Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
October 2010
From Schneier on Security
The Ineffectiveness of Vague Security Warnings
From Slate:
We do nothing, first and foremost, because there is nothing we can do. Unless the State Department gets specific
From The Eponymous PickleAn Internet of Internal Organs
How about giving your heart and other organs their own IP address? In the CACM from New Scientist: Body Organs Can Send Status Updates to Your Cellphone.
From The Eponymous PickleSaaS Sales Models
On varying sales models for software as a service ." ... One of the commonly accepted myths of the Software as a Service (SaaS) market and the broader cloud computing environment is that it is inherently a high-transaction business…
From The Eponymous PickleNeurophone
It is inevitable that we see closer people-machine interfaces, what will the implications be? More interruptions than we have today? In Nick Carr's Roughtype:"New frontiers in social networkingThe big news this week is the launch…
From Schneier on SecurityHacking Trial Breaks D.C. Internet Voting System
Sounds like it was easy:
Last week, the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics opened a new Internet-based voting system for a weeklong test period, inviting computer experts from all corners to prod its vulnerabilities in the spirit…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred ThompsonSmall Basic Curriculum
Small Basic is, in my opinion, one of the really cool platforms for introducing programming to younger students. A simple IDE, a simple subset of BASIC, and built in turtle graphics all resonate with me. And a number of teachers…
From The Eponymous PickleKotex Launch Driven by Social Media
A CPG case study of a new product launch" ... Kimberly-Clark and Organic collaborated on perhaps the most successful CPG launch of the year with the debut of U by Kotex. By leveraging social media as part of an ambitious multi…
From The Eponymous PickleMy Body, My Data, My Health
Mark Montgomery of Kyield issues a post entitled: Americans must Unite: My Body, my Data, my Health. About the increasing complexity of the health care system. How will new technologies help us to solve this worsening dilemma…
From The Eponymous PickleBowls of Learning
From the Google research blog. An overview of a technical paper that talks about one of the fundamental aspects of artificial intelligence: Machine Learning. It makes sense to think about building a machine that can learn,Google…
From BLOG@CACMUIST 2010: Ending Keynote
UIST 2010 has concluded with Jaron Lanier's inspiring and profound keynote after another set of paper presentations demonstrating innovative UI technology.
From The Eponymous PickleWhen Automating Analytics Works
Fairly obvious paper, but useful thoughts. I think its always useful to think about where analytics exists within the process and considering its time dynamics. Its particularly notable if the process is not stable.
From Computational ComplexityNoble and Ig Noble Prizes
What is the Ig Nobel prize? To quote the website:
The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think. The prizes are intended to celebrate the unusual, honor the imaginative --- and…
From Putting People FirstDonald Norman on design without designers
In his latest Core77 contribution, the acclaimed Donald Norman reflects on the role of testing versus creativity in design and innovation. “There is a trend to eliminate designers. Who needs them when we can simply test our way…
From The Female Perspective of Computer ScienceHCI Track at Grace Hopper
From the Communications of ACM blog:The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing had two special technical tracks added to the program this year: open source and human-computer interaction. While I was definitely happy…
From The Computing Community Consortium BlogResearch Visions at OSDI
The CCC is interested in stimulating the development of new research visions and challenges. To do so, the CCC has been collaborating with conferences in computer science and sponsoring vision (sometimes called “crazy ideas”)…
From The Eponymous PickleDeep Analytics
Had not heard of the term specifically before, but there is also deep analytics. I know what it is, practiced it for years, new term for me: " ... One term for using predictive analytics technologies to apply complex analysis…
From Schneier on SecurityThe Politics of Allocating Homeland Security Money to States
From the Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management: "Politics or Risks? An Analysis of Homeland Security Grant Allocations to the States."
Abstract: In the days following the September 11 terrorist attacks on the…
From Schneier on SecurityStuxnet
Computer security experts are often surprised at which stories get picked up by the mainstream media. Sometimes it makes no sense. Why this particular data breach, vulnerability, or worm and not others? Sometimes it's obvious…
From Putting People FirstDonald Norman on design without designers
In his latest Core77 contribution, the acclaimed Donald Norman reflects on the role of testing versus creativity in design and innovation.
From The Eponymous PickleCloser to a National Digital Library
Was glad to see this item in educause, about a recent meeting concerning the establishment of a national digital library. I have followed this idea for a long time, especially during the legal wrangle with Google about theGoogle…
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACMACM and CSTA Release Report Outlining Challenges in K-12 Computer Science Education
At a National Press Club event earlier today, ACM and the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) released its report Running on Empty. According to the report, roughly two-thirds of the country have few computer science…
From BLOG@CACMUIST 2010: Cursors Rock
Two papers about enhanced mouse cursors quickly drew my attention today. I briefly introduce these papers among other interesting topics of the second day of UIST 2010.
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACMNational Academies Releases Report on Cyberattack Deterrence
Coming from a call from papers and workshop held earlier this year, the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board of the National Academies has released Proceedings of a Workshop on Deterring CyberAttacks: Informing Strategies…
From BLOG@CACMHCI Track at Grace Hopper
The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing had two special technical tracks added to this year's program: open source and human-computer interaction (HCI). While I was definitely happy to see the open source track, it…
From BLOG@CACMInnovation Contest and Demos at UIST 2010
We started the day at the beautiful Judson Memorial Church, crowded with more than 300 people attending UIST 2010, which is a new record.
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred ThompsonRunning On Empty
The ACM and CSTA (Computer Science Teachers Association) released a report this week called
From The Eponymous PickleMathematics Chasing Complexity
Technical, but quite interesting view of the future of formal methods and computing in CN Magazine .. It is all about modeling, useful modeling: " ... The purpose of this month's theme on Computing Now is to point out some new…
From The Eponymous PicklePsychology and Free Speech
Cognitive scientist Stephen Pinker on Psychology as a danger to freedom of speech. If have not read any of Pinker's books I heartily recommend it. See his web site. And his TED talk on the Blank Slate.
From The Eponymous PickleLeveraging Data in Shopper Marketing
Of interest, I have worked with Dave Katz in the past, he cleverly makes use of existing data assets about how people shop:Clientone Announces Agreement with Experian Marketing Services to Leverage Data Assets in Shopper Marketing Vertical…
From The Computing Community Consortium BlogK-12 CS Education is
Our colleagues at ACM today announced a landmark report that presents, for the first time, a state-by-state breakdown of current K-12 standards for computer science education, including specific high school graduation requirements…