Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
November 2010
From ACM TechNews
Chinese Supercomputer Overtakes Jaguar
China's National University of Defense Technology's Tianhe-1A supercomputer has taken the top ranking from Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Jaguar supercomputer on the latest Top500 ranking of the world's fastest supercomputers…
From ACM TechNews
Reaching for Sky Computing
Researchers are developing tools to combine independent cloud computing environments to form an architectural concept dubbed sky computing by researchers at the Universities of Chicago and Florida in a recent paper.
From ACM TechNews
Army Avatars Join the Battle For Hearts and Minds
Researchers at the University of Southern California are developing realistic, immersive virtual-reality programs for the U.S. military in which the soldiers are trained by being presented with avatars that behave like people…
From ACM TechNews
Supercomputers 'will Fit in a Sugar Cube,' Ibm Says
IBM researchers led by Bruno Michel have developed a water-cooling method for creating supercomputer processors that could shrink them to the size of a sugar cube.
From ACM TechNews
Cerf Warns Over Address Space Squeeze
Google chief Internet evangelist Vint Cerf is raising the alarm about the effect the impending depletion of IPv4 addresses will have on the Internet. Once IPv4 addresses are gone, it will be difficult to add new users or devices…
From ACM TechNews
R&d Gap Between Advanced, Emerging Economies Narrows: nesco
The science/technology gap between emerging and developed economies is closing due to increased R&D investment, according to UNESCO's 2010 Science Report.
From ACM News
Twitter Can Increase Student Engagement, Boost Grades
Using a social networking platform such as Twitter as a tool in university courses can increase student engagement and boost grades. That's the conclusion of a study involving university students published in the Journal of Computer…
From ACM News
China Supercomputer Is Probably World's Fastest . . . But Not for Long
In late October, China unveiled the world's "fastest" supercomputer, the Tianhe 1A. But around the world there are several systems currently being planned or under construction that will surpass the Tianhe 1A in power and…
From ACM News
Hold the Phone: Prolonged Cell Phone Use Can Trigger Allergic Reaction
Allergists are seeing increasing numbers of patients allergic to their cell phones. The culprit is nickel, a common contact allergen, which affects up to 17 percent of women and 3 percent of men.
From ACM TechNews
All Optical Transistor
Researchers at EPFL have built a device that acts like an optical transistor. The device uses an optical microresonator to trap light in a tiny glass structure that guides the light into a circular pattern, causing the structure…
From ACM News
Cameras to Catch Terrorists Triple in New York With Bomb Plots
New York City is almost halfway to its goal of installing 3,000 cameras as part of a network to monitor signs of terrorism, about triple the number it had in June.
From ACM News
Future Soldiers May Be Wearing 'iron Man' Suits
A lunchtime crowd is gathering beside the parking lot at Raytheon Sarcos, the defense contractor, on a recent day in Salt Lake City. White-collar workers from nearby office parks stand with their yogurt cups and sandwiches…
From ACM TechNews
IBM, 15 European Partners to Develop 'Smart' Cloud
IBM is leading a joint research effort with 15 European partners to develop an object-based standardized smart cloud storage architecture. The project is called VISION Cloud—Virtualized Storage Services for the Future Internet…
From ACM TechNews
The Ethical Robot
University of Connecticut professor Susan Anderson and University of Hartford computer scientist Michael Anderson have programmed a robot to behave ethically. Their work is part of a relatively new field of known as machineIncludes…
From ACM TechNews
Supercomputing Fest Will Spotlight World's Fastest Computers, High-Performance Issues
The SC10 supercomputing conference to be held in New Orleans will highlight high-performance computing advances in computation, networking, storage, and analysis. It will also include the unveiling of the latest Top 500 list.
From ACM TechNews
European Cyber Defenses 'Must Improve,' Tests Show
European Union (EU) member states need to do more to prepare for cyberattacks, concludes a report of Cyber Europe 2010, a simulation of how EU countries would react to a sustained attack on their networks.
From ACM TechNews
Algorithm Pioneer Wins Kyoto Prize
Eotvos Lorand University professor Laszlo Lovasz, who has solved several information technology (IT) problems using graph theory, has been awarded the Kyoto Prize, a $550,000 award with Nobel-like stature.
From ACM TechNews
Part Moth, Part Machine: Cyborgs Are on the Move
Researchers are developing methods to produce complex behavior from robots by tapping into the nervous system of living organisms and using algorithms that already exist in nature.
From ACM TechNews
Web Developers Tackle Advanced Font Controls
The Cascading Style Sheets Web formatting standard is benefiting from new font technology, which is enabling developers to increasingly use a more polished look for advanced digital publishing applications.
From ACM News
Nsa: Our Development Methods Are in the Open Now
Despite its reputation for secrecy, the U.S. National Security Agency doesn't have a set of secret practices that make its applications and systems bulletproof. In fact, most of the agency's app development "is in the open…
From ACM News
At&t Prepares For the End to Iphone Exclusivity
The end of 2010 is close and it looks like AT&T is beefing up its device portfolio and app offerings for a day when it isn't the only U.S. operator offering the Apple iPhone.
From ACM News
Improved Simulations May Help Harness Electrical Power From Sea Water
A new X-ray imaging capability has taken pictures of a critical instability at the heart of Sandia's huge Z accelerator. The effort may improve computer simulations and help harness nuclear fusion to generate electrical power…
From ACM News
Nsa: Our Development Methods Are in the Open Now
Despite its reputation for secrecy and technical expertise, the National Security Agency doesn't have a set of secret coding practices or testing methods that magically make their applications and systems bulletproof. In fact…
From ACM News
New Class of Malware Attacks Specific Chips
Computer scientists reveal malware that attacks specific processors rather than the operating system that runs on them.
From ACM News
Nist Tool Uses Combination Testing to Catch Software Bugs
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have released a computer system testing tool that can cut costs by more efficiently finding software bugs. A tutorial on using the tool has also been released…
From ACM TechNews
Improving Emergency Evacuation Planning With Decision-Making Simulation
Researchers at the University of Michigan have developed a disaster-response planning tool that uses real-time human decision-making to determine effective law-enforcement strategies during evacuations.
From ACM TechNews
Top Software Designer Promotes '21st Century' Techniques
At the recent QCon software development conference, ThoughtWorks chief scientist Martin Fowler hailed concepts such as domain specific languages, continuous integration, and event sourcing as key programming techniques.
From ACM TechNews
Researcher's App Will Let Students Call in an Emergency Via Videophone
Computer scientists at the University of Maryland at College Park, led by professor Ashok Agrawala, have worked with campus police on developing Video 911, a smartphone app that serves as an emergency response system.
From ACM News
How Android Conquered the Mobile World in Just Three Years
The advent of the Droid seen by many as turning point for Google in mobile market.
From ACM News
niversities May Be Failing to Sufficiently Teach Basic Research Skills
Colleges and universities may be failing to prepare students for today's information-driven workplace where research skills and collaborative learning are becoming more and more important.