IT Executive news

• Google dives into virtual reality with new division and new boss

  13-01-2016 22:04
  
  Alphabet Inc.'s Google is focusing on virtual reality and moving the head of its product management team to run the new effort.
  Clay Bavor, the vice president of product at Google since 2005, has taken on the title of vice president of virtual reality, according to Bavor's Twitter profile.
  Bavor is no stranger to taking on big jobs at Google. As a top player in product management, he helped lead some of the company's most well-known apps, including Gmail, Google Docs and Google Drive.To read th
  
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• Obama expected to launch program to spur on self-driving cars

  13-01-2016 22:02
  
  The Obama administration is expected to announce new efforts to accelerate the development of self-driving cars, according to several published reports.
  Mark Rosekind, head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, told reporters that Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx will announce the self-driving car efforts in Detroit.
  There are no federal laws governing driverless cars on U.S. roadways. States such as California and Texas have drafted rules on how autonomous vehicles can be
  
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• Google's driverless cars still need a human driver

  13-01-2016 21:49
  
  Google's self-driving cars still need, well, a driver.
  The company released a report in accordance with regulations from the California Department of Motor Vehicles for autonomous vehicles. In the report, Google noted that from Sept. 24, 2014 to Nov. 30, 2015, test drivers in Google's fleet of self-driving cars had to take control from the autonomous system 341 times.
  Of those disengagements, 272 were because of detected technology failures.
  More critically, Google reported 69 incidents where "
  
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• Security pros worried about stolen credentials, alert volumes

  13-01-2016 21:41
  
  The majority of security organizations received more alerts than they can handle and don't have a way to spot stolen credentials, according to a survey released today.
  According to the report, 62 percent of organizations get too many alerts, and that's just from SIEM systems.
  The majority of respondents, or 54 percent, said their teams were only able to investigate 10 or fewer alerts per day, partly due to how long these investigations take.
  "A lot of incident-handling workflows were developed
  
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• Microsoft buys technology from Event Zero to improve Skype for Business

  13-01-2016 21:20
  Microsoft has acquired some technology assets from Australian company Event Zero to improve the management capabilities of its Skype for Business VoIP product. Terms of the deal, announced Wednesday, weren't disclosed.According to a Microsoft blog post, Event Zero's UC Commander technology will be used to add diagnostics and troubleshooting capabilities to the Skype for Business management console, so that administrators can better support their users. Microsoft also plans to add more analy
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: OwnCloud founder sells openDesktop.org

  13-01-2016 21:18
  
  As those in the Linux and open source communities know well, long before Apple's App Store appeared on the scene, openDesktop.org offered applications, tools, wallpapers, sounds, icons, themes and other artwork and stuff for the Linux desktop.
  openDesktop.org was started ownCloud founder Frank Karlitschek, and yesterday I learned that he has sold the network of sites. I interviewed Frank over Google Hangouts about the sale of openDesktop.org; following is an edited version of that interview.Als
  
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• This is how much spear phishing costs companies

  13-01-2016 21:09
  
  New research from messaging security provider Cloudmark and technology research company Vanson Bourne provides new insight into IT professionals' views and experiences with spear phishing attacks, as well as the security and financial impact of these attacks on their organizations.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• Industry group certifies five new manufacturers of DOCSIS 3.1 modems

  13-01-2016 21:05
  
  The DOCSIS 3.1 cable Internet standard just moved a little bit closer to American homes, with the news today that industry research group CableLabs has certified five new manufacturers of DOCSIS 3.1 modems.
  Askey, Castlenet, Netgear, Technicolor and Ubee Interactive were all approved by CableLabs to manufacture DOCSIS 3.1 hardware, the group said in its announcement, which was issued less than a month after Comcast successfully tested a modem using the new technology in a consumer environment.
  
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• Smartwatches, even Apple's, still looking for mass market

  13-01-2016 20:36
  
  Smartwatches are still a product in search of a mass market. Vendors, even market leader Apple, are hoping to reach a larger audience following disappointing sales in 2015, leading them to disparate directions in the latest designs.
  On the one hand, "shrink it and pink it" was the design mandate at the CES 2016 trade show last week for some vendors which hope to attract women to pick up a smartwatch in a market heavily dominated by male buyers. On the other hand, there is also a robust interest
  
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• Microsoft resumes Windows 10 Insider builds with beta sans visible changes

  13-01-2016 20:35
  
  Microsoft today resumed delivery of Windows 10 previews to its Insider program participants after taking a four-week break.
  The new preview, designated build 11099, was offered to beta testers who have selected the "Fast" ring, or delivery track.
  As with its predecessor -- which appeared Dec. 16 -- build 11099 has no major new features or visible changes. "Our focus through the holidays was on structural improvements to OneCore, which is the shared core of Windows across devices," wrote Gabriel
  
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• The threat of shoulder surfing should not be underestimated

  13-01-2016 20:22
  
  Author note: This article does not intend to personally criticize the author in question. However, it will criticize the ideas and beliefs expressed in the column. It is also important to note that there is frequent use of the word, ignorant, in this article, which is defined as unknowing. I believe the lack of understanding on the subject expressed in the column in question serves as a great lesson in the need for awareness on many physical security concerns, as well as the history of hacking.
  
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• Majority of workers can't (or won't) unplug during vacation travel

  13-01-2016 20:13
  
  Today's tech-savvy travelers refuse to go anywhere without their mobile devices. In fact, the majority of them think their smartphone is the single most important travel tool, making it even more essential than their driver's licenses, according to a new survey from travel service Expedia and its business-focused brand Egencia.The Expedia/Egencia Mobile Index findings are based on responses from 9,642 adult travelers, from 19 different countries, who own at least one mobile device. Expedia commi
  
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• The world's first 13TB SSD is here

  13-01-2016 20:10
  If you have around US$13,000 to spare, the world's first 13TB solid-state drive could be yours.Fixstars on Wednesday announced the mammoth SSD-13000M, which will ship by the end of February. SSDs today have no more than 6TB of storage, and the 13TB drive more than doubles that capacity.An official price hasn't been determined by Fixstars. But a rough estimated selling price is around $1 per gigabyte, or $13,000, said Shien Zhu, a spokesman for Fixstars.The pricing could fluctuate, but not by muc
  
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• Outlook for iOS and Android gets Skype call scheduling

  13-01-2016 20:01
  
  Outlook users who need to cook up a video conference will have an easier time with new updates Microsoft announced for the app on iOS and Android.The updates, which are rolling out today, let users tap a Skype call toggle inside the app's event creation screen, which will automatically generate a link to a video conference for invitees. When the time comes, people who are supposed to participate just need to tap on the Skype link, and the video chat app will open up on their devices.For those pe
  
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• Microsoft releases its first Windows 10 beta build of the year

  13-01-2016 19:48
  
  Members of the Windows Insider Program got their first new beta build of Microsoft's operating system for 2016, and it's a snoozer when it comes to user-facing features.The new build features improvements to OneCore, the underlying shared core of Windows that's on all the devices running Windows 10 including Xbox One, smartphones and even Microsoft's HoloLens.According to Microsoft Vice President Gabe Aul, the structural changes to OneCore are almost at the point where Microsoft is comfortable l
  
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• Faulty ransomware renders files unrecoverable, even by the attacker

  13-01-2016 18:53
  A cybercriminal has built a ransomware program based on proof-of-concept code released online, but messed up the implementation, resulting in victims' files being completely unrecoverable.Researchers from antivirus vendor Trend Micro recently spotted a new file-encrypting ransomware program distributed as a Flash Player update through a compromised website in Paraguay.After they analyzed the program's code, they realized that it was a modification of a proof-of-concept file encryptor application
  
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• Seagate inhales, uses helium to create 10TB HDD

  13-01-2016 18:38
  
  Seagate today announced its first use of helium in a hard disk drive (HDD), making it the company's highest capacity drive to date with 10TB of storage space.
  The new Enterprise Capacity 3.5-in. HDD is being targeted for use in cloud-based data centers. The HDD contains seven platters and 14 read/write heads. It uses a hermetically sealed case and helium to create a turbulence-free interior, which decreases friction on the platters.
  By using helium, Seagate was able to increase disk density by
  
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• Why Apple might want to buy HBO from Time Warner

  13-01-2016 17:54
  Apple has big plans for TV that don’t stop with a redesigned version of its set-top box and an App Store just for TV apps. While Cupertino has given up on creating its own television, leaving that to established players like Samsung and LG, the company is reportedly hard at work developing a streaming TV service that could kill cable. But instead of starting from scratch with its own streaming package, rumor has it Apple is eyeing Time Warner’s assets—not to partner with, but
  
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• 9 Linux distros to watch in 2016

  13-01-2016 17:45
  
  New year, new listImage by Public DomainLast year, right about this time, I listed my top Linux distributions to watch during 2015. Not which ones would be the best. Nor which would be the worst. Simply which ones I believed would be the most interesting, the most fascinating, to watch over the course of the year. I’ve done so again this year. Because it sounded like fun and I wanted to. Enjoy.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• US patent grants slow in wake of Supreme Court business methods ruling

  13-01-2016 17:43
  There are some big changes in the patent landscape hiding behind a small drop in the number of utility patents granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office last year.The 1 percent decline in utility patent grants -- the first since 2007 -- follows three successive years of more than 8 percent growth, according to analysis by IFI Claims Patent Services.Grants to IT companies have driven growth in recent years but even IBM, which has topped the patent rankings for 23 years, received fewer grant
  
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• Cisco’s new monitoring tool sniffs out shadow cloud use

  13-01-2016 17:23
  
  Cisco today announced a new monitoring tool named Cloud Consumption as a Service that collects network traffic information and presents IT officials with a peek into any use of public-cloud based services within a company.
  The service is meant in part to help sniff out the use of “shadow cloud” services – those that are not authorized by IT. Knowing which cloud providers are being used within an organization can help reduce the risk that sensitive information is being exposed
  
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• Looking to the future: 5 new ideas from CES 2016

  13-01-2016 17:01
  
  Innovations at CESImage by ThinkstockMost of the vendors who exhibited at the CES trade show this year were showing off consumer products and technologies that are on the market or about to be. However, a number of smaller, often overlooked companieswere exhibiting devices (and their underlying technology) that are are still in development -- or just beginning to show their potential.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• U.S. patent numbers decline; IBM retains top spot in IFI ranking

  13-01-2016 16:38
  
  The number of U.S. patents granted declined for the first time since 2007, ending a seven-year run of increases.
  According to IFI Claims Patent Services, there were 298,407 utility patents granted during the 2015 calendar year. That represents a decrease of almost 1% compared to 2014, when patent grants hit 300,674 and surpassed the 300,000 threshold for the first time. IFI, which specializes in patent analysis, tracks utility patents from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and
  
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• How to profit from your company's 'data streams'

  13-01-2016 16:11
  
  Companies could create new, revenue-generating services from the "data streams" they produce, but it requires a data-savvy culture and new skills, according to research supported by the Society for Information Management’s Advanced Practices Council.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• Are we clear? Writing well can be key to your career

  13-01-2016 15:38
  
  As students, most of us probably wished we had fewer papers to write. Wasn’t there a more efficient way to demonstrate that we had learned the things we needed to learn?To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Will Apple add a dark mode to iOS 9?

  13-01-2016 15:36
  
  Apple recently released the first beta of iOS 9.3, and Night Shift is one of its standout features. Night Shift changes the color tint of your iOS device's screen depending on the time of day. At night it will use a warmer color with much less blue. While this is a step in the right direction, iOS still lacks a true dark mode.A dark mode (or night mode as it is called in the app) screenshot of the Narwhal app for Reddit. iOS needs a similar system wide version of dark mode for eye comfort and ea
  
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• What Intel's new sixth-gen 'Skylake' chips mean for PC users

  13-01-2016 14:38
  
  Wouldn't it be cool if you could watch two, or even three, full-length movies on your laptop during a long flight without worrying about running out of battery? What if your laptop could display graphics well enough to play the most resource-intensive online games while you're on the go?Thanks to the latest crop of Windows laptops, powered by a new generation of Intel processors, both scenarios are now possible. The new Intel chips, called "sixth generation" processors, significantly increa
  
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• How secure are wearables, anyway?

  13-01-2016 13:49
  
  Congratulations on getting that new wearable device over the holidays. You're on your way to a new, trackable, data-filled life. Or you’re about to be hacked. "Every digital technology, as its use has expanded, has drawn attention from hackers and criminals," says Stephen Cobb of ESET. "So if wearables get to the point where criminals can see a way to exploit them for gain, they will try to do that." In his role as senior security researcher at ESET, Cobb says he hasn't seen
  
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• Microsoft: Upgrade to IE11 even if you dump our browser

  13-01-2016 13:05
  
  Users of the Internet Explorer (IE) browser should update to the newest edition for their operating system -- in most cases, that means IE11 -- even if they've discarded the browser for a rival, Microsoft said.
  On Tuesday, Microsoft served up the final security updates for most users of editions prior to IE11, making good on a pledge that it would pull the patch plug on its older browsers.
  In August 2014, Microsoft abruptly announced that support for IE9 would continue after Jan. 12, 2016, only
  
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• 15 big data and analytics companies to watch

  13-01-2016 13:00
  
  Making sense of dataJust as practically every startup these days claims to be a cloud company or an IoT company, they’re all big data and analytics firms, too. Well, not really, but they at least toss the hot terms into their company descriptions. We’ve tried to pull out the real big data and analytics companies to highlight them here, listed alphabetically. Most focus on helping companies make sense of their oodles of data, sometimes for customer service, sometimes for IT purposes a
  
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• 10 reasons to encourage workplace distractions

  13-01-2016 12:55
  
  Reasons to encourage workplace distractionsWhy IT leadership shouldn't be that concerned about workplace distractionsIn today's digital world, face-to-face interactions often take a backseat to texts, messaging and app-enabled communication (think Slack or Hipchat). But encouraging employees to make small talk, chat around the water cooler or in the break room, and swap celebrity gossip over their cubicle walls can actually benefit your business. Here's how.1. It strengthens cultureWithout a str
  
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• Alternative education can help close IT skills gap

  13-01-2016 12:42
  
  There's a huge need for affordable, accessible IT education and training options to help IT workers and job seekers keep up with ever-changing skills demands. While bootcamps, MOOCs, certificates and nanodegrees won't take the place of a college education, they can play an important role for organizations looking to stem the widening IT skills gap.Honing in on emerging skills"That's the major issue in IT today -- companies need people with these new and emerging skills, like data science and UX,
  
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• SDN pioneers gain visibility, control over bandwidth

  13-01-2016 12:30
  
  Public school teachers in Enfield, Conn., are active grant-getters. But while the technologies they bring into the classroom from those grants, such as lab carts with Apple iPads, are beneficial to students, they can also wreak havoc on network resources.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• Take an inside look at the new Apple Museum in Prague

  13-01-2016 12:08
  Apple fanboys and fangirls, behold!Image by MobileMania.czThanks to our friends at MobileMania.cz, we got a special look inside the new Apple Museum that just opened in Prague.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• Review: Joyent Cloud runs closer to the metal

  13-01-2016 12:00
  
  The world of cloud computing is dominated by Tyrannosaurus Rex-sized corporations like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft, big companies that have used their prowess and might to build giant data centers full of racks and racks of machines. Then there’s Joyent, a small but nimble competitor that might be called mammal-sized, if only for the sake of a metaphor. It deserves notice for shaking up the cloud marketplace with clever mods of the operating system layer that are producing great results
  
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• Clouds en compliance – zo gaat het samen

  13-01-2016 10:05
  Door Edwin Schouten – Bedrijven profiteren graag van de mogelijkheden van cloudtechnologie. Lagere kosten en meer flexibiliteit, wie wil dat nu niet? Maar risico’s als dataveiligheid en compliance blijven bestaan, vooral bij de publieke clouds.Het is altijd zinvol om op continue basis de mogelijkheden... lees meer
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Dronecode project announces working groups, new members

  13-01-2016 02:31
  
  Drones are becoming extremely popular – in both the consumer and business space. Soon we will have companies like Amazon and DHL making deliveries through drones. And Linux will be playing a very important role in our skies.
  Dronecode, the Linux Foundation Collaborative project that is working on developing an open source platform for drones, today formed three technical working groups. These groups include:
  MAVlink Camera Working Group: To assist camera manufacturers in implementing the
  
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• EFF says Cisco shouldn't get off the hook for torture in China

  13-01-2016 02:08
  Cisco Systems built a security system for the Chinese government knowing it would be used to track and persecute members of the Falun Gong religious minority, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation technology rights group.Falun Gong practitioners alleged the same thing in a lawsuit that a federal judge in Northern California dismissed in 2014. That case is being appealed, and on Monday the EFF, Privacy International and free-speech group Article 19 filed a brief that supports the appeal
  
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• Tesla CEO Elon Musk on the Apple Car: ‘It will expand the industry’

  13-01-2016 02:02
  It’d be normal for car company execs to feel a tad threatened by the much-rumored Apple Car, but Tesla CEO Elon Musk is not one of those people. In fact he sounds happy to see Apple entering the electric car market.
  “It will expand the industry,” Musk told the BBC this week, before reaffirming his own company’s goals. “Tesla will still aspire to make the most compelling electric vehicles, and that would be our goal, while at the same time helping other compani
  
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• HackerRank Jobs mobile app values skills tests over resumes

  13-01-2016 02:01
  
  Engineering talent recruiter HackerRank is looking to change how software developers apply for jobs.With its HackerRank Jobs mobile app debuting today, HackerRank plans to bring developers together with potential employers based on software development skills rather than resumes alone.[ Navigate the modern hiring landscape with InfoWorld's special report, "The care and feeding of a rockstar developer." | Keep up with hot topics in programming with InfoWorld's Application Development newsletter.
  
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• Google I/O 2016 event dates and location revealed

  13-01-2016 02:00
  
  The word has come from the top: Google CEO Sundar Pichai says the company's annually sold-out Google I/O conference will take place on May 18-20 in Mountain View.
  MORE: Google Graveyard -- What the company killed in 2015
  Pichai tweeted out the news Tuesday, noting that the event will take place in the "neighborhood where it all started 10 ys ago: Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View." Details about conference sessions, ticket sales, etc., have not been updated yet on the Google I/O website.T
  
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• Google details its vision for the IoT

  13-01-2016 01:59
  
  At its Ubiquity IoT Developer Summit yesterday, Google presented a complete vision of the Internet of Things that consists of open source code and designs that are ready for prototype and pilot projects.
  Google's version of IoT standards, open source frameworks, and cloud services are compelling, but puts it in a highly competitive market. However, Google's long-term R&D investments in machine learning, cloud, and geo-location technologies uniquely differentiate its vision.Machine learning
  
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• Apple reveals more than 100 car models that support CarPlay

  13-01-2016 01:59
  
  Apple today released a complete list of car models that now natively support the use of its CarPlay iPhone mirroring interface.
  Apple's list of CarPlay-enabled vehicles includes over a hundred 2016 and 2017 models from 21 auto manufacturers, including Audi, Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Citroën, DS Automobiles, Ferrari, Ford, GMC, Honda, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, Opel, Porsche, Peugeot, Seat, Škoda, Suzuki, Volkswagen and Volvo.
  CarPlay allows users to replicate their iPhone
  
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• Android malware steals one-time passcodes

  13-01-2016 01:48
  
  One-time passcodes, a crucial defense for online banking applications, are being intercepted by a malware program for Android, according to new research from Symantec.The malware, called Android.Bankosy, has been updated to intercept the codes, which are part of so-called two-factor authentication systems.Many online banking applications require a login and password plus a time-sensitive code in order to gain access. The one-time passcode is sent over SMS but also can be delivered via an automat
  
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