Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
March 2011
From The Eponymous Pickle
Remote Food
3D Printers creating food. It appears there is still much to do here before this becomes practical or very appetizing. Yet the direction is clear, digitally formulate food and send it to a remote location where it can be manufactured…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
NSF DD Describes His Experience
Keith Marzullo, a Division Director within the NSF’s CISE Directorate, recently sat down to describe his experiences working at the National Science Foundation. “As a Division Director of [Computer and Network Systems] — CNS…
From Schneier on Security
Criminals Stealing Cars by Calling Tow Trucks
It's a clever hack, but an old problem: the authentication in these sorts of normal operations isn't good enough to prevent abuse.
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Free Pluralsight On-demand Training via Dreamspark
Microsoft is constantly adding software and other benefits to the DreamSparak program. The latest of these benefits is the opportunity for students to get access to Pluralsight online training. This is professional trainingDreamspark…
From Wild WebMink
? FSF Leadership Change
I got a call on Friday evening from Peter Brown, the Executive Director of the Free Software Foundation (FSF). It’s been my great pleasure to know and work with Peter over the last five years or so. While I was at Sun I liaised…
From The Eponymous Pickle
The Rise of the Service Robot
The past and future of the US Robotics Industry in a good BusinessWeek article. " .... U.S. robotic companies have regained their strength, but face tough Asian and European rivals in the service robot market ... " . I had…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Webinar on Top Neuro-Ranked Superbowl Ads
This webinar looks to be very interesting, especially for someone interested in the practical application of neuromarketing. It will be held tomorrow March 18 at 2 PM EST, Here is the complete invitation, with lots more information…
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
USACM Supports Defense Against FY
USACM signed a letter sent to the Senate leadership last week urging them to resist the deep cuts to science agency budgets approved recently by the House of Representatives. The cuts would be for the remainder of the current…
From The Female Perspective of Computer Science
Introducing Gram's House, Our Imagine Cup 2011 Game for Girls and Computer Science
Computer science is still a gender-imbalanced field. Outreach efforts by various non-profits and companies like Microsoft seem to make an impact on this issue. Inspired by this, we designed Gram
From Computer Science Teachers Association
Inspiration
I was inspired recently by the keynote speaker at a Computer Using Educators (CUE) conference that I attended near the end of first semester. The speaker discussed Visual Literacy and how its use can help students become more…
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
Hill Tech Happenings, Week of March 7
March 8
Meeting:
The President's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology will meet 10 a.m., Marriott Metro Center, 775 12th Street NW, Washington, D.C. (webcast also available)
March 9
Meeting:
The Data Privacy and…From The Eponymous Pickle
Carr on Memory and Self
Nick Carr excerpts a chapter of his book: The Shallows, on the concept of aiding memory. Is memory being killed by all our digital memory aids and resources? " ... I looked into what we know (and don't know) about human memory…
From The Eponymous Pickle
iPad Providing Comfort in Hospitals
A good example of how an easy to use pad can provide comfort and address boredom in hospitals and nursing homes. Laptops and Smartphones can work there too, but the simplicity of manipulation that a pad provides, and a relatively…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
CS Community Weighing in on PostDocs
“A funding ecosphere
From Daniel Lemire's Blog
Jobless recovery, the luddite fallacy and the 4-hour workweek
The luddite fallacy says that as innovation destroys jobs, just as many new jobs are created. The logic is that increased productivity causes prices to fall, which then boosts demand which then creates new jobs. While locally…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Disney Advertising Lab
Roger Dooley on the Disney Advertising and Media Lab. Surprised they were not doing this earlier. " .. As much as we hear about neuro-cinema and neuro-enhanced movies, it seems that Disney
From Computational Complexity
Three Questions that I think Watson would have trouble with
Here are two questions that were on Jeopardy (the shows slogan: Watch "Jeopardy!", Alex Trebek's fun TV quiz game show!) that I do not think Watson would have gotten right. I have added a third that I also think Watson would …
From The Eponymous Pickle
Science of Business
Evocative piece by always interesting Steve Miller in Information Management:" ... A recent MIT article is making blogger/analyst Steve Miller question whether there might be a nuanced difference between the science of business…
From Wild WebMink
links for 2011-03-07
Commitment to
From Schneier on Security
Recently Declassified NSA History Document
"American Cryptography During the Cold War 1945-1989; Book IV: Cryptologic Rebirth 1981-1989." Document was first declassified in 2009. Here are some newly declassified pages.
From Putting People First
Understanding society
Understanding Society is a major
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Interesting Links 7 March 2011
Are you going to be at SIGCSE in Dallas this week? I get in on Tuesday and with be there until Saturday. I hope that if you are there you will stop by the Microsoft booth and say hello. Attendees will (assuming all goes as planned)…
From The Noisy Channel
A Practical Rant about Software Patents
Given the controversial content of this post, I’d like to remind readers upfront that this post, like all of the contents of this blog, represents my personal opinions, and in particular does not represent the opinions of my…
From Wild WebMink
? Crowdsourced is not Open Source
I’ve heard quite a few conversations that treat open source interchangeably with crowdsourcing. Despite sounding the same they are very different, most importantly in the ownership of the outcome. Open source describes a pragmatic…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Tobii Prototype Eye Controlled Laptop
The well known eye-tracking company Tobii is a likely origin to this kind of innovation. I would like to understand how stable the control of a laptop can be using eye tracking. Tobii unveils the world
From The Eponymous Pickle
Disarming Internet Trolls
A cognitive therapy method to disarming Internet Trolls. A method that differs from the old approach of not feeding them.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Ted Nelson and Content Syndication
We followed the activities and writing of Ted Nelson since the early days of hyperlinks. Met him at a meeting at the Insititute for the Future. More on his latest activities: " .... Mr Nelson's current focus is on making it…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Too Much Information, A Brain activity study
Some interesting questions to ask, from an article in Newsweek:I Can
From The Eponymous Pickle
Literally True
A lovely look at the meaning and uses of the term 'literally' in the Language Log. As usual, the LL is not pedantic as you might think, looking at language as a dynamic and changing force. There is rarely a clear right and…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Dream. Build. Play. is back for 2011
Honestly if you are a student you REALLY want to enter the Imagine Cup game development competition. Really you do. But if you missed some of the deadlines (tsk tsk tsk) or you are looking for another game development competition …