IT Executive news

• Engineering firm uses cloud storage to speed file loads, and then unplugs its MPLS net

  07-09-2016 23:39
  
  Woodard & Curran is a $200 million integrated engineering, science, and operations company based in Portland, Maine, but has offices scattered across the country. Kenneth Danila, Director of Information Systems, recently helped migrate the company to a cloud based storage system from Panzura to eliminate long delays in sharing huge engineering files, and that shift enabled the company to swap out its expensive MPLS network. Ancillary benefits included a painless way to migrate from one clou
  
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• Why quantum computing has the cybersecurity world white-knuckled

  07-09-2016 23:21
  
  As quantum computers inch closer to reality, experts are sweating over their potential to render many of today's cybersecurity technologies useless. Earlier this year the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology issued a call for help on the matter, and this week the Global Risk Institute added its voice to the mix.Because of quantum computing, there's a one-in-seven chance that fundamental public-key cryptography tools used today will be broken by 2026, warned Michele Mosca, co-found
  
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• Intel sells off majority stake in McAfee unit

  07-09-2016 23:13
  Intel is selling off a majority stake in its McAfee unit and turning it back into an independent security company.Intel made the deal with investment firm TPG, which will own a 51 percent stake in the new McAfee company. Intel will own the remainder.As part of the deal, Intel is receiving $3.1 billion in cash. It originally bought McAfee back in 2011 for $7.7 billion -- a deal that caused some industry watchers to scratch their heads.Intel is best known as a chipmaker, but at the time it was als
  
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• This drone development kit can also be an Ubuntu PC

  07-09-2016 22:57
  
  If it's not flying, Parrot's S.L.A.M.dunk can be used to build a PC with Ubuntu's 14.04 OS.S.L.A.M.dunk is a development kit that runs on Ubuntu and the Robot Operating System and can be used to make auxiliary devices for drones. It's essentially a small computer that can be programmed to, for example, help drones avoid obstacles.The development kit itself doesn't have wings, and needs to be attached to a drone and flight controller. Otherwise, the kit can also be used to create robots, said Can
  
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• University of California to send some IT jobs to India

  07-09-2016 22:55
  
  The University of California is laying off a group of IT workers at its San Francisco campus as part of a plan to move work offshore.
  The layoffs will happen at the end of February, but before the final day arrives the IT employees expect to train foreign replacements from India-based IT services firm HCL. The firm is working under a university contract valued at $50 million over five years.
  This layoff may have huge implications. That's because the university's IT services agreement with HCL c
  
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• Election exploits: What you need to know [infographic]

  07-09-2016 22:45
  
  In late August, the FBI warned state election officials about an attack on voter registration databases from Illinois and Arizona.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• Here's how Box has redesigned its entire offering

  07-09-2016 22:36
  
  Wearing a bright red hat embroidered with "Make Software Great Again," Box CEO Aaron Levie took the stage at the BoxWorks customer conference on Wednesday to serve as emcee for the unveiling of massive redesigns and upgrades to the company's cloud storage and content services products. Box's web interface is getting a complete redesign, with new organization, search and preview capabilities. The company is launching a new desktop app to help Windows and Mac users access their files. It's al
  
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• Apple takes iPhone to 7, Watch to 2, headphone jack to 0

  07-09-2016 22:35
  
  Apple executives, including CEO Tim Cook, today rolled out the company's latest smartphones, the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, as well as the company's next-generation smartwatch.
  At the same venue used 12 months ago to launch the iPhone 6S -- San Francisco's century-old Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, a hall where the Apple II debuted in 1977 -- Apple kicked off a two-hour event that was lighter in new products than last year.
  Apple didn't help itself by blowing much of the suspense that remained long be
  
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• US must beef up its cyber muscle, Trump says

  07-09-2016 20:42
  
  The U.S. Department of Defense must pump up its cyber capabilities, including its offense, as part of a huge planned expansion of the military, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Wednesday.Trump, repeatedly criticized in the IT community for a lack of a tech policy agenda, called for new investments in cybersecurity during a speech focused on military programs. The businessman didn't put a dollar figure on the new cybersecurity investments but mentioned them as part of a pr
  
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• What you need to know about the iPhone 7: No headphone jack but dramatically overhauled cameras

  07-09-2016 20:33
  The rumors were true: Apple’s next-generation iPhones, the 7 and 7 Plus, traded the headphone jack for Lightning EarPods. What this means for you: Now there’s one port instead of two. The company is including Lightning-connected EarPods with the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. Apple is also including a Lightning to 3.5mm adapter in the box to avoid causing too much outrage.
  So why that lack of a jack?
  “It’s been with us for a really long time,” Phil Schiller said during Apple
  
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• Google just blew up its all-in strategy for productivity software

  07-09-2016 20:15
  
  For a very long time, Google has focused on building its own productivity software to serve everyone from consumers to massive enterprises, and then locking people into its core experience. That all changed on Wednesday.
  The company announced that it's partnering with Box to let users of the enterprise cloud storage and content services platform edit documents with Google Docs, Sheets and Slides, but keep them stored inside Box.
  It's a vast departure from the company's previous direction, which
  
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• Carnegie Mellon University helps you control your privacy

  07-09-2016 20:11
  
  With the advent of the internet age, controlling your personal data rapidly became impractical without cutting both internet and mobile cords. As internet of things (IoT) and big data technologies proliferate, the ways your data can be collected and processed are expanding even more quickly. And that, potentially, puts users, government and business on a collision course where privacy is concerned.Getting your arms around privacy in the digital age is no simple feat. One of the key issues is the
  
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• Apple Watch Series 2 unveiled with swim-proof capabilities and built-in GPS

  07-09-2016 19:51
  Almost two years after the Apple Watch was first unveiled in 2014, Apple has finally pulled the curtain back on its second-generation smartwatch.
  The Apple Watch Series 2 with swim-proof capabilities and built-in GPS was unveiled during Apple’s event on Wednesday. This new model has a redesigned speaker to make it water-resistant down to 50 meters. Other than that, this updated smartwatch looks near-identical to the first Apple Watch, which was only splash-proof.
  The Apple Watch Series 2
  
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• Security firm faces lawsuit with stock tanking tactic

  07-09-2016 19:49
  
  One security firm’s controversial approach to pointing out flaws in products is facing legal action. On Wednesday, the firm MedSec was hit with a lawsuit after trying to tank a company’s stock.The company, St. Jude Medical, has filed the legal action against MedSec for making false accusations about its products and for conspiring to manipulate its stock.Two weeks ago, MedSec ignited an ethical firestorm when it publicized allegations that pacemakers and other devices from St. Jude M
  
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• iWork now supports real-time collaboration

  07-09-2016 19:31
  At Wednesday’s iPhone 7 event, Apple announced the ability of real-time collaboration for its iWork apps. The feature allows users to work on a Pages document, Numbers spreadsheet, and Keynote presentation at the same time.
  During the iWork demonstration, Keynote was used to show that multiple users were editing a presentation during the event. A Participants list in Keynote showed the users working on the presentation, each represented with a different color.
  Apple said that the real-tim
  
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• What should you do with your .NET apps?

  07-09-2016 19:18
  
  As web and mobile development have become increasingly important, .NET has faced an increasing amount of competition from open source platforms, as well as some confusion over its direction.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• The new Dell Technologies: 6 things you need to know

  07-09-2016 18:38
  
  Dell and EMC have completed their US$67 billion merger to create Dell Technologies, the world's largest privately held technology company. It's a historic day, far from the PC company that sponsored the "Dude, I've bought a Dell" campaign.The new company will sell PCs, servers, storage, networking and software products. It has an impressive list of assets including Dell's PC and servers, EMC storage, VMWare, RSA, Wyse, Force10, and the Pivotal software and Boomi cloud services.Work has started f
  
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• Chase finally signs on with Android Pay

  07-09-2016 18:29
  
  The wait is finally over if you’ve been pining for your Chase cards to work with Android Pay.
  Chase just launched a dedicated site that details which of the many different debit and credit cards can now can be plugged into your Android Pay app. The list includes Chase debit, business debit, Slate, Freedom, and and the various rewards cards the bank offers. To get started, grab your card and follow our guide to set-up Android Pay.
  Even if you don’t use Chase, there’s some good
  
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• Retention, by stages

  07-09-2016 18:09
  
  I am often asked, “What can I do to retain my most valuable IT employees?” And when I respond with, “What are you doing now?” I’m told about training, pay and bonuses, flextime, teamwork, flat organizations, independence, casual dress codes, health benefits, 401(k) matching, profit sharing and free food.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• Consumers have no right to buy a PC without an OS, European court rules

  07-09-2016 18:04
  
  Bare metal buyers beware: PC makers have no obligation to offer you a machine without an OS, the European Union's highest court has ruled.The case dates back to PC prehistory, a time when Vaio was still a Sony brand and Vista was the latest version of Windows.It all began on Dec. 27, 2008, when Frenchman Vincent Deroo-Blanquart bought a Sony Vaio laptop with Windows Vista Home Premium and various software applications installed. Deroo-Blanquart refused to accept the Vista end-user license agreem
  
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• Half of network management systems vulnerable to injection attacks

  07-09-2016 18:01
  
  Cross-site scripting and SQL injection attacks are well-known threats for public-facing Web applications, but internal systems can be attacked as well. For example, about half of network management systems studied had these vulnerabilities, according to a report released today.
  It all comes down to input validation, or lack of it, said Deral Heiland, research lead at Boston-based Rapid7, Inc. and one of the authors of the report.
  Network management systems are in regular communication with the
  
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• 8 keys to ecommerce success

  07-09-2016 17:34
  
  These days, anyone with something to sell, some money and some time can set up shop online. However, building an ecommerce site “is not like the Field of Dreams,” says Danielle Savin, director of digital strategy and digital marketing at LYONSCG, an ecommerce/digital agency. “Just because you build it does not mean that anyone will [come] to your web store.”[ Related: 11 ways to build your online brand ]If you want online shoppers to buy from you, you need to have not jus
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Why I love Blizzard’s WOW Legion companion app for the iPhone and iPad

  07-09-2016 17:27
  
  For the last few days I have been enmeshed in Blizzard’s awesome Legion expansion for World of Warcraft. I hadn’t played WOW in years but I hopped back into the game a couple of weeks before the Legion expansion came out and so far it has been the best World of Warcraft expansion yet.
  So I was very pleased to discover that Blizzard had also released a free Legion companion app for the iPhone and iPad. I had no idea Blizzard was working on such an app, and after hearing about it I wo
  
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• 17% off Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300i Mobile Document Scanner - Deal Alert

  07-09-2016 17:02
  
  The ScanSnap S1300i from Fujitsu is the smallest multi-page double-sided ScanSnap scanner for one-button ease of use at the desk or on the road. Just stack up to 10 pages into the feeder and press the blue button. The S1300i features a powerful set of automated image processing functions including auto skew correction, auto orientation, and auto color detection -- all working behind the scenes so your scanned content looks great without effort. Scan directly to Evernote, Google Docs, Salesf
  
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• CIO travels new path to IT governance at native cloud company

  07-09-2016 16:01
  
  Mark Settle is no stranger to shadow IT. In former roles as CIO of research firm IHS and BMC Software he had to combat employees consuming cloud software without his permission. That's one thing he doesn't have to worry much about in his new role as the first CIO of security software maker Okta, where the IT operating model consists of 150 SaaS applications.At a time when most of Settle's peers talk about getting out of the business of running IT infrastructure and data centers, he's joined a st
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Use reverse engineering to help users set requirements for big software purchases

  07-09-2016 15:55
  
  When buying enterprise software, conventional wisdom says that users are the ultimate source of functional requirements. While this seems logical, it is incomplete because, apart from their pain points, few users know what they want from the software. The question is why does this happen and what can you do about it?Why users can’t articulate their requirements
  While every software selection should start with user interviews, because this builds rapport, most users only know the pain point
  
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• Google showcases massive Chrome battery gains in response to Microsoft diss

  07-09-2016 15:37
  
  Google isn’t one to take a diss lying down—especially if that diss comes from Microsoft. Responding to Microsoft’s tests published in June that showed Edge to be far better for battery life than Chrome, Google ran some tests of its own.
  Lest you think this was just coincidence, Google set up the test in the same way as Microsoft, using nearly identical language. Just as in Microsoft’s tests, Google used two Surface Books running the same video side-by-side. But in the en
  
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• Google Safe Browsing gives more details to compromised website owners

  07-09-2016 15:18
  Google is now providing more information to website owners whose online properties are temporarily blocked as unsafe by its Safe Browsing technology as a way to help them fix the identified problems faster.Google Safe Browsing is a technology used by Google's search engine, the Google Chrome browser, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, and Android to steer users away from websites that host malicious or deceptive content.On the back-end, Google uses robots to scan the web and build a list of websites
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Here’s why the market loves the underdog

  07-09-2016 15:05
  
  Scientists call it the “Underdog Effect” and commoners know it as the story of David and Goliath. Human history is replete with stories in which the little guy beats the big bad guy — these feature in literature, arts, religion, film and politics. Underdogs have always been loved, and their achievements seem fantastic in the face of seemingly insurmountable difficulties.The just-concluded Rio Olympics brought forward some fascinating underdog stories. For example, Joseph School
  
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• New tech can help catch spearphishing attacks

  07-09-2016 13:00
  
  A CEO said that his controller had just received an email, ostensibly from him, asking her to process an urgent outgoing payment.
  Everything about the letter looked legit.
  "It has my display name, spelled correctly," said Kevin O'Brien, co-founder and CEO at Belmont, Mass.-based GreatHorn. "There are no attachments. There's nothing in the email that's misspelled. My signature line was copied from my real emails."
  The text of the email was totally something that a CEO might say.
  "Hi Caitlin," th
  
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• 4 tips to get around resume filtering

  07-09-2016 13:00
  
  You've got all the right skills. Your resume shows a clear progression of advancement through your career, with a long list of accolades and accomplishments. You work well with others, but can excel independently. You've solved problems and increased revenue for your last few employers. You interview well -- or at least you would if you could get an interview.So what's the problem? You might be at the mercy of an applicant tracking system (ATS) and resume-filtering module -- technology that scan
  
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• Review: Google Bigtable scales with ease

  07-09-2016 12:00
  
  To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• iPhone 7: Our staff predictions -- and a Bingo card!

  07-09-2016 12:00
  
  Apple’s annual iPhone event is mere hours away, but the rumor mill has, true to form, been churning busily away for months. So there’s no shortage of information, spurious or otherwise, about the forthcoming announcements from San Francisco.
  And Apple has been a bit more predictable in recent years, hasn’t it? There’s going to be at least one uplifting video presentation with aspirational music playing in the background, CEO Tim Cook is going to use words like “mag
  
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• OPM hack was avoidable, says congressional report

  07-09-2016 08:56
  
  The compromise last year of the personal information of millions of current and former federal employees was entirely preventable, if the U.S. Office of Personnel Management that was attacked had taken the right measures on knowing it was targeted, according to a report set to be released Wednesday by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.“In our report, we are going to show that once we knew that this was happening, we didn’t make the right moves,” said Jason
  
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• Oracle will buy cloud warehouse management applications firm LogFire

  07-09-2016 07:09
  
  Oracle will acquire LogFire, a provider of cloud-based warehouse management applications, with the aim of boosting the features of its supply chain management cloud offering.The Redwood Shores, California, software and cloud giant expects that the addition of the LogFire applications will complement the logistics functionality of its Oracle Supply Chain Management (SCM) Cloud by adding warehouse management capabilities.The financial terms of the proposed acquisition of the Atlanta, Georgia, firm
  
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• Microsoft may finally have its Slack killer

  07-09-2016 02:45
  
  Despite a varied portfolio of collaboration services, Microsoft is still struggling to field a strong competitor to enterprise group messaging apps like Slack and HipChat.
  It has SharePoint, Skype for Business and Yammer, but none of them is really a direct competitor to the slickly designed, GIF-stuffed and bot-laden crop of modern messaging applications. 
  That may be about to change, according to a report from MSPoweruser on Tuesday. 
  Microsoft is supposed to be working on Skyp
  
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• 45% off Epica Emergency Solar Hand Crank AM/FM/NOAA Digital Radio, Flashlight, Cell Phone Charger - Deal Alert

  07-09-2016 00:00
  
  Are you ready for a hurricane situation or other emergency weather? Looking for the perfect camping radio that will last for years? Be the prepared one in your group with this no-hassle, sure-fire emergency radio and flashlight. Two minutes of cranking nets you at least 20 minutes of lights on or radio. With its compact design, 3-LED flashlight, and 5-way charging (hand crank, solar, USB, AC and DC), and retractable antennae, you'll never be left in the dark. The high-quality digital tuner (AM/F
  
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