Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
August 2017
From The Eponymous Pickle
Google's Second Tango Phone
Have been waiting for this. Seen demos. Had seen this as a possibility for detecting, mapping and understanding interior spaces and fixtures, like shelves. The second phone implementing their vaunted Tango project that maps…
From insideHPC
National Supercomputing Centre Singapore and Global Gene Corp to Collaborate on Precision Medicine
The National Supercomputing Center Singapore and Global Gene Corp have exchanged a Memorandum of Understanding to benefit the future of Singapore’s Precision Medicine Initiative. The collaboration allows GGC to leverage NSCC's…
From insideHPC
When Neutron Stars and Black Holes Collide
Working with an international team, scientists at Berkeley Lab have developed new computer models to explore what happens when a black hole joins with a neutron star – the superdense remnant of an exploded star. "If we can follow…
From insideHPC
Upcycled COSMA6 Supercomputer Finds New Life at Durham University
Where do old supercomputers go after the new machines are installed? At Durham University in the UK, they move on to a whole new mission in computation discovery. "COSMA6 enables researchers to extend large-scale structure simulations…
From The Eponymous Pickle
AI Comparison to Previous Tech Waves
The jury is still out for general AI ... but specialized applications things are booming.
Why artificial intelligence is different from previous technology waves
The AI ecosystem just might be resilient enough to live up to the…
From insideHPC
3X Performance Boost Using Intel Advisor and Intel Trace Analyzer in Astrophysics Simulations
On today’s processors, it is crucial to both vectorize (using AVX* or SIMD* instructions) and parallelize software to realize the full performance potential of the processor. By optimizing their MHD astrophysics applications
…
From insideHPC
Supercomputing the Dark Energy Survey at NCSA
Researchers are using NCSA supercomputers to explore the mysteries of Dark Matter. "NCSA recognized many years ago the key role that advanced computing and data management would have in astronomy and is thrilled with the results…
From Computational Complexity
What Makes a Great Definition
Too often we see bad definitions, a convoluted mess carefully crafted to make a theorem true. A student asked me though what makes for a great definition in theoretical computer science. The right definition can start a research…
From Schneier on Security
Splitting the NSA and US Cyber Command
Rumor is that the Trump administration will separate the NSA and US Cyber Command. I have long thought this was a good idea. Here's a good discussion of what it does and doesn't mean....
From The Eponymous Pickle
Predicting Power Outages
Researchers develop model to predict and prevent power outages using big data
Texas A&M Engineering News by Shraddha Sankhe
Researchers at Texas A&M University have devised a predictive risk analysis framework that can forecast…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Shopping and Virtual Reality
In CSA, interesting statistics. But pushes at what 'virtual shopping' is.
What do customers want from virtual shopping? by Deena M. Amato-MCcoy
Virtual reality shopping is here and consumers — or at least the ones that are…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Redefining Work
Good piece, but to these kinds of predictions, I always ask: In what context. Automation has been happening since the Jacquard Loom, or even the invention of writing. It has yet to replace work. We have adapted. ....
How…
From Schneier on Security
Voting Machine Security
Last week, DefCon hosted a "Voter Hacker Village" event. Every single voting machine there was easily hackable. Here are detailed details. There should be a summary report soon; I'll add it to this post when it's published...…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Deep Learning's Next Frontier
An insightful Webinar recording:
Deep Learning's Next Frontier By Andrew Ng
HBR’s editor in chief, Adi Ignatius, and Andrew Ng, former chief scientist at Baidu and a cofounder of Coursera, discuss artificial intelligence and machine…
From The Eponymous Pickle
AI Software for Psychiatry
Another health care example of augmenting the physician, The 'therapist' was one of the earliest uses of AI style human interaction.
A Software Shrink: Apps and Wearables Could Usher In an Era of Digital Psychiatry
Data is about…
From insideHPC
Announcing the SIGHPC/Intel Computational and Data Science Fellowship Winners
Today SIGHPC announced the 12 recipients of the ACM SIGHPC/Intel Computational and Data Science Fellowships for 2017. The fellowship is funded by Intel, and is presented each year at the annual SC conference. It was established…
From insideHPC
UK Funds Digital Reactor Design
The UK government has contracted project management firm, Amec Foster Wheeler, to lead a £2.9 million nuclear research program. The £2.9 million contract from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS)…
From insideHPC
Asperitas and Qarnot Collaborate in Liquid Cooling
Today Dutch cleantech company Asperitas and French green HPC service provider Qarnot announced a partnership centered around liquid cooling for datacenters. Qarnot will act as a value added reseller and operator of the Immersed…
From insideHPC
Video: I/O Challenges in Brain Tissue Simulation
"Blue Brain Project simulations use mathematical models of individual neurons and synapses to compute the electrical activity of the network as it evolves over time. This requires a huge computational effort, only possible with…
From The Eponymous Pickle
WCAI and Earth Networks
An interesting collaboration, reminiscent of work by IBM with the Weather Channel
Earth Networks and Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative Collaborate to Advance Weather-Driven Analytics Research
Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative…
From Schneier on Security
Detecting Stingrays
Researchers are developing technologies that can detect IMSI-catchers: those fake cell phone towers that can be used to surveil people in the area. This is good work, but it's unclear to me whether these devices can detect all…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Cybersecurity–This Summer's Computer Science Education Buzzword
Cybersecurity seems to be all the rage these days. It was a big topic of conversation at this summer's CSTA conference, I've had a number of parents ask me if we teach it at my school, and it is been big on the CS ed social media…
From Apophenia
How “Demo-or-Die” Helped My Career
I left the Media Lab 15 years ago this week. At the time, I never would’ve predicted that I learned one of the most useful skills in my career there: demo-or-die. The culture of “demo-or-die” has been heavily critiqued over the…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Kuri Finds a Skill as Family Photographer
From The Eponymous Pickle
High Dimensional Data Visualization
Good generalized piece. In explaining this idea to decision makers I always point out that in nearly all real problems there are more than three dimensions. How often have you seen a spreadsheet with less than three columns…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Connecting to Customers with Voicebots
A excerpt from Venturebeat, not from a while ago, about connecting to customers via voicebots. Good piece. But as of this time the Google Home calling functionality mentioned has not been delivered.
" .... Some companies are…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
Virginia Tech Transportation Institute Webinar on SHRP 2 Safety Data
On Wednesday, August 9, 2017 from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM ET, the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) will host the first webinar in a series of two that explores ways to use the second Strategic Highway Research Program…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Alexa Disruptive to CPG Retail Brands?
Does this take us back to the old-time, self service store? True we can ask for a particular brands, influenced by advertising, but the quick way is to just ask for the product. Perhaps driven by price or delivery time, but…
From insideHPC
E4 Computer Engineering Demonstrates OpenPOWER Servers at ISC 2017
In this video from ISC 2017, Fabrizio Magugliani from E4 Computer Engineering describes the company's innovative OP205 OpenPOWER server for HPC applications. "Our newest system, OP205 is our most advanced POWER8-based server
…
From insideHPC
Interview: Toni Collis on Improving Diversity at SC17
In this special guest feature, Toni Collis from EPCC discusses her new role as SC17 Inclusivity Chair and a member of the Executive Committee. " As the leading HPC conference in the world, SC can lead the way in reducing any
…