Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
September 2012
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
“NSF Reshuffling Highlights Global Science”
Science’s Jeffrey Mervis is reporting tonight that the National Science Foundation (NSF) is undertaking a realignment affecting, among other units, its Office of Cyberinfrastructure (OCI): Subra Suresh has been an advocate of…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Smart Homes using Augmented Reality
The integration of sensing technologies to lead to sustainable buildings. A technical paper. A good example of the integration of sensing and focused smart technology.
From Schneier on Security
CSOs/CISOs Wanted: Cloud Security Questions
I'm trying to separate cloud security hype from reality. To that end, I'd like to talk to a few big corporate CSOs or CISOs about their cloud security worries, requirements, etc. If you're willing to talk, please contact me…
From Computer Science Teachers Association
Middle School CS Inspires Medical Breakthrough
This is why middle school CS is a vital step in the path of a comprehensive K-12 CS education!
Brittany Wegner, 17, took the grand prize in this year's Google Science Fair using artificial intelligence she first learned about…From Putting People First
Ubicomp’s colonial impulse
Paul Dourish and Scott Mainwaring, the founders of the Intel funded Social Computing Research Center at UC Irvine, presented yesterday a paper at Ubicomp 2012 with the short but bombshell title “Ubicomp’s Colonial Impulse” (pdf)…
From The Female Perspective of Computer Science
Anita's Quilt Launches Today
I'm excited to announce that a project I've been working on all year with some awesome women from the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology is launching today! We believe a personal story has the power to inspire, transform…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
New IOM Study Emphasizes Role of Computing in Improving Health Care
Moments ago, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies released what promises to become a landmark study — Best Care at Lower Cost: The Path to Continuously Learning Health Care in America – comprehensively laying…
From Putting People First
The new face of digital populism: The Netherlands
Ahead of next week’s Dutch election, the UK think tank Demos launched Populism in Europe: Netherlands, which analyses the rise of Geert Wilders’ Partij voor de Vrijheid, through an analysis of its Facebook fans. Nationalist populist…
From Putting People First
Marko Ahtisaari, “Nokia’s visionary,” wants to “out-design Apple”
Marko Athisaari, Nokia’s head of design, is pushing a general overall vision where advanced function is blended into unforgettable form¿post-industrial form. The dream, if not the exact language, is very familiar. Nokia is marketing…
From Computational Complexity
The Time of Research
Among the many conference/journal discussions, one systems person said the reason they don't publish in journals is that their work is very dependent on current technology. A few years in the future the technology will change…
From Putting People First
Intel annual ‘Mobile Etiquette’ study examines online sharing behaviors around the world
According to a recent multi-country study commissioned by Intel Corporation and conducted by Ipsos Observer on “Mobile Etiquette,” the majority of adults and teens around the world are sharing information about themselves online…
From Putting People First
Consumers say no to mobile apps that grab too much data
A study by the Pew Research Center, released Wednesday, found that among Americans adults who use smartphone apps, half had decided not to install applications on their mobile phones because they demanded too much personal information…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
How Sports is Embracing Big Data
We’ve blogged extensively in this space over the last few months about the promise of Big Data science and engineering, including stories describing how very large data sets coupled with predictive analytics capabilities are…
From Schneier on Security
Database of 12 Million Apple UDIDs Haked
In this story, we learn that hackers got their hands on a database of 12 million Apple Apple Unique Device Identifiers (UDIDs) by hacking an FBI laptop.
When I first read the story, my questions were not about the hack but about…From The Eponymous Pickle
Marginal Revolution University
MJ Perry reports on online instruction at Marginal University. Another example of college courses online." ... We think education should be better, cheaper, and easier to access. So we decided to take matters into our own hands…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Developing Digital Strategy
Well thought out piece .in Mashable. " ... When defining and developing strategy, marketers and agencies must ensure that their clients understand that strategy follows structure, it follows people, and it follows an idea. Second…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Supply Chain Book
I was introduced to a new and visually instructive book on optimizing the supply chain: Supply Chain Network Design: Applying Optimization and Analytics to the Global Supply Chain (FT Press Operations Management) by Michael…
From The Eponymous Pickle
New MS Logo
A new logo for MS, also has some links to past logos of Windows. We traveled to Redmond way back then during Windows 1, talked to Gates, who tried to convince our enterprise to use Windows. We didn't right then, but did soon…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Teaching Robots to Improvise
More on robots improvising. An important step.The ones that will ultimately be able to sense. react to and plan for their future under a given set of goals will be most valuable.
From Wild WebMink
It’s Not Just The Hugos
DRM farces are like London buses. You wait for ever, and then several come along at once. After writing my story for ComputerWorld about the blackout of the Hugo awards by a copyright enforcement robot with no concept of “fair…
From Schneier on Security
<i>Wall Street Journal</i> Review of <i>Liars and Outliers</i>
Liars and Outliers (along with two other books: Kip Hawley's memoir of his time at the TSA and Against Security, by Harvey Molotch) has been reviewed in the Wall Street Journal.
From Computational Complexity
Theory Day at UMCP Oct 24
The University of Maryland at College park is having a Theory Day on Wed Oct 24! Come hear
From BLOG@CACM
Designing APIs For Mobile Performance Best Practices
While there are many ways of tackling these unique obstacles of mobile performance, this article is largely focused on things that can be done from an API, or backend service, to improve the performance (or the perception thereof)…
From Schneier on Security
Hacking Brain-Computer Interfaces
In this fascinating piece of research, the question is asked: can we surreptitiously collect secret information from the brains of people using brain-computer interface devices? One article:
A team of security researchers from…From My Biased Coin
But I had to grow bigger. So bigger I got.
First day of lecture for CS 222, Algorithms at the End of the Wire. They stuck me in a classroom that holds 20 comfortably, and 25 or so can be done. I'm pretty sure well over 50 showed up. We're still going through increases…
From Computer Science Teachers Association
"We are the Faces of Computing" Poster Contest Launches
The CSTA is pleased to announce the launching of its student poster contest, "We are the Faces of Computing". For this contest, students are asked to create a poster that highlights the diverse and creative ways in which students…
From Gödel's Lost Letter and P=NP
Thinking Out of the Notation Box
How we cope with overloaded words and symbols src Georg Cantor invented not only the concepts of transfinite cardinal and ordinal numbers, but also the notation we still use for them today. He accented the novelty and grandeur…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
Judea Pearl’s Turing Lecture Now Available on Video
As we blogged in this space last month, Judea Pearl – winner of the 2011 ACM A. M. Turing Award ”for fundamental contributions to artificial intelligence through the development of a calculus for probabilistic and causal reasoning”…
From Computational Complexity
Should we learn from the Masters or from the Pupils?
The following is a paraphrase of a comment at the end of the Suggested Readings section of Spivak's calculus book: Abel remarked that he attributed his profound knowledge of mathematics to the fact that he read the masters, rather…
From Wild WebMink
“Fair Use” Robots Are Science Fiction
The black-out of the Hugo Awards by a “robot” that thought the clip of Doctor Who shown just before Neil Gaiman spoke was proof positive of piracy is educational. My article on ComputerWorldUK today explains why.