acm-header
Sign In

Communications of the ACM

News


Latest News News Archive Refine your search:
dateMore Than a Year Ago
subjectSoftware
authorThe Atlantic
bg-corner

An edited collection of advanced computing news from Communications of the ACM, ACM TechNews, other ACM resources, and news sites around the Web.


The Not-So-Distant Future When We Can All ­pgrade Our Brains
From ACM Opinion

The Not-So-Distant Future When We Can All ­pgrade Our Brains

In a decade, cognitive enhancement may have gone mainstream.

The First Look at How Google's Self-Driving Car Handles City Streets
From ACM News

The First Look at How Google's Self-Driving Car Handles City Streets

The first rule of riding in Google's self-driving car, says Dmitri Dolgov, is not to compliment Google's self-driving car.

How to Win $1 Billion on Ncaa Basketball: A Mathematician's Tips
From ACM Opinion

How to Win $1 Billion on Ncaa Basketball: A Mathematician's Tips

Last Thursday, the underground classroom at the National Museum of Mathematics in New York was filled to capacity for a college professor's PowerPoint-aided lecture...

Remembering Mit, When There Were Just 50 Women in a Class of 1,000
From ACM Opinion

Remembering Mit, When There Were Just 50 Women in a Class of 1,000

When Radia Perlman attended MIT in the late '60s and '70s, she was one of just a few dozen women (about 50) out of a class of 1,000.

Everything We Know About How the Nsa Tracks People's Physical Location
From ACM News

Everything We Know About How the Nsa Tracks People's Physical Location

Glenn Greenwald is back reporting about the NSA, now with Pierre Omidyar's news organization FirstLook and its introductory publication, The Intercept.

When Will Genomics Cure Cancer?
From ACM Opinion

When Will Genomics Cure Cancer?

Since the beginning of this century, the most rapidly advancing field in the life sciences, and perhaps in human inquiry of any sort, has been genomics.

Stanford Researchers: It Is Trivially Easy to Match Metadata to Real People
From ACM Opinion

Stanford Researchers: It Is Trivially Easy to Match Metadata to Real People

In defending the NSA's telephony metadata collection efforts, government officials have repeatedly resorted to one seemingly significant detail: This is just metadata—numbers...

Intense Smog Is Making Beijing's Massive Surveillance Network Practically Useless
From ACM News

Intense Smog Is Making Beijing's Massive Surveillance Network Practically Useless

Beijing's surveillance network, one of the most extensive and invasive in the world, has been compromised by an unexpected foe: smog.

Of Course Gas Stations Will ­se Facial Recognition Tech to Serve 'Relevant' Ads
From ACM News

Of Course Gas Stations Will ­se Facial Recognition Tech to Serve 'Relevant' Ads

Say you're at a gas station. Say you're buying some supplies—bottled water, coffee, maybe some M&Ms—before you head back to your car.

The Man Who Would Teach Machines to Think
From ACM Opinion

The Man Who Would Teach Machines to Think

"It depends on what you mean by artificial intelligence."

Study: 80% of College Students Say They Text in Class
From ACM News

Study: 80% of College Students Say They Text in Class

From the front of his classroom, University of Nebraska-Lincoln associate professor Barney McCoy noticed that students’ smart phones were making regular appearances...

What Is a Jpeg? The Invisible Object You See Every Day
From ACM News

What Is a Jpeg? The Invisible Object You See Every Day

In 2012, the photograph of Barack and Michelle Obama embracing after his re-election was "liked" over 4 million times.

Why Today's Inventors Need to Read More Science Fiction
From ACM Opinion

Why Today's Inventors Need to Read More Science Fiction

How will police use a gun that immobilizes its target but does not kill? What would people do with a device that could provide them with any mood they desire? What...

The Message Voyager 1 Carries For Alien Civilizations
From ACM Opinion

The Message Voyager 1 Carries For Alien Civilizations

The year was 1977.

How Scholars Hack the World of Academic Publishing Now
From ACM News

How Scholars Hack the World of Academic Publishing Now

If you want to understand the modern academy, it wouldn't hurt to start at "impact factor."

Productivity Tools For Cybercrime
From ACM News

Productivity Tools For Cybercrime

Stealing 10 million dollars a few hundred dollars at a time used to be too labor-intensive to be a great business.

Among the Nsa's Own Tips For Securing Computers: Remove the Webcam
From ACM News

Among the Nsa's Own Tips For Securing Computers: Remove the Webcam

Seems like everything gets hacked these days. Baby monitors. White House employees' personal email. Toilets.

Could the Government Get a Search Warrant For Your Thoughts?
From ACM Opinion

Could the Government Get a Search Warrant For Your Thoughts?

We don't have a mind reading machine.

The Creepy, Long-Standing Practice of Undersea Cable Tapping
From ACM News

The Creepy, Long-Standing Practice of Undersea Cable Tapping

In the early 1970s, the U.S. government learned that an undersea cable ran parallel to the Kuril Islands off the eastern coast of Russia, providing a vital communications...

What the Digital Brains of the Future Might Be Like
From ACM Opinion

What the Digital Brains of the Future Might Be Like

It is the rare entrepreneur who hits it truly big twice. Those who do—such as Ev Williams, Ted Turner, and Elon Musk—tend to stay within the original industry that...
Sign In for Full Access
» Forgot Password? » Create an ACM Web Account