Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
November 2019
From Schneier on Security
Security Vulnerabilities in Android Firmware
Researchers have discovered and revealed 146 vulnerabilities in various incarnations of Android smartphone firmware. The vulnerabilities were found by scanning the phones of 29 different Android makers, and each is unique to…
From insideHPC
HPE and Cray Unveil HPC and AI Solutions Optimized for the Exascale Era
Today HPE announced it will deliver the industry’s most comprehensive HPC and AI portfolio for the exascale era, which is characterized by explosive data growth and new converged workloads such as HPC, AI, and analytics. "The…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Cortana Continues its Dive
More indications that Microsoft does not want to play directly in this consumer space.
Microsoft is killing off its Cortana app for iOS and Android in January
It may live on in the US app stores
By Tom Warren in the Verge
Microsoft…
From Computational Complexity
Fields used to be closer together than they are now. Good? Bad?
There was a retired software Eng professor that I had heard two very non-controversial rumors about:
1) He got his PhD in Numerical Analysis
2) He got his PhD in Compiler Optimization.
So I asked him which was true.
The answer…
From insideHPC
Intel Unveils New GPU Architecture and oneAPI Software Stack for HPC and AI
Today at SC19, Intel unveiled its new GPU architecture optimized for HPC and AI as well as an ambitious new software initiative called oneAPI that represents a paradigm shift from today’s single-architecture, single-vendor programming…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Measuring Intelligence
A considerable look at the question, 64 pages. Not necessarily technical but philosophical at times. Requires some knowledge of how the problem is being addressed in the press and academics now. Reading now.
The Measure of…
From The Eponymous Pickle
BioAcoustic Signatures
Very novel approach. Repeatable and low error rate?
The Bioacoustic Signatures of Our Bodies Can Reveal Our Identities
IEEE Spectrum By Michelle Hampson
Researchers at the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Unity Simulation
We actively used simulation in the enterprise for this kind of simulation. Not necessarily just in 3D simulations, but in any case where simulation could be used to proof models and solutions. There seems to be ways to do low…
From The Eponymous Pickle
McKinsey: Where AI is Being Used
In the recent article in McKinsey:
AI Adoption Advances, but Foundational Barriers Remain
Survey respondents report the rapid adoption of AI and expect only a minimal effect on head count. Yet few companies have in place the foundational…
From insideHPC
Slidecast: Dell EMC Using Neural Networks to “Read Minds”
In this slidecast, Luke Wilson from Dell EMC describes a case study with McGill University using neural networks to read minds. "If you want to build a better neural network, there is no better model than the human brain. In
…
From insideHPC
Podcast: SC19 Student Cluster Competition Preview
In this podcast, the Radio Free HPC team catches up with Jessi Lanum, a veteran of the SC19 Student Cluster Competition, for an insider peek on what it’s like to compete for cluster competition glory. "For the few of you who
…
From insideHPC
Météo-France to Boost Weather Forecasting Capabilities with Atos Supercomputer
Today Atos announced a new four-year contract with French national meteorological service, Météo-France, to supply two supercomputers based on its latest BullSequana XH2000 technology. "We’re really excited to be working again…
From insideHPC
Video: TNG50 cosmic simulation depicts formation of a single massive galaxy
"This cosmic simulation was made possible by the Hazel Hen supercomputer in Stuttgart, where 16,000 cores worked together for more than a year – the longest and most resource-intensive simulation to date. The simulation itself…
From Daniel Lemire's Blog
Science and Technology links (November 16th 2019)
We have new technology to do genetic engineering on human beings (CRISPR). In a small clinical trial, the researchers tested it on live human subjects and found it to be safe. Girls and boys have a similar intelligence according…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Via KDNuggets: 10 Free Books on AI
Via the always interesting KDNuggets. Which we often pored long ago for information about developments in 'Knowledge Discovery', before the term changed to something sexier.
10 Free Must-read Books on A (good descriptions…
From insideHPC
Tackling Turbulence on the Summit Supercomputer
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have achieved world record performance on the Summit supercomputer using a new algorithm for turbulence simulation. "The team identified the most time-intensive parts of a base…
From insideHPC
Job of the Week: HPC Systems Administrator at Washington State University
Washington State University is seeking an HPC Systems Administrator in our Job of the Week. "The Center for Institutional Research Computing at Washington State University seeks exceptional applicants for the position of High…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Nestle and Carrefour Track Baby Milk
Another tracking and safety identification example.
Nestle, Carrefour Extend Blockchain Tracking Effort to Baby Milk By Daniel Palmer in Coindesk
Nothing is more important to new parents than the safety of their infants, and
Following…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Laser Pointers Can Hack Your Voice Assistant
Troublesome, but does require visual line of sight. Could the assistant detect the kind of energy being received and reject a transduced signal?
Laser pointer could hack your voice-controlled virtual assistant
by Nicole Casal…
From The Eponymous Pickle
IBM Wants to Change Weather Forecasting
Wondered Where IBM was Taking their big Weather Investment. I note that American Airlines is testing some of this.
IBM hopes to change weather forecasting around the globe in CNBC
a model offering high resolution forecasts globally…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Censorship Evasion
Basically fooling the censors. Is this breakable?
AI System Evolves to Evade Internet Censorship
University of Maryland College of Computer, Mathematical, & Natural Sciences
University of Maryland scientists led development
…
From Schneier on Security
Friday Squid Blogging: Planctotuethis Squid
Neat video, and an impressive-looking squid. I can't figure out how long it is. As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven't covered. Read my blog posting guidelines…
From ACM-W supporting, celebrating and advocating for Women in Computing
ACM-W Connections–November 2019
Welcome from the ACM-W Chair Several times over the past three years, I have mentioned ACM/ACM-W’s participation in the Gender Gap in Science project (https://gender-gap-in-science.org/). This project had three major parts –…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Should Customers be Paid for their Data?
From a retail perspective, below the outline, more at the link
Should customers just be paid for their data? by Guest contributor
Wise Marketer Staff
In light of rising security failures, more calls are being heard for businesses…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Foundational Barriers to AI
Interesting ideas from surveys by McKinsey. About value of AI at scale. Foundational changes to make it work. I take it somewhat differently. This was the same way that earlier attempts at AI suffered in application.
AI…
From The Eponymous Pickle
AI and Loyalty Marketing
A non technical look at the idea, with expert opinion.
What does artificial intelligence mean for loyalty marketing? by Bill Hanifin with further expert opinion.
Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Digital Twins in Maintenance and Manufacturing
Not a new thing, but a new thing done this systematically. Like to see it also attached to general process and use AI pattern recognition and broader analytics to make plans for improvement. That's often done with maintenance…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Smart Speaker Stats
And much more stats at the link:
Amazon sold 10.4 million smart speakers in Q3 2019, three times more than Google’s 3.5 million devices in Voicebot.AI
Alibaba lead Baidu in smart speaker sales in China with 3.9 to 3.7 million
Amazon…
From Schneier on Security
TPM-Fail Attacks Against Cryptographic Coprocessors
Really interesting research: TPM-FAIL: TPM meets Timing and Lattice Attacks, by Daniel Moghimi, Berk Sunar, Thomas Eisenbarth, and Nadia Heninger. Abstract: Trusted Platform Module (TPM) serves as a hardware-based root of trust…
From insideHPC
Altair Teams with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure for HPC
"Altair and Oracle have teamed up to help customers quickly expand their engineering and high performance computing (HPC) capacity in Oracle's cloud. Altair HyperWorks Unlimited Virtual Appliance is a fully managed engineering…