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 U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
Hill Tech Happenings, Week of November 17
November 18 Hearing: The House Veterans’ Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on information security at the Veterans’ Administration 1:30 p.m., 334 Cannon Building November 19 Hearing: The Federal Workforce, U.S. Postal Service…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Big Data is Here to Stay, and don't forget the right Metadata
With some warnings. I agree, we are never going to gather just less complex, wildly aggregated or less data. We will error on the side of more data. I add, we will still need to decide what to save, based on some notion of…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Fujitsu Data Enables LED Light
In CWorld: Fujitsu Develops method which will allow products to send data to smartphones." ... LED lamps lighting merchandise may soon shine invisible data that your smartphone can pick up.Fujitsu Laboratories has developed a…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Facebook Wants Office Presence
This was an area we examined. What infrastructure would work best to deliver social style interaction among employees, among employees and contractors? Linkedin is an obvious alternative. Now Facebook is also interested in…
From BLOG@CACM
Is There a 10x Gap Between Best and Average Programmers? And How Did It Get There?
There's not much evidence for a 10x programming productivity gap, but it doesn't matter from an education perspective.
From BLOG@CACM
HPC Matters, and We Have Video Evidence
SC14 gets underway this week in New Orleans, LA (USA). This year the conference has produced a series of accessible videos highlighting why — in terms that hopefully everyone can understand — HPC matters to all of us.
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Interesting Links 17 November 2014
Last week was crazy for me. Professional development day last Monday and Veterans Day on Tuesday just made things start differently. Friday was a travel day as I flew out to Tucson AZ for the CSTA Board meeting. CSTA you have…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Tailored Digital Sign Experience
A long time research interest, better and more personalized interaction with the shopper via digital signage:" ... Photon Interactive, a company that’s been focused on building mobile experiences for large brands, is teamingThe…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Keeping Online Reviews Honest
In the CACM: Some useful suggestions and statistics." ... As commerce increasingly moves online, consumers worldwide are relying more and more on online reviews to help them make decisions about products to buy and businesses…
From Gödel's Lost Letter and P=NP
Alexander Grothendieck 1928–2014
Creating vast beautiful mansions from the becoming of nothing L’espace d’un homme film source Alexander Grothendieck, who signed his works in French “Alexandre” but otherwise kept the spelling of his German-Jewish heritage, passed…
From BLOG@CACM
Lessons from Winnie the Pooh: Sustainable Cyberinfrastructure
The longitudinal value of research data often accrues to disciplines other than those where it was created. We need a new model that judiciously balances investment between the "next big thing" and sustainable cyberinfrastructure…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Handsets and Clouds
Good questions. Will The Smartphone Become Obsolete? ... A look at how cloud technology may change the future of mobile handsets. ... In the current mobile manufacturing competition, device makers strive to give users a distinct…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Can Retail Tech Save Stores
In Cisco Blog: A number of familiar technology areas we worked in. " .... It’s no surprise retailers are pulling out the stops to get shoppers into stores. E-commerce has been eating into brick-and-mortar sales for years,…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Mining a Global New Products Database
For food and beverage, mined to produce an infographic on sweetener indifference. " ... Research firm Mintel recently analyzed its Global New Products Database (GNPD) to further understand the landscape of consumer perceptions…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Kids Programming Toys
In Engadget: An internet of toys? The idea of specially designed, kid oriented technical toys has been around for some time, most notable is Lego Mindstorms. Still inclined to think that its best for kids to use systems that…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Thinking Causality in Science and Statistics
I have been looking back to understand how AI has changed since the 90s, when we worked with rule based expert systems. One book that addresses some of the changes is Judea Pearl's: Causality: Models, Reasoning and Inference…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Service Innovation Revisited
Repeating the below introduction, giving a talk to them next week, more to follow about that. I am further struck how much this has to do with cognitive/advisory tasks. It is all about service: Performing tasks in time withISSP…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
CSEdWeek activities December 8-14, 2014
Blatantly stolen from the CSTA announcement mailing list.
We want to hear from all CS teachers! We are calling on YOU to participate in CSEdWeek activities December 8-14, 2014, and to let us know what you are doing to celebrate…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Alan Turing Year and now the Movie
" ... June 23, 2012, was the Centenary of Alan Turing’s birth in London. During his relatively brief life, Turing made a unique impact on the history of computing, computer science, artificial intelligence, developmental biology…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Watson Academic Perspective
From Jim Spohrer of the Cognitive Systems Institute: " ... Check out this presentation by Prof. Jim Hendler (RPI) entitled "Watson: An Academic Perspective" ... ". The group also just started a speaker series,more on that…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Intel Edison Chip
In CNet:"Intel meets its 'makers,' with chips for DIY set and the firms they'll found (Q&A)The next wave of consumer electronics could come from the maker movement and indie developers. Intel's Edward Ross wants to make the company's…
From Schneier on Security
Friday Squid Blogging: The Story of Inventing the SQUID
The interesting story of how engineers at Ford Motor Co. invented the superconducting quantum interference device, or SQUID. As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven't…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Edge on AI
On the Edge: A conversation with Jaron Lanier on the Myth of AI. Can or will a recommendation engine fool us into thinking it has real content? Is that the promise of AI? No, but he makes some good points about being vigilant…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Google includes Flu Trend Data
Interesting. Perhaps an admission that these kinds of patterns cannot be derived this way. Recall we were also involved in a related project, which looked at retail pharma sales to predict bioterrorism. " ... Finding that aggregate…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Naturally Intelligent Interaction
Recently received, The BabyX piece at the link is very interesting. " ... One of my gigs is commercial licensing advisor to Auckland UniServices working with Dr. Mark Sagar Director of The Laboratory for Animate Technologies…
From Schneier on Security
The Return of Crypto Export Controls?
Last month, for the first time since US export restrictions on cryptography were relaxed two decades ago, the US government has fined a company for exporting crypto software without a license. News article. No one knows what…
From Apophenia
Heads Up: Upcoming Parental Leave
If you’ve seen me waddle onto stage lately, you’ve probably guessed that I’m either growing a baby or an alien. I’m hoping for the former, although contemporary imaging technologies still do make me wonder. If all goes well,…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Kroger Smart Shelf
In Smartbrief: An idea that combines electronic shelf labels and small shelf edge displays. Saw this demonstrated by NCR some years ago.Kroger tests smart shelf technologyKroger has launched a test of smart shelf technology…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Popular Slideshare Presentations on Data Mining
In KDNuggets: A list of the most popular Slideshare presentations on data mining. Slideshare can be a nice way to get an overview of a method, or even basic training for the self-motivated, or filling in your own understanding…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Kawsaki Thoughts on Innovation
Gartner promotes Guy Kawasaki's top ten tips for innovation, given at a recent conference. Not bad, easily digested, OK as top level possibilities for consideration. But also, really and basically: trite. Each of these things…