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 Putting People First
Solving the right problem and finding your own solution: an interview with Don Norman
At the LAUX Meetup Group, Media Contour’s Luke Swenson was able to track down Don Norman, author of The Design of Everyday Things: Revised and Expanded Edition and get his thoughts on problem solving, identifying the right problem…
From Putting People First
[Book] The Rational Animal: How Evolution Made Us Smarter Than We Think
The Rational Animal: How Evolution Made Us Smarter Than We Think by Douglas T. Kenrick and Vladas Griskevicius Basic Books September 2013 [Amazon link] Abstract Why do three out of four professional football players go bankrupt…
From Putting People First
[Essay] Empathy on the edge
Empathy on the Edge Scaling and sustaining a human-centered approach in the evolving practice of design Katja Battarbee, Jane Fulton Suri, and Suzanne Gibbs Howard IDEO January 9, 2014 Remarkable things can happen when empathy…
From Putting People First
The UX of commercial drones
In order for commercial drones like Amazon’s or Australian startup Flirtey’s to become a reality, the drone (or any future-world technology, really) can’t merely do its job—meaning, it can’t randomly drop off deliveries and simply…
From Putting People First
150,000 job listings in the user experience field in the USA alone
Hiring managers know that design plays, and will continue to play, a critical role in the success of their companies because: What has been seen cannot be unseen., writes Dr. Leslie Jensen-Inman of the Unicorn Institute. And…
From Putting People First
[Book] War, Peace, and Human Nature
War, Peace, and Human Nature: The Convergence of Evolutionary and Cultural Views Douglas P. Fry Oxford University Press April 2013 [Amazon link] Abstract Have humans always waged war? Is warring an ancient evolutionary adaptation…
From Putting People First
Discover the world’s best mobile UX
To help you build better mobile experiences, UX Archive finds and presents mobile’s most interesting user flows so you can “compare them, build your point of view, and be inspired.” “Documenting user flows is probably something…
From Daniel Lemire's Blog
Why is the NSA grabbing all your private data?
Snowden revealed to the world that the NSA was systematically spying on all of us. Maybe more critically, we have learned that the NSA is spying on all American citizens. In fact, the NSA is even spying on its own congress. This…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Promotion Crazy Consumers
We have all seen it, in ourselves and others. The rational economic model can quickly fall apart. A discussion of how to promote to promotion crazy consumer in RetailWire. Is this also part of the effect we see when we know…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Technology Influences Storytelling
Internet influence on storytelling. Not really about technology, but how it influences how we write. In the NYT.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Desktop as a Service
In the Cisco Blog. Virtualizing the desktop. Desktop as a service, DaaS. Interesting idea I had not thought much about. My desktop has become increasingly complex with changes in operating system, multiple databases, machine…
From The Eponymous Pickle
McCormick Flavorprint
In Consumer Goods Technology:Exclusive Video: Learn How McCormick Leveraged Marketing/IT Collaboration to Develop FlavorPrintAs marketers look to leverage digital innovation to reach consumers, collaboration often plays a role…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Audi Self Driving Car Brain
In MIT Technology Review: Out of the CES conference. About Audi's compact brain for a self driving car. A car driving in a physical world and driving an information highway as part of an internet of things.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Robotics Future is Quickly Approaching
Communications of the ACM, quoting a WSJ article: " ... The technology itself may not be as challenging as the emerging social, ethical, and economic issues, says Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) professor Illah R. Nourbakhsh…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Retinal Displays
An idea that has been around for some time, but have yet to see it implemented usefully, is this the future? Is this wearable, or too intrusive." ... Avegant, a company whose website tells you it is “developing the next generation…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Implicit Memory
Thoughts on emotion and decision making... Is memory implicit?" ... The relatively new field of neuromarketing and the role emotions play in the decision-making process emerged as a popular source of enquiry for Warc readersNeuromarketing…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Apply Now For Computer Science Principles Summit
The Computer Science Teachers Association just announced the Computer Science Principles Education Summit and applications are now open for the 50 available spots.
CSTA invites teachers and administrators to apply to attend…
From Schneier on Security
Friday Squid Blogging: Squid New Year
Happy squid new year.
As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven't covered.
From Computer Science Teachers Association
Apply Now For Computer Science Principles Summit
CSTA invites teachers and administrators to apply to attend a special summit aimed at broadening understanding and creating capacity for the wide-scale adoption and on-going support of the Computer Science Principles course.
…From The Eponymous Pickle
Tableau Newsletter
Good newsletter from Tableau Software.
From Schneier on Security
1971 FBI Burglary
Interesting story:
...burglars took a lock pick and a crowbar and broke into a Federal Bureau of Investigation office in a suburb of Philadelphia, making off with nearly every document inside. They were never caught, and the…From Gödel's Lost Letter and P=NP
A Shameless Plug
Our new book is finally out Cropped from EuroGP’08 src. Ronan Nugent is our editor at the publisher Springer DE. He is a combination of an acquisitions editor—or commissioning editor in the British Isles—and a project editor.…
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
Congress Invites Public Comments on Updating the Communications Act
The House Energy and Commerce Committee is seeking public comments on a white paper released yesterday on “Modernizing the Communications Act.” The public comments will help inform the Committee as it reviews and updates the…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Presence Zones
Smarter and more personalized promotions in what are being called 'presence zones' in retail. In Forbes. Will this transform the in-store experience? Or clutter it further?
From The Eponymous Pickle
How People Limit their Social Networks
In the early days of social media I remember this discussion about how broad one should cast their social network. A number like 40 people in their network was suggested. Lately, though, there did not seem any natural limit…
From Schneier on Security
JETPLOW: NSA Exploit of the Day
Today's implant from the NSA's Tailored Access Operations (TAO) group implant catalog:
JETPLOW (TS//SI//REL) JETPLOW is a firmware persistence implant for Cisco PIX Series and ASA (Adaptive Security Appliance) firewalls. It…From The Eponymous Pickle
Tuning Out In-Store Media
In RetailWire: Are shoppers tuning out in-store media? Yes, they always have. We tested a number of options in this area and the biggest issue was not hearing the message at all, no matter how well it was designed. A good…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Where is Social TV Headed?
The direction of social TV. This has been much discussed, but seems to have gone nowhere. A look back and predictions: " ... As we wrap up 2013, it looks like social TV is being pushed to its tipping point. Not only are we…
From The Eponymous Pickle
IBM Watson Group Announcement
This Morning live. Livecast here. An engine in a cognitive system. Finally the emergence of artificial intelligence? #IBMWatson
From Computational Complexity
Is Traveling Salesman NP-Complete?
[Nina Balcan asked me to mention that the COLT submission deadline is February 7] Jean Francois Puget writes a controversial post No, The TSP Isn't NP Complete which I discovered during a lengthy twitter discussion with Puget…