Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
May 2014
From The Eponymous Pickle
Augmented Reality Toy Competition
I like the idea of connecting AR to toys. It implies the connection of game dynamics as well. Can we then connect the ideas for serious purpose? A competition sponsored by Metaio. " ... Metaio, the worldwide leader in augmented…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Big Change At The CSTA
Earlier this evening Chris Stephenson, the founding executive director of the Computer Science Teachers Association, announced her resignation from the CSTA. (Looking Back, Looking Ahead, and Thank You for the Honor of Serving…
From Computer Science Teachers Association
Looking Back, Looking Ahead, and Thank You for the Honor of Serving CSTA
CSTA exists because of the work of a great many people and the support of computer science educators the world over who understand the importance of K-12 computer science education. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the…
From BLOG@CACM
CSTA Then and Now
This blog piece looks at CSTA's first 10 years and the role ACM and CSTA have played in the momentous changes to K-12 computer science education.
From The Eponymous Pickle
R is Good for Business
Or, I think, how it is used. As with all tools. In Fastcolabs. " ... “When someone develops a new predictive model or a new visualization, they don’t just publish their research in a journal, they also publish R code in open…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Stories to Tell with Data
Tom Davenport in the HBR on how to tell stories with data. Good thoughts. " ... For almost a decade I have heard that good quantitative analysts can “tell a story with data.” Narrative is—along with visual analytics—an important…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Bandwidth on the Battlefield
Looking for bandwidth on battlefields. In my own Pentagon days, simulating tank warfare, these issues were still still unheard of. Now you can readily see the key of controlling communications in the battle ... "
From Writing
You are what you document
Hey, grab a seat - we need to talk about documentation. Now, I know what you're thinking: documentation is tedious, a chore, an afterthought, a redundant source of information given your beautiful, self-documenting code. It's…
From Schneier on Security
The Economics of Video Game Cheating
Interesting article on the business of selling enhancements that allow you to cheat in online video games....
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Interesting Links 5 May 2014
Well back to school for me today. I didn’t plan on much Internet time last week (school break) but it turned out that the weather was horrible and I stayed indoors more than I’d planned. So I do have one or two links to share…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Telemedicine Justifying Better Broadband
In GigaOM: Quite likely. You would imagine improved connections would decrease costs at least. But diminish personalization. It will also require better intelligence, user interfaces and sensors to make remote connections…
From Computational Complexity
(IEEE) Conference on Computational Complexity
The 29th IEEE Conference on Computational Complexity will be held in Vancouver June 11-13. Student travel award deadline is TOMORROW Monday May 5th, early registration deadline is May 17. Don't buy your airline tickets before…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Tablet Use in Schools
Have been involved in several projects that looked at how tablets could be effectively used in the enterprise. This piece covers and links to studies about its use in schools. Something to be learned here. " ... NAACE, a…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Transcendence Risks All Around
Stephen Hawking talks transcendence, the movie and AI laden concept of technological similarity. Just how worried should we be? " ... So, facing possible futures of incalculable benefits and risks, the experts are surelyAlso…
From Putting People First
New research on the use of tablets in schools
NAACE, a UK association of educators, technologists and policy makers who share a vision for the role of technology in advancing education, has published a number of studies on the role of tables in secondary school education…
From Gödel's Lost Letter and P=NP
Does Program Size Matter?
A problem about this forgotten complexity measure Erik Winfree is one of the leaders in DNA computation, especially the theory of self-assembly using DNA. He won a MacArthur Fellowship in 2000, among many other awards for his…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Grand Challenges for Big Data
A group I was just introduced to: IBM Fellows. Full list and backgrounds. They tackle the grand challenges of Big Data. See the Slidecast. An interview with Michael Haydock. " ... A common thread for many of this year’s…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Nestle Supply Chain Forecasting
Good, non technical view of how Nestle uses the SAS forecasting supply chain forecasting system. With a number of operational considerations for retail.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Air Force Examines Glass
Its a natural application, its hands-free. The design will have to be altered to make it more rugged and compatible to extreme environments. That has already been examined by those wanting to use it for firefighting information…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Laboratory Analysis
Had the chance to be at one of these meetings a few years ago. Increasing emphasis is on what you can do with the data once you get it. But you still have get the data first. The sensors are getting cheaper, but also the analytics…
From My Biased Coin
Reviewing Question: What's Important
Nick Feamster on Google+ recently shared (and gave me permission to blog about) the following review comment:This review comment is super enlightening:"I think there is a general problem with the overall goal of this study and…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Banning Insider Trading
Comparing the regulation to prohibition. It's certainly a gut level reaction to agree with the regulation. Then look too at how it is similar to the observation that the people with the data will ultimately have power over…
From Schneier on Security
Friday Squid Blogging: How Flying Squid Fly
Someone has finally proven how: How do these squid go from swimming to flying? Four phases of flight are described in the research: launching, jetting, gliding and diving. While swimming, the squid open up their mantle and draw…
From Geeking with Greg
More quick links
More of what has caught my attention lately:
From Schneier on Security
Unusual Electronic Voting Machine Threat Model
Rats have destroyed dozens of electronic voting machines by eating the cables. It would have been a better story if the rats had zeroed out the machines after the votes had been cast but before they were counted, but it seems…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Kimberly Clark Tracks Coupons Directly
Kimberly-Clark Gets Serious With Its Digital-Coupon TrackingMarketer Building Its Own Deal Database and CRM ProgramsPackaged-goods marketers have been shifting to digital coupons from paper for years, but most of those electronic…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
PCAST Report on Big Data and Privacy Released
In January, President Obama asked for a comprehensive review of policy issues on big data and privacy during his speech on signals intelligence. As a part of the comprehensive review, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
BASIC, Computing, and What Have We Lost?
Yesterday, May 1, 2014 was the fiftieth anniversary of the BASIC programming language. Articles about this are abundant on the Internet and rightly so. I link to a couple of them at the bottom of this post for people who don’t…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Facebook Zuckerberg Interview on VR
In Wired: In particular the mention of virtual reality. Thought leaders can drive fringe technologies very quickly to millions of people. Its hard to move them otherwise. Talking about the Oculus acquisition. " ... What…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Strategy vs Planning
HBR article requires registration.Tactical versus strategic? But the structure of the decision is very different. Some useful points are made here. " .... Think about it. On one hand, you can tackle a difficult challenge…