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 Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Lottery Inspired Projects
This week’s monsturous PowerBall lottery jackpot (1.6 million US dollars) had a lot of people talking. I bought a ticket but didn’t win. On the other hand discussion brought up several good ideas for projects.
One of my friends…From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
Harvard Symposium: Brain + Machines
The Institute for Applied Computational Science at Harvard University is hosting a one day Symposium: Brain + Machines on Friday, January 22, 2016 to explore the frontiers of neuroscience and computer science. Speakers will address…
From insideHPC
Video: An Overview of Supercomputing
"Computers are an invaluable tool for most scientific fields. It is used to process measurement data and make simulation models of e.g. the climate or the universe. Brian Vinter talks about what makes a computer a supercomputer…
From insideHPC
Accelerating Machine Learning with Open Source Warp-CTC
Today Baidu’s Silicon Valley AI Lab (SVAIL) released Warp-CTC open source software for the machine learning community. Warp-CTC is an implementation of the #CTC algorithm for #CPUs and NVIDIA #GPUs. "According to SVAIL, Warp…
From insideHPC
In Search Of: A Quantum Leap in Processors
The fastest supercomputers are built with the fastest microprocessor chips, which in turn are built upon the fastest switching technology. But, even the best semiconductors are reaching their limits as more is demanded of them…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Re-using Analytics Models in the Enterprise
Just revisited the Knime open source analytics visualization capability. In particular for the ability to re-use templates for analytics in the enterprise. Anyone out there doing this today? The visual workflow method is…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Changing Future Supply Chain
In Gartner. Excellent piece on transitions that will shape the future supply chain. " ... Six transitions that will shape the future of Supply Chain ... ". Worked this space for years. Worth a close look.
From Schneier on Security
Spamming Someone from PayPal
Troy Hunt has identified a new spam vector. PayPal allows someone to send someone else a $0 invoice. The spam is in the notes field. But it's a legitimate e-mail from PayPal, so it evades many of the traditional spam filters.…
From Putting People First
Qualitative study of Apple Watch users shows enthusiasm is cooling
Apple Watch usage is dropping off as the novelty factors fades away, according to a qualitative study by MBLM, a “brand intimacy agency”, reports Luke Dormehl in Cult of Marc. While Apple’s wearable has found a place in many …
From Putting People First
Intel study on how people “feel” about their computing devices
Recently, Intel UX Innovation Manager Dr. Daria Loi and her team conducted a study to determine how technology users around the world feel about their computing devices. The study, titled Current Usages: A Global Perspective,…
From Computational Complexity
A limit on the DFA-CFG divide for finite sets
It is easy to see that for Ln = {a,b}*a{a,b}2n There IS a CFG of size O(n) ANY DFA is of size double-exp-in-n I was wondering if we can increase this gap. That is, a statment like: For all but a finite number of n there exists…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
Global City Teams Challenge Tech Jam and Updates
The Global City Teams Challenge (GCTC) will host its annual “Tech Jam” event in March 2016. Information about the dates and location of the event will be announced soon. At the Tech Jam, each registered team (i.e. Action Cluster)…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
CCC Whitepaper- Future Directions in Computing Education Research
The time is now for computer science education! With the shifting economy, educators are increasingly recognizing computer science as a new basic requirement. In his final State of the Union address, President Barack Obama said…
From Schneier on Security
Fighting DRM in the W3C
Cory Doctorow has a good post on the EFF website about how they're trying to fight digital rights management software in the World Wide Web Consortium. So we came back with a new proposal: the W3C could have its cake and eat…
From The Eponymous Pickle
GE to Move HQ to Boston
Surprising somewhat. Historically from Schenectady to NYC to Fairfield CT. Now GE moves global HQ to Boston MA. And in the WSJ. Innovation, technology and university connections are touted.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Digital Watermarks
A method we experimented with:Tech Partnership Looks Beyond the Bar Code With Digital WatermarksBackers say watermark technology on product packaging can speed up supply chains and retail transactions ... "
From The Eponymous Pickle
Conversational Sensemaking
Dear Professors, Students, IBMers and others, Just a reminder about our Cognitive Systems Institute Group Speaker Series call this week, on Thursday, ... will be Alun Preece from Cardiff University and Dave Braines from IBM"Conversational…
From insideHPC
Video: Bridges Supercomputer to be a Flexible Resource for Data Analytics
In this video, Nick Nystrom from PSC describes the new Bridges Supercomputer. Bridges sports a unique architecture featuring Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) large-memory servers including HPE Integrity Superdome X, HPE ProLiant…
From insideHPC
Géant Expands Europe’s National Research and Education Network
Géant, Europe’s collaboration on e-infrastructure and services for research and education, and operator of the network that interconnects Europe’s National Research and Education Networks (NRENs), has extended its 100 Gigabit…
From insideHPC
Podcast: Simulating how Lasers can Transform Materials
Researchers are using XSEDE compute resources to study how lasers can be used to make useful materials. In this podcast, Dr. Zhigilei discusses the practical applications of zapping surfaces with short laser pulses. Laser ablation…
From insideHPC
Seagate to Power CEA Supercomputing Data Management Infrastructure
Today Seagate announced that the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) has selected the Seagate ClusterStor L300 for its GS1K HPC storage needs. GS1K is the next-generation supercomputing data management…
From XRDS
Physical interaction with the IoT: animating everyday objects
Our concept in a nutshell: Upon hearing “The Internet of Things”, our mind day-dreams into meshes of entangled devices working around the clock, carefully sampling the environment with their tiny sensors and reporting to us at…
From Schneier on Security
Sean Penn's Opsec
This article talks about the opsec used by Sean Penn surrounding his meeting with El Chapo. Security experts say there aren't enough public details to fully analyze Penn's operational security (opsec). But they described the…
From Putting People First
Pritzker Prize winner brings communities into the design process
The radical Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena, known for his pioneering social housing projects in Latin America, has been named as the winner of the 2016 Pritzker prize, the highest accolade in architecture. The 48-year-old…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Digital Value in Customer Journey
In McKinsey, on becoming digital. Journeys and digital destinies. Scale and speed is good too.Speed and scale: Unlocking digital value in customer journeysEven as organizations assemble digital building blocks for the long…
From The Eponymous Pickle
More on Project Tango
I remember hearing about Google Tango as a means for augmented reality overlays of product and purchasing decisions. And also as a means of modeling 3D spaces. But Google sees it further in Robots and Drones.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Towards an AI Health Care Boom
In FastCompany: Good overview of the nearby AI possibilities. During the first AI boom, it was the biggest surge research area, but quickly faded, primarily because even a narrow focus would not be useful enough. " ... More…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
NSF Research Opportunity for Innovations at the Nexus of Food, Energy and Water Systems (INFEWS)
This post was contributed by Shashi Shekhar, Computing Community Consortium (CCC) Council member and Distinguished University Professor at the University of Minnesota. National Science Foundation (NSF) in partnership with U.S…
From insideHPC
Allinea Tools Help Deliver 30% Performance Boost in Reservoir Simulation
Today Allinea reports that developers of Roxar Software Solutions at Emerson Process Management used the Allinea Forge to increase the performance of their Tempest MORE next-generation reservoir simulator by 30 percent.
TheAllinea…From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
CCC Whitepaper- Smart Communities Internet of Things
The Computing Community Consortium (CCC) Computing in the Physical World Task Force has just released another community whitepaper on Smart Communities Internet of Things. The Task Force, lead by CCC Council Member Ben Zorn from…