Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
December 2009
From Schneier on Security
Telcoms Security
A very good four-part series: "Risk and Security in the Telecommunications Industry."
From Wild WebMink
links for 2009-12-16
"Exposing politically controversial topics for public debate is vital for democracy." -- Well said, I hope we'll see more corporate…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Solar Goose: Solar Lighting Concepts
I attended the first Earth Day in Philadelphia and have always been a big proponent of (voluntarily) saving energy. My colleague Tom Chorman was head of finance for new product development at P&G and he now runs a start-up called…
From Putting People First
As we consume Apples and BlackBerrys, natural world beats a sensory retreat
Technology has drawn us into our interconnected webs, in the office, on the street, on the park bench, to the point that we exist virtually everywhere except in the physical world, argues Adrian Higgins in the Washington Post…
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
Administration Finally Releases Open Government Initiative
After a few months of waiting, the Obama Administration released its Open Government Initiative last week. The initiative was just the start of what appears to be several steps from this administration to increase the amount…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Comparing Real Prices
Michigan economics prof Mark Perry compares prices for a stereo system and for a state of the art TV. In 1958 and in 2009 in hours of wages. Insightful.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Rise of Asia
Astute colleague Wim Van de Velde points me to this TEDIndia talk where Hans Rosling uses Gapminder charts to point out the rise of Asia. ' ... Hans Rosling was a young guest student in India when he first realized that Asia…
From Computational Complexity
Mild Request for Guest Posters.
(Deadline to submit a paper to CCC is Dec 15. Depending on when you read this that could be today or in the past.)
As you all know from Lance's last post, Lance is taking a Blog Sabbatical. I will try to have 4-posts-a-week…
From Schneier on Security
The U.S. Civil Rights Movement as an Insurgency
This is interesting:
Most Americans fail to appreciate that the Civil Rights movement was about the overthrow of an entrenched political order in each of the Southern states, that the segregationists who controlled this order…From Wild WebMink
? Discrimination?
I can't help thinking that we're over-keen to identify minorities and cater to their inability to cope with the real world. Everyone gets discriminated…
From The Noisy Channel
LinkedIn Faceted Search Now Out Of Beta
LinkedIn started rolling out a beta version of faceted people search back in July. Now it’s officially out of beta, as announced on their blog. I’ve re-posted the video above in case you missed it in July.
From My Biased Coin
LiveBlogging NSDI PC Meeting
My post today is live-blogging the NSDI PC Meeting -- with a delay for security purposes, of course.My take on the reviews (and from past experience) is that the NSDI PC is a very, very tough committee. People are looking for…
From The Eponymous Pickle
AnalyticBridge Newsletter
Once again, let me pass along the current AnalyticBridge newsletter, a good, socially enabled site on predictive analytics methods, meetings and other topics by Vincent Granville.
From Computational Complexity
CCC deadline Dec 15, 2009! (not factorial)
Submissions to 25th CCC are due TOMORROW! (Actually it could be TOMORROW, TODAY, or IN THE PAST depending on when you read this.) Should you submit?
If you have a paper all set to go, with proofs complete, that is in scope…From BLOG@CACM
The Rise of the External Brain
From an entirely unexpected source, we begin to realize the dream of an external brain that supplements our knowledge, wisdom, and memories.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Telecommuting Teams
I was an early user of telecommuting and helped manage teams that used these concepts from the beginning. It's still a contentious concept within the enterprise ... those that use it often feel left out, managers don't feel hooked…
From Computer Science Teachers Association
Computing Our Children's Future
Reposted from the Huffington Post
To the age-old question -- "What do you want to do when you grow up?" -- children today give many modern answers: "Help feed hungry families." "Prevent and cure diseases." "Find sources of renewable…From The Eponymous Pickle
Package Goods Online Spend
Good AdAge piece on the increasing use of online marketing in packaged goods.
From The Eponymous Pickle
What Matters Now
In Seth Godin's blog: What Matters Now, links to a free ebook from a number of authors, just started to browse. Provocative and worth looking at, agreeing and disagreeing with.
From Schneier on Security
U.S./Russia Cyber Arms Control Talks
Now this interesting:
The United States has begun talks with Russia and a United Nations arms control committee about strengthening Internet security and limiting military use of cyberspace.[...]
The Russians have held that…From Wild WebMink
links for 2009-12-14
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Another vote against being a frequent traveller.
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Now Is It Facebook
From The Eponymous PickleIs Knowledge and Analysis Overrated?
From the Harvard Business Org Blogs. by ' ... Jeffrey M. Stibel is an entrepreneur, a brain scientist, and the author of Wired for Thought: How the Brain Is Shaping the Future of the Internet. He studied business and brain.…
From Putting People FirstAnthropology Matters
The latest issue of Anthropology Matters contains an interesting article on the use of mobile phones in Africa: Being cool or being good: researching mobile phones in Mozambique Julie Soleil Archambault Drawing on my fieldwork…
From The Eponymous PickleThe Architecture for Nano Assembly
In the CACM: Blueprints for Self-Assembly "Self-assembly, by which atoms, molecules, or other nanoscale components spontaneously organize into something useful, sounds so simple. Just mix a few chemicals and wait for a new plastic…
From The Eponymous PickleAmerican Information Diet
A graphic describing the US information diet at 34 gigabytes per day. -
From Schneier on SecurityMe Speaking on "The Future of Privacy"
Video of the talk I gave to the Open Right Group last week in London.
From Wild WebMinklinks for 2009-12-13
From The Noisy ChannelKaraoke: A Hotbed for Micro-IR?
I’m a karaoke junkie and proud to admit it. But one of the challenges I regularly face, especially when I go to an unfamiliar karaoke joint, is finding a song I know well enough to sing. I’m sure I’m not the only person who encounters…
From The Eponymous PickleGifts and The Knowledge Problem
Of interest, though its not as deep as I first thought: ' ... The problem of buying good presents for other people, even people you supposedly know well, illustrates that old familiar Hayekian concept, the knowledge problem.…
From Putting People FirstPresentations of the Behavior, Energy and Climate Change conference
Presentations are now available of last month’s Behavior, Energy & Climate Change Conference, which took place in Washington, DC. The BECC conference focused on understanding the behavior and decision making of individuals and…