Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
June 2013
From Schneier on Security
Malware that Foils Two-Factor Authentication
This is an interesting article about a new breed of malware that also hijack's the victim's phone text messaging system, to intercept one-time passwords sent via that channel.
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
CS Educator Interview: Kathleen Weaver
For the second in my series of blog interviews with computer science educators I present Kathleen Weaver from Hillcrest High School in Dallas Texas. Texas is a big hub of high school computer science education by the way. Here…
From The Eponymous Pickle
GS1 Standards Page
GS1's newly redesigned Standards Page. With loads of information on the management of standards in many domains. " ... GS1 develops global standards using the Global Standards Management Process (GSMP). This comprehensive
…From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Computer Science Education Act (CSEA)
This looks like a very good piece of legislation. The basic idea is not to create new programs or additional spending but to reduce barriers to creating more computer science programs. More information at About the Computer Science…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Top 5 R Packages
An instructive survey by a data scientist of how they use packages in R, the open source statistics, graphics and modeling environment. (analytics productivity) These seem to be an excellent set of useful resources for predictive…
From Schneier on Security
Pre-9/11 NSA Thinking
This quote is from the Spring 1997 issue of CRYPTOLOG, the internal NSA newsletter. The writer is William J. Black, Jr., the Director's Special Assistant for Information Warfare.
Specifically, the focus is on the potentialare…From The Eponymous Pickle
Specializing in the Visually Impossible
In our innovation center we featured a number of technologies to engage with the consumer in retail. Digital signage was a common application. We invited companies, large and small, to participate in providing new technologies…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Display as a Service
More on Intel's wireless display aggregating system, dubbed DaaS, or Display as a Service. A friend who knows this space well cautions me that the effort is from their research labs, has seen the demo and it is not ready for…
From Computational Complexity
Friends Don't Let Friends Carpool
The AAA foundation measured cognitive distraction while driving and reported that having a passenger in the car is as dangerous as using a cell phone. On a scale of 1 to 5, a handheld cell phone caused a distraction level ofignores…
From Schneier on Security
Lessons from Biological Security
Nice essay:
The biological world is also open source in the sense that threats are always present, largely unpredictable, and always changing. Because of this, defensive measures that are perfectly designed for a particularAdvocates…From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
CS Educator Interview: Garth Flint
One of my summer projects is to collect stories from different computer science teachers. There are many teachers in many types of schools and many of them often feel like they are alone; that they are the only one in “theirGarth…
From The Eponymous Pickle
On Cloud Interoperability and Portability
In CN Now: Don't know much about the specifics of this topic, but the article provides a good but technical overview. I have been a user of personal and company clouds for some time, well before they were called that. But…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Teradata Announces Hadoop Portfolio
Newly reviewing: Teradata delivers industry's first flexible, comprehensive Hadoop portfolio Teradata offers a single source for all things Hadoop - new products, services, and support making Hadoop easy to deploy and manageSAN…
From The Female Perspective of Computer Science
New Template + Comments Work Again
Because someone brought it to my attention that comments weren't working anymore (and I had no idea how to fix them), I decided it was time for a new blog template. I based the new look on a free template from Pugly Pixel called…
From Schneier on Security
Secrecy and Privacy
Interesting article on the history of, and the relationship between, secrecy and privacy
As a matter of historical analysis, the relationship between secrecy and privacy can be stated in an axiom: the defense of privacy follows…From Wild WebMink
Community Foundations at OSCON
Reblogged from Meshed Insights & Knowledge: OSCON is approaching and the schedule's looking great. On the Tuesday morning Simon will be one of several open source foundation leaders giving guidance and sharing experience on some…
From BLOG@CACM
CFP: Whither the NSA Warrantless Internet Surveillance Program
Leading protagonists in the NSA’s warrantless internet surveillance debate discuss the program’s current status in light of recent revelations, focusing on the program’s legal basis and ongoing policy implications.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Limits to the Limits of Growth
I read the Club of Rome's Limits to Growth shortly before entering college. I was much impressed by the details and predictions for the near future. The lesson I learned, now finally resolved, is that you should not believeMore…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Linking Many Screens into One
Another advance from Intel Labs. Linking many screens into one large screen. We looked at these kinds of approaches in two areas: For retail display of engaging interaction with consumers and the creation of new media to support…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Brain Scanning for Driver Awareness
Study by Intel using brain scanning to determine driver awareness. A different technique to determine a measure of awareness: " ... Infrared sensors fitted to a cap over the driver's head sensed activity in the outermost 2…
From BLOG@CACM
CFP: Homegrown Drones: Should the FAA Take on Regulating Hobbyists?
Panel discusses whether drone use by individuals should be regulated by the FAA.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Games Creating Acheivement
Article about how game dynamics have been used inside companies to engage and prod achievement. Notably mentioned is consulting giant Accenture. And the example of their use for knowledge management. Most of the points made…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Boredom and Creativity
In Fastcompany: Having enough boring, as opposed to focused work hours, leads to more creativity, the article says. Depends on the kind of creativity involved. Clearly so when you are looking for open solutions, but not so…
From Schneier on Security
Cracking the Kryptos Sculpture
Great story.
From BLOG@CACM
CFP: Tor: Online Privacy and Anonymity
From BLOG@CACM
CFP: FTC Commissioner Julie Brill
Commissioner Brill addresses four major challenges to Big Data and the Reclaim Your Name Initiative
From BLOG@CACM
CFP: A Conversation on ECPA Reform in Congress
Representatives Jason Chaffetz (R-UT, 3) and Zoe Lofgren (D-CA,19) discuss the bills they have introduced and the importance of Congressional action on privacy reform.
From BLOG@CACM
Closing the Computing Labor Shortage with Computing in Schools
Getting more and better computing education into high schools is likely to have a big impact on computing careers.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Intel Projects from a Smartphone
In GigaOM: Intel has developed technology to put a multipurpose projector into a phone. Still in the prototype phases. I am involved in a business intelligence project now that specifies that business visualizations be show…
From Gödel's Lost Letter and P=NP
It Takes Guts To Do Research
Or rather to find bold paths when opportunity gives only part of a map Robert Oppenheimer was one of the great physicists of the last century. He is most famous, of course, for his leadership of the Manhattan Project—the project…