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
Sixth Annual Movie-Plot Threat Contest Semifinalists
On April 1, I announced the Sixth Annual Movie Plot Threat Contest:
I want a cyberwar movie-plot threat. (For those who don't know, a movie-plot threat is a scare story that would make a great movie plot, but is much too specific…From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Free Computers For ISTE Attendees
Wow! Free computers. Hard to ignore that one. If you are heading out to San Antonia for ISTE 2013 Microsoft has a deal for you. They are giving away free Microsoft Surface RT computers to attendees from eligible schools. There…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Mini Windows Stores at Best Buy
I mentioned some time ago visiting a new Microsoft Store in the local mall. Located very close to the Apple store, which had been around for a couple of years. The proximity made them easy to compare. On a midweek afternoon…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Retail Data Synchronization
Kroger and GS1 are beginning a three year Project Mercury effort to synchronize data. A key element of running any large, complex retail operation. " ... Under the system, suppliers will give as many as 150 "attributes" for…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
Moving to the Cloud Saves Energy
Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Northwestern University have conducted a study and found that moving common applications to the cloud can save significant amounts of energy. The study is summarized in…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Unemployed Geniuses
An intriguing article on the employment of genius. By their carefully limiting definition. Seen this effect relatively often. Genius does not always combine with social or collaborative skills. Includes some interesting…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Telepresence Robotics in the Office
In IEEE Spectrum: Cisco and iRobot working to produce a telepresence robot. Conceptually an appealing idea, but I wonder about the practicality before robotic systems are more autonomous. The proposed system seems to be remotely…
From Schneier on Security
Ricin as a Terrorist Tool
This paper (full paper behind paywall) -- from Environment International (2009) -- does a good job of separating fact from fiction:
Abstract: In recent years there has been an increased concern regarding the potential use of…From The Eponymous Pickle
Mitigating Risk in the Supply Chain
In Industry Week:" ... Supply chain managers adopt new strategies to mitigate risks Research has shown that major interruptions in the supply chain can sap a company's share price by 7%, so supply chain managers are adopting…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Tesco Supply Chain Big Data
From Tableau Software: Major global retailer on the use of visualization: " ... Tesco uses Teradata to warehouse their supply and inventory data. They've got 5 years of data and 100 Terabytes on 100 cores in Teradata. On using…
From Schneier on Security
Trading Privacy for Convenience
Ray Wang makes an important point about trust and our data:
This is the paradox. The companies contending to win our trust to manage our digital identities all seem to have complementary (or competing) business models that breach…From Computational Complexity
The Internship
Last weekend I took my teenage daughters to see The Internship, the Vince Vaughn-Owen Wilson vehicle where they play two forty-year old interns at Google. It basically follows the standard underdog story Vince Vaughn so greatly…
From Schneier on Security
More on Feudal Security
Facebook regularly abuses the privacy of its users. Google has stopped supporting its popular RSS feeder. Apple prohibits all iPhone apps that are political or sexual. Microsoft might be cooperating with some governments to spy…
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
FCC Emergency Access Advisory Committee Meeting on June 14
The FCC Emergency Access Advisory Committee (EEAC) will meet tomorrow, Friday, June 14, from 10:30 am to 3:30 pm EDT, to discuss the technologies and protocols needed to ensure access to Next Generation 911 emergency services…
From The Eponymous Pickle
A Short History of TV
Though there is starting to be some serious competition at the edges, Television continues to be a very big means of one to many conversation. Ars Technica has a good history of the medium and its direction.
From Schneier on Security
Essays Related to NSA Spying Documents
Here's a quick list of some of my older writings that are related to the current NSA spying documents:
From Putting People First
To get the most out of tablets, use smart curation
In a second article in a four-part series on the use of tablets in educational settings, Justin Reich of MindShift examines the topic of curation. “As technologies have developed, the tools and objects of curation have become…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Smarter Packaging Yet
A long time interest in making packaging more intelligent. Making it a broader part of the intelligence network. Now we have devices in the hands of consumers that can interpret images and codes, All the possibilities areMore…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
They Just Don’t Seem To Get It
An article was published yesterday with the very optimistic title of Computer Science May Become Mandatory Part of Mass Public School Curriculum. If you read the article though the work “may” could be defined as “when hell freezes…
From Daniel Lemire's Blog
Meetings are like sex
Meetings are like sex. Everybody thinks that they are good at it… until they ask for the truth. We never have real discussions about it: I did not want to say anything… but you know this meeting thing? You are not very good at…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Crowdsourcing Data Analytics
Recently pointed to. Worry about sharing data and ownership of the methods used: " ... Kaggle is the world's largest community of data scientists. They compete with each other to solve complex data science problems, and…
From The Eponymous Pickle
P&G Reorganizes into Four Industry Specific Sectors
Not unexpected to see a reorganization event here. Reported in CGT. " ... The businesses in each sector are focused on common consumer benefits, share common technologies and face common competitors. Each sector will be led…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
Microsoft Research Faculty Fellowships includes former CRA Computing Innovation Fellow
Yesterday, Microsoft announced their Microsoft Research Faculty Fellowships and former Computing Innovation Fellow, Katrina Ligett is one of only seven recipients. As Microsoft says, The time for new faculty members to take…
From The Eponymous Pickle
EU and Prism
Was expecting an issue here. The EU is known for its strong data privacy laws. Now word that EU companies or those doing work with the EU, may be subject to lawsuits if they cooperated with NSA's PRISM data gathering.
From The Female Perspective of Computer Science
A Forty Minute Tour of CS Education With Mark Guzdial
Mark Guzdial is one of the big names in computer science education. A couple of months ago, he spoke at the GVU Brown Bag Seminar with a talk entitled What We Know About Teaching Computer Science ("What does Guzdial do, Anyway…
From Putting People First
Online, we’re all celebrities now. So what next?
“In reality, we’re all kind of on ‘Big Brother’ — on a reality show,” says Syracuse University’s Anthony Rotolo, a professor who runs the Starship NEXIS lab, focusing on social networking and new technologies. “Whenever I give…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Analytics in The Boardroom
A whitepaper of particular interest because of our involvement with executive information systems over the years. Currently involved with a mobile delivery design for executive clients. How do you deliver analytics and make…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Talking Advanced Technology and its Delivery
Gave an invited talk at a large energy services company yesterday on the progress of emergent technologies and analytics in the enterprise. The talk, given to some 400 people globally, led to considerable conversation about…
From Schneier on Security
Prosecuting Snowden
Edward Snowden broke the law by releasing classified information. This isn't under debate; it's something everyone with a security clearance knows. It's written in plain English on the documents you have to sign when you get …
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Parallel Processing And Data Analysis And Chocolate
We’re working on a new course for next year. It’s based to some extent from the Exploring Computer Science course but with some modifications to fit our school and time frame. In short we have a lot to cover in a short period…