Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
June 2021
From Putting People First
The end of privacy? Central banks plan to launch digital coins
The great irony is that the revolution that bitcoin set off could be the end of [financial] privacy with the launch of central bank-backed digital coins.
From The Eponymous Pickle
A World of Holograms and Avatars Next?
Would like to see Avatar Holograms again, in fact have seen in many forms over the years. Even formally tested it in the large enterprise. Its got some good specialized applications, but no, not for day to day work and communications…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Windows Update Coming Up: New and Improved?
I was handed a test copy of the first windows OS by Bill Gates, when we represented our enterprises' test of the idea. It was not fully installed at our company for over a year, ever since have worked with Windows at a number…
From The Eponymous Pickle
USAF Autonomous Drone Skyborg Completes First Flight
Will continue to see more of this effort.
US Air Force autonomous Drone Skyborg completes first flight, by Sarah Katz , Tech Xplore
Last month, the United States Air Force successfully test flew an unnamed aerial vehicle (UAV)…From The Eponymous Pickle
AI and Decisions
Good, colorful piece on the who idea of designing decisions. I like the point made especially that 'most decisions are not binary', noting that it is rarely just finding the best decision, at minimum such an endeavor should…
From The Eponymous Pickle
AWS Provides Advanced Location Services
Considerable detail here on the services involved. Makes sense, they are the practitioners now.
Amazon Location Service Generally Available With Routing and Satellite Imagery By Renato Losio in Infoq
AWS has recently announced…From The Eponymous Pickle
Towards Automation
More on business automation.
How Businesses Are Perfecting With Artificial Intelligence by 7wData
Have you heard automation is the new black? And what better automation of a process than using a computer software to performSure…From insideHPC
Tear Down These Walls: How CXL Could Reinvent the Data Center
The move to heterogenous computing will require shifting some ... interconnects to a more performant industry standard interface enabling new capabilities like memory tiers, pooled memory, and even the convergence of memory and…
From Daniel Lemire's Blog
Science and Technology links (June 12th 2021)
We completed the sequencing of the human genome. AstraZeneca’s drug Lynparza cut combined risk of recurrence of breast cancer or death by 42% among women in study. Glycine and N-acetylcysteine supplementation improves muscleContinue…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Exploring Under the Sea with Google Earth
Always appreciated how Google maps has opened Geo exploration and analysis at a remarkable level of detail, to anyone . And below is a reminder that you can do this under the seas as well. This will likely inspire a new generation…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Mining Digitization
Studied mining efforts for a potential application, and can see the direction, especially regards patterns of detection.
Where digitalization is a goldmine, for real by Steinar Brandslet, Norwegian University of Science and Technology…From Gödel's Lost Letter and P=NP
Tardos Is Off With Good Behavior
A call for nominations for her successor In her original orange Éva Tardos’s sentence as Editor-in-Chief (EiC) of the Journal of the ACM (JACM) is coming to an end. She has served almost six years. She will be paroled soon for…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Darktrace Attacks Back with AI Methods.
Recently sent to me DarkTrace. Apparently a means to attack back with AI methods.
AI-powered cyber-attacks: It’s not a fair game
AI and machine learning will soon be used by attackers to increase the speed, scale, and sophistication…From The Eponymous Pickle
Google Reconstructs the Human Cortex
Quite remarkable. Impressive build. Images at the link. A way to connect brain and computer. Browsing is a way to learn about structure, now take it out to function. See the Neuroglancer Browser Interface.
A Browsable Petascale…From The Eponymous Pickle
Criticism of Blockchains and Trust
Here's a 2019 paper/blog post by Bruce Schneier that I read then. Now revisiting the idea of trust and blockchain. Article is usefully critical of blockchain in general, but some good thoughts about elements of trust. Very…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Material Science Continues an Expansion
Consider the value and complexity of multifunctional materials, and how much we are getting from understanding them in detail for design, manufacturing and delivery. Ever new methods for delivering changes in chemistry, physics…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Towards Secure Cloud Computing
Don't know this method, provably it says, reviewing later. Much more technical at the link.
SeKVM Makes Cloud Computing Provably Secure
IEEE Spectrum,Charles Q. Choi, June 7, 2021
Columbia University researchers say they have designed…From The Eponymous Pickle
Autodesk and Digital Twins
Have been connected with Autodesk when it primarily advanced drafting and visualization capabilities, via a number of tools we used. See now that they are working with the concept of Digital Twins, launching the Tandem platform…
From insideHPC
How DOE Scientists Disrupted COVID-19
In early 2020, when the novel coronavirus was gaining momentum but had not yet been named a pandemic, computational chemist Marti Head of Oak Ridge National Laboratory – along with scientists and researchers around the globe …
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Exploring the Ternary Operator
I’ve never had a lot of use for the ternary operator. Until recently, I think I under appreciated it. I Don’t recall ever using it in professional development though that may be largely related to using languages that didn’tIn…
From insideHPC
XTREME-D Announces Technical Alliance with Fujitsu
Palo Alto, California, June 10, 2021 – Japanese HPC Cloud company XTREME-D today announced the formation of a technical alliance with Fujitsu Limited to conduct verification tests of Fujitsu’s PRIMEHPC FX700 on XTREME-D’s high…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Tracking Seabirds with Drones
Interesting environmental capability with links to monitoring seabird colonies with drones.
Keeping a Closer Eye on Seabirds with Drones
Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment, June 8, 2021
Using drones and artificial…From ACM-W supporting, celebrating and advocating for Women in Computing
ACM-W Scholarships Update
Attending conferences in person allows young and upcoming researchers to make meaningful human connections leading to strong collaborations, sometimes life-long ones, and to aspire to be more than they might otherwise do.
From ACM-W supporting, celebrating and advocating for Women in Computing
How does remote work affect early-career women in computing?
A recent survey of early-career computing professionals found that although many people benefit from the flexibility of remote work, many groups, particularly women and minorities, face challenges while working remotely.
From insideHPC
Xilinx Acquires Programming Tools Vendor Silexica
SAN JOSE, June 10, 2021 – Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX), the adaptive computing company, today announced that it has acquired Silexica, a privately-held provider of C/C++ programming and analysis tools. Silexica’s SLX FPGA tool…
From Schneier on Security
FBI/AFP-Run Encrypted Phone
For three years, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Australian Federal Police owned and operated a commercial encrypted phone app, called AN0M, that was used by organized crime around the world. Of course, the police…
From insideHPC
GRC Designates August Data Center Liquid Immersion Cooling
AUSTIN – June 10, 2021 – With the summer months quickly approaching and data center managers increasing efforts to keep their operations cool, GRC (Green Revolution Cooling), the leader in single-phase data center liquid immersion…
From insideHPC
US Launches National AI Research Resource Task Force
June 10, 2021 — The U.S. National Science Foundation and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy today announced the formation of the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource Task Force. As directed …
From The Eponymous Pickle
Smart Speakers and secure environments.
Have often had this objection to smart speakers brought. Here a possible solution.
The Michigan Engineer News Center, Gabe Cherry, June 8, 2021
University of Michigan (U-M) researchers have designed a device…From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource Task Force
The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Office of Science and Technology Policy announced the government, academic, and private sector representatives who will serve on the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource…