IT Executive news

• How Yahoo ignited the Web -- and then got burned

  09-12-2015 22:31
  
  How Yahoo ignited the Web -- and then got burnedImage by YahooWhen Yahoo burst onto the scene in the mid nineties, it immediately became a favorite of early web users and soon became the Internet's hottest site. Over the years it's had ups and downs and been criticized for falling behind the times -- but it remains in business. One of the few web pioneers to successfully avoid bankruptcy or acquisition.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• Lack of big data talent hampers corporate analytics

  09-12-2015 22:06
  
  A shallow talent pool of skilled workers to analyze big data, combined with the challenge of weeding out bad information, continues to cause nightmares for CIOs.Khalid Khan, partner at A.T. Kearney.Two-thirds of companies that possess even the most advanced analytics capabilities cannot hire enough people who can generate insights from corporate data, according to new research from A.T. Kearney, which surveyed 430 senior executives. Moreover, companies will need 33 percent more big data talent o
  
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• Prospective Yahoo buyers would have eyes on its customer data

  09-12-2015 21:14
  
  Potential suitors for Yahoo's Internet business could include Verizon, Comcast and AT&T, which would want to access the company's 20-year-old treasure trove of customer data.
  "Data mining [of customer data] is a huge need for all these guys," said Jack Gold, an analyst at J. Gold Associates.
  Carriers could use the Yahoo data to better gauge a customer's interest in certain topics and needs by better tracking their preferences for what they have historically clicked on and what ads they have
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: 5 healthcare technology predictions for 2016

  09-12-2015 21:11
  
  Interoperability will continue to be a top issue in 2016
  While over $28 Billion has been spent so far on implementing health information technology, particularly Electronic Health Record Systems (EHR), these systems are not interoperable, meaning that information does not flow seamlessly between them.  Earlier this year, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information technology (ONC) released a report on health information blocking that has been undermining healthcare reform&
  
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• IBM Security's new signal caller announces a West Coast offense

  09-12-2015 20:58
  
  Here's a cybersecurity highlight reel from this past Monday...
  The IBM building in Cambridge, Mass., is shaking from the IBM Security team members who are stomping their feet and chanting:
  Everywhere we go, Everywhere we go,
  people wanna know, people wanna know,
  who we are, who we are,
  so we tell them, so we tell them,
  We Are The Blue Team!, We Are The Blue Team!,
  The Mighty Mighty Blue Team!, The Mighty Mighty Blue Team!...
  Brandon Hanningan, general manager at IBM's $1.5 billion security busi
  
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• Microsoft continues embracing Linux with new Azure certification

  09-12-2015 20:41
  
  In a partnership that would have seemed most unlikely back when Microsoft railed against open source, the software company has teamed with the Linux Foundation to offer a certification for managing Linux systems in the Azure cloud.The new Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate Linux on Azure certification allows people to show that they have invested time in developing skills to run Linux servers in Microsoft's cloud. It's something of a surprising move, considering that Azure didn't even suppo
  
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• EU aims to give streaming content same freedom of movement as people

  09-12-2015 19:54
  The European Commission wants to give music downloads and TV series the same freedom of movement as the people that subscribe to them, as part of an overhaul of European copyright law.The reform is a hobby-horse of Commission Vice-President for the Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip, an Estonian unhappy that he is unable to stream Estonian football matches when away from his home country.Such geoblocking of online content is common in Europe. Television rights, films and songs are typically lice
  
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• BrandPost: The Four Keys to Solid Quality Assurance

  09-12-2015 19:50
  
  When it comes to your digital business, quality assurance is essential to business process execution, but not always easy or fully successful. Since there are many areas in the software development life cycle (SDLC) in which defects and issues can insinuate themselves—ultimately resulting in poor business process quality and dissatisfied partners—top performing companies must implement the quality assurance function into enterprise systems to prevent quality issues at all points in
  
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• It lives! Volunteers from Microsoft release open-source fork of Windows Live Writer

  09-12-2015 19:29
  
  A group of Microsoft engineers today made good on a June promise and released an open-source version of the venerable Windows Live Writer, a tool that continued to be popular among bloggers even after Microsoft discontinued development three years ago.Scott HanselmanThe open-source app, Open Live Writer, debuted Wednesday, in version 0.5 as volunteers, mostly Microsoft employees, forked the eight-year-old Windows Live Writer blog- and content-creation tool.To read this article in full or to lea
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Why are customers loyal to Apple and the iPhone?

  09-12-2015 19:20
  Apple has long inspired an almost fanatical loyalty among its customers in a way few companies can match. And the company's iPhone business is absolutely gigantic and brings in profits that are the envy of the smartphone business and many, many other industries. But what makes Apple and its iPhone generate such loyalty among its customers?I ran across a long and quite illuminating thread about this topic in the MacRumors forum. MacRumors is one of the largest and most popular Apple news sites on
  
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• In Disney’s backyard, Sen. Nelson proposes big H-1B reduction

  09-12-2015 19:14
  
  Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), a vocal critic of the use of H-1B workers at Disney, introduced legislation on Tuesday to reduce the H-1B cap by nearly 25%.
  Along with shrinking the supply of H-1B visas, Nelson's bill also changes how the visas are distributed. It would allocate them on the basis of salary. Employers who pay the most would be in the best position of getting a visa petition approved.
  Visas are now allocated on the basis of a random lottery.
  Nelson's bill, co-sponsored by U.S. Sen. Je
  
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• Homeland Security's role in cybersecurity

  09-12-2015 19:00
  
  CSO Contributing Writer Ira Winkler (The Irari Report) recently sat down for an interview with Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the deputy secretary of Homeland Security.
  We’ve separated the interview into three video segments, covering a variety of security-related topics.In the first video (above), Mayorkas describes the role of Homeland Security when it comes to cybersecurity, and how government agencies are working together to improve the overall cybersecurity of critical systems and infrastruc
  
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• QlikView vs. Tableau: BI users debate the importance of pretty charts

  09-12-2015 18:07
  
  QlikView and Tableau are both viewed as worthy software tools for business intelligence (BI). So the decision for IT buyers may come down to whether it's more important for the organization to have user-friendly charting or advanced data applications, according to online reviews from BI software users in the IT Central Station community.The BI expert at a large travel company put it this way: "If you want to drop a tool in front of the business users that they can jump into, explore, drag and dr
  
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• Google continues enterprise push with Data Loss Prevention for Gmail

  09-12-2015 18:00
  
  Google on Wednesday released a new tool for companies that want to make sure their sensitive information isn't shared via email.
  Gmail for Work now has Data Loss Prevention (DLP) capabilities, which allow administrators to set policies about what information users can send through Gmail. The goal is to protect confidential records and make sure users don't accidentally leak key data. For example, a policy could prohibit members of the accounting team from sending any emails with a spreadsheet a
  
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• Facebook’s year in review: Crisis makes conversation

  09-12-2015 17:58
  When it comes to doom and gloom, Facebook users have a lot to say.
  That’s one takeaway, at least, from Facebook’s 2015 Year in Review. To create a list of the most popular conversation topics, the social network looked at aggregate, anonymized data from all of this year’s Facebook posts, and measured how frequently those topics came up. Here’s the global list of most talked-about topics:US Presidential Election
  November 13 Attacks in Paris
  Syrian Civil War & Refugee
  
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• Microsoft's Cortana digital assistant launches on iPhone and Android

  09-12-2015 17:45
  
  After a brief beta testing period, Microsoft’s Cortana assistant is available for everyone on the iPhone and Android phones.
  Though Cortana lacks the deep operating system hooks of Android’s Google Now and iOS’s Siri, it could still be a useful companion for users of Windows 10 PCs. For instance, you can set time- or location-based reminders from the Windows 10 taskbar, and have those reminders pop up on the phone.
  Cortana works better if you give it more access to personal da
  
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• IBM lets customers, partners write apps for QRadar threat intelligence platform

  09-12-2015 17:18
  
  IBM is launching a program where customers can share apps they write to augment IBM’s QRadar platform that analyzes security data, detects behavior anomalies and sorts out high-priority risks from the mass of incidents it examines.
  To accomplish this, the company is opening APIs into QRadar, issuing software developer kits and creating a Security App Exchange where these custom apps can be distributed.
  The exchange has already been seeded with 14 apps written by IBM itself and some of its
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: How to avoid one-sided vendor contract provisions

  09-12-2015 17:05
  
  We’ve all had this experience:  a vendor surprises you with a rate increase or informs you it’s not responsible for a problem with their product; you – incredulous – look at the contract; and you discover the contract supports their position – leaving you high and dry.Before the internal finger-pointing starts – between Legal, Procurement, the business owner – it’s important to get in the habit of “mine-sweeping” vendor contracts b
  
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• Millennials will accelerate Internet of Things action, IDC predicts

  09-12-2015 17:00
  
  As millennials move into business decision-making roles over the next three years, they will push for faster deployments of real-time, sensor-driven applications, according to IDC’s FutureScape report, “Worldwide Internet of Things 2016 Predictions.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• Yahoo changes direction, spins off everything except Alibaba

  09-12-2015 16:54
  
  Yahoo announced today that it has abandoned a plan to spin off its $31 billion stake in Alibaba, a popular Chinese e-commerce company, and would instead spin off all of its other assets into a new company. The move is called a reverse spinoff.
  The company said in a statement that concerns over a massive tax liability connected to an Alibaba spinoff forced them to nix that idea.
  "Informed by our intimate familiarity with Yahoo's unique circumstances, the board remains committed to accomplishing
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Using technology to lead change at the North Pole

  09-12-2015 16:53
  
  Sometimes I wonder if I was the lucky winner or the unfortunate victim that landed this position as the North Pole CIO. All of us face challenges in our jobs and I am no exception as I battle the “old school” mindset of the Elves and a boss that demands change, while also being hesitant to adopt modern technology. Each day brings a new challenge and a new opportunity for problem solving and leadership.It should come as no surprise to seasoned technology experts that one of the greate
  
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• CIO Quick Takes: How to evaluate startups

  09-12-2015 16:34
  
  As enterprises face a steady flow of new mobile, cloud, analytics and social collaboration technologies, and the need for employees with expertise in these areas accelerates, the ability to work with startups offers a slew of tactical and strategic benefits. However, while some startups offer fresh ideas and rock-star talent, others simply won't survive. To determine the best ways to evaluate startup companies, we asked four CIOs the following question:"What are your top three criteria in evalua
  
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• Cyberspy group targets South American political figures, journalists

  09-12-2015 16:31
  Since 2008, a group of attackers has used off-the-shelf remote access Trojans (RATs) to target political figures, journalists and public figures in several South American countries. The group, whose attack campaigns have been investigated by researchers working with Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs, has been dubbed Packrat. It appears mainly interested in political opposition groups and influential people from countries like Argentina, Ecuador and Ven
  
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• Mozilla shutters Firefox OS, gives up on smartphones

  09-12-2015 16:03
  
  Mozilla confirmed Tuesday that it was halting development on Firefox OS in its current incarnation, putting an end to more than four years of work building a browser-based, smartphone operating system.
  "Firefox OS proved the flexibility of the Web, scaling from low-end smartphones all the way up to HD TVs. However, we weren't able to offer the best user experience possible and so we will stop offering Firefox OS smartphones through carrier channels," said Denelle Dixon-Thayer, Mozilla's chief l
  
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• Cisco, Microsoft & other big enterprise IT firms miss Best Places to Work cut

  09-12-2015 15:34
  
  It’s not that the biggest names in enterprise IT and networking aren’t good places to work, according to employees submitting reviews to jobs and career marketplace Glassdoor. It’s just that they aren’t “Amazing!” or “Great!” places to be employed, according to Glassdoor’s list of the 50 Best Places to Work in 2016.When approached by Glassdoor about this list, we weren’t surprised to see a buzzy young company like Airbnb atop the rankin
  
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• Google Calendar apps get new reminders, but still don't impress

  09-12-2015 15:29
  
  Google Calendar has been my desktop calendar program of choice since 2008. On iOS, however, I always default to Apple's Calendar app. Maybe it's laziness, or I'm just not inspired to change. Google's most recent update to its Calendar app for iOS and Android packs some welcome new features — but it's still not going to make me switch from Apple's calendar. Here's why.Google Calendar's uninspired reminders
  Google Calendar now has a "Reminders" feature. If you tap the "+"
  
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• Which Mac should you buy?

  09-12-2015 15:03
  If you’re reading this article, chances are you’re thinking about buying a new Mac and may be in need of a little guidance. Fortunately, we’re quite familiar with Apple’s Macs, and we’re happy to help you choose the right Mac for you.Mac miniTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• Microsoft to offer a Linux-based cert for Azure admins

  09-12-2015 15:00
  
  Microsoft’s newfound embrace of open-source software continues with the news today that the company will now offer a Linux on Azure certificate through its Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate program.Those who pass both Microsoft’s 70-533 exam and the Linux Foundation’s Certified System Administrator exam will receive the Linux on Azure cert from the MCSA program. The cert is available as of today, according to a joint announcement.+ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD: 11 top IaaS cloud
  
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• Amazon beefs up Prime streaming, but is it worth the price?

  09-12-2015 14:51
  
  Looking to begin a serious TV binge? If so, there's good news: Amazon Prime added more than two dozen new networks, including Showtime and Starz, to its lineup of streaming video content.On Tuesday, Amazon launched the Streaming Partners Program, a new way for Prime subscribers, who pay a $99 annual fee, to expand their streaming options. It's available now, and the program offers streaming video from A&E Network, AMC and 24 other services, along with Showtime and Starz, in addition to the l
  
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• Gift guide: The 15 best books of 2015 for IT leaders

  09-12-2015 14:35
  
  The holidays are a perfect time to invest in your own education. These books – whether you buy them on your own or ask for them as a gift – will give you keen insight as an IT leader coming into the New Year. Some challenge the notion of whether employees should be treated as assets, others provide a wealth of research about digital distraction and the rise of machine learning. 1. Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age – Sherry Turkle To read this
  
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• 11 great data storage gifts this holiday season

  09-12-2015 13:49
  
  Give the gift of gigabytes ... or moreLet’s face it: In an almost all-digital world, backing up your data becomes more important every day. And to be clear, by “data,” we mean everything from your personal and business documents, entertainment media (music, movies, television programs), even your memories (more digital pictures and movies than you know what to do with, if you’re anything like us).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• How SAP is hiring autistic adults for tech jobs

  09-12-2015 13:27
  
  In order to compete in the innovation economy, companies need employees who think differently. That's why, in May 2013, SAP launched its Autism at Work program, which is aimed at recruiting and hiring adults on the autism spectrum. The program has been such a success, SAP is currently working to expand it, with the goal of having 1 percent of its total workforce -- approximately 650 people -- fall on the spectrum by 2020, says José Velasco, head of the Autism at Work program at SAP."We've
  
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• Your tech employees aren't happy? Here's how to fix it

  09-12-2015 12:53
  
  There's a lot to job satisfaction. Work-life balance, culture and career growth are just as important as the salary and benefits. Add to that the fact that unhappy employees are directly related to high turnover rates, which is expensive and impacts the company's bottom line. To avoid that risk, businesses need to adopt a strategy to address problems that are driving employees away.To help you build that strategy, Dice surveyed 1,600 technology professionals in the U.S. to figure out what impact
  
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• Forecast 2016: Security takes center stage

  09-12-2015 12:30
  
  When a high-profile cybersecurity attack occurs, like the ones at Target or Home Depot, Sam Redden knows to be ready.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• Adoption of EMV chip secures transactions not data

  09-12-2015 12:24
  
  New payment technologies might make card-present theft more difficult for criminals, but a secure payment transaction at point of sale does not diminish the risk of cyber fraud and data theft for the enterprise.
  Many merchants have adopted the EMV chip technology for point of sale purchases, but now criminals are taking advantage of the ease with which they can commit digital fraud. The increase in cybercrime means that thieves are accessing the environment, committing card not present (CNP) fr
  
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• Red Hat CloudForms 4 takes command of Azure and containers

  09-12-2015 12:00
  
  Red Hat has introduced CloudForms 4.0, and the cloud management platform can now manage cloud resources in Microsoft Azure and picks up container support.Both features are indispensable for any cloud-management system. The former is necessary because of Azure's status as a top-tier cloud offering, and the latter because containers are involved in nearly every aspect of software use, especially cloud deployment.[ From Amazon to Azure, InfoWorld puts IaaS clouds to the test to find out which is be
  
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• First look: Run VMs in VMs with Hyper-V containers

  09-12-2015 12:00
  
  Due for release in the second half of 2016, Windows Server 2016 is a major reworking of the Windows Server platform, with a refactored core that will scale from the minimalist, microservice- and cloud-focused Nano Server to the familiar graphical user experience. Windows Server 2016 is perhaps best thought of as Microsoft delivering its Azure cloud platform to on-premises installations. The latest preview, Windows Server 2016 TP4 (Technical Preview 4), adds a range of new Azure-like features, i
  
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• HP Enterprise en Microsoft gaan samenwerking aan

  09-12-2015 10:06
  Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) en Microsoft hebben een driejarige partnerovereenkomst getekend. De bedrijven gaan samen innoveren op het gebied van hybride cloud computing, met behulp van Microsoft Azure en oplossingen van HPE voor infrastructuur en cloud. Met deze overeenkomst wordt Microsoft Azure een... lees meer
  
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• Michel van de Coevering CFO bij Schuberg Philis

  09-12-2015 09:55
  Outsourcing-dienstverlener Schuberg Philis heeft Michel van de Coevering per 1 januari 2016 benoemd tot CFO. Hiervoor was hij gedurende acht jaar CFO van de gespecialiseerde zakenbank Kempen & Co in Amsterdam. In die rol was Michel verantwoordelijk voor Finance & Control en Risk Management, als ook ICT en... lees meer
  
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• Data warehouse-specialist vindt zichzelf opnieuw uit

  09-12-2015 09:39
  Als het om datawarehousing gaat is Teradata al jaren de nummer één. In het Magic Quadrant van Gartner staat het bedrijf steevast rechts bovenin en grote klanten weten Teradata goed te vinden. Maar het bedrijf heeft ook al een tijdje door dat het niet op zijn lauweren kan rusten. De wereld van big data en... lees meer
  
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• Facebook's Zuckerberg ordered to testify over Oculus purchase

  09-12-2015 08:34
  Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been ordered to depose in an intellectual property dispute between Oculus and ZeniMax Media, as he has "unique knowledge" of his decision to buy and his valuation of the wearable virtual reality technology company.ZeniMax sued Oculus in May 2014 for exploiting commercially intellectual property the games publisher allegedly shared under a non-disclosure agreement with Oculus, which enabled it to improve on its "crude prototype" of a virtual reality headset.Face
  
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• Australian police raid alleged bitcoin creator's home

  09-12-2015 06:24
  The Australian Federal Police raided the Sydney home on Wednesday of an academic fingered by two technology publications of possibly being the programmer behind the virtual currency bitcoin.The home belongs to Craig Steven Wright, who was named in stories in Wired and Gizmodo on Tuesday as likely being the elusive Satoshi Nakamoto based on leaked documents.The raid was conducted on behalf of the Australian Tax Office, which declined to comment. Police said no arrests were made and that the raid
  
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• Mozilla nixes Firefox OS, bowing out of mobile race

  09-12-2015 04:07
  Mozilla has ended its ambitious entry into the smartphone race, saying Tuesday it will stop offering Firefox OS phones through operators.The withdrawal is unsurprising, even though Mozilla heralded the OS as one of its major projects in its recent annual report.Some operators shipped Firefox OS phones, which were designed to be lower-cost alternatives to Android-powered ones and Apple's iPhone, but the devices never gained significant market traction."Firefox OS proved the flexibility of th
  
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• San Jose gets SmartPoles with LTE, LED lights and energy meters

  09-12-2015 02:31
  
  San Jose, Calif. has begun installing 50 SmartPoles that integrate LTE wireless with LED street lighting.
  The poles will also have custom energy meters on top to monitor the electricity used by LTE wireless transmitters.
  The pilot SmartPole program is part of a broader smart city focus envisioned by San Jose that takes advantage of Internet of Things technologies. In June, Intel paired up with the city on a separate project to install a network of sensors to collect data on air pollution, noise
  
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• Trump’s call to ban Muslims would create H-1B, other turmoil

  09-12-2015 02:30
  
  Early in his campaign, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump established himself as a champion of restrictions on the H-1B visa program. Notably he called for a provision compelling businesses to "hire American workers first" as well as raise prevailing wages to deter wage undercutting. These are not outlier positions in Congress.
  But Trump's recent call for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States" moves him to the extreme fringes of immigration policy. If,
  
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• IBM beefs up cloud video service with Clearleap buy

  09-12-2015 02:29
  
  In an effort to better enable its cloud users to access video from any device at any time, IBM today said it is buying Clearleap,a 7-year-old Georgia-based company.
  Clearleap has focused on creating a technology platform that can securely deliver massive video libraries to traditional TV systems and multiscreen devices, according to the company's website.
  Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
  IBM said that Clearleap will be integrated into its cloud platform to provide enterprises wit
  
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• Gotta give stealthy 128 Technology credit for cleverness on $20M funding filing

  09-12-2015 02:28
  
  128 Technology, a stealthy software startup that "is on a mission to fix the Internet," has quietly and cleverly filed an SEC form regarding a fresh $20M in funding on, of all days, 12/8.
  The Burlington, Mass., startup has also jazzed up its website since I looked at it last week while prepping to attend the Xconomy "Enterprise Tech Strikes Back" event in Boston at which 128 CEO and Co-founder Andy Ory took part on a panel discussing "Building the Next Great Infrastructure Company."To read
  
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• Instead of news, UK paper delivered ransomware

  09-12-2015 01:53
  A major UK newspaper is cleaning up its website after a criminals tried to deliver ransomware to thousands of its readers.The attack affected the blogs section of The Independent newspaper's website, Joseph C. Chen, a fraud researcher with Trend Micro, said in a blog post Tuesday."We have already informed The Independent about this security incident and are working with them to contain the situation," Chen wrote. "For their part, the news website staff was quick to respond and take action t
  
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• NASA, Google reveal quantum computing leap

  09-12-2015 01:36
  
  The black box sitting at the heart of NASA's Advanced Supercomputing facility in Silicon Valley isn't much to look at. The size of a garden shed, it's smaller than a conventional supercomputer, but inside something quite impressive is happening.The box is a D-Wave 2X quantum computer, one of the most advanced examples yet of a new type of computer based on quantum mechanics, which can theoretically be used to solve complex problems in seconds rather than years.Quantum computers rely on fund
  
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