IT Executive news

• Market Headwinds to Blow iPad Sales Back to 2012 Levels

  09-02-2015 22:59
  
  The iPad will encounter strong market headwinds this year, but Apple should sell more tablets in 2015 than in 2014, IDC said today.
  "The iPad does face issues," acknowledged Jitesh Ubrani of IDC in an interview Monday. "It's being hit from the bottom by the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, and from the top by the MacBook Air."
  Even so, IDC's current forecast, formulated in November, pegs iPad sales for 2015 at 65.7 million, for a 4% year-over-year increase.
  Apple sold 63.4 million iPads last year
  
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• Whodunit? In Cybercrime, Attribution is Not Easy

  09-02-2015 22:52
  
  “Whodunit” is essential to solving crimes. You can’t make an arrest or prosecute a crime if you don’t even know who committed it.
  That makes “attribution” one of the major challenges of law enforcement. But while identifying perpetrators is difficult enough in the physical world, it is even tougher in the cyber world, where the ways for perpetrators to cover their tracks or make it look like a breach was committed by someone else are both sophisticated and practically limitless.
  
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• China fines Qualcomm $975 million for monopolistic business practices

  09-02-2015 22:50
  
  China has fined Qualcomm about US$975 million for engaging in monopolistic business practices, and the chipmaker has agreed to modify some of its business practices in the country as part of the settlement.Qualcomm said it is disappointed by the results of the investigation, but will not contest the findings and will pay the fine.China’s National Development and Reform Commission had been investigating Qualcomm for engaging in possibly anti-competitive behavior by overcharging device makers
  
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• App will bring blood-glucose monitoring to the Apple Watch

  09-02-2015 22:15
  
  Medical device maker DexCom is developing an Apple Watch app that will allow diabetics to monitor their blood-sugar levels a bit more discreetly.The app will integrate with a glucose monitor the company already sells and will offer diabetics an easier way to check their glucose, said Jorge Valdes, chief technical officer at DexCom.“Diabetics really don’t want others to know they have diabetes,” said Valdes, adding that individuals with the condition check their blood-sugar levels approx
  
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• 8 Analytics Trends to Watch in 2015

  09-02-2015 22:07
  
  Analytics were one of the fastest growing technology trends in 2014 and momentum is continuing to build, according to Deloitte Analytics' recent report, Analytics Trends 2015: A Below-the-Surface Look."Put simply, analytics is becoming both the air that we breathe — and the ocean in which we swim," the report says.Deloitte believes eight trends will dominate the world of analytics in 2015.1. Quadruple Down on Data Security
  2014 was a rough year for data security. Deloitte says business and
  
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• China looks to impose a hefty fine on Qualcomm to protect local device makers

  09-02-2015 22:00
  
  China is said to be close to imposing a fine of more than US$1 billion on chipmaker Qualcomm, indicating it intends to protect local manufacturers who it says have been overcharged by the dominant player.China’s National Development and Reform Commission has been investigating Qualcomm for engaging in possibly anti-competitive behavior by overcharging device makers in the country. Reports emerged on Monday that China was close to imposing a fine of at least US$1 billion, although Qualcomm w
  
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• EFF urges car-repair, DVD-remixing exemptions to copyright law

  09-02-2015 21:30
  
  U.S. copyright law should allow for people to bypass digital rights management technologies as a way to tinker with a wide variety of products, including cars, DVDs and old video games, the Electronic Frontier Foundation said.The EFF has asked the U.S. Copyright Office to grant four broad exemptions to the anti-circumvention provisions in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act [DMCA] as the agency conducts its 2015 rulemaking related to that section of the law.Users should be able to repair, re
  
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• Sidecar doubles down on delivery service

  09-02-2015 21:25
  
  Car-hailing app Sidecar is trying to make further inroads into same-day deliveries.Sidecar, which competes with Lyft and Uber but is active in fewer cities, has for the past six months partnered with companies selling food, flowers and groceries to provide same-day delivery of packages in its hometown of San Francisco. Eat24, which lets people order food online from thousands of different restaurants, is one such partner. Now, Sidecar is expanding its same-day delivery service nationwide.By �
  
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• Four technologies that betrayed Silk Road's anonymity

  09-02-2015 20:50
  
  Pro tip for any would-be online drug kingpins: Don’t post vacation pictures on Facebook.Ross Ulbricht was convicted in a Manhattan federal court last week for his role operating the Silk Road online marketplace. He could serve 30 years or more behind bars.The market Ulbricht built was based on an expectation of anonymity: Silk Road servers operated within an anonymous Tor network. Transactions between buyers and sellers were conducted in bitcoin. Everything was supposedly untraceable. Yet p
  
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• Microsoft Files Trademark for 'Windows 365,' But Rumors of a Subscription Remain Murky

  09-02-2015 19:58
  Microsoft wants to lock down the obvious name for a Windows subscription service, filing a trademark for “Windows 365.”
  The trademark application now appears on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office website, where it was spotted by Neowin. While no Windows 365 service currently exists, the application at least shows that Microsoft wants the option to use the name in the future.
  A potential Windows subscription service has been the subject of speculation for years, but the idea has resurfa
  
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• New standard paves way for 8K display in all-in-ones, laptops

  09-02-2015 19:00
  
  A new standard that supports higher-resolution displays should help move 8K screens from the realm of high-end TV and into laptops, all-in-one PCs and possibly even mobile devices.The Video Electronics Standards Association’s Embedded DisplayPort (eDP) 1.4a will boost image quality on screens through faster video transfer rates. The newer standard is for displays inside computers, and it will replace the older 1.4 standard that was released in early 2013. With 8K, displays will show images
  
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• NSA Approves Samsung and Boeing Mobile Devices for Employee Use

  09-02-2015 18:50
  
  As part of the NSA’s program to certify commercial off-the-shelf technology for use inside the agency, mobile devices from Samsung and Boeing have been cleared for use by NSA employees.
  This move by the NSA is part of its Commercial Solutions for Classified program (CSfC) to enable government use of the same products that we in the private sector enjoy, rather than specially engineered government-only products that are often feature-poor, slow to market and expensive.
  +RELATED: How the NSA
  
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• OS X Yosemite's Adoption Tempo Must Make Microsoft Smile

  09-02-2015 18:33
  
  Three and a half months after its release, Apple's OS X Yosemite powered almost half of all Macs, a statistic that may predict success for rival Microsoft later this year when it issues its own free OS upgrade.
  According to Net Applications, Yosemite accounted for 49% of all instances of OS X in January, up from 45% the month before. The analytics company estimates operating system user share by counting visits to the websites that deploy its metrics package.
  Apple released Yosemite to the M
  
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• Smart TVs raise privacy concerns

  09-02-2015 18:15
  
  Reports that new Samsung TVs can capture personal information with their voice recognition feature has sparked concern about what critics perceive as digital spying by so-called smart devices.Last week, online magazine The Daily Beast spotted wording in Samsung’s privacy policy that suggests users should be careful when they speak near their smart TVs. This generated buzz on Twitter and other sites, including comparisons to Big Brother behavior from George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984.To
  
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• Security, Privacy Gaps Put U.S. Drivers at Risk of Hacking

  09-02-2015 18:07
  
  As vehicle manufacturers rush to adopt mobile-friendly platforms and wireless technologies, they've neglected to plug security and privacy gaps, a new report revealed.
  Released today by U.S. Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), the report is based on responses from 16 major automakers to questions from the lawmaker around security vulnerabilities and how driver information is collected and protected.
  The report, Tracking & Hacking: Security & Privacy Gaps Put American Drivers at Risk, indic
  
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• Twitter reports huge increase in gov't data requests

  09-02-2015 18:05
  
  Governments are becoming hungrier for Twitter data, increasing the number of requests for user information by 40 percent between the first half and the second half of 2014.“Providing this level of transparency is not without its complications and sometimes means we get tough questions and criticism about our decisions,” wrote Jeremy Kessel, Twitter’s senior manager for global legal policy, in a blog post Monday.Twitter received 2,871 account information requests from various governments
  
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• Nokia's penny-pinching may come back and haunt some Lumia owners

  09-02-2015 17:20
  
  Owners of recent Lumia smartphones that have just 512MB of memory might not get a full-featured, smartphone version of Windows 10.Microsoft is working on Windows 10 for smartphones with limited memory, including the popular Lumia 520, the company’s Joe Belfiore said on Twitter on Sunday. The goal is to make the OS available for these devices, but features may vary, he added without offering more details.In addition to the Lumia 520, last year’s Lumia 530, 630 and 635 all have 512MB. To de
  
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• Cortana for Office? Images of Microsoft's Mysterious Work Assistant App Leak

  09-02-2015 16:54
  Rumors of incoming Cortana integration with Office strengthened over the weekend after screenshots of the Microsoft's mysterious Work Assistant app leaked online. 
  The prototype version of Work Assistant, a Windows Phone Store app limited to internal Microsoft beta testers and discovered by WMPowerUser on Friday, is said to integrate natural language voice commands with Microsoft's Office apps to help you find, share, and edit documents easily—and it may be the first step towards Cortan
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: 7 Key Success Factors for Your IT Project in India

  09-02-2015 16:19
  
  Managing an IT project in India rarely comes easy. I've observed that project teams carry extra workload for micro-management of about 30 minutes each day. This seems to be an understated assumption. Outsourcing managers confirmed to me just recently that working with India in the first year will be pure investment with no cost benefit.This is not to say that outsourcing to India was wrong! But due diligence usually does not account for the nitty-gritty work that you will face once outsourcin
  
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• BrandPost: Interviewing For A CIO Position? Here’s How To Avoid Striking Out When You’re Talking To An Executive Recruiter

  09-02-2015 15:35
  
  Are you candidating for a CIO position? Have you been contacted by executive recruiters? Perhaps you’ve got an initial call or a formal interview lined up, and you’re doing your prep work. As an executive recruiter myself, I have some very important tips that can save you from striking out in your interview.When you interview with an executive recruiter, you have to remember that they are looking for the picture-perfect CIO candidate. Someone who is current on technology while being busin
  
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• EU Parliament blocks new Outlook apps over privacy concerns

  09-02-2015 15:30
  
  Access to Microsoft’s new Outlook apps has been blocked for members of the European Parliament because of “serious security issues.”Microsoft launched new Outlook apps for iOS and Android just over a week ago. The new apps are basically a rebranded version of a mail app made by Acompli, a company Microsoft bought in December for a reported US$200 million.Access to the apps though was blocked on Friday by the Parliament’s IT department, DG ITEC, in order to protect the confidentiality
  
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• 9 Ways to Improve Employee and Customer Communication

  09-02-2015 15:18
  
  In today’s fast-paced world, where it seems almost everyone suffers from some degree of ADD, it is harder than ever for companies to get people’s attention. This applies not just to consumers (prospective or existing customers) but to employees as well. So what can you do to improve your internal (employee) and external (customer) communications, so that people will pay attention to, read and respond to your messages? Dozens of marketing and communication experts share their nine top stra
  
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• The Upload: Your tech news briefing for Monday, February 9

  09-02-2015 14:10
  
  Big Auto is watching you behind the wheel of that hackable carA new study of the mobile data and wireless electronic systems proliferating in cars says they present serious security problems as well as potential threats to individual privacy. The report coming Monday from Senator Ed Markey’s office is based on information from 16 car makers, the New York Times says, and looks at not only how wireless systems leave vehicle electronics vulnerable to hacking, but also at the wholesale collecti
  
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• 7 Workforce Management Trends That Will Impact IT in 2015

  09-02-2015 14:09
  
  With 2015 well underway, it's time to start developing your workforce management strategies and plans for the coming year. We asked two experts in workforce management, The Workforce Institute at Kronos Incorporated and Robert Half Technology's Executive Director John Reed to discuss the biggest issues that will impact workforce management in 2015. From the effect minimum wage laws will have on your business to an IT hiring boom, here's what to expect.
  
  
  Regulations Shake Up the Workplace
  
  M
  
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• BrandPost: Continuous Compliance – A key Component of Your Business’ Security Plan

  09-02-2015 14:02
  
  Today, security must function as a business enabler and be an organic component of every organization’s daily processes. Keeping up with compliance standards plays an important role in making sure your business is secure. Your business can be audited at any time, day or night, at any point in the year, and the biggest mistake organizations make is thinking, “If I’m compliant today, I’m compliant forever (until I change something).” Regulations, infrastructure and regulatory standard
  
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• ARM acqusition highlights quest to embed IoT security

  09-02-2015 14:00
  
  ARM’s acquisition of Dutch company Offspark shows how chip vendors intend to integrate more security features in their software and hardware to help keep the Internet of Things safe.There are a few things vendors have to get right for IoT to take off on a larger scale, and security is one of them. Security is the most fundamental aspect to ensuring people trust IoT technology and that is only possible with a tailored solution, according to Offspark’s CEO Paul Bakker.Offspark has made a na
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: IT Innovations in the Public Sector: Navigating Turbulence

  09-02-2015 13:29
  
  Have you ever been on a flight with endless turbulence? The rocking and rolling can be a bit unnerving. IT innovation in the public sector is very similar. The turbulence can be due to many things--a restrictive budget or disparate, legacy systems that no longer keep pace with work flow, or a workforce challenged by workload and relatively low salaries.My job as Colorado's CIO is to innovate through the turbulence, and innovate not only from a technology standpoint  but a "people" and "polit
  
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• Federal IT 'Playbook' Looks to Avoid Healthcare.gov Redux

  09-02-2015 13:08
  
  In the push to improve the delivery of government services while keeping costs in check, federal CIOs need to reevaluate the way the traditional ways they plan and implement new IT projects, senior administration and industry officials say.At a recent government IT conference hosted by Adobe, Erie Meyer, the administrator of the U.S. Digital Service at the White House, touted the "playbook" that her team has created to serve as a blueprint for developing new services.That document offers 13 "
  
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• The World of Containers Doesn't End with Docker

  09-02-2015 12:30
  
  Last year was a good one for Docker, the open-source app containerization startup that helps applications run efficiently in any on-premises or cloud environment, no matter the runtime.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• How the NSA is Improving Security for Everyone

  09-02-2015 12:01
  
  The NSA’s core function is gather and analyze data. But the NSA is also expected to secure and protect sensitive information, and as part of that role NSA security experts have launched a program to integrate more commercial off-the-shelf products.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• IT Jobs Market Booming in the Southwest

  09-02-2015 12:00
  
  2015 IT Salary & Jobs Regional Report: The Southwest
  The coasts might have the high-profile IT employers — big banks and insurance companies, Google, Apple and Microsoft. But the Southwest is the region that leads the nation in technology job growth; and, as many IT professionals have found, that part of the country has plenty of natural charms."I think we're a hidden gem," says Lorenzo Gomez, director of the co-working space Geekdom in San Antonio, referring to the 80-mile Texas corrid
  
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• How Network Admins Can Survive SDN

  09-02-2015 12:00
  
  With the advent of SDN, there’s been a lot of speculation about the future of the network administrator.
  Some doomsayers predict the network admin will be obsolete as network virtualization becomes the responsibility of the server or systems admin already in charge of server virtualization. Or that as SDN applications take on more network intelligence in order to program what network resources they need, the application developers might take over the role of network admin.To read this arti
  
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• Best Open Source Monitoring Tools

  09-02-2015 12:00
  
  Comparing monitoring toolsImage by Stephen SauerNetwork monitoring is a key component in making sure your network is running smoothly. We tested four open source network monitoring products: Cacti, Icinga, Zabbix and Observium. We found all four products to be capable network monitoring tools that performed well in our basic tasks such as checking for host availability and measuring bandwidth usage. Beyond the basics, there were quite a few differences in terms of features, granularity and confi
  
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• 4 Open-Source Monitoring Tools That Deserve a Look

  09-02-2015 12:00
  
  Network monitoring is a key component in making sure your network is running smoothly. However, it is important to distinguish between network monitoring and network management. For the most part, network monitoring tools report issues and findings, but as a rule provide no way to take action to solve reported issues.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• Alibaba props up mobile OS with investment in Chinese smartphone maker

  09-02-2015 04:55
  
  Alibaba Group is pumping US$590 million into a Chinese smartphone maker that’s been helping the e-commerce company promote its own mobile OS against Google’s Android.The Chinese giant said Monday it would take a minority stake in Meizu, a smartphone brand in China already battling for visibility in a crowded market.The size of the stake wasn’t disclosed, but the two companies will integrate Meizu’s hardware with Alibaba’s mobile operating system, known as YunOS. In addition, Alibaba
  
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• Box fixes flaw in Mac desktop Sync app

  09-02-2015 04:30
  
  Online file storage and sharing service Box has patched the Mac version of its desktop app after a developer found it exposed potentially sensitive bits of data, including API keys, internal user IDs, URLs and passwords.Mac users should ensure they’re on the updated 4.0.6035 version, wrote Pepijn Bruienne, a Mac development and operation specialist senior at the University of Michigan, who found the problem.The error was probably an unintentional one by Box, Bruienne wrote in a blog post. H
  
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