Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
July 2013
From My Biased Coin
Recent Random Musings
1) Last week a key came off my daughter's Apple Macbook keyboard. One of my keys on my machine had also come loose -- the "E" would pop out several times a day (and just pop back in when pushed, but still, it was getting annoying)…
From Schneier on Security
TSA Considering Implementing Randomized Security
For a change, here's a good idea by the TSA:
TSA has just issued aFrom Putting People First
The implications of Agile for UX
Anthropologist Natalie Hanson has written a series of blog posts regarding Agile methods and the implications for user experience work. Recognizing Agile List of the top ways to know you’re working in an Agile environment A brief…
From Schneier on Security
Counterterrorism Mission Creep
One of the assurances I keep hearing about the U.S. government's spying on American citizens is that it's only used in cases of terrorism. Terrorism is, of course, an extraordinary crime, and its horrific nature is supposed to…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Brains on LEDs
An interesting experiment, that could have some implication for direct EEG visualization. Applications for neuromarketing? But see the Brainwashed book, for cautions about that. This method will not make u for an overreach…
From Computational Complexity
A(nother) nice use of Gen Functions
In a prior post I tried to give a simple example of a proof that uses Gen Functions where there was no other way to do it. For better or worse, before I posted it, my HS student Sam found a better way and I posted both proofs…
From Apophenia
Whistleblowing Is the New Civil Disobedience: Why Edward Snowden Matters
Like many other civil liberties advocates, I’ve been annoyed by how the media has spilled more ink talking about Edward Snowden than the issues that he’s trying to raise. I’ve grumbled at the “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Infrastructure Performance Management
Not a concept I had ever thought about, but as we continue to pump more data and device interactions across an Internet of Things, may become crucial. In CWworld.
From The Eponymous Pickle
P&G Improving Your Life
In Adage: " ... Can Your Toothpaste Change Your Life? P&G Thinks So'Everyday Effect' Campaign Aims to Show Just How P&G Touches And Improves Lives ... Procter & Gamble has been saying for seven years that it touches and improves…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
CS Educator Interview: Robert Medrano
Today we return to Texas to talk to Robert Medrano who teaches about as far south as you can get in the US. I met Robert at a TCEA conference a few years ago where I took an instant like to him. Where do you teach? What sort…
From Putting People First
Interaction design: what we know and what we need to know
Recently Steve Whittaker, professor of human-computer interaction at the University of California at Santa Cruz, sat on a national committee to evaluate HCI research funding. “As part of that process, we discussed past successes…
From Putting People First
Human-centered design for new models of wellness and innovation
A year ago, in July 2012, Business Innovation Factory (BIF) began a partnership with Children’s Medical Center in Dallas to find “new models of care”, and better serve five counties of children and their families in North Texas…
From Putting People First
Three categories of wearables will become prevalent, says Intel chief
Three different categories of device – for the ears, eyes and wrists, and each with its own set of uses – will soon become prevalent, predicts new Intel chief executive Brian Krzanich. What the killer apps of these will be, however…
From Putting People First
“An Aura of Familiarity”
In 2013, the Technology Horizons Program of the Institute for the Future commissioned six leading science fiction writers — Cory Doctorow, Rudy Rucker, Warren Ellis, Madeline Ashby, Ramez Naam, and Bruce Sterling — and artist…
From Putting People First
Can interaction design civilize the experience economy?
The emerging experience economy offers a possibility—yet only a possibility—for rethinking and designing new frameworks for social interaction and new forms of behavior more conducive to mindfulness, conviviality, good sociability…
From Gödel's Lost Letter and P=NP
Ghostbusting Old Factoring Ideas
Can ‘Shades’ of Carmichael Numbers be busted? MAA source Robert Carmichael was an American mathematician who worked and published in various areas of mathematics, but is best known for numbers that were named after him. It’s…
From Schneier on Security
PRISM Q&A
Mikko Hypponen and I answered questions about PRISM on the TED website.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Multi National Supply Chains in China
In Knowledge@Wharton: (In English and Chinese). " ... Chinese Supply Chains Reach an ‘Inflection Point’ – and Multinationals Recast Strategies ... " Precisely what we modeled in the late 2000's using complexity and agent…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Cities in a Complex World
From the Santa Fe Institute: I used to be our representative to SFI in the 90s and we got quite a few inspirations from them, and we provided them with problems to solve. Some led to major projects. " ... Cities have been compared…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Flexible Workplaces and the New Mobile World
In SMB Resource: This article was brought to my attention recently. It struck home because I have been working with companies that are increasingly specifying mobile data and analytics delivery. It is expected that theirMarissa…
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
FCC Open Commission Meeting on July 19
The FCC will discuss the IP Speech-to-Speech Relay program and a report on the implementation of Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA) at its Open Commission Meeting this Friday, July 19, 10:30…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Thoughts On Mobile Phone Development
For the second year the annual CSTA Conference has had a mobile phone development “throwdown.” In this session each participant has 15 minutes to create a mobile phone app. We had someone developing in Objective C for iOS (iPhone)…
From BLOG@CACM
Leaping the Exascale Chasm
The global race is on to build ever-faster supercomputers, fueled by a combination of scientific and engineering needs to simulate phenomena with greater resolution and fidelity, continued advances in semiconductor capabilities…
From Schneier on Security
Snowden's Dead Man's Switch
Edward Snowden has set up a dead man's switch. He's distributed encrypted copies of his document trove to various people, and has set up some sort of automatic system to distribute the key, should something happen to him.
Dead…From The Eponymous Pickle
On Predictive Analytics
This piece makes the point that I often do ... that all analytics, all business decisions, are predictive. The word 'predictive' includes the implication that the result may be imprecise, or even wrong. How do we manage that…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Technology Autonomy
Had not heard the term before, but it relates to how strongly an IT department can act as a gatekeeper to software, in this new era of 'Bring Your Own' tools. The proposal that it enhances business performance. The implications…
From BLOG@CACM
Why Scientists and Engineers Must Learn Programming
Scientists and engineers who program can work 10 to 100 times faster and come up with more creative solutions than those who don't.
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
An Hour of Code–Something for CS Ed Week 2013
At the CSTA Conference earlier this week Hadi Partovi from Code.Org announced some plans for this year’s Computer Science Education Week. Specifically providing an hour of code for every student in the US.
What is an Hour…From The Eponymous Pickle
Knowledge @ Wharton for High School
I have always enjoyed the Wharton series of papers and videos. I just noticed that they had a series of posts especially designed for High School Students. Here is an example. An interesting idea, but no one but advanced HS…
From My Biased Coin
MS Faculty Summit Day Two
Day Two of the summit started with a keynote shared between Peter Lee and Jeannette Wing, who now seem to be sharing heading up Microsoft research. (Rick Rashid is stepping down from his Chief Research Officer role; there was…