Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
September 2011
From Daniel Lemire's Blog
Two 32-bit hash functions from a 64-bit hash function?
A few years ago, we worked on automatically removing boilerplate text from e-books taken from the Project Gutenberg. In this type of problem, you want to quickly identify whether a line of text is likely part of the boilerplate…
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
Hill Tech Happenings, Week of September 26
Budget issues should dominate what little time Congress intends to spend in town this week. September 26 Hearing: The House Science, Space and Technology Committee will hold a field hearing on science, technology, engineering…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
NSF
The following is a special contribution to this blog by Krishna Kant, a Program Director in the Division of Computer and Network Systems (CNS)
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Interesting Links 26 September 2011
Autumn has technically arrived in New Hampshire. The leafs are starting to turn but the weather has stayed a bit unseasonably warm. Even still school is in full swing all across the US and my little part of the world is no exception…
From Schneier on Security
Tor Arms Race
Iran blocks Tor, and Tor releases a workaround on the same day.
How did the filter work technically? Tor tries to make its traffic look like a web browser talking to an https web server, but if you look carefully enough youcertificate…From The Eponymous Pickle
Accent Monitoring
Some interesting disparate takes on accent neutralization efforts. Having been involved in several content analysis projects, this strikes very true. Different pronunciations do result in different meaning and emotions being…
From The Eponymous Pickle
When a Market Fails
Useful thoughts here: Behavioral economist Dan Ariely discusses in a video chapter 8 from his excellent book: Upside of Irrationality. When a Market Fails: An example from Online Dating. Note also the link to the IKEA effect…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Super Wi-Fi
In Technology Review: Will it live up to the expectations of increased range and capacity?
From The Eponymous Pickle
Being Relaxed Makes You Spend More
Relaxation and spending. " ... Why does relaxation turn us into spendthrifts? When we feel safe, we are better able to fully focus on the potential rewards at stake. Instead of worrying about price, we can contemplate the advantages…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Unleashing the Power of Digital Signage
A book by Keith Kelsen I just discovered: Unleashing the Power of Digital Signage. This was a big topic of the retail innovation center. How do you successfully engage the consumer in the aisle, at the shelf and now, on the…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Big Data is Scaling Analytics
It is clear that every enterprise is scaling up their gathering of data, and especially getting closer to real time acquisition. New sensors in everyone's pocket. This will result in additional real time challenges. Analytics…
From The Eponymous Pickle
A History of the Emoticon
A Brief History of the Emoticon. The transferal of emotional hints remains an important and unsolved issue in electronic communications. I think it needs a further overhaul.
From BLOG@CACM
The Modes and Uses of Scientific Publication
Publication is about helping the advancement of humankind. Let us take this basis for granted and look at the other, possibly less glamorous aspects. Publication has four modes: Publicity; Exam; Business; and Ritual.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Bookworm
A Bookworm interface for an open library. " ... Bookworm demonstrates a new way of interacting with the millions of recently digitized library books. The Harvard Cultural Observatory already collaborated with Google Books on…
From Schneier on Security
Friday Squid Blogging: Sex Life of Deep-Sea Squid
There's evidence of indiscriminate fertilization in deep-sea squid. They mate with any other squid the encounter, male or female.
This unusual behaviour, they said, may be explained by the fact the squid is boosting its chances…From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
Computer Science Education Act Introduced in Both Houses
Yesterday, Senator Bob Casey (D-Pennsylvania) and Representative Jared Polis (D-Colorado) introduced legislation to strengthen computer science education in the United States. Called the Computer Science Education Act (CSEA),…
From Schneier on Security
Man-in-the-Middle Attack Against SSL 3.0/TLS 1.0
It's the Browser Exploit Against SSL/TLS Tool, or BEAST:
The tool is based on a blockwise-adaptive chosen-plaintext attack, a man-in-the-middle approach that injects segments of plain text sent by the target's browser into the…From The Eponymous Pickle
Comparing Neuromarketing and Traditional Market Research
Traditional market research or neuromarketing methods? I have always believed that it is worth thinking of neuromarketing methods as an augmentation of traditional methods. Yet they are rarely compared outside of the corporate…
From The Eponymous Pickle
ThinkVine Gets Forrester Nod
Local company ThinkVine, who I have have talked to now for a number of years, has been a leader in marketing mix and promotion analysis work,using unique simulation methods. I see they were mentioned in the Cincinnati Enquirer…
From The Female Perspective of Computer Science
Research Snapshot for Fall 2011
For those of you wondering what the heck I've been up to lately research-wise, wonder no longer! Here's a snapshot of what I've been working on lately and plan to work on before Christmas (when, as you may know, I will be going…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Marketing Automation
In E-Commerce Times: A good look at what is called marketing automation. Is it science or not? Or just a way to push for attention.
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Computer Science Education Act
One of the big issues with computer science education is that it is not an integral part of the curriculum It is almost always an elective and doesn
From The Eponymous Pickle
Practical Quantum Computing
Getting closer to practical computing. " ... Physicists find quantum versions of both feedback control and classical computer architecture ... "
From Computational Complexity
Mahaney's Theorem
Bill has a lot of posts where he questions whether to teach Mahaney's theorem in a graduate complexity class. Since it is one of my favorite theorems and most of you young folk won't see a proof in your complexity classes, I'll…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
Apply for NSF
The National Science Foundation has issued a solicitation for its East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes (EAPSI), providing U.S. science and engineering graduate students with unique opportunities to explore research in Australia…
From Apophenia
The Unintended Consequences of Cyberbullying Rhetoric
We all know that teen bullying – both online and offline – has devastating consequences. Jamey Rodemeyer’s suicide is a tragedy. He was tormented for being gay. He knew he was being bullied and he regularly talked about the fact…
From Schneier on Security
Three Emerging Cyber Threats
On Monday I participated a panel at the Information Systems Forum in Berlin. The moderator asked us what the top three emerging threats were in cyberspace. I went last, and decided to focus on the top three threats that are…
From Schneier on Security
An Interesting Software Liability Proposal
This proposal is worth thinking about.
Clause 1. If you deliver software with complete and buildable source code and a license that allows disabling any functionality or code by the licensee, then your liability is limited to…From BLOG@CACM
U.K. Students Turned Into Goldfish By Social Networking
On the social networking obsession among U.K. students: It's the very air they breathe.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Sales Motivation With Games
Just received from notable gamification vendor Bunchball. Some nice ideas embedded here, and where better to try gamification than with a heavily extroverted sales team?" ... We are pleased to announce the start of our Beta…