IT Executive news

• Huawei shows off fast-recharging battery

  13-11-2015 23:03
  
  Huawei has developed a prototype smartphone battery that can be recharged to half its capacity in just five minutes.
  The battery is based on the same lithium ion chemistry used in cellphone batteries today but gets its advantage from atoms of graphite bonded to the anode, Huawei said on Friday at an industry conference in Japan.
  That change means faster charging but not at the expense of usage life or a sacrifice in the amount of energy that can be stored in each battery, it said.
  It was develo
  
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• Google Chrome gets new iOS beta program

  13-11-2015 22:34
  
  Google is now letting iPhone and iPad users take a cutting-edge version of its browser for a spin. The company on Friday quietly launched a new Chrome for iOS public beta program, which leverages Apple's TestFlight system to give users the chance to try out a new version of the browser.
  Users can sign up by going to Google's Chrome Beta page on their iOS device, and they'll then be taken to a form where they can enter their name, email address and agree to Chrome's terms of service. After that,
  
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• BitLocker encryption can be defeated with trivial Windows authentication bypass

  13-11-2015 22:21
  
  Companies relying on Microsoft BitLocker to encrypt the drives of their employees' computers should install the latest Windows patches immediately. A researcher disclosed a trivial Windows authentication bypass, fixed earlier this week, that puts data on BitLocker-encrypted drives at risk.Ian Haken, a researcher with software security testing firm Synopsys, demonstrated the attack Friday at the Black Hat Europe security conference in Amsterdam. The issue affects Windows computers that are p
  
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• Jury convicts brothers in H-1B fraud case, jail possible

  13-11-2015 21:52
  
  Two brothers who used H-1B workers to create a low-cost and profitable on-demand workforce were found guilty Thursday in federal court of violating the law.
  The trial took place in U.S. District Court in Dallas and lasted for six days. At the end, a jury convicted Atul Nanda, 46, and his brother, Jiten "Jay" Nanda, 44, each of one count of conspiracy to commit visa fraud, one count of conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens and four counts of wire fraud.The U.S. filed the indictment in 2013.To read
  
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• Microsoft converts more customers into testers with Office Insider preview program

  13-11-2015 21:18
  
  Microsoft today launched a new preview program for consumers who subscribe to Office 365 that will give them a sneak peak at new features slated to be added to the subscription service in the next one to three weeks.
  Office Insider was opened to subscribers of Office 365 Home, Personal and University -- the third is a four-year deal available only to college students -- who are running Office 2016 on a Windows device. Office 365 subscribers who instead work with Office 2016 on a Mac are exclude
  
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• IoT goes above and below ground to make cities healthier

  13-11-2015 21:14
  
  Smart cities could become healthier cities as the Internet of Things learns to gauge conditions from the sky to the sewer.
  Fledgling IoT teams working above and below ground came out for the Re.Work Connect Summit conference in San Francisco on Thursday. Both say they can help cities understand and anticipate things that affect human health. With smaller devices and smarter analytics, they're improving upon the systems that have been testing urban conditions for years.
  The so-called "smart citi
  
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• BrandPost: Using Metrics to Improve Your Process

  13-11-2015 21:00
  
  Metrics are mere curiosities unless they tell a story that supports or encourages change or improvement.
  When you're looking at producing metrics for your security program, you'll almost always be trying to measure whether you're doing something better or worse. However, to quantify “better” or “worse,” you need to determine what's quantifiable. And in order to figure out what is quantifiable, you need to understand your process.
  In fact, one of the most valuable parts o
  
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• What iPad Pro teaches vendors about product development

  13-11-2015 20:41
  
  Back in 2010 Apple again did what they were by that time famous for doing. They brought to market a product revolution with the iPad and put all of the PC venders on notice that their business was soon to be gobbled up by this new platform.Five years later the tablet market, and especially the iPad is in free fall and PCs are, at least relatively, doing far better. Apple just brought out the iPad Pro to address this fall and it’s not a bad product, but by the end of next year we’ll k
  
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• Poof! Facebook tests Snapchat-like disappearing messages

  13-11-2015 20:34
  
  If you can't buy 'em, copy 'em.
  Facebook confirmed to Computerworld today that it is running a small test of a Snapchat-like feature, enabling users to send messages that will automatically disappear.FacebookA disappearing message in the Facebook test.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• Apple says the iPad Pro is built for business

  13-11-2015 20:09
  
  Editor’s Note: Apple invited CIO.com's Matt Kapko to Cupertino to offer him details about its plans for the iPad Pro -- specifically Apple wanted to share background on why the new tablet is well-suited for the enterprise. As a condition of the interview, all comments are attributed only to an unidentified Apple spokesman. CUPERTINO, Calif. -- Apple isn’t trying to rewrite the script of the iPad with its release this week of the iPad Pro. Rather it’s adding a new chapter. The d
  
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• ‘Ban the killer robots’ movement could backfire

  13-11-2015 19:27
  
  Efforts to establish a global ban on offensive autonomous weapons — a.k.a. “killer robots” — have intensified in recent weeks. This uptick in lobbying comes on the heels of an open letter calling for such a ban from a group of artificial intelligence and robotics researchers, including well-known luminaries such as Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk and Noam Chomsky.
  Unfortunately, these efforts have stigmatized much-needed research on autonomous robots 
  
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• Hands on with Ricoh's spherical video and photo shooting Theta S

  13-11-2015 19:19
  
  Spherical video lets your friends not only see your adventures, but also control what they see. The Ricoh Theta S is the newest piece of hardware that can capture and process video and images in 360-degrees. While it's not perfect, the $350 price point puts the technology in reach for early adopters. The camera hardware is easy to use. There are only a few buttons: shutter release, power, WiFi and video/photo toggle. The software, on the other hand, requires a lot more skill to use, na
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: You can learn to be a leader in the most unexpected places

  13-11-2015 19:09
  
  Over the sound of the espresso machine I hear Lydia, the manager at my favorite coffee shop. She's talking with a barista who is training to be a shift manager. The barista was looking at a piece of equipment. Lydia said,"What do you do next?"The barista responded.Lydia: "And if you do that, what do you expect to happen?"Another response.Lydia: "What makes you say that?"
  From her tone Lydia was creating a safe learning environment. She was not trying to catch her trainee doing something wr
  
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• Cops pull over Google driverless car -- but it not for speeding

  13-11-2015 18:59
  
  Google's self-driving car had a run-in with the law this week.
  A Mountain View, Calif. motorcycle police officer pulled over a Google autonomous car for driving too slowly, and a photo of the roadside stop posted to Facebook by Zandr Milewski has gone viral.
  Google responded to the hubbub yesterday on its Self-Driving Car Project page on Google+.
  "Driving too slowly? Bet humans don't get pulled over for that too often," the car team wrote in its blog post. "We've capped the speed of our prototy
  
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• Apple's P2P mobile payment service would 'create a shockwave' in the industry

  13-11-2015 18:56
  
  If Apple creates a mobile person-to-person payment service, it could rock the banking and payments world as never before, some analysts believe.
  There are already several person-to-person (also called peer-to-peer, or P2P) mobile payment services offered. They include PayPal's Venmo, as well as services from Facebook, Google, Square and others. The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources, reported Wednesday that Apple was in talks with major banks to develop such a payment service, possibly
  
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• PowerPoint 2016 now helps people design slides that aren't terrible

  13-11-2015 18:00
  
  If there's one problem with presentation software, it's that it's hard for many people to create slides that look and feel professional. While Microsoft does its best to provide people with templates, it can still be hard to make slides look good -- and that's made doubly difficult for users starting from a blank canvas.Microsoft is aiming to solve that with a new feature for PowerPoint 2016 called Designer that helps people who aren't presentation experts put together good-looking slides. When
  
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• Windows 10 refresh: It's an upgrade, not an update

  13-11-2015 16:58
  
  Someone at Microsoft must not have gotten the memo.
  In a statement issued Thursday, Microsoft's top operating system executive repeatedly used the term "update" to describe the first major refresh of Windows 10, which has been tagged within the OS as 1511 to indicate it was released in November (11) of 2015 (15).
  "Today, we reach our next milestone as the first major update to Windows 10 is now available for PCs and tablets," Terry Myerson, who leads the combined OS-and-device division at Micro
  
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• When it comes to enterprise network security, less is more

  13-11-2015 16:16
  
  You remember those classic Get Smart scenes where Agent 86 and the Chief would have something so secret to talk about they would go to Control headquarters in the bowels of the Pentagon, push the button, and the Cone of Silence would drop down over their heads? Inside the Cone they could have a private conversation. Outside the Cone, no one can hear you. At least, that was the idea. Sounds perfect. The problem? It never worked! So, out of frustration, 86 and the Chief resorted to ducking under
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: iPad Pro: 14 apps enhanced for the Apple Pencil

  13-11-2015 15:41
  
  Apple's new iPad Pro is now available at your local Apple Store and also in Apple's online store. And one of the best things about the iPad Pro is the Apple Pencil, which allows you to draw and write with amazing precision.But what about apps that actually make use of the Apple Pencil? Don't worry, I've compiled a list of fourteen apps that will help you get the most out of the Apple Pencil. Each of the apps listed below has been enhanced to take advantage of everything the Apple Pencil has to o
  
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• Three security leaders help you prepare to lead to a more secure cloud

  13-11-2015 15:22
  
  Are you moving to a more secure cloud?Image by Davide D'AmicoI recently asked, “Do executives think you are relevant to cloud security decisions?” as a response to the finding that 61% of companies see moving to the cloud as an executive and board-level strategic move.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• CISO bets on cloud security services to protect data

  13-11-2015 14:59
  
  In what could be considered an unusual move at a time when most companies choose to keep their cybersecurity tools on-premises, John Graham, CISO for Jabil Circuit, says the manufacturing services company is adopting more cloud security services.Graham says that moving to the cloud lets the company focus on its core business of making high-precision molds, mechanical tools and medical devices. More specifically, it allows his tech staff to focus on threat analytics. Graham expects Jabil’s
  
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• Hands-on with Microsoft's new Surface Pro 4

  13-11-2015 13:05
  
  Microsoft Surface line up has come a long way in not only design and performance, but also in public perception. When it launched in 2012, there was no device like it on the market and people weren't sure what to make of it. Was it a tablet or a notebook, and could you really have the best of both in one device? But now companies such as Dell, Lenovo, Toshiba, Asus, HP and even Apple have jumped on board with the tablet-as-a-notebook concept, reinforcing Microsoft's strategy.
  With each iteration
  
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• The dark side of layered security

  13-11-2015 13:00
  
  Layered security is currently considered a best practice for enterprises, since a single layer of defense against attackers is no longer enough. Sometimes, however, these layers can have unintended consequences and even make a company less secure than before.
  Complexity
  Jason Brvenik, principal engineer in the Cisco Security Business Group, said that he's seen organizations with as many as 80 different security technologies applied in layers.
  "The proliferation of best of breed technologies cre
  
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• Gene Amdahl, IBM mainframe architect then IBM competitor, has died

  13-11-2015 12:41
  
  Gene M. Amdahl, chief architect of IBM's System/360 mainframe and later the creator of the IBM plug-compatible mainframe vendor that bore his name, has died aged 92.
  Amdahl was born in South Dakota, earning a bachelor's degree in engineering physics at the state university in 1948.
  In 1950, as a PhD student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he and Charles H. Davidson designed a digital computer. In 1952, the year Amdahl received his doctorate in theoretical physics, the university began b
  
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• Review: The Apple TV has promise, but doesn’t fully deliver

  13-11-2015 12:30
  
  Apple TV has always been the best way for those in the Apple ecosystem to bring iTunes content to their TV. The small, hockey-puck-sized device can fit unobtrusively into most people's living rooms and stream content from a variety of sources, including iTunes libraries on computers with Home Sharing enabled; iPhones and iPads via wireless AirPlay; the iTunes music and movie/TV store portal; and various third-party partners lucky enough to land a spot on its exclusive and seemingly arbitrary Ho
  
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• What you can expect from the much-rumored Apple Car

  13-11-2015 12:17
  
  All signs point to the fact that Apple is working on a car, and over the last year there’s been plenty of speculation about what that could mean.
  During the C3 Connected Mobility Summit in San Francisco, a panel of experts linked all the recent rumors together to try to decipher Apple’s plan for disrupting the auto industry. This year alone, rumors surrounding the Apple car, codenamed Project Titan, surfaced as follows: Apple has filed permits to build a “auto work area”
  
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• Digitalisering business vereist platform-denken

  13-11-2015 12:12
  CIO’s verwachten dat de opbrengsten van digitale diensten flink gaan toenemen de komende vijf jaar, van gemiddeld 17% in 2015 tot bijna 40% van de totale omzet in 2020. Maar zes op de tien CIO’s in de EMEA-regio kampen met een tekort aan talent in de organisatie. Ook zet een grote groep CIO's bi-modale... lees meer
  
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• T-Mobile offers its customers an 'unbargain'

  13-11-2015 07:21
  
  The uncarrier has an unbargain for consumers. T-Mobile made a splash this week with its Binge On feature that lets customers stream video from a selection of providers without eating into their data caps. It also doubled data allowances for a number of tiers without raising prices.But buried beneath the bravado of CEO John Legere at his online press conference was a price hike: New T-Mobile customers will pay an extra $15 a month for unlimited data. Starting on Sunday, Nov. 15, the new “Si
  
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• Apple to shut down Beats Music on Nov. 30

  13-11-2015 06:42
  Apple is pulling the plug on Beats Music on Nov. 30, shortly after launching the beta of an Android app for its Apple Music streaming service.The company is now encouraging both Android and iOS users of Beats Music to transition to the Apple Music streaming service, which was launched by the company in June.After the launch of the Apple Music app for Android phones, it has become easier for Apple to do the inevitable - shut down Beats Music, transition Android users and focus on Apple Music."All
  
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• Ransom attacks likely to fade as small email providers resist

  13-11-2015 04:17
  
  The spate of cyberattacks against email providers is likely to pass with time as they refuse to pay ransoms. But that doesn't mean the attacks haven't cost them.
  Since early this month, the list of companies that have been attacked has grown longer: first ProtonMail of Switzerland, followed by HushMail, RunBox, VFEmail, Zoho and FastMail of Australia.
  The companies have typically received extortion requests by email asking for 10 or 20 bitcoins in exchange for not being subjected to distributed
  
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• Tablet shipments are down, but they're gaining ground at work

  13-11-2015 03:29
  
  Overall tablet shipments have dropped 20% in recent quarters, but workplace uses for the devices are still growing in the U.S.
  Based on a survey of 300 U.S. companies completed in September, analyst firm J. Gold Associates determined that the number of companies who have over half their workforce using tablets will grow by up to 155% in the next three years.
  "This indicates a strong upward trend," the firm said in an 11-page report on the survey. Computerworld received a review copy of the repo
  
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• Lapsed Apple certificate triggers massive Mac app fiasco

  13-11-2015 03:29
  
  A lapsed Apple digital certificate today triggered a massive app fiasco that prevented Mac users from running software they'd purchased from the Mac App Store.
  "Whenever you download an app from the Mac App Store, the app provides a cryptographically-signed receipt," explained Paul Haddad, a co-founder of Tapbots, the company behind the popular Tweetbot Twitter client, in an email reply to questions today. "These receipts are signed with various certificates with different expiration dates. One
  
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• Magic or Curse? World TV day 2016

  13-11-2015 03:27
  
  The Big TVImage by REUTERS/Kim Hong-JiThrough the years television has been celebrated and denounced for its influence. In 1996 the United Nations designated November 21 as World Television Day “not so much a celebration of the tool, but rather the philosophy which it represents. Television represents a symbol for communication and globalization in the contemporary world,” the UN stated. While in the US and other countries TV is decidedly high-tech, other places it is not. Reuters to
  
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• Get ready for car-as-a-service (CaaS)

  13-11-2015 03:25
  
  Self-driving cars are expected to take over the roadways in the next two decades, but the vast majority of the fleet will likely be dedicated to services and not owned by individuals, according to a new report by IHS Automotive.
  Within five years, Google and carmakers are expected to have driverless vehicles on the world's roadways. By 2035, 12 million self-driving and driverless cars will be sold globally, IHS Automotive estimates.
  However, given that 85% of the world's population doesn't have
  
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• Robot keeps stores stocked with Doritos

  13-11-2015 03:06
  
  An autonomous robot was unveiled this week that can make sure that when you're hankering for Doritos, there's a bag waiting for you at the market.
  Simbe Robotics, based in San Francisco, announced its first product, a 30-pound robot called Tally that can move up and down a store's aisles checking inventory.The robot determines what products need restocking and send reports to workers who can add more stock. Tally also is set up to work during normal store hours, alongside employees and customer
  
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• Cybercriminals turn to video ads to plant malware

  13-11-2015 01:33
  Cybercriminals have been delivering malware through online display ads for years, but they appear to be making headway with a new distribution method: video advertisements.
  Both methods of attack, known as malvertising, can have a broad impact and are a major headache for the ad industry. A single malicious advertisement, distributed to several highly trafficked sites, can expose tens of thousands of computers to malware in a short time.
  Some ad networks and publishers have taken step
  
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• Use Oracle's database? Watch out for this Dec. 1 deadline

  13-11-2015 00:40
  
  Companies that use a standard edition of Oracle's database software should be aware that a rapidly approaching deadline could mean increased licensing costs.
  Oracle will stop selling its Database Standard Edition (SE) and Standard Edition 1 (SE1) products on Dec. 1, meaning customers who use those products will be "frozen in scalability," because they won't be able to buy new licenses or upgrade to new SE or SE1 releases, said Eliot Arlo Colon, senior vice president and Oracle practice leader w
  
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