Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
June 2020
From Daniel Lemire's Blog
How Innovation Works (book review)
I read How Innovation Works by Matt Ridley in a few hours. It is a delicious book. Ridley distinguishes invention from innovation. The inventor creates something new, the innovator applies the novelty to change the world. Jeff…
From insideHPC
KIOXIA Adds Thin Provisioning to KumoScale Software Suite, Increases Cloud Storage Efficiency
KIOXIA America, Inc. (formerly Toshiba Memory America, Inc.), the U.S.-based subsidiary of KIOXIA Corporation, has added thin provisioning to its KumoScale™ storage software based on NVM Express™ over Fabrics (NVMe-oF™) technology…
From BLOG@CACM
CS Teachers, It's (Past) Time To Learn About Race
We need to send the message that we are willing to change CS education in order to address historic and systemic inequities.
From Schneier on Security
New Research: "Privacy Threats in Intimate Relationships"
I just published a new paper with Karen Levy of Cornell: "Privacy Threats in Intimate Relationships." Abstract: This article provides an overview of intimate threats: a class of privacy threats that can arise within our families…
From The Eponymous Pickle
ACM Bytecast: Donald Knuth on Computing
From my earliest days doing coding, I was reading Donald Knuth's legendary texts. Now here is a free and open podcast interview with him. Will be following.
" ... In the latest episode of ACM ByteCast, a new podcast series at…
From The Eponymous Pickle
UN: Global Computer Simulation Tool
Quite a considerable simulation is proposed. Would be difficult to do, depending on the breadth and context involved. Perhaps a realm where agent based modeling might be applied to simplify some aspects., which we aimed
UN…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Anaconda and IBM Watson Team to Simplify Enterprise AI
This was needed to provide easier to use capabilities in the enterprise.
Anaconda and IBM Watson Team to Simplify Enterprise Adoption of AI Open-Source Technologies
Anaconda, Inc., provider of the leading Python data science platform…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Customer Thermal Imaging as Security
I was asked last week to explore the efficacy of using thermal imagery to determine if someone had increased body temperature and could that be used as indicative of possible flu infection. Now being installed widely. Even
Here…
From ACM-W supporting, celebrating and advocating for Women in Computing
ACM-W Europe June 2020 Report
On behalf of all of the ACM-W Europe, I would like to thank you for continuing to be you. Covid-19 has caused stress for many of us. We worry about our health, our jobs and our general state of mind. We may not always feel ok…
From Gödel's Lost Letter and P=NP
The Truth
What is the truth? Alfred Whitehead was a logician and philosopher, who had a student of some note. The student was Bertrand Russell and together they wrote the famous three-volume Principia Mathematica. It took several hundred…
From Daniel Lemire's Blog
The Go compiler needs to be smarter
One of my favorite languages is the Go language. I love its simplicity. It is popular and useful in a cloud setting. Many popular tools are written in Go, and for good reasons. I gave a talk on Go last year and I was asked for…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Very Small Robots
Small task specific robotics are a long time interest. With clear application for pharma delivery and other healthcare sensor and related work.
Introducing the World’s smallest Microelectronic robot
This breakthrough invention…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Multifunction E-Glasses Track the Brain, Eyes, and More
Claim to considerable advances in sensor interfaces through a 'glasses style' interface. Consder how combining brain and vision sensor data would provide adaptive data about attention. More at the link.
Multifunction E-Glasses…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
CI Fellows 2020 – Application Deadline Extended to June 17
***June 4, 2020 – Important notice to all applicants: the application deadline has been extended by 5 days to Wednesday, June 17, 2020 at 11:59 pm EDT in recognition of the unrest and protests across the nation. If possible,…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Validating the Clinical Usefulness of Wearable Tech
Ultimately measurement of value.
Verifying, Validating the Clinical Usefulness of Wearable Technology
By Duke University Pratt School of Engineering
May 28, 2020
Duke University assistant professor Jessilyn Dunn (right) watches as…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Virtual Care Services
Experienced this recently, was nicely done. Though I would require at least some face to face and visual analysis as part of the care. Might this be done by using images and sharing these ahead of the appointment?
Forrester…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Virus UnCertainty
McKinsey piece on restart, watching local businesses closely.
Crushing coronavirus uncertainty: The big ‘unlock’ for our economies
To safeguard lives and livelihoods, we must restore confidence.
This article was a collaborative,…
From insideHPC
Veteran Technology Journalist Doug Black Named to Succeed Rich Brueckner as Editor of insideHPC
insideHPC Media has announced that veteran technology journalist Doug Black has been named editor-in-chief of insideHPC. Black succeeds the late Rich Brueckner, who purchased the property in 2010 and has been a prominent figure…
From Putting People First
Reuters e-book about society after the pandemic
Humanity either learns key lessons from the pandemic, corrects course and becomes a more resilient species. Or it tears further apart and expands the divisions in society that predated Covid-19. In a new e-book on what will change…
From Schneier on Security
Zoom's Commitment to User Security Depends on Whether you Pay It or Not
Zoom was doing so well.... And now we have this: Corporate clients will get access to Zoom's end-to-end encryption service now being developed, but Yuan said free users won't enjoy that level of privacy, which makes it impossible…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Amazon Streamlines Building Smart Home Alexa Skills
Nice idea, have often found myself groping for some skill name. Should have been done sooner.
Amazon Streamlines Building Smart Home Alexa Skills
by Eric Hal Schwartz in Voicebot.ai
Alexa developers can now combine their apps
MERGING…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
National Science Foundation and White House Office of Science and Technology Policy initiate collaborative effort to develop critical resources for quantum education
The following is a recent announcement from NSF and OSTP regarding growing the workforce for the advancement of quantum education. The Computing Community Consortium (CCC) held a Next Steps in Quantum Computing: Computer Science…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Lowe's Goes Virtual for Pro Home Improvement
Most intrigued about how the knowledge is being stored, delivered,utilized. There are different levels of expertise embedded in 'Pro', so will this context be included? Ultimately essentially.
Lowe’s ‘virtually’ goes on…
From insideHPC
Interview: Mark Papermaster, CTO and EVP, Technology and Engineering, AMD
In this interview, Mark Papermaster, CTO and EVP, Technology and Engineering from AMD describes the company’s presence in the HPC space along with new trends in the industry. At a higher level, Mark also offers his views of the…
From The Eponymous Pickle
AR and Improved Online Shopping
We spent some time examining this proposition, but did not find that AR provided significant results in engagement and sales, except in very narrow domains. Here new studies of interest with new tech.
AR Can Improve Online Shopping…
From The Eponymous Pickle
CVS Health Testing Nuro Delivery
This particular Nuro delivery systems is being tested by a number of companies. See a number of images at the tag.
CVS Health Tests Self-Driving Vehicle Prescription Delivery
Associated Press
Tom Murphy
May 28, 2020
CVS Health will…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Systems of Insight, Analytics in Context
Precisely what I have been suggesting for some time. The results of analytics need to be plugged into business need. As the Computerworld Article states it: " .... Businesses want to use data to understand customers, butIn…
From Schneier on Security
Wallpaper that Crashes Android Phones
This is interesting: The image, a seemingly innocuous sunset (or dawn) sky above placid waters, may be viewed without harm. But if loaded as wallpaper, the phone will crash. The fault does not appear to have been maliciously…
From Putting People First
Smart city visions and human rights
Without consideration for all humans inhabiting cities, smart city and technological approaches have the potential to exacerbate socio-economic divisions, corporate dominance, and top-down governance.
From Computational Complexity
How to handle grades during the Pandemic
In March many Colleges sent students home and the rest of the semester was online. This was quite disruptive for the students. Schools, quite reasonably, wanted to make it less traumatic for students.
So what to do about grades…