Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
September 2013
From The Eponymous Pickle
SAP Sensing Real Time Demand
Press release. Have not examined this yet, but it is of interest. SAP was looking at this forecasting direction over a decade ago. The question always arises: What then is your real-time? The claim looks fairly standard,…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Improving Customer Segmentation
And the further development of customer segmenation. " ... Customer Segmentation Moves into the Fast Lane ... It is a common marketing dilemma: Companies know that targeting their customers with greater personalization and…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Predictive Analytic Evolution of R
Have had a number of talks with industry leader about R and its potential. At least they have heard of it now, but are still nervous about how it fits into their needs, except in the most specialized of circumstances. And how…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
Alessandro Acquisti speaking at next Washington Area Trustworthy Computing Hour
In 2011, the National Science Foundation (NSF) created the Washington Area Trustworthy Computing Hour (WATCH), a series of thought-provoking talks by innovative thinkers with ideas that illuminate the challenges and provide signposts…
From Schneier on Security
Good Summary of Potential NSA Involvement in a NIST RNG Standard
Kim Zetter has written the definitive story -- at least so far -- of the possible backdoor in the Dual_EC_DRBG random number generator that's part of the NIST SP800-90 standard.
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Verizon App Challenge - for middle and high school students
This was posted to the AP Computer Science mailing list. I thought it was worth posting here for people not on that list. Looks interesting.
Introducing the Second Verizon Innovative App Challenge Specifically focusing onVerizon…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Sometimes You Have to Slow Down
I was helping a student today and realized that he’d been “lost” for a while. I was going pretty quickly and everyone seemed to be keeping up just fine. Not this student. And truth be told I had become suspicious that a couple…
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
Library of Congress Announces New Mobile App for Braille and Audio Books
The Library of Congress announced today that its Braille and Audio Reading Download (BARD) system is going mobile with an app for Apple devices now available for download and a forthcoming Android app in development. These mobile…
From Computational Complexity
Crystal Math- What NUMB3RS and BREAKING BAD both get wrong
The TV show Numb3rs had as a premise that a GENIUS mathematician could help solve crimes. Is this true? I rather doubt you need a GENIUS- though of course some prob, state, data mining, the math behind forensics, and a fewCharles…
From Apophenia
eyes on the street or creepy surveillance?
This summer, with NSA scandal after NSA scandal, the public has (thankfully) started to wake up to issues of privacy, surveillance, and monitoring. We are living in a data world and there are serious questions to ask and contend…
From Computer Science Teachers Association
The Purple Voice is Going Green
As I sit down to work on the November 2013 issue of the Voice newsletter, it occurs to me what a significant transformation this issue represents. The CSTA Voice is going green! And along with a departure from nearly 10 years…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
Career Paths Shaped by Computing Innovations Fellowship
Last month, Google announced the recipients of its Summer 2013 Research Awards, and two former Computing Innovation Fellows (CIFellows) were among the winners: Mohit Tiwari and Katrina Ligget. These awards are made to researchers…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Europe and MOOC
European universities start to embrace online teaching and MOOC. " ... Several MOOC platforms have launched this year in Europe, and a consortium of open universities is offering a database of their MOOCs. ... "
From The Eponymous Pickle
App for Oral Health
Procter & Gamble launches an app with Oral-B that promotes oral health. A novel use of the iPhone as sensor through its mic. Available on the iPhone store now. " ... “With sound recognition technology to track how long aThe…
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
USACM Provides Input On Next Version Of Open Government National Action Plan
As part of the Obama Administration’s Open Government Initiative, it released a National Action Plan in September 2011. Based in part on its progress on the first version of the Plan, the government is working on version 2.0,…
From BLOG@CACM
Heidelberg Laureate Forum: Meet Your Role Models
This blog posts highlights two of my favorite moments from the second day at the Heidelberg Laureate Forum. I had the pleasure of speaking with Vinton G. Cerf and Charles P. Thacker, two people I consider to be role models.
From BLOG@CACM
Heidelberg Laureate Forum: Who Invented the Computer?
Comments after the first lecture by Prof. Raj Reddy at the Heidelberg Laureate Forum.
From BLOG@CACM
The First Heidelberg Laureate Forum 2013
The Heidelberg Laureate Forum (HLF) 2013 is an annual event where 200 young researchers get to meet with and learn from 40 Turing Award, Fields Medal, Abel Prize and Nevanlinna Prize winners for a whole week from September 22…
From Putting People First
When does quantity become quality? How to navigate big data
While “Big Data” is causing excitement in the IT and business sector, the practice and concept of data analysis is not unfamiliar to those coming from a UX research background, writes Michael Lai in UX Magazine. The intersection…
From Schneier on Security
Apple's iPhone Fingerprint Reader Successfully Hacked
Nice hack from the Chaos Computer Club:
The method follows the steps outlined in this how-to with materials that can be found in almost every household: First, the fingerprint of the enrolled user is photographed with 2400 dpi…From The Eponymous Pickle
Intellectual Xchange Network
See Chris Herbert's Intellectual XChange Network, been a while since I have mentioned them. I am a member. As a a journalist and expert I have covered conferences for them." ... The Intellectual Xchange Network or IXN is comprised…
From Putting People First
Can Smarter Cities improve our quality of life?
Can information and technology improve the quality of life in cities? That seems a pretty fundamental question for the Smarter Cities movement to address. There is little point in us expending time and money on the application…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Tesco Does Tablets with the Hudl
Reported in the BBC: A remarkable new step, World class retailer Tesco enters the Tablet market. They have been a long time leader in retail technology, but this is a new big turn especially since non technology retail companies…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Intuit Heads to the Aisle with Aislebuyer
Late to this one, but thought I would close the books on my coverage of the in retail-buying system Aislebuyer, developed by my former colleague Andrew Paradise, and mentioned here a number of times. It was sold this past April…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Smart Meters and the Grid
In the WSJ: Learning from the use of smart meters. Very good overview of what they are and the opportunity of their inclusion in the grid system. We participated in related brainstorming sessions at GE's Smart Grid innovation…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Let's Bundle Bloated Big Social
Makes much sense. Was just thinking about this effect. Good discussion to start. While I use Facebook primarily for family and friend communications, many are still using it for business. I use Linkedin for that. It's…
From Schneier on Security
NSA Job Opening
The NSA is looking for a Civil Liberties & Privacy Officer. It appears to be an internal posting.
The NSA Civil Liberties & Privacy Officer (CLPO) is conceived as a completely new role, combining the separate responsibilities…From The Eponymous Pickle
Sponsored Content
In AdAge: How news organizations will work with sponsored content. Sponsored content has existed for a long time. But now it become less clear who is sponsoring the 'news'. Even a very small operation like this blog has occasional…
From Putting People First
Does digital age overcomplicate design?
Alice Rawsthorn, design critic of the New York Times, argues that too many products use complexity to mask their flaws. “Designing self-explanatory products is even more important — and more challenging — in the digital era,…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Big Companies Supporting Startups
For years I worked with startups as part of our innovation centers. They frequently asked us for the potential of funding, support or endorsement of their ideas. Even simply including our name in their list of clients could…