Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
April 2013
From Putting People First
“CasaZera” opens, with Experientia smart meter design (incl. slideshow)
In a decommissioned industrial zone in Turin, a single bright yellow apartment stands out in the shell of an old factory. This is “CasaZera”, a sustainable living housing prototype, which was officially opened on the 18th April…
From Putting People First
Report: Survey of European schools on ICT in education
This study collected and benchmarked information from 31 European countries (EU27, HR, ICE, NO and TR) on the access, use, competence and attitudes of students and teachers regarding ICT in schools. ICT provision and use in European…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Interesting Links 23 April 2013
Yes I’m a day late with this post. It’s school vacation week in New Hampshire and I’ve had other things on my mind. These things happen. I have limited Internet access this week so there may or may not be a list next week. We…
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
Congressional Forum on Voting Accessibility
National Council on Disability’s Congressional Policy Forum on Voting Access “The Help America Vote Act Ten Years Later: Has the Law Accomplished Its Aim?” Tuesday, April 23, 2 – 4:30 p.m. Dirksen Senate Office Building – Room…
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
Senate Hearing on the Trans-Pacific Partnership
The Trans-Pacific Partnership: Opportunities and Challenges Senate Finance Committee Full Committee Hearing April 24, 10 a.m. Dirksen Senate Office Building – Room 215 Live webcast will be available. The Trans-Pacific Partnership…
From Computational Complexity
Oh, I remember/recorded/DVRed it well
You can now wear a device, Memoto that will take a picture every 30 seconds. Do you really have a Kodak Moment every 30 seconds? No, but this way when you do have one it will be captured (unless it happens at just the wrongGalaxy…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
In Memoriam: David Notkin
The CCC is sad to announce that David Notkin passed away this morning. He will be greatly missed as a contributor and friend by the CRA and CCC family. David Notkin was a world leader in software engineering, and an extraordinary…
From My Biased Coin
Guest Post by Mark Bun and Justin Thaler
p, li { white-space: pre-wrap; } p, li { white-space: pre-wrap; } p, li { white-space: pre-wrap; } Michael asked me and Mark to write a post on our paper "Dual Lower Bounds for Approximate Degree and Markov Bernstein Inequalities"…
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
Hill Tech Happenings, Week of April 22
April 24 Hearing: The Subcommittee on Research of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee will hold a hearing on computing and ‘big data.’ 10 a.m., 2318 Rayburn Building April 25 Markup: The Senate Judiciary Committee…
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
National Council on Disability – Public Forum on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Public Forum on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Tuesday, April 23, 9:30 – 10 a.m. Access Board Conference Room 1331 F Street, NW, Suite 800 78 Federal Register 20957 Tomorrow, the National Council…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Mckinsey & Company Documents in New Location
Always interesting. Now published in a new location. Lately about big data and related issues. They write: " ... We work with leading organizations across the private, public and social sectors. Our scale, scope, and knowledge…
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
Cyber Week Recap
Plenty of techies, carrying an array of digital devices and looking for power outlets, swarmed Capitol Hill last week for the so-called “cyber week” in the U.S. House of Representatives. To give you some idea of the number of…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Kroger Pilots In Aisle Checkout
A piece in Cincinnati.com about Kroger testing their 'Scan, Bag, Go' in aisle checkout system at local stores. Some good details. May require registration. Will make a trip to one to try it. We experimented with many forms…
From The Eponymous Pickle
New Brands and Innovation Seekers
Drugstore News reports on an IRI study, some useful numbers: " ... According to the 2012 IRi New Product Pacesetters report, nearly 1,900 brands of consumer packaged goods launched in multiple outlets in 2011 and 2012, with…
From The Female Perspective of Computer Science
Go Code Girl a Great Success!
On Saturday the University of Ottawa held its inaugural Go Code Girl event. I designed the workshop's curriculum and taught the English section for the day. I must say, it was a great success!We started the morning with a general…
From Putting People First
Low2No smart services workbook by Experientia
As part of Experientia’s involvement in the award winning Low2No project in Helsinki and in particular its strategy towards demand management and behavioral change, we are proud to announce that Dan Hill (former ARUP and Sitra…
From The Eponymous Pickle
P&G Redefining Value
In Adage: A piece on how P&G, Ford and Wendy's are redefining value. This may also be the time to better define the value involved so it can be readily inserted into both the internal and consumer directed value modeling and…
From The Eponymous Pickle
An App Enabled Innovation Future
A followup on the GE - Quirky open innovation collaboration. They hold a meeting on the App Enabled Future. To perform 'Wink Product Evaluations' with a number of innovators: " ... The Eval panel featured a number of special…
From The Eponymous Pickle
GE and Open Innovation
Working with Quirky ... " ... Last week GE and Quirky announced a new partnership where GE will make some of its library of patents available as part of Quirky’s new inspiration platform, allowing inventors to use some of its…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Data Debris
A term new to me. We re gathering more and more data. Yet more than half of all data will never have any value to the enterprise. But we don't yet know the identity of that half, and one of the ideas behind big data is to…
From The Eponymous Pickle
P&G's Global Building Boom
Excellent article in today's Cincinnati Enquirer. The company is adding factories at a record rate while cutting costs elsewhere. Includes employee data on 134 plants worldwide, what they make and how fast they have grown. "…
From Schneier on Security
About Police Shoot Outs and Spectators
Hopefully this advice is superfluous for my audience, but it's so well written it's worth reading nonetheless:
7. SO, the bottom line is this: If you are in a place where you hear steady, and sustained, and nearby (lets call…From The Eponymous Pickle
Bendable Screens
In a broader study of how interactive screens could be used, we looked at bendable screens to improve shopper interactions, using packaging and other modes of communication. The idea has been around for a long time, but hasReuters…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Alternative to Amazon and Wal-Mart
Hard to see how this would work ... selling things that Wal-Mart and Amazon do not. But Fab is an attempt. " ... "We’ll be pivoting towards a new model that we are not yet ready to reveal publicly," Goldberg wrote in his site…
From Schneier on Security
A Discussion of Redaction
From The Eponymous Pickle
Social Shopping
In GigaOm: A mobile strategy for social shopping. I took a short look at Modcloth some time ago. Worth taking another look. " ... what makes Modcloth unique is the way it’s continually married technology with fashion to build…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Embracing Wallowing in the Data
Michael Hurst has an interesting post: About his team's agile approach to complex data and the need to be 'wallowing in the data'. He is skeptical about the term, but I like its intent. One way to achieve a deep understanding…
From The Eponymous Pickle
HealthCare Data Secure in the Cloud
Conversations I have had on this topic indicate considerable fear of the cloud, especially in heavily regulated domains. Here some useful thoughts on the subject.
From Schneier on Security
The Boston Marathon Bomber Manhunt
I generally give the police a lot of tactical leeway in times like this. The very armed and very dangerous suspects warranted extraordinary treatment. They were perfectly capable of killing again, taking hostages, planting …
From The Eponymous Pickle
Google Glass to be Ad Free?
IN Technology Review: Suggests that Google Glass aims to provide an ad free environment. It is hard to believe that glass, or likely copycats, will not eventually contain ads. From the article, what an odd naive view, especially…