Towards A Semantics Of Phish
Hilarie Orman, Purplestreak
03/07/2013
Phishing constitutes more than half of all reported security incidents on the Internet. The attacks cause users to erroneously trust websites and enter sensitive data because the email notifications and the website look familiar. Our hypothesis is that familiarity can be defined formally using history data from the user's computer, and effective presentation of the data can help users distinguish phishing messages from trustworthy messages.
I Have An Idea To Start The Perfect Business
Merith Weisman & Lomesh Shah
03/14/2013
Google, Facebook, Instagram, Groupon, LinkedIn - the financial successes of most of these companies gets us all inspired to go and start our own company. So what does it really take to take an idea to a profitable business? Let's talk about the process and the not so sexy grunt work that will lie ahead. We will examine the skill sets needed and why the not fun but required Accounting basics course or that really boring Organizational Behavior course will suddenly come in handy. We will examine the role of the team and the often lonely path most entrepreneurs will take in their quest for success.
To Solve The "Memory Misery" Silicon Cognitive Memory Is Moving Toward Biological Architecture
Anne Menendez & Guy Paillet, Cognimem
03/28/2013
So far, mainstream computer architecture has been centered around fast processors accessing memory locations at high speed but only one at a time. Multicore processors do somewhat better but bang on the wall of single pipe access and/or task distribution and synchronization. Procedural computing has progressed far, especially thanks to storage and communication innovations. It is spectacular that most of computers today still use sixty-year old paradigms (think ENIAC) with the "fetch/decode/execute model". IBM, which was a partner in developing the ZISC, ancestor of the Cognitive Memory that we are introducing, has recently re-embraced the Cognitive Computing approach. In Cognitive computing the information is stored into each memory node as in procedural computing, but instead of being a "submissive memory" waiting being visited by the processor(s), the Cognitive Memory reacts to a query or stimulus which is disseminated to all memory nodes or neurons in parallel. While certain neurons of the biological systems are hardwired and procedural in nature at birth (such as breath, heartbeat, etc.) the neo-cortex is a very large parallel database which is built during our lifetime and whose neurons react to queries or "auto-queries" (chain reaction of thinking) and indeed external stimuli by the senses.
Understanding The Problem Before Developing The Software
Todd Ziesing, Terrace
04/04/2013
A great software release intuitively solves a problem. Your software release will be pedestrian if you aren't able to transform the problem into a simple and efficient user experience. Many engineers focus on learning the syntax and design patterns of the technologies they use to create new software. Programming languages, database designs, interfaces, and security typically consume the average engineer. To be a great engineer you need to move beyond technology syntax. A great engineer spends significant time learning the problem and understanding behaviors of the typical user. Learning the problem and transforming that knowledge into an active, intuitive user experience often requires more time than actually designing and developing the solution. In this talk we plan to present a fast, effective and engaging method to learning the problem, transforming this knowledge into actionable media (e.g. use cases, activity diagrams, site maps, user interface mock ups, etc.) and discuss some of the pitfalls you may encounter along the way. Join us and learn a few very important techniques to gather requirements and transform them into a rich and engaging design.
Typography For Hackers
Scott Stanfield, Vertigo
04/11/2013
Most programmers give careful consideration to only one typeface: their monospaced editor font (mine is Monaco). However, the opportunity to affect readability and legibility on a day-to-day basis is more than the designers’ burden. If you write code, it should be yours as well. Regrettably, the computerized democratization of typography led to missing-cat posters in Comic Sans, cafe menus in Papyrus and everything else in Times Roman. As computer scientists, you will have the good fortune to work side-by-side with graphic designers throughout your career. Here's a chance to learn a little bit about their craft.