IT Executive news

• Yahoo to spin off its stake in Alibaba

  27-01-2015 23:35
  
  Yahoo will spin off its stake in Alibaba Group to form a new investment company, placating shareholders who wanted more value from Yahoo’s share in the Chinese e-commerce giant.The investment company, SpinCo, will own all of Yahoo’s remaining 384 million shares of Alibaba stock, valued at US$40 billion based on the Jan. 26 closing price, Yahoo announced Tuesday.The stock will be distributed pro rata to Yahoo shareholders, resulting in SpinCo becoming a separate publicly traded company, Ya
  
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• Kevlar could keep lithium-ion batteries from catching fire

  27-01-2015 23:30
  
  Lithium-ion batteries are relatively safe but can still pose risks of fire or explosion. Researchers may now have solved that problem using a material commonly found in bullet proof vests.The researchers are using a material derived from Kevlar to insulate parts of the battery responsible for the storage and discharge of energy. Leaks in that wall can cause short circuits, so preventing those them greatly reduces the risk of fire.The batteries will be used first in robots and for military app
  
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• Apple Watch Starts Shipping in April, Tim Cook Confirms

  27-01-2015 23:29
  
  We knew it was coming sometime this spring, but now we have a more narrow timeframe: Apple Watch starts shipping in April, Tim Cook said.
  So it’s not an exact date, but we’re getting closer. Cook dropped the news on Apple’s quarterly earnings call Tuesday afternoon, saying Apple Watch is “on schedule” and will ship in April. The company reportedly hasn’t publicly committed to a date because Cook and co. are still working on the device’s battery life.
  According to a recent 9to5M
  
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• FCC Calls Blocking of Personal Wi-Fi Hotspots 'Disturbing Trend'

  27-01-2015 23:22
  
  The FCC on Tuesday warned that it will no longer tolerate hotels, convention centers or others intentionally interfering with personal Wi-Fi hotspots.
  This issue grabbed headlines last fall when Marriott International was fined $600K for blocking customer Wi-Fi hotspots, presumably to encourage the guests to pay for pricey Internet access from the hotel.
  MORE: Techiest Super Bowl XLIX CommercialsTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• Microsoft's stream processing engine boosts Bing, Azure services

  27-01-2015 23:05
  
  A streaming analytics engine developed by Microsoft Research is giving advertisers on the company’s Bing Web search service more timely analysis on how their ad campaigns are faring, according to the company.The streaming analytics engine, called Trill, can process data at two to four orders of magnitude faster than today’s typical streaming engines, Microsoft said. The company plans to expand its use to other Microsoft computing services as well.Trill functionality could be of interest t
  
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• Snapchat and Twitter violate each other's personal space

  27-01-2015 22:55
  
  Things are about to get testy between the Snapchat ghost and Twitter’s birdie as the popular Internet companies invade each other’s space: Twitter has launched a private group messaging feature, while Snapchat added news content.Snapchat released “Discover” on Tuesday, a new section of its app that displays content like articles and videos from news outlets including CNN, the Daily Mail, ESPN and Warner Music. It’s all pretty slick, and a far cry from the impromptu disappearing phot
  
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• Sony Mobile said to be planning 1,000 more job cuts

  27-01-2015 22:25
  
  Sony is planning to lay off another 1,000 people from its mobile division as it attempts to bring the unit back to profitability, according to Japan’s Nikkei business daily.The cuts will mainly affect Sony’s European and Chinese operations and are expected to be announced as part of a restructuring plan unveiled when it delivers its quarterly results on February 4, the newspaper said without citing its source.Sony has been beset by rocky business conditions for many years. Its most recent
  
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• New SAP Hana tool aims to put Big Data insights within closer reach

  27-01-2015 22:00
  
  A new SAP rapid-deployment service aims to help enterprises tap its Hana in-memory database and computing platform for business-intelligence initiatives involving Big Data.SAP Hana Big Data Intelligence, rolled out on Tuesday, is designed to let businesses acquire, analyze and present data from a variety of sources quickly and affordably. It can combine SAP’s Hana platform with its Event Stream Processor as well as with SAP IQ software and the Apache Hadoop software library when needed.Thou
  
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• Enterprises can now use Dell's Kace appliance to manage Chromebooks

  27-01-2015 21:30
  
  A new version of Dell’s Kace K1000 Systems Management Appliance adds support for a wider array of devices, including Chromebooks, so enterprises and other organizations can better control these Chrome OS computers.“There’s a sea change in systems management. It’s no longer just about managing computers, but managing any sort of network device,” said Bill Odell, vice president of marketing for Dell endpoint systems management.Chromebooks are popular in schools, where they’re a stur
  
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• Why Social Listening Platforms Are Failing

  27-01-2015 21:11
  
  With startups pouring into the emerging marketing technology market, the simple fact is that not everyone -- not every category -- is going to be a winner. Now Forrester has come up with a startling finding that one of the first marketing technologies to come along and help define this segment is failing to deliver results."Listening to data gleaned from social media channels, ratings and reviews, and forums has existed for a decade, yet most CI (customer insights) pros still cannot demonstra
  
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• Will the U.S. Be Ready With Secure Chip Cards and Payment Terminals?

  27-01-2015 20:32
  
  Only about half of the 12 million merchant payment terminals in the U.S. will be converted to accept more secure smart credit and debit cards and NFC-ready smartphones by the end of 2015, according to financial officials working to support the conversion.
  There's wide disagreement over whether that 50% adoption rate is happening quickly enough, given the high rate of fraud with older magnetic stripe credit cards still widely used in the U.S.
  Matt Barr, MasterCard senior vice president of U.
  
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• Google Fiber Expanding to Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville and Raleigh-Durham

  27-01-2015 20:13
  
  Google Fiber is coming to the metro areas of Atlanta, Nashville, Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham, N.C., reaching 18 cities in those areas.
  The fiber optic cable service, with speeds of 1Gbps, is already live in the Kansas City area, as well as Provo, Utah, and Austin, Texas.
  Google has been working with city leaders in the new areas for the past year, "and now the really hard work begins," said Dennis Kish, vide president of Google Fiber in a blog posted Tuesday.
  He also said Google continues t
  
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• FTC calls on IoT vendors to protect privacy

  27-01-2015 20:10
  
  Companies developing Internet of Things (IoT) products should adopt best practices to protect the privacy and security of consumers, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has recommended.IoT companies should embrace best practices related to cybersecurity defense and take steps to keep unauthorized users from accessing a consumer’s device or personal information, the FTC said in a 71-page report released Tuesday. IoT companies should also monitor connected devices throughout their life cycles,
  
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• Apple iOS 8.1.3 Upgrade Won't Suck Up Your Storage

  27-01-2015 19:58
  
  Apple on Tuesday issued its first iOS software update of 2015 for iPhones, iPads and iPod touch devices, promising bug fixes, increased stability and performance improvements.
  One headliner is that it will reduce the amount of storage required to perform a software update -- the big storage need was seen as a major reason why Apple customers were slow to download iOS 8 upon its launch. Apple requested just 136MB of space on our iPad for the iOS 8.1.2 download, while an iPhone download was 24
  
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• 10 Tips to Secure Your iPhone

  27-01-2015 19:53
  
  iPhone securityImage by KelvinsongHere, we provide some very straightforward but effective ways you can secure your iPhone, and help ensure that your private data stays available and secure.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• Apple tops Chinese smartphone market for the first time

  27-01-2015 19:35
  
  Apple beat out domestic and foreign competitors to become the top phone vendor in China in the final quarter of 2014—the first time it’s led the Chinese market, according to Canalys, a company that tracks global smartphone sales.The Cupertino company beat out Xiaomi, which has recently gained international recognition for its low-cost Android handsets, Samsung and Huawei, which respectively rounded out the top four vendors in the country during the quarter.Despite costing twice as much as
  
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• Mobile World Congress rumor mill churns with reports of better screens, cameras

  27-01-2015 19:30
  
  For Android fans, the next couple of months will be exciting times thanks to the expected arrival of new flagship smartphones from HTC, LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics and Sony. While nothing revolutionary is expected, the steady pace of product evolution will nevertheless result in some great devices.This year’s first batch of high-end smartphones are expected to have faster processors, more memory, screens with higher resolution and better cameras—and many will be launched at Mobile
  
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• That Vacation on the Moon Is Closer Than You Think -- Thanks to Entrepreneurs - Huffington Post

  27-01-2015 19:02
  
  NDTV
  That Vacation on the Moon Is Closer Than You Think -- Thanks to Entrepreneurs
  Huffington Post
  The Bangalore-based startup was founded by former IT executive Rahul Narayan and four of his friends: an Air Force pilot, a marketing executive, an investment banker, and an aerospace engineer. None of the team had experience in building spacecraft or ...
  Looking for an exotic vacation? Here's why moon travel may be only 20 years ...Washington Post (blog)
  Team Indus Wins Google Lunar XPri
  
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• Super Bowl XLIX’s Techiest Commercials

  27-01-2015 18:59
  
  Techie commercialsImage by Flickr: Mike MozartIf you’re going to pay $4.5 million for a 30-second spot during Super Bowl XLIX you better come up with something good. Here’s what the rich and desperate have come up with for this year’s game between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks in Arizona.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• What Gartner’s Bimodal IT Model Means to Enterprise CIOs

  27-01-2015 18:38
  
  In 2014, Gartner introduced a prescriptive organization model for enterprise IT called “Bimodal IT.” It posits that IT organizations of the future will have two separate flavors, if you will: Type 1 is traditional IT, focused on stability and efficiency, while Type 2 is an experimental, agile organization focused on time-to-market, rapid application evolution, and, in particular, tight alignment with business units.Here is one description of bimodal IT from a Gartner conference attendee -
  
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• More States Suing Feds Over Immigration Executive Orders - The New American

  27-01-2015 18:36
  
  More States Suing Feds Over Immigration Executive Orders
  The New American
  ... the court is whether the president may “unilaterally suspend federal immigration laws,” create a “massive” bureaucracy, hand out millions of dollars in benefits, and then insulate that decision from review “by any court at any time by calling it ...
  
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• Facebook Denies Attack Brought Down its Site

  27-01-2015 18:34
  BANGALORE—Facebook and Instagram were down temporarily late Monday, suggesting that common infrastructure used by these services was hit. Facebook later said the problems were its fault.
  
  ”We’re aware of an outage affecting Instagram and are working on a fix. Thank you for your patience,” Instagram said in a Twitter message, which was deleted after the service was restored. 
  
  Users in various parts of the world were reporting that Facebook was down. People accessing Facebook�
  
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• BrandPost: In 2015: IT Is In For A Wild Ride

  27-01-2015 18:09
  
  In my 35 years in IT, I’ve never seen so much simultaneous change in technology.Every part of the IT stack is in transition—from end-user devices to storage media. Some of the changes are well underway and will accelerate in 2015. Others are just starting to emerge.Here are my top six—buckle up!1. The Internet Of Things And Big Data Analytics Will Come Together 
  Companies find that their existing datasets are large, but still not sufficient to yield real insight.Today, the integrati
  
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• Stratose Hires Chief Information Officer Meridith Herdes - Rock Hill Herald (press release)

  27-01-2015 17:38
  Stratose Hires Chief Information Officer Meridith Herdes
  Rock Hill Herald (press release)
  Meridith Herdes is a highly accomplished IT executive with over 20 years in the healthcare industry. Meridith joined Stratose in late 2014 as Chief Information Officer. Prior to joining Stratose, Meridith was EVP and CIO for PMSI for 4 years. She also ...
  
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• BrandPost: Coming Together to Advance Cloud Services Delivery

  27-01-2015 17:30
  
  Structure is one of my favorite conferences of the year simply because the leading drivers of data center innovation come together for very substantive discussion on how customer use of technology changing.  In June of last year, Intel shared its latest assessment of today’s data centers ability to meet the emergence of what has been coined the data services economy and how today’s data center models are insufficient.  We charted a new vision of data center disruption and committed to l
  
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• Stratose Hires Chief Information Officer Meridith Herdes - Yahoo Finance UK

  27-01-2015 17:09
  
  Stratose Hires Chief Information Officer Meridith Herdes
  Yahoo Finance UK
  Meridith Herdes is a highly accomplished IT executive with over 20 years in the healthcare industry. Meridith joined Stratose in late 2014 as Chief Information Officer. Prior to joining Stratose, Meridith was EVP and CIO for PMSI for 4 years. She also ...
  
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• BrandPost: Malvertising Is Not an Impossible Threat to Beat

  27-01-2015 16:45
  
  Malvertising has been a problem for CIOs and CSOs for a few years. 2015 stands to be no different, as it is examined in the Cisco Annual Security Report for 2015.
  Malvertising tactics from cyber-criminals are straightforward — use online advertising to spread malware by injecting malicious ads, often via embedded hidden iframes into online ad networks or webpages.
  Unfortunately, the infamous “Kyle and Stan” network was a very good example of this. The malvertising network placed mal
  
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• New Vivaldi Browser Aims to Win Over Power Users

  27-01-2015 16:14
  
  There's a new browser aiming to win the hearts and minds of power users. Called Vivaldi, the Chromium-based browser comes from a team led by Jon von Tetzchner, co-founder and former CEO of Opera Software. Vivaldi is available now as a technical preview for Windows, Mac, and Linux.
  The overall look of Vivaldi is a mix of a classic browser UI and the more sparse, modern interpretations in browsers like Chrome and Microsoft's upcoming Spartan. In the upper left corner, you have a small menu but
  
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• BrandPost: 4 Of The Hardest Things To Change In Information Technology (IT)

  27-01-2015 15:56
  
  As an information technology (IT) leader dealing with the intricacies and complexities of enterprise technology every day, I can tell you this: it’s not the technology that is the toughest thing to change in IT. It’s the people. Here’s my personal take on 4 of the hardest IT transformations to implement – and how people make or break those changes.1. Going global
  There’s no question that transforming your company from regional-based systems to global systems is a big job. Global a
  
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• 'Mastermind' Hacker Steals 20 Million Credentials From Dating Website

  27-01-2015 15:55
  
  The user names and email addresses of 20 million visitors to Russian online dating website Topface have reportedly been put up for sale on a crime forum, according to anti-fraud firm Easy Solutions.
  According to the US firm, a criminal using the alias 'Mastermind' had posted news of the apparent hack, fifty percent of which were of Russian citizens and 40 percent from the EU. Seven million logins were Hotmail accounts, 2.5 million were from Yahoo and 2.3 million were from Gmail.
  If the claim
  
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• A Fifth of Cars Will Have Joined the IoT by 2020 - and Kitchens Will be Next

  27-01-2015 15:54
  
  A fifth of all cars will have some form of wireless network connection by 2020 - amounting to over a quarter billion vehicles on roads worldwide, Gartner's analysts have predicted.
  The analyst house forecasts that connected cars will be a vital aspect of an increasingly connected world - or 'the Internet of Things', which will be composed of 4.9 billion objects this year alone.
  Further, there will be 25 billion connected "things" by 2020, Gartner added.
  "The connected car is already a realit
  
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• BrandPost: Time to Move On: Windows 2003 EOS

  27-01-2015 15:40
  By now everyone should know that Windows Server 2003 is reaching the end of support later this year. Just like the end of Windows XP, the 2003 end of support is a seismic event for Microsoft and their customers. But just how big of an event, well, that remains to be seen. In fact, when we first began talking to our customers about it, we took a very traditional approach: Identify 2003 servers, measure them and figure out how to migrate them to a new OS—whether it was 2008 R2, 2012, or even
  
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• Mass surveillance 'endangers fundamental human rights,' says study

  27-01-2015 15:25
  
  Mass Internet surveillance endangers fundamental human rights and has not helped to prevent terrorist attacks, a top European human rights body concluded after analyzing documents leaked by Edward Snowden in 2013.The leaks detailing government mass surveillance programs have shown “compelling evidence” of “far-reaching, technologically advanced systems” put in place by U.S. intelligence services and their partners to collect, store and analyze communication data on a massive scale, wh
  
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• IT Resume Makeover: Presentation Dictates Response

  27-01-2015 15:09
  
  Even at the CIO or executive level, many candidates struggle to position their accomplishments in a way that will grab the attention of recruiters and hiring managers. John Chavner had an exceptional career and most recently held a number of contract positions consulting for CIOs, but the structure of his resume read "senior IT project guy" and not the "executive IT leader" he truly was.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• MapR Offers Free Hadoop Training and Certifications

  27-01-2015 15:08
  
  In an effort to make Hadoop training for developers, analysts and administrators more accessible, Hadoop distribution specialist MapR Technologies Tuesday unveiled a free on-demand training program. Another track for HBase developers will be added later this quarter."This represents a $50 million, in-kind contribution to the Hadoop community," says Jack Norris, CMO of MapR. "The focus is overcoming what many people consider the major obstacle to the adoption of big data, particularly Hadoop."
  
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• Cisco’s Evolving Software, Cloud Strategy Will Hinge on Hardware

  27-01-2015 14:59
  
  The software and expanded cloud strategy Cisco is announcing this week is an attempt to leverage the company’s installed hardware base while addressing the software centrism sweeping the industry.
  Cisco this week formally launched the Cisco ONE software licensing strategy it hinted at last March, and expanded its cloud offerings by extending the capabilities it came by with the $1.2 billion acquisition of Meraki in 2012. The Cisco ONE software licensing plan seeks to take hundreds of separ
  
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• 'Handle' iOS App Mercifully Merges Email, Calendars and Tasks

  27-01-2015 14:56
  
  New Year's resolutions to exercise more often usually begin to waver during the third week of January, according to The Wall Street Journal. If your 2015 resolution is to get more organized, and you're on similarly shaky ground, there's a new app that can help: Handle.
  Handle is a free, iOS-only download, but it also works as a Chrome browser extension. Right now, it only works with Gmail users. If you're an iOS, Chrome and Gmail user, it's worth a look.To read this article in full or to l
  
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• Enterprises: Get Ready to Pay to Go Slow on Windows 10

  27-01-2015 14:49
  
  Microsoft's faster-paced release cadence for Windows 10 will, as expected, require enterprises to either adapt or pay for the privilege of going slow, several analysts said today.
  But the details are cloudy at best, with some analysts believing that Microsoft will use already-in-place mechanisms to charge corporations while others said even that was murky.
  "Microsoft has made little crystal clear," said Al Gillen of IDC. "We're not getting specific answers, but Microsoft has not said that up
  
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• Developers begin work on LibreOffice for Android

  27-01-2015 14:25
  
  Two companies have started working on a full-featured version of the free office suite LibreOffice for Android. They hope to have a beta version available in March.It’s too soon to say what features will be included in the beta version, said Italo Vignoli, spokesman at the Document Foundation, which leads the development. A series of beta builds with increasing advanced functionality will then be released over time. The foundation didn’t say when it expected LibreOffice for Android to bec
  
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• Are Americans Really Addicted to Mobile Banking?

  27-01-2015 14:05
  
  As mobile devices become ubiquitous in the daily lives of Americans, the number of laptop, smartphone, tablet and phablet owners who regularly use their gadgets for mobile banking is rising rapidly, according to a new report from Carlisle & Gallagher Consulting Group (CG), a business consultancy that focuses on the financial services industry.CG queried 1,005 online respondents, all of whom live in the United States or are U.S. citizens 18 years or older. The company used an online resear
  
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• How Facebook Stimulates the Economy and Creates Millions of Jobs

  27-01-2015 14:00
  
  Facebook is no slouch when it comes to generating cash. The company banked $1.4 billion in profit on $3.2 billion in revenue during its last fiscal quarter. The world's largest social network also significantly impacts other business activity throughout the world, according to a new report from Deloitte and commission by Facebook, which estimates that the company stimulated $227 billion in global economic output and 4.5 million jobs in 2014.To read this article in full or to leave a comment,
  
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• The Upload: Your tech news briefing for Tuesday, January 27

  27-01-2015 13:45
  
  Look for iPhone sales data with Apple earningsApple reports earnings on Tuesday for what may be its most profitable quarter to date: analyst expectations are for a 17 percent increase in revenue and net income of $15.3 billion. The company is also expected to share data on iPhone sales that show it is closing in on smartphone leader Samsung.Microsoft hits revenue target but Windows business sinksMicrosoft reported revenue just ahead of analyst expectations at $26.47 billion on Monday, but pro
  
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• InnoTech San Antonio to honor IT executives for second year - San Antonio Business Journal (blog)

  27-01-2015 13:30
  
  San Antonio Business Journal (blog)
  InnoTech San Antonio to honor IT executives for second year
  San Antonio Business Journal (blog)
  Last year, the technology-focused trade show named Manish Kapoor, senior vice president and chief information officer for NuStar Energy, as the IT Executive of the Year for the private sector, and Ken Pierce, chief information officer for the ...
  
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• Computer simulation eases real-world Chinese traffic jams

  27-01-2015 13:15
  
  A small-scale computer simulation has reduced gridlock in central Jilin City, China, but it’s no magic bullet.NTT Data conducted the simulation of traffic conditions in Jilin using an x86 server. It was able to make recommendations that resulted in marginally better road conditions—the average speed for vehicles in the study area improved by 1 to 2 kilometers per hour, and for public buses arrival times improved 7 percent on average.Though modest, the results are an example of the promise
  
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• Link between NSA and Regin cyberespionage malware becomes clearer

  27-01-2015 13:00
  
  Keylogging malware that may have been used by the NSA shares signficant portions of code with a component of Regin, a sophisticated platform that has been used to spy on businesses, government institutions and private individuals for years.The keylogger program, likely part of an attack framework used by the U.S. National Security Agency and its intelligence partners, is dubbed QWERTY and was among the files that former NSA contractor Edward Snowden leaked to journalists. It was released by G
  
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• In Microsoft's Mobile-First, Cloud-First Strategy, Windows Takes a Supporting Role

  27-01-2015 12:30
  
  At the end of Microsoft’s earnings call Monday night, Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella explained what made Windows unique. And he flubbed it.
  Or did he? 
  Microsoft exceeded analyst expectations for the fourth quarter of 2014, its second fiscal quarter of 2015. During most of the call, Nadella and chief financial officer Amy Cook focused on where Windows went wrong.
  They blamed a 25 percent decline in its Devices and Consumer Licensing unit on economic conditions in Japan and Chi
  
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• 6 DNS Services Protect Against Malware and Other Unwanted Content

  27-01-2015 12:30
  
  While many (but not all) users are familiar with the concept of security software, there are more basic ways to protect unwary surfers from phishing sites, botnets, intrusive advertising and other unwanted visitors: DNS services.
  First, a quick primer for those who are unfamiliar with DNS: You utilize the Domain Name System (DNS) every time you surf the Web. Each time you type a site name into the browser, DNS is queried for the IP address corresponding to that particular domain, so the brow
  
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• Windows 10: The Best Tips, Tricks, and Tweaks

  27-01-2015 12:00
  Digging deep into Windows 10Despite still being very much an early preview, Windows 10 is already brimming with dozens of handy tweaks and tricks—and, because the operating is still in preview, a handful of those tricks unlock powerful functionality hidden to everyday users.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• IT Jobs Outlook: High Demand, Higher Salaries

  27-01-2015 12:00
  
  With the hot job market for technology professionals, it is not surprising that salaries are up, too – though only a bit.
  Technology jobs site Dice.com reported late last week that technology pay was up again last year, with IT professionals earning an average annual salary of $89,450, an increase of 2 percent over 2013. More than half of these professionals – 61 percent – earned higher salaries in 2014, mainly though merit raises. Another 25 percent said they received higher pay by c
  
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• DNS Tips and Tricks

  27-01-2015 12:00
  
  The Domain Name System (DNS) is a very simple, yet extremely important, service that most of us take for granted. Without it, Web browsing would be a much different experience. Instead of typing google.com into your browser, for instance, you would have to remember one of the company's many IP addresses.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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