Communications of the ACM
What Would the Chatbot Say?
Seeking to explain the unanticipated abilities of large language models.
From ACM NewsAn edited collection of advanced computing news from Communications of the ACM, ACM TechNews, other ACM resources, and news sites around the Web.
From ACM News
To Win Over Users, Gadgets Have to Be Touchable
Whoever said technology was dehumanizing was wrong. On screens everywhere—cellphones, e-readers, A.T.M.’s—as Diana Ross sang, we just want to reach out and touch...
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In a Video Game, Tackling the Complexities of Protein Folding
In a match that pitted video game players against the best known computer program designed for the task, the gamers outperformed the software in figuring out...
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To Pack a Stadium, Provide Video Better Than Tv
How do you keep football fans as regular visitors to stadiums when the television coverage of every play is so good?
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Did a Speeding Car Just Jump Out of My Cellphone?
Smartphones are getting smarter. Now some new models even offer games or television broadcasts in three dimensions—and you don’t need special glasses to see the...
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Star Pitchers in a Duel? Tickets Will Cost More
When the San Francisco Giants noticed a sudden surge in ticket sales for the team’s Memorial Day game with the Colorado Rockies, they did something seemingly more...
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Audiences, and Hollywood, Flock to Smartphones
It might be hard to imagine watching "The Office" on a screen no bigger than a business card. But tens of thousands of people--by the most conservative estimate...
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Google Set to Showcase Fast Internet
Google said Wednesday that it would offer ultrahigh-speed Internet access in some communities in a test that could showcase the kinds of things that would be possible...
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.s. Scientists Given Access to Cloud Computing
The National Science Foundation and the Microsoft Corporation have agreed to offer American scientific researchers free access to the company’s new cloud computing...
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Smart Dust? Not Quite, but We
In computing, the vision always precedes the reality by a decade or more. The pattern has held true from the personal computer to the Internet, as it takes time...
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The Web Way to Learn a Language
The young woman seated next to us at the sushi bar exuded a vaguely exotic air; her looks and style, we thought, made it likely that she was not American born. ...
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As Devices Pull More Data, Patience May Be Required
Could Apple's new iPad end up being too much of a good thing? Steven P. Jobs, Apple's chief executive, played up the iPad's ability to stream live baseball games...
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Now, Electronics That Obey Hand Gestures
The technology industry is going retro — moving away from remote controls, mice and joysticks to something that arrives without batteries, wires or a user manual...
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Despite Risks, Internet Creeps Onto Car Dashboards
LAS VEGAS — To the dismay of safety advocates already worried about driver distraction, automakers and high-tech companies have found a new place to put sophisticated...
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A Deluge of Data Shapes a New Era in Computing
In a speech given just a few weeks before he was lost at sea off the California coast in January 2007, Jim Gray, a database software pioneer and a Microsoft researcher...
From ACM TechNews
White House Pushes Science and Math Education
U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday (November 23) announced Educate to Innovate, a campaign to enlist companies and nonprofit groups to donate time and money...
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Adding a Sixth Sense to Your Cellphone
Many Indians bought their first mobile phones before they had their first experiences with personal computers. Pranav Mistry thinks that most of them might also...
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Designing a Ride and Learning Math at Epcot
Can children who do not know how many sides a triangle has get excited about learning math and engineering? Maybe a field trip to an amusement park will do the...
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Nobel Awarded For Advances in Harnessing Light
The mastery of light through technology was the theme of this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics as the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences honored breakthroughs in fiber...
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Netflix Awards $1 Million Prize and Starts a New Contest
Netflix, the movie rental company, has decided its million-dollar-prize competition was such a good investment that it is planning another one. The company’srecommendation...
From ACM TechNews