Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
January 2014
From The Eponymous Pickle
High Performance Computing, Everywhere
In the CACM: High performance computing (HPC) An overview. From a November conference. HPC is in broad use today, we all gets its benefits everyday. " ... If you drive a car, take medicine, use shampoo, fly in airplanes,…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Itelligence Group Blog
Recently brought to my attention iTelligence, which has offices nearby. See their blog. Which I am now following for analytics. " ... Outsourcing ... Take advantage of our large support and service organization and focus on…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Mobilizing Management for Big Data
Mckinsey on mobilizing your C Suite for big data. Insightful, detailed piece from a management perspective. . " .... Leadership-capacity constraints are undermining many companies’ efforts. New management structures, roles,…
From Gödel's Lost Letter and P=NP
Zack’s Mom Knows
A puzzle with a story Dick Karp needs no introduction. So I will give him none. Okay I will say that it has been an honor to know him for many years—we meet right after I graduated from CMU, a pleasure to work with him on a few…
From The Eponymous Pickle
High Cost of Multitasking
In GigaOM: A look at some surveys on the effects of multitasking. We all do it today, but to what extent. A closer look at the value of focus is important. " .... We are increasingly distracted at work due to frequent electronic…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Robots Reading your Mind for Behavior
From the University of Cincinnati. Work on robots controlled by thought. " ... Brain-computer interface uses electroencephalography (a measure of the brain's electrical activity) to help distinguish which brain signal corresponds…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Examples for Leveraging Hadoop
Good piece with examples. Via Gib Bassett of Teradata. What are companies doing with Hadoop? In my experience most people don't even know what it is. Here good 'non typical' examples' " ... When you hear about Hadoop or…
From The Eponymous Pickle
On the Fear of Google Glass
Evan Schuman writes in CWorld about the fear of Google Glass. " ... Google Glass is just the latest technological advance to elicit fear and dread in some quarters, including law enforcement ... " . I have seen the use of eye…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
What Do Comedy and Coding Have in Common?
Timing. OK maybe not the most funny joke in the world but I’ve been dealing with timing window problems in student programs all week long. A lot of my students in my Honors Programming course have been writing game programs for…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Innovation Spaces
Have been a long time user and contributor to the design of innovation spaces, this article about office design that contributes to innovation was of interest. I believe that the space should match the space that the innovations…
From Schneier on Security
Friday Squid Blogging: Giant Squid Caught by Japanese Fisherman
It's big: 13 feet long.
The fisherman was stunned to discover the giant squid trapped in his net, having been caught at a depth of around 70m, about two-thirds of a mile from the coast.As usual, you can also use this squid…
From The Female Perspective of Computer Science
Sir John Daniel on Open and Distance Education
Sir John Daniel, world authority on open, distance and online learning, came to Carleton for a special briefing on the future of online learning, covering topics such as the changing nature of the student body and its usevia…
From Schneier on Security
PHOTOANGLO: NSA Exploit of the Day
Today's item from the NSA's Tailored Access Operations (TAO) group implant catalog:
PHOTOANGLO(TS//SI//REL TO USA,FVEY) PHOTOANGLO is a joint NSA/GCHQ project to develop a new radar system to take the place of the CTX4000.
…From Schneier on Security
<i>Applied Cryptography</i> Available Online
I'm sure this is a pirated copy.
Looking at it, it's amazing how long ago twenty years was.
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
Participate in an IdeasLab on Undergraduate Education
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has released a Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) on “Preparing Applications to Participate in Phase I Ideas Labs on Undergraduate STEM Education”. The opportunity to participate in one of three…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Complexity Science Examined
So what is complexity science and how can it be useful? From the Santa Fe Institute. A long time partner of ours in this space, that helped us navigate its usefulness. On occasion mentioned in this blog.
From The Eponymous Pickle
A Case for Business Intelligence and Big Data
From TDWI: I like looking at this as a business case. " ... What do companies do when they need the power of analytics to be increased with decision support architecture from enterprise data? They built business cases. Here…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Increasing Smartphone Mobile Commerce in China
Related to my recent post on NantMobile. Adage Global talks about the Chinese the move forward. Yes, I am seeing it." ... Mobile Advertising Lags China's Smartphone ExplosionConsumers Prefer to Shop on Their Phones But Ad Budgets…
From Schneier on Security
Income Inequality as a Security Issue
This is an interesting way to characterizing income inequality as a security issue:
…growing inequality menaces vigorous societies. It is a proxy for how effectively an elite has constructed institutions that extract value …From The Eponymous Pickle
Blueprint for Building a Quantum Computer
In CACM: More on this interesting topic. " ... In this article, we review the progress that has been made in developing architectures for full-scale quantum computers. We highlight the process of integrating the basic elements…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Security on the Internet of Things
In the Cisco Blog: (Which I have found to be very informative). Remember the hacked refrigerator." ... The SANS Institute just completed a survey on the security viewpoints on IoT, predominantly with security and IT professionals…
From Schneier on Security
NIGHTWATCH: NSA Exploit of the Day
Today's item from the NSA's Tailored Access Operations (TAO) group implant catalog:
NIGHTWATCH (TS//SI//REL TO USA,FVEY) NIGHTWATCH is a portable computer with specialized, internal hardware designed to process progressive-scan…From The Eponymous Pickle
Google Adds Sources
Google adds sources to search results, via its Knowledge Graph. A suggestion in the piece suggests that a better solution would be a reliability score based on consumer reviews. But would every source be reliably reviewed…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Accelerate Disruptive Innovation
Innovating faster. And focusing your innovation to value. Part of that task is to be able to evaluate innovations in context, as quickly and accurately as possible. Simulation and analytics are good tools to address this…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Google Glass for Firefighters
Several years ago I worked on a project meant to focus key data about operations to firefighters. A kind of augmented reality for a highly dynamic task. Now a look at how Google glass could be used for this context. Though…
From Computational Complexity
What will we wrought?
When I went to college in the early 80's, students protested against college endowments invested in companies that had business in apartheid South Africa. My mother worked as a statistician for one of those companies. An interesting…
From Schneier on Security
Consumer Manipulation
Tim Hartford talks about consumer manipulation:
Consider, first, confusion by design: Las Vegas casinos are mazes, carefully crafted to draw players to the slot machines and to keep them there. Casino designers warn againstMost…From The Eponymous Pickle
Role of Branding in the Product Life Cycle
Examining the curious role of brand in the product life cycle By James Richardson, Ph.D. on January 22nd, 2014 A new report debunks the notion that brand defines a product in consumers’ eyes across its entire life cycle. ... …
From The Eponymous Pickle
Current Trends in Visualization
In Computing Now: A snapshot of current trends in visualization. " ... For this issue of Computing Now, we gathered a set of articles that exemplifies current trends in computer-generated visualization. The field of visualization…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
Want to win $1,000,000,000 (yes, that’s one billion dollars)?
All you have to do is create the PERFECT March Madness bracket. If you manage to do so, Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway will pay you $1,000,000,000, as reported by ESPN! While the idea is certainly appealing, creating…