Learn (or teach) fundamentals of computer science, without a computer. Provided as hands-on exercises suitable for children, or even CS-illiterate adults. (If this is too basic for you, go here.)
posted on Apr 10, 2008 - View this thread

If you could use a great big free handbook of discrete math and algorithms, Jörg Arndt's fxtbook wants to be your friend. Plain text table of contents to whet your appetite.
posted on Mar 5, 2008 - View this thread

"That half-destroyed paperwork is a tantalizing secret." The Stasi fostered a pervasive and justified paranoia. And it generated an almost inconceivable amount of paper, enough to fill more than 100 miles of shelves. The agency indexed and cross-referenced 5.6 million names in its central card catalog alone. Hundreds of thousands of "unofficial employees" snitched on friends, coworkers, and their own spouses, sometimes because they'd been extorted and sometimes in exchange for money, promotions, or permission to travel abroad. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Stasi tried to destroy its records. Now, with the help of computer science, the "billion-piece puzzle" is finally coming together. The article is an interesting update on the one featured in this 2003 Metafilter post .
posted on Jan 30, 2008 - View this thread

1982-2007 Pixar's papers on computer graphics
posted on Jan 25, 2008 - View this thread

Courtesy of Daniele Gallifa's Mentegrafica, a video demonstration of Multi-User Interaction using Handheld Projectors. An update to the classic Ghostbusters toy, this set of position-aware hand held projectors lets users share information by shining light onto walls. Some of the smart details in the video include: sharing calendars by overlapping light from two projectors, adjoining projections to create larger screens, and blurring private information when outsiders are nearby. No mention of applicability to first person shooters.
posted on Dec 15, 2007 - View this thread

The shortest-splitline algorithm for drawing N congressional districts. You can seee examples of their unbiased district-drawing algorithm in action compared with the gerrymandered districts drawn by politicians.
posted on Jul 20, 2007 - View this thread

Jeff Hawkins, co-founder of Palm and Handspring, has started a new company, called Numenta, to test his controversial theory of intelligence. Whether you find his theory plausible or not, his book, "On Intelligence" is fascinating. Numenta is attempting to build A.I.s using Hawkins' theory as a backbone. They've developed a software engine and a Python-based API, which they've made public (as free downloads), so that hackers can start playing. They've also released manuals, a whitepaper (pdf) and videos [1] [2]. (At about 30:18 into the first video, Hawkins demonstrates, with screenshots, the first app which uses his system.)
posted on Apr 4, 2007 - View this thread

The University of Washington CSE Colloquium features accessible talks by leading computer scientists and computer engineers from the University of Washington, the region, the nation, and the world, most of which are available as MP3 audio and/or Real/Windows Media video online for free. Personal favorites include talks on quantum computing, de novo protein design, and in silico biology as a smarter way to learn how our genes work.
posted on Aug 17, 2006 - View this thread

Who can name the bigger number? I guarantee you will lose to the Busy Beavers. (No, infinity is not allowed, the bigger infinity is a different game.) The author also debunks in very simple terms the recent story that quantum computers perform calculations without being turned on. My first post and disclaimer: I know the author from our mutual field of quantum information.
posted on Mar 16, 2006 - View this thread

A more efficient microbe genome. A more efficient sorting algorithm. A more efficient keyboard layout.
posted on Aug 26, 2005 - View this thread

Can't Get No Satisfaction - This unassuming essay (it's in a state of half-decay with missing figures) is a fascinating (and accessible) overview of phase transitions in NP systems (it explains those terms). In other words: complex physical systems and difficult problems in computing are related. The seminal paper is here, and this is a list of other essays by the same author (links at foot of page).
posted on Feb 5, 2004 - View this thread

John von Neumann, 1903-1957 . Today may have been the 100 year anniversary of the birth of John von Neumann (some think he may have been born on December 3rd). Along with Alan Turing and others, Von Neumann is one of the contenders for the title "Inventor of the modern computer." Whatever the precise date, it seems worth celebrating with some von Neumannania: 1, 10, 11, 100, 101, 110, 111, 1000, 1001.
posted on Dec 28, 2003 - View this thread

World's first brain prosthesis revealed. Well, first hippocampus replacement at least. If this is not a dead end for science (which I doubt), I am gonna get my soul fully digitalized in 2020, then spreading it on the whole net with some new version of a code-red virus. :-)
posted on Mar 13, 2003 - View this thread

Shaping the Learning Curve Through a Code. Please do not discuss any typical computer science assignment solutions here. You might get a Georgia Tech student an F for inadvertently learning from non-approved materials. I wonder if there are Georgia Tech admin moonlighting for the RIAA?
posted on Apr 16, 2002 - View this thread

Potential forever unfulfilled. Alan Turing was a great scientist and philosopher, though most famous for his work in cracking the nazi Enigma encryption used for communication by their U-boats. Turing, one of the foremost innovators in the field of computer science at its inception, was also a homosexual. Tried and convicted for such acts in 1952, Turing committed suicide in 1954. A bronze statue is now being erected in honor of Turing, even as the research he'd begun in computer science is still incomplete.
posted on Sep 5, 2001 - View this thread

Article on New Scientist about "software that turns everyday language into computer code".
posted on Apr 5, 2001 - View this thread

Apparently, the digitization of all words ever spoken by human beings would take up 5,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes. Or, 5 exabytes. How long will it be before my laptop has that much space?
posted on Feb 23, 2000 - View this thread

Uncle Sam wants YOU to solve the internet's problems. President Clinton announced yesterday that, due to a complete lack of knowledge about the internet, it will cost $2 billion in 2001 to develop anti-hacker secuity. Plus they intend on subsidizing college costs for computer science majors that agree to work for the government. Hey if he'd give me just one million dollars, I'd be able to pay off my school costs and hunt down hackers personally, like Boba Fett.
posted on Feb 11, 2000 - View this thread