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 Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
The Imperative to Teach Ethics
Ethics has been on my mind a lot lately. Last week, the ACM had a Twitter chat around the ACM Code of Ethics using the hashtag #ACMCodeOfEthics.It took place during the school day but I was able to take part for a while during…
From insideHPC
Podcast: Countdown to SC18 with Radio Free HPC
In this podcast, the Radio Free HPC team looks ahead to preview SC18 in Dallas. The conference takes place Nov. 11 – 16 in Dallas. "SC18 in Dallas is world’s largest gathering of HPC professionals, and the smart money is on the…
From Schneier on Security
Are the Police using Smart-Home IoT Devices to Spy on People?
IoT devices are surveillance devices, and manufacturers generally use them to collect data on their customers. Surveillance is still the business model of the Internet, and this data is used against the customers' interests:…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Amazon Houses
Thought it would be coming that assistants would be commonly built into houses.
Alexa-powered Amazon houses may be closer than you think in Fastcompany.
Home design and prefabrication company Plant Prefab got a cash injection
From The Eponymous Pickle
Transparent Force Touch Sensors
Highly precise sensors means more data which can lead to better decisions.
High-Performance Flexible Transparent Force Touch Sensor for Wearable Devices
KAIST
Researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Technology Stack and the IIOT
Been exploring what works in equipment maintenance in industry applications.
IIoT platforms: The technology stack as value driver in industrial equipment and machinery
Equipment and machinery companies considering a transformation…
From Gödel's Lost Letter and P=NP
The Inscribed Square Problem
A remark on an open problem with an application of the Lebesgue Density Theorem [ Toeplitz ] Otto Toeplitz was a mathematician who made key contributions to functional analysis. He is famous for many things, including a kind…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Measuring Document and Chart Complexity
Measuring Document Complexity, I assume to provide feedback to the authoring and generation of the same? Can it also provide direct suggestions as to how they should be updated for differing goals?
New Data Science Method Makes…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Can Intelligent Assistants Help us with the Small Print?
We often need help with both the meaning and implications of the small print.
Artificial Intelligence, Ratings, and the Small Print
By Deborah Unger is a senior editor of strategy+business.
People have always balked at reading terms…
From insideHPC
Agenda Posted for HP-CAST at SC18 in Dallas
Hewlett Packard Enterprise has posted their Agenda for HP-CAST once again this year at SC18. The event takes place Nov. 9-10 in Dallas. " HP-CAST meetings typically include corporate briefings and presentations by HPE executives…
From insideHPC
Video: Supercomputing the Secrets of Giant Stars
In this video, supercomputing power and algorithms help astrophysicists untangle giant stars’ brightness, temperature, and chemical variations. “As a star becomes redder (and cooler), it becomes more variable. That’s a pretty…
From The Eponymous Pickle
ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct
This was brought back to my attention, been reviewing its application to companies. Have posted earler versions. Notably includes how it should be interpreted in educational and corporate settings. And how different might it…
From BLOG@CACM
Ten Traits of Exceptional Innovators
I have had the privilege of meeting, and in some cases closely interacting with, pioneer scientists, technologists, and entrepreneurs, including Nobel, Fields, and Turing winners. It is only fair that I should share some of the…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Industrial Predictive Maintenance
Part one of three I am following. Good. It was, long ago, a specialty of mine. Then, as now its all about the data. Here Data, IOT and ML are brought together to address the problem. Parts I and II are available.
A strategy…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Real Problems with AI
Nicely put. Precisely its algorithms translated into decisions regarding important processes. The right decisions. Unbiased, but also better, faster, cheaper.
The Real Problem With AI By Bertrand Meyer in ACM
Some
The…
From Daniel Lemire's Blog
Science and Technology links (October 20th, 2018)
Should we stop eating meat to combat climate change? Maybe not. White and Hall worked out what happened if the US stopped using farm animals: The modeled system without animals (…) only reduced total US greenhouse gas emissions…
From insideHPC
GRC Receives Innovation in Liquid Cooling Award
Today GRC announced that the company has been awarded the Corporate LiveWire 2018/2019 Innovation in Liquid Cooling Award. The award recognizes GRC’s patented ICEraQ and ICEtank cooling solutions for its effectiveness solving…
From insideHPC
Job of the Week: Software Developer for the FATES Project at LBNL
LBNL is seeking a Software Developer for the FATES Project in our Job of the Week. "The engineer will work with the FATES model, which is a size and age structured dynamic vegetation model that represents plant physiology and…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Many Worlds
I heard of the 'Many Worlds' explanation for quantum physics in a college physics course. And it was clearly explained this was not necessarily a description of reality, but a way to think about quantum mechanics. Course
"…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Stroke Treatment by AI and Blockchain
An example of the integration of two technologies in health care.
From HPE:
Creating better stroke treatment using AI and blockchain technology
Every year, 10,000 people die due to a stroke in the Netherlands alone. AI and blockchain…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Universal Archive of Source Code?
Makes sense, to have this. I recall the same idea was experimented with during the early days of object oriented systems.
Building the Universal Archive of Source Code
By Jean-François Abramatic, Roberto Di Cosmo, Stefano Zacchiroli…
From Schneier on Security
Friday Squid Blogging: Roasted Squid with Tomatillo Salsa
Recipe and commentary. As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven't covered. Read my blog posting guidelines here....
From Daniel Lemire's Blog
Validating UTF-8 bytes using only 0.45 cycles per byte (AVX edition)
When receiving bytes from the network, we often assume that they are unicode strings, encoded using something called UTF-8. Sadly, not all streams of bytes are valid UTF-8. So we need to check the strings. It is probably a good…
From insideHPC
Video: Building SCinet for SC18
The SCinet team is already at work building the world’s fastest temporary network for SC18. The event takes place Nov. 11-16 in Dallas. "How often does an international conference leave its mark on a host city in the form of
…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Alexa on the Facebook Portal
I had initially missed this. Don't like Facebook being involved, but according to below the information from Alexa transcripts are not shared with Facebook. Short excerpt below, read the rest for other aspects of the Facebook…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Advertising on the Facebook Portal
A look at the ads and data involved with Facebook's new Portal. Good overview as to what Facebook may want from this new channel.
Here's what Facebook's Portal Can and Cannot do with Data By Garett Sloane in Adage
When Facebook…
From The Noisy Channel
Activate 2018: Search in Practice
I don’t always attend conferences. But when I do, I prefer conferences full of search practitioners focused on solving real-world problems.
I just came back from the Lucidworks Activate conference on search and AI, where I had…From insideHPC
Penguin Computing Launches Ai Practice
Today Penguin Computing announced the formation of the Penguin Computing Artificial Intelligence Practice, a full service consultancy dedicated to working with organizations to achieve their AI goals. "The new AI Practice will…
From insideHPC
Watch 5,000 Robots Merge to Map the Universe in 3-D
In this video, scientists describe how the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) will measure the effect of dark energy on the expansion of the universe. It will obtain optical spectra for tens of millions of galaxies and…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Making Systems Aware of Context
Awareness, also known as context, is often an important aspect of intelligence.
Two Systems Allow Smart Devices to Have Environmental Awareness
in Electronics360 By Siobhan Treacy
Two teams of Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)…