Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
September 2014
From My Biased Coin
On Academia vs. Industry.... MSR SVC Closing
I'm one of those professor types that ends up defending the joys of life as an academic versus a career in industry -- some of you who read this blog have probably seen me comment at Matt Welsh's blog or Daniel Lemire's blog/Google…
From Schneier on Security
Terrible Article on Vernam Ciphers
If there's anything that confuses wannabe cryptographers, it's one-time pads....
From The Eponymous Pickle
P&G Looks for Video Innovation
In Adage: " ... P&G Reaches Far and Wide, Including to NASA, to Cut Video Costs ... Space: The Final Frontier for Marketing Procurement? ... P&G casts wide net for ideas to cut $1B from marketing budget ... Procter & Gamble…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
CCC Aging in Place Workshop: Articulating a research vision for technologies that enhance the lives and independence of aging adults
On September 10-11, the CCC co-hosted a visioning workshop focused on technologies that will allow older adults and people with disabilities to “age in place,” remain in their homes longer, reduce health care costs and enhance…
From updated sporadically at best
Experiment: Daily GitHub Checkins
I've been doing a lot of relatively mindless but decently labor-intensive code-related work (colloquially known, especially in the brogrammer community, as "coding bitch work"). I've been building up some web-based case studies…
From The Eponymous Pickle
More About Watson Analytics
More about Watson Analytics, from the recent announcements and presentations. Nicely done by connection Lillian Pierson in Data-Mania.com. Would still like to see more views by data scientists in particular domain areas to…
From The Eponymous Pickle
D2Cincinnati Speaks Digital Marketing
On September 22-23 a number of my former colleagues will be speaking at the D2Cincinnati conference at the Cincinnati HorseShoe Casino. " ... Bringing together the best and the brightest minds in the digital field ... ". "…
From Gödel's Lost Letter and P=NP
Let’s Mention Foundations
Congratulating Dick on the 2014 Knuth Prize Cropped from source Dick Lipton is of course the founder and driving writer of this weblog. He is also a computer scientist with a great record of pathbreaking research. The latter…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Best Practices for ECommerce Conversion
Interesting piece that covers many of the issues and best practices in ECommerce conversion, with associated statistics.
From Schneier on Security
The Full Story of Yahoo's Fight Against PRISM
In 2008 Yahoo fought the NSA to avoid becoming part of the PRISM program. They eventually lost their court battle, and at one point were threatened with a $250,000 a day fine if they continued to resist. I am continually amazed…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Teach APCS–A New Shared Resource Site
A few days ago I was contacted by Christina Cacioppo whose day job is an engineer at a startup but who is also helping to teach Advanced Placement Computer Science. She is involved at a public school in San Francisco throughhttp…
From Putting People First
Why banks need to revamp their user experience
The most interesting things happening in financial services are not happening in financial services, writes Rich Berkman, Associate Partner of IBM Interactive Experience, in UX Magazine. The most useful and powerful cross-channel…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Lego as a Tool for Serious Thinking
Remember looking at this long ago. Not sure how commonly it is used. Small and useful tools for thinking." ... LEGO Serious Play is a way of using LEGO bricks to express feelings and ideas. It is used by adults (mostly), to…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Mining Massive Datasets
Coursera course from Stanford on Mining Massive Data Sets. " ... This class teaches algorithms for extracting models and other information from very large amounts of data. The emphasis is on techniques that are efficient and…
From Schneier on Security
Identifying Dread Pirate Roberts
According to court documents, Dread Pirate Roberts was identified because a CAPTCHA service used on the Silk Road login page leaked the users' true location....
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
Computer Scientist Among the Winners of the 2014 MacArthur “Genius Grant”
The MacArthur Foundation has named its 2014 class of MacArthur Fellows “Genius Grant”, recognizing 21 exceptionally creative individuals with a track record of achievement and the potential for significant contributions in the…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Lying and Ethics
Since I was speaking at a compliance and ethics conference yesterday I have been keenly attuned to the meaning of the terms used by professionals in that area. So is lying ethical ... good? Under what conditions? In …
From The Eponymous Pickle
CPG and E-Commerce
In AdAge: " ... Packaged-Goods Marketers Wade Warily Into E-commerce ... Big Brands Stymied by Executional Strategies in a World Where Online Retailers Control the Consumer Relationship ... " . Also with implications to current…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Apple and Local Search
The emergence of the Apple Watch will likely start to popularize the use of watch displays by the public. How will it influence location plays? In Search Engine Watch:" ... Apple Watch will likely increase the number and frequency…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Identity and Access Intelligence
Gave an invited talk at the SCCE Corporate Compliance conference yesterday in Chicago about compliance analytics. Met a number of new people and saw examples of their work. Here is an example that looked of interest, they are…
From Daniel Lemire's Blog
The week-end freedom test
In an earlier post, I compared life in academia with life in industry. One recurring argument to favour an academic job over an industry job is freedom. Of course, the feeling of freedom is fundamentally subjective. And we have…
From Schneier on Security
Tracking People From their Cellphones with an SS7 Vulnerability
What's interesting about this story is not that the cell phone system can track your location worldwide. That makes sense; the system has to know where you are. What's interesting about this story is that anyone can do it. Cyber…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
NCWIT Aspirations in Computing 2015
The nomination period for the 2015 NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing is now open. If you know a high school woman who is interested in computing nominate her or suggest she nominate herself. This is a great program to…
From Computational Complexity
Maryland Theory Day October 10!
Univ of Maryland at College Park is having a Theory Day Friday October 10. Free Registration and Free Lunch! (there are no economists coming to tell us there is no such thing). For Information and Registration goto here A…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Watson Analytics Announced Today
( More here later )http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/bits/2014/09/16/ibm-offers-a-data-tool-for-the-mainstream-with-watsons-help/" ... Developing technology is one thing; democratizing it is another. The latter involves finding…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Machine Learning for Data Value
In Informs Analytics MagazineMachine Learning for Big Data Value.Yes, big data helps unveil millions of facts about consumer behavior and trends. Leveraging emerging big data sources and types to gain a much more complete understanding…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Why I Retweet Things From Heavily Followed People
I used to think that retweeting something that someone who had a lot of followers tweeted was a waste of time. After all they reach many more people than I do. Plus many of the same people follow both of us so I’d be duplicating…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Macy's Rolls out Biggest Beacon Installation
Location based systems continue to move forward. In ZDNet." ... Macy's rolls out retail's largest beacon installation — Summary: Macy's expects to complete the installation by early fall, just in time for the upcoming holiday…
From Daniel Lemire's Blog
Academia or industry?
I have done three things after my Ph.D.: I have been a (permanent/regular) researcher in a major government laboratory; I have been an entrepreneur in industry (making deals, paying other people); I have been a professor, in…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Mathematica Launches in the Cloud
Now you can run Mathematica in the cloud. " ... In the past, using Mathematica has always involved first installing software on your computer. But as of today that’s no longer true. Instead, all you have to do is point a web…