Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
August 2013
From Gödel's Lost Letter and P=NP
Move the Cheese
Report on the recent Coding, Complexity, and Sparsity Workshop Martin Strauss and Anna Gilbert and Atri Rudra are the organizers of the just-held Coding, Complexity, and Sparsity Workshop. The theme of sparsity is working with…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Smart Socks Gather Data
Hackaday is an interesting site to follow. New uses of information technology hardware and software. Which naturally cobble together many well known techniques and unconventional ideas. In this case, pressure sensors in socks…
From The Eponymous Pickle
IT in Times of Uncertainty
In the Future of the CIO Series: Some very good thoughts here. I particular: Simplicity. Not to say that I follow that recommendation well. As a follower of emergent tech I have a tendency to complicate approaches. But when…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Ants and Networking
What ants know. And what complex networks of things can be made to 'know'. Known as Agent Based Models. We studies this a decade ago in the enterprise. Though fascinating, it never did produce big value, say beyond standard…
From The Eponymous Pickle
A Look at Flat Design
A detailed look. With a number of recent examples, such as Microsoft. Starting to see it everywhere. " ... As the name indicates, flat design is defined by flatness of style: simplifying an interface by removing extra elements…
From Schneier on Security
Friday Squid Blog: Rickshaw Cart Woodblock Print
With a squid.
As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven't covered.
From The Female Perspective of Computer Science
Female Friendly Narrative Modding in Games
Why is it that there are still so few video games stories with awesome female protagonists that don't play into the usual gender stereotypes? What's a gamer to do if he or she wants to experience more of them today? Narrative…
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
The Executive Branch Works On Implementing the Cybersecurity Executive Order
Since the President issued an Executive Order on cybersecurity information sharing back in February, several groups have worked on implementing parts of that order. The Senate Commerce Committee has also gotten in on the act,…
From Daniel Lemire's Blog
Privacy and the Internet: Is Facebook evil?
For several of my classes, I open Facebook groups so that my students can exchange online. In some instances, it has worked great. Facebook tends to do a better job than school-provided posting boards. A small minority of students…
From Schneier on Security
Lavabit E-Mail Service Shut Down
Lavabit, the more-secure e-mail service that Edward Snowden -- among others -- used, has abruptly shut down. From the message on their homepage:
I have been forced to make a difficult decision: to become complicit in crimes…From The Eponymous Pickle
Bit vs Atoms in the Supply Chain
On Bits vs atoms: Nothing new here, our enterprise did this for years, and is one of the supporters of this effort, the post below does give a good overview of the intent, but not any technical details. It is though, all about…
From Computational Complexity
Don't Have an End Game
As a young professor, I wrote a grant proposal and took it to a senior theory professor for comments. He told me to take out the line "The ultimate goal of computational complexity is to settle the P versus NP problem." He agreed…
From Schneier on Security
Latest Movie-Plot Threat: Explosive-Dipped Clothing
It's being reported, although there's no indication of where this rumor is coming from or what it's based on.
...the new tactic allows terrorists to dip ordinary clothing into the liquid to make the clothes themselves into explosives…From The Eponymous Pickle
Prezi: Presentation and Storytelling Tool
I used the Prezi presentation and storytelling tool for a project some years ago. Just revisited it. An introductory video. With many useful examples. It now also has an iPad version that I plan to examine. Does the zooming…
From The Eponymous Pickle
R Resources
Useful R Resources. Books, online, lists, videos, examples. Will add this to my list. I find R similar to Mathematica and APL (from long ago). First language I have attempted to become adept in for a long time.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Gamification White Paper
I had cause to download Bunchball's whitepaper on gamification (registration required). Logically done, as a non technical review of the underlying idea of using game dynamics in business. Previously here on Bunchball, including…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Cloud, Data, Analytics and Process for SMB
Brought to my attention, In The Financial Express, from Jyothi Satyanathan, director Mid-market & Inside Sales, IBM India/South Asia. I much agree with his opening statement:" ... Small and mid-size businesses (SMB) are some…
From Schneier on Security
Twitter's Two-Factor Authentication System
Twitter just rolled out a pretty nice two-factor authentication system using your smart phone as the second factor:
The new two-factor system works like this. A user enrolls using the mobile app, which generates a 2048-bit RSA…From The Eponymous Pickle
Security Risks and BYOD
Cursory look at the implications for security of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) implementations. We were early experimenters with the BYOD concept, and security was an immediate concern.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Google Showcases in-Depth Articles
In Google Operating System: An indication that Google is now showcasing long form articles. We have become very used to small sized nuggets of information on the web, but we do also appreciate longer, full explanation examples…
From Schneier on Security
Kip Hawley on Fixing the TSA
The further Kip Hawley has gotten from running the TSA, the more sense he has started to make. This is pretty good.
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
CS Education Interview: Tammy Pirmann
Tammy Pirmann is my mentor on the CSTA Board of Directors and is helping me understand how and what it is all about. More importantly she teaches at a public high school on the edge of Philadelphia. She agreed to answer a few…
From The Eponymous Pickle
A Video Game to Map the Brain
Fascinating piece in Wired about the use of game dynamics to map connections in the brain. Another example of the use of game dynamics, one of several that are aimed at gathering scientific data." ... Called EyeWire, the browser…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Color Theory App
In Wired: Regarding an interesting book on the theory of color, by Josef Albers, is presented on an iPad App. Not free it seems. I recall this book being mentioned in a reference for online color use. I am wondering how…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
White House to host a “We the Geeks” hangout on Robots!
The White House has been hosting a series of Google+ hangouts called “We the Geeks” that highlight the future of scientific innovation in the United States. The next hangout will focus on Robots, scheduled for Friday, August…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
Research Opportunities for Undergraduates
The Computing Community Consortium (CCC) has a website for Computer Science Undergraduate Research and Graduate Education (CS URGE), which can be found here. You will find explanations, resources, summer research opportunities…
From Putting People First
An object of journalism: the hyperlink
Juliette de Maeyer kicks off this month’s edition of EthnographyMatters which focuses on Ethnographies of Objects, with a response to two questions posed to her: ‘Why is the hyperlink an interesting object of journalism?’ And…
From The Eponymous Pickle
IKEA and Augmented Reality Catalog
See furniture in your own apartment using augmented reality in IKEA's 2014 catalog. A good example of AR in mobile retail. And its potential for using AR to insert the virtual to measure the physical. " ... To take advantage…
From Putting People First
To get users to make smarter choices now, show them their future
Design can be used to introduce users to the future now, so they can act in ways that will benefit them in the future, writes Nikki Pfarr, researcher and strategist at Artefact. “What [designers] don’t often do, is think of the…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Social and Mobile Innovation
In Knowledge@Wharton: New models are at play. Note my recent piece that addresses increasing efficiency for innovation. From a recent conference. Noting that now the (mobile) consumer is now the boss. " ... Most business…