Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
November 2010
From The Eponymous Pickle
Payment by SmartPhone at Starbucks
Report of using a barcode based payment method via a IPhone at some Starbucks. Once you have set it up you can use it to pay your bill via a displayed barcode. Case study of the movement towards smartphones as wallets.
From Wild WebMink
? Imogen Heap at the Albert Hall
We were in London yesterday on our way back from a family celebration (congratulations Alastair!) and were lucky enough to have great tickets for Imogen Heap’s concert at the Royal Albert Hall. I’ve uploaded a sample of photos…
From The Eponymous Pickle
On Transforming the Healthcare Enterprise
Mark Montgomery of KYield on Transforming the Enterprise. Read the entire newsletter at the link. He provides his personal answer to the question: How can information technology improve health care? And relates his journey…
From The Eponymous Pickle
US News and World Report Drops Mailed Distribution
I recall reading USN&WR long ago and though I have dropped looking at it over the years. I did have a fondness for it its existence. That was not sufficient to keep it alive. Now it will soon go into digital oblivion. At…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Goodbye Google 411
I see that the Google 411 service is about to be dropped. I had become accustomed to the ability to do accurate hands-free local phone connections using it. It was particularly useful when traveling to get local connections…
From The Eponymous Pickle
New Data Visualization Language
New to me in ReadWriteWeb: A new data visualization language for non-programmers. With the odd name: Impure. The language is completely visual in nature. It's site is here. Have not looked at it yet, but will. " .... a…
From Schneier on Security
Friday Squid Blogging: Squid Costume
Just in time for Halloween.
From Putting People First
Content Strategy: no longer just the preserve of the web professional
Jeremy Baldwin, company director at Bright Blue Day, a full-service design and marketing agency in Dorset, UK, argues that we should stop talking about content strategy as if it only applies to the web design professional. The…
From Putting People First
The evolved user experience
Alexander Negash, analytics and user experience manager at the American Cancer Society, discusses on UX Magazine how to adopt social technologies in user research to get rapid, up-to-date user information and feedback, and to…
From Putting People First
Nine reasons smartphones are dumb remotes
As the Internet and TV converge in living rooms, lots of folks, including the New York Times, have been drooling over the idea of smartphones as next-gen remotes. On the surface, this seems like a cool idea. After all, smart…
From Putting People First
Building a Homesense
The London Tinker people have published a nice informal write-up of where things are with the Homesense project they are working on. Homesense is an epic piece of open research that explores how people can build their own DIY…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Data Reciprocity with Google
Very interesting article at GigaOM. Google has changed some of its API agreements to try to force more data sharing between vendors. This could make for more sharing of the social network data now held closely by companies…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Ease of Blogging
Colleague Walter Riker pulls together some good comments in his always interesting Ease of Blogging space. Worth putting on your feed.
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
Ed Felten Named FTC
Our colleague Ed Felten, Professor of Computer Science and Public Affairs and the founding Director of the Center for Information Technology Policy (CITP) at Princeton University, yesterday was named the first Chief Technologist…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Ovulation/Period App from Procter
An IPhone App that tracks Ovulation from P&G. As might be expected, also markets Always feminine protection products.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Social Media Strategy and LinkedIn
At a local Business Intelligence meeting I met Crystal Thies, of Crystal Clear Buzz. She does social media strategy. In particular I liked some of her thoughts and insight on the effective use of LinkedIn. Based on conversations…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Uniting Towards Item Level RFID
Something we looked at for years, moving towards the replacement of the barcode. Some predictors had this happening by 2005. Not yet, but some are still looking at advancing the idea:Retailers and Manufacturers Unite to Advance…
From Wild WebMink
links for 2010-11-05
Good news, of a kind, from a dark world The truly awful nightmare at the end of this short article is the reason I strive to keep my personal life personal despite a high public profile. I encourage you to do the same – privacy…
From Schneier on Security
"A Social Network Approach to Understanding an Insurgency"
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Three New Chances to Get Involved in the Imagine Cup
I talked about these new Imagine Cup events briefly on my links post on Monday but I wanted to pull them out and highlight them on their own today. The following is from the latest Imagine Cup Insider email that goes to people…
From Wild WebMink
Open
My essay on the open core business model is now available in the Essays section.
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
A Review of NITRD
The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) today unanimously approved a draft report reviewing the 14-agency, $4 billion Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) program…
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
USACM Vice Chair Felten Appointed as First FTC Chief Technologist
Ed Felten, noted computer science researcher, Director of Princeton's Center for Information Technology Policy, and one of USACM's Vice Chairs, has been appointed Chief Technologist at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). This…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Digital TV Network at Meijer
Meijer has decided to get into the chainwide e digital TV network with PRN, following a number of other large big box chains. More chances to influence the shopper.
From Computer Science Teachers Association
The Changing Face of Professional Development
We are all aware that education is constantly changing- sometimes for the better, and sometimes for the worse. One of the items that gets caught up in this ebb and flow is professional development.
We hear from many people…From Computational Complexity
A non rigorous proof technique
As a grad student (1980's) I found a book in the library that claimed to solve Fermat's Last Theorem using elementary methods. (This was before Wiles had shown it true using advanced methods.) The book claimed that their proof…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Neuromarketing and Politics
In today's Fast Company, a good article about how neuromarketing is being used to improve political traction. Makes perfect sense. In a emotionally laden context, it is even more important to know how people are non consciously…
From Wild WebMink
links for 2010-11-04
UK Copyright Law To Be Revised "The founders of Google have said they could never have started their company in Britain. … Over there, they have what are called 'fair-use' provisions, which some people believe gives companies…
From Schneier on Security
The Business of Botnets
It can be lucrative:
Avanesov allegedly rented and sold part of his botnet, a common business model for those who run the networks. Other cybercriminals can rent the hacked machines for a specific time for their own purposes…From Putting People First
Four year ethnographic study of Global Voices
How would a newsroom look if we could build it from scratch, current technologies in hand? A 4 year ethnograhic study of Global Voices brought Lokman Tsui, an Assistant Professor in Media and Communication at the City University…