Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
November 2014
From The Eponymous Pickle
Big Data Value
A favorite topic of mine, the current and forecast value of data, Big or otherwise. I gave a talk on it today to the ISSIP. International Society of Service Innovation Professionals .... with a mission to promote Service Innovation…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Re-Designing the Business Model
In Knowledge@Wharton:" ... Innovation has become a buzzword in business today, as new-product sales advantages so often flow from new designs or features. Think mobile phones, tablets, or even autos. But apart from product or…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Design as Business Competency
In Marketing Mag: " ... Design as a business competency has never been more important, writes Designworks’ Tim Riches, and the winners of this year’s Good Design Awards prove the point and offer great insight into the convergence…
From BLOG@CACM
The Toy Aisle Matters More Than Ever: Girls and Computing
A look at the toy aisle and the message it sends girls (and boys), from the 1970s to today.
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
CCC Research Highlight: ExCAPE
Periodically, the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) will highlight research projects that are nominated by the public. Research highlights are meant to inform the computing community about interesting research going on in …
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
TouchDevelop on Student Devices
I have this sort of love/hate relationship with web based applications. I had reason for a bit of both today. I like to introduce students to programming using TouchDevelop which is a web app for most people although there is…
From BLOG@CACM
Animal-Human Computer Interaction: The First International Congress Report
Was the Internet communication really invented exclusively for humans, or do you think your cat should join your weekend teleconference?
From Daniel Lemire's Blog
Perfectionism is not the same as having high standards
A lot of what I do is… quite frankly… not very good. To put it differently, almost everything I do fails to meet my quality standards. So I am constantly fighting to do better. It is not perfectionism. Perfectionism is the refusal…
From Putting People First
Fundamental principles of great UX design
In this edition of Ask UXmatters (a series curated by Janet M. Six), an eight-person expert panel looks at the importance of considering the fundamental principles of great design — not just UX design principles, but design principles…
From Putting People First
A profile of Elizabeth F. Churchill, Director of User Experience at Google
As part of an on-going series profiling people, institutions and programs in the EPIC People community, Katharina Rochjadi of Swinburne University of Technology has now profiled Elizabeth F. Churchill, Director of User Experience…
From Putting People First
Why wearables should be free
Companies shouldn’t just give out wearables for free; they should pay users for data, argues Hans Neubert, frog’s chief creative officer. “Owners of wearable technology, like the upcoming Apple Watch or Microsoft Band, are the…
From The Eponymous Pickle
High Performance Computing in CPG
Video by a former colleague, Tom Lange, about how High Performance Computing (HPC) is used in consumer packaged goods at Procter & Gamble. " ... From toothpaste to diapers to dish soap, companies like Procter & Gamble useAnd…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Comparing the Social Landscape in 2014
A one page landscape infographic view of the eight most common types of social media in 2014. Nicely done, but specifics in this space do change quickly. Includes useful statistics about usage trends as well. I find that people…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Mail Re-Imagined in Verse
Today from IBM. Mail that understands you ... Imagine email that works for you instead of email that makes you work. .... Guided by analytics, IBM Verse learns your behaviors to adapt to the way you work, wherever you work.…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Decision Making is Unconscious
Len Stein writes:" ... Marketers are realizing that decision making is largely an unconscious process. While neuro-scientists continue to expand our knowledge of how the brain functions, psychology will determine how specific…
From Schneier on Security
A New Free CA
Announcing Let's Encrypt, a new free certificate authority. This is a joint project of EFF, Mozilla, Cisco, Akamai, and the University of Michigan. This is an absolutely fantastic idea. The anchor for any TLS-protected communication…
From Schneier on Security
Whatsapp Is Now End-to-End Encrypted
Whatapp is now offering end-to-end message encryption: Whatsapp will integrate the open-source software Textsecure, created by privacy-focused non-profit Open Whisper Systems, which scrambles messages with a cryptographic key…
From The Eponymous Pickle
MICA Intel Wearable is Fashionable
Fashion changes. Pricey at $495. Will all jewelry soon have an option for computer augmentation? Intel is an unexpected participant. I do like the fact that, unlike options like Glass, it's functionality can be completely…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Understanding the Face of Emotion
Determining emotion from facial images. A long term research and innovation interest. Here news of a September talk in Edge HeadCon. The introductory piece also has some interesting details. Is this breaching the last outpost…
From Schneier on Security
Snarky 1992 NSA Report on Academic Cryptography
The NSA recently declassified a report on the Eurocrypt '92 conference. Honestly, I share some of the writer's opinions on the more theoretical stuff. I know it's important, but it's not something I care all that much about..…
From BLOG@CACM
Why Does HPC Matter?
SC14 launched this year’s gala with a new plenary session to highlight the advancements that HPC enables in everything from soap to safer cars to the discovery of the origins of our universe.
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Top Secret Rosies
This week I have been showing the movie "Top Secret Rosies" to my freshmen students. It’s a wonderful story about some long unsung heroes of both World War II and computing. As introduced on the related web page:
In 1942, when…From The Eponymous Pickle
Google Glass not Taking Off
It was only early this year I was looking at a way to use Glass to aid in some compliance applications. We approached Google, but got no interest. Now Glass appears to be fading. They still have immediate value for hands-free…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Next 50 Years of Management
McKinsey's always interesting contributions, a look forward at the next 50 years:McKinsey Quarterly’s 50th anniversary editionIn this unique anniversary edition of the Quarterly, leading management thinkers tackle the management…
From The Eponymous Pickle
A Cisco App for Collaboration
In CWorld: The Cisco App is being positioned as Freemium. Will also be interesting to see how this is connected to some of its hardware solutions. See also its similarities to P&G's Business Sphere." ... Cisco crashes the enterprise…
From Schneier on Security
The NSA's Efforts to Ban Cryptographic Research in the 1970s
New article on the NSA's efforts to control academic cryptographic research in the 1970s. It includes new interviews with public-key cryptography inventor Martin Hellman and then NSA-director Bobby Inman....
From Computational Complexity
A Fly on the wall for a Harvard Faculty meeting: Not interesting for Gossip but interesting for a more important reason
I was recently in Boston for Mikefest (which Lance talked about here) and found time to talk to my adviser Harry Lewis at Harvard (adviser? Gee, I already finished my PhD. Former-Advisor? that doesn't quite sound right. I'll…
From Daniel Lemire's Blog
Why competitive people are often dumb and boring
People who work hard are typically motivated by either their performance (i.e., they want to look good) or their mastery (i.e., they like being good at their craft). Most of us pursue a mix of different goals. It would seem like…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Context for Evernote
Have now used the Evernote note taking and information management system for years. I like it, especially since they improved their multiple interfaces. It also acts as a cloud for your writing from multiple devices. I see…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Smart Connected Products Killing Industries
Have heard this before, not universally true. Especially when you have to move atoms vs bits. Or apply scarce resources. Like in all transportation industries to date. Other examples too. Still a useful caution when forecasting…