"Thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee," wrote the prophet Isaiah. This phrase has been popping into my mind as I have been following the recent raging discussions over the topic of MOOCs.
November 2012 - Vol. 55 No. 11
Features
I sometimes think that, of all the disciplines, ours ought to be the most effective at adapting to the varied needs of users. For various physical limitations, we really should be able to configure our software to adapt. But the problem persists.
Opinion Letters to the Editor
When Predicting, Start With Humility
In "Don't Feel Bad If You Can't Predict the Future," Peter J. Denning wrote: "Make sure your models are validated and that their assumed recurrences fit the world you are forecasting. Ground your speculations in observable data . . ." Hmm. Who validates the models?
Michael Stonebraker expects a substantial increase in the number of New SQL engines using a variety of architectures in the near future.
Major Update to ACM’s Computing Classification System
ACM has completed a major update of its Computing Classification System (CCS), which has served as the de facto standard for classifying the computing literature since 1964.
With the AEGIS system, the Mars Exploration Rovers can autonomously select, capture, and analyze images using onboard logic.
Disney's Touché project could transform every conductive surface into a touch-control surface.
Forensics experts increasingly use data from digital devices to solve crimes, fight lawsuits, and unravel accidents.
Opinion Privacy and security
The Research Value of Publishing Attacks
Security research can be improved by more effectively sharing what is learned from attacks on information systems.
Opinion Legally speaking
Oracle v. Google: Are APIs Copyrightable?
Assessing the first phase of the trial based on claims that Google's Android platform infringes Oracle's Java-related copyrights and patents.
Opinion Economic and business dimensions
Decentralization Versus Centralization in IT Governance
It's not as simple as you might think.
Opinion Education
Learning to Teach Computer Science: The Need For a Methods Course
A multipronged approach to preparing computer science teachers is critical to success.
Opinion Computing ethics
Societal Implications of the Emerging Smart Grid
Seeking solutions to concerns that go beyond the engineering of the smart grid.
Opinion Viewpoint
Considering new models for educational technology and methods.
Resilience Engineering: Learning to Embrace Failure
A discussion with Jesse Robbins, Kripa Krishnan, John Allspaw, and Tom Limoncelli.
Failures happen, and resilience drills help organizations prepare for them.
Disks from the Perspective of a File System
Disks lie. And the controllers that run them are partners in crime.
Research and Advances Contributed articles
Functional Encryption: A New Vision For Public-Key Cryptography
Decryption keys allow users to learn a specific function of the encrypted data and nothing else.
Research and Advances Contributed articles
Open-source chemistry software and molecular databases broaden the research horizons of drug discovery.
Research and Advances Review articles
The Challenges Ahead For Bio-Inspired ‘Soft’ Robotics
Soft materials may enable the automation of tasks beyond the capacities of current robotic technology.
Research and Advances Research highlights
Technical Perspective: Open Platforms For Computational Photography
A fundamental impediment to the widespread development and deployment of in-camera algorithms is the lack of a clean open architecture for controlling camera features and writing the corresponding real-time processing and viewing algorithms.
Research and Advances Research highlights
The Frankencamera: An Experimental Platform For Computational Photography
Progress in computational photography has been hampered by the lack of a portable, programmable camera with sufficient image quality and computing power. To address this problem, we have designed and implemented the Frankencamera.
Research and Advances Research highlights
Technical Perspective: The Realities of Home Broadband
Buying residential broadband services seems relatively simple: pick among a small number of plans, and then compare similar plans by price. Unfortunately, reality is somewhat more complicated.
Research and Advances Research highlights
Measuring Home Broadband Performance
We present the results from the first study of Internet access link performance measured directly from home routers. Our findings provide a snapshot of access network performance across the United States.
Opinion Last byte
Puzzled: Weighed in the Balance
Many of us have pondered puzzles involving a set of n coins and a balance scale. Here we take a slightly different tack: a set of coins and a balance scale that can tell us which of two sets of coins is heavier or that they are of equal weight.
