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 Schneier on Security
EU Bans X-Ray Body Scanners
The European Union has banned X-ray full body scanners at airports. Millimeter wave scanners are allowed as long as they conform to privacy guidelines.
Under the new EU legislation the use of security scanners is only allowed…From The Eponymous Pickle
Infographics Amok
In Adage: Seeing more infographics these days. Steve Rubel chimes in on their overuse. I think there is a further problem. They seem to be a reaction to the under-education of people in the simplest forms of math. They…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Tablets as Ecosystems
In E-Commerce Times: With multiple affordable tablet systems starting to emerge, it is suggested that each will enable specific ecosystems of usage and product access. Essentially separate channels of access to retail and…
From The Eponymous Pickle
The Future of Work Spaces
As part of our innovation centers we examined a number of work space design approaches. We participated in several innovation workshops about working environments. Even a decade ago we realized that work was becoming farGigaOM…
From Schneier on Security
Detecting Psychopaths by their Speech Patterns
The researchers interviewed 52 convicted murderers, 14 of them ranked as psychopaths according to the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised, a 20-item assessment, and asked them to describe their crimes in detail. Using…
From BLOG@CACM
Celebrate Computing!
Computer Science Education Week 2011 is a call to action. It gives the computing community an opportunity to raise awareness about the societal impact of computing, the richness of computing careers, and the critical need for…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Tesco Experiments with Augmented Reality
Constructing 3D catalogs using Augmented Reality. We saw some early experimentation by Tesco in China. Tesco has always been a technology innovative retailer. This is the first time I have seen AR being used directly by a…
From My Biased Coin
Public University Budgets
Another topic that arose in conversations during my visit to Wisconsin was the issue of budgets, and in particular the large-scale cuts that many of the best US public school are having to deal with. It's not hard to find information…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Why Can't SIRI talk to Watson?
Thoughtful GigaOm piece on AI. I spent years doing enterprise AI and what we did only worked when it was focused. We saw what IBM was doing at that time and it was impressive even then. The AI's of today are impressive, but…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Exascale Computing Looms
From the supercomputing conference. Thousand times improvement in a decade. " ... Government support, as well as new computing techniques, will be needed ... ". Advanced very fine grain simulation, in particular, should…
From Schneier on Security
Paul Kocher
Really nice article on crypotographer Paul Kocher and his company, Cryptography Research, Inc.
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
What the DARPA Network Challenge Showed
As we’ve previously noted in this space, in December 2009, 10 red balloons were deployed from locations throughout the U.S. as part of the DARPA Network Challenge — a competition to “explore the roles the Interent and social…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Network Patterns of Complexity
Stephen Few reviews Visual Complexity: Mapping Patterns of Information, by Manuel Lima. This book is about mapping networks of information. This has always been an interest of mine in that it can show connections that we…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
C# Mini Course
So this is an experiment of sorts. Last summer I was asked to train some college students in C#. The goal was to get them ready to teach some very basic programming to high school students for a short summer program. The students…
From The Noisy Channel
CIKM 2011 Industry Event: Jeff Hammerbacher on Experiences Evolving a New Analytical Platform
This post is part of a series summarizing the presentations at
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
NSF
Earlier this fall, the
From The Eponymous Pickle
P&G Sports a Mobile Game
P&G's Downy plans a mobile scavenger hunt. An example of brand oriented marketing gamificatition." ... Procter & Gamble fabric softener brand Downy will hold a smartphone-based scavenger hunt in Las Vegas next month to introduce…
From Computational Complexity
Are these journals real?
Consider the following email I got: Dear Professor, 1. Antarctica Journal of Mathematics 2. ArchimedesJournal of Mathematics 3. BesselJournal of Mathematics We are charging only $3 per page, which is very cheap when compared…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Google and Temporal Data
Have been taking a look at a number aspects of time-based data in search, and also in the semantic elements of search results. Here an article that looks at time in search.
From Schneier on Security
Sam Harris on Self-Defense
I thought this was very interesting. His three principles are:
- Avoid dangerous people and dangerous places.
- Do not defend your property.
- Respond immediately and escape.
From Computer Science Teachers Association
Computers Shouldn't Make Sandwiches
This past weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the CSTA/Anita Borg K-12 Equity Teacher Workshop at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing conference in Portland, Oregon. It was great to feel energized and inspired…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Distributed Data Analytics Platform
I have been examining a number of advanced data mining solutions. And InferX has come up again. In particular distributing the platform:" ... The InferX Distributed Data Analytics Platform (D2AP) offers a new generation of…
From Wild WebMink
The Problem With Free
UK government procurement is still crippled by the dazzling power of the word “free”, which drowns out appreciation of the true strengths of open source. Read about it in today’s ComputerWorldUK article.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Open Philanthropy
Stan Dyck sent me this post on open philanthropy. on Open foundations and how they should work. " ... Lucy Bernholz wants the giant organizations that dole out millions in funds to start embracing becoming more transparent…
From The Female Perspective of Computer Science
She Topped All the Men in Math and Kept Her Life in Balance
In an age where to be female was to be weak, there was one woman who would finally show the world that the fairer sex could beat the very best men academically, even in something so male dominated as mathematics. And she did…
From Geeking with Greg
Even more quick links
Even more of what has caught my attention recently:Spooky but cool research: "Electrical pulses to the brain and muscles ... activate and deactivate the insect's flying mechanism, causing it to take off and land ... Stimulating…
From My Biased Coin
Yes, We Are Hiring (2012)
Harvard CS will be hiring this year.One tenure-track position is geared toward systems, very broadly defined.A second tenure-track position is in Applied Math, where we're aiming for a "discrete applied math" person. The right…
From The Eponymous Pickle
New Book on P&G
Via my alumni group. The Financial Times Press has announced a new book about Procter & Gamble: When Core Values are Strategic: How the Basic Values of Procter & Gamble Transformed Leadership at Fortune 500 Companies …
From The Eponymous Pickle
Cause Marketing on Facebook
In Forbes: Tips and trends on cause marketing in Facebook. " ...
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
An feature