Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
January 2012
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
Qualcomm Announces $10 Million X Prize for Revolutionizing Healthcare
Last May, the X PRIZE Foundation
From Computational Complexity
The Conjunction Paradox
In Yesterday's post you were told about Susan: Susan is 31 years old, single, outspoken and very bright. She majored in philosophy. As a student she was deeply concerned with issues of discrimination and social justice and …
From The Eponymous Pickle
Brain Lectures
Mind Hacks points to some excellent neuroscience lectures. They
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
NIST Announces 2012 Measurement Science & Engineering Research Grants Programs
Last month, the National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced its FY 2012 Measurement Science and Engineering Research Grants Programs, with an emphasis on a number of areas of computing, including cyber-physical…
From Schneier on Security
Collecting Expert Predictions about Terrorist Attacks
John Mueller has been collecting them:
Some 116 of these Very People were surveyed in 2006 by Foreign Policy magazine in a joint project with the Center for America Progress. The magazine stressed that its survey drew from the…From Wild WebMink
All About FOSDEM
I’ve posted an overview of FOSDEM, the huge open source developer conference coming up soon in Brussels, on ComputerWorldUK today.
From Apophenia
I am Generation Flux
I love talking with smart journalists. When they’re good at what they do, journalists can really prompt me to think deeply (and differently) about issues. Nothing makes me happier than coming out of a discussion with a journalist…
From Apophenia
I
OMG do I love vacation. A chance to live a different lifestyle, explore the world, and refresh my brain. This year’s adventure began in Easter Island where we traversed the island looking at the amazing Moai statues and engaging…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Digital Signage in 2012
Keith Kelsen, colleague and author of the excellent book "Unleashing the Power of Digital Signage .... ", which I am reading now, has released his Digital signage predictions for 2012.. Essential.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Yammer Unites Grocery Brands
Interesting social idea." ... SuperValu, a grocery chain with more than 2,400 stores, has found enterprise social networking in the cloud valuable as a unifying force. .... ....".
From The Eponymous Pickle
New Work Policy
In 2012 I am introducing a new method of engagement for any new work.
From My Biased Coin
ITCS, Day 2
I stopped a while by ITCS, before having to deal with other meetings. I saw fellow blogger Claire Mathieu, who told me my post on day 1 was negative. To be clear, I didn't mean to come across as negative -- I did say the talks…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Gaming Groceries
In the WSJ:. ..... California resident Teri Gault created a website, Grocery Game, that alerts users to items on sale at competing stores. She said visitors to her site can shave their grocery bill by two-thirds if they stock…
From Schneier on Security
Stealing Source Code
Hackers stole some source code to Symantec's products. We don't know what was stolen or how recent the code is -- the company is, of course, minimizing the story -- but it's hard to get worked up about this. Yes, maybe the…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
First Person:
Carnegie Mellon University
From Wild WebMink
? Use the force of Parody: except in the UK
Use the force of Parody: except in the UK, originally uploaded by Open Rights Group. Parody is a powerful weapon for the campaigner. Turning the words of a target of criticism against themselves is a time-honoured way of criticising…
From The Eponymous Pickle
GE Innovation Summit
I participated in the GE innovation summit a few months ago . I see that Sammy Haroon has posted some information on that very thougt-provoking session. Check out the link for more information and videos on the topics covered…
From Computational Complexity
Rank these possibilities by probability
Readers- I want you to answer this question and post your answers as comments. I will tell you WHY I am asking tommorow.
Susan is 28 years old, single, outspoken, and very bright. She majored in philosophy. As a student she…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Interesting Links 9 January 2012
Wow! What a weekend I had. Microsoft was pretty involved with the kick off of this year
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
New DoD Strategy Puts Focus on Technological Innovation
President Obama, together with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and members of the Armed Forces, rolled out a new
From Schneier on Security
The TSA Proves its Own Irrelevance
Have you wondered what $1.2 billion in airport security gets you? The TSA has compiled its own "Top 10 Good Catches of 2011":
10) Snakes, turtles, and birds were found at Miami (MIA) and Los Angeles (LAX). I
From My Biased CoinITCS, Day 1
I spent much of today at ITCS (Innovations in Computer Science) 2012, over at MIT. Justin gave an excellent talk on our work (with Graham Cormode) on Practical Verified Computation with Streaming Interactive Proofs.Overall,Andrew…
From The Eponymous Pickle3D iPhone printer App
This hardly seems practical or cost efficient, but it is an interesting first baby step in remote manufacture. I am awaiting more.
From The Eponymous PickleEfficiency vs Innovation
Nicely put.. In Innovation Excellence, which I find increasingly useful. I largely agree, though there are ways to think of how more innovation can be developed and then more efficiently analyzed. Determining quickly how proposed…
From My Biased CoinChernoff-Hoeffding Bounds for Markov Chains
We (Kai-Min Chung, Henry Lam, Zhenming Liu and myself) have a STACS paper on Chernoff-Hoeffding bounds for Markov chains (arxiv version here). Such bounds are used, for example, to say the amount of time a Markov chain spends…
From The Eponymous PickleView of Coke Freestyle
A critical look at Coke Freestyle. We saw and followed this from the beginning. The criticism is premature. The acquired data will be the proof of its value.
From The Eponymous PickleData Science Blinks
Data science skepticism, Steve Miller opines ... I don't think you'd get much argument from the data science community that the emerging field involves components of business, technology and statistical science.
From The Eponymous PickleHow Gaming is Changing Healthcare
A Three part post on how Gamification can change health care. An audacious idea? Surely health care should be kept serious? But the dynamics of the game can be used to encourage engagement with very serious topics. Excellent…
From Wild WebMinkOSI At FOSDEM
I’m pleased to say I’ll be delivering a short keynote at FOSDEM on February 4th at noon, explaining the new governance plans for the Open Source Initiative and announcing news of progress on the first steps of implementing them…
From The Eponymous PickleDeeper Semantics Needed in Web Searxh
interesting examples about why Web search can work very poorly. There is little semantic understanding.