Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
November 2011
From Computer Science Teachers Association
Seeing Computer Science Everywhere
I'm the type of person who really does see computers and computer science everywhere. I can turn any situation or location into a discussion or eye-opening opportunity for students. Some are more obvious than others, especially…
From Apophenia
Social Science PhD Internships at Microsoft Research New England (Spring & Summer 2012)
Microsoft Research New England (MSRNE) is looking for PhD interns to join the social media collective for Spring and Summer 2012. For these positions, we are looking primarily for social science PhD students (including communications…
From Schneier on Security
Spider Webs Contain Ant Poison
Shichang Zhang, Teck Hui Koh, Wee Khee Seah, Yee Hing Lai, Mark A. Elgar, and Daiqin Li (2011), "A Novel Property of Spider Silk: Chemical Defence Against Ants," Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (full text…
From Daniel Lemire's Blog
3 surprising facts about the computation of scalar products
The speed of many algorithms depends on how quickly you can multiply matrices or compute distances. In turn, these computations depend on the scalar product. Given two arrays such as (1,2) and (5,3), the scalar product is the…
From The Eponymous Pickle
DemandTec Forecast Lift Patent
I have been following long-time correspondent DemandTec more closely in the past months. Here is another item of interest: " ... The latest patent covers techniques developed by DemandTec that enable users to analyze the forecasted…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Delta Airline Baggage App
I have spent nearly a lifetime business traveling with Delta airlines all over the globe and I have lots of problems with their service. But I see that they have created a Smartphone App to let you track your bags. Have not…
From Computational Complexity
The Death of Complexity Classes?
In the 2011 Complexity proceedings there are three papers that analyze complexity classes, Ryan Williams' great paper on ACC, Russell Impagliazzo's paper on average versus worst case for NP and a Hartmut Klauck's paper on AMSTOC…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
MIT’s Technology Review
From Schneier on Security
The DHS Partners with Major League Soccer to Promote Fear
It seems to be harder and harder to keep people scared:
The Department
From Wild WebMinkLet The Bible Go Free!
News emerged Friday that the British government intends to send a copy of the Bible (along with some immortal words penned by Michael Gove) to every school in the country. Rather than doing that, I would prefer them to reform…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred ThompsonInteresting Links 28 November 2011
Last week was a quiet one for me. Thanksgiving holiday in the US meant I didn’t spend as much time on the Internet as usual. Also a lot less blogging and email activity by many of the people I look to for interesting links. This…
From The Noisy ChannelCIKM 2011 Industry Event: Slides and Summaries
I’ve posted slides and summaries for all ten CIKM 2011 Industry Event presentations: Stephen Robertson (Microsoft Research): Why Recall Matters John Giannandrea (Google): Freebase – A Rosetta Stone for Entities Jeff Hammerbacher…
From The Noisy ChannelCIKM 2011 Industry Event: Ilya Segalovich on Improving Search Quality at Yandex
This post is last in a series summarizing the presentations at
From The Eponymous PickleSAS Paper on Text Analytics
A good complimentary SAS white paper on the uses of text analytics. Does require registration:" ... Discover how to maximize the value of information within large quantities of free-form text, such as e-mail, news articles,Learn…
From The Noisy ChannelCIKM 2011 Industry Event: Vanja Josifovski on Toward Deep Understanding of User Behavior on the Web
This post is part of a series summarizing the presentations at
From The Eponymous PickleTips for Google Search
We have all done lots of Google searches. Yet we do not know all the possibilities of search. Here an outline in infographic form that outlines all the basics.
From The Eponymous PickleWal-Mart and Grabble
Wal-Mart recently acquired the Australian POS technology company Grabble, Then added it to its Wal-Mart Labs group. Another indication of the retail giant's interest in augmenting purchase via mobile devices. And alsoin VentureBeat…
From The Eponymous PickleTracking Mall Cellphones
An approach I am well aware of, shoppers are informed of it happening, and in general does not personally identify anyone. The data is precious to understand shopper behavior.The tracking system, called FootPath Technology,The…
From The Eponymous PickleA Partial History Knowledge Navigation
Long-time inspiration David Sibbet posts about how Alan Kay and others inspired the iPad and points to a number of future looking Apple publications that I remember well. I remember hearing Kay give a talk about how portable…
From The Eponymous PickleDigital Currency: Bitcoin
In Wired: The Rise and Fall of Bitcoin. A detailed history of this digital currency concept. An interesting but sometimes mysterious idea, that I thought was perilous at the time and I have seen little about since its emergence…
From The Eponymous PickleConsensus Point Prediction Markets
Robin Hanson's Prediction markets blog. He has a post on the GE Healthymagination Challenge crowdsourcing effort. Plus lots more of interest that is worth following. Hanson is chief scientist of Consensus Point. We examined…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred ThompsonProgramming for Absolute Beginners from Channel 9
Channel 9 has just launched an absolute beginner series to help people learn to program. There are two versions of the Development for Absolute beginners materials
From Computer Science Teachers AssociationMy Thanksgiving "Vacation"
I just returned from a week in Costa Rica. Unlike many foreign visitors, who land in San Jose to hop in cars and tour buses to get away to the beautiful white sand beaches, active and dormant volcanoes, amazing flora and fauna…
From The Eponymous PickleDunnhumbyUSA CEO Leads by example
In the local press: good article on Dunnhumby USA's corporate culture, style and analytic approaches used to track shopper loyalty. I was part of an early meeting with them, which was met with skepticism, but they have shown…
From The Eponymous PickleAmazing Facts About McDonalds
A set of slides that provide some interesting facts about the global reach and impactful magnitude of the McDonald's Corporation.
From Schneier on SecurityFriday Squid Blogging: Cephalopod Art Conference
There was an interdisciplinary cephalopod art conference earlier this year, in Minneapolis. Videos of the conference are available online.
As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the…
From The Noisy ChannelCIKM 2011 Industry Event: Ed Chi on Model-Driven Research in Social Computing
This post is part of a series summarizing the presentations at
From The Eponymous PickleThinking Fast and Slow
In the NYT Book review: A review of Thinking Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman. The dismantling of 'Homo Economicus'. Heady stuff that has stimulated a lot of new thinking about decisions and their irrationality.
From The Eponymous PickleSubscribe to My Feed
This blog has always had an RSS feed for syndication. If you find it useful please do subscribe. This blog has been around for a number of years. It parallels my consulting and technical interests. I have made hundreds of…
From The Eponymous PickleWorkers and Technology
Michael S Malone debates if workers are being left behind by technology. Quite obviously, no. Workers are taking to technology rapidly, and that technology is changing their working and personal lives quickly. In the enterprise…