IT Executive news

• Why IBM just lost three key executives

  08-01-2016 23:31
  
  Executives come and go at any large organization, but when the company in question is IBM -- and when it loses three high-ranking executives in a single month -- it's only natural to wonder what's going on.That, in fact, is just what apparently happened at IBM in December, when it reportedly lost Steve Mills, the 43-year company veteran who was most recently executive vice president of IBM Software and Systems, along with Danny Sabbah, its chief technology officer for cloud, and Brendan Hannigan
  
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• Lenovo open to making a HoloLens competitor

  08-01-2016 23:24
  
  Microsoft's HoloLens hasn't even hit the market yet, but the idea of Lenovo bringing out a virtual-reality headset competitor is not at all far-fetched, according to the company's chief technology officer, Peter Hortensius."We're comfortable with bringing these kinds of things to market as customer demand grows," Hortensius said in an interview with the IDG News Service.The concept of virtual reality is already becoming popular, but Hortensius is especially hot on augmented reality, in which vir
  
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• White House hopes for 'common ground' in Silicon Valley meeting

  08-01-2016 22:10
  
  The White House hopes a Friday summit between senior government officials and Silicon Valley tech leaders will find common ground on ways to work together to combat extremism and radicalization.Government officials will seek to convince tech executives that they need to heed President Barack Obama's call to action and step up to help the U.S. in its fight against militants. But some tech executives are still wary of assisting the government after former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor
  
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• Unlike Mozilla, Google anticipated SHA-1 errors caused by HTTPS traffic inspection systems

  08-01-2016 21:30
  
  Earlier this week, Mozilla was forced to backpedal on banning new SHA-1 digital certificates because the move completely cut off some Firefox users from the encrypted Web. It appears that Google saw the problem coming.Instead of banning all digital certificates signed with SHA-1 and issued after Jan. 1, Google plans to only "untrust" those that originate from public certificate authorities.This decision takes into account that some companies might still use self-generated SHA-1 certificates inte
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Why ignoring market responsiveness paves the way for Enterprise DevOps 2.0

  08-01-2016 21:12
  
  DevOps is the IT approach businesses need to meet the digital economy challenges. Incredible, a close look at how it's implemented shows that businesswise it's missing the point; its practitioners are still mired in the old IT thinking which erroneously restricts business growth to improving communication within IT, using agile methodologies and automating application deployment. Automated deployment is essential there's no question about it, yet it's a small part of the story.DevOps i
  
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• Cool tech at CES 2016

  08-01-2016 21:00
  
  CES 2016Image by Computerworld / ThinkstockCES 2016 is off to a strong start, with lots cool tech and new gadgets on display. Here is a look at some of the highlights of the show.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• MIT wearable tech gives 'power walk' a whole new meaning

  08-01-2016 20:38
  
  Today's wearable devices are often used to track exercise and fitness, but what if those very actions served to power the devices as well? That could soon be possible thanks to new research from MIT.Power has long been a limiting factor on wearables and other mobile devices, but MIT researchers announced this week that they have figured out a new way to turn small bending motions into energy.Specifically, their technology uses two thin sheets of lithium alloys as electrodes, with a layer of poro
  
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• Top 5 actions CIOs should take in 2016

  08-01-2016 20:19
  
  The beginning of the New Year is a time to reflect on the past, consider opportunities and plan for the future. As CIOs begin 2016, there is much to think about regarding their role and reach. CIOs increasingly have the opportunity to wield greater influence across their organization.Now, more than ever, the time is right to seize opportunities and solidify the CIO’s rightful spot as a strategic leader within the organization’s C-suite. The five actions below are critical to helping
  
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• Facebook and Target talk mobile and social marketing

  08-01-2016 19:48
  
  LAS VEGAS — Today's savvy marketing professionals look to the recent explosion of mobile traffic and advancements in marketing technology to help achieve serious business objectives, according to Carolyn Everson, Facebook's vice president of global marketing, and Target CMO Jeff Jones. Both executives spoke this week at CES 2016 and shared insights into consumer behavior, along with company metrics to demonstrate just how quickly the market changed.
  The shift to mobile won't happen in 201
  
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• New thumb drives pack faster speeds, capacity with USB 3.1 support

  08-01-2016 19:38
  
  It'll take less time to transfer files from a PC to a thumb drive with faster USB 3.1 devices announced at CES, which also have storage capacity touching 512GB.
  The new thumb drives plug directly into USB 3.1 ports in PCs, which are faster at file transfers than USB 3.0 drives. A 64GB flash drive is available for as little as US$34.99.New USB 3.1 thumb drives from OWC and Patriot Memory also work with the slower USB 3.0 and 2.0 ports. The USB 3.1 protocol can transfer data at 10Gbps, which is tw
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: What do digital, automation and outsourcing have in common?

  08-01-2016 19:31
  
  Digital and automation are two of the most prominent trends influencing the outsourcing industry.Below are some ideas and considerations organizations may wish to consider before placing emphasis on one versus the other:The organization’s strategy sets the direction: Having a clear understanding of the organization’s strategy and goals will directly determine the linkage between digital, automation and outsourcing. As simplistic as it sounds, a balance between these can be hard to ac
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: 3 ways to make better decisions when interpreting visual data

  08-01-2016 19:07
  
  Do you remember the first time you witnessed a magician “saw” someone in “half”? What was your reaction? It was probably “that’s impossible, it can’t be!” You then probably explained it away, saying “That must’ve been a trick cabinet” or “There were two assistants as part of that illusion!”Your eyes saw one thing, and your mind believed another. When what we see doesn’t fit our expectations of reality, our minds
  
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• Court rules Shutterfly may have violated privacy by scanning face photos

  08-01-2016 18:57
  
  A federal judge has has denied a motion to dismiss a civil case against photo-sharing site Shutterfly that claims the company violated users' privacy by collecting and scanning face geometries from uploaded images without consent.
  The first of its kind ruling could open the door to future class-action lawsuits against Shutterfly and other social networks that use facial recognition technology without an opt-in policy.
  The civil lawsuit, brought by the law firm Carey Rodriguez Milian Gonya LLP o
  
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• Antivirus software could make your company more vulnerable

  08-01-2016 18:21
  Imagine getting a call from your company's IT department telling you your workstation has been compromised and you should stop what you're doing immediately. You're stumped: You went through the company's security training and you're sure you didn't open any suspicious email attachments or click on any bad links; you know that your company has a solid patching policy and the software on your computer is up to date; you're also not the type of employee who visits non-work-related websites while
  
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• FBI, NSA seek tech firms' help in war on terror at Silicon Valley meeting

  08-01-2016 18:17
  
  It's no secret that the U.S. government wants the tech industry's help in waging its war on terror.What has been a secret, up till now, is the exact agenda of a meeting between technology executives and government officials, to be held in Silicon Valley later on Friday.The government will seek help in thwarting recruitment and countering propaganda, and measuring its success in doing so. It will also ask the industry to help law enforcers and intelligence services identify terrorists and prevent
  
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• How Ford’s approach to innovation could help Apple

  08-01-2016 17:54
  
  This is kind of a man-bites-dog story in that generally we think of the legacy auto companies as being out of touch with technology and innovation while we think of Apple as being a leader in both. It is far more common to talk about how Ford or some other car company should do what Tesla did and use Apple as a model for the future. However, this decade isn’t like last decade and currently Apple is being pounded for not innovating and building an automotive competence seemingly because the
  
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• Coolest VR images and videos from CES 2016

  08-01-2016 17:45
  
  Are we in The Matrix yet?Image by ThinkstockIn addition to the announcement that the Oculus Rift would soon be made available for consumers (this March, for $599), virtual reality gear was on full display at this year's Consumer Electronics Show. Here are a bunch of videos created by IDG editors at the show, getting to try the latest gear and expressing their happiness (or confusion) over the technology.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• Coolest cars (photos and videos) from CES 2016

  08-01-2016 16:44
  
  The smartest cars on the planetImage by CESCars have always been a big part of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), but they were usually for things like mega-bass audio systems or in-car DVD systems. With the emergence of self-driving cars and other computerized magic for in-car networking, your next car will likely be the smartest one you've ever owned. Here are a bunch of new vehicles and in-car wizardy seen at this year's CES, courtesy of IDG editors and videographers.To read this article in
  
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• Duitse zorgverzekeraar kiest voor file sharing van T-Systems en Covata

  08-01-2016 16:00
  De Duitse zorgverzekeraar Barmer GEK heeft een overeenkomst met T-Systems uitgebreid met een file sharing-oplossing van de Australische databeveiligingsspecialist Covata voor veilige uitwisseling van gevoelige gegevens. T-Systems heeft in 2014 een technisch netwerk opgezet voor een betrouwbare koppeling tussen... lees meer
  
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• Authorities dismantle criminal gang that used malware to steal cash from ATMs

  08-01-2016 15:59
  
  Law enforcement authorities from Romania and the Republic of Moldova have broken up a gang of criminals that stole 200,000 euros from ATMs in the E.U. and Russia after infecting them with a malware program.The program was first documented by researchers from antivirus vendor Kaspersky Lab in Oct. 2014 and is known as Tyupkin. It can be installed on ATMs though a bootable CD and forces the machine to dispense cash when receiving specific commands entered through the PIN pad.Romanian authorities t
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: How to keep Office 365 migration costs in check

  08-01-2016 15:07
  
  Microsoft’s Office 365 – the cloud-based version of Microsoft’s flagship productivity software solution – is growing by leaps and bounds. The enterprise adoption rate of Office 365 has nearly tripled since 2014 and some estimate the offering is now the most widely used business cloud application available – even more than Salesforce.com.With adoption rates reaching new highs, enterprises are more motivated than ever to join their peers in the Microsoft Office cloud.
  
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• The dying technologies of 2016

  08-01-2016 15:01
  
  To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die.— Ecclesiastes 3:1For many technologies, the time to die will be 2016.
  That doesn’t mean there won’t be people still using the deceased technologies. After all, at least one company is still using an Apple IIe for accounting.
  But these dying technologies are so far gone they’re not going to matter to most users and companies. For example, while Windows XP i
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: What's driving your orgazational change?

  08-01-2016 14:57
  
  Anyone who has tried to undertake a major (and even minor) change in an organization has most likely experience some roadblocks. In my experience getting upper management and other key stakeholders to understand why the change is necessary.  How many of you can identify with these responses from key management/stakeholders regarding change:1. Why change? Isn't working just fine?2. We have always done it this way so why change?3. We don't have the budget/equipment/people/(insert their excuse
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: What's driving your organizational change?

  08-01-2016 14:57
  
  Anyone who has tried to undertake a major (and even minor) change in an organization has most likely experience some roadblocks. In my experience getting upper management and other key stakeholders to understand why the change is necessary.  How many of you can identify with these responses from key management/stakeholders regarding change:
  1. Why change? Isn't working just fine?
  2. We have always done it this way so why change?
  3. We don't have the budget/equipment/people/(insert their ex
  
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• Privacy, mobile broadband top tech priorities for FTC, FCC

  08-01-2016 14:37
  
  The nation's top technology regulators provided a glimpse of the year to come this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, offering a warning about privacy and an ambitious projection for a spectrum auction to boost mobile broadband capacity.Tom Wheeler and Edith Ramirez, the respective chairs of the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission, sat for an on-stage interview with Gary Shapiro, head of the Consumer Technology Association, which puts on the annual tec
  
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• How tech giants spread open source programming love

  08-01-2016 14:18
  
  "Go is a programming language designed by Google to help solve Google's problems."  So said Rob Pike, one of the Go language's designers.That may be the case, yet the open source language is increasingly being adopted by enterprises around the world for building applications at large scale.The story is similar with Erlang. Originally a proprietary language developed by Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson for handling massive volumes of telephone switching data on its hardware, Erlan
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Robotic Process Automation – Will you be a leader or a laggard?

  08-01-2016 14:01
  
  While the decline of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and the rise of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) represent incredibly disruptive forces – upending industries, markets and, potentially, whole societies – they present powerful opportunities for forward-looking, transformative enterprises to drive long-term value.Internal business service providers and other industries are embracing RPA in order to move away from outsourcing deals and create operating models that bypass the
  
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• DDoS attack on BBC may have been biggest in history

  08-01-2016 13:45
  
  Last week's distributed denial of service attack against the BBC website may have been the largest in history.
  A group calling itself New World Hacking said that the attack reached 602Gbps. If accurate, that would put it at almost twice the size of the previous record of 334Gbps, recorded by Arbor Networks last year.
  "Some of this information still needs to be confirmed," said Paul Nicholson, director of product marketing at A10 Networks, a security vendor that helps protect companies against D
  
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• The latest, greatest, and most ridiculous health and fitness tech of CES

  08-01-2016 13:30
  Fitness watches, sensor-filled clothes, and much moreImage by ThinkstockCES is where health and fitness gadgets shine. Withings and Fitbit took steps out of their comfort zones with unexpected new products, while a slew of start-ups took to the show floor to show off crazy, weird tech that made me laugh and shake my head.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• The wild, weird, and powerful PC hardware of CES 2016

  08-01-2016 13:00
  The future of the PCPCWorld editors have spent several long, exhausting days in Las Vegas, combing the frenzied floors of CES 2016 for a glimpse of the future of computing, and we didn't walk away disappointed. But don't take our word for it; check it out for yourself. Here, all in one place, we offer the wildest and most powerful PC gear from CES 2016.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Does Apple's iPod shuffle need more than 2GB of storage?

  08-01-2016 13:00
  
  Apple's line of iPod products has taken a back seat to the iPhone, in a very big way in recent years. I can't really blame Apple for this, sales of iPod products have declined as most people opt for an iPhone instead. So the company has put its design, marketing and manufacturing efforts into the iPhone rather than the iPod products.But products like the iPod shuffle do offer an important alternative to the iPhone for some users. The iPod shuffle can be quite useful for workouts and other situat
  
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• 2017 Chevy Bolt drive: This 200-mile EV could cure my range anxiety

  08-01-2016 13:00
  
  The 2017 Chevy Bolt finally solves a big problem for EVs: Unless you were wealthy enough to afford a Tesla Model S, you were stuck with EVs whose range hit 100 miles at best. Even though most people don’t drive more than 100 miles per day, that number still gives us pause, because we want that potential even if we don’t use it. 
  But 200 miles: Even someone like me, whose weekends are filled with errands of all shapes and sizes, sometimes including long drives—I could live
  
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• Lenovo’s Project Tango smartphone coming this summer

  08-01-2016 12:55
  
  Lenovo will begin selling a sub-$500 smartphone that runs Google's Project Tango 3D mapping technology starting this summer, the company announced late Thursday at CES.
  Project Tango is an ongoing effort by Google to allow a mobile device like a smartphone to measure spaces and provide information to a user that can be useful for navigating indoor locations.Lenovo also envisions adding augmented reality apps that can be used in games or in shopping for furniture and sizing up how the furniture
  
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• Rip and replace can create security issues

  08-01-2016 12:43
  
  When IT leaders think about “rip and replace” efforts, the first thoughts that probably come to mind are about the potentially huge cost and the inevitable disruption to the business. But these massive system replacement efforts also create different security worries for the organization.
  The irony is that either the older system or the new system might be the better one from a basic security standpoint, determined in large part by how seriously the organization takes security from
  
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• How Obama's edict will resurrect smart guns

  08-01-2016 11:56
  
  For two decades, smart gun technology has advanced in fits and starts as wary investors kept purse strings tight and gun rights proponents at times fought its uptake.
  President Barack Obama's impassioned speech this week on gun control, however, could give the smart gun industry a boost; he called for smart gun R&D funding and opened up the U.S. government as a potential market for its adoption.
  Obama directed the Defense Department, the Justice Department and the Department of Homelan
  
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• Microsoft rolls out cellular data app for own SIM card

  08-01-2016 10:26
  Microsoft has rolled out on its store a new "Cellular Data" app that allows users of specific Windows 10 devices with a Microsoft SIM card to buy a data plan and connect to a nationwide mobile data network using only their Microsoft account.The company did not disclose in which markets it would sell the SIM card, though it said in information provided with the app that the service would be available in some markets and offers are for domestic plans only, with international roaming offers to be a
  
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• Lenovo, Google partner on Project Tango smartphone

  08-01-2016 04:35
  
  Lenovo is partnering with Google to develop a new smartphone that could change the way people see and understand the physical world around them.
  The smartphone, which is being developed as part of Google's Project Tango, is packed with sensors to identify and understand motion, gestures, location and objects in real and virtual worlds.
  The smartphone -- which has no name yet -- will have a screen size under 6.5 inches, and be priced under US$500. It will be available in summer this year, Lenovo
  
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• Samsung profit up 15 percent, but disappoints

  08-01-2016 04:11
  
  Samsung Electronics said Friday that its operating profit in the fourth quarter of last year was likely to be 6.1 trillion won (US$5 billion), up by 15 percent from the same quarter a year ago.The guidance is, however, lower than analysts' estimates, and far lower than the around 80 percent growth in operating profit the company reported in the third quarter, indicating that slowing growth in China and mature smartphone markets may have affected the South Korean maker.The bulk of volume and grow
  
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• Android-powered smart TVs targeted by malicious apps

  08-01-2016 03:20
  Smart TVs running older versions of Android are being targeted by several websites offering apps containing malware, according to Trend Micro.The security vendor wrote on Thursday that it found a handful of app websites targeting people in the U.S. and Canada by offering the malicious apps.The apps are exploiting a flaw in Android that dates to 2014, showing that many smart TVs do not have the latest patches."Most smart TVs today use older versions of Android, which still contain this flaw," wro
  
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• Keurig meets Blue Apron in Cooki, the robot chef you won't believe is real

  08-01-2016 03:02
  
  If you enjoy cooking, you’re gonna hate this product. It’s called Cooki, and it’s a Keurig-like machine with a robotic arm that cooks meals made from prepackaged ingredients from a delivery service, like Blue Apron or Plated.
  I saw Cooki in action, and the whole thing is a little bizarre: You slot in the ingredient pods, then select the recipe you want to cook in the corresponding Cooki app. The app then proceeds to guide the machine through each step of the cooking process. I
  
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• Consumer products at CES aren’t the half of it

  08-01-2016 03:01
  
  LAS VEGAS -- Organizers of CES boast that nearly 4,000 companies are exhibiting technology for 175,000 visitors. Of those 4,000 companies, about 1,000 work in the Internet of Things arena.
  And of those 1,000, it’s safe to say the overwhelming majority build software, microprocessors and sensors that go into final products but aren't seen by consumers. Their work goes beneath the surface of these products, including cars, ear buds that double as heart rate monitors and even Samsung’s
  
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• IEEE-USA to urge displaced workers to file complaints

  08-01-2016 03:00
  
  The IEEE-USA plans to tell its members to complain to the U.S. Department of Justice if foreign workers have replaced them. In doing so, the engineering group, which has some 200,000 members, is attempting to open up a new front over H-1B-enabled job displacement.
  The association is being prompted, indirectly, by a recent Department of Justice (DOJ) letter that raises the possibility that the offshore outsourcing business model, which relies heavily on foreign workers using temporary visas, dis
  
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• How long will consumers put up with the IoT's failures?

  08-01-2016 02:56
  
  A recurring theme undercutting the enthusiasm surrounding the Internet of Things and smart home at CES this week has been how the shortcomings of the technology could hold back the market. How long will consumers put up with products that don't work, fail to connect to the network, or put their privacy at risk?
  A panel of IoT support experts speaking at CES today explained that, while some of the better-known products, like Google's Nest thermostat, are designed with easy setup and connectivity
  
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• R2-D2 Moving Refrigerator detained on CES show floor due to immigration dispute

  08-01-2016 02:00
  
  No, the image you see above isn't R2-D2 wearing a burka. That's Haier's R2-D2 Moving Refrigerator unceremoniously draped in a full-body cover-up to keep it hidden from curious eyes at CES 2016.
  If you read our CES preview, you know I was looking forward to seeing the astromech service droid at the show. The remote-controlled R2-D2 Moving Refrigerator, first unveiled in Japan in June, is a 1:1 scale model that holds up to six 350 ml cans, emits authentic R2-D2 sound effects, comes with a 720P vi
  
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• Manthan targets the Hadoop-using masses with a tailored customer-analytics tool

  08-01-2016 01:41
  
  Talk to any marketer with massive volumes of data to analyze, and there's a good chance you'll find Hadoop running somewhere in the background. With those users in mind, Manthan on Thursday introduced what it calls the first "bolt-on" customer-analytics tool designed specifically for the popular big-data framework.Customer360 is Manthan's longstanding customer-analytics offering, and it offers an array of packaged descriptive, predictive and prescriptive analytics capabilities. Algorithms are op
  
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• LG's new Gram 15 shows big-screened laptops can be light, too

  08-01-2016 01:10
  
  Shortly after bringing its Gram line of laptops to the U.S., LG unveiled a new addition to its ultralight computer lineup with a 15.6-inch display at CES this year. 
  The Gram 15's killer feature is its weight. It comes in at 2.16 pounds -- just under a kilogram. Holding it in your hand, it feels like you're holding a computer made of air, which happens to have a big screen. The magnesium alloy case that makes this computer so light is also its biggest flaw, at first blush: The Gram 15
  
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• Inside the mobile drone command post of the future

  08-01-2016 01:05
  
  At a fraction of the cost of a helicopter, it's no surprise that public safety agencies and media companies are eyeing drones for serious work. But how to monitor and control them? The Trident is a converted Mercedes-Benz van that can act as a complete mobile command post for drones.From the outside, the drone looks much like the existing command vehicles used by law enforcement or broadcasters, thanks to two antennae on the roof.That similarity extends to the inside. Two large fl
  
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• Look for Amazon's new homegrown chips in data centers, not Fire devices

  08-01-2016 00:46
  
  Amazon's jump into the chip business won't change what's in Fire devices -- for now -- but it'll help the retailer drive more media delivery, file storage and cloud systems in homes and data centers.Annapurna Labs, an Amazon subsidiary, said it would start selling a line of ARM-based chips for hardware that handles 4K video delivery, storage, IoT, cloud and networking. The chips will be sold to makers of products for homes and data centers.The announcement surprised many, since selling chips is
  
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• The 10 most outrageous TVs of CES 2016

  08-01-2016 00:40
  A glimpse at the future of televisionLet’s be honest: Most TV buyers are looking for cheap, and rightfully so. These days, the average TV is good enough that it’s hard to justify spending thousands of dollars more on something a little better. But that doesn’t mean we can’t appreciate all the advancements TV makers are touting at CES 2016. After all, today’s high-end sets and next-gen inventions are tomorrows bargains. Here are most intriguing TVs we’ve found
  
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• Honor 5X is an Android phone made for millennials

  08-01-2016 00:07
  
  You know me: I’m always on the lookout for an Android phone with the best selfie capabilities. It’s possible I found it in the Honor 5X with its “perfect selfie” mode.
  The perfect selfie mode works wonders: it takes three shots of your face—facing forward, facing to the side, and facing downward—and then magically morphs it into the perfect version of yourself. Afterwards, you can individually adjust elements like face shape and eye brightness. From
  
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