Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
October 2018
From insideHPC
Dr. David E. Shaw to Receive 2018 Seymour Cray Computer Engineering Award
Today IEEE announced that Dr. David E. Shaw, chief scientist of D. E. Shaw Research and a senior research fellow at the Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics at Columbia University, has been named recipient of the…
From insideHPC
Radio Free HPC Previews the SC18 Student Cluster Competition
In this podcast, Radio Free HPC Previews the SC18 Student Cluster Competition. "The Competition was developed in 2007 to provide an immersive high performance computing experience to undergraduate and high school students. With…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Wal-Mart Also Testing Cashier-less Model
Another indication that cashier-less models that use image recognition of product are on their way. Recall we tested this idea in the early 90s in our labs. Reported on it here.
Walmart-owned Sam’s Club is opening a cashier-less…
From insideHPC
Video: The Incredible New Supersonic Affinity Jet Engine from GE
In this video, GE showcases its initial design of the first-ever supersonic engine purpose-built for business jets. The "Affinity" engine is optimized with proven GE technology for supersonic flight and timed to meet the Aerion…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Getting Computer Science Teachers To The Next Level
A number of related (well in my eyes anyway) have got me thinking about how we need to develop computer science teachers. Phil Bagge’s post Developing Teacher Agency in Computing Part 1 pushed me over the edge. His Bagge scale…
From insideHPC
How to Control the AI Tsunami
This sponsored post from Lenovo touches on the impending "AI tsunami" and how to ride the wave of AI and HPC using tools like Lenovo Intelligent Computing Orchestration (LiCO).
The post How to Control the AI Tsunami appeared…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Business Model vs Technology
Always interesting Irving Wladawsky-Berger writes. A number of useful research pieces are linked to:
Irving Wladawsky-Berger Blog: A collection of observations, news and resources on the changing nature of innovation, technology…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Amazon Go Rival in Japan
The idea continues to expand, here example in Japan. Video.
Amazon Go Has a Real Rival in Japan
TicToc via Bloomberg.
No humans, no cash, no problem. Amazon Go's domination of unmanned, AI-controlled stores have competition from…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Business Value of Design
Useful piece and Podcast by McKinsey, link to business value.
The business value of design
By Benedict Sheppard, Hugo Sarrazin, Garen Kouyoumjian, and Fabricio Dore in McKinsey
How do the best design performers increase their revenues…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Parking a Car with 12 Neurons
A remarkable simplification, with images. Note the pointer to biological neural nets.
Parking a Car With Only 12 Neurons
Technische Universitat Wien
Florian Aigner in TU Wien, MIT
Researchers at TU Wein in Vienna, Austria collaborated…
From Schneier on Security
Security Vulnerability in Internet-Connected Construction Cranes
This seems bad: The F25 software was found to contain a capture replay vulnerability -- basically an attacker would be able to eavesdrop on radio transmissions between the crane and the controller, and then send their own spoofed…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Digitization and Value Chain
Like the idea of a 'value' chain, was reminded of it by this article:
Shaking up the value chain
Data and digitization are creating a growing array of value-creation choices in industries as diverse as pharmaceuticals, mining,
During…
From Computational Complexity
If P=NP then we HAVE an alg for SAT.
I am writing up the result of my survey of peoples opinion of P vs NP (it will be in a SIGACT News, in Lane's Complexity Column, in 2019.) Some people wrote:
P=NP but the proof will be nonconstructive…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Knowledge Base Construction
Ultimate its what AI is about. Developing and storing knowledge, updating it and applying it to skills in context. We worked with Stanford on this, but it had not yet been developed enough. Are we ready for its application…
From insideHPC
IBM To Acquire Red Hat
Today IBM announced that the companies have reached a definitive agreement under which IBM will acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Red Hat for $190.00 per share in cash, representing a total enterprise…
From Daniel Lemire's Blog
Science and Technology links (October 28th, 2018)
If you take kids born in the 1980s, who do you think did better, the rich kids or the poor kids? The answer might surprise you: The children from the poorest families ended up twice as well-off as their parents when they became…
From insideHPC
Call for Papers: MSST Storage Conference in Santa Clara
The 2019 Mass Storage MSST conference has issued its Call for Papers. "MSST 2019 will focus on distributed storage system technologies, including persistent memory, new memory technologies, long-term data retention (tape, optical…
From insideHPC
TechWomen from Africa Experience Supercomputing Up Close
A pair of emerging technology leaders from the African Continent are spending five weeks in the USA as part of the TechWomen program. "In addition to the tours, Mugehu said she's been surprised by how open people are about their…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Toyota and Ad Buys using Blockchain
Novel application is would seem.
Toyota says it Gets a Boost when Applying Blockchain to Digital Ad Buys
By George P. Slefo. Published on October 16, 2018.
Toyota is accelerating its plans to use blockchain technology to root out…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Evolution of Supermarket Retail
Very good historical look at the the experience of retail supermarkets. And I love to see what history teaches us. Is the Amazon Go experience inevitable?
Amazon Go is the inevitable evolution of supermarket retail
Why the "good…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Discovering Skills in Virtual Assistants
Well done, analytical paper on the topic. Excerpt below and link to the full paper. Recommended for people involved in using, designing and delivering skills for virtual assistants.
In the Communications of the ACM, November
-…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
CSTA New England Regional Conference 2018
From The Eponymous Pickle
HBO builds Alexa Skills
HBO is having Alexa skills built for some of their properties. Some just simple database indexes, which does not impress me very much, but others are getting much more creative. Whats next? Could such a method be a way…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Using Google Lens on IOS
Been exploring Google Lens on an Iphone via images placed in Google Photos and Google Assistant. Google lens is a means of interpreting images. For example it can interpret the text on a sign and show it to you. More complexly…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Being Too Collaborative
Interesting thought, yes in the sense that too much of any behavior can.
When being too collaborative can hurt your career
Being a team player is a sought-after skill for nearly every position, but placing too much emphasis on
Being…
From insideHPC
Women in HPC Event Coming to Austin in November
Today Data Vortex Technologies announced that the company is hosting a Women in HPC Celebration in Austin, Texas. The event takes place Friday, Nov. 9 from 8:30 AM to 12:00 PM at the Intel Corporate Offices in Austin. The event…
From insideHPC
Job of the Week: Machine Learning Software Engineer at Decisive Analytics
Decisive Analytics Corporation in Virginia is seeking a Machine Learning Software Engineer in our Job of the Week. "We are seeking applicants with strong software development skills, and a keen interest in machine learning to…
From Schneier on Security
Friday Squid Blogging: Squid Falsely Labeled as Octopus
Two New Yorkers have been charged with importing squid from Peru and then reselling it as octopus. Yet another problem that a blockchain-enabled supply-chain system won't solve. As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Net connected Trolley (Shopping Cart)
Implies getting biometric data to understand the consumer. Privacy an issue, though related methods have been used already. How will consumers react to the 'activation' of a seemingly inert device?
Technology
Walmart planning…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Polluting Our Sky View
The broad idea has been discussed before. There is also the term 'light pollution', that we should consider. Not a fan of separating us from a view of the universe. The Article says it will not, but I am very skeptical.
China…