Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
June 2011
From Schneier on Security
Protecting Private Information on Smart Phones
AppFence is a technology -- with a working prototype -- that protects personal information on smart phones. It does this by either substituting innocuous information in place of sensitive information or blocking attempts by …
From Wild WebMink
? Control Considered Harmful
When society was arranged as a series of intermediaries serving disconnected clients, distinguishing clients from non-clients was a key element of business. But in a meshed, massively connected society, simulating that world…
From BLOG@CACM
Interspecies Interaction Design at CHI
A description of new frontiers in animal/human interaction design emerging at CHI. No cats or chickens were harmed in the writing of this article.
From The Noisy Channel
It Just Works
Given that I work for the world’s largest professional network, I take work very personally. I’m also deeply involved in LinkedIn’s hiring process, which gives me opportunities to see how people make career decisions. I thought…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Foursquare Partners with Amex
An Instructive development. Have been awaiting a good commercial example of the use of a location gaming social system like Foursquare. Will watch this development.
From Wild WebMink
? Talks In Brazil Next Week
While the journey is a long one, I always enjoy visiting Brazil. Some of my best friends live there, and the whole place infused with a positive energy that’s unique in my experience. So I’m delighted to have been invited to…
From Computer Science Teachers Association
Precise Language (again)
I am in the midst of a three-times-normal-speed theory of computing class for graduate students who need to know this material for the qualifying exam, so I have not had lots of time to contemplate metaphysical things (or write…
From Putting People First
Achieving long-term sustainability at a Belgian expo centre
A road(map) to sustainability: How an Expo centre can become low-impact The Event project, funded by Flanders In Shape, a Flemish design promotion agency, created a framework for the Kortrijk Xpo centre to become the most environmentally…
From Schneier on Security
NSA Style Manual
National Security Agency (NSA) SIGINT Reporter's Style and Usage Manual, 2010.
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
NSF Announces
In a Dear Colleague Letter issued earlier this month, the NSF’s Directorate for Geosciences and Office of Cyberinfrastructure call for “an open, adaptable, and sustainable framework (an ‘Earth-Cube’) to enable transformative…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Lindstrom and Graphic US Cigarette Packaging
In the news this week word that the US is changing its Cigarette packaging to remove the text health warning and replacing them with graphic scare images. I was interested about how brand innovator Martin Lindstrom would react…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Analytics Magazine
Analytics Magazine, always interesting content in the process of improving business. Techniques, case studies, software, trends. The deep value proposition for business intelligence and predictive methods.
From Daniel Lemire's Blog
Probabilities are unnecessary mathematical artifacts
There has been much philosophical debate about randomness. While people often offer the nature of consciousness as a fundamental unresolved question, we should realize that we still don’t agree on an equally important question…
From Computational Complexity
Creating an Email System at Cornell
Email celebrates its fortieth anniversary so let me tell the story of my job for three summers, and part-time during the academic year, while an undergrad at Cornell University: Creating an email system from scratch. In my sophomore…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Billion Users
Google got a billion unique users in May, eWeek reports. Our computer connectedness continues to grow.
From The Eponymous Pickle
The Search for Jim Gray
A fascinating technical overview of the unsuccessful search for lost at sea computer scientist Jim Gray in 2007. I remember following the effort. There was no lack of resources expended. It does show how technical efforts…
From Schneier on Security
Insider Attack Against M&A Information in Document Titles
Protecting against insiders is hard.
Kluger and two accomplices -- a Wall Street trader and a mortgage broker -- allegedly stole and traded on material nonpublic information about M&A deals over a period of 17 years, according…From The Eponymous Pickle
Tablet Use Surging
Adage: 12% of US users have a tablet like the iPad. Expected to double by next year. More useful statistics.
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
More About
A couple weeks ago, I briefly noted in this space the June 9-10 US Ignite and GigU Workshops held at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH. The highlight of the event — for me at least — was a two-hour demo session…
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
House Judiciary Committee Approves Patent Reform Bill; Full House May Consider it Soon
Patent reform is one of many issues that has been stalled in the halls of Congress over the last several years. However, this particular effort may get somewhere soon. H.R. 1249, the America Invents Act, was approved by the House…
From The Eponymous Pickle
How P&G Tripled its Innovation Success Rate
Article from the Harvard Business Review. Very well written and accurate. Only the first, less interesting, part of the article is free online: " ... How could P&G marry the creativity of Edison
From Schneier on Security
Did Reason Evolve as a Persuasion Tool?
Many of our informal security systems involve convincing others to do what we want them to. Here's a theory that says human reasoning evolved not as a tool to better understand the world or solve problems, but to win arguments…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
A New
At a recent
From The Eponymous Pickle
CPG is Growing
Consumer packaged goods sector is growing and digital involvement is key.
From Michael Nielsen
Public talk about open science in San Francisco
I’m pleased to say that I’ll be giving a public talk about open science in San Francisco, next Wednesday, June 29, at 6pm. The talk is being hosted by the Public Library of Science, and there will be wine, beer and cheese after…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Neuroscience and Quantitative Research Webinar
Tomorrow, this looks to be of particular interest. Too little of this integration is done: Finding the Sweet Spot Between Neuroscience and Quantitative ResearchTHURSDAY, JUNE 23, 2011
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
WATCH: Talking Trustworthy Computing
For those of you in the Washington, DC, area, the NSF is hosting
From The Eponymous Pickle
Emerging and Historical Perspectives
It comes to mind that this blog is about emerging technologies. Yet I often go back to my own and related enterprise experience and history. Examples, like AI, where the technology often failed at first, in expert systems,…
From Wild WebMink
? Free Communications
GoogleSharing – A Special Kind Of Proxy This is the online equivalent of a group of people keeping a jar full of Tesco Clubcards by the door so they can get all the benefits without losing their privacy. Mumble and Murmur Interesting…
From Schneier on Security
Firesheep in Use
Nice article on Firesheep in action.