Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
September 2010
From The Female Perspective of Computer Science
CompSci Woman: Technology is Women's Work
Have you seen the new CompSci Woman blog yet? No? Well get over there and check it out! And better yet, if you happen to be female and have any kind of computer science background, consider contributing to the blog as well.IBehind…
From Wild WebMink
? Transparency: Wrong and Right
The fishy mandate of ACTA If you thought there was something fishy about the European Commission engaging in secret negotiations at ACTA behind the backs of the European Parliament and against the interests of Europe’s digital…
From Schneier on Security
Parental Fears vs. Realities
From NPR:
Based on surveys Barnes collected, the top five worries of parents are, in order:
- Kidnapping
- School snipers
- Terrorists
- Dangerous strangers
- Drugs
From The Eponymous Pickle
Will the Smartphone be the Computer?
In Gigaohm: A question I have been asking myself for a few years. Will the computer of the future be the little device we carry around today? True, the keyboards are now too cramped, and the display is often too small. But both…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Visualizations and Sorting
I love visualizations. One of my all time favorites are the programs that show how different sorting algorithms work. I was reminded of this by a recent post by Stacey Armstrong (CS News
From The Eponymous Pickle
Nike IPhone Running App
You may remember much earlier in the days of the Web Nike had experimented with this idea, but without Apps or GPS. Our New Business Deveopment team talked to them at the time to see if we could accomplish something similar.…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Review and Advertising Policy
Readers, Publishers, Vendors,I have had an increasing number of requests to have advertising links placed in this blog.In general I do not take advertising that does not have some relationship to my blog topics. You can get a…
From BLOG@CACM
Why Peer Review Matters
At the most recent Snowbird conference, there was a plenary session during which the panelists and audience discussed the peer review processes in computing research, especially as they pertain to a related debate on conferences…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Study Habits
A good piece in the NYT Views on study habits. Are people left brain vs right brain? Visual versus analytical learners? This is important not only for kids in school, but also for corporate training, teaching consumers with marketing…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Robotics Newsletter
NASA has a new robotics newsletter, via IEEE. In the most recent edition they point to a piece by Marvin Minsky on Telepresence. We met with Minsky and read lots of his works in the late 80s while working with artificial intelligence…
From The Female Perspective of Computer Science
Back to School (If You Ever Left)
Today is the first official day back to school, even though classes don't start until Thursday. I used to get very excited about this new beginning, but lately I haven't had the opportunity to enjoy it. That's because I never…
From The Eponymous Pickle
IPad Review by Small Biz Labs
The Small Business Labs blog looks at and and reviews the IPad from the perspective of the small business. In particular about its value as a means to consume rather than construct information. I understand there will soon be…
From Computational Complexity
How to Write Up Major Results
First some conference news: FOCS conference and hotel registration available on line, early deadline is September 30. STOC 2011 website is up with the CFP, deadline November 4. For more news follow the SIGACT Twitter or Facebook…
From Schneier on Security
Consumerization and Corporate IT Security
If you're a typical wired American, you've got a bunch of tech tools you like and a bunch more you covet. You have a cell phone that can easily text. You've got a laptop configured just the way you want it. Maybe you have a Kindle…
From Wild WebMink
links for 2010-09-07
Fair, Reasonable And Non-Discriminatory…Ain't Good pointer here by Glyn to an action we can take to check the effects of pro-patent lobbying in Europe. He misses a trick when he doesn't point out that even RF licensing of patents…
From The Noisy Channel
Slouching Toward Creepiness
One of the perks of blogging is that publishers sometimes send me review copies of new books. I couldn’t help but be curious about a book entitled “The Man Who Lied to His Laptop: What Machines Teach Us About Human Relationships“–especially…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Clean Water for a Billion People
Our enterprise did considerable work in clean water projects, and won an Amex competition on delivering clean water. I acted as an analyst for the World Bank on a prize that included clean water project funding. This post in…
From Apophenia
How Censoring Craigslist Helps Pimps, Child Traffickers, and Other Abusive Scumbags
[Originally posted at Huffington Post] For the last 12 years, I’ve dedicated immense amounts of time, money, and energy to end violence against women and children. As a victim of violence myself, I’m deeply committed to destroying…
From Wild WebMink
URGENT: Has Your MEP Signed The ACTA Written Declaration?
Here is a list of MEPs for UK constituencies. As of now, none of these MEPs has signed the Written Declaration on ACTA.It’s entirely possible one of them is representing you – or rather, failing to do so. Since we now only need…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Debating a Signaling Model of Education
In the enterprise we used to talk about how many people joined our company simply to 'get their ticket punched'. Based on my own conversations with some people this was very true ... in the case of some people from the very first…
From Daniel Lemire's Blog
How reliable is science?
It is not difficult find instances of fraud in science: Ranjit Chandra faked medical research results. He pocketed the money meant for running the experiments. Woo-suk Hwang faked human cloning, among other terrible things. Jan…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Doodling at Google
From Computer Science Teachers Association
CS Lessons From Facebook
As teachers, we are continually faced with the chicken-egg dilemma. Beginning computer scientists need to start with small, manageable problems in order develop foundational skills. However, these toy applications are not always…
From Putting People First
Experientia to redesign United Nations website
Experientia, the international experience design consultancy based in Turin, Italy, will be designing the new website of the training arm of the United Nations’ International Labour Organisation (ILO). The International Training…
From Schneier on Security
Terrorism Entrapment
Back in 2007, I wrote an essay, "Portrait of the Modern Terrorist as an Idiot," where I said:
The JFK Airport plotters seem to have been egged on by an informant, a twice-convicted drug dealer. An FBI informant almost certainly…From Wild WebMink
links for 2010-09-06
The VC-free startup The trend for VC-free startups is strong, and Dale's article makes for interesting reading. ForgeRock is another example of a VC-free startup, and I'd say we fit Dale's profile pretty well. This is not to…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Putting People First
A good blog on Futures and Design: Daily Insights on User Experience Design and People Centered Innovation. From Experientia, a global experience design consultancy, based in Italy,
From The Eponymous Pickle
GS1 Mobile Comm Resource
I have been recommending the GS1 Mobile Comm space and newsletter as an excellent source of information about mobile retail development for some time. We have been members for many years. Their newsletter contains whitepapers…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Interesting Links 6 September 2010
Happy Labor Day! Well here in the US anyway. Technically a public/work holiday and I do plan to spend most of it relaxing. Unless my wife has other plans that is. I spent yesterday doing some early fall yard work for example.…
From BLOG@CACM
Simple HPC Wins
You want to be the first person to design a successful, transistorized computer system, not the last person to design vacuum tube computer. Any designer's challenge is to pick the right technologies at the right time, recognizing…