Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
May 2015
From The Eponymous Pickle
Empowering Employees
In the HBR: Always wondered about what empowerment meant, especially in big enterprises with established cultures. Useful thoughts.
From Schneier on Security
Terrorist Risks by City, According to Actual Data
I don't know enough about the methodology to judge it, but it's interesting: In total, 64 cities are categorised as 'extreme risk' in Verisk Maplecroft's new Global Alerts Dashboard (GAD), an online mapping and data portal that…
From The Eponymous Pickle
IllumiRoom Peripheral Augmented Reality
In the CACM: "IllumiRoom: Immersive Experiences Beyond the TV Screen," by Brett R. Jones, Hrvoje Benko, Eyal Ofek, and Andrew D. Wilson, uses virtual and augmented reality to move action from the TV into your living room. Jones…
From insideHPC
New Report Surveys CPU-GPU Heterogeneous Computing Techniques
A new paper from ORNL's Sparsh Mittal and Jeffrey Vetter seeks to change the mindset of researchers using GPUs. Entitled, "A Survey of CPU-GPU Heterogeneous Computing Techniques,” the paper contends that merely offloading computational…
From insideHPC
Radio Free HPC Previews the ISC 2015 Student Cluster Competition
In this podcast, the Radio Free HPC team looks ahead to the ISC 2015 Student Cluster Competition. This year, 11 teams from around the globe will face off to build the fastest HPC cluster.
The post Radio Free HPC Previews theinsideHPC…From The Eponymous Pickle
Its About the Data
By data I don't just mean the mega enterprise warehouses in place today. It also includes sensors, human input, text comments, business rules, the output of other analytics systems and much more. In the enterprise the mostwhat…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Watson Analytics Professional
Now, Watson Analytics Professional Blog and community. Further introduction and registration.
From Schneier on Security
Race Condition Exploit in Starbucks Gift Cards
A researcher was able to steal money from Starbucks by exploiting a race condition in their gift-card value-transfer protocol. Basically, by initiating two identical web transfers at once, he was able to trick the system into…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Budget Challenge Money Management Game
I am being introduced to an interesting finance game for students. Fascinating startup leveraging some great analytics," ... The Budget Challenge team wants to provide the ideal playground for students to learn how to manage…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Apple Watch, iBeacons and Food Retail
In Progressive Grocer: " ... Grocery is probably not the prime retail channel to take advantage of a smartwatch’s capabilities. So should grocers prepare for this new era of shopping that the Apple Watch will usher in? At least…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Anaytics Summit in Cincinnati this Friday
This Friday, Analytics Summit 2015, Last chance .... Friday, May 29, 2015 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM (Eastern Time)Marriott Kingsgate at the University of Cincinnati(513) 487-3800, 151 Goodman Dr. Cincinnati, Ohio 45219 Analytics Summit…
From The Eponymous Pickle
The Rise of Cognitive/AI Systems in the Enterprise
A number of excellent articles on the topic from the HBR and beyond. Even a pointer to some of our work. By Tom Davenport and others. Reading " ... Cognitive Systems Institute Group (CSIG) Mission: Cognitive assistants…
From insideHPC
Seeking Volunteer Parallella Boards for Virtual Supercomputer
Over at Parallella.org, Adapteva Founder & CEO Andreas Olofsson writes that the organization is seeking help from its user community to "help build the most efficient virtual supercomputer in the world this week."
The post Seeking…From insideHPC
Solving Eight Constraints of Today’s Data Center
With the growth of big data, cloud and high performance computing, demands on data centers around the world are expanding every year. Unfortunately, these demands are coming up against significant opposition in the form of operating…
From insideHPC
Video: Introduction to Docker
In this video, Docker Founder and CTO Soloman Hykes explains what Docker is and why developers like it. "Docker is an open-source engine that automates the deployment of any application as a lightweight, portable, self-sufficient…
From insideHPC
Poznan in Poland Goes Green with CoolIT Systems
Today CoolIT Systems announced that the Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center has successfully deployed Rack DCLC liquid cooling. Through a collaboration with Huawei and Itprojektof, the company described the new installation…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Running A/B Experiments
On the risks of A/B testing. Remember the process well. A podcast: " .... Andrea Burbank discusses the risks, benefits, and lessons from running a single huge experiment with hundreds of moving parts, and with long-term…
From Schneier on Security
Stink Bombs for Riot Control
They're coming to the US: It's called Skunk, a type of "malodorant," or in plainer language, a foul-smelling liquid. Technically nontoxic but incredibly disgusting, it has been described as a cross between "dead animal and human…
From insideHPC
Photonics Moves Forward for Future Computing Technology
The development of photonic technologies to speed up computing has taken two steps forward, following recent announcements demonstrating the use of photonics in both processing and data transfer.
The post Photonics Moves Forward…From The Eponymous Pickle
Apple Names Chief design Officer
The primacy of design at Apple is in evidence as Apple names Jony Ive its chief design officer.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Daimler Testing Automated Truck Driving
In the BBC: More on Daimler's work on automated truck van driving. Includes a number of images of conveyances and their technology. Will be a considerable advance in supply chains, once all the details are worked out." ...…
From XRDS
How can we evaluate modern software systems?
Most people maybe think that software engineers are only coders that develop and maintain applications, systems, and infrastructures. This is not false. But, software engineers are also responsible for the assessment and improvement…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Enterprise Wearables
PwC on: The potential of wearable technology in the enterprise. " ... Wearables hold so much promise because they provide a hands-free way for employees to engage in real-time with context-specific business information, customers…
From Gödel's Lost Letter and P=NP
John and Alicia Nash, 1928,1933–2015
Our condolences Awesome Stories source John Nash and his wife Alicia were killed in a taxi accident on the New Jersey Turnpike Saturday afternoon. They were on their way back from Norway where he and Louis Nirenberg had just…
From Daniel Lemire's Blog
Are you a techno-optimist? (A review of Tomorrowland)
Walt Disney released Tomorrowland. I brought my little family to see it and we had a blast. (Warning: mild spoilers ahead.) The movie has one message: let us be techno-optimists. Instead of being driven by fear, let us embrace…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Rich Fast Data, Focused Digital Enterprise Advisory Systems
A connection with a former colleague let me to take another look at Nestle's Digital Acceleration Center. Our Enterprise started similar efforts in Business Sphere. I point to Nestle's work here. This brings to mind that today…
From insideHPC
PNNL Looks at Undervolting to Meet Exascale Goals
PNNL researchers are using supercomputers to take on two of the main challenges of exascale: energy efficiency and resiliency. Their simulations show that dynamic voltage scaling, also known as undervolting, can reduce power …
From The Eponymous Pickle
Face and Eye Tracking Databases
I recently mentioned the value of a database of eye tracking in alternative contexts, for example retail. I was sent a link to this example. Not the same thing, this looks at faces under specific lighting conditions and orientation…
From Computational Complexity
John Nash (1928-2015)
John Nash and his wife Alicia died in a taxi accident, returning from the airport after he received the Abel prize in Norway. The public knew John Nash as the "Beautiful Mind" of book and screen, but we knew him as one of the…
From Schneier on Security
Story of the ZooKeeper Poison-Packet Bug
Interesting story of a complex and deeply hidden bug -- with AES as a part of it....