Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
October 2020
From Gödel's Lost Letter and P=NP
Are Black Holes Necessary?
Our congratulations on the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics Composite crop of src1, src2 Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel, and Andrea Ghez have won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics. The prize is divided half to Penrose for theoretical…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Code Can Now be added in arXiv Manuscripts
Code is often very important in current research, so it makes sense to include it. But code of any non trivial amount is difficult to prove correct. so it adds another level of complexity. And if you add data to drive thearXiv…
From Putting People First
How an AI tool for fighting hospital deaths actually worked in the real world
It wasn’t just technical work but also significant social and emotional labor that turned Sepsis Watch, a Duke University deep-learning model, into a success story.
From Putting People First
How constant tech is breaking our brains
Fast Company spoke with tech pioneer Jaron Lanier, Microsoft CVP Emma Williams and Stanford professor Jeremy Bailenson.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Sometimes Deep Learning Needs Help
Have had a long time interest in language, and as to how and why AI/DeepLearning, can serve in practice a means of (mostly) recognizing via an learned taxonomy, complex structures like birds, trees or mushrooms. In Penn's …
From The Eponymous Pickle
An Internet of Plastic, Wireless Things?
Now here is something quite different. Thinking packaging applications. Others?
Here Comes the Internet of Plastic Things, No Batteries or Electronics Required
IEEE Spectrum, Dexter Johnson, October 8, 2020
Researchers at the…From The Eponymous Pickle
Fully Driverless Ride Hailing Begins in AZ with Waymo
In Arizona. Could be a lead in to broad use of fully driverless vehicles. Consider the data being gathered an leveraged for use.
Waymo Begins Fully Driverless Rides for All Arizona Customers In Bloomberg By Ira Boudway, October…From The Eponymous Pickle
AI in Cybersecurity Attacks
We don't often think of this way, but tech like AI can be turned on us as well. Here a broad set of examples to consider as threats.
3 ways criminals use artificial intelligence in cybersecurity attacks In Techrepublic
ThreeElham…From The Eponymous Pickle
Voice vs Touchscreen at McDonalds
I note below the role of touch in spreading COVID, driving touch technology, but still a matter of public perception.
COVID-19 may push retailers to use voice assistants instead of touch screens By Matthew Stern in Retailwire
While…From Daniel Lemire's Blog
Why is 0.1 + 0.2 not equal to 0.3?
In most programming languages, the value 0.1 + 0.2 differs from 0.3. Let us try it out in Node (JavaScript): > 0.1 + 0.2 == 0.3 false Yet 1 + 2 is equal to 3. Why is that? Let us look at it a bit more closely. In most instances…
From Schneier on Security
Hacking Apple for Profit
Five researchers hacked Apple Computer’s networks — not their products — and found fifty-five vulnerabilities. So far, they have received $289K.
One of the worst of all the bugs they found would have allowed criminals to create…From The Eponymous Pickle
Views of Future Risks
We rarely look at risks well. Thoughts and directions.
A Holistic View of Future Risks By Peter G. Neumann
Communications of the ACM, October 2020, Vol. 63 No. 10, Pages 23-27 10.1145/3417095
This column considers some challenges…From The Eponymous Pickle
Future of Grocery is Omnichannel
Clearly, but the how the sculpted elements of the supply chain, from supplier to store to door will require much technology and behavioral experimentation.
The Future of Grocery Is Omnichannel in Supplychainbrain
October 6, 2020…From The Eponymous Pickle
Rolling Newspaper Delivery Drones in Tokyo
More advances in navigating street and sidewalks for automated delivery. Lifting of restrictions on autonomous systems will also be key.
Japan Post Delivery Robot Debuts in Tokyo The Japan Times, October 7, 2020
Japan Post…From The Eponymous Pickle
Getting Serious about Data Science
Fairly obvious, seen many of these situations occur over the years in analytics and data interactions. And how they are linked to business results. Good checklist. Non technical.
Getting Serious About Data and Data Science…From The Eponymous Pickle
Comparing Human vs Computer Viruses
Interesting view with potentially useful comparisons.
Protecting Computers and People From Viruses By Robin K. Hillin in ACM
Communications of the ACM, October 2020, Vol. 63 No. 10, Page 8 10.1145/3415748
The COVID-19 pandemic…From insideHPC
Report: AMD in Xilinx Acquisition Talks
The Wall Street Journal reported this morning that AMD is in “advanced talks” to buy FPGA chip maker Xilinx, a deal valued at approximately $30 billion that would signify another step in the rise of Intel chip rivals. The news…
From insideHPC
DOE Under Secretary for Science Dabbar’s Exascale Update: Frontier to Be First, Aurora to Be Monitored
As Exascale Day (October 18 [1018]) approaches, U.S. Department of Energy Under Secretary for Science Paul Dabbar has commented on the hottest exascale question of the day: which of the country’s first three systems will be stood…
From Schneier on Security
Friday Squid Blogging: Squid-like Nebula
Pretty astronomical photo.
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 Schneier on Security
Friday Squid Blogging: Saving the Humboldt Squid
Genetic research finds the Humboldt squid is vulnerable to overfishing.
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 Schneier on Security
Friday Squid Blogging: Chinese Squid Fishing Near the Galapagos
The Chinese have been illegally squid fishing near the Galapagos Islands.
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 The Eponymous Pickle
Automation Anywhere Digital Assistant lets humans and Bots Interact
Seems quite an advance, allowing Bots and Humans to effectively Interact. But we did a similar thing when we allowed our Mr. Clean bots to talk to human experts, designated as a 'concierge' for key and often narrow expertise…
From Computational Complexity
Revisiting the Continuum Hypothesis
I have been thinking about CH lately for two reasons
1) I reread the article
Hilbert's First Problem: The Continuum Hypothesis by Donald Martin from Proceedings of Symposia in Pure Mathematics: Mathematical developments arising…From The Eponymous Pickle
Accesibility Update of Google Assistant
Looks to be interesting, will do some testing on my devices. Such advances ultimately add to accessibility for everyone.
New updates make Google Assistant even more accessible in Google Blog. Praveen Chandran, Product Manager…From The Eponymous Pickle
Voice AI Business Services
Voice based and AI assistant business services have been proposed for some time, we tested several. links to voice analysis and phone management. Here a new effort funded.
Enterprise Communications Startup Dialpad Raises $100M…From insideHPC
Verne Global Announces Dell Technologies Platinum Partner Status
London – 8 October 2020 – Verne Global, provider of sustainable data center solutions for HPC, today announced it has achieved the exceptional status of Platinum Partner in the Dell Technologies Partner Program. This partnership…
From insideHPC
Nearly 1000 AMD GPUs Added to NNSA’s ‘Corona’ Cluster for COVID-19 Research
AMD and Supermicro have upgraded the “Corona” cluster at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for COVID-19 drug discovery and vaccine research. The addition of nearly 1,000 AMD Radeon Instinct MI50 GPU accelerators to the National…
From insideHPC
CoolIT Systems Launches the Rack DLC CHx200 CDU
Calgary, AB. Oct 7, 2020 – CoolIT Systems, Inc. (CoolIT), maker of energy efficient liquid cooling technologies for HPC, cloud and enterprise markets, has expanded its Rack DLC™ Coolant Distribution Unit (CDU) product line with…
From The Eponymous Pickle
MadMax: Analyzing the Out-of-Gas World of Smart Contracts
Very interesting, in ACM. Thinking this further.
MadMax: Analyzing the Out-of-Gas World of Smart Contracts
By Neville Grech, Michael Kong, Anton Jurisevic, Lexi Brent, Bernhard Scholz, Yannis Smaragdakis
Communications of the10…From The Eponymous Pickle
Legal Tech Startups
Recall our continuing look at 'smart contract' efforts and implications.
6 LegalTech Startups Disrupting the Legal Industry in PRNewswire
“Lawyers are the only persons in whom ignorance of the law is not punished.” Those were…