Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
January 2016
From Schneier on Security
UK Government Promoting Backdoor-Enabled Voice Encryption Protocol
The UK government is pushing something called the MIKEY-SAKKE protocol to secure voice. Basically, it's an identity-based system that necessarily requires a trusted key-distribution center. So key escrow is inherently built in…
From insideHPC
FLOW-3D Release Scales CFD up to 512 Cores
Flow Science has just released FLOW-3D/MP v6.1, the high-performance computing version of its flagship CFD software, FLOW-3D. Enhancements include active simulation control, batch post processing and report generation. "Our 5…
From insideHPC
Video: MCDRAM (High Bandwidth Memory) on Knights Landing
"The Intel’s next generation Xeon Phi processor family x200 product (code-name Knights Landing) brings in new memory technology, a high bandwidth on package memory called Multi-Channel DRAM (MCDRAM) in addition to the traditional…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Creating Value with Advanced Analytics
Repeating this, it is well put, Its about where decisions are needed: Bain Company brief:It’s easy for tech-savvy executives to get excited about Big Data and advanced analytics these days. Newly available tools allow companies…
From The Female Perspective of Computer Science
Artificial Intelligence Simplified: Understanding Basic Concepts
From insideHPC
AliCloud & Nvidia to Expand HPC and Deep Learning Market
Today AliCloud signed a strategic partnership with Nvidia to provide the first GPU-based cloud HPC platform in China. The partnership also plans to provide emerging companies support in areas of HPC and deep learning with comprehensive…
From insideHPC
Bright Cluster Manager 7.2 adds Support for Docker and Intel Omni-Path
Bright Cluster Manager Version 7.2 is out today, a new release that "extends insight, integration, and ease-of-use for managing clustered and cloud-based IT infrastructures." The new release incorporates a wide range of new features…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Watson Analytics Short Demo
Short, good, demonstration via Holly Nielsen of IBM:2 Minute Dashboard With Watson AnalyticsWatch Francis Hall take some typical sales pipeline data from a spreadsheet, and create a compelling, interactive dashboard in under…
From Schneier on Security
Security Trade-offs in the Longbow vs. Crossbow Decision
Interesting research: Douglas W. Allen and Peter T. Leeson, "Institutionally Constrained Technology Adoption: Resolving the Longbow Puzzle," Journal of Law and Economics, v. 58, Aug 2015. Abstract: For over a century the longbow…
From insideHPC
Adaptive Computing Achieves Record High Throughput with Supermicro Systems
Today Adaptive Computing announces it has set a new record in High Throughput Computing (HTC) in collaboration with Supermicro, a leader in high-performance green computing solutions. Supermicro SuperServers, custom optimized…
From Writing
A Minimum Viable Product Is Not a Product, It's a Process
My blog post on The Macro, Y Combinator’s blog, about one of the most common reasons for startup failure: A Minimum Viable Product Is Not a Product, It’s a Process
From Writing
A Minimum Viable Product Is Not a Product, It's a Process
My blog post on The Macro, Y Combinator’s blog, about one of the most common reasons for startup failure: A Minimum Viable Product Is Not a Product, It’s a Process
From Putting People First
Creating age-friendly cities
In a new report the McGraw Hill Financial Global Institute (MHFI) argues that we need a new thinking about how to create “age-friendly cities.” Adapting to the challenges of an aging urban population, they write, requires a fundamental…
From Putting People First
The power of creativity from below
Anthropologist Michael Thompson believes in the power of creativity from below in solving some of the smaller and bigger problems of our time. “People generally are very creative and innovative. Many anthropological case studies…
From Gödel's Lost Letter and P=NP
A Chess Firewall at Zero?
We halve our blunder rate when infinitesimally ahead, but why? Crop from Seneca chess quote source Lucius Seneca was a Roman playwright, philosopher, and statesman of the first century. He is called “the Younger” because his…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Slack and Skype
Was just introduced to Slack and liked it. Especially for better email focus. Now what will its (still limited) integration with Skype look like? More on the integration in CMSWire: " .... According to the Skype blog, the…
From Putting People First
The IBM plan to bring design thinking to big business
For going on four years now, IBM has been working to reinvent itself as a design-led business. In 2012, the computing behemoth employed just one designer for every 80 coders. Today, that ratio stands at 1:20. By the end of 2016…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
Developing Improved Means to Collect Digital Evidence Eligibility Solicitation
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), National Institute of Justice (NIJ) is seeking applications for funding to conduct research and technology development leading to the introduction into practice…
From insideHPC
The Death and Life of Traditional HPC
The consensus of the panel was that making full use of Intel SSF requires system thinking at the highest level. This entails deep collaboration with the company’s application end-user customers as well as with its OEM partners…
From insideHPC
Compute Canada Sponsors Human Dimensions Open Data Challenge
Compute Canada is partnering with the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) to launch the first ever Human Dimensions Open Data Challenge. This challenge, led by social sciences and humanities researchers, will…
From insideHPC
Apply now for HPC Summer School & Blue Waters Graduate Program
Application deadlines are fast approaching for the Blue Waters Graduate Program and the International Summer School on HPC Challenges in Computational Sciences.
The post Apply now for HPC Summer School & Blue Waters GraduateinsideHPC…From The Eponymous Pickle
UL Standards for Wearables
In CWorld: Particularly interesting that they will address privacy issues." ... UL, formerly called Underwriters Labs, soon expects to certify wearables for safety and security, including user privacy. ... Founded in 1894 and…
From insideHPC
Heterogeneous Streams with Intel Xeon Phi
Matrix multiplies can be decomposed into tiles and executed very fast on the latest generations of coprocessors. Intel has developed the hStreams library that supports task concurrency on heterogeneous platforms. The concurrency…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Simulating Human Behavior
From the CACM: " ... Researchers at the Charles III University of Madrid (UC3M) in Spain are working on the IBSEN project, which is investigating how to build a system that recreates human behavior.The researchers say the technology…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Students and Cognitive Assistants
Via Jim Spohrer. More broadly the concept and direction of COG assistants is covered here." .... CEOs need cognitive assistants, and on the other side of the spectrum - students do as well: CSIG is the Cognitive Systems Institute…
From Schneier on Security
El Chapo's Opsec
I've already written about Sean Penn's opsec while communicating with El Chapo. Here's the technique of mirroring, explained: El chapo then switched to a complex system of using BBM (Blackberry's Instant Messaging) and Proxies…
From Putting People First
Target CEO goes on ethnographic tour of customers’ homes
Target CEO Brian Cornell’s quest to understand shoppers takes him inside customers’ homes, looking in their cupboards and closets during pre-arranged visits. The Target Corporation is the second-largest discount retailer in the…
From Computational Complexity
The Growing Academic Divide
So reads the Report on the Modern Language Association Job…The decreases of the past three years bring the number of advertised jobs to a new low, below the level reached after the severe drop between 2007–08 and 2009–10.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Additive Manufacturing at GE Aviation
In GE Aviation's Bike Shop Blog:" ... TIME magazine noted that GE Aviation is producing the interior of its fuel nozzles for the new CFM LEAP engine by using additive manufacturing. It results in reduced component weight and…
From insideHPC
Do IT Systems Joins Bright Partner Program
Today Bright Computing announced that Italy-based Do IT Systems has signed up to the Bright Partner Program. "Together, Bright Computing and Do IT Systems offer a compelling proposition for Italian customers that require high…