM members. These articles are now available in the ACM Digital Library.
Alternate Interface Technologies Emerge
Researchers working in human-computer interaction are developing new interfaces to produce greater efficiencies in personal computing and enhance miniaturization in mobile devices.
Social networking, sophisticated imaging, and dual-use technologies promise improved disaster management, but they must be adopted by governments and aid agencies if more lives are to be saved in the wake of crises.
Type systems are moving beyond the realm of data structure and into more complex domains like security and networking.
An Interview with Michael Rabin
Michael O. Rabin, co-recipient of the 1976 ACM A.M. Turing Award, discusses his innovative algorithmic work with Dennis Shasha.
Wireless Operators Struggle to Deliver Broadband
AT&T's bandwidth crisis for iPhone users was pushed aside by wireless operators and handset developers disclosing new smartphones, netbooks, and smartbooks with broadband connections. But North American service providers still have significant holes in their overall broadband deployment strategies.
Communications' Virtual Extension brings more quality articles to ACM members. These articles are now available in the ACM Digital Library.
It's been an exhilarating first year as President of ACM. At the close of FY09, ACM stood as the largest educational and scientific computer society in the world. After seven consecutive years of steady growth, ACM ended the fiscal year with membership at an all-time high.
New Search Challenges and Opportunities
If search engines can extract more meaning from text and better understand what people are looking for, the Web's resources could be accessed more effectively.
The National Science Foundation's meeting on Internet architectures focused on designs related to emerging social and economic realities. The four-day, invitation-only summit drew 90 U.S.-based researchers with expertise in networking, communications, security, privacy, and the social and economic sciences.
Robert Lovett Ashenhurst: 1929 – 2009
Former Communications editor-in-chief Robert L. Ashenhurst, who died last October at age 80, served ACM for 35 years with dedication, humor, and panache, according to fellow ACM volunteers.
Buildings collapse. Wind and rain beat them, temperatures cycle from freezing to blistering, and random strikes of lightning threaten sudden obliteration. Even more potent are the human challenges: war, fire, and deliberate destruction. But digital representations can survive such dangers, capturing structures forevermore.
ACM is in the process of establishing ACM India as a legal entity and will hold its first conference in late January. Four A.M. Turing award winners, including Barbara Liskov of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will speak at the inaugural event in Bangalore.
Automated Translation of Indian Languages
India faces a daunting task trying to manually translate among 22 official languages, but assistance, in the form of advanced technology enabled by a lot of hard work, is on the way.
Augmented Reality Gets Ready For Work
Much of the work on augmented reality (AR) has focused on applying computer-generated virtual imagery to video games and other consumer applications, but the technology also shows promise for the workplace, experts say. Researchers are looking at applications such as mixed reality interfaces that would allow workers in a conference room, for example, to interact with virtual counterparts.
How Search Engines Cope With Real-Time Data
Twitter addiction feeds the growing belief that real-time search is a necessity, but the gush of real-time data completely changes the way the Web is indexed. It also challenges search engines to identify and rank valuable content while filtering out noise.
Nadya Mason: From Pirouettes to Carbon Nanotubes
In 1986, Nadya Mason competed as a gymnast in Houston, training with the legendary Bela Karolyi as a member of the U.S. National Team, hoping to make it to the Olympics. She never did. But, 23 years later, as Doctor Nadya Mason, an assistant professor of physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, she did win the Microsoft-sponsored 2009 Denice Denton Emerging Leader Award. Apparently still in motion, Mason has become somewhat of a celebrity within both scientific and humanitarian circles.
Communications' Virtual Extension brings more quality articles to ACM members. These articles are now available in the ACM Digital Library.
The hegemony of the traditional desktop operating system is starting to fracture with the emergence of a new generation of Web browsers that may finally herald the long-awaited convergence of Web and OS.
Today's automated systems provide enormous safety and convenience. However, when glitches, problems, or breakdowns occur, the results can be catastrophic.
Shape the Future of Computing
ACM encourages its members to take a direct hand in shaping the future of the association. There are more ways than ever to get involved.
Get InvolvedCommunications of the ACM (CACM) is now a fully Open Access publication.
By opening CACM to the world, we hope to increase engagement among the broader computer science community and encourage non-members to discover the rich resources ACM has to offer.
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