Communications of the ACM
An edited collection of advanced computing news from Communications of the ACM, ACM TechNews, other ACM resources, and news sites around the Web.
From ACM TechNews
Experimental Malware ses Inaudible Sound to Defeat Network Air Gaps
Researchers have tested the feasibility of creating a covert acoustical mesh network between multiple laptops to exchange data using near-ultrasonic frequencies...
From ACM TechNews
Tech Firms Furious After Denied Full View of Government Reply to Fisa Court
Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, Facebook, and LinkedIn said in a court filing that the U.S. government has offered them only a "heavily redacted version" of its response...
From ACM TechNews
New Supercomputer ses Ssds Instead of Dram and Hard Drives
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory this month is deploying Catalyst, a new supercomputer that uses solid-state drive storage as an alternative to dynamic random...
From ACM TechNews
'Selfish Miner' Attack Could Devastate Bitcoin, Researchers Say
Cornell University researchers say Bitcoin is vulnerable to an attack that could have a devastating impact on the virtual currency, but it can be fixed with a software...
From ACM TechNews
Microsoft ses Kinect to Interpret Sign Language From Deaf People
Microsoft Research developers are using the Kinect technology to develop a system that can read sign language from deaf users and translate it into spoken text....
From ACM TechNews
Mit's 'kinect of the Future' Looks Through Walls With X-Ray-Like Vision
A device dubbed the "Kinect of the future" can see through walls and pinpoint the movements of someone with an accuracy of plus or minus 10 centimeters.
From ACM TechNews
Intel Proposes New Standard to Light Up Data Transfers
Intel's proposed new optical interconnect, MXC, could be a key step in standardizing optical technology and bringing it to servers faster.
From ACM TechNews
Xerox Scanners Found to Sometimes Alter Numbers
Xerox scanners sometimes randomly alter numbers on documents when reproducing them if a specific combination of image quality and compression settings are used. ...
From ACM TechNews
Japan Sends Talking Robot Into Space as Part of Program to Help Lonely People
A talking robot is expected to reach the International Space Station in the next six days.
From ACM TechNews
Facebook Invents a Php Virtual Machine
Facebook says it has developed a virtual machine that can run the PHP Web programming language nine times as fast as PHP natively on large systems.
From ACM TechNews
Symantec: Google Glass Still Vulnerable to Wi-Fi Attack
Just days after Google said it had patched a QR code vulnerability affecting its Google Glass wearable computer, Symantec says it has found another vulnerability...
From ACM TechNews
Icann President Sees Growth and International Acceptance
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers has embarked on a path toward becoming a more international organization over the past year.
From ACM TechNews
Alert! Study Finds Internet Users Heed Browser Warnings
Security warnings displayed by Web browsers are much more effective at deterring risky Internet behavior than was previously believed, a recent study found.
From ACM TechNews
Feds Asked to Sit Out Defcon Hacking Conference This Year
Defcon hacking convention organizers have asked federal government workers not to attend the event this year.
From ACM TechNews
MIT Researchers Can See Through Walls Using 'wi-Vi'
Wi-Vi is a new system under development that uses wireless Wi-Fi technology to track moving objects through walls.
From ACM TechNews
Don't Hurt the Web With Rushed Intellectual Property Laws, rges Internet Society
The Internet Society hopes to get as many different voices as possible involved in bringing intellectual property policies in line with leading online platforms...
From ACM TechNews
China Trounces .s. in Top500 Supercomputer Race
China's Tianhe-2 supercomputer has overtaken the U.S.'s Titan system as the world's most powerful computer, according to the latest Top500 List, a twice-yearly...
From ACM TechNews
Computer Scientists Oppose Oracle's Bid to Copyright Java Apis
Nearly three dozen computer scientists say Oracle's plan to copyright its Java application programming interface would hinder the computer industry and limit access...
From ACM TechNews
Sony and Lego Collaborating on Toy Research
Sony recently unveiled a collaboration with Lego on a new generation of products that could bridge the gap between toys and video games.
From ACM TechNews