Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
February 2014
From Schneier on Security
DDoSing a Cell Phone Network
Interesting research:
Abstract: The HLR/AuC is considered to be one of the most important network elements of a 3G network. It can serve up to five million subscribers and at least one transaction with HLR/AuC is required for…From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Code Hunt
Gamification of learning is quite the big deal these days. While there is not unanimous agreement and unambiguous evidence that it works in all cases there is some evidence that it works for some students. Code Hunt is a coding…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Visualizing a Conditional Probability
This is a visual simulation of conditional probability. The description at the link is quite technical and mathematical, but the visual simulation there provides a good example of what is happening. I like these kinds ofvia…
From The Eponymous Pickle
The Value of Business Simulation
If you could only understand how your business would operate before making changes? All business is based on prediction. You predict you will make money under future contexts. Yet all prediction is inaccurate. We know that…
From Schneier on Security
EBSR: NSA Exploit of the Day
Today's item from the NSA's Tailored Access Operations (TAO) group implant catalog:
EBSR(S//SI//REL) Multi-purpose, Pico class, tri-band active GSM base station with internal 802.11/GPS/handset capability.
(S//SI//REL) Operational…From The Eponymous Pickle
Destroying Online Reputation
An area we looked at in the early days of the Wikipedia. Now becoming considerably more sophisticated. From The Intercept: A number of documents extracted to show how governments in infiltrate the Internet to influence reputation…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Rise of Robotics
Ray Kurzweil on the rise of robotics. With much about the need for artificial intelligence to support them.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Trends in Visualization
In Computing Now: Trends in visualization. Including but beyond what would usually call data visualization. It is good to make the distinction. " ... For this issue of Computing Now, we gathered a set of articles that exemplifies…
From Apophenia
want a signed copy of “It’s Complicated”?
Today is the official publication date of “It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens”. While many folks have received their pre-orders already, this is the date in which all U.S. book stores that promised to carry…
From Schneier on Security
Breaking Up the NSA
The NSA has become too big and too powerful. What was supposed to be a single agency with a dual mission -- protecting the security of U.S. communications and eavesdropping on the communications of our enemies -- has become unbalanced…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Which Comes First–Loops or Arrays?
One of the classing problems in teaching a first course in computer programming is what order to teach various concepts. So many things are interdependent on each other that sometimes you wish you should teach everything at once…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Generating Serious Games Scenarios with Crowdsourcing
In MIT Technology Review: As summary of a technical paper, which is pointed to. This is the kind of application we used to call 'serious games', but now is more often called gamification. Currently involved in such an effort…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Business Intelligence Quadrant
Nice overview of the current state of business intelligence and descriptive analytics. Includes an overview with the Gartner Quadrant. Also a complete supporting report. Quite complete in what it describes. Provided in a…
From Computer Science Teachers Association
What Isaac Asimov Said About Computer Science Education in 2014
After attending the World's Fair in 1964, Isaac Asimov wrote about the world 50 years in the future, 2014. Fun to read, but I was especially interested in what he wrote about the state of computer science education in 2014. According…
From Wild WebMink
“Screw Good Practice, How Bad Can It BE?”
Prescient.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Packaging Drives Purchases
From Kraft: Fairly obvious, packaging should act a signboard that will stop customers in their tracks. A few years ago we looked at approaches like electro luminescence, but never applied them directly. " ... "Advertising…
From Schneier on Security
CYCLONE Hx9: NSA Exploit of the Day
Today's item from the NSA's Tailored Access Operations (TAO) group implant catalog:
CYCLONE Hx9 (S//SI//FVEY) EGSM (900MGz) macro-class Network-In-a-Box (NIB) system. Uses the existing Typhon GUI and supports the full Typhon…From Wild WebMink
Hope in Federations
Originally posted on Meshed Insights & Knowledge:Facebook’s acquisition of WhatsApp gains them almost half a billion users worth of telephone data. We can fully expect them to share their user information once joined, adding…
From The Eponymous Pickle
John Curran
I see that John Curran, who we worked with extensively in our innovation centers and with retail innovations using advanced display technologies, has unexpectedly passed away. I mentioned him a number of times in this blog. …
From The Eponymous Pickle
IDEO and Fun in Innovation
From Innovation Excellence via Linkedin: A look at IDEO, asking why the fun has not spread. Worked with IDEO a number of times, including our work at the Innovation Centers and GYM. Always interesting collaborations, often…
From Schneier on Security
New Results in Software Obfuscation
Amit Sahai and others have some new results in software obfuscation. The papers are here. An over-the top Wired.com story on the research is here. And Matthew Green has a great blog post explaining what's real and what's hype…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Interesting Links 24 February 2014
I’m on vacation! February break in New Hampshire this week. I’m trying to take a break from the computer and the Internet as well – except for catching up on grading. We’ll see how I do. I may or many not have an interestingI…
From Putting People First
Will your clothing spy on you?
In his lecture “The Ethicist’s and the Lawyer’s New Clothes: The Law and Ethics of Smart Clothes,” I. Glenn Cohen, Professor of Law at the Harvard Law School, warns of the potential for wearable technology to annihilate privacy…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
CCC Seeking Nominations for New Council Members
The CCC is charged with catalyzing and empowering the U.S. computing research community to articulate and advance major research directions for the field. To do so, the CCC needs truly visionary leaders — people with great ideas…
From Computational Complexity
When is a paper public? When is anything public?
A while back I had a paper in an intermediary stage. The version posted to my Ramsey Theory Course Website was not final. Is the paper public? I didn't think about it much but I didn't intend it to be since it was not done yet…
From The Eponymous Pickle
My Updated One Page Bio
I have updated my one page bio, it continues after the paragraphs below. Feel free to contact me about consulting, strategic and tactical. Franz A. DillFranz Dill’s academic background is in astrophysics and mathematics, with…
From The Eponymous Pickle
End of Willow Garage
A robotics research center we followed for some time has apparently ended operation, with employees going on to a number of startups. More detail in Bloomberg Business Week. They acted as a west coast center of robotics research…
From The Eponymous Pickle
On the Growth of Online Grocery
In the newly discovered Retail Remedy Blog. Where they write: " ... We offer support and advice to all types of retailers from £bn+ multi nationals to high growth start-ups. Our team has a wealth of hands-on experience covering…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Best and Brightest and Wall Street
On the best and brightest being attracted to Wall Street, or not. Have followed the repeating Wall Street 'rocket scientist' phenomenon for years and Its mostly been relating hype and luck. How about today? " ... So…
From The Eponymous Pickle
AutoDesk and 3D Printing
Used to commonly work with Autodesk. They were the first company to provide PC based drawing management. More mentions in this blog about Autodesk. Later we worked with them to do advanced image interaction. Now they are…