Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
November 2013
From The Eponymous Pickle
Mobile Rules Wal-Mart
In VentureBeat: " ... Mobile rules Walmart: Accounted for 53% of Thanksgiving traffic, new mobile customers up 3X ... "
From Putting People First
Design your way to better public services
Innovative design-based approaches to public service management can rapidly enhance user experience whilst driving effective and efficient policymaking, explains Lucy Kimbell on the site of the Policy Network (the UK’s leading…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
How is Computer Science NOT a 21st Century Skill
I had to do this. I really did. I am so tired of schools claiming that they are teaching 21st century skills (what ever that means) but not offering a computer science course. How is that possible?
From The Eponymous Pickle
On Total Quality Mangagement
Another topic that has seen less talk lately: Total quality Management. Here in the Smart KPIs Blog. "... Total Quality Management – a means for improvement ... Customers’ increasing demand for superior quality products and…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Smart Textiles
In ComputingNow: A topic we explored, being a garment care industry, but have not heard much about recently:" ... Current technology supports only special-purpose, low-volume textiles, garments, and electronics. Moreover, the…
From Schneier on Security
More on Stuxnet
Ralph Langer has written the definitive analysis of Stuxnet: short, popular version, and long, technical version.
Stuxnet is not really one weapon, but two. The vast majority of the attention has been paid to Stuxnet's smaller…From Daniel Lemire's Blog
Are regular folks doomed?
I have been telling all my colleagues about Cowen’s latest book: The average is over. I really enjoyed the book. Cowen goes on in his new book to explain that regular folks are doomed. The economy will only need the top 10% of…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Improving Mobile Marketing
In Mashable: Thoughtful piece about the behavior of the consumer while mobile. What more data do we need to gather to do useful analytics? " ... When it comes to metrics, and mobile metrics in particular, it's important to…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Ford and the Internet of Everything
Good piece from the Cisco Blog on how Ford is working with the Internet of Everything. Good explanation because we are all acquainted with the context of our use of automobiles. The possibilities of turning the connected…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Survival Analysis
A method I rarely had cause to use in my career, but good to know about. Peter Flom does a good job of explaining. " ... when the dependent variable is time to an event. In that case, we need survival analysis. ... Survival…
From Putting People First
Design Week reflects on the business potential of service design
Design Week investigates a new wave of service design proponants who are helping to embed design in big brands. Taking the two-day Service Design Global Conference as a context, the author highlights the radical changes businesses…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Tamagotchi to Re Hatch in 2014
Hard to believe it was over seventeen years ago, then we examined the Tamagotchi by Bandai 'pets' as a means to connect with consumers. They were a true craze then. Children, even adults were feeding and caring for them. Strangely…
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
FTC Seeks Public Comments on Proposed Patent Assertion Entity Study
The Federal Trade Commission has extended the deadline for public comments on its proposed study of patent assertion entities (PAEs) until Monday, December 16, 2013. The study would seek information from roughly 25 companies…
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
New Federal Regulations Require Accessible Airline Websites and Kiosks
New federal regulations by the U.S. Department of Transportation require airlines to make their websites and airport kiosks more accessible for people with disabilities. Airlines have up to 2 years to make reservation, flight…
From Computer Science Teachers Association
Getting and Keeping Computer Science Teachers in K-12
With the recent publication of the new CSTA report Bugs in the System: Computer Science Teacher Certification in the U.S. CSTA has shone another white hot spotlight on the systemic barriers that keep good teachers from becoming…
From Geeking with Greg
Game Maven: Learn to code by writing games
I just launched Game Maven from Crunchzilla. It’s a new interactive tutorial -- part of the series that includes Code Monster and Code Maven -- that is a step-by-step walkthrough of writing the code for three casual video games…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Finding Things at Lowe's
Not a new thing. Using an App to find things in a complex space like Retail. We examined this, starting with kiosk systems. But I like the implication that things can be found by association with related things. Associating…
From The Eponymous Pickle
International Institute for Analytics
Brought to my attention by Joe Sunderman, who I had the pleasure to talk to yesterday about my view of analytics. The International Institute for Analytics. " .... The authority on analytics maturity and best practices. ... …
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
Introductory Computer Science is Second Most Popular Course at Harvard
On November, 26, 2013, Michael Farrell writes in The Boston Globe about the great change which is occurring on Harvard University’s campus, with regard to Computer Science in an article titled, “Computer science course fills …
From The Eponymous Pickle
Innovation Request: Food Monitoring
A client has asked me to provide this link more publicity, from Ideaconnection, which connects innovations to product needs: " ... Technology Wanted: Consumer Food Monitoring DeviceA client is seeking a device, or enablingNote…
From The Eponymous Pickle
On A/B Testing and Better Experimental Design
In Wired: On the well known method of A/B testing. It is one of the simplest experimental designs, but is sometimes not good enough. A example of the model being inappropriate to the need of the decision. The use of more…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Inexpensive 3D Scanning
In Engadget: Relatively inexpensive, portable 3D scanning to capture a description of an object up to ten by ten feet. " ... If the product is indeed what 3D Systems claims, it could fill a major hole in the consumer 3D-printing…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
Computer Science Response to “The STEM Crisis: Reality or Myth?”
On November 11, 2013, The Chronicle for Higher Education published an article titled “The STEM Crisis: Reality or Myth?” which stated that many researchers do in fact consider the crisis a myth. Computer science is most certainly…
From Schneier on Security
Tor Appliance
Safeplug is an easy-to-use Tor appliance. I like that it can also act as a Tor exit node.
From Putting People First
[Report] Leading Business by Design
Design is now firmly on the business agenda. No longer the cherry on the cake for high-end goods and luxury brands, over the past decade it has gained relevance for the way organisations are structured, how they operate and how…
From Putting People First
Melinda Gates on the power of human-centered design
Interesting quote from a Wired interview with Melinda Gates and Paul Farmer: WIRED: What innovation do you think is changing the most lives in the developing world? MELINDA GATES: Human-centered design. Meeting people where they…
From Putting People First
[Report] Next generation working life
How will work be organized in the Networked Society? Fundamental changes are taking place. Cultural changes and rapid technological development are changing the rules and opening up for new ways of structuring business and changes…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Hadoop and a Pending Metadata Mess
An intriguing point about the tool and its use, and general documentation of data, its origins and measurements (metadata) : " ... Why is Hadoop so popular? There are many reasons. First of all it is not so much a product as…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Nano satellites Powered by a Smartphone
In CWorld: I like the modular simplicity. " .... Fleet of CubeSat nanosatellites now orbiting earth, sending back data CubeSats built by NASA and various colleges lifted off Nov. 19 on a U.S. Air Force Minotaur 1 rocket ..…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Python Displacing R?
Interesting suggestion. But no real data is given. They are different beasts, Python is a general purpose computer language, while R is designed to work with data. Not by my observation. R is by far used more often by University…