Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
May 2011
From Putting People First
Gestural interfaces: a step backwards in usability
Donald A. Norman and Jakob Nielsen of the Nielsen Norman group argue that today
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
How Computation Has Transformed Practically Everything
As we’ve noted in this space before, MIT — as part of its 150th anniversary celebration — recently sponsored a series of
From Wild WebMink
links for 2011-05-26
If you tolerate this
From Schneier on Security
Black Box Records in Automobiles
Proposed new rules in the U.S.
From Putting People First
City as a platform
Two talks from the 2011 PSFK conference caught my attention: City as a platform (video) In her role as Chief Digital Officer for the City of New York, Rachel Sterne is tasked with strengthening the City
From The Eponymous Pickle
Ford Moves into Mobile Healthcare
An interview this is an increasing trend as we carry more of our information and sensors with us.
From Putting People First
Why can
The number of times that Google has failed at delivering a successful
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
US Teams in the Worldwide Imagine Cup Finals 2011
The Worldwide finalists for all categories of the Imagine Cup are out and you can read all of the amazing projects at the Imagine Cup Blog. There are 124 teams from 73 countries and regions making their way to New York City this…
From Putting People First
Ford Motor Co moving into mobile healthcare
With the help of medical technology companies WellDoc, Medtronic and SDI, the motor giant last Wednesday set out to prove that it’s concerned not only with the number of drivers it boasts, but with the health of those drivers…
From Putting People First
Study: people with access to power meter data reduce energy use
The simplest way to cut down on energy use isn’t to build millions of brand-new LEED-certified buildings; it’s to convince people to make changes themselves. And sometimes, having access to energy consumption data–and a friendly…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Ads Used to Change Memories
In Wired: interesting examples. Is this ethical? At what point would it not be considered ethical? Human memory is a very fragile phenomena.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Google Correlate
Google Correlate let's you see how your data relates to search queries. We experimented with trends in searches for epidemic inference:" ... A while back, Google showed how Influenza outbreaks correlated to searches for flu-related…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
Final Reminder: Applications for 2011-12 CIFellowships Due Tuesday
A final reminder that the
From My Biased Coin
Annual Facing the Reviews
Teaching reviews for spring (Algorithms and Data Structures) came in today; time to face the music once again.Actually, this year, my numbers were up substantially; still room to improve, of course, but unlike the last two…
From Schneier on Security
Blackhole Exploit Kit
It's now available as a free download:
A free version of the Blackhole exploit kit has appeared online in a development that radically reduces the entry-level costs of getting into cybercrime. The Blackhole exploit kit, which…From The Female Perspective of Computer Science
Storytelling in Education and Games
Imagine bringing the magic of storytelling into your classroom. But not just any classroom - in your math classroom.
If that sounds strange to you, then you haven't been following the work of…From The Eponymous Pickle
Nielsen to Acquire Neurofocus
Nielsen to acquire the part of Neurofocus it does not yet have. A another step forward in the commercial application of Neuromarketing. Will it end up as a typical marketing tool?
From Wild WebMink
links for 2011-05-25
Product Notification: Skype for Asterisk – end of sale – July 26, 2011 Unless Microsoft are going to surprise us all by releasing the Asterisk modules as open source, this is a depressing indication of Microsoft's true intentions…
From Wild WebMink
? A liberating betrayal?
Having suspended disbelief for as long as I could, my ability to take Microsoft at their word over Skype was shattered today by the announcement by Digium, sponsors of the Asterisk project, that they have been told they can no…
From The Eponymous Pickle
More Digital Directions with QR Codes
More QR code use. I am seeing more every day. I have asked several non technical friends about them, and they understand their use. Once smart phone based scanners are ubiquitous they will be a powerful tool.
From The Eponymous Pickle
On the Gamification of Education
From The Eponymous Pickle
Using Neuroscience to Understand Shopper Decisions
The work described in this piece will also use the technologies developed by Sands Research for mobile brain scanning. Another step forward for the retailing use of neuroscience." ... Retail marketing association Popai is using…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Never Underestimate a 13-Year Old With a Computer and a Dream
Now I taught middle school during the longest year of my life. And I do guest talks at middle schools all the time. But honestly I do not have the knack for doing it full time. My wife does and I know many wonderful middle school…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
Recapping the US Ignite Gigabit Applications Workshop
What would you do with a 1 Gbps, layer 2, programmable, sliceable network? That
From The Female Perspective of Computer Science
Smaller Class Sizes Can Matter
My Introduction to Computers for Arts and Social Sciences course usually has several hundred students when taught in the fall and winter (when I'm not teaching), but under 100 when I teach in the summer. So far I've had about…
From Putting People First
Low2No Camp
Low2No Camp is a strategic design workshop curated by think tank Demos Helsinki. In Low2No Camp thirty carefully chosen urbanists come together to create groundbreaking projects. The key players of Helsinki’s people-driven urban…
From Putting People First
Designing Connectivity notebook available
On 15 March 2011 the DeST Research Unit of the INDACO Department of the Milan Politechnic together with the British Consulate General organised Designing Connectivity (pdf), a seminar on building and activating collaborative…
From Putting People First
Book: New Media Technologies and User Empowerment
New Media Technologies and User Empowerment Jo Pierson, Enid Mante-Meijer and Eug
From Wild WebMink
links for 2011-05-24
JCP.next JSR submitted to the JCP I'm delighted to see these plans finally formalised – they have been around ever since Sun as proposals, but the acquisition got in the way. All the same, what matters is not the rules themselves…
From Computational Complexity
Cell Phones versus Drunk Driving
Most of you are familiar with the research that using a cell phone is just as dangerous as driving drunk. Method: We used a high-?delity driving simulator to compare the performance of cell phone drivers with drivers who were…