IT Executive news

• This woman bought an iPhone via telepresence robot

  25-09-2015 22:13
  
  It might have been the most unusual customer to ever appear at Apple's Palo Alto store, but not entirely out of place in the heart of Silicon Valley. On Friday morning, among the hundreds who queued for the iPhone 6S to go on sale, it was not human, not animal, but machine.Brianna Lempesis in San Diego was inside the machine, a Beam telepresence robot that's capable of trundling around on wheels and videoconferencing with anyone it meets.Martyn Williams A telepresence robot trundles into Apple's
  
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• The future of Windows phones includes unlocking with facial recognition

  25-09-2015 21:51
  Microsoft is nearing the launch of Windows 10 Mobile, and that means new smartphones running the operating system are around the corner. While the company is expected to release its own set of smartphones, it is also working with manufacturers to produce third-party devices that run the OS.Microsoft's activities on behalf of device makers are part of an effort to build out an ecosystem of handsets after scaling back its own ambitions in the mobile market  last month. The company published a
  
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• Get ready to meet Kudu, a new, open-source storage engine from Cloudera

  25-09-2015 21:12
  
  An open-source storage engine called Kudu could soon be on the way from Cloudera, offering a new alternative for companies with big data stores to manage.Kudu will be offered as an alternative to the popular Hadoop Distributed File System and the Hadoop-oriented HBase NoSQL database, according to a VentureBeat report, which cited a slide deck on Kudu’s design goals.A small Cloudera team has reportedly been working on Kudu for the past two years. The company has already been pitching i
  
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• Google improves voice search

  25-09-2015 20:30
  
  Google said it has built a better neural network that is making its voice search work faster and better in noisy environments.
  "We are happy to announce that our new acoustic models are now used for voice searches and commands in the Google app (on Android and iOS), and for dictation on Android devices," Google's Speech Team wrote in a blog post on Thursday. "In addition to requiring much lower computational resources, the new models are more accurate, robust to noise, and faster to respond to
  
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• Meeting the demand for mobile everything

  25-09-2015 20:08
  
  The 21st century is the era of mobile communications. Consider these stunning facts from Cisco’s 2014 Visual Networking Index (VNI):As of 2014, for the first time, the total number of mobile-connected devices in use globally — 7.4 billion — exceeded the world’s population.
  Mobile data traffic in 2014 was nearly 30 times the size of the [entire] global Internet in 2000. The Internet carried 1 exabyte (1 billion gigabytes) of traffic in 2000, and in 2014 mobile networks ca
  
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• US, China reach cyberespionage agreement

  25-09-2015 20:04
  
  The U.S. and China have reached their first ever cybercrime and cyberespionage agreement, but the deal is quite general and how it will translate into actions is still unclear.Leaders of both countries announced the deal in Washington on Friday after two days of top-level talks, but both dodged questions on specific hacking incidents or the indictment last year by the U.S. of five Chinese military hackers for cybercrimes."We have agreed that neither the U.S. or the Chinese government will conduc
  
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• Scott McNealy's Wayin gets $15.4M from investors including SAP's Plattner

  25-09-2015 19:38
  
  Wayin, the latest venture from ex-Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy, got a considerable boost Friday with a fresh $15.4 million infusion from big-name investors including SAP co-founder Hasso Plattner.Also participating in the round, which was led by an undisclosed new investor, were David Duffield, founder of PeopleSoft and co-founder and chairman of Workday, along with Wayin chairman and CEO McNealy himself.Launched by McNealy in 2011 as a social gaming service, Wayin has since transformed to
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: How CIOs will define the future of healthcare

  25-09-2015 18:32
  
  I operate agnostically across industry, market, sector and geography and I have been rewarded detailed insight into how CIOs are responding to new opportunities to expand their professional footprint and organizational reach. It is clear that the role of the CIO has never evolved as quickly as it is now.The CIO market is introducing new gears and flavors of CIO, built on either industry or the professional competency of the individual. From multiple interviews, I have come to understand CIO&rsqu
  
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• Developers learn on the go with MongoDB University mobile app

  25-09-2015 18:26
  
  At an event at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City yesterday, MongoDB — creator of the popular NoSQL database of the same name — unveiled a new iOS app for MongoDB University to help developers learn MongoDB on the go."This is a new application for smart devices that is a reflection of the reality today that professionals have busy careers," says Kelly Stirman, vice president of Strategy and Product Marketing at MongoDB. "Ongoing education and learning is importan
  
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• British spies cast net to monitor every web surfer, everywhere, leaked documents show

  25-09-2015 18:18
  
  When British spies gave their Internet surveillance program the codename Karma Police they may have given away a little too much about its epic purpose: "To build a web-browsing profile for every visible user on the Internet."The system ultimately gathered trillions of metadata records about Internet users' browsing habits.In official documents obtained by The Intercept, the intent of Karma Police stands out alongside more cryptically named projects such as Moose Milk (using data mining to
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: 5 reasons why I love my iPhone 6s

  25-09-2015 18:06
  Today is a big day for Apple fans, with millions of them finally able to buy the new iPhone 6s. My own phone came at 8 AM this morning via UPS, and I've been using it for the last few hours. So far I'm hugely impressed with the iPhone 6s, I think it's the best smartphone I've ever used.
  Bear in mind that my previous phone was an iPhone 6 Plus, which I also enjoyed at first but ultimately found was a bit too large for me in terms of daily usage and portability. So I decided to give the iPhone 6s
  
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• iPhone 6S hits retail amid online shortages and profiteering

  25-09-2015 17:56
  
  As Apple's new iPhone 6S an 6S Plus went on sale today in the company's retail stores, the smartphones remain backordered for weeks when purchased online.
  The situation was the norm for Apple, which typically is short of inventory of new iPhones for weeks, sometimes months.
  According to the iPhone 6S Pre-Order Tracker, which scrapes Apple's online outlet to determine which models, storage configurations and carrier options are backordered and by how long, the 5.5-in. iPhone 6S Plus currently ha
  
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• Cookie handling in browsers can break HTTPS security

  25-09-2015 17:24
  Cookies, the files that websites create in browsers to remember logged-in users and track other information about them, could be abused by attackers to extract sensitive information from encrypted HTTPS connections.The issue stems from the fact that the HTTP State Management standard, or RFC 6265, which defines how cookies should be created and handled, does not specify any mechanism for isolating them or checking their integrity.As such, Web browsers don't always authenticate the domains that s
  
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• Zaid Al-Ars, TU Delft: “Geniale dingen met big data”

  25-09-2015 17:14
  Kunstmatige intelligentie is jarenlang vooral een belofte gebleven, maar door de opkomst van technologieën als big data, in combinatie met rekenkracht en opslagruimte, komt het fenomeen nu snel tot leven.Dat stelt Zaid Al-Ars, assistent-professor Computer Engineering aan de TU Delft. “Wiskundige methoden... lees meer
  
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• The art of a successful tech company turnaround

  25-09-2015 16:34
  
  I used to run what we called a Tiger Team at IBM decades ago, which focused on turning around some of the firm’s acquisitions. Turnarounds have, as a result, been a bit of a passion of mine and given that so many are often done very badly I thought I would start looking in depth at some that were going particularly well. Hopefully a successful example can improve the process across the industry and maybe save some jobs and reduce the stress on a lot of IT buyers who have been on the wrong
  
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• Saudi Arabia came close to buying Hacking Team

  25-09-2015 15:53
  
  The Saudi Arabian government came close to buying control of Italian surveillance software company Hacking Team, notorious for selling its product to undemocratic regimes, according to hacked emails posted by WikiLeaks.The negotiations were handled by Wafic Said, a Syrian-born businessman based in the U.K. who is a close friend of the Saudi royal family, and also involved Ronald Spogli, a former U.S. ambassador to Italy, who had an indirect investment in Hacking Team.The deal collapsed in early
  
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• BlackBerry confirms Android-powered Priv phone coming later this year

  25-09-2015 15:37
  
  Forget about the rumors: BlackBerry’s Android phone is official.
  As part of the company’s quarterly earnings announcement released Friday, BlackBerry confirmed it would roll out an Android phone in late 2015. The company did not provide any significant details such as specs, pricing, or U.S. carrier partners, but BlackBerry did say the phone will be called Priv—as in privacy.
  “Today, I am confirming our plans to launch Priv, an Android device named after BlackBerry&
  
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• BlackBerry pins hopes on an Android phone, Priv, as handset losses continue

  25-09-2015 14:55
  It's official: BlackBerry's next phone will run Android.The phone, called Priv, will also include BlackBerry security and productivity tools, Chairman and CEO John Chen told investors early Friday.The move suggests that Chen still can't decide whether BlackBerry should focus on the more profitable enterprise mobile device and application management software sector, or remain a loss-making phone maker with one foot still in the cut-throat consumer electronics market.On Friday, BlackBerry reported
  
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• Meerderheid organisaties lijdt aan informatie-armoede

  25-09-2015 14:54
  Slechts 4% van de westerse organisaties is volledig in staat waarde te putten uit de informatie waarover zij beschikken. Van de overige bedrijven beschikt ruim een derde niet over de middelen en vaardigheden die hiervoor nodig zijn. Terwijl Europa naar verhouding laag scoort, staat Nederland regionaal bovenaan.... lees meer
  
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• 5 takeaways from Adobe Flash’s death march

  25-09-2015 14:24
  
  Rumors of the demise of Flash have been greatly exaggerated, to paraphrase Mark Twain. The multimedia and software platform's days may well be numbered, but today it’s still alive, even if its kicks are not exactly vigorous.It’s now five years since the late Steve Jobs published his famous Thoughts on Flash memo, in which he put the knife in to Flash on the grounds that it was proprietary, unreliable and insecure, that it drains mobile device batteries and is a cross-platform develop
  
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• Cognizant-Verizon alliance offers enterprise digital transformation services

  25-09-2015 13:25
  
  Verizon and Cognizant announced last week that they are teaming up to provide IT outsourcing customers joint offerings in the areas of digital transformation, integration, and business process support with a focus on customer experience and the Internet of Things (IoT). And industry watchers say the pairing is likely one of many IT services customers can expect in the near future.“Digital transformation is the new trend and you will see more and more providers trying to find an angle to co
  
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• US antitrust authorities could follow EU in investigating Google's Android deals

  25-09-2015 13:19
  
  U.S. antitrust authorities may be ready to follow their European counterparts in investigating how Google licenses its apps and services for use on Android smartphones.Authorities in Russia found Google guilty of similar charges last week.Android is an open source operating system, but many of the apps and services that Android phone and tablet buyers see and use are proprietary Google offerings, including Google Now, the Play Store, and Google Maps.Some companies  -- most notably Amazon.co
  
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• The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus are on sale today

  25-09-2015 12:30
  All right, you’ve had some time to think about what color, size, and storage capacity you want. You’ve read up on 3D Touch. You are ready: Today is the day the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus hits the shelves.
  If you preordered your iPhone 6s and it’s due to be delivered today, check out these handy tools for tracking your shipment. If you didn’t place a preorder, that’s ok—you may be able to get your hands on one anyways. To read this article in fu
  
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• Microsoft has big plans for its mobile apps: more sharing, more collaboration

  25-09-2015 12:30
  
  Something's happening to the Outlook apps for iOS and Android. Quietly, they’ve begun to take on more and more responsibility—not just email, but calendaring and file information as well. 
  It's no accident. Smartphone apps began life as focused, single-purpose products, but Microsoft's betting we'll want more interconnectivity moving forward. Just as cosmic dust collected into stars and planets, then began rotating about one another, colliding and sometimes gobbling e
  
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• 10 TED Talks for techies

  25-09-2015 12:30
  
  10 TED Talks for tech enthusiasts Image by ThinkstockCurated by former journalist Chris Anderson, TED (an acronym for Technology, Entertainment, Design) Talks have become a worldwide phenomenon where remarkable lecturers -- from top research scientists to fashion gurus to ordinary people -- communicate their stories and spread ideas to educate and enlighten viewers around the globe. Available to stream on YouTube and the TED website for free, TED Talks are always relatable, and their captivating
  
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• Here’s what you can expect to see at Google’s Nexus announcement

  25-09-2015 12:00
  
  Google has big doin’s a-transpirin’ on Tuesday – it’s planning to launch its first new Nexus phones in almost a year at an event in San Francisco, along with a new version of the Android operating system.
  The last Nexus was the Motorola Nexus 6, launched in October 2014, which was a powerful device that also managed the rare feat of making even the gadget press take a step back and say “OK, this might actually be too big.”
  + ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD: Facebook go
  
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• BrandPost: Three Best Practices for Securing Your Cloud

  25-09-2015 10:29
  
  If your organization is like most, you’re likely using or considering cloud-hosted applications and infrastructure. Security in the cloud is just as important as security in on-premises IT environments, though it’s different in several important ways. There are many great organizations to help you understand cloud security and to recommend best practices – Cloud Security Alliance is a great example. In this article, I’ll highlight three good cloud security strategies you
  
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• Apple says 'app slicing' now unavailable for iOS 9 apps

  25-09-2015 09:27
  
  The 'app slicing' feature in iOS 9 that enabled developers to send optimally-sized variants of their apps to different devices is unavailable because of a bug in iCloud, Apple's cloud service for its devices.Slicing is one of three components of Apple's app-thinning process that enables developers to install iOS apps by matching app delivery to the capabilities of the user’s particular device, with a resultant smaller footprint.App variants created by slicing the app contain only the execu
  
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• What next? A brief history of tech stars and their second acts

  25-09-2015 02:32
  
  F. Scott Fitzgerald didn't know everythingImage by REUTERS/Lou DematteisThe tech industry in 2015 is shaped by one executive's spectacular second act: Steve Jobs, exiled from the company he helped build, returned triumphantly in 1996 to take back control and transform it into a world-changing electronics company. It's a story that everyone knows, but it's one that's almost unique in the tech industry. More common is a different kind of second act: one in which a leader or visionary leaves (volun
  
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• Three (and possibly four) new Lumias appear headed for Microsoft's October event

  25-09-2015 02:30
  
  A report by AdDuplex due to be released Friday appears to confirm that Microsoft will release a third Lumia, the Lumia 550, at an event it is holding in New York City October 6.
  The anticipated hardware lineup for the event keeps growing in number and importance. As of this writing, a new Surface Pro 4, three new Lumia phones, and an updated Microsoft Band 2 are all reportedly on tap. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• At Sprint and T-Mobile, you can get an iPhone 6S for $5 a month (or less)

  25-09-2015 02:25
  
  Starting Friday, Sprint's in-store customers will be able to lease an iPhone 6S with 16GB of storage for $1 a month and the larger iPhone 6S Plus for $5 a month with the trade-in of an iPhone 6.
  Sprint's move was announced Thursday, one day after T-Mobile unveiled in-store pricing for an iPhone 6S with 16GB for $5 a month; the Plus version with 16GB is $9 a month. The iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, unveiled by Apple executives on Sept. 9, go on sale on Friday.To read this article in full or to leave a
  
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• EPA details how VW software thwarted emission tests

  25-09-2015 02:24
  
  The software used by Volkswagen to get around environmental standards in some 11 million vehicles effectively told each car to go into a "clean mode" when it detected the car was being tested for emissions.
  Details about how the automaker was able to elude emissions testing -- the "defeat device," as the software has been called -- is included in a Sept. 18 letter from the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) to Volkswagen.
  That letter prompted VW to admit that half a million Volkswagens and Aud
  
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• Microsoft's enterprise-grade security is coming to Windows 10 IoT

  25-09-2015 02:08
  
  The version of Windows 10 for devices from the Internet of Things will soon get security features from the company's operating system for computers and tablets.The company announced Thursday that it will bring its Bitlocker encryption and Secure Boot systems to the Windows 10 IoT Core public beta in a push to improve security. Those are the same features that Microsoft uses to protect other systems running Windows 10, and it goes to show one of the advantages of the company's new operating
  
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• Sprint responds to T-Mobile’s upgrade plan, offers iPhone 6s for $1 per month

  25-09-2015 00:34
  
  The carrier wars are certainly heating up. On Wednesday, T-Mobile announced an iPhone upgrade plan that would allow customers to get a brand-new iPhone 6s for as little as $5 per month. Not to be outdone, Sprint responded on Thursday with an even better offer—get a 16GB iPhone 6s for $1 per month, if you trade in your old iPhone 6 or 6 Plus. 
  This deal is part of Sprint’s iPhone Forever program, which allows eligible Sprint customers to trade in their old iPhone as soon as the
  
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• Real jobs for real robots

  25-09-2015 00:26
  
  Real Jobs for Real RobotsImage by REUTERS/Issei KatoIt’s quite possible someday soon that robots may deliver food to your table in a restaurant or gather up your laundry and bring it to the laundry room – that is if some of the machines featured in this slideshow make it out of the research labs and into the real world. Here we take a look at 18 robots that are already functioning in a variety of real life jobs.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• This is how the future looks with IBM Watson and 'perfect data'

  25-09-2015 00:14
  
  I have seen the future, and it is a world of unparalleled convenience, untold marketing opportunities, and zero privacy. IBM held an event in San Francisco Thursday to show off new capabilities in Watson, it’s artificial intelligence system that’s being made available to developers to let them build smarter, "cognitive" applications.To set the futuristic tone, IBM invited Peter Diamandis, founder of the nonprofit X Prize Foundation, which humbly describes itself as "a catalyst f
  
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• MemSQL paves a smoother path to Spark for real-time analytics

  25-09-2015 00:14
  
  Now that companies are recognizing the benefits of analytics and big data, the next step is putting those benefits within closer reach. Toward that end, MemSQL on Thursday unveiled a new tool designed to help companies tap Apache Spark without writing any code.Spark Streamliner is a tool that integrates MemSQL's in-memory database and Apache Spark's in-memory data-processing framework for streaming data from real-time sources such as sensors, Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices, transactions, appli
  
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