News – Page 78 – Communications of the ACM

Apr 14 2009

Tech Mainstays Promote Machines That Fix Themselves

Technology companies are embracing self-healing technology, a computing strategy that could have a major impact on the data center and the desktop. IBM uses self-healing technologies in WebSphere, DB2, the Lotus Foundations product line, and its Power servers. And Sun Microsystems has designed predictive self-healing modules that enable Solaris to self-diagnose and mitigate problems.

Kirk L. Kroeker

Architecture and Hardware

Apr 1 2009

Learning More About Active Learning

Active learning algorithms are producing substantial savings in label complexity over passive learning approaches.

Graeme Stemp-Morlock

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Carnegie Mellon Ph.D. student Steve Hanneke

Apr 1 2009

Our Sentiments, Exactly

With sentiment analysis algorithms, companies can identify and assess the wide variety of opinions found online and create computational models of human opinion.

Alex Wright

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

an example of sentiment analysis of the Volkswagon Golf

Apr 1 2009

Virtual Colonoscopies

Doctors are saving lives with virtual, 3D exams that are less invasive than a conventional optical colonoscopy.

David Essex

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

screenshot of a user interface for virtual colonoscopy

Apr 1 2009

Time to Reboot

A diverse, international group of more than 200 attendees met at the Rebooting Computing Summit to address the problems confronting computer science.

Bob Violino

Computing Applications

Rebooting Computing Summit organizer Peter Denning, left, and facilitator Ron Fry

Apr 1 2009

IT Ecosystem in Peril

Experts warn the U.S. may soon relinquish its leadership role in IT research and development.

Alan Joch

Computing Applications

Mar 1 2009

Betting on Ideas

Advanced computational models are enabling researchers to create increasingly sophisticated prediction markets.

Gregory Goth

Computing Applications

Yahoo! Principal Researcher David Pennock

Mar 1 2009

Crowd Control

Researchers are turning to computers to help us take advantage of our own cognitive abilities and of the wisdom of crowds.

Leah Hoffmann

Computing Applications

image of sheep from TheSheepMarket.com by Aaron Koblin

Mar 1 2009

The Evolution of Virtualization

Virtualization is moving out of the data center and making inroads with mobile computing, security, and software delivery.

Kirk L. Kroeker

Architecture and Hardware

screen shot of iMac computer with VMware Fusion virtual machine software

Mar 1 2009

A Difficult, Unforgettable Idea

On the 40th anniversary of Douglas C. Engelbart's "The Mother of All Demos," computer scientists discuss the event's influence — and imagine what could have been.

Karen A. Frenkel

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Mar 1 2009

ACM Fellows Honored

Forty-four men and women are being inducted this year as 2008 ACM Fellows.

CACM Staff

Computing Applications

Feb 20 2009

Does Drm Have a Future?

Digital rights management (DRM) has emerged as a widespread tool to combat piracy. So far, however, DRM systems have proved highly inconvenient to consumers who wish to view or listen to content on multiple devices, including computers, media servers, set-top boxes, portable video and audio devices, even phones. They have also proved mostly ineffective in thwarting thieves.

Samuel Greengard

Computing Applications

Feb 1 2009

USACM’s Policy Role

ACM members have a professional duty to ensure that the public comprehends and benefits from advances in computing.

Eugene H. Spafford

Computing Applications

Feb 1 2009

Photography’s Bright Future

Researchers working in computational photography are using computer vision, computer graphics, and applied optics to bring a vast array of new capabilities to digital cameras.

Kirk L. Kroeker

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

camera mechanism designed to enhance depth of field

Feb 1 2009

Making Sense of Sensors

Researchers are recognizing the potential of position sensors to help them overcome the limitations of traditional user interfaces.

Alex Wright

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Johnny Chung Lee at Creativity World Forum 2008

Feb 1 2009

The First Internet President

Barack Obama's presidential campaign utilized the Internet and information technology unlike any previous political campaign. How politicians and the public interact will never be the same.

Samuel Greengard

Architecture and Hardware

Feb 1 2009

SIGGRAPH Debuts in Asia

ACM's premier computer graphics conference hosts its first-ever graphics event in Asia, with a more global focus.

Kirk L. Kroeker

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

SIGGRAPH Asia 2008 conference in Singapore

Jan 4 2009

The Long Slow Road to a $1 Million Millennium Prize

In 2006, the journal Science named the solution to the century-old Poincaré Conjecture as its "breakthrough of the year." Three years later, the Clay Mathematics Institute, which had pledged to award $1 million to the person who solves this or any of six others of its Millennium Prize Problems, has yet to name a winner. The delay sheds light on the onerous process of vetting solutions to mathematics' toughest problems.

By Marina Krakovsky

Computing Profession

Jan 1 2009

Calculating the Future

Climate researchers have no shortage of scientific issues on which to expend computer power. The biggest problem is choosing which one to tackle first.

David Lindley

Architecture and Hardware

climate change ocean model and atmosphere model

Jan 1 2009

The Universe in Your Computer

Two virtual astronomical telescopes promise to transform the way people view and study the cosmos.

Jeff Kanipe

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Jan 1 2009

Context-Aware Smartphones

Future generations of smartphones will be context aware, tracking your behavior, providing information about the immediate environment, and anticipating your intentions.

Alex Wright

Computing Applications

Google Android smartphone with Enkin 3D navigation system

Jan 1 2009

A Pioneer Woman

Programmer Jean Bartik is inducted into the Computer History Museum's Hall of Fellows.

Michael Ross

Computing Applications

Jan 1 2009

ACM’s Annual Report

I would be hard-pressed to recall in my four decades as an ACM member a time as eventful and exceptional as recorded by ACM in FY08.

Stuart I. Feldman

Computing Applications

Jan 1 2009

The Long Road to 64 Bits

The sometimes contentious development of 64-bit systems shows how technology decisions can have unexpected, enduring consequences.

John Mashey

Architecture and Hardware

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