Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
April 2010
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Everything Is Changing in CS Education
There seems to be a lot of agreement that we need to change the way we teach computer science, especially at the pre-collegiate level. Not complete unanimity of course. Unanimous agreement is pretty much out of the question in…
From Schneier on Security
iPhone Secret Decoder Ring
It'll protect your secrets from your kid sister, unless she's smarter than that.
Looks cool, though.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Mastering Argument is Discovery
In CIOInsight, a good piece on mastering the art of argument. '... Disagreements happen, but respecting all opinions and engaging in argument can lead to innovation and progress, writes Kris Girrell, who offers three suggestions…
From Wild WebMink
? Two Lessons For Survival
Complexity can't be scaled back, sugar is a toxin, and three short links.
From Schneier on Security
DHS Cybersecurity Awareness Campaign Challenge
This is a little hokey, but better them than the NSA:
The National Cybersecurity Awareness Campaign Challenge Competition is designed to solicit ideas from industry and individuals alike on how best we can clearly and comprehensively…From Computational Complexity
SIGACT Social Networking
STOC conference and hotel registration now live. Early registration deadline is April 30th. Registration for Complexity and Electronic Commerce coming soon. You can now submit your papers to FOCS, deadline 11 PM Eastern on Wednesday…
From Putting People First
The impact of the Internet on institutions in the future
The latest Pew Research Center Internet & American Life Project report is out: “The Impact of the Internet on Institutions in the Future” surveys 895 tech experts on the way that technology will change institutions (government…
From Putting People First
Mobilizing markets
The Winter 2009 issue of MIT’s Innovations Journal is focused on “Mobilizing Markets.” All contents are available online. Prerequisite to Prosperity Why Africa’s Future Depends on Better Governance by Mohamed (Mo) Ibrahim Harnessing…
From Putting People First
Mobile-based livelihood services in Africa
“Mobile-based livelihood services in Africa: pilots and early deployments” is a new paper by Jonathan Donner, a researcher in the Technology for Emerging Markets Group at Microsoft Research India, The paper describes a collection…
From Putting People First
Co-creation: not just another focus group
To launch Twist, a new men’s fragrance in its global Axe brand, Unilever turned to a preapproved crowd of eager young amateurs for help. Venessa Wong reports in Business Week. “In July 2008, Unilever executives convened 16 regular…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Robotic Presentations
Richard James points me to Phil Presents, by Phil Waknell (ex-P&G, ex-HP). Which covers a number of topics, including robotic presentations. He now runs a company called Ideas on Stage.
From The Noisy Channel
Get Unvarnished!
Earlier this week, I read about Unvarnished on TechCrunch and was extremely curious about this “Yelp for LinkedIn” making a bold play in the online reputation space. My curiosity should be no surprise to folks who have read my…
From The Eponymous Pickle
RFID Journal News Roundup
We followed the technology of RFID for a number of years as it applied to retail on shelf and inventory applications. We tested many related ideas in the innovation centers. I still follow this technology and find that the…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
GENI Experimenters Workshop
Those of you who haven’t taken a look at the GENI project in the last year or two need to do so. The name is the same, but the project is totally different, and totally right-headed.
From Schneier on Security
Explosive Breast Implants -- Not an April Fool's Joke
Is MI5 playing a joke on us?
Female homicide bombers are being fitted with exploding breast implants which are almost impossible to detect, British spies have reportedly discovered.[...]
MI5 has also discovered that extremists…From Putting People First
Jan Chipchase (Nokia) guest blogging for CGAP
The title might be a bit cryptic for some readers, but Jan Chipchase is a well-known user researcher/anthropologist at Nokia. He spent a decade exploring the intersection of technology, people and culture for Nokia, and specializes…
From Computational Complexity
Lets Prove Something instead of proving that we can't prove something
We complexity theorists seem more concerned with proving that we can't prove things than with actually proving things!!!! There have been two workshop on Barriers - reasons we cannot prove things (See here and here ). In a prior…
From Daniel Lemire's Blog
External-Memory Sorting in Java
Sometimes, you want to sort large file without first loading them into memory. The solution is to use External Sorting. Typically, you divide the files into small blocks, sort each block in RAM, and then merge the result. Many…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Meaning Driven Brands
A look at the meaning of brands in Design Mind.-
From Wild WebMink
? It Can Get Worse
Yes, #debill is even worse than you thought. Plus OggCamp, great geek t-shirts, new national park and more.
From Schneier on Security
Fifth Annual Movie-Plot Threat Contest
Once upon a time, men and women throughout the land lived in fear. This caused them to do foolish things that made them feel better temporarily, but didn't make them any safer. Gradually, some people became less fearful, and…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Resources for Teaching Binary Numbers
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From BLOG@CACM
Time to Rethink Computer Science Education: The (Social) Web Changes Everything!
Let's rethink computer science education in face of Web 1.0, Web 2.0, and beyond. The Internet have changed everything we know about how computing is done. It's time to revamp the entire curriculum to make it more relevant to…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Wolfram Alpha Mobile Site Drops Price
It is reported in ReadWriteWeb: ' ... Once upon a time, Wolfram Alpha tried to charge $50 for its iPhone app while, at the same time, offering a free iPhone-optimized mobile site. Then, the company shut down the mobile site of…
From Computer Science Teachers Association
As computer science educators, we think of ourselves as computer savvy. We are knowledgeable about social networks and online communities. I'll wager that a good many of us have accounts on Facebook (even if we do not actively…