Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
November 2016
From insideHPC
Why Intel Omni-Path is Growing Fast on the TOP500
In this video from SC16, Joe Yaworsky describes how Intel Omni Path is gaining traction on the TOP500. As the interconnect for the Intel Scalable System Framework, Omni-Path is focused on delivering the best possible application…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Using IBM Watson in Business
This oversimplifies the task of using a capability like IBM/Watson, but is still a good introduction. Non technical, suggestive as to the possibilities. Also an excellent list of companies using Watson. Pointers to more detail…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Blockchain for Tracking the Supply Chain
More depth on this effort. Reliable tracking and trransparency creates potential data for many kinds of analytics. And simply knowing where things are to recall them.
Walmart and IBM test blockchain for custom supply chain…
From Schneier on Security
Headphones as Microphones
Surprising no one who has been following this sort of thing, headphones can be used as microphones....
From Phys.org Technology News
Police worried they lack powers to probe phone involvement in crashes: new study
Police officers are worried they lack the right powers and resources to properly investigate whether a mobile phone was being used by a driver at the time of a crash, a new study has found.
From Computational Complexity
Music Theory for Theorists
I fully completed and passed my first MOOC, Fundamentals of Music Theory, a Coursera course out of the University of Edinburgh. I played the tuba in college and grad school but really just practiced scales and (usually) hit the…
From Putting People First
Where’s Wally? In Search of Citizen Perspectives on the Smart City
Where’s Wally? In Search of Citizen Perspectives on the Smart City by Vanessa Thomas, Ding Wang and Louise Mullagh of the HighWire Centre for Doctoral Training of Lancaster University and Nick Dunn of ImaginationLancaster Sustainability…
From Phys.org Technology News
Most expensive destroyer in Navy history breaks down
The most expensive destroyer ever built for the Navy suffered an engineering problem in the Panama Canal and had to be towed to port.
From Schneier on Security
Government Propaganda on Social Media
Vice Motherboard has an interesting article about governments using social-media platforms for propaganda and surveillance, and the companies that are supporting this....
From The Eponymous Pickle
Machine Learning Performance Improvement
Nicely done, a number of simple improvement ideas, which are usually the best ...
Machine Learning Performance Improvement Cheat Sheet
by Jason Brownlee on November 23, 2016 in Machine Learning Process
32 Tips, Tricks and Hacks
The…
From insideHPC
Hewlett Packard Enterprise Gains Momentum with SGI Acquisition at SC16
In this video from SC16, Bill Mannel from Hewlett Packard Enterprise describes how the company is gaining momentum in the HPC space as the leading vendor on the TOP500. With the recent acquisition of SGI, HPE is moving forward…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Predicting Demographics with Twitter
Always an interesting challenge. Note the mention of Mechanical Turk, a method we examined.
In Techrepublic:
" ... Big data can reveal inaccurate stereotypes on Twitter, according to UPenn study ... What can you guess about a…
From The Eponymous Pickle
When Computers Become Smarter than Humans
Knowledge@Wharton looks at the often posed question. The answer is, they already are. First they did math better, then searched better, connected to people better, played chess better, stored data better ... But these
What…
From The Female Perspective of Computer Science
GHC16 / What Are Tech Tools Doing That The Best Diversity Initiatives Aren't?
How can software help companies recruit and hire more diversely? Erica Joy Baker, Laura I. Gomez, Stephanie Lampkin, Liz Kofman, and Aline Lerner tackled this question on a panel at Grace Hopper this year. Most came from the
Here…
From insideHPC
Podcast: Combining Cryo-electron Microscopy with Supercomputer Simulation
Scientists have taken the closest look yet at molecule-sized machinery called the human preinitiation complex. It basically opens up DNA so that genes can be copied and turned into proteins. The science team formed from Northwestern…
From Schneier on Security
"Security for the High-Risk User"
Interesting paper. John Scott-Railton on securing the high-risk user....
From insideHPC
First-phase Bull sequana Supercomputer at CEA is Number 55 on TOP500
"Atos is incredibly proud to see the concrete results of the Tera1000 project," said Philippe Vannier, CTO in the Atos Group. "Today we are taking a major step on the road towards exaflops. Undoubtedly, the interconnect technologies…
From insideHPC
Rescale Adds HPC and AI Capabilities via the IBM Cloud
"Most of the IT innovation that is happening today is with a cloud-first model,” said Joris Poort, co-founder and CEO of Rescale. “We’re building a platform that can satisfy and accelerate the ideas of the world’s top scientists…
From insideHPC
Video: One Stop Systems Takes GPU Density to the Next Level at SC16
In this video from SC16, Nate Parada from One Stop Systems describes the company's new High Density Compute Accelerator (HDCA) for Deep Learning. "The CA16000 High Density Compute Accelerator with sixteen NVIDIA Tesla GPU accelerators…
From insideHPC
High-Throughput Genomic Sequencing Workflow
A workflow to support genomic sequencing requires a collaborative effort between many research groups and a process from initial sampling to final analysis. Learn the 4 steps involved in pre-processing.
The post High-Throughput…
From Phys.org Technology News
Food data at your fingertips
EPFL is launching openfood.ch, a website that provides the public with data on more than 14,000 food products sold in Switzerland. The website's data set will be a real gold mine when it comes to developing applications and innovative…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Business Traffic in Real Time
We aimed to use public real-time webcam images to gauge traffic. Google maps can now provide some of that same type of data, perhaps to estimate demand of products and resource use. Can see this being very useful in combination…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Chatbots in Business
Not unlike digital assistants, but usually more primitive to date. Usually act in a conversational mode in an existing stream of interaction. Use AI, natural language anlysis and pattern analysis to link to knowledge in a given…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
Upcoming December Workshops in DC
The Internet of Things: Impacting Scientific Data and Information Flows Agenda Register Here When: Friday, December 9, 2016, 9:00AM-4:45PM EST Where: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering & Medicine Keck Center, 500 Fifth…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Process Innovation with Data in a Digital World
Have always thought in terms of process. By doing that you can think not only what a process produces in terms of value, but also in terms of data that can be used for further examination and improvement of how things get done…
From Computational Complexity
Should I tell HS students that if they do well I'll write them a letter OR do I want them to ...
I teach a 3-week intense course for HS students on cryptography during the summer. Some of the students are very good, interested, and working hard. I also give out some extra credit assignments that some of them do. For such…
From The Eponymous Pickle
AllRecipes Launches 60K Recipes for Amazon Echo
Allrecipes launches a 60K recipe file skill for the Amazon Echo, and other Alexa driven systems and devices. Great idea. Certainly useful for potential hands-free activity of cooking. I have yet to look at it.
But it brings…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Table Delivery from Kiosk Orders at McD's
The test is now over, and rollout is starting to all 14K US stores. Benefits seen were lower perceived wait times, higher average order value, about $1 per order. More and better interaction with employees. No mention…
From insideHPC
ASC17 Student Competitors to Gain Access to #1 Sunway TaihuLight Supercomputer
Today the Asia Supercomputer Community announced that the world's fastest supercomputer, Sunway TaihuLight, will be used by students in the upcoming 2017 ASC Student Supercomputer Challenge. "The teams will design and build a…
From insideHPC
Exascale Computing Project Gains Momentum Entering Year 2
In this video from SC16, Paul Messina and Stephen Lee describe the mission, status, and recent milestones of the Exascale Computing Project. Now entering its second year, the ECP recently announced that it has selected four co…