Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
July 2010
From Putting People First
Worries about over-sharing location from mobiles
Experiments like ‘Please Rob Me’ indicate that what people reveal via location-sharing apps could potentially be harmful to them – and survey finds concerns among users. “More than half of people with geolocation-capable mobile…
From Putting People First
Most smartphones are underused
As smartphones increasingly penetrate the market, with nearly a quarter of mobile users owning one, data consumption is becoming more stratified: the heaviest users most frequently use their phones
From Putting People First
Smart gadgets may anticipate our needs
Devices could monitor people’s health and step in when needed to help them get better, experts say. “Within a decade or two, researchers at Silicon Valley companies and elsewhere predict, consumer gadgets will be functioning…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Apps for Your TV
A short Baseline piece suggesting that Apple intends to make moves in the TV Internet space by leveraging need tailored Apps. Rumblings in this are my big players like Apple and Microsoft have happened a number of times. Why…
From Computational Complexity
Can you ever be denied Full Prof? Can you ever really fail a PhD defense.?
- Is it possible for someone to be denied Full Prof? Yes, but it is rare.
- Is it possible for someone to fail a PhD defense? Yes, but it is rare.
From Schneier on Security
Internet Kill Switch
Last month, Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., introduced a bill that might -- we're not really sure -- give the president the authority to shut down all or portions of the Internet in the event of an emergency. It's not a new idea…
From BLOG@CACM
A Connected Life
In the Internet era, with cell phones, PDAs, and other technologies, humans are more and more connected to each other. All day you can see people walking and at the same time chatting via cell phone. What happens to people that…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Interesting Links 12 July 2010
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From The Eponymous Pickle
KDD Data Mining Event
SASCOM voices outlines the upcoming 16th annual ACM SIGKDD conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining. Even if you cannot make it t Washington DC to attend this on July 25-28, they provide you with some hints about attending…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Neuromarketing Trends and Research
A blog site under Deeper Web on Neuromarketing trends, research, vendors and technologies.
From The Noisy Channel
Recruiting and a Lesson in Attention Scarcity
Several people have asked me recently for advice on how to recruit for their tech startups. I’ve responded by digging out the following email that someone emailed me last year. I reproduce it in full here, minus the company name…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Taking Business Intelligence Mobile
Always interesting Doug Lautzenheiser does a nice job of outlining a MicroStrategy whitepaper on mobile business intelligence. I think this is ultimately a place where we need to look for in hand dynamic intelligence, which can…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Kitchen Countertop with a Brain
We saw something similar shown at the MIT Media Lab a long time ago. Countertops with Brains. But do they need brains? " ... A depth-sensing camera and palm-top projector turn an ordinary work surface into an interactive one…
From Apophenia
strange jobs people have
Yesterday, G and I were sitting at a concert being curious about the throngs of people at Great Woods and we got to musing about the variety of jobs people might have. Part of it was that there were sooooo many high school students…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Death of Photography
In Engadget, on the death of photography, at least with a separate still camera. As I am about to upgrade to a more complex cellphone camera I muse again about where this will go. A colleague and I traded impressions about where…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Wal-Mart in Chicago
I always get mail when I comment on something that Wal-Mart has done. So what about the recent Wal-Mart store installation in Chicago? What has happened so far?
From The Eponymous Pickle
Random Numbers from a Chip
Intel circuits that can generate random numbers. Could increase the speed of encryption processes, simulation systems.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Behavioral Economics
Dan Ariely answers three questions about behavioral economics. Does a good job of defining and positioning it versus standard economic practice. I am in the midst of reading his new book: The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected…
From Daniel Lemire's Blog
Summer reading: my recommendations
Containment by Christian Cantrell is an excellent sci-fi novel. And you can grab it nearly for free from the author’s page. The premise of the book is that humanity built a colony on Venus. Children
From Schneier on Security
Friday Squid Blogging: Squid Sex Organs
Riddles of squid sex:
All cephalopods are hindered by their body shape, which comprises a closed hood-type structure called a mantle, which forms most of what appear to be a cephalopod's body and head. The animals use this …From The Eponymous Pickle
Shared Knowledge
In Baseline Mag a good suggestion of direction, sharing not just managing:Knowledge Management and Collaboration Create Knowledge Sharing By Guy Currier An age-old corporate maxim says,
From Schneier on Security
TSA Blocks Access to Websites with "Controversial Opinions"
I wonder if my blog counts.
From BLOG@CACM
Web Applications Crave Memory
Big web applications are hungry for RAM. They want lots of low power RAM. And they want little else.
From Putting People First
Danah Boyd: Smartest 'Tech' Academic
The smartest “tech” academic according to Fortune Magazine (“The smartest people in tech”) is Danah Boyd, Social Media Researcher, Microsoft Research. “She is the reigning expert on how young people use the Internet, and she’s…
From Schneier on Security
Detecting Cheating at Colleges
The measures used to prevent cheating during tests remind me of casino security measures:
No gum is allowed during an exam: chewing could disguise a student
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred ThompsonMicrosoft Technology Associate (MTA) Certifications
This week Microsoft announced a new set of entry level certifications that may be of interest to many schools and colleges/universities. Personally I think that this is just the sort of program that many career/technical high…
From The Eponymous PickleMaga Design Group
I was recently pointed to Maga Design Group. Clever and interesting design maps. See their site for more information. They also have a blog: " ... Our visual information maps are used by senior executives and their leadership…
From The Computing Community Consortium BlogTechnological and Societal Trends
I’m trying to compile a list of major technological and societal trends that influence computing research.
From The Computing Community Consortium BlogWhat Now in Instruction-Level Parallelism Research?
A workshop entitled “What Now in Instruction-Level Parallelism Research?” will be held on September 20-21, 2010 in Seattle, WA.
From Schneier on SecurityThe Toronto 18
Long and interesting article from The Toronto Star on the Toronto 18, a terrorist cell arrested in 2006. Lots of stuff in this article I had not read before.