IT Executive news

• We're looking for an Awesome ServiceNow Solution Architect!

  23-10-2015 23:35
  
  Wanted: Innovative, ServiceNow Guru with an uncanny ability to see solutions before our clients realize they need them.
  
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• U.S. a top destination for solar panel manufacturers

  23-10-2015 22:01
  
  A new report identifies the U.S. as one of the top five most attractive nations for manufacturing solar panels.
  The report, from GTM Research, noted that close to 10% of the world's new module manufacturing projects this year are slated for the U.S. GTM ResearchNations seen as most attractive to photovoltaic solar panel manufacturing.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Who does IT really serve?

  23-10-2015 21:37
  
  I’ve talked with numerous CIOs in large organizations who say they are grappling with the shift in IT away from CIO leadership to the current situation where business consumers (end users) set the agenda. What are the implications of this shift and how can CIOs and enterprise IT adapt?   My experience is that adapting starts with understanding whether the IT services are defined to serve the enterprise or the business users. When serving the enterprise, organizations define servi
  
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• Why Dell acquisitions strategy beats the industry’s Frankenstein approach

  23-10-2015 21:22
  
  I get to chat with Michael Dell relatively often because Dell is a client and because we have a common car interest, though his garage is far bigger and more interesting than mine.One of the things Dell seems to get that other CEOs just don’t seem to grasp is how to do acquisitions right. The difference is akin to the difference between how a minister puts a couple together in a marriage and how Dr. Frankenstein (it is Halloween season after all) built his monster. Sadly, the industry (bot
  
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• Microsoft doesn't see Windows 10's mandatory data collection as a privacy risk

  23-10-2015 20:27
  In the run-up to the launch of Windows 10 earlier this year, users noticed that Microsoft's operating system would be collecting more data on them by default than it had in the past, including information about their location and what they're typing, and sending it off to Microsoft.Understandably, some folks were concerned about the privacy implications of such a move, especially given disclosures around government surveillance, and the fact that Microsoft previously hadn't built this kind of da
  
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• Tina Nunno, Gartner Fellow: Board kan en wil niet om technologie heen

  23-10-2015 19:58
  Directies zijn anno 2015 heel anders gaan denken over technologie. In plaats van de bedrijfsstrategie centraal te stellen, en de IT-strategie daarvan af te leiden, is technologie bij veel bedrijven een kernonderdeel van de bedrijfsstrategie geworden.De andere kant van de medaille is dat beveiligingsincidenten ook de... lees meer
  
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• DARPA: Monitoring heat, electromagnetic and sound outputs could assess safety of IoT devices

  23-10-2015 19:43
  
  DARPA is looking for a platform that can tell whether Internet of Things devices have been hijacked based on fluctuations in the heat, electromagnetic waves and sound they put out as well as the power they use.
  The agency wants technology that can decipher these analog waves and reveal what IoT devices are up to in their digital realms, according to a DARPA announcement seeking research proposals under the name “Leveraging the Analog Domain for Security (LADS)”.
  The LADS program wou
  
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• In turnabout, SunTrust removes contentious severance clause

  23-10-2015 19:17
  
  A controversial severance clause by SunTrust Banks requiring laid-off employees to be available to help without pay, has been removed, the bank said today.
  SunTrust is laying off approximately 100 IT employees as it shifts their duties to IT contractors. The employees have been training overseas workers to take their jobs.
  The severance agreements received by employees included a "continuing cooperation" clause requiring each worker "to make myself reasonably available to SunTrust regarding mat
  
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• CIOs turn to cloud-based analytics to manage IT asset costs

  23-10-2015 18:14
  
  Splitting Hewlett-Packard into two distinct companies is an onerous task, requiring management to wade through a complex cost structure, budgeting process and governance. Yet Ralph Loura, CIO of HP Enterprise Group, is doing just that using technology business management software that helps him gain visibility in IT assets costs of the $28 billion organization. HP will become two companies, HP Inc. and HP Enterprise, in November.Ralph Loura, CIO of HP."Technology business management software all
  
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• Priv, BlackBerry's first Android phone, goes on sale for $699

  23-10-2015 17:40
  
  BlackBerry began taking pre-orders today for its first Android smartphone, a slider handset called the Priv. The phone has a price tag of $699 and will start shipping Nov. 6.
  The smartphone has 5.4-in. display, is curved on both sides and slides out to provide a physical keyboard. It also features a powerful 3,410 mAh battery, an 18-megapixel rear camera, a 2-megapixel front camera, and a MicroSD slot to provide up to 2TB of storage.
  Priv gets it name from "privilege" and "privacy, " according
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Do you need a (mobile) workspace?

  23-10-2015 17:25
  
  Enterprises are struggling with how best to drive mobile transformation across all lines of business. At the same time, so are technology providers, where no one can claim the crown as the king of the mobile enterprise. The latest technology provider offering, called workspaces, creates an end-to-end enterprise mobile solution that provides access and supports the network, apps, data, storage and cloud—across all mobile (and non-mobile) devices. The real effort is to address the user exper
  
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• Microsoft confirms no add-ons for Edge browser this year

  23-10-2015 16:58
  
  Microsoft on Thursday confirmed that its Edge browser, the new default for Windows 10, will not get the support for add-ons in 2015 that it once promised.
  "We're committed to providing customers with a personalized Web experience, which is why bringing extensions to Microsoft Edge continues to be a high priority," a spokeswoman said in an emailed statement. "We're actively working to develop a secure extension model to make the safest and most reliable browser for our customers, and look forwar
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Enterprise software project success remains elusive

  23-10-2015 15:12
  
  It doesn’t make any difference whether enterprise software is purchased or developed; project success can be elusive. So, what do we mean by “success”? Most people would say there are three parts to success, namelyThe project must be completed on time
  The project must be completed within budget
  The customer must be satisfiedI would argue that while these are important, they do not in and of themselves define a successful software project. The ultimate definition of success is
  
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• European ISPs exaggerate their performance, US ISPs are more honest

  23-10-2015 14:55
  
  European ISPs typically don't deliver on the download speeds they advertise, while U.S. ISPs tend to keep their promises. Despite the broken promises, though, the services actually delivered are still cheaper and faster in Europe than in the U.S.
  Those are the findings of new studies of broadband Internet access across Europe and the U.S. published by the European Commission on Thursday.
  On average, European broadband Internet access providers advertised download speeds of 47.9 Mbps, but only d
  
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• European ISPs exaggerate their performanc, US ISPs are more honest

  23-10-2015 14:55
  
  European ISPs typically don't deliver on the download speeds they advertise, while U.S. ISPs tend to keep their promises. Despite the broken promises, though, the services actually delivered are still cheaper and faster in Europe than in the U.S.
  Those are the findings of new studies of broadband Internet access across Europe and the U.S. published by the European Commission on Thursday.
  On average, European broadband Internet access providers advertised download speeds of 47.9 Mbps, but only d
  
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• Will self-driving cars have to pass road tests?

  23-10-2015 14:39
  
  People have been taking driving tests for many decades. If (or when) self-driving cars become commonplace, vehicles could also need to pass tests and obtain licenses.
  Auto-safety researchers at the University of Michigan proposed this intriguing idea. "Current prototypes of self-driving vehicles are not perfect. For example, some of them occasionally cross the centerline on curves even in good weather conditions," wrote Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle of the university's Transportation
  
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• Experts urge caution when putting health data in the cloud

  23-10-2015 14:39
  
  Healthcare has become a favorite target for criminals, and some medical organizations are reacting by looking at outside providers to keep their data secure. But jumping to the cloud without first taking some precautions can be a mistake, experts say.
  Last month, Salesforce introduced its Salesforce Health Cloud service, a cloud-based patient relationship management solution that integrates data from health records, wearables, and other sources and allows healthcare providers to access this inf
  
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• Microsoft earnings show plunging phone revenue and uncertain future for Lumias

  23-10-2015 14:05
  
  While Microsoft’s cloud business may have carried the company through the second calendar quarter, it’s also seeing the first effects of the massive restructuring of its phone business.
  Microsoft said revenue in its phone business plunged 54 percent in “constant currency,” factoring out the ebb and flow of exchange rates over the course of the quarter. Worse still, executives said they expected a similar drop in revenue and gross margin for the current third calendar qua
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: How my fridge can disrupt your bank

  23-10-2015 13:42
  
  The Internet of Things (IoT), an emerging multitrillion-dollar trend that evokes a world where everything is connected to everything else, isn’t ordinarily associated with the financial services industry. Today the most connected financial services product is arguably contactless credit or debit cards that use near field communications.If you and I sat down to have a drink and I asked you to describe your customers to me I’d be surprised if you didn’t describe a flesh and blood
  
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• 4 things Huawei Watch does that Apple Watch can't

  23-10-2015 13:42
  
  Smartwatches aren't new, by any means. Companies such as Samsung and Pebble have offered smartwatch options for years. However, until 2015, and the release of the Apple Watch, smartwatches were designed for a very specific kind of user, and you just didn't see very many of them outside of TV commercials, Best Buy stores or other electronics retailers.In other words: Until recently, only nerds wore smartwatches.[Related Feature: My smartwatch turned me into a rude bastard (don't let it happe
  
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• 4 things Apple Watch does that Huawei Watch can't

  23-10-2015 13:42
  
  The 2015 holiday season is just a couple of festive months away, and based on the massive increase in smartwatch sales this year, a number of the most popular intelligent timepieces are sure to grace many a gift list.[Related Feature: My smartwatch turned me into a rude bastard (don't let it happen to you)]The main reason for this notable uptick in smartwatch adoption: the Apple Watch. In fact, in July, two months after its U.S. release, Apple's Watch represented more than 75 percent of tot
  
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• Russian cyberspies targeted the MH17 crash investigation

  23-10-2015 13:32
  
  A Russian cyberespionage group that frequently targets government institutions from NATO member countries tried to infiltrate the international investigation into the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17).MH17 was a passenger flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur that crashed in eastern Ukraine close to the Russian border on 17 July, 2014. All 283 passengers and 15 crew members lost their lives.The Dutch Safety Board led an international investigation into the incident and released a final
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: 6 spooky iOS Halloween games

  23-10-2015 13:19
  
  Scare yourself silly with these 6 iOS gamesHalloween is nearly here and it’s time for some chills and thrills on your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch! Scare yourself silly with six of the spookiest iOS Halloween games.You’ll battle zombies, try to escape from total darkness, guide a ghoul though many dangers, attempt to find your way out of a haunted asylum and delve deep into a haunted mansion to discover its evil secrets. And you’ll even become a ghost yourself as you try to terri
  
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• 9 enterprise-ready consumer smartphones

  23-10-2015 13:14
  
  If you're in the market for a new smartphone that you can also use for work, there is more to consider than form factor, specs and design. For example, in addition to workplace productivity, you need to consider security. Bringing your own device to work creates a number of security risks, and companies have increased their focus on BYOD now that more than 40 percent of employees use their own devices at work. If you have a device that already offers some safeguards, it can make IT's job easier.
  
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• Cisco fixes iOS 9 compatibility issue that blocked some VPNs

  23-10-2015 12:43
  
  When iOS 9 debuted in September, Cisco's AnyConnect VPN client for iOS stopped working correctly with some VPN server configurations, preventing resources from loading. During iOS 9's beta period, Cisco filed a bug report with Apple about iOS 9 breaking DNS resolution in IPv4-based split tunnneling, but iOS 9 shipped without a fix. So did iOS 9.01, 9.02, and this week's iOS 9.1.
  But on Thursday, Cisco released an AnyConnect client update in the App Store, version 4.0.03016, that resolves the is
  
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• Surface Book vs. Surface Pro 4: Picking the best came down to just one thing

  23-10-2015 12:00
  
  We love the Surface Book. We love the Surface Pro 4. But what we haven’t told you yet is the question many of you are asking: Which one is better? And the answer is: the other one.
  For the last week, we’ve tossed the question back and forth: which one do you like? Why? We both agree that the Book’s appeal lies in its discrete GPU, battery life, and laptop-like form factor. The SP4 is slightly cheaper but offers some serious bang for your buck. Gordon and I know both devices: I
  
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• Can the iPad Pro take on the Surface Pro at work?

  23-10-2015 11:57
  
  From the get go, it was inevitable that Apple's new iPad Pro would be compared to Microsoft's Surface Pro 3 (and the newer Surface Pro 4). The iPad Pro borrows heavily from the Surface Pro design with its larger form factor (a 12.9-in. screen), keyboard cover and support for a stylus -- Apple calls it the "Pencil." Diverging from Microsoft's vision, however, the iPad Pro relies on a purely mobile operating system -- iOS -- while the Surface Pro runs the same version of Windows as a desktop PC.
  
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• Microsoft, losing the mobile race, see its future in the cloud

  23-10-2015 07:06
  
  If mobile and cloud are the two key technology markets of the future, it's good that Microsoft seems to have a handle on at least one of them.When the company reported its quarterly financial results Thursday, something stuck out of its statistics: phone hardware revenue had dropped 58 percent year over year, something the company blamed on an "updated strategy." It's a nice little turn of phrase that belies Microsoft's shift in focus away from operating Nokia's devices business like the Fi
  
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• Joomla releases patch for serious SQLi flaw

  23-10-2015 06:29
  
  Joomla, a popular content management system, released patches on Thursday for a vulnerability that can allow an attacker to get full administrative access to a website.Joomla versions 3.2 through 3.4.4 are vulnerable, and the latest version is 3.4.5.The SQL injection flaw was found by Asaf Orphani, a researcher with Trustwave's SpiderLabs, and Netanel Rubin of PerimeterX.SQL injection flaws occur when a backend database executes a malicious query when it shouldn't. The type of vulnerability is o
  
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• Operationele excellence in de cloud

  23-10-2015 03:54
  In een markt die behoorlijk aan commoditizing onderhevig is, zien we een ongekende groei onder de onbetwiste nummer één onder de leveranciers van cloud-infrastructuur en -diensten: AWS, dat vorige week zijn vierde jaarlijkse gebruikersconferentie afsloot. Een paar cijfers: Meer dan... lees meer
  
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• Social engineering: Employees could be your weakest link

  23-10-2015 03:26
  
  Would your employees recognize a phishing email if they saw one? Social engineering, or the act of attacking the human element of information security, poses a significant risk to businesses. With the level of sophistication of cyberthreats increasing by the day, many organizations can greatly improve the steps they take to defend against these types of attacks. 
  Cybercriminals have long used phishing and other social engineering methods to trick their victims into providing access to conf
  
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• Snowden espouses about data ethics and privacy

  23-10-2015 03:26
  
  Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y.  -- In the aftermath of Edward Snowden’s controversial leaks that revealed widespread US surveillance and data gathering, researchers, scholars, lawyers, and privacy advocates gathered at the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities at Bard College to engage in conversations about privacy and data ethics.
  The Internet of Things continues to grow, and big data has the potential to drive big changes in how society defines privacy. Roger Berkowitz, asso
  
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• TalkTalk discloses possible breach, admits some data not encrypted

  23-10-2015 03:25
  
  UK telecom TalkTalk has disclosed a possible breach, which based on the current investigation's findings, could have resulted in the compromise of customer information, including names and account data.
  On Thursday, TalkTalk issued a statement that an investigation was being launched by the Metropolitan Police Cyber Crime Unit, after the company suffered a "sustained cyberattack" on its website.
  TalkTalk says there is a chance that the attackers were able to compromise names, addresses, birthda
  
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• Google reports strong profit, says it's 'rethinking everything' around machine learning

  23-10-2015 03:02
  It's already sorting your email and translating your voice searches, and machine learning will play a bigger role in Google's services moving forward.Google's parent company, Alphabet, reported its quarterly financial results Thursday, with revenue and profit both up from a year earlier. New Google CEO Sundar Pichai took part in his first earnings call, and in between discussing the numbers he revealed how important Google thinks machine learning is to its future."Machine learning is a core
  
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• MacKeeper buyers ask for refunds in droves following lawsuit

  23-10-2015 02:28
  
  Tens of thousands of people who bought MacKeeper have filed for refunds as part of a proposed class-action settlement against the application's former developer.The number of refund requests has far exceeded what is typical in these type of lawsuits, surprising even experienced class-action lawyers.But the unfortunate side effect of the robust response means those who've applied will probably get a smaller refund.The class-action suit was filed in May 2014 on behalf of Pennsylvania resident Holl
  
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• AWS casts a ray of strong sunshine on Amazon's profitability

  23-10-2015 00:37
  Much of Amazon's sunny Thursday earnings report for the third quarter of 2015 can be traced back to its Web Services cloud division.AWS brought in $2.09 billion in sales in the quarter ended Sept. 30, representing a jump of 78 percent over the same period last year. With an operating profit of $521 million -- up from just $98 million a year earlier -- the unit’s operating profit margin was 25 percent for the quarter, up from 21 percent in Q2 and 17 percent in Q1.Overall, Amazon beat analys
  
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• Cloud growth buoys Microsoft while revenue shrinks

  23-10-2015 00:05
  
  Microsoft's cloud successes buoyed the company through its last quarter, which was otherwise a mixed financial bag.Revenue fell more than 12 percent from a year earlier to $20.4 billion, though profit grew almost 2 percent to $4.62 billion. Like other companies, Microsoft cited currency exchange rates for its revenue drop. They had a pronounced effect on some of the company's key metrics. For example, Office commercial products and cloud services revenue declined 2 percent, but grew by 5 pe
  
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