Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
November 2009
From Schneier on Security
The Problems with Unscientific Security
From the Open Access Journal of Forensic Psychology, by a whole llist of authors: "A Call for Evidence-Based Security Tools":
Abstract: Since the 2001 attacks on the twin towers, policies on security have changed drastically…From The Eponymous Pickle
On the Age of the Informavore
In the Edge: ' We are apparently now in a situation where modern technology is changing the way people behave, people talk, people react, people think, and people remember. And you encounter this not only in a theoretical way…
From Schneier on Security
Mossad Hacked Syrian Official's Computer
It was unattended in a hotel room at the time:
Israel's Mossad espionage agency used Trojan Horse programs to gather intelligence about a nuclear facility in Syria the Israel Defense Forces destroyed in 2007, the German magazine…From BLOG@CACM
Blogging Informatics Education Europe IV, Day One
Informatics Education Europe, a workshop sponsored by ACM, BCS, Intel, and Microsoft, is focusing on improving computing education across Europe.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Buyology Inc Launches
I have mentioned the work of Martin Lindstrom here a number of times and I am working with Buyology Inc, a US - based company that seeks to connect some of the newest neuroromarketing science with tough and profitable marketing…
From The Eponymous Pickle
General Mills Innovation Portal
From Consumer Goods Technology, General Mills has created an innovation portal. " ... The new G-WIN innovation portal provides visitors with details on nearly 50 technical challenges that the company is looking to solve. Those…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Fun Theory from Volkswagen
Via IFTF: The Fun Theory Site. Some ongoing contests for innovations in this space.' ... This site is dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people
From Putting People First
Answering the call to service design
Phi-Hong D. Ha, an interaction design and strategy consultant, discusses discusses the viability of the new field of service design with Steven Heller of AIGA Voice. Isn
From Putting People First
The new fast ways of keeping in touch are driving us further apart
Email, texting and Facebook let us hide behind our computer screens instead of talking to each other. Elizabeth Day asks in The Observer if we have the tyranny of technology to blame or ourselves? According to John Freeman, who…
From Putting People First
Nokia Life Tools tailored to the needs of Indonesians
Nokia Life Tools was designed to help improve the livelihood and lives of farmers, students and many people in more remote and rural areas in emerging market countries. It does this by offering easily accessible and up-to-date…
From Wild WebMink
links for 2009-11-04
Michael Geist put the evidence together from the available "leaks" and shows us all why ACTA is anti-open, anti-freedom. If democracy means anything today…
From Schneier on Security
Fear and Overreaction
It's hard work being prey. Watch the birds at a feeder. They're constantly on alert, and will fly away from food -- from easy nutrition -- at the slightest movement or sound. Given that I've never, ever seen a bird plucked from…
From Computational Complexity
Amir Pnueli (1941-2009)
Amir Pnueli, an expert in temporal logic and program verification who won the 1996 Turing Award, passed away Monday from a brain hemorrhage. His colleague Lenore Zuck shares her thoughts.
I'm reading through what people wrotepress…From Putting People First
The Fuzzy Boundary: Four products that are also services
Mike Kuniavsky of ThingM was invited to speak at Kimiko Ryokai’s Theory and Practice of Tangible User Interfaces class at UC Berkeley yesterday, where he discussed the relationship between products and services in a ubicomp environment…
From Putting People First
Three DMI articles worth reading
Via the DMI November 2009 Newsletter, I came across a number of articles that are worthwhile exploring: What the Hell Have We Done to Design? (Really Thinking about Design Thinking) Brian Matt, Founder & CEO, Altitude, Inc. DMI…
From Putting People First
Mobile phones for development and profit: a win-win scenario
Mobile phones for development and profit: a win-win scenario Rohit Singh Overseas Development Institute, 2009 The number of mobile subscribers globally is estimated to have reached four billion in 2008 (ITU, 2008), with mobile…
From Putting People First
The future of interface design
David Leggett provides on his UX Booth blog an overview of what the future of interface design has to offer. He covers various upcoming interface technologies such as heads up displays, gesture-based interfaces, spatial motion…
From Putting People First
Understanding users of social networks
Harvard Business School professor Mikolaj Jan Piskorski has spent years studying users of online social networks (SN) and has developed surprising findings about the needs that they fulfill, how men and women use these services…
From BLOG@CACM
The 'No SQL' Discussion Has Nothing to Do With SQL
Recently, there has been a lot of buzz about "No SQL" databases. This blog post considers the performance argument about No SQL databases; a subsequent posting will address the flexibility argument.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Shopper Assistant Adds Store Flyers
Recently I mentioned the IPhone Shopper, a store shopping list and aisle context application. I have done some additional explorations with the idea. In a recent press release they have added the ability to get personalized …
From Computer Science Teachers Association
Are Your Students Good Problem Solvers, or Good Mimics?
Recently the topic of Computational Thinking has risen to the forefront of discussions of what our students should learn. Ignoring the facts that computational thinking has different meanings to each of us, I think the root …
From The Eponymous Pickle
How the Brain Reveals Why we Buy
From Sciam, " ... an excerpt from Mindfield: How Brain Science Is Changing Our World by Lone Frank, to be released in the U.S. November 10 ... " A good lay introduction to the concepts of neuromarketing, its origins and directions…
From Putting People First
Experientia partner Jan-Christoph Zoels speaks at Visualizar, Madrid
On Friday 13 (!) November, Experientia partner Jan-Christoph Zoels will be one of the speakers at Visualizar’09, an international seminar on public data visualisation, organised by Medialab-Prado in Madrid, Spain. The conference…
From Schneier on Security
Zero-Tolerance Policies
Recent stories have documented the ridiculous effects of zero-tolerance weapons policies in a Delaware school district: a first-grader expelled for taking a camping utensil to school, a 13-year-old expelled after another student…
From Computational Complexity
Really Liked Bertinoro- Ramsey Thing
(Reminder: STOC Deadline Thursday Nov 5, 7:00PM, Eastern: link.)
After yesterday's post about RaTLoCC 2009 (Ramsey Theory in Logic, Combinatorics, and Complexity) at Bertinoro some people emailed me and others commented asking…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Consumers More Resourceful
In Supermarket News: Kraft Foods says that consumers are becoming more resourceful. Although I have always viewed myself as resourceful, I have found myself becoming more so this year.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Predictive Modeling at Transaction Level
Well done - " ... a case study of a simple
From My Biased Coin
Conference Reviews
I promised at some point to get back to discussing the reviewing process for two conferences I am currently on the PC for, NSDI and LATIN. Since I happily just finished my "first drafts" of the reviews for both conferences,The…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Muscle Interface
A 3D pointing interface without any mouse, using EMG sensors. Another attempt at using something other than a dongled mouse for interaction. I tested a foot-mouse in the late 80s. It did not last long. I like the idea of an open…
From Schneier on Security
Detecting Terrorists by Smelling Fear
The technology relies on recognising a pheromone - or scent signal - produced in sweat when a person is scared.
Researchers hope the ''fear detector'' will make it possible to identify individuals at check points who…