Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
August 2021
From Gödel's Lost Letter and P=NP
P vs NP Proof Claims
Ken Ribet once was sent a freebie book that he looked at and decided he didn’t want, so took it to a second hand bookstore on his lunch break, sold it, and bought lunch with the proceeds. On the way back to the math department…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Robots Doing the Kitchen Labor
Intriguing to see where this is going, a close observer of process details and their improvement. Opportunity is to do this right now.
Amid the Labor Shortage, Robots Step in to Make the French Fries
The Wall Street Journal,…From The Eponymous Pickle
Deriving Equations from Sensor Data
Heres an interesting thing, a kind of algorithm synthesis to do AI with? Reading, Warning: Technical. Note, this is research, but I am intrigued.
Deriving Equations from Sensor Data Using Dimensional Function Synthesis Communications…From The Eponymous Pickle
Towards Workforce Ecosystems
The Future of Work Is Through Workforce Ecosystems
Workforce ecosystems can help leaders better manage changes driven by technological, social, and economic forces.
Elizabeth J. Altman, David Kiron, Jeff Schwartz, and Robin Jones…From The Eponymous Pickle
How did the Pandemic Change Internet Traffic?
And how might that change in future pandemics? Implications? Could we detect events that effect the internet this way? Look at the Internet and the Pandemic as two experiments that have escaped into the wild. Can we model…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Stanford Internet Observatory
Brought to my attention:
A program of the Cyber Policy Center, part of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies ...
The Stanford Internet Observatory Turns Two
SIO releases its two year…From The Eponymous Pickle
Apple to Detect Child Abuse Crimes in Photos, iCloud, Messages
Bruce Schneier article on the inclusion of a backdoor is interesting. He makes the case, as he often does that any backdoor type of inclusion might readily be abused by police or government. The case of the use of locked"…
From Putting People First
[Book] A City Is Not a Computer
![[Book] A City Is Not a Computer](/system/assets/0000/1953/030209_Vanderbeeken_Mark_250.small_square.jpg?1476779420&1260281963)
A bold reassessment of "smart cities" that reveals what is lost when we conceive of our urban spaces as computers.
From insideHPC
Cambridge Quantum Part of Team Claiming Blockchain Defense against Quantum Security Threats
UK-based Cambridge Quantum is part of a troika that has announced a defense against quantum computing-based security threats to blockchain networks. A project team comprised of developers from CQ, along with the Inter-American…
From insideHPC
LLNL Names Bradley Wallin to Lead Weapons and Complex Integration
Aug. 10, 2021 — Bradley Wallin has been named Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL’s) principal associate director (PAD) for Weapons and Complex Integration (WCI), Lab Director Kimberly Budil announced today. In this…
From Putting People First
COVID-19’s psychological burden is associated with antisystemic attitudes and political violence
Research in US, Denmark, Hungary and Italy suggests that the ongoing pandemic places many countries at an increased risk of political unrest. The violence that marked some of the 2020 demonstrations was likely a manifestation…
From Universal Acceptance Steering Group
UASG Adds Spam Filter Testing to Evaluation of Internationalized Email Support Among Global Systems
By the Email Address Internationalization (EAI) Working Group The UASG’s most recent evaluation (UASG030A), conducted by Standcore LLC, has expanded testing of Email Address Internationalization (EAI)-readiness among global email…
From My Biased Coin
Queues with Small Advice
I have had papers rejected, with comments of the form that the results seem too easy, and are at the level of a homework assignment. Generally, I think these reviewers miss the point. The fact that the results seem easy may…
From Schneier on Security
Cobolt Strike Vulnerability Affects Botnet Servers
Cobolt Strike is a security tool, used by penetration testers to simulate network attackers. But it’s also used by attackers — from criminals to governments — to automate their own attacks. Researchers have found a vulnerability…
From Schneier on Security
Apple Adds a Backdoor to iMesssage and iCloud Storage
Apple’s announcement that it’s going to start scanning photos for child abuse material is a big deal. I have been following the details, and discussing it in several different email lists. I don’t have time right now to delve…
From insideHPC
DOE to Fund $37M to Small Businesses for Climate, Energy and Scientific R&D
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced a plan to provide $37 million for small businesses pursuing climate and energy research and development (R&D) projects as well the development of advanced scientific instrumentation…
From insideHPC
NCSA’s Katz Named Steering Committee Chair of Research Software Alliance
ReSA, the Research Software Alliance has named as its inaugural Steering Committee chair Daniel S. Katz, chief scientist at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications and Research Associate Professor in Computer Science…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Deere for Autonomous Agriculture
Deere connection could push Farm, agriculture use of robotics
John Deere Doubles Down on Silicon Valley and Robots By Wired
John Deere recently announced that it would acquire Bear Flag Robotics, a Silicon Valley startup that…From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
Open Searches for NSF CISE Division Directors
The following is a letter to the community from Margaret Martonosi (Assistant Director) of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate of Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE). Dear NSF Computer and Information…
From Putting People First
Fake news and conspiracy theories as an evolutionary strategy
Danish social scientist Michael Bang Petersen illuminates the evolutionary foundations and social processes involved in the spread of outright falsehoods.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Hospital Security Bug
Seems a considerable issue, with broad ransomware target. How many other targets like this exist?
Security Bug Affects Nearly All Hospitals in North America
TechRadar, Anthony Spadafora, August 2, 2021
Researchers at security…From The Eponymous Pickle
China Tech Giants Driving Africa
Had seen other indications of this,
Huawei, Kunlun and China’s tech giants drive a quiet revolution in Africa’s fintech with mobile payment apps and wallets in SCMP
One of Africa’s biggest mobile wallets is M-Pesa, established…From Putting People First
The drive for privacy and the difficulty of achieving it in the digital age
People care and act to manage their privacy, but face steep psychological and economic hurdles that make not just desired, but also desirable privacy nearly unattainable. Approaches to privacy management that rely purely on market…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative
Given the destructive results from ransomware and cyberattacks, makes much sense to combine efforts both governmental and private company here. See the links to it below to follow efforts. Like the idea of coordinating efforts…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Protect Against BlackMatter Ransomware Before It’s Offered
Somewhat unclear the breadth of what is being offered, but interesting.
Protect Against BlackMatter Ransomware Before It’s Offered
Insikt Group
Editor’s Note: The following post is an excerpt of a full report. To read the entire…From Computational Complexity
Combing two posts: Blankface (Scott Aa) and Is Science Slowing Down? (Scott Al)
(I also posted this to the Less Wrong Website. At least I tried to- I don't quite know if or when it will appear there as its my first post there.)
Some papers result from taking two papers and combining them. Perhaps nobodyThis…From The Eponymous Pickle
Cornell Platform Teaches Nonexperts to use Machine Learning
Like to see this and it can control model implications.
Platform Teaches Nonexperts to Use ML
Cornell Chronicle, Louis DiPietro, July 28, 2021
An interactive machine learning (ML) platform developed by Cornell University scientists…From The Eponymous Pickle
Hearing a Cyberattack
Like the general idea:
Do You Hear What I Hear? A Cyberattack.
Carnegie Mellon University CyLab Security and Privacy Institute
Daniel Tkacik, July 30, 2021
Carnegie Mellon University's Yang Cai and colleagues have designed a method…From The Eponymous Pickle
No AI Tools to Catch Covid Worked?
Failures can be useful if you understand the reason why. Did we learn nothing beyond that? And then, what was the why of not learning anything?
Artificial intelligence/Machine learning
Hundreds of AI tools have been built to catch…From The Eponymous Pickle
Telling the Data's Story
Good thoughts, cant say we ever did this completely, would have been especially useful with the metadata, which tends to me less well understood. In some cases when reviewing data needs with decision makers even the need…