Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
August 2012
From The Eponymous Pickle
Tiny Machines
Via the Foresight Institute Richard Feynman's seminal 1959 talk on nanotechnology: Tiny Machines. And also a talk: There is Plenty of Room at the Bottom. Foresight Institute is good place to follow nano developments.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Network Wide Inventory Reduction
As part of my continued look at supply chain technologies and measures I found this excellent article: Supply Chain News: How Do Companies Perceive Opportunities to Reduce Inventories Across the Supply Chain Few Companies …
From The Eponymous Pickle
Big Data Meets Cloud
Forbes article on how big data meets the Cloud. A good piece by Forrester on the use of many resources, internal and external to drive business intelligence. And how Software as a Service will be the engine. Useful statistics…
From Schneier on Security
Shared Lock
A reader sent me this photo of a shared lock. It's at the gate of a large ranch outside of Victoria, Texas. Multiple padlocks secure the device, but when a single padlock is removed, the center pin can be fully lifted and the…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
DARPA Seeking Unconventional Processors for ISR Data Analysis
Earlier this month, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced a new initiative that aims “to break the status quo of digital processing” by investigating new ways of “non-digital” computation that are “fundamentally…
From Putting People First
Report: Managing Megacities (by UX Lab at Ericsson Research)
Megacities may be congested and complex, but are also among the planet’s most exciting places to live. They have proven effective at stimulating creativity, innovation, freedom and economic development. Today, 50 percent of the…
From Putting People First
What data can’t tell you about customers
Across industries, companies are using the vast amounts of user-generated data to guide innovation of new products and services. But data mining does not equate to developing “customer intelligence,” write Lara Lee and Daniel…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Ten Commandments of Computer Ethics
I ran into these Ten Commandments of Computer Ethics created by the Computer Ethics Institute while looking for something completely different. Isn’t that so often the case? I like them. I think they are useful guidelines that…
From Geeking with Greg
Quick links
Some of what has caught my attention lately:
From Computer Science Teachers Association
Next Generation Science Standards Should Include CS
On May 11, the Washington, DC-based group Achieve released its first public draft of the "Next Generation Science Standards" or NGSS. These standards, coupled with the Common Core standards for mathematics are meant to define…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Full Scale Virtual Research
I had the pleasure of visiting John Milby's Full Scale Virtual Research Lab today. Got a great tour and technical discussion of work underway there. I worked with John at our enterprise retail laboratories for years. He is…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Further Rise of the Visual
In Fast Company: All is becoming more visual, shorter and simpler. Pinterest and Video. Info graphics. With an emphasis on entertaining rather than informing? So where is language going? Will this result in an ideogrammatic…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Hollowing of the Middle Class?
M J Perry reports on the recent PEW report on the 'Hollowing of the Middle Class'. " ... But 150 Americans Moved Up for Every 100 Who Moved Down Between 1971 and 2011 ... " . Matches some interesting work we are doing that…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
Luis von Ahn Featured in NBC Learn Video on Crowdsourcing
NBC Learn — the educational arm of NBC News — is out with a new video about crowdsourcing, featuring Carnegie Mellon University computer scientist Luis von Ahn and his work with CAPTCHA, reCAPTCHA, and, most recently, Duolingo…
From Computational Complexity
Neil Armstrong, Ray Bradbury: The future is not what we thought it would be
Neil Armstrong died on August 25, 2012. He was the first man to walk on the moon. (Since they always say this I wonder if Women walked on the moon earlier.) Ray Bradbury died on June 5, 2012, though on this (and perhaps other)…
From Schneier on Security
The Importance of Security Engineering
In May, neuroscientist and popular author Sam Harris and I debated the issue of profiling Muslims at airport security. We each wrote essays, then went back and forth on the issue. I don't recommend reading the entire discussion…
From The Female Perspective of Computer Science
Startup Weekend... In Book Form!
I've wondered before if I'd like being an entrepreneur. I've come up with a few ideas that could get me started. I have even entered a social-good version of a business case competition (and walked away a finalist). But IStartup…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
A Workshop on Quantum Information Science
On Sept. 28 and 29, the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI) – a partnership of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and University of Maryland — will convene a workshop on Quantum Information Science in Computer…
From Wild WebMink
Apple v Samsung
Patents are now an anti-trust weapon rather than a reward for innovation. That’s my conclusion after a weekend trying to decided whether I has happy or sad Apple had beaten Samsung in the billion-dollar-suit in San Jose. It’s…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Useful Download Links for Windows 8 and Windows Phone Development
Part of my job is to help people find valuable resources. I especially like it when they are free. Free is good. These links are for students, faculty and professional (or non professional) developer. Please check these links…
From The Eponymous Pickle
What to do First
In FastCompany. What to do with the first hour of each day to be most productive. Not your Email.
From Schneier on Security
Fear and Imagination
Interesting anecdote from World War II.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Gauging Facebook Measurement
In Adage: " ... As Facebook urges big advertisers to boost their spending, its measurement team is playing an increasingly prominent role, trying to articulate the value of paid and earned Facebook impressions in terms media…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Mining Medical Records
A view with data visualizations. In particular, linking unexpected associations. " ... Big data analytics have enabled researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's SENSEable City Lab and colleagues at GE Healthymagination…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
“Watson Turns Medic”
New Scientist published an interesting story last week describing how Watson – the IBM question-answering supercomputer that bested the world’s leading human competitors on Jeopardy! in February 2011 — is blazing new trails in…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Legacy and Future of Television
With it go away soon? In Harvard Business blogs. Probably not, the blog suggests there will be a number of disruptions and even transformations. But the broad and multi casting of prepackaged serial video information to engage…
From The Eponymous Pickle
On the Language of Data Science
Useful definitions, also the reminder that Data Science is not only about the data, but also the analytics that will be used with the data, and the business processes to which those solutions will be applied. I have repeated…
From Computer Science Teachers Association
What Inspired You?
As the school year rolls around again, what professional development did you participate in that inspired you for the new year? I recently attended a CS4HS session at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and was truly inspired…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Useful Download Links for Windows 8 and Windows Phone Development
Part of my job is to help people find valuable resources. I especially like it when they are free. Free is good. These links are for students, faculty and professional (or non professional) developer. Please check these links…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Interesting Links 27 August 2012
Back to school hit home today as my wife went back to school for the first day of teachers. Kids come back the day after Labor Day so it is professional development and getting ready this week. We try and get all the summer we…