IT Executive news

• White House Wants 10% Hike in Cybersecurity Spending

  02-02-2015 23:58
  
  The White House, citing the peril posed to the government and private sector by cyberattacks, wants more money for cybersecurity research, technology and investigators.
  That funding request, included in the 2016 federal budget released Monday, seeks $14 billion -- a 10% increase over the current fiscal year -- in defending U.S. cybersecurity systems.
  Cyberattacks and resulting data breaches "are resulting in real cost and consequences for the American economy," said Lisa Schlosser, the actin
  
  Read more

• Silk Road operators developed a taste for murder

  02-02-2015 23:50
  
  Chat logs and other digital records entered into evidence in a federal court case Monday detailed how the operators of the infamous Silk Road underground online marketplace planned to have individuals murdered for potentially disclosing the identities of those who used the anonymous site.Over the course of March and April 2013, an individual operating under the Silk Road administrator account Dread Pirate Roberts had paid an individual, or group of individuals, approximately $650,000 worth of
  
  Read more

• Are Government Jobs Technological Backwaters?

  02-02-2015 23:32
  Ask a Premier 100 IT Leader
  Rosa Akhtarkhavari
  Title: CIO
  Company: City of Orlando
  
  Akhtarkhavari is this month's Premier 100 IT Leader. If you have a question you’d like to pose to one of Computerworld’s Premier 100 IT Leaders, send it to [email protected] read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
  Read more

• RadioShack Through the Ages: 8 Adorable Images From the Fallen Giant's Vault

  02-02-2015 22:36
  Vintage Radio Shack styleImage by Radio ShackRadioShack first opened its doors in 1921 to serve radio officers stationed on ships in Boston Harbor. Today, Bloomberg is reporting that RadioShack is on the verge of collapse.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Super Bowl Dominates Social Media With Dancing Sharks and Crazy Plays

  02-02-2015 22:25
  Even casual football fans who tune in to the Super Bowl just for the commercials have to admit that Sunday night’s game was one of the most exciting in recent memory. Between that game-winning interception and Missy Elliott’s comeback halftime performance, not to mention the incredibly sad ads, social media was abuzz all night long.
  Not surprisingly, fans turned to Twitter to discuss every minute of the game, with Patriots cornerback Malcom Butler’s interception the most tweeted about
  
  Read more

• The Raspberry Pi 2 is more powerful, but you still get what you pay for

  02-02-2015 22:15
  
  The Raspberry Pi 2 packs more memory and a faster processor than its predecessor, which is enough to turn it into a more functional PC, but don’t expect any miracles: It’s still a US$35 product.The Raspberry Pi 2 was launched on Monday at an event in London, and is a big step forward. That’s because it has twice the amount of memory—1GB of RAM—as the Pi 1, and is powered by a quad-core ARM Cortex A7 processor running at 900MHz, which is much more powerful that then Pi 1’s 700MHz s
  
  Read more

• Amazon Hits 5-Year High in Cloud Market

  02-02-2015 22:05
  
  Despite Microsoft's strong growth in the cloud market, Amazon reached a five-year high in its share of the cloud infrastructure service market.
  Amazon Web Services (AWS) had 25% revenue growth from the third quarter to the fourth quarter, giving it a 30% global market share in the last quarter of 2014, according to a report from Synergy Research Group. AWS's year-over-year revenue growth was 51%.
  Amazon was able to grab that marketshare despite a strong third-quarter push from cloud rival Mi
  
  Read more

• VMware CEO Touts ‘One Cloud, Any App, Any Device’ Plan

  02-02-2015 21:45
  
  VMware is shifting its cloud computing engine into high gear this week with a series of product updates, including new versions of its vSphere virtualization software and VSAN storage platform, plus a distribution of OpenStack and integrations of its NSX software-defined networking tool with its vCloudAir public cloud. This follows a partnership announcement last week with Google in the cloud. VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger - former COO of EMC and CTO of Intel - sat down with IDG Enterprise Chief
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• RadioShack is Gearing Up to Sell or Shutter its Stores, Report Says

  02-02-2015 21:26
  
  A moment of silence middle-aged nerds: RadioShack is reportedly in talks to sell off half its stores to Sprint and then shutter the rest if it can't find a buyer for them. Bloomberg news cited sources close to discussions between the two companies, but officials with the Ft. Worth-based RadioShack declined to comment to Bloomberg. 
  RadioShack's stock suffered a 19 percent hit after the news broke. To help get through the holidays, RadioShack received a $120 million lifeline from hedge fun
  
  Read more

• SanDisk Enters the Auto Industry, Sets Sights on Wearables

  02-02-2015 21:11
  
  SanDisk today announced its first automotive grade NAND flash devices for next-generation 'connected cars' and auto infotainment systems.
  SanDisk also plans to focus more attention on embedded flash in wearable devices, a market it believes will drive growth in flash shipments over the next decade.
  In just five years, most cars and trucks will be connected to the Internet, according to a report from Gartner Inc.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
  Read more

• Salesforce leads $41M investment in 'quote to cash' firm Apttus

  02-02-2015 21:05
  
  Salesforce’s investment arm has led a major funding round that delivered $41 million in fresh cash to Apttus, a maker of cloud software that helps companies manage price quotes and sales contracts.The Series B round, led by Salesforce Ventures and announced Monday, follows Apttus’s $37 million in Series A funding in September 2013, for a total of $78 million. K1 Capital and Iconiq also participated in both rounds.This latest investment reportedly represents the largest Salesforce has ever
  
  Read more

• FCC to vote on overturning two state laws limiting municipal broadband

  02-02-2015 20:35
  
  The U.S. Federal Communications Commission will vote late this month on whether to overturn two state laws limiting deployment of broadband networks funded by local governments.FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s municipal broadband proposal, scheduled for a vote Feb. 26, would largely preempt laws in North Carolina and Tennessee that limit the expansion of municipal broadband networks within their borders.The proposed FCC order, responding to petitions from cities in each state, does not address st
  
  Read more

• Top Password Managers Compared

  02-02-2015 20:00
  
  Unless you're living off the grid in a cabin in the woods -- and, if you're reading this, you're probably not -- you have more passwords than you can manage. They're all supposed to be long, complicated, unique, and difficult to guess. Oh, and you're supposed to change them all every three to six months.
  The simple answer is to use a password management program. And, as the options below illustrate, there's a password manager out there for you regardless of your level of paranoia.
  Plus, the
  
  Read more

• Firefox Deal Continues to Swing U.S. Search Toward Yahoo

  02-02-2015 19:53
  
  Google's share of the U.S. search market fell further in January, an Irish metrics company said Monday, again attributing the decline to last year's change by Firefox to dump Google as the browser's default.
  According to StatCounter, which tallies page referrals from search providers, Google's U.S. usage share slipped by four-tenths of a percentage point last month to end with 74.8%, the first time the massive search firm has dipped below the 75% mark since StatCounter began tracking usage i
  
  Read more

• Windows 7 and Windows XP Show No Signs of Dying

  02-02-2015 19:28
  Perhaps this is why Windows 10 will be a free upgrade to both Windows 7 and Windows 8 owners: Windows 7 users simply refuse to give up using Microsoft’s older OS.
  Net Applications’ NetMarketshare numbers for January show the number of Windows 7 users at 55.92 percent, which is near their 11-month high of 56.41 percent. And the number of users of Windows XP—whose share had plunged to 13.57 percent last November—are back up to 18.93 percent of the total. Net Applications
  
  Microsoft has
  
  Read more

• Yahoo gains US search share at Google's expense

  02-02-2015 19:25
  
  Gaining the status of default search engine in Firefox is paying off for Yahoo, which has grown its share of the U.S. search market over the last three months while Google’s portion has dropped slightly.Neither Yahoo’s gains nor Google’s losses were massive, according to Web analytics company StatCounter. In January, Yahoo’s share of the U.S. search market rose to 10.9 percent. That’s a minor increase from the 10.4 share the struggling Internet company claimed in January and a sizea
  
  Read more

• Best Ways to Celebrate Pi Day 2014

  02-02-2015 19:19
  
  Pi Day
  It’s the holiday for every mathematician small and large: Pi Day! If you’re not familiar, math enthusiasts around the world embrace March 14 to commemorate the mathematical constant. No matter the size of the circle, the ratio of its circumference to its diameter will always be 3.14. What better way to celebrate this than on 3/14? Here are 10 ways you and your math friends can celebrate the day. Be sure to check out our previous years’ guide to Pi Day for more tips on how to celebra
  
  Read more

• Google Earth Pro, Once $399, is Now Free

  02-02-2015 19:13
  
  Google Earth Pro, which had a price tag of $399, is now available for free.
  Google, in a blog post Friday, said its customizable mapping application – complete with all of its features and imagery – will be available for free. Anyone interested can obtain a free key and download Earth Pro immediately.
  The Pro version has the same features as the standard Google Earth along with tools that help users measure 3D buildings, print high-resolution images for presentations or reports, and rec
  
  Read more

• Is Windows RT dead? Windows stops making Nokia Lumia 2520

  02-02-2015 19:10
  
  Microsoft could be close to pulling the plug on Windows RT with its decision to stop manufacturing the Nokia Lumia 2520 tablet.The Lumia 2520 tablet was the last tablet remaining running Windows RT with Microsoft not making its Surface 2 tablet. Microsoft didn’t provide the specific date it stopped making the Lumia 2520 tablet to Dutch publication PCM, which broke the news.Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But Nokia Lumia 2520 tablets are still being sold throu
  
  Read more

• Beyond Passwords with Biometric Technology

  02-02-2015 19:00
  
  Tired of having hackers guess your password in three tries and break into your most critical systems?
  Well, first, stop using "password" as your password.
  Then, consider investing in some alternate means of authentication. Biometric technologies can supplement or even replace passwords entirely when used in conjunction with a password management program.
  The following biometrics vendors, for example, can turn almost any physical aspect of your body into an authentication mechanism.
  Most are
  
  Read more

• Blackhat Movie: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

  02-02-2015 18:09
  
  If you still haven't seen the new movie Michael Mann movie "Blackhat" with Chris Hemsworth playing the lead, you won't be getting any new insights into how hackers work.
  If you are not a security professional, however, then the movie does, in fact, have some interesting things to say about the kinds of cyberthreats we're now up against, so stop reading and go see it.
  Good: The IoT attack was real
  Unlike other movies, in which hackers magically crack "several layers of encryption" with their
  
  Read more

• Flash Player plagued by third zero-day flaw in a month, updates coming

  02-02-2015 17:25
  
  Adobe Systems warned users that hackers are exploiting another unpatched vulnerability in Flash Player—the third one in the past month—to infect computers with malware.There are reports that the vulnerability is being actively exploited in drive-by-download attacks that target systems running Flash Player under Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox on Windows 8.1 and below, Adobe said in a security advisory published Monday.The company plans to release Flash Player updates that will addres
  
  Read more

• World’s Coolest Gas Stations

  02-02-2015 17:10
  
  At your serviceImage by REUTERS/Heinz-Peter BaderFrom high-tech to decidedly low-tech, the world is full of all manner of places to get gasoline. A photo compilation from Reuters recently captured a number of the more interesting locations we all get our fossil fuels from. “Whether it is plastic bottles by the roadside in Malaysia or a futuristic forecourt in Los Angeles, fuel stations help define our world,” Reuters said. Check them out.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, pl
  
  Read more

• Verizon to Allow Opt-Outs of Dubious Perma-Cookie Program, But isn't Giving Up

  02-02-2015 16:01
  
  Despite criticisms and public outcry, Verizon isn’t giving up on its UIDH “perma-cookie” advertising program—but the company will give subscribers a larger say in the matter. Verizon customers will soon have the ability to opt-out of the UIDH program.
  “We have begun working to expand the opt-out to include the identifier referred to as the UIDH, and expect that to be available soon,” a Verizon spokesperson said via email. The company did not provide a specific date for when the o
  
  Read more

• Microsoft Talks Up Windows 10 for Business, But Questions Mount

  02-02-2015 15:48
  
  Microsoft on Friday dribbled out a bit more information about how enterprises will be able to deploy and update Windows 10, answering some questions but leaving analysts asking more.
  "I'm still not 100% clear on what the options are for business customers that want to either land on long-term service branches, versus those that want to move behind, but fairly close, to the consumer user base," said Al Gillen of IDC in an email Saturday.
  Gillen was talking about the Friday disclosure of the n
  
  Read more

• BrandPost: The OCR is coming – five common mistakes and how to avoid them for 2015 HIPAA audits

  02-02-2015 15:34
  
  2014 saw a rise in data breaches and HIPAA compliance failures within the healthcare industry. The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) takes privacy and security seriously, and more organizations have been fined for failure to comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). This year, the OCR will use the HIPAA audit program to randomly assess healthcare entities and business associates for compliance with the HIPAA privacy, security and breach notification rules. Here
  
  Read more

• BrandPost: How To Move Public Cloud Shadow IT Into The Light

  02-02-2015 15:26
  
  Whether you realize it or not, many companies contain workstations with software that is not approved by the information technology (IT) department; instead, it has been adopted and installed by individuals or even, in some cases, entire departments. We call this use of unapproved applications or third party cloud services ‘Shadow IT’ due to its clandestine or covert status.More often than not, these activities are not malicious in nature: they are merely a means of maintaining productivi
  
  Read more

• Windows 10: Inside Microsoft’s Latest Technical Preview

  02-02-2015 15:00
  
  Technical PreviewOn Jan. 21, Microsoft revealed many of the major features coming to Windows 10. Two days later, Microsoft released an updated Windows 10 Technical Preview. The Technical Previews have been made available to the public, but are meant only for testing purposes, and will not completely reflect what Windows 10 will be like in its final form. The latest version, Build 9926, does not include some of the things that Microsoft showed off on the 21st, including deep integration of Skype
  
  Read more

• Security Concerns Cloud Federal Data Center Overhaul

  02-02-2015 14:52
  
  Federal CIOs have been working to overhaul and consolidate their agencies' data centers, but a new report suggests that security concerns loom large in that process.[ Related: Government CIOs Face Data Center Consolidation Challenges ]In a survey of 300 federal IT managers, two-thirds of respondents indicate that they have security concerns about their data-center modernization efforts, which include reducing the total number of facilities, virtualizing machines and moving systems to the clou
  
  Read more

• Why Soft Skills Are Key to a Successful IT Career

  02-02-2015 14:27
  
  With IT sector unemployment at its lowest rate in seven years, it's a seller's market for professionals with technology skills. However, it takes more than just hard-core technical knowledge to get ahead in IT departments. While skills and hands-on technical experience are required for any IT professional, some of the most important contributors to a successful IT career have nothing to do with speeds and feeds or bytes and bits.
  
  The Value of Soft Skills
  
  Technology pros who also have the a
  
  Read more

• Google will motivate bug hunters to keep probing its products with research grants

  02-02-2015 14:15
  
  Google has expanded its bug bounty programs to cover the company’s official mobile applications, and is seeking to stimulate vulnerability research on particular products by offering money in advance to bug hunters.The company launched an experimental Vulnerability Research Grants program Friday, through which it will pay researchers to look at specific categories of products regardless of whether this results in any issues being discovered.Google’s existing vulnerability reward programs
  
  Read more

• How Digital Ecosystems Are Creating the 'We Economy'

  02-02-2015 14:00
  
  For the past several years, the forces of social, mobile, analytics and cloud (SMAC) have combined to create the perfect storm of digital transformation, re-shaping markets and changing the way we work and live. Today, companies are using technology to not only improve their internal processes, but to drive growth.According to the Accenture Technology Vision 2015 report, released by the consultancy Monday, these companies will no longer be isolated entities, but component pieces of new digita
  
  Read more

• The Upload: Your tech news briefing for Monday, February 2

  02-02-2015 13:45
  
  Intel buying German communications chipmakerMunich-based Lantiq is the latest company to be folded into Intel’s portfolio. Intel said Monday that it’s buying the fabless communications chip firm to push into the telecom residential gateway and access network markets, particularly DSL, Fiber, LTE, retail and IoT smart routers.Next-gen Raspberry Pi runs Windows 10A new version of the Raspberry Pi 2 computer will run a version of Windows 10 and is expected to power computer vision, drones as
  
  Read more

• IDG Contributor Network: Move Over, Big Data. Here Comes the Internet of Things. Or Not.

  02-02-2015 13:32
  
  2014 went by in a frenzied cacophony of Big Data as the salvation for corporate financial woes. As the year wore on, everyone got jaded by the incessant pitches from big data solution vendors, the long and excruciating conferences featuring the same speakers, and the repeated references to the same clichéd case studies.
  But we’re in 2015 now. We need a new shiny object. And we have one. It’s called the Internet of Things ( IoT in short form). Event managers are busy putting together con
  
  Read more

• Intel to buy Lantiq in a push to make more home devices connected

  02-02-2015 13:10
  
  In its push to connect as many gadgets to the Internet as possible, Intel has agreed to buy Lantiq, a German company that makes broadband access and home networking tech.With the acquisition of the Munich-based maker of networking chips, Intel wants to extend its home gateway business, it said Monday. The acquisition aims to broaden Intel’s offering to gateway markets including DSL, fiber and LTE.Intel is betting big on the so-called Internet of Things (IoT), a push from tech companies to c
  
  Read more

• Six TED Talks That Can Change Your Career

  02-02-2015 12:33
  
  There’s nothing like the winter doldrums to make many of us seek a little inspiration, especially when it comes to making a career change. Should you sign up for certification class, brush up your resume, find a mentor, enter a hackathon?To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
  Read more

• Internet of Things Could Be Key to IT's Response to Climate Change

  02-02-2015 12:32
  
  Scientists announced last month that 2014 was the planet's warmest year on record, sparking renewed debate in Washington about the causes of global warming and what to do about it. But global warming isn’t just a political issue, it’s an IT issue as well.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
  Read more

• Cloud Jumping: When it's Time to Switch Providers

  02-02-2015 12:30
  
  When Creative Solutions in Healthcare, which owns 75 nursing homes in Texas, first headed to the cloud nearly five years ago, it chose a local managed service provider (MSP).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
  Read more

• 10 Aternative Carriers That Can Save You Serious Cash on Your Smartphone Bill

  02-02-2015 12:30
  When it comes time to choose a wireless carrier, most Americans just go with AT&T, Sprint, or Verizon. Recently, more and more people have been tempted by T-Mobile’s cost-slashing “Uncarrier” moves, but that's about where it ends: the four major carriers.
  And that reluctance to look beyond the big guys could be costing you money.
  Did you know there are a host of different carriers in the U.S. that use the same networks as the big companies but offer some serious discounts on your m
  
  Read more

• NOAA’s Next Supercomputer Will Be a Cray-IBM Hybrid System

  02-02-2015 12:11
  
  On Jan. 14, the U.S. upgraded its main weather forecasting model, which subsequently did a very good in predicting the track of last week's East Coast blizzard. It correctly predicted that heavier snows would be east of New York City, even as the official weather forecast -- based on a mix of computer models -- had the city getting buried in two feet of snow.
  When it didn't happen, there was some political fallout as officials struggled to explain to residents why they had closed schools and
  
  Read more

• Office Online vs. Office 365: What’s Free, What’s Not, and What You Really Need

  02-02-2015 12:00
  
  Microsoft Office, once an expensive investment (or furtive appropriation), is now available in free as well as paid forms, on basically any device with a screen. 
  And the goodies keep coming. The original, browser-based Office Online has steadily gained features. Microsoft also recently revealed that Office for Windows 10 apps will be  preinstalled and free to use on Windows 10 smartphones and small tablets—joining native, no-cost apps that already exist for iOS and Android.To read th
  
  Read more

• Mobile App Security Grabs Feds' Attention

  02-02-2015 12:00
  
  Recognizing the increased use of mobile apps at businesses, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a U.S. government agency, has come forward with recommendations on vetting security of these applications with steps ranging from risk management to testing.
  In the January report, NIST notes how mobile apps can provide “unprecedented” connectivity between employees, customers, and vendors. The apps also offer unrestricted mobility, as well as improved functionality and
  
  Read more

• Best Office Apps for Android, Round 2

  02-02-2015 12:00
  
  Getting serious about mobile productivity We live in an increasingly mobile world -- and while many of us spend our days working on traditional desktops or laptops, we also frequently find ourselves on the road and relying on tablets or smartphones to stay connected and get work done.Where do you turn when it's time for serious productivity on an Android device? The Google Play Store boasts several popular office suite options; at a glance, they all look fairly comparable. But don't be fooled: A
  
  Read more

• Raspberry Pi 2 is six times faster than Pi 1, supports Windows 10

  02-02-2015 10:15
  
  A faster Raspberry Pi 2 computer is now shipping without a rise in price, and for the first time it will support Microsoft’s Windows 10 OS for the development of smart devices and appliances.At US$35, the new computer has managed to retain the low-cost appeal of the original Raspberry Pi, which has sold more than 4 million units. Raspberry Pi 2 is also six times faster than the original computer.Raspberry Pi 2—which will ship on Monday—is an uncased computer that could be held in one ha
  
  Read more

• Hackers tapped into Syrian opposition's battle plans

  02-02-2015 06:55
  
  Syrian opposition leaders lost gigabytes of secret communications and battlefield plans to hackers who baited them into downloading malware during flirtatious Skype chats, according to a report released Sunday.Last fall, FireEye stumbled across a server containing the documents and files while researching PDF-based malware, said Laura Galante, manager of threat intelligence at the computer security firm.The cache of documents included annotated satellite images, weapons records, Skype chats a
  
  Read more

• Atlassian resets HipChat passwords after 'suspicious' activity

  02-02-2015 00:40
  
  Atlassian has reset the passwords for some users of its HipChat messaging application after personal data and email addresses were accessed, the company said Saturday.The “suspicious” activity caused names, usernames, email addresses and encrypted passwords to be exposed for less than 2 percent of HipChat users, wrote Craig Davies, Atlassian’s security head. Affected users are being contacted.No payment information was accessed, he wrote. Davies did not specify when the breach occurred
  
  Read more

Follow @ITExecutiveNews on Twitter!