Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
March 2011
From Wild WebMink
? Baby Owls
We have owls in the woods around here. I love going to and from the office after dark and hearing the sound of them going about their business (and competing with our cats for mice). A friend of ours put up an owl box last year…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Google Working on Face Recognition App
Have now worked on a number of image recognition applications. And have always noticed the big G working around the edges of this space. Here Engadget describes some of their work in face recognition.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Lessons from Loyalty Marketing on Job Growth
Post from the Burghard group. " ... Eric Canada has studied the impact of existing companies on job growth in communities. His data suggest attraction generally accounts for only 15% of jobs and capital attraction compared to…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Reinventing Analysis With Memory
A quite interesting video series by Saffron Technology, I have mentioned them in this space a number of times. A unique application of technology for the enterprise memory. I had met with them as part of my innovation center work…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
A CIFellow
The following is a special contribution to this blog from
From The Eponymous Pickle
Apps as the New Wallet
Good piece in GigaOm about the continuing march towards the smartphone largely replacing the credit card and the wallet. Covers as well as some of the issues involved. Plus the implications of new kinds of data that can be…
From Schneier on Security
Comodo Group Issues Bogus SSL Certificates
This isn't good:
The hacker, whose March 15 attack was traced to an IP address in Iran, compromised a partner account at the respected certificate authority Comodo Group, which he used to request eight SSL certificates for six…From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Rock Paper Scissors Takes To The Cloud
Rock Paper Scissors is a fun little project I have talked about before (most recently at Heuristics
From The Eponymous Pickle
Mynd: A Thought Cap by Neurofocus
In FastCompany: Thinking Cap: "Mynd" Is the First Dry, iPhone-Compatible, Portable Brain Scanner "Neuromarketing goes mobile with this lightweight, dry, and iPhone- or iPad-compatible new device from NeuroFocus. DiY brain researchers…
From My Biased Coin
Time (for those at state universities?) to switch e-mail accounts
While I've successfully resisted urges to return to blogging, I wanted to point to something. For those who might have missed this, I encourage you to go read William Cronon's newish blog Scholar as Citizen right away. William…
From Geeking with Greg
Latest reading
Here are a few of the articles that have caught my attention recently:
From Wild WebMink
? Switzerland Celebrates Document Freedom Day
How did Document Freedom Day gone for you? If you need a reminder about it, I wrote about why document freedom matters a month or so ago. But I note that in Switzerland there’s been a setback against openness. Read my views over…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Online Degrees: Future Phone View
Anna Miller sends along a link to a good article on the future of phones in her blog. She writes for Online Degree: " ... When we first started Online Degree there were a number of websites which provided encyclopedic reference…
From Schneier on Security
FBI Asks for Cryptanalysis Help
From Computer Science Teachers Association
No More Excuses for Lack of Access
One of the concerns we frequently hear from our members is that administrators and policy makers are not convinced of the need for students to have access to rigorous computer science courses in high school. I think perhaps the…
From Daniel Lemire's Blog
Social Web or Tempo Web?
Back in 2004, Tim O’Reilly observed that the Web had changed, and coined the term Web 2.0. This new Web is made of several layers which enable the Social Web. Wikipedia and Facebook are defining examples of the Social Web. This…
From Putting People First
Service Design Toolkit for the design of public services
Yesterday Brussels saw the launch of the English version of the Service Design Toolkit, which Design Flanders developed together with Belgian consultancies Yellow Window and Namahn. The launch took place at the international…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Educators, Enterprises and Gaming
An HBR post asks when educators will get serious about gaming? The same question could also be asked about when business will become serious about gaming constructs. New generations are emerging with skills and attitudes that…
From Schneier on Security
How Peer Review Doesn't Work
In this amusing story of a terrorist plotter using pencil-and-paper cryptography instead of actually secure cryptography, there's this great paragraph:
Despite urging by the Yemen-based al Qaida leader Anwar Al Anlaki, Karim…From The Female Perspective of Computer Science
The Nicol Challenge and My Latest Idea for Girls, Computer Science, and Games
On a whim, I entered the Carleton Nicol Challenge and was thrilled to make it to the Top 8. I pitched my idea in front of a panel of judges (apparently in Dragon's Den fashion, not that I watch the show). I didn't make theGram's…
From The Eponymous Pickle
GPS Check-ins, True and False
Short piece on the opportunity of using GPS check-ins for disaster relief and location. Nice idea I had been thinking about. But at the same time showing the ease of falsely doing check-ins most anywhere. This was my original…
From Computer Science Teachers Association
Spring is Here!
The calendar has now reached the beginning of spring. With the arrival of the birds singing and flowers blooming also comes eighth graders and high school students choosing classes for the coming school year.
Attracting students…From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
National Science Board Talks
The National Science Board (NSB) held an Expert Panel Discussion on Data Policies at the National Science Foundation yesterday & today, exploring the opportunities and challenges of a future rooted in
From The Eponymous Pickle
RFID Plays Matchmaker
In a previous post I mentioned an RFID name tag being marketing by Wizard Studios that aids in interest match-making at conferences. . Here is more about that idea and its use. " ... RFID Plays Matchmaker at Conferences ...…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Cloud Computing in IEEE Computer
This month's IEEE Computer emphasizes Cloud Computing. A number of useful articles including some freely accessible.
From Computational Complexity
Phillipe Flajolet passed away
Today I read on Lipton's Blog that Phillipe Flajolet passed away (1948-2011). Flajolet worked in Analytic Combinatorics. His book with Sedgewick on the field (see this review) practically defined the term Analytic Combinatorics…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Axatra
Was just introduced to Axatra, a company that develops cloud-based solutions. See their site for more about their custom development capabilities.
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
Frans Kaashoek to Receive ACM-Infosys Foundation Award
Frans Kaashoek, a Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (and a current member of the CCC Council), has been selected as the 2010 recipient of the ACM-Infosys…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Energy Saving IT in Manufacturing
Short HBR piece on smart energy saving in manufacturing at GM. In my own experience in manufacturing, similar things had been done for years. Yet it is good that more of this has been systematized.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Flipping Education
Watch videos at home, then have limited class time for help with a teacher. A TED video. Overall not a bad idea. The social dynamics of teacher and student will change, but we have already started to see that.Yet I am concerned…