  Many kernel methods suffer from high time and space complexities and are thus
prohibitive in big-data applications. To tackle the computational challenge,
the Nystr\"om method has been extensively used to reduce time and space
complexities by sacrificing some accuracy. The Nystr\"om method speedups
computation by constructing an approximation of the kernel matrix using only a
few columns of the matrix. Recently, a variant of the Nystr\"om method called
the modified Nystr\"om method has demonstrated significant improvement over the
standard Nystr\"om method in approximation accuracy, both theoretically and
empirically.
  In this paper, we propose two algorithms that make the modified Nystr\"om
method practical. First, we devise a simple column selection algorithm with a
provable error bound. Our algorithm is more efficient and easier to implement
than and nearly as accurate as the state-of-the-art algorithm. Second, with the
selected columns at hand, we propose an algorithm that computes the
approximation in lower time complexity than the approach in the previous work.
Furthermore, we prove that the modified Nystr\"om method is exact under certain
conditions, and we establish a lower error bound for the modified Nystr\"om
method.
