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
Spotfire Now on the iPad
I was an early user of Spotfire in the enterprise. Now it is good to see that they have modified it to the point that it can be used on an iPad. I have been hearing that there are major efforts underway to get executives to…
From Apophenia
Social Science PhD Internships at Microsoft Research New England (Spring & Summer 2011)
Microsoft Research New England (MSRNE) is looking for PhD interns to join the social media collective for Spring and Summer 2011. For these positions, we are looking primarily for social science PhD students (including communications…
From Schneier on Security
Bulletproof Service Providers
From Brian Krebs:
Hacked and malicious sites designed to steal data from unsuspecting users via malware and phishing are a dime a dozen, often located in the United States, and are a key target for takedown by ISPs and security…From The Eponymous Pickle
ECairn Wins Social Technology Award
From ECairn, which I have followed for some time:" ... Our joint case study with Adobe illustrates the highly differentiated benefits of a very targeted approach to social media marketing. eCairn stands behind the belief that…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Smart Pill Technology
The idea of putting an microchip in a pill has been around for some time. This is the first time I have seen the implementation getting close. There is concern about the privacy of the personal data being transmitted. From…
From The Female Perspective of Computer Science
Is a Software Architect Worthy of the Name?
I have a friend who is an architect (the kind that designs buildings instead of software). I was reminded recently of a conversation my husband and I had with him a while back that was basically about whether you could really…
From Computational Complexity
A Problem with Wikipedia and the Next Best Thing to Winning a Godel Prize
(There are TWO theory day events in NY this semsester: Nov 11, 2010 and Nov 12, 2010. The first one has likely already started as you read this.)
I searched for myself on Wikipedia and I found out something scary. Not about…
From Putting People First
Continuum Advanced Systems at the intersection of technology, systems and human-centered design
Continuum launched of a new division within its organization, known as Continuum Advanced Systems. Focused on the intersection of technology, systems and human-centered design, Continuum Advanced Systems works with companies…
From Putting People First
How the cell phone is changing the world
In a very general overview article published in Newsweek, Ravi Somaiya reports on how the impact of the ubiquitous device extends from politics to business, medicine, and war. “More than 4 billion of the 6 billion people on earth…
From Putting People First
Privacy and the user experience
In a long blog post, designer and developer Alexander Dawson discusses some important privacy-related concerns
From Putting People First
Ethnography in industry: methods overview
James Glasnapp, who manages PARC‘s Workscapes and Organization team, has written his second article in a series on ethnography (you can read the first one here), where he provides an overview of data collection methods (and methodologies)…
From Schneier on Security
Changing Passwords
How often should you change your password? I get asked that question a lot, usually by people annoyed at their employer's or bank's password expiration policy: people who finally memorized their current password and are realizing…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
XNA and Game Development and Expression Web and Web Design Talks
Last summer I helped present two talks at the CSTA CS & IT Symposium. In both cases I had small rolls with Pat Philips doing almost all of the talking on the talk about the Expression Web course. Steve Scanlan, an wonderful classroom…
From Wild WebMink
The End Of The Road For Web
The news is out that WS-I will now be absorbed by OASIS according to their PDF release. They told us back in July that it was going to happen. As far as I can tell, that’s the end of the WS-* family of specifications – there…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Libraries Lending E Books
I got a note the other day that announced my local library was starting to lend e-books, and even loaning out e-readers. That made me think, what do the publishers think about this? There have to be some restrictions. Yet…
From Schneier on Security
Removing Belts at Airport Security
The TSA is making us remove our belts even when we don't have to.
European airports have made us remove our belts for years. My normal tactic is to pull my shirt tails out of my pants and over my belt. Then I flash my waist…From The Eponymous Pickle
The Rise of Self Checkout
I have looked at aspects of retail checkout for some time. Examining methods like RFID tagging, in store hand held scanning, carts that scan their contents and replacements for the checkouts themselves. We experimented with…
From Computational Complexity
Dr. Scott Goes to Washington
Fellow blogger Scott Aaronson was chosen as one of 19 NSF PECASE awardees and wins a trip to the White House. Congrats to Scott! He received the award "for pushing the frontiers of quantum complexity theory, and for making the…
From Computer Science Teachers Association
Time to Get Clever?
Many dedicated and resourceful individuals have been working on inspiring the public school system to adopt a computer science friendly curriculum in grades k-12. While Google's efforts in California have begun to see some …
From The Eponymous Pickle
Social Media Law
A good overview piece in E-Commerce Times on recent developments in social media law.
From BLOG@CACM
Massive Scale Data Mining For Education
With the increased use of computers in education, there will be a big new opportunity for computers to learn to help students learn.
From Wild WebMink
links for 2010-11-10
Belgian Court recognises CC licences Important progress here for Creative Commons. The more case law that upholds CC licences the better. (tags: creativecommons License Licence Belgium law) iFixit: The free repair manual Just…
From Schneier on Security
Securing the Washington Monument
Good article on security options for the Washington Monument:
Unfortunately, the bureaucratic gears are already grinding, and what will be presented to the public Monday doesn't include important options, including what became…From Wild WebMink
? Wednesday Tab Sweep
Belgian Court recognises CC licences Important progress here for Creative Commons. The more case law that upholds CC licences the better. iFixit: The free repair manual Just love this site, full of good stuff. And what’s more…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Microsoft Technology Associate Certifications Revisited
Last July I wrote about the Microsoft Technology Associate program and I thought it was time to revisit that program. I have some additional information to post. Specifically I wanted to let you know about the Microsoft Technology…
From Wild WebMink
Community Escrow
My essay on Community Escrow, one of the differentiating features of open source software, is now available in the Essays section.
From Wild WebMink
links for 2010-11-09
EC lobs grenades at copyright's Ancien R
From The Eponymous Pickle
New Neuroscience Blog
Mind Hacks informs us of what looks to be a new and useful neuroscience blog: Brain Detectives. " ... This fall I became the writer-in-residence at the Montreal Neurological Institute. The position is new and something ofMaria…
From Schneier on Security
Crowdsourcing Surveillance
Internet Eyes is a U.K. startup designed to crowdsource digital surveillance. People pay a small fee to become a "Viewer." Once they do, they can log onto the site and view live anonymous feeds from surveillance cameras at retail…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Metaio's Augmented Press
For those interested in the topic of augmented reality, I suggest subscribing to Metaio's Augmented Press Newsletter. Largely commerical examples that Metaio is working on with partners of all kinds. An indication of what can…