Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
July 2011
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Innovative Educator Forum Judge Workshop
For some competitions one selects a bunch of smart people, hands them a rubric and says
From Wild WebMink
? Contribute To The LibreOffice Conference
I am on the Programme Committee for the upcoming LibreOffice Conference in Paris, and as a consequence I get to see the stream of paper submissions. There have already been a lot of diverse submissions and it’s already clear…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Social Bubble?
Is social media also a bubble? See here for the graph. I do want just one simple social thing to deal with.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Another Smart Cart
SK Telecom delivers another grocery smart cart prototype. This one can sync from a smartphone. That by itself is a very good idea, decreasing the cost and complexity for the retailer. I have now followed and tested a half dozen…
From The Female Perspective of Computer Science
A Techie's Vacation
My husband and I are taking a 3+ week vacation to the east coast of Canada this August, and because we're both computer geeks, there's no doubt we'll be lugging a bunch of techie stuff with us. How much is too much?iPhone 4First…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Using Mind-Mapping to Write Blogs and Articles
I am a big proponent of mind mapping. Have used it for years. It is a great discipline, I use it on my laptop, tablet and smartphone. I can build maps and then synchronise them from anywhere. It helps me get my thoughts in…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Location Based Analytics Market
To exceed $ 9 Billion by 2016. Says this study, by MR agency ABI Research.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Enhanced EBooks
Have been looking at how HTML5 will ultimately influence publishing online. A friend sent me this O'Reilly piece on EPUB3, which is worth looking at. We need to have better multiple platform standards from the very beginning…
From Schneier on Security
Cryptography and Wiretapping
Matt Blaze analyzes the 2010 U.S. Wiretap Report.
In 2000, government policy finally reversed course, acknowledging that encryption needed to become a critical part of security in modern networks, something that deserved toSo…From Wild WebMink
? The Open Cloud Initiative
Yesterday saw the launch of the Open Cloud Initiative here at OSCON in Portland. It has the potential to steer the evolution of cloud computing just as the Open Source Initiative did. With every cloud provider today either using…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
The GigU Partnership
From today’s New York Times: A coalition of 28 American universities is throwing its weight behind a plan to build ultra-high-speed computer networks
From The Eponymous Pickle
Customer Loyalty Programs
HBS Working Knowledge on Customer Loyalty Programs that Work. " ... The customer rewards cards that clutter wallets and clog key chains of many a shopper may soon be no more, as retailers move from physical to digital (read:Some…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Restaurants Using Google Places
An interesting example of how location based systems like Google Places can be used for franchise restaurants.
From The Eponymous Pickle
On the Experience of Learning
From Experientia. A review of what learning is all about. " ... Learning is a complex process with distinct stages, each with corresponding tasks and emotions. Understanding how users learn can help us design experiences that…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
Art and Science: The World
We’ve all heard about Cannes.
From Schneier on Security
Ars Technica on Liabilities and Computer Security
Good article:
Halderman argued that secure software tends to come from companies that have a culture of taking security seriously. But it's hard to mandate, or even to measure, "security consciousness" from outside a company…From Putting People First
Design for Social Innovation: an interview with Ezio Manzini
Ezio Manzini is an Italian design strategist, one of the world
From Putting People First
The UX of learning
Learning is a complex process with distinct stages, each with corresponding tasks and emotions. Understanding how users learn can help us design experiences that support the user throughout the entire process. “Most websites…
From Putting People First
The future of learning
New research findings from a global study of education systems suggest that the promise of a hi-tech, high-skills, high-wage future for kids is a fantasy. Does digital media and learning offer a better future, asks Ben Williamson…
From Putting People First
Jakob Nielsen report on intranet portals
Jakob Nielsen has published a new report with 19 new case studies of enterprise portals. It finds slow growth in new features. The focus is instead on robust integration and formalizing governance. “The headline for our last…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Hacking Vs. Programming
What is the difference between Hacking and programming? One opinion I have heard expressed is that a hacker can put a lot of code together in a hurry but if a change is needed the code has to be completely rewritten. A programmer…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Small Grants for CS Education
If you are involved in K-12 computer science education you really owe it to yourself to join the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) And if you are a member of CSTA than you received this announcement in the last week…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Wal-Mart Movie Streams
After a considerable delay Wal-Mart is integrating its purchased movie streaming service Vudu into Walmart.com. Reported in some detail in e-Commerce Times. " ... The service lets customers buy or rent movies to be streamed…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Robot Film Festival
IEEE Spectrum presents: A Robot Film Festival. Nice selection that gives some hint at the future of robotics.
From Schneier on Security
Duplicating Physical Keys from Photographs (Sneakey)
In this demonstration, researchers photographed keys from 200 feet away and then made working copies. From the paper:
The access control provided by a physical lock is based on the assumption that the information content of…From The Eponymous Pickle
On the Rise of Self Checkouts
A non technical article from Today. About the rise of self checkouts in retail. Also discusses the surprising removal of them from Albertsons stores, which I mentioned here previously. " .... Albertson
From The Eponymous Pickle
HTML5 is Coming Fast
Most interesting, will it make Adobe's Flash irrelevant?" ,,, The tech industry
From ACM-W supporting, celebrating and advocating for Women in Computing
ACM-W Scholarship recipient wins Best Presentation Award
Congratulations to ACM-W travel scholarship recipient Tasneem Kaochar, University of Arizona, who received the Best Presentation Award at the IJCAI 2011 workshop on Agents Learning Interactively from Human Teachers (ALIHT), which…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Grapheur
Just taking a look at this relatively new data mining tool: Grapheur" ... The flexible and powerful Data Mining and Interactive Visualization tool. Import your data and explore, guided by your preferences and insight. Build…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Best in Class: Cincinnati Consulting Consortium
Dick Bruder, of the CCC sends the following. I know a number of the executives who work for the CCC, impressive group:Did You Know?? ?P&G is consistently ranked as one of the Best in Class in all key business areas and functions…