The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) has requested a $7 billion budget for fiscal year 2010 to fund science and technology research at U.S. universities, which would be a 16 percent increase from NSF's 2009 budget. In addition…
Significant work in the area of tornado simulation has been conducted by a team of University of Oklahoma researchers with the aid of the Texas Advanced Computing Center's Ranger supercomputer. The team, led by professor Ming…
Researchers at the Carlos III University in Madrid (UC3M) have programmed clones that imitate the actions of humans playing soccer on a computer using behavioral cloning techniques. The clones learned the players' behaviors and…
Researchers at various universities are working with Microsoft Research to develop a more secure Web browser code-named Gazelle. The researchers recently demonstrated Gazelle on Windows Vista and with Internet Explorer's Trident…
Although some countries have far more broadband-connected homes and higher broadband speeds than the United States, the U.S. leads the world in putting broadband to productive use, according to the "Connectivity Scorecard" developed…
Dartmouth College's Institute for Information Infrastructure Protection (I3P) has given the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs chairman Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and committee member Sen…
Microsoft plans to provide technology training to as many as 2 million people over the next three years, and 1 million will receive vouchers for free online coursework. With Elevate America, Microsoft is executing a broader …
The sheer scope of user-generated content (UGC) requires a level of organization in order to take advantage of the vast corpus of information and construct applications that enhance user experiences, write Amit Sheth and Meenakshi…
The U.S. economy has lost much of its competitive edge during the past decade, concludes a new Information Technology and Innovation Foundation report. The United States ranked sixth among 40 countries and regions, based on 16…
University of Calgary professor Richard Hawkins says there is no evidence that information technology (IT) reduces the world's environmental footprint. "It was once assumed that there was little or no material dimension to information…
Numerous return-to-work programs are emerging in the science, engineering, and technology sectors, as many employers expect a talent shortage due to the high quit-rates among experienced women.
Honeywell, General Electric, …The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has honored ACM Fellow Ed Catmull for his lifetime of technical contributions and leadership in the field of computer graphics. Catmull, a computer scientist…
The Washington University in St. Louis computer science department is using a new "active learning" approach to teach undergraduate students in an effort to better prepare them for the work place. Active learning uses a learning…
A Princeton University-led group of international scientists has observed a unique behavior in the spin of electrons within a new material that could be used to revolutionize computing and electronics. Theorists have predicted…
The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) is working on two new standards to improve the wireless technology's speed and energy use. Bluetooth SIG executive director Mike Foley says the specifications will greatly increase…
Duke University researchers have developed software that shows experimentalists how to alter the machinery that bacteria uses to make natural antibiotics. The program is a set of computer rules known as algorithm K* that can…
The Tools as a Service (TaaS) cloud computing pilot program involving the IBM Canada Software Lab and the Ontario Centres of Excellence is up and running at participating Canadian research institutions. TaaS is being deployed…
Microsoft Research has unveiled the Social Desktop, a new proof-of-concept application that integrates features from the Windows operating system and the Windows Azure cloud infrastructure to enable users to share files from …
Optimal Robotics founder Howard S. Smith says the military is the most likely place for artificially intelligent machines. Developing the technology that will be needed to create fully autonomous robots is so expensive that the…
Congressional Republicans have introduced the Internet Security Act, legislation in the U.S. House and Senate that would require Internet service providers (ISPs) and possibly Wi-Fi router owners to store and retain information…
Despite the growing role of women in the United Kingdom's information technology industry, there are signs that a glass ceiling still exists. A recent survey found that 58 percent of women believe that being a woman makes it …
Google recently added the one trillionth Web address to its list of indexed Web pages, and yet that represents only a small portion of the entire Web. Beyond the one trillion pages is an even larger Web of data, including financial…
The New York Times' recent article, "Do We Need a New Internet?," by John Markoff, has sparked debate in the research community over whether creating a secure Internet will require creating a new Internet. In the article, Stanford…
The $787 billion economic stimulus package U.S. President Obama recently signed into law includes $7.2 billion for broadband grant and loan programs. Under the bill, $4.7 billion of the funding will be distributed through the…
Dalhousie University professor Aaron Newman, the Canada Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience, is using motion capture technology to develop a more thorough understanding of sign language and other forms of gesture-based communication…
Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) scientists are developing new optical sensors for use in unmanned air vehicles and surveillance drones that could track suspects that have been identified as a threat. RIT professor John…
A "remarkable synergy" between the advancement of brain-computer interface (BCI) technology and innovations in computers, digital storage devices, software, and storage technologies is observed by the Innerspace Foundation chairman…
International students at Carnegie Mellon University pursuing degrees in science, technology, engineering, and math are increasingly leaving the United States after graduation to pursue career opportunities elsewhere. Some students…
Beijing-based Venus Info Tech, a provider of IT network security to the Chinese military, has been accused of providing hacker services that help the Chinese government penetrate foreign government computer networks. Sources…
The SIGGRAPH 2009 Computer Animation Festival will include a segment on real-time rendering projects, in which the top selections will be played and demonstrated live on various platforms. A jury of industry professionals and…