Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
August 2009
From Computer Science Teachers Association
The 2009 International Olympiad in Informatics
I recently had the pleasure of attending the 21st International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI), held in Plovdiv, Bulgaria from August 8th to 15th.
The IOI brings together some of the most talented high school programmers in the…From The Eponymous Pickle
Generational Privacy Views
In The Japan Times, privacy honcho Bruce Schneier talks about the generational gaps in the perception of privacy.
From The Noisy Channel
Google Search Appliance: Now Without HCIR!
From Apophenia
Some Thoughts on Technophilia
The New Media Consortium is hosting a Symposium for the Future October 27-29. I was asked to write a few thoughts that might provoke conversation in preparation for the event. This is a re-posting of my Ideas for Thought. If…
From BLOG@CACM
ÂUbiquity
Technology and information are ominpresent in Tokyo, but nobody seems to notice; a look at the future of ultra-integrated high technology.
From CERIAS Blog
A Quick Note about Cloud Computing
I was talking to several people at the Cyber Leap Year Summit about how we have decades of research in computing that too many current researchers fail to look at because it was never put on line. We have all noticed the disturbing…
From The Eponymous Pickle
On Network Influences
In MyVenturePad, Good article on the subject: Influence research: what are the real influence networks within Twitter and social media? Via Stan Dyck. Pointers to previous useful reports and posts about this topic. We following…
From The Eponymous Pickle
GIS Becomes Mainstream
Good interview with the president of ESRI on the mainstreaming of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). I agree, much has changed and there is a bright future: ' .... There will be lots and lots of services available both inside…
From Return 42;
Sneak Preview: Many Famous Coders at Work
We all know: There are two types of books about programming. The first delivering direct knowledge about a specific topic or a specific programming language or technology. Two of my personal favorite, and more accessible books…
From Return 42;
Web vs. Desktop Applications: The Neverending Debate
We can read about it every single day. One person describes the advantages of web applications over their native counterparts. Another one dismisses every single argument of the previous critique. This week, the web vs. desktop…
From Daniel Lemire's Blog
A recipe for interesting Computer Science research papers
In Are your research papers telling original stories?, I claimed that the main benefits of the typical research paper were that:
the contribution to the state-of-the-art is clear (what did you invent?); we can quickly quantify…From Wild WebMink
links for 2009-08-19
Truly delicious selection of Celtic tracks, full of variety and innovation while embracing tradition. Warmly recommended, and free of charge (you have…
From Daniel Lemire's Blog
Scientists and their emotions
Science is not a matter of pure logic. Some of the best scientists lived through intense emotions
From The Eponymous Pickle
Shopper Path to Purchase
ARF Chief Research Officer Joel Rubinson posts about shopper path to purchase: ' ... Understanding
From The Noisy Channel
LinkedIn No Longer Allowing Invite Messages?
From The Eponymous Pickle
More on Coke Smarter Soda Machine
More details about Coke's smart Freestyle cola machine, now in test. ' ... The smart-machine collects extremely detailed information about drink choices (the dispenser can mix up to 100 different soft drinks) and continually.…
From BLOG@CACM
Is C All There Is?
Increasingly, CS departments are moving to a programming language monoculture--it's C or C-derived languages throughout the curriculum. What are we losing out on?
From Daniel Lemire's Blog
Do hash tables work in constant time?
Theory in Computer Science—as in any other field—is based on models. These models make many hidden assumptions. This is one of the fundamental reason why pure theory is wasteful. We must constantly revisit our old assumptions…
From The Noisy Channel
Prediction Is Hard, Especially About The Future
From The Eponymous Pickle
Retailers and Mobile Commerce
From Storefrontbacktalk, an excellent overview of the use of mobile commerce by retailers and the potential privacy and standardization 'minefields'. ' ... the U.S. M-Commerce space is floundering as merchants drag their feet…
From The Noisy Channel
Last Chance to Register for UIE Virtual Seminar on Faceted Search!
From The Eponymous Pickle
Influential Logos
Roger Dooley looks at the non-conscious influence in corporate logos. He mentions the infamous P&G logo and satanism that started back in the 70s. I experienced this example first-hand back then, and was amazed by the level…
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
Policy Highlights from Communications of the ACM - August 2009 (Vol. 52, No. 8)
Below is a list of items with policy relevance from the August issue of Communications of the ACM. As always, much of the material in CACM is premium content, and free content one month may slip behind a pay wall the next.…
From Wild WebMink
links for 2009-08-17
From The Eponymous Pickle
Obsolete Tech
An interesting PCWorld piece on forty obsolete technologies and technology related processes. Directionally it is useful to understand both what is new and what is no longer relevant. The latter also shows the way to new value…
From BLOG@CACM
Is Advertising Inherently Deceptive?
People dislike current advertising because it is often irrelevant and annoying. It would be good to make advertising more helpful, relevant, and useful to people. Is that possible?
From The Eponymous Pickle
Army Suggests that Field Manuals be Wikis
From Slashdot: In some ways this is not surprising. The US military is very good at standardizing input. And yet, a Wiki is a means of doing this in a very non-standard way. The combination of these two directions might be…
From The Noisy Channel
The Raging Debate Over The Link Economy
From Return 42;
Style Issues?
Since this blog starts to attract more and more visitors, it also becomes more and more important to me to improve my writing. That effort includes not only my stylistic aspects of my language skills (quite an endeavor for someone…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Can't You be Original?
Got a recent e-mail that made me think ... asking me why I almost always use a link to an external source and comment on that instead of writing original pieces. It has certainly been my way in the half dozen blogs I have written…