IT Executive news

• Bitstamp reopens after attack shuttered exchange

  09-01-2015 22:40
  
  Bitstamp resumed operations Friday after an attack earlier in the week resulted in the loss of 19,000 bitcoins and forced the exchange to close.“Our team has been working day and night to rebuild and restore security to the Bitstamp site so customers can resume transacting with us quickly, safely, and confidently,” wrote CEO Nejc Kodri in a blog post on Friday announcing the return of the service.During the shutdown, which began Monday, the company rebuilt its website, deployed new hardwa
  
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• US lawmakers push bill to permanently ban Internet access taxes

  09-01-2015 22:30
  
  A bipartisan group of five U.S. lawmakers has introduced legislation that would permanently ban Internet access taxes, with sponsors saying the bill will help keep the Internet affordable while encouraging innovation.The Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act [PITFA], introduced in the House of Representatives on Friday, would make permanent a moratorium on Internet access taxes in place in the U.S. since 1998. Late last year, Congress extended the moratorium until Oct. 1.Congress has temporarily
  
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• Forget Medicare and Social Security: Seniors are embracing Facebook

  09-01-2015 22:15
  
  If some kids are turned off by Facebook because their parents are on it, now they might be even more horrified: Grandparents are flocking to the social networking site.For the first time, more than half of all online adults 65 and older in the U.S. use Facebook—56 percent specifically—according to a Pew Research Center survey. That represents 31 percent of all seniors, according to Pew, which surveyed 2,003 American adults by cell and landline this past September.On the whole, Facebook sa
  
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• Apple Raked in Between $4.3B and $4.5B from App Store in 2014

  09-01-2015 22:12
  
  Apple yesterday reported that gross revenue from its iOS App Store for 2014 was up 50% from 2013, although according to the numbers, sales were up only slightly from the 12 months prior to June 2014, when it last hinted at revenue.
  In a press release yesterday that was part of a renewed campaign where Apple touted the number of U.S. jobs it has helped create, the Cupertino, Calif. company said that the iPhone and iPad App Store "generated over $10 billion in revenue for developers."
  Apple ty
  
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• 10 Consumer Startups That Offer Enterprise Potential

  09-01-2015 22:04
  
  The Eureka Park section at CES 2015 is home to startups looking to make a splash at the industry’s largest electronics show. This year, more than 370 startups were on display. Many of those companies are launching products connected to smart homes, the Internet of things and health, wellness and fitness wearable devices.As you’d expect, most of the products on display are designed for consumers. However, many offer enterprise potential. Here’s a look at how 11 of the startups exhibiting
  
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• Google Go Upgrade Banks on Go Itself

  09-01-2015 20:49
  
  Plans for the upcoming Google Go 1.5 release have Google eating its own dog food, so to speak.
  Go is Google's up-and-coming language intended to offer simplicity and enable concurrency. A Google 1.5 bootstrap plan posted this week has the upgrade using a tool chain written in Go, at least in part. "We have been planning for a year now to eliminate all C programs from the Go source tree. The C compilers -- 5c, 6c, 8c, 9c -- have already been removed," the document states. "The remaining C pro
  
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• Comparing AT&T and T-Mobile Rollover Data Plans

  09-01-2015 20:42
  
  It's time to rollover. Not your dog — your monthly wireless data, at least if you're a T-Mobile or AT&T customer. The two carriers launched dueling rollover plans — T-Mobile last month, and AT&T this week — proving once again that competition in the wireless market is for real, and it's a real benefit for consumers.The obvious question, of course: Which plan is better? Both of them certainly have their good points, but they're both also limited in a number of important ways.�
  
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• Investment in Renewable Energy Soars for First Time in Three Years

  09-01-2015 20:10
  
  Corporations and venture capitalists loved renewable energy last year, and will continue to embrace it this year.
  That's the picture that unfolded from several new reports. According to Bloomberg Energy Finance, new funding for wind, solar, biofuels and other low-carbon energy technologies grew 16% to $310 billion last year. It was the first growth since 2011, erasing the impact of lower solar-panel prices and falling subsides in the U.S. and Europe that hurt the industry in previous years.
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Is Your IT Organization Developing the Business Skills Needed to Succeed?

  09-01-2015 19:43
  
  Welcome to 2015. Whether you know it or not, it's the year for CIOs to be in the spotlight. Here's why.You just returned from your holiday break, during which you hopefully were able to recharge your batteries with some rest, read some good books and business journals, and spend time with family and friends. As the CIO for your company, you also probably spent some time thinking about what you should accomplish in the coming year. You are well aware of the changes in today's global marketplac
  
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• OpenSSL patches eight new vulnerabilities

  09-01-2015 19:15
  
  Server administrators are advised to upgrade OpenSSL again to fix eight new vulnerabilities, two of which can lead to denial-of-service (DoS) attacks.The flaws are only of moderate and low severity, unlike the Heartbleed vulnerability discovered last year. Heartbleed could have allowed attackers to steal sensitive information including encryption keys from servers.Nevertheless, “system administrators should plan to upgrade their running OpenSSL server instances in the coming days,” said T
  
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• Lenovo builds robot for selfies

  09-01-2015 19:10
  
  For Lenovo, the craze for selfies knows no bounds—the company has developed a robot that can be remotely adjusted to take pictures from a mobile device.The Fiebot is more like a tiny four-legged tripod for mobile devices. A smartphone can be placed on top of the robot, which in turn can be adjusted to different positions via an infrared remote control to take a selfie or shoot videos.The robot can tilt and pan, and take panoramic pictures and record videos over wider viewing angles.In some
  
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• The Simple Truth That Can Change Your 2015

  09-01-2015 18:19
  
  The simple truth is: Change is a choice we make, over and over and over again. Not because we want to. Not because we have to. Only because we choose to. Moment by moment.We all have that power of choice. And most of us don’t “know” that; i.e., we either don’t understand that, or we choose not to accept that truth. Once we choose to accept that as true, and start making some of those choices, we empower ourselves to change and sustain that change.“A thought is harmless unless we bel
  
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• 4G speeds increase as LTE-Advanced becomes more common

  09-01-2015 18:10
  
  Users around the world are getting faster mobile broadband as LTE-Advanced and smartphones that can take advantage of the technology finally start to take off.A year ago, LTE-Advanced was only available in South Korea, but it’s now available in 31 countries (including Australia, France, Germany, U.K. and the U.S.) and more are on the way, according to industry organization GSA (Global mobile Suppliers Association).“There is a lot of activity at the moment,” said Alan Hadden, president a
  
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• Advanced OneDrive Feature to Miss First Version of Windows 10

  09-01-2015 18:02
  
  Microsoft on Thursday confirmed that it would not restore an advanced OneDrive feature to Windows 10 until after the new operating system officially releases later this year.
  The news disappointed some Windows 10 testers who have been passionately pleading for the return of placeholders, or as Microsoft called them, "smart files," within File Explorer, the OS's file management tool.
  "Basically, what Microsoft says shows they just don't learn," complained Joao Sousa in a message posted yester
  
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• Exploit allows Asus routers to be hacked from local network

  09-01-2015 17:10
  
  A vulnerability in Asuswrt, the firmware running on many wireless router models from Asustek Computer, allows attackers to completely compromise the affected devices. Malicious hackers, however, need to launch their attacks from within the local networks served by the vulnerable routers.The flaw is located in a service called infosvr, which runs on Asuswrt-powered routers by default. The service, which is used by a tool called the Asus Wireless Router Device Discovery Utility, listens to pack
  
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• 3 Warning Signs to Watch for When Evaluating Vendors

  09-01-2015 16:34
  
  I have been covering technology companies and their practices for 20 years and also been involved in internal audit at IBM, so I’ve learned to recognize red flags. There are a number of practices that can showcase problems that should cause you to look more closely at a vendor and reassess the risk of using them.  
  [ Related: Why Vendor Commitment Is Important (or Death by Google Glass) ]
  Here are three indicators that a vendor is not what it seems and why you should consider them warnin
  
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• 3 Warning Signs to Watch for Evaluating Vendors

  09-01-2015 16:34
  
  I have been covering technology companies and their practices for 20 years and also been involved in internal audit at IBM, so I’ve learned to recognize red flags. There are a number of practices that can showcase problems that should cause you to look more closely at a vendor and reassess the risk of using them.  [ Related: Why Vendor Commitment Is Important (or Death by Google Glass) ]Here are three indicators that a vendor is not what it seems and why you should consider them warning s
  
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• North Korean Sony Attackers 'Got Sloppy' with IP Addresses, Claims FBI Director

  09-01-2015 16:08
  
  The FBI has released another fragment of evidence it claims proves the US Government assertion that North Korea was behind November's mega cyberattack on Sony - the attackers used IP addresses exclusively associated with the country, it said.
  The fact that the FBI rolled out its director James Comey to make this announcement shows the increasingly political and geo-political importance the US attaches to convincing people of North Korea's hacking guilt.
  The case he outlined has several over-
  
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• Big Names Like Google Dominate Open-Source Funding

  09-01-2015 16:00
  
  Network World’s analysis of publicly listed sponsors of 36 prominent open-source non-profits and foundations reveals that the lion’s share of financial support for open-source groups comes from a familiar set of names.
  We found 673 companies on the donor rolls of our list of organizations – which was drawn heavily, though not entirely, from the Open Source Initiative’s list of affiliates.
  Google was the biggest supporter of open-source organizations by our count, appearing on the spo
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Why India Loves Scrum

  09-01-2015 15:49
  
  Anybody who has been to India knows how it feels to be in the midst of a real scrum. Rush and density seem to be part of Indian lifestyle. Whether you are at an airport, box office, tea stall, in a swimming pool or even in a temple at some remote place to do yoga somewhere in the Himalayas — you will always find a mass of people struggling to gain possession of tickets, drinks, attention or even silence (the effect being meditative noise!).Often you will find that people in India are doing
  
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• Mirage 'Self-Destructing' Message App Raises Security Red Flags

  09-01-2015 15:31
  
  "The Interview" furor has come (and mostly) gone. However, the slapstick film inadvertently aroused a number of new privacy concerns, which still remain, enough so that I decided to check out the Mirage app.
  Mirage is a new, free ephemeral (or "self-destructing") messaging app for Android and iOS. It's slick, fast and fun to use, but it's not a solid option for secure, private business messaging.
  [Related: 3 Snapchat Alternatives for Self-Destructing Messages]To read this article in full or
  
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• Windows 10's New Spartan Browser Will Pack Cortana's Smarts, Report Claims

  09-01-2015 15:05
  We've already heard that Microsoft plans to build Cortana into Windows 10. Now it appears the Windows maker has further plans for Cortana in its upcoming operating system refresh.
  Cortana is slated to play a supporting role in Spartan, the rumored new web browser planned for Windows 10, according to The Verge. From the sounds of it, Cortana-Spartan integration won't be a voice-activated feature, unlike what Google has done with "OK Google" in Chrome on desktop PCs.To read this article in ful
  
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• Glitch in OS X search can expose private details of Apple Mail users

  09-01-2015 14:30
  
  A glitch in the search software in Apple’s OS X Yosemite can expose private details of Apple Mail users, revealing their IP address as well as other system details to spammers, phishers and online tracking companies.The potential privacy risk appears when people use the Spotlight Search feature, which also indexes emails received with the Apple Mail email client. When searching a Mac, Spotlight shows previews of emails and when it does this, it automatically loads external images linked in
  
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• BBC returns to Bolton for new Scrappers series - Prolific North

  09-01-2015 14:11
  
  BBC returns to Bolton for new Scrappers series
  Prolific North
  ... business and transform the yard into an operation that they'd be happy to pass on to son, Jon. It was commissioned by Tom McDonald, acting head of commissioning, science and natural history. It's executive produced by Michele Carlisle and Jamie Isaacs.
  
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• The Upload: Your tech news briefing for Friday, January 9

  09-01-2015 13:55
  
  CISPA rises from the graveAfter privacy concerns derailed this controversial legislation in the U.S. Senate, CISPA will be re-introduced Friday by a senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, reports The Hill. Maryland Representative Dutch Ruppersberger said he’s bringing the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act back to the floor in response to the Sony hack, blamed on North Korea.Cyber-retaliation is a dumb idea, says NSA’s most famous former contractorEdward Snowden s
  
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• Akamai Predicts More Cheap Hacking Toolkits, Political Attacks Next Year

  09-01-2015 13:02
  
  We'll be seeing more severe vulnerabilities like Shellshock and Heartbleed in 2015, predicts Akamai Technologies Inc., the leading content delivery network. The use of cheap online hacking toolkits will continue to proliferate, as will politically motivated attacks such as those during last year's World Cup.
  Akamai just released its "State of the Internet" report for the third quarter of 2014, which was dominated by the Shellshock vulnerabilities and the World Cup.
  Shellshock and Heartbleed
  
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• Need a Ride? 3 Ridesharing and 2 Taxi Apps Considered

  09-01-2015 12:30
  
  The time to pick a ridesharing app for your phone isn't when it's dark and cold, there aren't any cabs to be had and you realize you'd really like a ride home. The time to download one is well before you need it.
  Ridesharing has become a popular -- and controversial -- alternative to traditional taxi services. On the face of it, it seems simple enough: The apps match people needing a lift with drivers who use their own personal vehicles to give rides. You create an account with a service thr
  
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• Best of CES 2015: The Gadgets and Gear That Wowed Us Most

  09-01-2015 12:30
  This is what impressed us most at CES 2015Gadgets, glittering as far as the eye can see in crowded halls and hotel suites throughout Sin City. Wearable gadgets. Computing gadgets. Gadgets for your feet, for your pets, for your ears, for your kitchen, for your car, even gadgets for your windows.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• 8 Skills to Look for in IT Project Managers

  09-01-2015 12:00
  
  Skills to Look for in IT Project ManagersImage by http://www.shutterstock.comAs the economy continues to climb out of recession, demand for project management professionals has skyrocketed. Finding the right project management talent for mission-critical IT projects can be difficult, as the role requires a unique mix of technical and soft skills.In addition to the usual suspects -- attention to detail, focus on process, time management and capability to multitask, for instance -- there are some
  
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• ThreatTrack Security Bolsters Executive Team with Veteran Product and Sales ... - IT Business Net

  09-01-2015 11:18
  ThreatTrack Security Bolsters Executive Team with Veteran Product and Sales ...
  IT Business Net
  Choudhary is an accomplished IT executive with nearly 20 years of leadership experience. Most recently, he was Senior Director of Engineering for NetIQ, where he was responsible for shaping the firm's security strategy and developing solutions for ...
  
  and more »
  
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• Google plans US auto insurance comparison shopping site, says analyst

  09-01-2015 05:50
  
  Google may soon pilot a comparison shopping site for auto insurance in the U.S., as well as acquire an insurance shopping site in San Francisco to give it a head start, according to a research analyst.The Internet giant already runs an insurance comparison website in the U.K., called Google Compare, following its 2011 acquisition of BeatThatQuote.com, and there have been reports previously that it would enter the business in the U.S. as well.“Even though insurers have been mentioning Google
  
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• Using spellcheck? Electromagnetic fields could reveal your writing

  09-01-2015 04:30
  
  It has long been known that subtle electronic fields and noises emitted by computers can reveal clues about your activity, a powerful spying method that can be done from a few feet away.These so-called “side-channel signals” can be collected by antennas or microphones and through analysis could reveal sensitive data such as encryption keys.It’s not known if spy agencies are already using these methods, but the many academic studies outlining potential attacks would suggest it’s probab
  
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• EFF Lays Out Plan to End Online Harassment

  09-01-2015 03:14
  
  The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the non-profit digital rights advocacy group known for its strong public stances on topics like Net Neutrality, piracy and privacy, on Thursday expanded its focus with a blog entry identifying online harassment as a digital rights issue that stands in the way of true freedom of speech.
  The big problem, as EFF co-authors Danny O'Brien and Nadia Kayyali readily acknowledge, is that it's hard to address online harassment without pushing up against the I
  
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• CryptoWall ransomware variant has new defenses

  09-01-2015 02:10
  
  CryptoWall, one of a family of malware programs that encrypts files and demands a ransom from victims, has undergone a revamp that is frustrating security researchers.At one time, CryptoWall was a second-rate successor to CryptoLocker, which largely disappeared after law enforcement shut down the Gameover Zeus botnet that was used to distribute it.Ransomware has been around for more than a decade, but cybercriminals have resurrected the scam over the last couple of years with surprising succe
  
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• Facebook buys video tech startup QuickFire Networks

  09-01-2015 00:50
  
  Facebook is acquiring QuickFire Networks, a video processing and transcoding company that should help the social network deliver video more efficiently to its users as more of it shows up in their feeds.QuickFire, based in San Diego, makes proprietary technology to reduce the amount of bandwidth needed to view video online without degrading its quality. The company says its transcoding service can compress videos to lower bit rates without sacrificing quality and increase video quality withou
  
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