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Communications of the ACM

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The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.

October 2020


From ACM News

Activists Turn Facial Recognition Tools Against the Police

Activists Turn Facial Recognition Tools Against the Police

"We're now approaching the technological threshold where the little guys can do it to the big guys," one researcher said.


From ACM News

Schools Clamored for Seesaw’s App. That Was Good News, and Bad News.

Schools Clamored for Seesaw’s App. That Was Good News, and Bad News.

It wasn't simple to become a do-it-all education tool almost overnight.


From ACM News

The U.S.-China Conflict Over Chips Is About to Get Uglier

The U.S.-China Conflict Over Chips Is About to Get Uglier

Politics is roiling the semiconductor business model, sparking a drive for more autonomy from the U.S. to China, Europe and Japan.


From ACM News

Driverless Cars Go Humble to Get Real

Driverless Cars Go Humble to Get Real

Recent developments point to promise for driverless car technology, if we stay realistic.


From ACM TechNews

Remote Work Not Just for White-Collar Jobs Anymore

Remote Work Not Just for White-Collar Jobs Anymore

Technology that allows people to perform physical work remotely is proliferating across a host of occupations.


From ACM TechNews

Simple Software Creates Complex Wooden Joints That Interlock with No Nails, Glue, or Tools

Simple Software Creates Complex Wooden Joints That Interlock with No Nails, Glue, or Tools

Researchers at Japan's University of Tokyo created novel three-dimensional design software for producing sophisticated, interlocking wooden joints that do not require nails, glue, or tools.


From ACM TechNews

Cybersecurity Company Finds Hacker Selling Info on 186 Million U.S. Voters

Cybersecurity Company Finds Hacker Selling Info on 186 Million U.S. Voters

Cybersecurity company Trustwave says it discovered a hacker selling personally identifying information on 245 million Americans, including voter registration data for 186 million.


From ACM TechNews

MonoEye: A Human Motion-Capture System Using Single Wearable Camera

MonoEye: A Human Motion-Capture System Using Single Wearable Camera

Researchers have developed a human motion-capture system using an ultra-wide fisheye camera strapped to the user's chest.


From ACM TechNews

2020's Fastest-Rising Tech Jobs? Programming Language PHP Leads the Way

2020's Fastest-Rising Tech Jobs? Programming Language PHP Leads the Way

Job search engine Indeed said entry-level PHP developer is the fastest-growing technology job industry-wide.


From ACM TechNews

Alphabet Trialing Solar-Paneled, Robotic Buggies to Inspect Crops

Alphabet Trialing Solar-Paneled, Robotic Buggies to Inspect Crops

Google parent Alphabet is piloting a project to revolutionize agriculture and food production by using solar-powered electric buggies to monitor crops.


From ACM News

Faculty Expected to Return to Campus for Spring Semester per Updated Remote WorkPolicy

Faculty Expected to Return to Campus for Spring Semester per Updated Remote WorkPolicy

While Northeastern University faculty are expected to return, requests for remote work will still be accepted and addressed on a case-by-case basis.


From ACM News

Forget Antitrust Laws. To Limit Tech, Some Say a New Regulator Is Needed.

Forget Antitrust Laws. To Limit Tech, Some Say a New Regulator Is Needed.

Even as the Justice Department sued Google, some antitrust experts wondered whether a different government response would be more effective.


From ACM TechNews

The Police Can Probably Break Into Your Phone

The Police Can Probably Break Into Your Phone

Washington DC-based nonprofit Upturn found law enforcement officials regularly break into encrypted smartphones, and police in all U.S. states have phone-hacking tools.


From ACM TechNews

Programming Language Popularity: JavaScript Leads--5 Million New Developers Since 2017

Programming Language Popularity: JavaScript Leads--5 Million New Developers Since 2017

SlashData's State of the Developer Nation Q3 2020 survey found JavaScript remains the reigning coding language for developers.


From ACM TechNews

Pufferfish-Inspired Robot Could Improve Drone Safety

Pufferfish-Inspired Robot Could Improve Drone Safety

Engineers at the University of Colorado, Boulder have designed a pufferfish-inspired robot that could enhance the safety of flying drones.


From ACM TechNews

A Radical Technique Lets AI Learn with Practically No Data

A Radical Technique Lets AI Learn with Practically No Data

Scientists at Canada's University of Waterloo suggest artificial intelligence models should be capable of “less than one”-shot learning.


From ACM TechNews

Tesla Putting 'Self-Driving' in the Hands of Drivers, Amid Criticism the Tech Is Not Ready

Tesla Putting 'Self-Driving' in the Hands of Drivers, Amid Criticism the Tech Is Not Ready

Electric automaker Tesla has providing a number of owners of its vehicles a software update to enable the cars to steer better and accelerate without human control.


From ACM News

25 Moments in Tech that Defined the Past 25 Years

25 Moments in Tech that Defined the Past 25 Years

From the obvious (Steve Jobs unveils the iPhone) to the obscure (AT&T stops charging an hourly rate for internet access), these events were landmarks.


From ACM TechNews

Cyber Command Sought to Disrupt World's Largest Botnet, Hoping to Reduce Its Potential Impact on the Election

Cyber Command Sought to Disrupt World's Largest Botnet, Hoping to Reduce Its Potential Impact on the Election

U.S. Cyber Command (CyberCom) has launched a campaign to temporarily disrupt the world's largest botnet, in order to mitigate its potential interference in the presidential election.


From ACM TechNews

Many Corporate Boards Still Face Shortage of Tech Expertise

Many Corporate Boards Still Face Shortage of Tech Expertise

Corporate boards could soon be looking for technology talent amid a shortfall, with digital business models gaining due to the Covid-19 pandemic.


From ACM TechNews

Hackers Targeting IoT Devices With a P2P Botnet Malware

Hackers Targeting IoT Devices With a P2P Botnet Malware

Qihoo 360's Netlab security team has discovered the HEH Botnet, which hijacks Internet-connected smart devices to carry out nefarious tasks.


From ACM TechNews

AI Is About to Face a Major Test: Can It Differentiate Covid-19 From Flu?

AI Is About to Face a Major Test: Can It Differentiate Covid-19 From Flu?

Researchers are turning to artificial intelligence to help doctors differentiate between Covid-19 and the flu.


From ACM News

RISC-V Business: Tech Foundation Moving to Switzerland Because of Geopolitical Concerns

RISC-V Business: Tech Foundation Moving to Switzerland Because of Geopolitical Concerns

Unanimous decision of board to up sticks from Delaware.


From ACM News

First European Quantum Computing Facility Goes Online

First European Quantum Computing Facility Goes Online

Quantum Inspire is smaller than IBM's Quantum Experience, but offers the first online quantum processor that uses electron spins in quantum dots as qubits.


From ACM TechNews

WEF Says Machines Will Create More Jobs Than They Destroy, but Warns of Pandemic 'Double-Disruption'

WEF Says Machines Will Create More Jobs Than They Destroy, but Warns of Pandemic 'Double-Disruption'

The World Economic Forum predicts robotics and artificial intelligence advancements will lead to a net increase in jobs over the next five years.


From ACM TechNews

GM to Run Driverless Cars in San Francisco Without Human Backups

GM to Run Driverless Cars in San Francisco Without Human Backups

General Motors' Cruise autonomous vehicle unit said it will remove human backup drivers from the driverless vehicles it is testing on San Francisco streets by year's end.


From ACM TechNews

Drones to Drop Seeds to Boost Koala Gum Tree Numbers After Devastating Australia Bushfires

Drones to Drop Seeds to Boost Koala Gum Tree Numbers After Devastating Australia Bushfires

Specialized drones are being tested in a program to increase koala populations on Australia's east coast by dropping gum tree seeds.


From ACM TechNews

Experts: Florida Voting Machines Ripe for Foreign Hackers

Experts: Florida Voting Machines Ripe for Foreign Hackers

Computer scientists have expressed concerns about the security of voting machines used in 49 Florida counties.


From ACM TechNews

Use AI to Convert Ancient Maps Into Satellite-Like Images

Use AI to Convert Ancient Maps Into Satellite-Like Images

Researchers have developed a machine learning algorithm that can transform ancient maps into Google-style satellite image.


From ACM TechNews

Opening the Black Box of Neural Networks

Opening the Black Box of Neural Networks

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory researchers used deep learning neural networks to model water molecule interactions.