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 The Eponymous Pickle
New Brain Recording Methods
In the Algamest: " .... Method of recording brain activity could lead to mind-reading devices, Stanford scientists say ... " What do we do with it and what protections will have to be built in?
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
Computer Science for Non-Majors
The following is a special contribution to this blog by Ran Libeskind-Hadas, R. Michael Shanahan Professor and Department Chair of Computer Science at Harvey Mudd College, currently on sabbatical at Massachusetts Institute of…
From Computational Complexity
Maryland looking for a Lecturer/Who teachers your intro courses?
My chairman, Samir Khuller, asked me to post our job posting for a lecturer to my blog, so I and doing it right now. I think he overestimates the power of this blog. At Univ of MD at College Park lecturers teach most sections…
From Schneier on Security
Who Should Store NSA Surveillance Data
One of the recommendations by the president's Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies on reforming the National Security Agency—No. 5, if you're counting—is that the government should not collect and store…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Interesting Links 17 February 2014
We’re having quite the winter here in New England this year. People in warm climates keep telling me about how warm it is there as if that would get me going. But I like the snow so I’m all good. I hope you are enjoying the weather…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Use of Alternative Business Intelligence Solutions
Correspondent Doug Lautzenheiser looks at alternative solutions for business intelligence and data visualization. The article includes a visualization of how a number of competitive BI tools are used. Indications are that Tableau…
From BLOG@CACM
Media Coverage of Analysis of AP CS 2013 Exam Results
Barbara Ericson does an annual analysis of AP CS exam results. Her 2013 analysis attracted significant media attention.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Strategies for Businesses Using Data Visualization
Specifically the article covers Small and Medium Sized Businesses. (SMBs) But the recommendations are good for any new and emerging technology. And a large business has probably dabbled here before, these are mostly about making…
From The Eponymous Pickle
On the Re-Dawn of AI
Atlantic takes a look at a new dawn of AI. See this blog for lots more on the topic. Always of interest here. Our enterprise was an early industrial pioneer of the science. With only partial success. Were we just a fewWalter…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Gladwell on Power
In Knowledge @ Wharton: Malcolm Gladwell interviewed on the advantages of disadvantages. " .... looks at what happens when ordinary people confront powerful opponents. He starts the book by dissecting the classic tale of David…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Keynote Speakers for CSTA Conference 2014
Well we now know who the keynote speakers will be for this summer’s Annual CSTA Conference. I have heard Michael Kölling before and he is a really good speaker. He has done a lot of work with teaching CS with various tools such…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Upending the Pharmacy Model
In Wired: Design thinking it says. More like back to the economics of labor costs. Drug companies may like it because will increase compliance in taking the prescription. " ... A startup pharmacy called PillPack hopes…
From The Eponymous Pickle
MIT Heads up Display Technology
Delivered through a transparent film. Could be used on eyeglasses. Competing with Google Glass? Includes a video. " ... Other heads-up display technologies have been developed, but MIT says the new technology has significant…
From Putting People First
The anthropology of globalization / The ethnography of finance
Keith Hart is Professor of Economic Anthropology at the London School of Economics and Political Science and Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Goldsmith’s, University of London. He has contributed to the concept of the informal…
From The Eponymous Pickle
IBM Speed Record for Big Data
Of Interest: Press release, more implications at the link:" ... IBM today announced that it has achieved a new technological advancement that will help improve Internet speeds to 200 - 400 Gigabits per second (Gb/s) at extremely…
From Schneier on Security
Friday Squid Blogging: Giant Squid TED Talk
As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven't covered.
From Schneier on Security
MONKEYCALENDAR: NSA Exploit of the Day
Today's item from the NSA's Tailored Access Operations (TAO) group implant catalog:
MONKEYCALENDAR (TS//SI//REL) MONKEYCALENDAR is a software implant for GSM (Global System for Mobile communication) subscriber identity module…From The Eponymous Pickle
Better Data on Online Education
In GigaOM: " .... Collecting student data digitally isn’t solely something for massive open online courses. Even university professors and their students can benefit from transforming the lecture experience into one designed…
From Schneier on Security
My Talk on the NSA
Earlier this month, I gave a talk about the NSA at MIT. The video is available.
ETA: The video doesn't display on some Firefox browsers. If you have trouble, try a different browser.
From The Eponymous Pickle
P&G Winning with Olympics Social Media Strategy
A look at how P&G succeeded in using social media at the Sochi Olympics. In USA Today. Mostly through preparing the field for competition: " ... . P&G is leaps and bounds beyond all corporate competitors, with more than 27…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Searching for Code Snippets–Good or Bad for Students?
This morning Rob Miles posted a link (C# Code Snippets on Demand) to a new site from Microsoft Research called Bing Code Search: C# code snippets on-demand. basically you enter a question “How do I …” and the site searches for…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
Call for Submissions – 8th Extreme Scaling Workshop: The Intersection of Big Data and Large-Scale Computing
The National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded Blue Waters and eXtreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) projects are hosting the 8th Extreme Scaling Workshop August 14-15, 2014, at the University of Colorado…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Intel as Operating System for Big Data
Intel wants to be the operating system for Big Data. Interesting thought. They had better understand the analytics of it. It is not just about the hardware. Or even data manipulation software. Have not looked at exactly what…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Loyalty Optimization with Bayesian Networks
Another interesting example of the use of Bayesian networks for data mining. via Stefan Conrady of Bayesia. Nice understandable draft tutorial. " ... Identifying Priorities for Maximizing Repurchase Intent ... This tutorial…
From The Eponymous Pickle
More Head Mounted Displays in Works
In CWorld: Based on supplier comments, this seems to be in the works. Is the future now wearables and head mounted, augmented reality style displays? And notably systems that will be able to quickly record what the operator…
From Daniel Lemire's Blog
Getting good performance in Go by rewriting parts in C?
Go is a new programming language invented by Google engineers. Apparently, it came about because they were tired to wait for their C++ code to compile. To run Go programs, you need to compile them. However, compilation is so…
From The Eponymous Pickle
IT Hiring Slowing
In ComputerWorld: By my own unscientific view as well, talking to several big hiring companies. Caused by continuing uncertainty about the economy, and thus unwillingness to make long term commitments on things like health care…
From Putting People First
anthropology + design: nicolas nova
Rachel Carmen Ceasar (@rceasara) is a doctoral candidate in the Joint Medical Anthropology Program at UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco (California, USA). She writes about the subjective and scientific stakes in exhuming mass…
From Schneier on Security
The Insecurity of Secret IT Systems
We now know a lot about the security of the Rapiscan 522 B x-ray system used to scan carry-on baggage in airports worldwide. Billy Rios, director of threat intelligence at Qualys, got himself one and analyzed it. And he presented…
From Putting People First
An ethnography of the Brixton Pound
Mario Campana (@mariocampana), a PhD student at City University London’s Cass Business School, researches the growing trend of local currencies – of which there are currently over 3000 around the world. He recently presented…