IT Executive news

• Here's a look at Walmart Pay in action

  10-12-2015 23:36
  
  This time last year, just as Apple Pay was being launched, tech enthusiasts were pouring scorn on rival payments system CurrentC, because it depends on barcodes rather than the newer NFC wireless technology picked up by Apple.The jury is still out on CurrentC -- a year on, it still hasn't launched -- but on Thursday Walmart announced a payment system of its own that uses barcodes, and it doesn't look too clumsy.In a video provided by the retailer, a customer starts an app on an Android phone wit
  
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• Facebook makes its Big Sur AI server design available to anyone

  10-12-2015 23:23
  
  Facebook is releasing the hardware design for a server it uses to train artificial intelligence software, allowing other companies exploring AI to build similar systems.Code-named Big Sur, Facebook uses the server to run its machine learning programs, a type of AI software that "learns" and gets better at tasks over time. It's contributing Big Sur to the Open Compute Project, which it set up to let companies share designs for new hardware.One common use for machine learning is image recognition,
  
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• Facebook releases design for souped-up AI server, 'Big Sur'

  10-12-2015 23:15
  
  Facebook is releasing the hardware design for a server it uses to train artificial intelligence software, allowing other companies exploring AI to build similar systems.
  Code-named Big Sur, Facebook uses the server to run its machine learning programs, a type of AI software that "learns" and gets better at tasks over time. It's contributing Big Sur to the Open Compute Project, which it set up to let companies share designs for new hardware.
  One common use for machine learning is image recogniti
  
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• Samsung follows other electronics giants into the auto industry

  10-12-2015 22:29
  
  Samsung has announced it will begin manufacturing electronics parts for the automotive industry, with a specific focus on autonomous vehicles.
  The South Korean electronics giant is only the latest tech firm to make a somewhat belated push into the carmaker industry, as vehicle computer systems and sensors become more sophisticated.
  In October, General Motors announced a strategic partnership with South Korea's LG Electronics. LG will supply a majority of the key components for GM's upcoming ele
  
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• Atlassian president on IPO: 'We're overjoyed'

  10-12-2015 22:27
  
  As Australian collaboration software maker Atlassian made its long-awaited initial public offering in the U.S. on Thursday, its soaring share price offered a strong testament to the company's distinctive sales strategy and history of profitability.Though the Nasdaq Global Select Market IPO set the company's share price -- sold under the ticker symbol "TEAM" -- at $21, it opened at $27.67, reflecting a value well above $5 billion. The stock's closing price was $27.78.It's reportedly the first IPO
  
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• FLIR to develop infrared cameras for DJI drones

  10-12-2015 21:46
  
  Thermal imaging camera maker FLIR Systems has started working with drone maker DJI Technology on infrared cameras that can be attached to DJI's drones.The partnership could expand the drone market, making the small flying craft significantly more useful for firefighters, police, farmers and others that use thermal imaging.As a start, FLIR has developed a version of its Tau 2 thermal imaging camera for use on DJI drones. The Zenmuse XT, as it will be called, will be available in early 2016 at a p
  
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• BrandPost: Proving the business value of big data

  10-12-2015 21:03
  
  Just organizations are getting more precise in their decision making through analytics, they must now get more precise in measuring ROI from big data investments. Here are four things you can do to forge stronger connections between analytics and business outcomes.Clearly define your business goals and metrics. Calculating ROI can be notoriously difficult for big data projects, because you can easily get lost in considering too many variables. So the first step is to clearly define the business
  
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• Walmart Pay gives retailer strategic advantage, building off existing app

  10-12-2015 20:39
  
  Walmart jumped out Thursday with a natively built in-store mobile payment technology that works with any iOS or Android phone and any major credit or debit card.
  Walmart Pay works at a store's checkout by scanning a QR code on a Walmart smartphone app. The app is already used by 22 million Walmart customers each month for online shopping, including finding discounts and making online orders that can be picked up at the nearest store.
  "Without question, Walmart Pay is a strategic move" that can
  
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• Windows 10's 'Redstone' update promises a smarter, Office-savvy Cortana

  10-12-2015 20:34
  
  Windows 10's next major update, code-named "Redstone," promises a smarter Cortana that can work within Office applications.
  According to a report from The Verge, Cortana will become a contextual tool that appears within documents. She will facilitate transitioning tasks across the various smartphone platforms. Microsoft will also beef up the Notifications center, the site reports. 
  Microsoft launched Windows 10 this past summer (and released Windows 10 Mobile recently as well) an
  
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• Safe Harbor's ending makes for a good start for Cloud28+

  10-12-2015 20:31
  After two months of beta testing, European enterprise app and service store Cloud28+ is open for business, making it easier for companies wanting to host their applications or data in Europe to find a home for them.
  A beta test is usually a shakedown, intended to remove any lingering bugs, but for Cloud28+ it was more of a shake-up.
  The Cloud28+ catalog offers European businesses around 700 infrastructure-, platform- and software-as-a-service offerings from almost 150 partners. It allows them t
  
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• Most Americans would not give up the steering wheel to a computer

  10-12-2015 18:34
  
  An international survey performed by an online community of engineers found that  only 35% of U.S. consumers want a driverless vehicle.
  "Despite the hype around driverless cars, it seems that it's actually a minority of us who want to surrender the steering wheel to a computer," element14, the engineering group that performed the survey, said in a statement.
  Conversely, the online survey of 3,500 people showed that 71% in India and 67% in China would like a fully autonomous vehicle.el
  
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• Twitter’s new emoji support brings tacos, burritos and racial diversity

  10-12-2015 18:05
  Twitter is stepping up its emoji game with Unicode 8 support on the desktop website.
  The latest version of the Unicode standard adds dozens more characters, including Taco, Burrito, Unicorn Face, and Sign of the Horns.
  Unicode 8 also brings an eye toward diversity, as users are able to modify the skin tone of hands and faces. The new standard includes several new places of worship as well, including Synagogue and Mosque, and allows family emojis to include same-sex couples.To read this article
  
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• Microsoft open-sources dead, but beloved Windows Live Writer as Open Live Writer

  10-12-2015 17:43
  
  Sometimes Microsoft creates a piece of software that doesn’t necessarily catch on with the general public but still wins over a dedicated core of users. Typically these programs die a long, slow death, but one such program will live on. Microsoft recently decided to open source Windows Live Writer, the blog writing software that the company ceased developing in 2012.
  The program has been renamed Open Live Writer and you can download version 0.5 from the project’s dedicated site. The
  
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• When it comes to cloud security which is better? Heavy hand or gentle policing?

  10-12-2015 17:20
  
  When it comes to successfully managing cloud use within the enterprise, some security organizations try to establish and enforce firm lines between what is permissible and what is banned, while others try to learn what their employees are trying to achieve and help them do so more securely.
  To get a sense of what enterprises think about cloud deployments and cloud security, we recently reached out to Jim Reavis, cofounder and chief executive officer at the Cloud Security Alliance. As a nonprofi
  
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• Meet the 'world's largest capacity battery smartphone'

  10-12-2015 17:10
  
  Last month, I came across a short news article that featured a rumored Android smartphone with a 10,000mAh battery. The story caught my eye, because I'd just attended a press event for Verizon's latest DROIDs, the Turbo 2 and Maxx 2. 
  The new DROIDS were marketed as having some of the best battery life in the industry, or "up to 48 hours" of life, according to Motorola and Verizon Wireless. The DROID Turbo 2 has a 3,760mAh battery, and the MAXX 2 battery capacity is 3,630mAh.To read this a
  
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• FBI director renews push for back doors, urging vendors to change business models

  10-12-2015 17:07
  
  The FBI still wants backdoors into encrypted communications, it just doesn’t want to call them backdoors and it doesn’t want to dictate what they should look like.
  FBI Director James Comey told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he’d been in talks with unspecified tech leaders about his need to crack encrypted communications in order to track down terrorists and that these leaders understood the need.
  In order to comply, tech companies need to change their business model &nda
  
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• Verizon to test 'toll-free' sponsored data that doesn’t count against caps

  10-12-2015 16:57
  
  Verizon will soon begin testing sponsored data plans, in which Internet companies pay to keep their traffic from counting against users’ data caps.
  The tests will begin in the next few days, followed by a larger commercial rollout in the first quarter of next year, Recode reports. It’s unclear which companies will take part in these plans, which Verizon likens to toll-free calling.
  Verizon won’t be the first carrier to test this kind of scheme. In January 2014, AT&T announ
  
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• 10 hot IT job skills for 2016

  10-12-2015 16:00
  
  10 hot IT job skills for 2016Image by Thinkstock
  It's a great time to be in IT. Unemployment rates in the IT industry are hovering near historic lows and some roles - such as network and security engineers and software developers -- are showing unemployment rates at around 1 percent.Given those numbers, it's no surprise that 81 percent of IT leaders say they have difficulty finding IT talent, according to a recent TEKsystems survey.
  But even if you're not a security pro or a software developer,
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Get the best iOS apps and games of 2015 as picked by Apple

  10-12-2015 15:37
  
  Each year Apple releases a list of the best apps and games for iOS devices. The company just released its picks for 2015, and I've compiled them all here for your convenience. The list is broken into two sections: games and apps.Scroll down below to see Apple's picks and then click the link to get the app from the App Store in iTunes.Best iOS apps of 20151. The Robot Factory (App of the Year)2. HBO NowTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Get the best iOS apps and games of 2015

  10-12-2015 15:37
  
  Each year Apple releases a list of the best apps and games for iOS devices. The company just released its picks for 2015, and I've compiled them all here for your convenience. The list is broken into two sections: games and apps.
  Scroll down below to see Apple's picks and then click the link to get the app from the App Store in iTunes.
  Best iOS apps of 2015
  1. The Robot Factory (App of the Year)
  2. HBO NowTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• SHA-1 cutoff could block millions of users from encrypted websites

  10-12-2015 15:13
  Millions of Web users could be left unable to access websites over the HTTPS protocol if those websites only use digital certificates signed with the SHA-2 hashing algorithm.The warning comes from Facebook and CloudFlare as browser makers are considering an accelerated retirement of the older and increasingly vulnerable SHA-1 function.The two companies have put mechanisms in place to serve SHA-1 certificates from their websites to old browsers and operating systems that don't support SHA-2, but
  
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• Why Logitech's $150 iPad Pro keypad is better than Apple's $169 Smart Keyboard

  10-12-2015 15:03
  
  If you bought or plan to buy an iPad Pro ($799 and up), you likely want a keyboard. The obvious choices are Apple's Smart Keyboard ($169) and Logitech's Create ($150), both of which draw power from the Apple tablet's "smart connector" so they don't need to be recharged separately.I reviewed the Logitech keyboard last month, but after using it side by side with the official Apple iPad Pro keypad, I came up with a few things Apple's Smart Keyboard does better than Logitech's option,
  
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• 2016 will be a big year for health IT

  10-12-2015 14:34
  
  Policymakers are predicting that 2016 will be a big year for health IT.At an event this week hosted by the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC), administration officials and members of Congress outlined their plans to push ahead with regulations and legislation that seek to spur on the use and effectiveness of electronic health records.[ Related: Why health IT hurts more than helps…and how to change it ]In particular, officials are seeking to address the lingering challenge of interoperability,
  
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• Why Microsoft will beat Google in the enterprise cloud war

  10-12-2015 14:00
  
  As Google and Microsoft battle for enterprise cloud customers, each company's natural strengths (and weaknesses) become more apparent. Microsoft, for example, is winning over large enterprises that already have massive workforces on Office 365. Google for Work, meanwhile, continues to be popular among small-to-midsize businesses (SMBs), particularly organizations that don't have dedicated IT staffs and aren't burdened by legacy technologies that require ongoing support.The pendulum started to sl
  
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• Apple's iPad Pro deserves more than iOS provides

  10-12-2015 13:39
  
  Apple's iPad needs its own operating system to become, as CEO Tim Cook has said, "the clearest expression of our vision of the future of personal computing," some analysts argued today.
  Cook's characterization -- made in September at the roll-out of the iPad Pro -- was taken up by Jan Dawson, principal analyst at Jackdaw Research, who lobbied for a new operating system largely based on iOS as it stands today.
  "If [Cook's comment is] truly the case ... then the iPad Pro can't just borrow iOS fro
  
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• Does remote project management really work?

  10-12-2015 13:24
  
  Does remote project management work? The answer, in general, is yes, it can. Will remote project management work for your organization if you have a top-notch virtual project teams? Not necessarily.There are advantages to establishing virtual project teams for remote project management. Some may include the following:Lower project costs due to technology advancements that bridge distance
  Improved work/life balance for project team members
  Increased efficiency and decreased travel time
  increased
  
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• Android A to Z: A glossary of Android jargon and technical terms

  10-12-2015 13:00
  
  Despite its small size, your Android phone is an incredibly complicated and powerful piece of gear. It can get you online, take photos, make phone calls—it can even pay for your groceries. There’s a lot going on, which means a lot to learn, even if you’re otherwise savvy about technology.We’re here to help. Knowing these terms will help you get a better grasp on the tech that powers your phone. Bookmark this page for future reference, and if you have any other terms you t
  
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• Google's biggest hits, misses, and WTF moments of 2015

  10-12-2015 12:00
  
  For Google, 2015 was a year of transformation, as the company breathed new life into old products, got serious about some previously experimental efforts, and even announced a major restructuring. But it was also a year in which the past caught up to Google, with previously-minor nags turning into bigger headaches.Here are the highlights and lowlights of Google’s 2015.Hit: Chromecast cashes in
  Not everyone was sold on Google’s cheap streaming video dongle when it first launched in 20
  
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• 9 agile development tools for working at warp speed

  10-12-2015 12:00
  
  9 tools primed for agile development successImage by xuuxuu via pixabayAgile has not only caught fire among software development teams, but is seeing its principles and practices being applied to other parts of the business. Fueling this adoption of agile in software development and beyond is a rich landscape of tools for supporting agile processes that run the gamut from behind-the-firewall installations to SaaS-based offerings.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click he
  
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• Bang voor de hacker of voor de toezichthouder?

  10-12-2015 10:05
  De impact van cybercrime is groter geworden, niet alleen doordat digitalisering de economie afhankelijker heeft gemaakt van technologie. Wat Nederlandse organisaties minstens evenveel kopzorgen baart is de nieuwe meldplicht datalekken. Privacy-toezichthouder CBP, die een reputatie gevestigd heeft met een strenger dan... lees meer
  
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• Walmart to roll out own payment system in its stores

  10-12-2015 08:21
  
  Walmart is rolling out in its stores its own smartphone-based payment system that uses QR technology rather than the near-field communication technology, or NFC, used by the payment systems of players like Apple and Google.Integrated into its smartphone app, the new Walmart Pay will work at any checkout lane and with any major credit, debit, pre-paid or Walmart gift card, the retailer said Thursday.The service is to be introduced in select stores from this month. The retailer is planning a natio
  
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• Baidu tests autonomous car, emerging as potential rival to Google and others

  10-12-2015 06:17
  
  Baidu has indicated that it could be a serious competitor in the market for self-driving cars by testing a fully autonomous car on a route it said had mixed roads under a variety of environmental conditions.The vehicle, a modified BMW 3 Series,  is said to have made right, left and U-turns, slowing down if it detected vehicles ahead, changed lanes, passed other cars and  merged into traffic on the highway,  Baidu said Wednesday.The car reached a top speed of 100 kilometers per hou
  
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• Thinking outside the product box

  10-12-2015 02:22
  
  The dynamic nature of the cyber threat landscape guarantees that the threats and the actors behind them are always evolving, increasing in sophistication in order to circumvent the most robust security devices. As such, our cyber security mindset must evolve as well both from an understanding of what new and emerging threats we will face and the types of security solutions available that will best support the cyber security posture of our organizations and protect our most sensitive information
  
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• How Goldman Sachs and Bank of America use the cloud and containers

  10-12-2015 02:21
  
  Goldman Sachs – considered by many to be the gold standard in the financial services world – has been on a six-year journey to embrace cloud computing, which has culminated in about 85% of the company’s workloads now operating in a cloud framework, says J Ram, managing director at the bank who heads up its cloud platform business unit.As companies like Goldman Sachs and Bank of America become more comfortable operating in the cloud, there are even more changes on the horizon. O
  
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• Yahoo spinoff brings an end to a pioneering era

  10-12-2015 02:20
  
  By deciding to shed its Internet business, Yahoo is moving to take on a different business focus amid a rapidly changing online landscape.
  The move heralds the end of an era for a onetime Internet pioneer.
  "As an industry, this signifies the end of the static Web," said Patrick Moorhead, an analyst with Moor Insights & Strategy. "Yahoo popularized categories and directories, which was then replaced by search, which is being replaced by mobile. Yahoo completely missed search and entered mobi
  
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• NASA's not so keen to talk about quantum computer security

  10-12-2015 02:19
  
  The D-Wave 2X quantum computer at NASA's Advanced Supercomputing facility in Silicon Valley is an impressive machine. Engineers from NASA and Google are using it to research a whole new area of computing -- one that's years from commercialization but could revolutionize the way computers solve complex problems.
  The machine is also being used by researchers at universities, and it's hooked up to the Internet, like other NASA supercomputers made available to academics.
  Engineers who showed t
  
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• Toyota's new Prius is one of first that can talk to other cars

  10-12-2015 02:17
  
  The new version of Toyota's best-selling Prius hybrid will come with technology that allows it to talk to other vehicles and objects like traffic signals.
  It's one of the first examples of such technology being installed in a mass market car, and while it will be available initially only in Japan, the work there should help its introduction in other countries.
  It's possible in Japan thanks to the country's standardization on a single frequency for so-called "Intelligent Transportation
  
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• 20 years ago: Hot sci/tech images from 1995

  10-12-2015 01:53
  
  A look backImage by Reuters/Peter MuellerAs we wind down 2015, we thought it would be interesting to take a look at what some of the hot topics were 20 years ago. Remember Lou Gerstner of IBM trying to grab up Lotus? Do you even remember Lotus? Microsoft loved Apple too. It was an interesting time. Take a look at 1995.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• Companies scramble to fix lack of encryption on mobile apps

  10-12-2015 01:43
  
  Several companies have moved quickly to add encryption to their mobile apps after it was discovered they failied to encrypt payment card information in transit, putting users at risk.
  The apps were not using SSL/TLS (Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security), an encryption protocol that scrambles data as it's sent across the Internet, according to Wandera, a cloud and mobile security vendor.
  "With so many breaches and costly data loss incidents in the news, it's hard to believe that a
  
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• Windows 10 Mobile's first worldwide update put phones on a PC-like update path

  10-12-2015 01:30
  
  Microsoft has ended 2015 with a cosmic aligning of sorts: All Windows 10 PCs and phones have aligned around a single build.
  Microsoft released a preview build of version 10586.29 on December 4 to Windows 10 Mobile Insiders, and now all eligible Windows 10 PCs and phones can upgrade to this build directly from Microsoft. Although Microsoft has not pushed Windows 10 Mobile to existing Windows 8.1 phones yet, virtually all of its new Lumia 950 and Lumia 950XL phones have been upgraded to Wind
  
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• Why this startup is looking forward to competing with Microsoft -- its investor

  10-12-2015 01:07
  
  Microsoft jumped deeper into the enterprise mobile app development space last week with PowerApps, a service that lets ordinary businesspeople build mobile applications that draw on company data.Microsoft is entering a crowded market that's already home to products from companies like Salesforce and Intuit. Launching a new product in a competitive market isn't a first for the Redmond-based company, but there's an extra wrinkle this time around: it's in the same market as SkyGiraffe, the first st
  
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