Author Archives: admin
Browsers
My friends, my colleagues and students alike know my passion for Apple products (and my parallel dislike for Microsoft ones). My only deviation from total devotion to the iPod-iPhone-iPad-Mac range is due to the iPhone not having a large enough … Continue reading
Fake papers and real conferences
A couple of weeks ago I was refereeing some papers for a conference. Amidst the bunch of regular papers (some very good, some good, some borderline, and some to be rejected), there were two that left me puzzled. They were … Continue reading
How to run a paper mill
Many years ago, while sifting through the shelves of one of my favorite bookshops (Foyles at Charing Cross Road, London), I found out a nice booklet that seemed to be out of place. The book was "How to run a … Continue reading
Speed limits for translation
Last week, I was giving a class in my course on Computer Science for Foreign Languages, when, to justify the use of translation memories as an essential aid for the professional translator, I had to provide some figures about the related … Continue reading
The right price for our personal data
For a long time academic researchers have tried to understand how much people value their privacy, i.e., their personal data in a panorama where information about customers' habits and attitudes is the key to more profitable business. The answers have … Continue reading
A look at GECON 2013
Last month I have attended the GECON 2013 conference. The long name of the conference is The 10th International Conference on Economics of Grids, Clouds, Systems, and Services. Very well hosted by the colleagues at the University of Zaragoza in Spain, … Continue reading
Videogame consoles: a no-profit business
Last week, I was assembling some material for my class in the "Techno-economic analysis of ICT projects" course. I wanted to give my students some real world figures on profit margins in the ICT field. As an appetizer for youngsters … Continue reading
SMS messages on the declining path, or are they?
A few months have passed since Neelie Kroes' tweet announcing chat apps overtaking SMS. It's time to take a thorough look at the phenomenon, and crunch some numbers.
The evolution of Internet traffic
The Canadian company Sandvine releases a very welcome report on the evolution of Internet traffic twice a year. Sandvine is a market leader in network policy control. Though its company mission certainly gives it a vantage point as an observer … Continue reading
