Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
April 2015
From Schneier on Security
Hacking Airplanes
Imagine this: A terrorist hacks into a commercial airplane from the ground, takes over the controls from the pilots and flies the plane into the ground. It sounds like the plot of some "Die Hard" reboot, but it's actually one…
From The Eponymous Pickle
R Clustering and Data Visualization Example
Nice technical piece on advanced use of clustering and data visualization. Gives you an example of the kinds of choices being made by data scientists, and their application to a real problem: " ... R showcases several useful…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Promoting Grocer Loyalty
In Progressive Grocer: Some of the classic concerns of retailers. Note the mention of fuel incentives, a popular recent loyalty component. " ... Five Ways Grocers Can Stop Consumers from Visiting Multiple Retailers ... Tapping…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
A Research Agenda for Intelligent Systems Will Result in Fundamental New Capabilities for Understanding the Earth System
The following blog post is contributed by Dr. Yolanda Gil from the Information Sciences Institute, University of Southern California and Dr. Suzanne A Pierce from the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) and Jackson School…
From insideHPC
Benefits of RackCDU D2C for High Performance Computing
From bio-engineering and climate studies to big data and high frequency trading, HPC is playing an even greater role in today’s society. Without the power of HPC, the complex analysis and data driven decisions that are made …
From insideHPC
Supercomputing Sudden Firestorms
Over at NICS, Scott Gibson writes that researchers are using supercomputers to model the spread of wildfires.
The post Supercomputing Sudden Firestorms appeared first on insideHPC.
From Schneier on Security
Hacker Detained by FBI after Tweeting about Airplane Software Vulnerabilities
This is troubling: Chris Roberts was detained by FBI agents on Wednesday as he was deplaning his United flight, which had just flown from Denver to Syracuse, New York. While on board the flight, he tweeted a joke about taking…
From insideHPC
Bright Partners with CVIS for Benelux HPC
Today Bright Computing announced a partnership with CVIS, a Dutch-based company that delivers innovative HPC solutions to organizations in the Benelux region.
The post Bright Partners with CVIS for Benelux HPC appeared firstinsideHPC…From The Eponymous Pickle
Company Culture
A misleading term, the HBR article says. Ill defined, I agree, but it does define how companies are different, and similar. " ... The problem with the term “culture” is that it tends to essentialize groups: it simplistically…
From insideHPC
The High Performance Data Analytics Market
As data analytics becomes more mission critical, hardware and software need to evolve to handle both historical data (batch) and real time streaming data. This combined ability to manage different types of data is critical for…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Trust and Computing
I’ve been thinking a lot about the issue of trust in computing lately. It’s actually something I started thinking about almost 40 years ago when I had my first job developing software. At one point in our design work a couple…
From The Eponymous Pickle
CGT on Amazon Dash
In CGT: Makes the argument that Amazon Dash creates an edge for major CPG brands. Still awaiting the invitation to see one:" ... According to AdAge, Amazon hasn't said exactly how the model would work, but Dash could easily…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Business Reliability with System Modeler
I see that Wofram is starting to put out their system modeling software. Here nicely described for reliability problems. A number of times we used this basic concept for calibrating some business process models (BPM). Reliability…
From My Biased Coin
My (Positive) Apple Retail Repair Experience
I switched to Apple machines several years ago, and have been very happy with them generally.One convenience is there is an Apple store in the mall about 10 minutes from my home, so when things go wrong, I know where to go. …
From The Eponymous Pickle
Future Predicting Neurons
In Nature: Future predicting neurons. An odd idea, but poses an interesting thought. If we could tap the output of such a neuron, is it the prediction of what we would do under particular conditions? Is this akin to the fabled…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Teradata Rolls out Warehouse Appliance
New warehouse appliance that Teradata means to help with big data applications using virtualization. More data.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Update on Neuromarketing and Advertising
Have tracked the progress and evolution of neuromarketing for years. Saw some decrease in the hype last year. But this article takes another look. It is still being used by major marketers, usually in conjunction with other…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Mathematical Heart of Deep Learning
Technical piece in Pete Warden's blog. Nicely visualized. I was unaware of the term GEMM, but taking a look at the post, he explains it well. Mathematically it is how you multiply matrices. A pretty common thing in applied…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Machine Learning Education Opportunities
Have never seen a technical topic with so many online learning opportunities. DSC does a good job of summarizing some of the usefuk links in a short piece. Do remember that Machine Learning, for all but academic purposes, is…
From Schneier on Security
Counting the US Intelligence Community Leakers
It's getting hard to keep track of the US intelligence community leakers without a scorecard. So here's my attempt: Leaker #1: Chelsea Manning. Leaker #2: Edward Snowden. Leaker #3: The person who leaked secret documents to Jake…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
NSF Smart and Connected Health Aspiring Investigators Workshop, 2015
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is holding a Smart and Connected Health (SCG) Aspiring Investigators Workshop in Arlington, VA on June 29. This workshop will be an informational and interactive opportunity for the Aspiring…
From XRDS
ACM CHI has started! XRDS is following!
For over 30 years, the CHI conference has been the top-tier venue for the developments in the field of Human Computer Interaction (HCI). CHI has been truly a place to share ground-breaking research and novel ideas into the ever…
From Daniel Lemire's Blog
To be creative, work alone
In his excellent book How to Fly a Horse, Ashton makes a case for working alone. He quotes Apple’s co-founder and technical genius Steven Wozniak: Work alone. You’re going to be best able to design revolutionary products and…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Legal Issues of the Internet of Things
Likely not complete, but a long piece on the legal issues to consider concerning the internet of things. Global regulatory issues are likely also very important. A legal minefield? I will ask for specialist comment on this…
From The Eponymous Pickle
More Tales of Chef Watson
Have spoken to several people recently on the now free and public cognitive demonstration system. All the comments I have seen, by non professional cooks, have been positive. Now here another use case. Includes a recipe:Chef…
From insideHPC
Open Computing: Vendor Landscape
The Open Compute Project, initiated by Facebook as a way to increase computing power while lowering associated costs with hyper-scale computing, has gained a significant industry following. Several vendors have released, or will…
From Schneier on Security
New Top Secret Information on the US's Drone Program
New operational information on the US's drone program, published by the Intercept and Der Speigel....
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Interesting Links 20 April 2015
Daffodils are blooming, golf courses are opening, and buds are appearing on trees and bushes. Looks like we’re going to have spring in New Hampshire after all. We’re well into the fourth and final quarter at my school. It’s …
From Writing
Migrating from Blogger to GitHub Pages and launching the new ybrikman.com
Around 2007, I created my home page on a free PHP host and a blog on Blogger. The two websites have served me well for nearly 8 years, but they were long past due for an update. Last week, I finally sat down and rebuilt my home…
From CERIAS Blog
Buy a book for entertainment and for charity
I’ve known Carey Nachenberg, a Fellow at Symantec, for many, many years. He’s one of the driving forces behind Symantec’s anti-malware software. He’s creative and passionate about cyber security. He’s also an avid rock climber…