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 The Eponymous Pickle
InfraRed FUSION
I see that colleagues Elena and Ed Fullman are featured in the local paper. Best of luck to them." ... Each week Cintrifuse and Cincinnati.com turn the spotlight on a hometown startup - highlighting the activity and stories.…
From Computer Science Teachers Association
Debugging the Gender Gap Documentary
An upcoming documentary by CODE explores the dearth of female and minority software engineers and explores the reasons for this gender gap. A “teaser” of the film is available here: http://www.codedoc.co/about. Take a look…you…
From Computer Science Teachers Association
Inspire kids to create our future: Apply for a 2015 RISE Award
Technology has the power to change the world for the better, but today far too few have access to the education or encouragement they need to become creators, not just consumers. Google knows that pre-university exposure to Computer…
From Computational Complexity
Beyond the Commodity
Back in 2005 I lamented the fact that students viewed computers as a commodity, a tool they use, like an automobile, but have no reason to understand how or why it works. In 2007 I noticed a change, that computers like IBM's…
From My Biased Coin
Biggering
Preliminary course enrollment numbers are in. Our new theory course, CS 125 (rapid introduction to theory), has 32 undergrads and 5 others, for an enrollment of 37. Salil and I had predicted and desired in the 20-40 range for…
From The Eponymous Pickle
MCX Mobile Wallet
In GigaOM: More mobile wallets emerging. Are we finally seeing the major move? Ten years plus since we saw the first presentations from vendors. " ... MCX launches CurrentC, a mobile wallet for Walmart, Best Buy and other…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Understanding Ageing with Calico
Calico Labs:" ... We’re tackling aging, one of life’s greatest mysteries. ... Calico is a research and development company whose mission is to harness advanced technologies to increase our understanding of the biology that controls…
From The Eponymous Pickle
DebateGraph Visualizing Networks of Thought
Brought to my attention again via a connect with co-founder David Price. DebateGraph: " ... DebateGraph is an award-winning, web-platform for visualizing and sharing networks of thought – and opening reasoning and action to…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Intelligence as a Utility
New and will follow." ... Siri’s Inventors Are Building a Radical New AI That Does Anything You Ask .... " ... Viv is a global platform that enables developers to plug into and create an intelligent, conversational interfaceLearn…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Math Makes the Internet Faster
From this summer, just taking a closer look:" ... Researchers at Aalborg University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the California Institute of Technology say they have developed software that can make Internet…
From Schneier on Security
Tabnapping: A New Phishing Attack
Aza Raskin describes a new phishing attack: taking over a background tab on a browser to trick people into entering in their login credentials. Clever....
From My Biased Coin
You Can Rename My Family for.....
An interesting article in today's Crimson about the background to the announcement that Harvard's School of Public Health will be re-named the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, for a $350 million donation. Feel free…
From Schneier on Security
WikiLeaks Spy Files
WikiLeaks has organized the trove of documents about corporations aiding government surveillance around the world. It's worth wandering around through all this material....
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
Call for Proposals: Creating Visions for Computing Research
The mission of Computing Research Association’s (CRA) Computing Community Consortium (CCC) is to catalyze the computing research community and enable the pursuit of innovative, high-impact research. CCC conducts activities that…
From The Eponymous Pickle
On a Robot as Your Boss
Nice article in K@W: The scenario of how robots could be used in close collaboration and real autonomy have been researched. Closing the loop on measures that have been captured for a long time. And just recently the topic'your…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Soft Starfish Robots
More practical that models that use stiff bodies? Unclear, but an interesting play ... " ... The bots undulate and walk using compressed air that is forced in and out of many tiny pneumatic channels running through their limbs…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Whole Foods Accepts Apple Pay
Continuing to follow efficient and secure digital wallet ideas. Here a new development with major players. " ... Whole Foods Market Inc. will be among the first merchants to participate with Apple Pay, Apple Inc.’s new mobile…
From Daniel Lemire's Blog
Referendums and sovereignty
In a few weeks, the Scots will get to vote to determine whether Scotland becomes its own country. As a middle aged Quebecker, I spent much of my youth hearing about the separation of Quebec from Canada. We had two referendums…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Classic AI Resources Online
I see that Georgia Tech is offering a new course on AI and Cognitive systems. And one of the books of readings is available free online. This is the same book we used in the 90s. Excellent resource. Artificial Intelligence…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Disruptive Innovation and Market Leaders
In Knowledge@Wharton: How does disruptive innovation effect market leaders? Not unexpected results, will be interesting to see some numbers." ... a study soon to be published in Management Science discovered that disruptive…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Advanced Analytics in Insurance
Article from McKinsey: " ... Advanced analytics can transform how insurers do business, but realizing its potential requires complex, large-scale organizational changes. ... Actuaries using advanced math and financial theory…
From Schneier on Security
Safeplug Security Analysis
Good security analysis of Safeplug, which is basically Tor in a box. Short answer: not yet....
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Fun With Code Monkeys
In industry demos I have worked on over the years the people who enter code as part of a demo, usually with someone else explaining what they are doing, are referred to as “code monkeys.” It’s all in fun and taken with humor.…
From Schneier on Security
Wi-Fi Jammer
A device called Cyborg Unplugged can be configured to prevent any Wi-Fi connection: Oliver notes on the product's website that its so-called "All Out Mode" -- which prevents surveillance devices from connecting to any Wi-Fi network…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Machine Learning Future
Interview with machine learning expert David Blei. " ... I think that one of the next breakthroughs in modern machine learning and statistics will involve observational data. Previously, machine learning has focused on prediction…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Moving Portraits
In CACM: Augmentation to storytelling? A Vimeo demonstration.We present an approach for generating face animations from large image collections of the same person. Such collections, which we call photobios, are remarkable…
From Gödel's Lost Letter and P=NP
A Challenge From Dyson
A reversal question Freeman Dyson celebrated his birthday last December. He is world famous for his work in both physics and mathematics. Dyson has proved, in work that was joint with Andrew Lenard and independent of two others…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Can I Look That Up?
The other day a student wanted to add something to a program using functionality we had not covered in class. His question to me was “Can I Google how to do that?” I resisted telling him to use Bing and just said “sure.” I want…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Visual Control of Big Data
Visual Control of Big Data - MIT Very interesting new development." ... The Database Group at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory has released a data-visualization tool that lets users highlight aberrations…
From Computational Complexity
A Statistical oddity ?
I keep a list of people that are famous-to-me that are old so that if someone dies I won't be surprised. When Lauren Bacall died recently I (1) knew who she was, AND (2) knew she wasn't already dead. I DO NOT look at lists…