Computing

Computing

Digital Fingerprints

New methods to identify Internet users by their behavior can uncover criminals online, but these techniques may also track millions of innocent users.

Computing

What a Flake

New ways to simulate ice-crystal growth yield patterns remarkably similar to the beautiful and intricate shapes of snowflakes and may shed light on how those real-life shapes come about.

Computing

Hairy Calculations: Picturing tresses in a truer light

Hard-to-simulate blond hair may look more natural in future animations thanks to a new computer model that allows for hairs' transparency and includes the illumination produced by light propagating from hair to hair.

Computing

The Risky Business of Spreadsheet Errors

Faulty spreadsheets and poor software practices can put businesses at risk.

Computing

Network Inoculation: Antivirus shield would outrace cyber infections

As a new way to protect a computer network from viruses, an epidemic of antiviral protection could theoretically propagate faster through the network than the virus itself, thanks to a novel topological twist.

Computing

Untangling a Web: The Internet gets a new look

A new mathematical model of the Internet shows that it may not be as vulnerable to centralized attacks as previous research suggested.

Computing

Net History

Nethistory.info is a new Web site devoted to the history of the Internet. Its aim is to provide material documenting the applications and platforms that came together to create the early Internet, including protocols, personal computers, e-mail, the World Wide Web, networks, and much more. You can sign up for a free monthly newsletter and […]

Computing

Straining for Speed

Hitting fundamental limits on how small they can make certain structures within semiconductor transistors, chip makers are deforming the silicon crystals from which those transistors are made to eke out some extra speed.

Computing

Paint by Pixel

Aaron Hertzmann is both a computer scientist and a painter. Among his art-related programming projects, he has developed a way for computers to refashion images and animations to reflect different painting styles. Other work includes a stretched “canvas” that projects a continually-changing painting of the viewer and a learning-by-example system that animates characters based on […]

Computing

Computer Game Art and History

Curious about early video games or recent developments in game technology? This Web site accompanies the “Game On” exhibition, developed by the Barbicon Gallery and the National Museums of Scotland. An exhibition guide briefly explains what the various displays include. The education section offers tips for creating a video game as a classroom project. The […]

Computing

Minding Your Business

By means of novel sensors and mathematical models, scientists are teaching the basics of human social interactions to computers, which should ease the ever-expanding collaboration between people and machines.

Computing

Pictures Only a Computer Could Love

New, unconventional lenses shape scenes into pictures for computers, not people, so that computer-equipped microscopes, cameras, and other optical devices can see more with less.