Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
December 2013
From The Eponymous Pickle
Smartphone Penetration
The global smartphone penetration continues to increase. Up to 60% by 2019 says this report.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Use Cases for iBeacon and Estimote
In Wired: I continue my look at the use of in store location and communication. Something we thought a lot about in the innovation lab, but never had the technology to make it work. Is it ready now? " 4 Reasons Why Apple’s…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
NIH announces funding opportunities for the BRAIN Initiative
On April 2, 2013, President Obama launched the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative to revolutionize our understanding of the human mind and uncover new ways to treat, prevent, and …
From The Eponymous Pickle
Financial Uses for Quantum Computing
We were asked early on: What is the value for quantum computing? Here a look in particular at the financial industry. With mention of our contact in quantum computing: D-Wave. " ... Are Banks Ready for Quantum Computing? .…
From The Eponymous Pickle
On the Evolution of ETL
In Information Management: Extract, Transfer and Load (ETL) is a key process for the use of information to make it ready for analytics. It's changing to make it ready for new volumes and volatility. What does this look like…
From Computer Science Teachers Association
Code Red: Where are the Women in Computing?
Editor's Note: This blog piece from our partners at Change the Equation details their recent report on the continued underrepresentation of women in computing, an issue of deep importance to CSTA as we strive to engage all students…
From Putting People First
Videos online of the Service Design Global Conference
Nearly all videos of the recent Service Design Global Conference in Cardiff, Wales (19-20 November 2013) are now online: DAY 1 Making Data Useful The Service Design Imperative [30:37] Nick Leon – Royal College of Art Bio and…
From Daniel Lemire's Blog
The day I subscribed to a dozen porn sites…
This morning, I noticed some odd charges on my Royal Bank VISA card. They were attributed to sites such as videosupport1.com, bngvsupport.com, paysupport1.com, bdpayhelp.com. I called up my bank (Royal Bank). They gave me the…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
MOOCs For Teacher Training–Not a Fan
Mark Guzdial shared some news about Google’s CS4HS program on Facebook today.
Google's program to fund high school teacher professional development in CS will no longer fund face-to-face workshops. All on-line ONLY. Wish wehttps…From The Eponymous Pickle
Big Data: Risks and Implications
Review of: Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work, and Think by Viktor Mayer-Schonberger, and Kenneth Cukier. Strongly recommended, for reading through or browsing. Part III.I continue my look at this…
From Putting People First
Dan Hill: Can public enterprises adopt the popular dynamics of private enterprises?
In his latest Dezeen column, Dan Hill examines what services like the Uber taxi app mean for cities and asks whether the designers of public services can learn something from them. “So this [i.e. Uber], as with Amazon (and Starbucks…
From Schneier on Security
Security Vulnerabilities of Legacy Code
An interesting research paper documents a "honeymoon effect" when it comes to software and vulnerabilities: attackers are more likely to find vulnerabilities in older and more familiar code. It's a few years old, but I haven't…
From Putting People First
American-centric UI is leveling tech culture — and design diversity
An article with a title like this cannot but intrigue me (being a non-American leading a non-USA company) – and even more so after I found out that it was written by an American working in an American company. In a very frank…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Age of Outsourcing
In CIOInsight: Good piece on the topic, which I have not covered in a while. Good approach, done well. " ... The biggest business driver of outsourcing has always been cost savings. And while cost continues to influence…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
CCC Council Member Mark Hill to Deliver Distinguished Lecture at NSF
On Wednesday, December 18, 2013 at 10 am EST, Computing Community Consortium (CCC) Council Member Mark Hill will be delivering a Distinguished Lecture at the National Science Foundation (NSF). Hill is the Gene M. Amdahl Professor…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Self Study Machine Learning
An interesting guide to self-study machine learning. This introduced me to a number of resources I had not heard of. Good to browse. I still think that there are some basic statistical methods that should be understood…
From Computer Science Teachers Association
Remembering Amazing Grace
In 2009, after significant advocacy work on the part of CSTA and ACM, the United States Congress passed a resolution (H. RES. 558) sponsored by Congressmen Vernon Ehlers (R-MI) and Jared Polis (D-CO), designating the first week…
From Computational Complexity
Analogs between Quantum Computng and Parallelism
(Jon Katz wanted me to mention this: A wise man once noted that there are fewer quantum algorithms than thereare quantum-algorithms textbooks! But there is still a lot of interest inquantum computation from cademia,government…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Facebook and Wal-Mart on Facial Recognition
In Adage: Piece on the interests of retailers and the social media on facial recognition. Not very surprising, given recent research in this domain. " ... Facebook, Walmart to Help Write Rules On Facial Recognition Technology…
From The Female Perspective of Computer Science
Faculty of Science Excellence in Teaching Award
I'm really proud and honoured to have recently received one of our Faculty of Science Excellence in Teaching Awards! I got it last week at the faculty Christmas lunch. Here's a photo from the event and the info posted to the…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Survey of Consumer Goods IT Strategy
In GroceryHeadquarters: Survey shows there are lots of opportunities, but spotty adoption:" ... Based on extensive surveys of 27 leading CPG companies, the report looks at how much money companies are spending on IT and how aggressively…
From The Eponymous Pickle
CPG Cuts Jobs
Large CPG continues to cut marketing and other jobs. My own personal observation is that I have seen many of my former colleagues now out on the job market.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Dynamic Pricing at Wal-Mart, etc.
MJ Perry compares dynamic pricing at Wal-Mart, Amazon and Delta Airlines. Intriquing view, which takes us back to how markets operate in contexts. Prices are volatile, but trending. Points to the online global price intelligence…
From Schneier on Security
Attacking Online Poker Players
This story is about how at least two professional online poker players had their hotel rooms broken into and their computers infected with malware.
I agree with the conclusion:
So, what's the moral of the story? If you have…From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Interesting Links 16 December 2013
I tweeted a lot last week. I mean a real lot. Made it hard to sift through for the stuff with more lasting value than just all the great Computer Science Education Week and Hour of Code stuff I retweeted. But I did it. Hope you…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
11 Things Blog Meme
Doug Peterson tagged me in this blogging meme. This isn’t normally the sort of thing that I do on this blog but it’s Doug Peterson! Doug is one of the nicest people I know. Plus as Doug points out “if it helps the cause ofSo…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Analytics in the Real World Delivery Cycle
Much agree with the general premise below. But I take it a step forward structurally. I have given several talks in the last thirty days which have emphasized how analytics in general needs to be connected dynamically with…
From The Eponymous Pickle
3D Printed Artificial Life Art
Via colleague Mark Lacy, more art than life, but I like the complexity that is shown here. Includes video. " ... Theo Jansen's Strandbeests have found a way to multiply by injecting their digital DNA directly into the Shapeways…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Nielsen Consumer Neuroscience
Nielsen on it Neuroscience offerings. This was pointed out to me by a colleague a few weeks ago. Shows how this is taken seriously today. The whole site is worth reading closely " ... Our patented technologies and proprietary…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Another Look at Mirror Neurons
Perhaps the most written about topic in popular neuroscience a few years ago: Mirror Neurons. It was a very popular concept that we have built in empathy systems to help us in group understanding. Wired examines the hype. …