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 Schneier on Security
Remotely Hijacking an Aircraft
There is a lot of buzz on the the Internet about a talk at the Hack-in-the Box conference by Hugo Teso, who claims he can hack in to remotely control an airplane's avionics. He even wrote an Android app to do it.
I honestly…From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
The Book Reimagined by Video Game Makers
VIDYA BOOKS: the book, as reimagined by video game makers is a Kickstarter project that is being spearheaded by someone I met while I was at Microsoft. Joe Booth and I have had several conversations about the intersection of …
From The Eponymous Pickle
IBM and Flash Memory
IBM reports that it will invest $1 Billion in Flash memory development. In particular, this can point to fast analytics solutions for Big Data Applications. " ... "The economics and performance of flash are at a point where…
From Wild WebMink
OSI License Clinic
In a new departure, the Open Source Initiative will hold a small open source license clinic oriented towards US Federal agencies. The event will be at the Library of Congress on May 9, 2013 starting at 9am. Places are limited…
From Putting People First
#wethedata
Right now, data may be what we intentionally share, or what is gathered about us – the product of surveillance and tracking. We are the customer, but our data are the product. How do we balance our anxiety around data with its…
From Putting People First
Insights from network data analysis that yield field observations
As part of Ethnomining, the April 2013 Ethnographymatters edition on combining qualitative and quantitative data, edited by Nicolas Nova, Fabien Girardin describes his work with networked/sensor data at the Louvre Museum in Paris…
From Putting People First
Bitcoin is just the poster currency for a growing movement of alternative tender
Scott Smith of futures research lab Changeist writes in Quartz about the long history of alternative currencies, and criticizes Bitcoin because “they set too high a bar for the average person”: “There have been various alternative…
From Putting People First
Designing better experiences through data
Access to big data is growing at an incredible pace. With increased information from various sources available on smartphones and tablets, many companies now realize winning services will be those that transform big data elements…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Technologies of Touch
From a recent TED: A look at the technology of Touch. We did a number of experiments with touch interaction with products. The attempt was to include other senses in retail interaction. Smell, Sound and Touch were experimented…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Effective Data Visualization
In Greenplum: Procter's now classic data visualization dashboards compared to other approaches like Infographic style producer Periscopic. I have problems with both. Periscopic is very slick, but from them I get the impression…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Data Science
In the NYT quoting the HBR: On the sexiness of data science. Its still structure, logic and quantitative analytics. Hardly sexy to most. Well described. " ... The field has been spawned by the enormous amounts of data…
From Gödel's Lost Letter and P=NP
Measures Are Better
The Littlewood conjecture—another drive you crazy conjecture John Littlewood is the latter half of famous duo of Hardy-Littlewood. I have discussed him before here and only wish to point out that he was, on his own, one of the…
From updated sporadically at best
On Choosing Between Good Schools
I have been talking to many people recently about choosing schools, both for undergraduate and graduate education. Here is a compilation and elaboration of what I have been saying. It is important to read the last point so you…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
Reminder: Call for White Papers on Mid-Scale Infrastructure Investments for Computing Research
As we’ve previously blogged, The Computing Community Consortium (CCC) is turning to the Computing Research community for their input on the needs and potential payoff for further investment in mid-scale infrastructure, investments…
From Apophenia
why I’m quitting Mendeley (and why my employer has nothing to do with it)
Earlier this week, Mendeley was bought by Elsevier. I posted the announcement on Twitter to state that I would be quitting Mendeley. This tweet sparked a conversation between me and the head of academic outreach at Mendeley (William…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
CISE AD Issues Letter to the Community on FY14 Budget
Yesterday, the President submitted his FY14 budget request to Congress. This request included an 8.4% increase over 2012 levels for NSF, with a 9.8% increase in funding over 2012 for the Computer & Information Science & Engineering…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Resources For Teaching Binary Numbers
Several years ago I wrote a post on my old blog with resources for teaching Binary. Since I no longer have access to that site I can’t update it with more links. So I decided it was time to take a copy, update it and repost it…
From The Eponymous Pickle
P&G and Shopper Marketing
In Adage: P&G regains top slot in shopper marketing. Based on a survey of agencies. No direct indication of innovation.
From Wild WebMink
Thinking Of Starting A Foundation?
Reblogged from Meshed Insights & Knowledge: Open source projects are increasingly opting to form an independent entity – a “Foundation” – to form the core of their community, rather than relying on goodwill or corporate oversight…
From Schneier on Security
Thieves Use Video Camera to Stake Out Properties
If the police can use cameras, so can the burglars.
From Computational Complexity
Technology and Jobs
Entertainment Weekly reported last month on the bankruptcy of the special effects company Rhythm and Hues and the troubled industry. I remarked five years ago that the special effects industry lost its ability to surprise us.…
From Computer Science Teachers Association
Computer Science as a Teaching Strategy
Recently one of my Facebook friends, Rebecca Dovi, computer science teacher in Virginia, posted an article from Education News, Julia Steiny: Promote Algebra by Teaching Basic Software Programming. The article was a reaction…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
Freeman Hrabowski at TED: 4 pillars of college success in science
Freeman Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland Baltimore County delivered an inspirational TED talk on the importance of STEM education. Click here to view the TED talk video: the four pilars of college success in…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Office on Tablets
An Infoworld article about the suggested schedule for MS office on iOS and Android. I have talked to several clients recently who have been awaiting this. Will a suggested late 2014 release date be too late?
From Schneier on Security
Security Externalities and DDOS Attacks
Ed Felten has a really good blog post about the externalities that the recent Spamhaus DDOS attack exploited:
The attackers' goal was to flood Spamhaus or its network providers with Internet traffic, to overwhelm their capacity…From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
SIGCT Recommendations for ISTE 2013
The annual ISTE conference is not known as a hot bed of opportunities for computer science teachers. Things look some what better this year though with 13 activities listed in the Computer Science strand (up from only 4 last…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Time Series Back Again
An article suggests that Time Series are Back. Not they have ever been gone. Used them every day in the enterprise. Yet as we gather more time stamped data its natural to think abut how to use it. Using it to detect periodicities…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Boredom Drives Creativity
In Fastcompany. Is boredom a key part of creativity? And do our new devices keep us from getting bored and thus stifle our creativity? I suggest that boredom is not the impulse for everyone, and depending on the focus of your…
From BLOG@CACM
Two Examples of HCI Research
What does HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) research involve? In this post, I present two examples of modern HCI research.
From Schneier on Security
Last Battle of Midway Cryptanalyst
The last cryptanalyst at the Battle of Midway, Rear Admiral Donald "Mac" Showers, USN-Ret, passed away 19 October 2012. His interment at Arlington National Cemetery at Arlington, Virginia, will be Monday, April 15, at 3:00.public…