IT Executive news

• Study: E-readers, tablets can disrupt sleep

  22-12-2014 23:55
  
  Science may have confirmed what parents of gadget-loving children have long suspected: Using light-emitting gadgets just before bedtime can interfere with sleep.Using an electronic book reader or another portable electronic light-generating device prior to going to sleep can disrupt regular sleeping habits, researchers at Pennsylvania State University have found.“The take-away is, however unpopular, to avoid use of these devices before bedtime,” said Anne-Marie Chang, an assistant profess
  
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• This Android Wear App Lets You Control Your PC With Your Watch

  22-12-2014 22:49
  
  If you’ve ever felt too lazy to reach for the mouse and keyboard, you can now use an Android Wear smartwatch to control your PC instead.
  The latest version of Unified Remote includes Android Wear support, letting you manipulate your PC’s cursor from your wrist and use voice commands to control specific programs and websites.
  The Android Wear features require the full version of Unified Remote, which is a $4 upgrade from the basic free version. But as futuristic as wrist-worn PC controls
  
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• Google's prototype car ready, but it's more VW Beetle than Porsche

  22-12-2014 22:30
  
  If you were hoping for a cooler look for Google’s car, you’ll have to settle for cute.The search giant has unveiled a finalized version of its self-driving concept car, which it calls “our first complete prototype for fully autonomous driving,”.While it gave few details about the changes it has made to its initial prototype over the past seven months, the completed vehicle seems to have working headlights and a somewhat more streamlined LIDAR (light detection and ranging) sensor on it
  
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• African startups show signs of growth

  22-12-2014 22:15
  
  African Internet, software and ecommerce startups are meeting increasing success in obtaining early-stage funding and generating revenue, according to a report from by startup funding initiative VC4Africa.The number of applications for VC funds on VC4Africa has grown by 640 percent in just three years, according to VC4Africa research team leader, Thomas van Hale. “Over 70% of the respondents already generate revenue and 44% is successful in securing external capita, van Hale said by email.�
  
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• Hotel group asks FCC for permission to block some outside Wi-Fi

  22-12-2014 21:45
  
  The U.S. Federal Communications Commission will soon decide whether to lay down rules regarding hotels’ ability to block personal Wi-Fi hotspots inside their buildings, a practice that recently earned Marriott International a US $600,000 fine.Back in August, Marriott, business partner Ryman Hospitality Properties and trade group the American Hotel and Lodging Association asked the FCC to clarify when hotels can block outside Wi-Fi hotspots in order to protect their internal Wi-Fi services.I
  
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• Google Looks for Partners as it Unveils Autonomous Car Prototype

  22-12-2014 21:39
  
  After more than two and a half years, Google is still looking for partners in the auto industry to help it build self-driving cars.
  A Google spokeswoman confirmed to Computerworld today that company executives don't want Google, known for its search service, the Android platform and Maps, to get into the car-manufacturing business.
  While it has been working on the software to run a self-driving car, Google is still seeking a partner to put that vision into cars that can be put on the market.
  
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• SDN in 2014: A Year of Non-Stop Action

  22-12-2014 21:24
  
  The past year was a frantic one in the SDN industry as many players made strategic and tactical moves to either get out ahead of the curve on software-defined networking, or try to offset its momentum.
  Here’s a rundown of what transpired in 2014 as a place setter for the year ahead in SDN.
  + ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD See a list of all our 2014 wrap ups +
  December
  Juniper unveils a version of its Junos operating system for Open Compute Platform switches, commencing a disaggregation strategy tha
  
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• Gebrek zelfkennis IT-talent verhoogt arbeidsmobiliteit

  22-12-2014 20:40
  Bijna de helft (45%) van het aankomend IT-talent weet in het laatste studiejaar nog niet welke baan er bij hen past, terwijl starters op de IT-arbeidsmarkt relatief snel na hun opleiding een baan vinden, vaak al na één maand. Dit werkt in de hand dat eenderde van hen binnen één jaar van baan... lees meer
  
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• North Korean Internet connection hit by outages

  22-12-2014 20:25
  
  North Korea’s Internet connection with the world has been hit by a series of outages in the last 24 hours, according to a researcher.Problems began on Monday morning, local time in Korea, when the handful of websites hosted on servers in Pyongyang became unresponsive. Over several hours, connectivity was spotty with connections sometimes succeeding but sometimes not.“I haven’t seen such a steady beat of routing instability and outages in [North Korean Internet space] before,” said Dou
  
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• DirecTV won't show 'The Interview,' others won't say

  22-12-2014 20:10
  
  DirecTV, the biggest satellite TV operator in the U.S., says it won’t be offering “The Interview” to its customers.The movie was pulled from theatrical release last week by Sony Pictures after threats that followed a massive hack and the release of sensitive and embarrassing corporate documents. Sony’s action has been widely criticized by free-speech advocates, Hollywood film-makers and President Obama, but Sony says it had no choice after movie theater chains got cold feet about show
  
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• Google Hitches Cloud Data Analysis to Java SDK

  22-12-2014 20:08
  
  Google is offering a Java SDK to integrate with the Google Cloud Dataflow managed service for analyzing live streaming data as part of its effort to broaden support for the platform.
  By sharing via open source, the SDK provides a basis for adapting Dataflow to other languages and execution environments, said Sam McVeety, Google software engineer, in a recent bulletin. "We've learned a lot about how to turn data into intelligence as the original FlumeJava programming models (basis for Cloud
  
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• Judge nixes HP's settlement of shareholder suit over Autonomy

  22-12-2014 19:25
  
  The settlement between Hewlett-Packard and shareholders of a lawsuit centering on the 2012 botched Autonomy acquisition hit a snag late Friday, when a federal judge rejected HP’s proposal for being too broad, potentially releasing the company from potential liabilities beyond Autonomy.“The shareholders appear to be relinquishing a whole universe of potential claims regarding HP governance and practices with no factual predicates that overlap the Autonomy acquisition,” wrote Charles Brey
  
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• Cisco’s Greatest Hits, 2014 Edition

  22-12-2014 19:12
  
  A fun-filled year for CiscoIt started with TV in the cloud and ended with a lawsuit against a rival. Cisco’s 30th anniversary was filled with major events that shaped the year ahead.CESImage by REUTERS/Lindsay DeDario/Thomas PeteTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• First Image From HBO's Westworld - Superherohype.com

  22-12-2014 18:52
  
  First Image From HBO's Westworld
  Superherohype.com
  ... Evan Rachel Wood, James Marsden, Thandie Newton, Jeffrey Wright, Miranda Otto, Rodrigo Santoro, Shannon Woodward, Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Angela Sarafyan, and Simon Quarterman. It's executive produced by J.J. Abrams, Jerry Weintraub, Bryan Burk, ...
  
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• BrandPost: The Consumer Cloud Is Democratized. But Your Business? Not So Much...

  22-12-2014 18:23
  
  It’s the holiday shopping season, and consumers should be digging the plastic out of their wallets and entering credit card numbers online en masse.
  This year, they might not.
  Americans and cash usually have an oil-and-water relationship, but the chain of notorious big-brand security breaches proves that nobody is immune to theft. According to a recent survey, almost half of consumers said they would “likely use cash” for purchases this holiday season, for fear of having their credit-c
  
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• Simpler M2M connectivity promised as Sierra Wireless buys Swedish company

  22-12-2014 18:20
  
  Sierra Wireless has acquired Swedish company Wireless Maingate to build a more complete machine-to-machine communications platform and better connect cars, industrial devices, smart meters and other sensors.Together, the two companies will develop a platform that offers connectivity and device management from one user interface. Sierra currently offers a cloud-based application development platform and Maingate supplies wireless services in Europe.The M2M, or Internet of things, sector contin
  
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• Cybercrime group steals millions from Russian banks, targets US and European retailers

  22-12-2014 17:55
  
  A sophisticated group of cybercriminals has stolen over US$25 million by hacking into the infrastructure of numerous financial institutions in Russia and former Soviet Union countries, as well as into point-of-sale systems belonging to U.S. and European retailers.Researchers from Russian cybercrime investigations firm Group-IB and Dutch security firm Fox-IT have dubbed the cybercriminal group Anunak, after the primary malware program in its toolset.Unlike most cybercrime operations where atta
  
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• Snapchat Cracks Down on Windows Phone Imitator Apps

  22-12-2014 17:17
  Snapchat doesn’t offer a Windows Phone app, and the popular messaging platform doesn’t want third parties building Windows Phone apps for its service either. At least for the time being.
  Over the weekend, a number of imitation Snapchat apps on the Windows Phone Store disappeared—apparently at Snapchat’s request.
  Unlike many popular online networks, Snapchat doesn’t yet offer a public application programming interface (API) to allow developers to build apps for the service. A third-
  
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• Oracle hopes to better target online advertising with Datalogix acquisition

  22-12-2014 17:00
  
  Half the money spent on advertising is wasted—the question is, which half? That’s the age-old question in adland. Now Oracle is hoping to help its customers answer that question with the acquisition of Datalogix, which collects offline consumer spending data in a bid to help online advertisers pick the right targets.Many behavioral advertising targeting systems track only consumers’ online behavior—but, according to Oracle, that accounts for just 7 percent of consumer shopping: the ot
  
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• Apple Reopens Russian Online Store After Boosting iPhone 6 Price by 35%

  22-12-2014 16:44
  
  Apple raised the price of its entry-level iPhone 6 by 35% when it reopened its Russian online story today.
  Last week, the Cupertino, Calif. company shuttered its Russian e-market after the ruble took a dive when currency markets devalued the oil-dependent country's ruble.
  Although the ruble has recovered somewhat -- on Monday it was trading at 54.49 to the dollar, an improvement from near 80 at one point last week -- Apple boosted the price of the 16GB iPhone 6 to 53,990 rubles today, equiva
  
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• BrandPost: Enabling the Next Phase of the Open Network

  22-12-2014 16:43
  
  In 2012, seven service providers joined forces to publish the first network functions virtualization (NFV) whitepaper detailing how service providers could lower costs and more easily improve their networks by virtualizing communications applications on general-purpose servers.Today, that effort has grown dramatically.  Nearly 40 leading service providers, and 220 companies worldwide, are part of the NFV Industry Specification Group at the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (E
  
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• Apple's 14 Biggest News Stories of 2014

  22-12-2014 16:43
  
  Apple's year in review2014 was in many ways an epic year for Apple. Product-wise, the company finally delivered on a new product category. Business-wise, the company has never been in better shape. Overall, 2014 marked a continuance in what is arguably an unprecedented run of success in the tech world. So with 2015 just around the corner, here’s a look back at the top Apple news stories of 2014.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• 5 Big Data Technology Predictions for 2015

  22-12-2014 16:42
  
  In just a few short years, big data technologies have gone from the realm of hype to one of the core disruptors of the new digital age. 2014 saw big data initiatives inside the enterprise increasingly move from test to production. In 2015, big data will push further into the enterprise with even more use cases — specifically real-time use cases — says John Schroeder, CEO and co-founder of Hadoop distribution specialist MapR."This is the year that organizations move big data deployments be
  
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• Holiday Blues: 49% of Network Managers, Sysadmins Expect to Work the Holidays

  22-12-2014 15:26
  
  Will you be stuck working or on-call as 2014 comes to a close? If so, you’re not alone.
  This year, 49% of IT pros expect to work over the holidays, according to network management vendor Ipswitch. Nearly the same number (48%) will be thinking about work even if they’re not called into the office.
  Ipswitch polled 206 IT pros in the U.S. for its second annual “Happy Holidays?” survey.
  Past experience shows it’s necessary: 33% of IT pros said their company has experienced a major netw
  
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• South Korea nuclear operator runs drill after alleged hacker threat

  22-12-2014 15:20
  
  South Korea’s state-run nuclear power plant operator said it started a two-day drill on Monday to prepare for a potential cyberattack, after a series of online document leaks caused increasing security concerns.The stolen documents include blueprints of climate control systems, floor plans, software program manuals and personal information of employees. The leaked documents, however, do not have classified information and pose no threat to the safety of the nuclear plants, said Korea Hydro
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Data Scientists are the Perfect Cure for Blue Jean Syndrome

  22-12-2014 14:38
  
  I was driving with my daughter who unlike me is a great country music aficionado. There was one song that is very rhythmic so the tune was on my mind for some time during our rides. I absolutely had no idea who the singer was and what the lyrics were. I turned to my daughter and asked, "Dear, do you remember the song that had words 'Blue Jeans' in it?" She broke out in a hearty laughter and said, "Dad, practically half the country songs have a Blue Jean reference in them. You have to provide
  
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• Exploits for dangerous network time protocol vulnerabilities can compromise systems

  22-12-2014 14:10
  
  Remote code execution vulnerabilities in the standard implementation of the network time protocol (NTP) can be exploited by attackers to compromise servers, embedded devices and even critical infrastructure systems that run UNIX-like operating systems.The flaws, which can be exploited by sending specially crafted packets to machines running a vulnerable version of the NTP daemon (ntpd), pose a greater threat to systems where the service runs under a highly privileged user account such as root
  
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• How to Align Projects Management With Your Business Strategy

  22-12-2014 14:00
  
  Project management office (PMO) professionals hold significant knowledge that can help ensure alignment for businesses focused on achieving their vision. In order for businesses of today to reach full operational effectiveness, C-suites will need to unlock the potential of their PMO resources.[ Project Management Definition and Solutions ]Historically, many PMOs were set up to manage and meet program- and project-specific deliverables and requirements, and did not necessarily have a strong di
  
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• 5 Lessons to Help Security Pros Craft a New Year’s Resolution

  22-12-2014 14:00
  
  The holiday season is often a time of reflection, a time for organizations to look back and ask themselves 'are we doing things right'.
  Judging by the continuous news stories spotlighting the latest data breach, it appears most organizations still aren't getting security right. Organizations are scared and worried about security but they are not focusing in on the areas that really matter. As we reflect upon 2014, we will look at five lessons organizations need to learn from 2014 so that the
  
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• Are Personality Assessments Effective Hiring Tools?

  22-12-2014 13:00
  
  Cultural fit is critical to maintaining an engaged, productive and satisfied workforce. To ensure that match, businesses often use personality assessments to gauge a candidate's degree of cultural fit in the hopes it will translate into loyalty and lower turnover. But are these assessments accurate and how much do they really reveal?
  
  Not All Assessments Are Created Equal
  
  Probably the best-known personality assessment is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator or MBTI, developed in the 1940s based
  
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• Google Wants to Turn Browser Signals of Web Encryption Upside Down

  22-12-2014 12:50
  
  Chrome security engineers have proposed that all websites that don't encrypt traffic be marked as insecure by browsers.
  The proposal, which was floated earlier this month, would dramatically change the visual signals in a browser's address bar, which now shows an indicator -- a "lock" icon in some cases -- when a website is encrypted with SSL (Secure Socket Layer) or TLS (Transport Security Layer), SSL's replacement. Those sites' domains are prefaced by https rather than the more common http
  
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• How to Use Benchmarks to Cut Through Marketing Hype

  22-12-2014 12:03
  
  It’s not your imagination: your Mac’s overall performance can slow down over time. Most often this happens because we gradually add more apps and background processes, have more and more documents and browser tabs open, and don’t restart very often. All these things take a cumulative toll on your Mac’s performance. Cutting back on the number of things you have open is therefore one of the easiest strategies for putting some zip back into your Mac. Adding RAM (if your Mac supports it)
  
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• Texas Instruments Builds an Alternative Energy for the Internet of Things

  22-12-2014 12:01
  
  The Internet of Things is nothing without batteries and plugs. But it's possible to build a sensor network that uses harvested energy that comes from changes in temperature, vibrations, wind and light, as Texas Instruments (TI) will demonstrate at the Consumer Electronics Show in January.
  The idea of harvesting power has a long history and there are many applications of it today. However, big solar panels or large sensors that can capture energy from vibrations, heat and light are impractica
  
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• Old-School Tricks to Protect Your Passwords

  22-12-2014 12:00
  
  Old-school tricks to protect your passwordsCan’t remember all of your passwords? Have them written down on a sticky note or on a piece of paper in your wallet? Do you use the same password for every site, even though you know it’s a bad idea? If you’re caught in password purgatory, try these 6 old-school password tricks. (Read the story version.)To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• Microsoft’s Close Call, 2014: The 10 Wins and 9 Fails of a Company Racing to Transform Itself

  22-12-2014 12:00
  From Ballmer to NadellaImage by MicrosoftThat image of Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella slouching casually in a hipster hoodie says so much about the company's aspirations. But inside it’s the same old Microsoft. Or is it?Challenged to reinvent itself in the face of a new breed of mobile apps and services, Microsoft’s $2.5 billion purchase of Minecraft developer Mojang makes more sense. So does Microsoft’s Cortana. Or Sway. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please
  
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• How-to: Get Started with Nginx

  22-12-2014 12:00
  
  Although the most popular Web server in the world is still Apache, Nginx is cutting into that market share in a very significant way. Both versatile and extremely fast, Nginx generally performs faster than Apache right out of the box, especially when serving static content or acting as a reverse proxy server. It's used to serve content for many extremely large-volume websites.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• Decisions, Decisions: Choices Abound as Data Center Architecture Options Expand

  22-12-2014 12:00
  
  When the American Red Cross talks about mission-critical systems, it's referring to the blood supply that helps save lives. The non-profit organization manages 40% of the U.S.'s blood supply, so stability, reliability and tight security are of paramount concern, says DeWayne Bell, vice president of IT infrastructure and engineering.
  With some 25,000 employees and volunteers at about 500 locations around the country, the Red Cross used to manage two data centers, but "we found out that more a
  
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• CentOS 7: The Perfect Gift for the Linux Do-it-Yourselfer

  22-12-2014 12:00
  
  Although differentiation is tough in Linux distributions today, CentOS 7 has carved out a niche as the free and open alter ego to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). We found that CentOS, which is mandated to be binary-compatible with Red Hat 7, shares about 95% of the features of its commercial enterprise-class sibling.
  There’s no IBM System z port, and special variants for cloud and virtualization are more limited than with Red Hat 7. But for many common and generic applications, it’s a d
  
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• 20 Hot User Ideas for Windows 10 (Add Yours Now!)

  22-12-2014 12:00
  
  Top 20 Windows 10 Feedback suggestionsThe Windows 10 Feedback mechanism offers a unique way for you to change the course of Windows development. While Microsoft's made only a few, very minor changes to the Win10 Technical Preview in response to feedback, the time to get your vote in is right now, while the dev team goes into an intense six-to-eight-week full-court press.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• Google Android One phones to sell in three more Asian countries

  22-12-2014 10:50
  
  Google’s low-cost Android One smartphones will be selling in the coming weeks in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal, three small but fast-growing markets, following a September worldwide debut of the devices in India.The company said it had signed up a number of hardware and network partners in the three south Asian countries, which together have a population of over 200 million.“All these devices will give people a high quality mobile experience for an affordable price, running stock-Androi
  
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• Tor warns of possible disruption of network through server seizures

  22-12-2014 07:35
  
  The Tor project said it could face attempts to incapacitate its network in the next few days through the seizure of specialized servers.The project did not name the group or agency that may try to seize its directory authorities, which guide Tor users on the list of distributed relays on the network that bounce communications around.“We are taking steps now to ensure the safety of our users, and our system is already built to be redundant so that users maintain anonymity even if the network
  
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