Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
March 2010
From The Eponymous Pickle
Avoiding the Hype Virus
Most readers of this blog are early adopters of technology. In the past we would have had to go to a computer store or mail order something to try it out. Now within a minute or so I can try most anything and have it operating…
From Schneier on Security
Wikibooks Cryptography Textbook
Over at Wikibooks, they're trying to write an open source cryptography textbook.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Has the Spam War Been Won?
From the CACM Blog. I still certainly still see lots of Spam.-
From The Eponymous Pickle
Google Opens Apps Marketplace
Another very innovative idea out of Google: . " ... Google launched on Tuesday evening Google Apps Marketplace, providing a venue for third-party, cloud-based applications to supplement Google's own online applications. The program…
From Computational Complexity
Theorems that you simply don't believe
There are some theorems that are surprising. I've already blogged on that (I can't seem to find the link). However, there are some theorems that some people simply do not believe. I mean people who understand the proofs and still…
From Schneier on Security
Wanted: Trust Detector
It's good to dream:
IARPA's five-year plan aims to design experiments that can measure trust with high certainty -- a tricky proposition for a psychological study. Developing such experimental protocols could prove very useful…From Putting People First
Elegant technologies for complex lives
The Socio-Digital Systems (SDS) group of Microsoft Research aims to use an understanding of human values to help to change the technological landscape in the 21st century. “Beyond making us all more productive and efficient…
From Putting People First
BBC on the future of the internet
Twenty years after the emergence of the world wide web, Rory Cellan-Jones of the BBC World Service’s Discovery series looks at the science driving its third decade. Web 3.0 promises a world where people and objects are seamlessly…
From Putting People First
IBM
Among cell-phone users in developed countries, IBM is betting the market with the biggest growth potential is…people over the age of 65. Fast Company reports. IBM’s two-year research program, which also involves the National…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
NRC Prize for Cyberdeterrence
At the request of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the National Research Council (NRC) is undertaking a project entitled
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
A CACM “Viewpoints” column by Cameron Wilson (ACM) and Peter Harsha (CRA), inspired by the Transition Team white papers commissioned by the Computing Community Consortium. “While the history of computing-related contributions…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
Computing Architecture Workshop
In the area of Computing Architectures there are some well known discontinuity-inducing trends staring us in the face. The entire computing community is planning for multi-core processors, a necessary order of magnitude(s) increase…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Turning on a Paradigm
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From BLOG@CACM
SIGCSE 2010: Day One
A CS conference is only as good as its selection of keynote speeches, and SIGCSE 2010 offers a formidable cast of keynotes, including a Nobel Prize winner.
From The Eponymous Pickle
CG Direct Selling to the Consumer
In StoreFrontBackTalk, a discussion of manufacturers direct selling to consumers online. This has been avoided for a long time in big CG to avoid antagonizing the very big retail channels that make up such a large percentage…
From Schneier on Security
Nose Biometrics
Since they are hard to conceal, the study says, noses would work well for identification in covert surveillance.
The researchers say noses have been overlooked in the growing field of biometrics, studies into ways of…
From My Biased Coin
A Conflict Question
I was recently asked the following question:
Suppose you're the PC chair, and someone who has submitted a paper asks you NOT to have the paper reviewed by a specific person on the PC. Do you honor that request?It's an interesting…
From Putting People First
Mindspace: Influencing behaviour through public policy
New insights from science and behaviour change could lead to significantly improved outcomes, and at a lower cost, than the way many conventional policy tools are used, argues the UK Government. MINDSPACE: Influencing behaviour…
From Computational Complexity
Turing Award and Waterman Award and the variety of our field
As Lance tweeted:
From Putting People First
Nokia designers on their work
Izwan Ismail, a journalist at Malaysia’s New Strait Times newspaper, talked to Nokia
From The Eponymous Pickle
Bring Your Laptop to Work
An idea discussed at Procter & Gamble for years, but always shied away from due to security and data ownership issues. Driven in part by complaints from new-hires that the company issue laptops were not the latest in capabilities…
From Putting People First
Are we about to witness a digital service revolution?
Introducing new digital services in cities promises the change the way citzens live in cities around the world. “Only a few years ago, digital services were about bandwidth, wireless protocols, and emerging standards for mobile…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Staffing for Intelligence
A good CW report on the general use of analytics in the enterprise. Its the use data, models and intelligence to find better solutions. It is a domain that I have been involved in my entire carrer, in government and in the…
From The Female Perspective of Computer Science
Paper Reviews In Class
Our Open Source Engineering class is a little different from most here at Carleton's School of Computer Science. The professor wants to give students an opportunity to practice their communication skills not only via the standard…
From Schneier on Security
The Limits of Identity Cards
Good legal paper on the limits of identity cards: Stephen Mason and Nick Bohm, "Identity and its Verification," in Computer Law & Security Review, Volume 26, Number 1, Jan 2010.
Those faced with the problem of how to verify…From The Eponymous Pickle
Competitor to Google Voice
In Readwriteweb. A free system called Phonebooth has emerged to be a VOIP phone service similar to Google Voice. Likely interesting to small companies and startups. Includes call routing feature and a local phone number. I still…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Procter and HP Ten Years Later
Some interesting observations on the outsourcing, looking back ten years to the present. I have known many peoeple that were part of this and were ultimately influenced by it. Could be used as a case study for outsourcing.
From The Eponymous Pickle
New Age of Online Grocery Shopping
Good piece in Ars Technica that covers the current state of online grocery shopping and the current players in this space. ' ... Shopping for groceries and household items via the Internet is making a huge comeback, however,.…
From Schneier on Security
Marc Rotenberg on Google's Italian Privacy Case
Interesting commentary:
I don't think this is really a case about ISP liability at all. It is a case about the use of a person's image, without their consent, that generates commercial value for someone else. That is the essence…From My Biased Coin
Congratulations to Chuck Thacker
The news has hit the wires -- Chuck Thacker is this year's Turing Award winner.I had the great pleasure of getting to know Chuck while I worked at DEC SRC. He's a character, a tinkerer, and a great and curious mind. I think…