IT Executive news

• How to Stay Happy in IT: Book Excerpts

  05-02-2015 23:58
  
  If you're dealing with more than your share of problems -- either within your department or beyond -- Warren Zabloudil's new book may be just the tonic you need.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• Twitter wows on revenue but user growth drags

  05-02-2015 23:40
  
  Twitter nearly doubled its revenue last quarter, handsomely beating forecasts, but it continues to battle slow user growth.Twitter ended the fourth quarter of 2014 with 288 million monthly active users, up 20 percent from the same quarter a year earlier, it announced Thursday. That was the smallest growth rate Twitter has ever reported.Still, it managed to increase sales thanks to a strong advertising business. Total revenue for the quarter ended Dec. 31 was US$479 million, up 97 percent from
  
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• Uber, Lyft face licensing regulations in Massachusetts

  05-02-2015 23:25
  
  Regulations for ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft are coming down the road in Massachusetts.Over the next six months, the administration of Republican Governor Charlie Baker will develop a framework for granting state licenses to companies that use mobile technology to link private drivers to people seeking a ride. Until then, ride-hailing services can continue operating as they currently do in the state.In January, regulations took effect that require ride-hailing businesses to be li
  
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• Tech Ad Watch: CTIA Makes Dumb, Poorly-Staged Video to Protest Title II

  05-02-2015 23:10
  
  And here I thought we were done with issue ads for at least a few more months, before the insanity of the 2016 elections really takes off. Thanks to apparent coming of Net Neutrality/Title II regulations for the wireless industry, however, CTIA has come out with this half-hearted whimper of advocacy (see video here or below):
  
  
  
  
  
  There’s a continuum of authenticity to people-on-the-street ads, and this one is clearly far out on the “bogus-as-hell” end of it. Sure, some people might s
  
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• State-sponsored Chinese hackers reportedly suspected in Anthem breach

  05-02-2015 23:00
  
  Hackers involved in the data breach at U.S. health insurer Anthem may have ties to the Chinese government, according to a news report.Investigators see techniques used by a nation-state attacker, with China a leading suspect, reported Bloomberg Business. The news report cited information from three people close to the investigation, being conducted by the U.S. FBI and private cybersecurity firm Mandiant.The investigation is in its early stages, but some of the software and techniques used in
  
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• Over-the-Air Software Coming Soon to Your Next Car

  05-02-2015 22:54
  
  Using a capability that is unique in the auto industry, Elon Musk last week tweeted that over-the-air (OTA) software upgrades would soon come to its P85D Model S sedans as the cars sat in garages and driveways around the world.
  While Tesla Motor's powertrain upgrade via OTA software may be a first, it's a feature that most automakers are hoping to adopt because it will improve customer satisfaction and slash costs.
  In fact, consumers soon may consider it outrageous that they must either down
  
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• Defections to ARM hurt PowerPC, MIPS

  05-02-2015 22:20
  
  The PowerPC is best known for powering old Mac computers, while MIPS processors were in the first PlayStation, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft and the first $99 Android tablets. Now, both processor families are widely used in equipment like networking gear but are being threatened with the emergence of ARM chips for embedded devices.The ARM chip architecture is used in most smartphones and tablets, but is making its way into a wide range of appliances and computer equipment used in data cent
  
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• Apple Previews New Photos App to OS X Developers

  05-02-2015 22:03
  
  Apple today released the first preview of Photos, its iPhoto replacement, to registered developers.
  Photos, slated for an official launch later this year, will be offered free to OS X Yosemite users, Apple said in 2014, when it announced the iPhoto substitute would ship in early 2015.
  On the Apple website, the Photos timetable was simply "coming this spring."
  The revamped OS X application resembles the same-named app on iOS, and replaces iPhoto, the 13-year-old application that has been diss
  
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• BrandPost: 5 Strategic IT Steps: Use Data For Business Knowledge

  05-02-2015 21:48
  
  Today, the big problem organizations face isn’t lack of data!For example, one single jet engine produces a staggering 20 TB of raw data per hour of flight—about 1,000 high-definition movies. We live in a fully wired world, but the challenge is to make sense of all that data—and fast.The smart organization, in its evolution to full intelligence, has access to an avalanche of data, including:
  customer behavior,
  brand sentiment analysis,
  product uptake rates,
  product issues data,
  supplier
  
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• IBM brings more Watson smarts to developers

  05-02-2015 21:15
  
  IBM is expanding its roster of Watson online services that can be deployed by developers to enhance their apps with analysis and data processing capabilities.Launched in October 2013, the Watson Developer Cloud has so far attracted more than 5,000 users, who have incorporated the services into more than 6,000 apps. At present, all the Watson Developer Could services are available in beta form, so they are free to use.Five new services announced Thursday are all designed to be embedded within
  
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• Machine Learning Helps Food Distributor Reach Its Customers

  05-02-2015 21:14
  
  For B2B organizations, the ongoing shift from call center-based services to ecommerce portals has been a huge boon, decreasing costs and increasing efficiency. But it has also resulted in a loss of interaction with customers, and in many cases that lost interaction has cost them cross-sell and upsell opportunities. The U.K.'s JJ Food Service has responded by leveraging its data and machine learning.JJ Food Service is one of the largest independent food delivery companies in the U.K., with 60,
  
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• After Wheeler unveils proposal, what's next for net neutrality?

  05-02-2015 20:55
  
  A flurry of activity will follow the plan from U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler to reclassify broadband as a regulated public utility as the foundation for new net neutrality rules.Wheeler’s plan would reclassify broadband from a lightly regulated information service to a more regulated telecommunications service under Title II of the Telecommunications Act, reversing the FCC’s broadband policy for the past decade. Still, Wheeler’s plan has the agency forbeari
  
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• SAP komt met S/4HANA

  05-02-2015 20:46
  SAP heeft gisteren zijn Business Suite 4 SAP HANA (SAP S/4HANA) aangekondigd, sterk vereenvoudigde ERP-software die de digitale transformatie omarmt.
  
  SAP S/4HANA bevat twee belangrijke technologieën: SAP HANA voor real-time, in-memory computing en SAP Fiori waardoor gebruikers op consistente en intuïtieve... lees meer
  
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• McGregor kiest voor Cloud BI Services

  05-02-2015 20:46
  De McGregor Fashion Group heeft besloten om al zijn activiteiten op het gebied van BI uit te besteden aan de in Woerden gevestigde BI-specialist Inergy. Beide partijen hebben contract voor vier jaar getekend.
  
  Het bedrijf gaat voor zijn managementinformatie en voor zijn operationele informatie gebruikmaken van... lees meer
  
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• Cloud Summit 2015: Hybride cloud met beide voeten op de grond

  05-02-2015 20:46
  De wereld van cloud is hybride, zo bleek ontegenzeggelijk op de Cloud Summit 2015, georganiseerd door CIO Magazine & Outsource Magazine. Het was een middag waar deelnemers met beide voeten op de grond bleven, zonder gouden bergen en zilveren randen. Hoe zet je de cloud op de juiste manier in, waarop moet je letten... lees meer
  
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• 10 Social Media Accounts Sports Fans Should Follow

  05-02-2015 20:40
  
  The Most Entertaining Social Media Accounts for Sports FansImage by ShutterstockIf you’re a sports fan, you probably follow your hometown teams and favorite sports figures on social media. But fandom aside, there are interesting and entertaining accounts out there that can keep you up-to-date with news, opinions and lifestyles in the world of sports, both mainstream and obscure. These accounts not only demonstrate the reach of robust personal brandsbut they are also prime examples of how sport
  
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• Mobile Marketing Means Much More Than Apps

  05-02-2015 20:01
  
  People spend more time on their mobile devices than they do in front of their television sets, yet mobile is not as powerful an advertising medium -- at least, not yet. Mobile apps rather than the mobile Web might seem to be a better way for companies to reach customers, but the vast majority of mobile traffic and shopping doesn't come through apps.These insights offer only a taste of a Forrester’s recent findings on mobile app marketing trends. It's vital marketers understand mobile trends
  
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• Uber Shows How Not to Do a Privacy Report

  05-02-2015 19:44
  
  The Uber privacy report released last week (Jan. 30) is the perfect example of how not to handle a privacy PR disaster — or any privacy policy matters at all.
  Uber’s particular privacy PR disaster arose from several clueless incidents. There was the Uber senior executive who said in a speech that the company should consider digging up dirt on a particular critical reporter. Shortly after that, a different Uber executive started off an interview with another journalist by citing her geolo
  
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• Lawmakers try again to curb abusive patent lawsuits

  05-02-2015 19:40
  
  A group of U.S. lawmakers has reintroduced a bill aimed at limiting the ability of so-called patent trolls to file abusive patent infringement lawsuits.The Innovation Act, introduced in the House of Representatives Thursday, is the same bill that passed the chamber by a 325-91 vote in December 2013. The Senate then failed to act on the legislation, killing the bill during the last session of Congress.A bipartisan group of seven lawmakers, including Representative Bob Goodlatte, a Virginia Rep
  
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• 7 Critical Things to Cover in Your Disaster-Recovery Plan

  05-02-2015 19:31
  
  Creating a planImage by ShutterstockCloud services company Evolve IP has created a list of suggestions for executives to evaluate their current disaster avoidance plans or, should a plan not exist, provide directional measures to protect their information and communications systems.Establish a disaster recovery functional teamImage by ShutterstockTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• With employee help, ID theft ring allegedly stole $700,000 in Apple gift cards

  05-02-2015 19:30
  
  Apple products are some of the most expensive and desirable in tech so it makes sense that the company’s gift cards are proving an attractive currency for criminals.On Thursday, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office said it has indicted five people for using personal information stolen from around 200 people to fund the purchase of hundreds of thousands of dollars in Apple gift cards, which in turn were used to buy Apple products.The DA’s office alleges that Annie Vuong, a 27-year-ol
  
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• BrandPost: The Industrialization of Hacking: Part 2 - The Cybersecurity Arms Race

  05-02-2015 18:18
  
  This is the second installment of our four part series on The Industrialization of Hacking. Previously, I introduced the concept of the Industrialization of Hacking, creating a faster, more effective and efficient criminal economy. The Industrialization of Hacking is the result of a natural evolution, with attackers launching new types of exploits with increasing frequency and defenders quickly innovating to stay ahead of them. The motives and persistence of attackers have increased along wit
  
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• It's a Bird, it's a Plane, it's the Rebirth of Satellite Internet

  05-02-2015 18:16
  
  SpaceX, Facebook, Virgin Galactic and Google have all announced major initiatives that would help connect the world -- especially developing nations -- to the Internet. But the next thing in worldwide connectivity isn't going to be in underground cables, so much as it will be over your head. It starts with satellites, but it gets a lot weirder. 
  Back in the nineties, when we first started to understand the promise of this whole "Internet" thing, satellite Internet access represented the pro
  
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• Swatch reportedly readies smartwatch to face off against Apple Watch

  05-02-2015 18:15
  
  The smartwatch market could become a bit more colorful in the coming months.Swatch, a Swiss company know for creating timepieces with vibrant hues, plans to launch a smartwatch in the next three months. The Internet-connected device will work with Android and Windows software and allow users to make mobile payments, Swatch CEO Nick Hayek told Bloomberg Business on Thursday.Hayek didn’t offer additional details such as how much it will cost and how the device will interface with Android and
  
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• BrandPost: Are Your Applications Ready for an OpenStack Neighborhood?

  05-02-2015 18:04
  
  The typical enterprise application grew up on its own block. By that I mean the application lived in its own environment served by a dedicated pool of bare-metal servers. For the administrator, there was no question the application would get the resources it needed to meet the appropriate service-level agreements (SLAs). That was all hard wired into the system.Today, with the advent of cloud computing and the maturation of the supporting technologies, a big change is under way. Enterprise app
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Professional Accomplishments: The Shortest Distance to Indispensable

  05-02-2015 18:00
  
  Chapter 3: Welcome to Your Professional Mindset
  Here’s another word for you: ACCOMPLISHMENT.
  ac·com·plish·ment (noun) \ ə-käm-plish-mənt
  Something done or achieved successfully (ACHIEVEMENT)
  The successful completion of something: the act of accomplishing something (COMPLETION)
  
  
  For the purposes of this book, let’s expand that definition a little. An accomplishment is “The successful completion of something you did that you are proud of.” It is something that prompts you t
  
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• Attackers exploit zero-day flaw in popular WordPress plug-in

  05-02-2015 17:55
  
  WordPress sites with the plug-in Fancybox-for-WordPress should apply a critical security update released Thursday that fixes a vulnerability already exploited by attackers.Researchers from Web security firm Sucuri issued a warning about the vulnerability Wednesday after seeing attacks that injected a malicious iframe into websites.They tracked down the problem to a flaw in Fancybox-for-WordPress, which allows webmasters to easily integrate the Fancybox JavaScript library into their WordPress
  
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• How to Keep Track of All Your Passwords

  05-02-2015 17:28
  
  Manager available to fit your paranoiaImage by Joel DindaThere's a password manager out there for you regardless of your level of paranoia. Plus, the leading options are getting pretty business-friendly, so if your company doesn't have a password management solution in place already, or is too small for one, then one of these password managers could do the job.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• Swatch's Smartwatch is Coming Soon, But Don't Expect a Powerhouse

  05-02-2015 17:19
  When the Apple Watch arrives this April, Swatch plans to have an answer.
  Nick Hayek, CEO of the Swiss watch giant, told Bloomberg that it will start selling its own smartwatch within the next three months. Although Hayek didn’t get deep into specifics, he said the watch will allow mobile payments, won’t have to be charged, and will work with both Android and Windows software.
  Hayek’s comments suggest that the watch won’t run Android Wear (which only works with Android phones). And if
  
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• 3 Fights Big Telecom is Losing – and What That Might Mean for IT

  05-02-2015 16:44
  
  It’s been an unusually tough few months for Big Telecom. The industry, which enjoys a generally friendly regulatory climate, has plenty of influence in Congress and with state and local governments across the country.
  On three big issues, however, the outlook is fairly grim for America’s biggest telecom companies. First, the proposed merger between Comcast and TWC, the two largest wired broadband providers in the nation, has come under increasing scrutiny from regulators, consumer rights
  
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• Google could boost education push with Launchpad Toys acquisition

  05-02-2015 16:35
  
  Google could strengthen its position in the education market with its acquisition of Launchpad Toys, maker of popular children apps like Toontastic which are used in classrooms.“We’re proud to announce that our little toy company is pairing up with a great big team of tinkerers to empower gajillions of playful storytellers around the world,” Launchpad announced on its website on Wednesday. At the same time, it made all of its iOS apps free. The company hasn’t yet made any apps for Goo
  
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• Siemens patches critical flaws in industrial wireless gear

  05-02-2015 15:55
  
  Siemens released critical security patches for the firmware in its Ruggedcom WIN products which are used as broadband wireless base stations in industrial environments.The updates fix three vulnerabilities, two of which have the maximum severity score in the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) and could allow attackers to perform administrative functions or to execute arbitrary code on the affected systems without authentication.Ruggedcom WIN products are compliant with the IEEE 802.16
  
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• BrandPost: Start Your Microsoft Week with an Assessment of Your Windows 2003 Environment

  05-02-2015 15:42
  To get us started today, I’d like to share that PC Connection has posted a simple, yet comprehensive, Windows Server 2003 Vulnerability Assessment on its website.It’s free, and shouldn't take more than 10 minutes to complete. Please feel free to take the assessment at any time. There’s more on that helpful tool, plus the all the Microsoft news you could possibly handle—including new insights into Windows 10—after the cut.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please cli
  
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• Time to Reprioritize Security Awareness Efforts

  05-02-2015 15:20
  
  The Sony, CENTCOM, and just about every other major attack are proving that poor awareness is costing organizations a lot of money.
  Two major hacks within the last month, the Sony and CENTCOM hacks, haven’t been attributed to poor awareness as of yet, but it is likely that they will be. One of the key issues of the Sony hack was that there were administrator credentials hardcoded into the malware. As the theory of the disgruntled employees has now been discounted, and it appears to be the
  
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• BrandPost: Are Value Villains Slowing Your Path to Analytic Mastery?

  05-02-2015 15:20
  
  Every industry has the potential of being transformed by the innovative combination of analytics and modern IT. The question many boards of directors are asking is – “if analytics is such a game-changer, if the disruptive potential of collecting and analyzing massive amounts of data is so powerful, why aren’t we getting the benefits?”If every enterprise has the same opportunity of creating competitive differentiation … if we have at our fingertips all the tools necessary to create �
  
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• Verizon Cut Prices on Most Data Plans, But Raises Costs for Heavy Data Users

  05-02-2015 15:15
  
  Verizon doesn't want to get fancy with offers like rollover data. Instead, the mobile carrier is going for a good old-fashioned price cut and some new data plans. Starting Thursday, the company's More Everything plans in the 1GB to 3GB range will get an extra gigabyte of data at the same price.
  By offering more data with each of the lower-tier plans Verizon is essentially building in a $10 discount from its previous rates. The company is also adding a new 6GB plan for $70 a month and an 8GB
  
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• That Smartphone or Tablet Is Keeping Your Kid Awake

  05-02-2015 15:06
  
  Anyone who's raised teenagers knows how tough it can be to get them to go to bed on time — and how difficult it is to get them out of bed when they don't. This was a problem long before young people curled up at night with a smartphone or tablet, but the gadgets may be making the problem worse.That's the conclusion of a Norwegian study on the effects of late night screen time on teenagers' sleep. The researchers, who deemed sleep deprivation "a major public health concern,” looked at the
  
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• Survey: Average Company Losing $90 Million to Mobile Fraud

  05-02-2015 15:00
  
  The average company loses $92.3 million a year to mobile fraud, according to a new survey of 250 companies from across a wide spectrum of industry verticals.
  The average revenues of the companies in the survey was $2.5 billion, meaning that the mobile losses accounted for more than 3 percent of revenues.
  In addition, some organizations reported that they lost as much as 25 percent of revenues to mobile fraud.
  Retailers were the single biggest group of companies surveyed, followed by computer
  
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• BT hopes to attract Web conference addicts with promise of better sound quality

  05-02-2015 14:45
  
  Network operator British Telecom is hoping to increase the popularity of its audioconferencing service by extending a high-quality audio feature to users of Web-based conferencing clients.The company first partnered with Dolby Laboratories in October 2013 to improve the audio quality of its MeetMe IP-based conferencing service—and is now planning to extend support for Dolby Voice to Web-based clients such as Cisco Systems’ WebEx and Microsoft’s Lync.“We are targeting these development
  
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• Is Tinder the Next Big Social Network for Marketers?

  05-02-2015 14:00
  
  Tinder, the popular online service associated with digital dating and hookups, is increasingly being used as a marketing tool for business. Seriously. Before you laugh, consider the ways Tinder changed the dynamics of social behavior and replaced some of life's biggest questions (or challenges) with a simple swipe on a smartphone screen.Swipe left, and it never happened. Swipe right, open a whole new world of possibilities. [Related Feature: Who's Really Using Tinder (and How Are They Using
  
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• Google Glass is Alive and Well in the Enterprise

  05-02-2015 14:00
  
  You've probably heard by now that Google Glass is dead. If you've been listening closely you may even have heard whispers about the demise of Glass for years.
  Glass is the wearable device that everyone, especially the media, loves to hate. However, despite recent reports to the contrary, the companies developing enterprise-related software and services for Glass — and investing time, energy and piles of cash — vehemently declare that Glass is anything but deceased.
  "The media is gettin
  
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• Busting Millennials-in-the-Workplace Myths

  05-02-2015 13:46
  
  They've been called everything from lazy to prima donnas. They stand accused of being narcissistic, needing excessive handholding and having an unrealistic sense of entitlement.They're the millennial generation - those born after 1980 -- and they are beginning to enter leadership roles in the workforce. Millennials have a lot to offer, and their generation is poised to revolutionize the workforce. If your business doesn't take time now to understand this generation's motivations and strengths
  
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• Some hackers are unknowingly gathering intel for the NSA

  05-02-2015 13:45
  
  The U.S. National Security Agency and its intelligence partners are reportedly sifting through data stolen by state-sponsored and freelance hackers on a regular basis in search of valuable information.Despite constantly warning about the threat of hackers and pushing for their prosecution, the intelligence agencies of the U.S., Canada and the U.K. are happy to ride their coattails when it serves their interests, news website The Intercept reported Wednesday.“Hackers are stealing the emails
  
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• 13 of the Strangest Places Developers Have Written Code

  05-02-2015 13:10
  
  Image by NASA ICEEditor's Note: If you are unable to advance to the next slide, try disabling AdBlock. We apologize for the inconvenience.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• Tintri VMstore Review: Fast as Flash, Cheap as Disk

  05-02-2015 12:00
  
  The world of storage is in the throes of a significant upheaval, as the increasing affordability of flash and the ubiquity of virtualization spark new and innovative approaches to the back-end storage array. Among the new storage companies at the forefront of this revolution is Tintri, whose founders came out of companies such as VMware and Data Domain. Tintri's VMstore appliance combines flash, disk, inline deduplication, and other software magic to provide cost-effective, high-performance sto
  
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• Skype Fails: 5 of the Worst Problems and How to Fix Them

  05-02-2015 12:00
  
  Skype is an essential business and communications tool, but it can also be a pesky one. Here’s how to get its more annoying features under control.1. Skype can’t seem to find my webcam, speakers, or microphone
  
  One of the most common complaints with Skype is that it loses its connection to some essential component—either your camera, speakers, or microphone. While some of these problems can be traced to hardware problems, driver issues, or simple Windows errors that rebooting can fix,
  
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• PowerShell for Beginners: Scripts and Loops

  05-02-2015 12:00
  
  Back in 2008, I wrote a piece called PowerShell Tips and Tricks, which covered the then-relatively new Windows scripting language and some cool things you could do with it. Although PowerShell has been important in the Microsoft ecosystem ever since its release, as Windows Server 10 comes closer to release, we find that many features and deployments are significantly easier and more full featured when carried out with PowerShell. Simply put, learning the language, or at least being familiar wit
  
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• Microsoft Backs Java for Cross-Platform Mobile Apps

  05-02-2015 12:00
  
  Over the years, Microsoft has not been the biggest advocate for Java, no matter how pervasive it has become. In fact, the company was entangled in a bitter legal battle over the platform with Java founder Sun Microsystems many years ago. But times have changed. Now, Microsoft Open Technologies, a subsidiary of Microsoft focused on “open” technologies and interoperability, is promoting a Java-based approach to building cross-platform mobile apps.To read this article in full or to leave a
  
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• AI is Getting Smarter

  05-02-2015 12:00
  
  With two-legged humanoid robots climbing stairs and driving cars, Internet of Things technology starting to control our houses and speech recognition software answering questions on mobile phones, artificial intelligence may be on the cusp of making huge advances that will change the way we work and live.
  That's the word from artificial intelligence researchers and industry analysts attending the AAAI-15 conference last week in Austin.
  "I think big leaps have been made in the last few years,
  
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• South Korea rejects Uber's proposal to register its drivers

  05-02-2015 09:15
  
  South Korea has rejected a proposal made by Uber for a new registration system, ruling it’s in conflict with government policy.The move by the authorities reflects the hard stance the government has taken so far with the online cab-hailing service.Seoul is already trying to ease the saturated taxi market, and by adopting a registration system, it would only intensify competition and threaten the survival of the existing cab drivers, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said i
  
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