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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.

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.

Ready For a Web OS?

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.

Lean, Green Machines

Designers of the German supercomputers that won the latest Green500 prize, which rewards not just computing power but energy efficiency, did not set out to win the award, but they did think carefully about energy consumption. "Nowadays, supercomputers use so much energy that it's probably more money than the purchase price," says physics professor Tilo Wettig of the University of Regensburg, so "power efficiency is extremely important."

Moving Beyond Text-Based Video Search

Current disputes on the appropriate format for conducting searches of online video threaten to dredge up old battles on the superiority of linear, textual styles of presentation versus visual-spatial representations. The conflict centers on whether the underlying qualitative meaning of a video is best captured through text or whether tools developed for the analysis of static visual features are portable to a video environment.

Rewiring Cities For a More Convenient Future

Over the next few years, several Chinese cities aim to add broadband and other services that establish them as "e-cities" or "digital cities." The cities will use a combination of communications and computing infrastructure to help create "a more convenient society for citizens, business and the government," according to a company that will manage  e-city implementations for Nanjing and Haineng.

Managing Data

Dealing with terabytes of data is not the monumental task it once was. The difficult part is presenting enormous amounts of information in ways that are most useful to a wide variety of users.

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 Involved

Communications 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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