David Gleich is doing some interesting work; in particular, see his Personalized PageRank paper.

In this paper we investigate the use of Semidefinite Programming (SDP) optimization for high dimensional data layout and graph visualization. We developed a set of interactive visualization tools and used them on music artist ratings data from Yahoo!. The computed layout preserves a natural grouping of the artists and provides visual assistance for browsing large music collections.

Check out the visualization.

Also of interest is this talk on Numerical Linear Algebra for Data and Link Analysis.

The World of Music: SDP layout of high dimensional data

This might be of interest, particularly to those who think of themselves as having been "online" "back in the day."

Every field of history has a basic need for a detailed chronology of what happened: who did what when. In the absence of such a resource, fanciful accounts flourish.

This book provides a rich narrative of the early development of online information retrieval systems and services, from 1963 to 1976 -- a period important to anyone who uses a search engine, online catalog, or large database.

Drawing on personal experience, extensive research, and interviews with many of the key participants, the book describes the individuals, projects, and institutions of the period. It also corrects many common errors and misconceptions and provides milestones for many of the significant developments in online systems and technology.

A History of Online Information Services, 1963-1976 - The MIT Press

A new project from the author of Witko.

Who at the NSA uses Gmail?
Which NASA employees are using Myspace/LinkedIn?
Which people in Kabul are using Skype?

This is some interesting code.

He also claims to be working on an automated identity hijacking capability.

Evolution

Open a window onto the world!

This paper analyzes which pages and topics are the most popular on Wikipedia and why. For the period of September 2006 to January 2007, the 100 most visited Wikipedia pages in a month are identified and categorized in terms of the major topics of interest. The observed topics are compared with search behavior on the Web. Search queries, which are identical to the titles of the most popular Wikipedia pages, are submitted to major search engines and the positions of popular Wikipedia pages in the top 10 search results are determined. The presented data helps to explain how search engines, and Google in particular, fuel the growth and shape what is popular on Wikipedia.

What is Popular on Wikipedia and Why?

Unison is a file-synchronization tool for Unix and Windows. It allows two replicas of a collection of files and directories to be stored on different hosts (or different disks on the same host), modified separately, and then brought up to date by propagating the changes in each replica to the other.

Unison shares a number of features with tools such as configuration management packages (CVS, PRCS, Subversion, BitKeeper, etc.), distributed filesystems (Coda, etc.), uni-directional mirroring utilities (rsync, etc.), and other synchronizers (Intellisync, Reconcile, etc). However, there are several points where it differs:

* Unison runs on both Windows and many flavors of Unix (Solaris, Linux, OS X, etc.) systems. Moreover, Unison works across platforms, allowing you to synchronize a Windows laptop with a Unix server, for example.
* Unlike simple mirroring or backup utilities, Unison can deal with updates to both replicas of a distributed directory structure. Updates that do not conflict are propagated automatically. Conflicting updates are detected and displayed.
* Unlike a distributed filesystem, Unison is a user-level program: there is no need to modify the kernel or to have superuser privileges on either host.
* Unison works between any pair of machines connected to the internet, communicating over either a direct socket link or tunneling over an encrypted ssh connection. It is careful with network bandwidth, and runs well over slow links such as PPP connections. Transfers of small updates to large files are optimized using a compression protocol similar to rsync.
* Unison is resilient to failure. It is careful to leave the replicas and its own private structures in a sensible state at all times, even in case of abnormal termination or communication failures.
* Unison has a clear and precise specification.
* Unison is free; full source code is available under the GNU Public License.

Unison File Synchronizer

Is it standard practice to issue a 20-page press release for a new vehicle announcement?

Entering each new season in motorsport, we feel new and fresh ambition, query formally proven recipes for success, and focus on new records and outstanding achievements. And precisely this also applies to the debut of the new BMW M3: Having completed its test cycle with flying colours, the new high-performance sports car from BMW M GmbH is ready and waiting to take over pole position. Indeed, with its superior power, performance and dynamism, the new BMW M3 ensures truly unique sheer driving pleasure of the highest calibre.

The new, 309 kW/420 hp V8 power unit offers enormous muscle and performance at all times. And the aesthetic design of the new car typical once again of BMW M spells out supremacy of the highest standard.

The new BMW M3 sets the foundation for continuing an exceptional career in motorsport. So every enthusiast sharing the passion for supreme performance may be sure that this model is able to master even the greatest challenge on and off the race track. And last but certainly not least, the new BMW M3 offers the supreme standard of reliability and everyday driving qualities so typical of all high-performance cars from BMW M GmbH.

The all-new “heart” of the latest BMW M3 is the eight-cylinder power unit which, through its high-speed engine concept alone, comes with all the DNA of the current Formula 1 engine raced by the BMW Sauber F1 Team. Applying this high-speed concept characteristic of all BMW M power units, the new V8 develops maximum output of 309 kW/420 hp from engine capacity of precisely 3,999 cc. Further equally impressive factors are the engine’s peak torque of 400 Newton-metres or 295 lb-ft as well as maximum engine speed of 8, 400 rpm.

Truly unprecedented, however, is the thrust and pulling force generated through this unique potential, conveying the supreme power of the engine through the variable M differential lock to the rear wheels. Precisely this is why the new BMW M3 is not only outstandingly responsive in its acceleration, but also completely shattering in the way it develops its power: Acceleration to 100 km/h comes in just 4.8 seconds, and the car continues this mind-boggling performance with fascinating consistency all the way to its top speed of 250 km/h or 155 mph, where the engine electronics set an artificial limit to the ongoing power and performance of the new BMW M3.

The New M3

How do the experts solve difficult problems in software development? In this unique and insightful book, leading computer scientists offer case studies that reveal how they found unusual, carefully designed solutions to high-profile projects. You will be able to look over the shoulder of major coding and design experts as they work through their project's architecture, the tradeoffs made in its construction, and when it was important to break rules.

In the space below, I've gathered some pointers you can follow to learn more about the contributors to this anthology.

Regular Expressions, by Brian Kernighan

Karl Fogel, on the Delta Editor in Subversion

Jon Bentley, author of Programming Pearls

Conversation between Tim Bray and Jim Gray

Elliotte Rusty Harold

Michael Feathers on Fit: Framework for Integrated Test; see his paper, emergent optimization in test-driven design

Alberto Savoia, one of the InfoWorld CTO 25: "We want to do for software quality what Google has done for search quality." See Testing Genes, Test Infection, and the Future of Developer Testing:

Some developers are easily test-infected - they take to unit testing like a duck to water. Others need some time and encouragement, but eventually "get it". A third group appears to have immunity to test infection. I invent a test-gene model to categorize these groups and look at its implications for the future of developer/unit testing.

Charles Petzold; here he is on Joan Didion and the play version of “The Year of Magical Thinking”.

Top Down Operator Precedence, by Douglas Crockford

Henry Warren, author of ... [ Read More (1.1k in body) ]

Beautiful Code: Leading Programmers Explain How They Think

The shift is on ...

In another step from its roots selling telecommunications hardware, Cisco Systems Inc. has agreed to buy videoconferencing company WebEx Communications Inc. for $3.2 billion in cash.

This is being covered widely ... some people are still misreading it as a move into content. A case in point, from the Chicago Tribune:

The San Jose-based company has recently made a number of acquisitions branching out from its core business of supplying networking gear and into communications, social networking and other areas that help drive traffic over the network and increase demand for its core equipment.

Cisco will tell the street whatever it thinks it wants to hear. But this notion of driving demand for routers is a total misreading of the strategy. These moves are really about context. As Paul Saffo said 13 years ago:

It is not content but context that will matter most a decade or so from now. The scarce resource will not be stuff, but point of view.

The future belongs to neither the conduit or content players, but those who control the filtering, searching, and sense-making tools we will rely on to navigate through the expanses of cyberspace.

So, you see, Cisco is getting into the point of view business.

Other coverage:

... furthering its push beyond its core market for networking gear and into business communications ...

Cisco's takeover of Scientific-Atlanta was intended to increase its ability to deliver content directly to the homes of consumers.

... acquired IronPort Systems, a maker of antispam and antivirus security products.

"As collaboration in the workplace becomes increasingly important, companies are looking for rich communications tools to help them work more effectively and efficiently," Charles H. Giancarlo, Cisco's chief development officer, said in a statement. "The combination of Cisco and WebEx will deliver compelling solutions accelerating this next wave of business communications."

So what's WebEx got that Cisco wants? It aids Cisco in a battle with Microsoft in the growing market for what's known as unified communications ...

They are battling for control of enterprise communications.

... analysts say IBM likely was interested, too.

Cisco may be looking to acquire companies that specialize in customer relationship management or mobile communications.

Cisco to buy WebEx for $3.2 billion

I was standing among a crowd of radical Serbs in front of the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade last week when it dawned on me: As a futurist, things are really going my way!

Bruce Sterling rants annually at SXSW. You can listen to it, check out some of the live-blogging, or, if you're really pressed for time, just scan the highlights:

The new third world is common space peer production: it is a new thing (not communism, not capitalism). It is not for profit conglomerate activity.

Someone is making your business into a social-based peer system where laborers are doing better work than an industry without really working.

The downside of folk culture is that is for hicks.

Blogs are a passing thing. Most interesting blogs are platforms for development.

So what are you developing?

I would present this more as, blogs will recede from being first-class entities that you visit, acknowledge, confront, etc.

What it takes to build a third kind of production system: ...

His list here is good, and so on point.

Technology Review also offers a digest, with some quotes.

Bruce Sterling Rants: My Dot-Green Future Is Finally Arriving

From a three-step analysis of online communities, a set of five heuristics emerged: interactive creativity; selection hierarchy; identity construction; rewards and costs; and, artistic forms. These heuristics were generated from concepts appearing in past research, and then tested by a content analysis with focus groups using the case examples of two well-developed Web-based communities, Facebook and MySpace. The users saw this type of social technology as a flexible form of their own expression to create their own identities, social relationships, and meanings. Overall, MySpace was seen as offering greater creativity and artistic form than Facebook. The users in this study used online communities for gaining social rewards; e.g., forming and maintaining friendships, with little concern for social costs such as time expended or privacy concerns. This study contributes to a set of heuristics that can be used to evaluate other Web-based online communities in social contexts such as gaming, communities of practice, and business.

How does MemeStreams stack up?

Five heuristics for designing and evaluating Web-based communities