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 Putting People First
Fixing healthcare in New Zealand
There is a group of people that believe the New Zealand health care system could be designed better than it currently is. That group consists of those who have actually used the New Zealand health care system. In fact, it seems…
From Putting People First
Motorola research shows technology use is becoming age-neutral
The 2009 Media Engagement Barometer commissioned by Motorola
From The Eponymous Pickle
Bricklin Note Taker
Many of us that have been involved with personal computers since the beginning have a warm spot for Dan Bricklin. He invented the first PC spreadsheet package: Visicalc, which bridged the geek world to the world of the corporate…
From The Eponymous Pickle
FCC and the Set Top Box
In Slashdot: Regulating the set-top box: The cable companies require the use of their set top boxes to access their content. Will the FCC decide the regulate the details? I recall when Time-Warner swapped out their box and software…
From BLOG@CACM
Celebrating Computer Science Education Week
CSEdWeek is a joint effort led by ACM with the cooperation and deep involvement of the Computer Science Teachers Association, the Computing Research Association, the National Center for Women & Information Technology, the Anita…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Strategic Listening
Tom Peters weblog on strategic listening. I agree, but I have also seen the strong impulse in the enterprise to counsel new hires to speak rather than to listen and to most value those that always speak out. A balance has to…
From BLOG@CACM
The End of Freedom on Internet?
Recent news on media reveals a tendency in several countries: Internet censorship and more.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Traditional vs Online Coupons
Good overview piece on the efficacy and return on online versus traditional paper coupons.
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
Hill Tech Happenings, Week of December 7
December 9
Meeting: The Technical Guidelines Development Committee of the Elections Assistance Commission will meet. (continues December 10) 8:30 a.m., 100 Bureau Drive, Building 101, Gaithersburg, Maryland. (Also viewable …From Schneier on Security
Terrorists Targeting High-Profile Events
In an AP story on increased security at major football (the American variety) events, this sentence struck me:
"High-profile events are something that terrorist groups would love to interrupt somehow," said Anthony Mangione,…From Computational Complexity
Complexity Vidcast 3
Quick announcement: If you are a student who wants to go to SODA but doesn't have the funds, click here. I had forgotten we did this. Here's a video of my daughter Molly interviewing Bill and I about complexity our third Vidcast…
From Wild WebMink
links for 2009-12-07
The House of Lords debate uncovered the lack of accountability that has been caused by concentrating so many roles in a single department under Peter Mandelson. The Lords…
From Putting People First
Adopt a kW
This contribution is Camilla Masala, an Experientia collaborator, and is part of our background research for the Low2No project on creating an urban development with no CO2 impact through affecting behavioural change: The energy…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Brief History of Neuromarketing
A short paper on the history of neuromarketing, which attributes some of the early thoughts to Peter Drucker. Includes mention of P&G and Febreze brand.
From The Eponymous Pickle
RFID Passports
In CACM a privacy threat analysis of RFID enabled passports.-
From The Eponymous Pickle
Considering Invisibility
Long considered in the realm of science fiction. What you need to do is obvious. What is surprising to me is that we appear to slowly be approaching a solution. The implications? In ScienceNews:Invisibility uncloakedCloaking…
From My Biased Coin
Faculty Ratios
Perhaps the most basic breakdown one can make of a college faculty is into the categories Natural Sciences / Social Sciences / Humanities. (Yes, one could naturally think of "engineering" as a fourth category separate from "natural…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Smartphone Kills the Clock Radio
I have noticed this dynamic as well. I no longer use the clock radios in hotel rooms, just too messy to figure out each new one encountered. Can't trust them. So I use my IPhone. Fascinated by the replacement of technologies.…
From The Noisy Channel
Blogs I Read: Living La Vida Local
From The Eponymous Pickle
Google Multi-Language Dictionary
Largely un-publicized, the Google multi- language dictionary and word translation service. Includes basic definitions and the uses of words on the web. Very nicely done, I assume it is based on their translation services data…
From Putting People First
The dignity and courage of Donald Norman
There is true dignity in the continuous engagement of Donald Norman, the Nestor of the user experience community, as well as courage is his willingness to question some of his (and our) profound beliefs. In short, Don — in defiance…
From Putting People First
Bill Buxton, Martin Raymond & Anna Kirah presentations
Bill Buxton, Martin Raymond and Anna Kirah were some of the speakers at Imagine09, a conference organised by Microsoft Advertising on 28 October in London. Living in the age of turbulence Anna Kirah, partner, CPH Design (and…
From Wild WebMink
links for 2009-12-05
The detailed letter linked from this news release is well worth reading in full. It gives more insight into…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Fedex and SenseAware
The internet of things is a decade old concept that suggests all things can ultimately be tracked, understood and analyzed in their physical and temporal spaces by identifying them to the internet. Every item has its identifier…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Anchoring Irrational Decisions
On influencing subsequent decisions:Professor Ariely describes some experiments which demonstrated something he calls
From Schneier on Security
Friday Squid Blogging: Squid Showerhead
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
Google Books Narrows its Scope in Proposed Amended Settlement
The Google Books project, where the company scans books, indexes them, and makes either snippets, selections, or the whole work available online, has a long legal history. The nature of the project raises concerns over copyright…
From My Biased Coin
Retirement
From Wild WebMink
? Stuff That Matters
Link posting has been offline for a few days while I have been fighting with delicious & Roller trying to work out why they wouldn't make nice. In the end I created completely new posting jobs (a few times) and it now seems …
From Daniel Lemire's Blog
Job ad: Research Chair in Software and Knowledge Engineering
The University of Quebec at Montreal (UQAM) is looking for candidates to fill a level 2 (junior) Canada Research Chair in Software and Knowledge Engineering. You must be fluent in French.