George F. Hurlburt

BYOD: Security and Privacy Considerations

Clearly, there are several important advantages for employees and employers when employees bring their own devices to work. But there are also significant concerns about security privacy. Companies and individuals involved, or thinking about getting involved with BYOD should think carefully about the risks as well as the rewards.

Imagineering an Internet of Anything

Today, the Internet of Things. Tomorrow, the Internet of Everything. Beyond that, perhaps, the Internet of Anything--a radically super-connected ecosystem where questions about security, trust, and control assume entirely new dimensions.

Bitcoin: Benefit or Curse?

The new world of mobile devices offers reasonable likelihood that virtual currency will prevail on a global scale. Currently, the bitcoin crypto-currency model appears to be a forerunner. Bitcoin, a highly disruptive technology, has both supporters and detractors. Nonetheless, in concert with other trends, some form of virtual currency, even if a successor to bitcoin, appears to have a path forward. Virtual currencies will likely gain in stature as other novel, unspecified, and disruptive innovations take hold in a world of increasingly autonomous systems. This department is part of a special issue on mobile commerce.

The Internet of Things: A Reality Check

Today, a new Internet player is rowing more important: things-that is, inanimate objects that can be programmed to communicate, sense, and interact with other things. But will an increasingly fragile ecosystem be able to sustain the amount of power necessary to run all these gadgets? And what other challenges must we overcome to realize a productive and reliable Internet of Things?

Might the Blockchain Outlive Bitcoin

Crypto-currency remains controversial, and Bitcoin, a leading open source initiative to create an alternative form of currency, is at the center of this controversy. Here, the author provides an update to the state of Bitcoin in particular, and examines the future of crypto-currency in general.

Mobile-App Addiction: Threat to Security?

Giving individuals this kind of information processing power, along with unprecedented connectivity, might be the single most impressive technical achievement of the 21st century. Nobody knows what the full impact of this transformation will be, but its clear that our embrace of, and reliance on, cheap and easily accessible information presents unprecedented security implications - the enormity of which we have yet to grasp.

Big Data, Networked Worlds

Big data analytics poses significant challenges for privacy protection. Meeting these challenges requires thinking hard about the increasingly critical role autonomous embedded networks play in all aspects of life.

Complexity Theory: A New Paradigm for Software Integration

Software integration testing has always been problematic, and current methods are becoming even less practical given todays networked software components. As the need for a more holistic approach grows, complexity theory presents opportunities for better understanding and testing of software.

The Evolution of Ubiquitously Intelligent Computing

This article reviews the history of computing, discussing important theories that have evolved alongside computers. From this historical backdrop, an outlook for fifth-generation computers emerges.

A Nonlinear Perspective on Higher Education

To their detriment, academic institutions are increasingly stove-piped in highly specialized disciplinary fields, often losing touch with emergent social, cultural, and natural realities.