Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
April 2011
From Schneier on Security
Pinpointing a Computer to Within 690 Meters
This is impressive, and scary:
Every computer connected to the web has an internet protocol (IP) address, but there is no simple way to map this to a physical location. The current best system can be out by as much as 35 kilometres…From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Movies for Computer Science Students
I had some email yesterday with a link to a post titled "The Top 10 Movies for Computer Science Students." It is an interesting list and I have seen most of these movies. And I have enjoyed several of them. I
From Michael Nielsen
Open science
The following talk gives a short introduction to open science, and an explanation of why I believe it’s so important for our society. The talk is intended for a general audience, and was given at the very stimulating and enjoyable…
From The Eponymous Pickle
The Data Struts It's Stuff
Data Struts It's Stuff in the NY Times. Nice article, the content of which many of us know already, yet it is good to see in a more popular space. I agree to the following, which states the goal well: "... They are computer…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Human Error Identification
In the latest issue of IEEE Intelligent Systems: Automatically analyzing Facial-Feature Movement to Identify Human Errors, by Maria Jabon, Sun Jao Ahn and Jeremy Bailenson of Stanford University. Using facial feature …
From Wild WebMink
? Distracting Reading
The end of OpenID? Very interesting analysis on LWN suggesting that OpenID’s big problem is it leaves users in too much control and thus is no use to web sites who insist on quietly gathering and exploiting your identity information…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
CCC to Hold First-Ever Leadership in Science Policy Institute
As part of its mission to help nurture a next generation of computing research leaders, the
From Schneier on Security
Detecting Cheaters
Our brains are specially designed to deal with cheating in social exchanges. The evolutionary psychology explanation is that we evolved brain heuristics for the social problems that our prehistoric ancestors had to deal with…
From The Eponymous Pickle
On the Art of Listening Online
In Fastcompany: Quick thoughts on the art of listening online. Makes sense.
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Computer Science Curricula In Flux
I don
From The Noisy Channel
Guest Blog: Data 2.0 Conference Report
Note: This post was written by Scott Nicholson, a Senior Data Scientist at LinkedIn. Scott is data and modeling geek with a passion for startups, product and user experience. His work at LinkedIn focuses on analyzing and improving…
From Computational Complexity
The Mathematics of Huging my great Niece Jordan
I have already blogged about (trying to) teach me Nephew Jason math here and my Great Nephew Justin math here. Now its my Great Niece Jordan's turn.
I was at a dinner with relatives including my 12 year old great niece Jordan…From Putting People First
Apps to keep America from getting fatter
Tom Dair, CEO of Smart Design, speaks with Dave Cronin, Smart Design
From Putting People First
Book: Sentient City
Sentient City: Ubiquitous Computing, Architecture, and the Future of Urban Space Edited by Mark Shepard Paperback, 200 pages, 2011 MIT Press in copublication with the Architectural League of New York (Amazon link) Abstract Our…
From Putting People First
Experientia presentation at Fuorisalone, Milan
Irene Cassarino, Experientia’s senior open innovation expert, will be speaking on Designing for Sustainable Change at the Hub Milan on Friday, as part of the Hub’s Inspirational Conversations series at this year’s Fuorisalone…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Redprairie and Flowcasting
I see that my old colleague Andre Martin now delivers his novel supply chain analysis system from the company Redprairie. You can find out much more about that here. Was very impressed by its simplicity and usefulness for…
From Schneier on Security
Optical Stun Ray
It's been patented; no idea if it actually works.
...newly patented device can render an assailant helpless with a brief flash of high-intensity light. It works by overloading the neural networks connected to the retina, saturating…From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Imagine Cup Stories
Today I am on my way out to Redmond WA for the US Final of the Imagine Cup. Here I will see 22 teams who have advanced over hundreds of other teams to win the invitation to come to Microsoft HQ and compete in this final round…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Data Integrity Cornerstone of BI
Mark Montgomery of KYield writes in the Enterprise CIO Forum: Data Integrity: The Cornerstone for BI in the Decision Process When studying methods of decision making in organizations, mature professionals with an objective posture…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Semantic Search
Lexis/Nexis introduces semantic search.
From Computer Science Teachers Association
Message from Dave Burkhart
Hello Everyone
As one of the candidates for the CSTA Board of Directors, I am writing to ask for your support in this election.
When someone is first elected to the CSTA Board of Directors, she or he might think that what we…From Computational Complexity
Kanellakis and Grace Murray Hopper Prizes
The ACM announced several award winners today. Two of particular interest to the theory community. Craig Gentry, recipient of the Grace Murray Hopper Award for his breakthrough construction of a fully homomorphic encryption…
From My Biased Coin
Harry Lewis Asking Tough Questions (Again)
Harry Lewis is asking Harvard to confront the issue of some of Harvard's professors being involved in money-making opportunities, like working for Libyan dictators, that are embarassing to the university. Boston Globe article…
From The Eponymous Pickle
NFC Payment System Test
Engadget outlines the test of an NFC phone payment system in Salt Lake in 2012. Another step towards phone-as-wallet. The big rollers are now involved. " ... Isis, a collaborative venture between AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon and…
From Schneier on Security
Counterterrorism Security Cost-Benefit Analysis
"Terror, Security, and Money: Balancing the Risks, Benefits, and Costs of Homeland Security," by John Mueller and Mark Stewart:
Abstract:The cumulative increase in expenditures on US domestic homeland security over the decade…From Putting People First
Interview with Stefana Broadbent on our increasingly mixed personal and work lives (in French)
Hubert Guillaud of the French online magazine InternetActu interviewed Stefana Broadbent, anthropologist and digital ethnographer, who in the last 20 years has been investigating the evolution of digital activities both at home…
From Putting People First
Africa to be first post-PC continent
A convergence of historical circumstance and an increase in innovative mobile applications may make Africa the first post-PC continent. Low investment in wired telecommunication infrastructure has driven increased mobile penetration…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Cryptography is Hard
I love stories like this - http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/22/ba_jihadist_trial_sentencing/ Briefly stated a group of would be terrorists rejected all suggestions that they use professionally developed cryptography and went…
From Putting People First
About unnatural user research and limits to usability
Two new articles on UX Matters: User research Is unnatural (but that
From Wild WebMink
? The Sentinel Principle
If we try to define what an “open standard” is, we’ll probably find the definition being gamed by well-funded corporate interests within a short time. But what if there was another way to get an indication that a standard was…