IT Executive news

• BrandPost: Want to Take the Pain out of Business Process Discovery?

  20-01-2016 23:11
  
  As companies transform into increasingly agile and customer-centric organizations, business process optimization is more important than ever before. Unfortunately, many companies struggle with the first step: Gaining an accurate end-to-end view of their business processes.The Problem is Manual. Typically, mapping business processes is a manual effort. Consulting companies offer services to perform this, but that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Then there’s the business disruptio
  
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• What does an Oracle audit look like? This one certainly wasn't pretty

  20-01-2016 22:58
  Oracle is at least as well-known for its aggressive licensing tactics as for its namesake database technology, and a recent dispute makes it clear that that reputation isn't entirely unfounded.In September 2014 Oracle launched what it calls a "license review" of customer Mars Inc., the confectionery company. That's a common enough occurrence, but this one turned particularly ugly. After providing a whopping 233,089 pages of documentation at its own expense in its efforts over several months to s
  
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• Super-powered Wi-Fi startup gets $25 million backing from Cisco, Verizon, others

  20-01-2016 22:41
  
  Kumu Networks, a wireless startup which claims to have eliminated self-interference from Wi-Fi radios, announced today that it had raised another $25 million in venture capital funding from Cisco, Verizon, Deutsche Telekom and Swisscom.
  Founded in 2011 by a group of academics from Stanford, Kumu says that its full-duplex wireless technology allows radios to both transmit and receive on the same frequency by canceling out the self-interference noise that usually occurs when transmitting –
  
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• HP to bring VR to Chrome devices through the Web

  20-01-2016 22:17
  
  Virtual reality on Chromebooks? HP thinks it's possible.HP wants to add "blended reality" features -- including VR and 3D printing -- to laptops and desktops running the Chrome OS and operating systems other than  Windows, company executives said this week.The goal is to expand the capabilities of Chromebooks. Right now the laptops are aimed at users who do most of their computing on the Web, though some offline applications are available.HP is approaching the market for VR in a way that is
  
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• Dell's OS10 aims to open up networks, then whole data centers

  20-01-2016 21:23
  
  Dell is opening up its network operating system, one step toward a data-center OS that could help enterprises emulate cloud companies like Google and Facebook.
  Operating System 10, rolling out in stages this year, changes the company's networking foundation from a closed Dell platform to open software based on an unmodified Linux kernel. It will let enterprises add third-party networking components and use common scripting languages to develop new network capabilities.
  But beyond its usefulness
  
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• Preparing IT for the ‘gig economy’

  20-01-2016 20:25
  
  In the next 10 years, companies will regularly tap into a vast pool of independent contractors to get work done on a crowdsourced, pay-as-you-go basis, 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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• Hands on: Up in the air with two 'flying camera' drones

  20-01-2016 20:10
  
  As drones gain popularity, drone makers are looking to distinguish their devices from each other by adding features aimed at specific customers.Every generation of drones has become increasingly easier to fly, and offers more high-end features such as ultra high definition video and autonomous flight modes at lower prices. With modern drones, the technology needed to capture great photos and videos of people and scenery from a bird’s eye view is no longer the sole purview ofRC pilots and
  
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• FAQ: Microsoft mandates new Windows support rules

  20-01-2016 19:45
  
  Microsoft last week issued what it called a "clarification" of its support policy that was less an explanation of something existing and more a set of new rules that customers must follow.
  "We want to communicate transparently with our customers on what they can expect from their experience on Windows, with a focus on Windows and silicon," Terry Myerson, the Microsoft executive who runs the Windows and devices teams, said in a Jan. 15 post to a company blog. "Today we are clarifying our Windows
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Hunting for the best iPad Pro keyboard: The heavy, the pricey, and the disconnected

  20-01-2016 19:18
  
  As a tech enthusiast and journalist, I try to get my hands on new devices as soon as I can, especially if they bring something new to the table … which is how I found myself in possession of the iPad Pro.
  As much as I loved the iPad Pro (software aside), one of the things that kept it from becoming more than a Netflix consumption device was the keyboard, a component that’s critical to those who want to use it for work.
  Usually when Apple launches a new product the market is flooded
  
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• Privacy-conscious users rejoice: You can now use Facebook's Android app over Tor

  20-01-2016 19:17
  
  Facebook has added the option to route traffic from its Android mobile app over the Tor anonymity network. This will come as good news for privacy-conscious users or those living in countries where the service is censored.Users can enable the new feature, which is still experimental, from the Facebook app's settings. However, they first need to install a separate application from Google Play called Orbot that functions as a proxy for routing traffic through Tor.To read this article in full or to
  
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• Dell serves up its own disaggregated OS

  20-01-2016 18:53
  
  Dell, one of the industry’s first disaggregators, this week began an initiative to decouple its software.
  The company unveiled an operating system that separates the applications and services from the base OS platform. Called OS10, Dell plans to make it its strategic operating systems offering, extending from Dell switches to also power its servers and storage products.
  +MORE ON NETWORK WORLD: Enterprise disaggregation is inevitable+To read this article in full or to leave a comment, plea
  
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• How a hospital CIO turns patient feedback into healthy outcomes

  20-01-2016 18:50
  
  It might seem strange to compare a patient’s hospital stays to a consumer indulging in the extravagances of a four-star hotels. Yet Yale-New Haven Health System is improving its healthcare services based on real-time patient feedback, collected via tablets, about anything from the cleanliness of rooms to the friendliness of nurses.Lisa Stump, CIO of Yale-New Haven Health SystemConsumers choose hotels based on their reputations for comfort, dining and other amenities. Similarly, patients ha
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: How to listen to Web pages, books and other text on your iOS device

  20-01-2016 17:04
  
  iOS has many useful features, and some of them are almost unknown to many users. Two very neat accessibility features are Speak Screen and Speak Selection, which let you hear your iOS device read text to you.Speak Screen and Speak Selection both work with Kindle books, web pages, and any other text you want to listen to instead of read. Speak Screen lets you hear all of what's on your screen, and Speak Selection lets you listen to text that you have specifically highlighted on your screen.I must
  
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• Kaspersky and Bitdefender get top marks from independent testing firm

  20-01-2016 16:46
  Independent antivirus testing lab AV-Comparatives works hard all year testing AV suites to let consumers know what to expect from the major service providers. The Austria-based organization just released its 2015 report rating 21 major security suites for Windows, with Kaspersky Lab taking the award for product of the year.
  Kaspersky won top honors for having the best overall performance across a variety of tests such as real-time protection, file detection, and malware removal. Although Kasper
  
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• Tell Apple you want to increase your Apple Watch Exercise goal

  20-01-2016 16:29
  
  The Apple Watch Activity app is one of the most valuable features in Apple's popular smartwatch. It's not exactly scientific in its measurements of steps taken, miles traveled, calories burned, heart rate or minutes spent exercising, but it does make folks who use the app pay more attention to all of these things. And that, for most people, encourages a healthier lifestyle.
  Anyone who owns a fitness tracker, and who uses it regularly, understands that the real value of the wearables is in measu
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Luddites clobber AI, says advocate: Just wait ‘till the FDA weighs in

  20-01-2016 16:20
  
  People are scared to death of artificial intelligence and they’re getting hysterical, says the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.  A “loose coalition of scientists and luminaries” is to blame, according to the ITIF, which this week awarded this coalition its annual Luddite Award.  
  Led by the likes of Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking, these alarmists beat out advocates seeking a ban on “killer robots”; states limiting automatic license plate r
  
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• Feds seek balance between privacy and data collection

  20-01-2016 16:17
  
  Authorities at the Federal Trade Commission are working overtime to keep up with the ever-changing online privacy landscape, a fast-moving environment that is highly technical but also keys into the core consumer-protection functions of the agency.FTC officials recently hosted a day-long privacy conference that saw a parade of academics present their latest research on the ways that online companies are collecting and using their customers' personal information.FTC Chair Edith Ramirez has made n
  
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• Microsoft will recall Surface Pro power cords due to overheating fears

  20-01-2016 16:00
  The Surface Pro 4 may reign supreme but news about the original Surface Pro and its descendants is heating up. Microsoft is set to announce a voluntary recall this week for the AC power cords sold with the Surface Pro, Surface Pro 2, and Surface Pro 3.
  The cords can apparently overheat if they are “wound too tightly, twisted, or pinched for an extended period of time,” a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed to ZDNet. The company plans to release details on how Surface Pro users can get
  
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• Intel's Authenticate tech brings simple-but-powerful security to Skylake chips

  20-01-2016 16:00
  
  A PIN? A password? For some businesses, just one means of logging in isn’t enough. That’s where the new Intel Authenticate for Skylake PCs comes in.
  Intel Authenticate is a preview technology that’s built into the new sixth-generation Core chips with vPro that Intel began shipping for its business customers on Tuesday. The new “Skylake for business” chips, as some refer to them, emphasize simple-but-powerful security features that are built right into the silicon i
  
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• Serious flaw patched in Intel Driver Update Utility

  20-01-2016 15:30
  A software utility that helps users download the latest drivers for their Intel hardware components contained a vulnerability that could have allowed man-in-the-middle attackers to execute malicious code on computers.The tool, known as the Intel Driver Update Utility, can be downloaded from Intel's support website. It provides an easy way to find the latest drivers for various Intel chipsets, graphics cards, wireless cards, desktop boards, Intel NUC mini PCs or the Intel Compute Stick.The vulner
  
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• Got data? This free tool will generate a story to tell you what it means

  20-01-2016 15:05
  
  Charts and graphs may be some of the most commonly used tools for bringing data sets to life, but Narrative Science wants you to consider another one: stories.The company already helps enterprises put data-driven stories to work through its flagship Quill natural language generation platform, and on Wednesday it debuted a new option in the form of an extension designed specifically for users of visual analytics tools from business intelligence software vendor Qlik.Companies that use Qlik Sense d
  
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• Why it's so hard to find good Android tablet apps

  20-01-2016 14:00
  
  The first Android tablet was released in 2009, a year before Apple's iPad. And yet, the market for Android-tablet apps still feels like an afterthought.
  One reason why is that it's not always easy to tell if apps in the Google Play store are specifically optimized for tablet screens. The "Featured Apps for Tablets" section in Google Play helps, but only 63 apps were featured at the time this post was written — and most of them were games.'Compatible' vs. 'optimized' tablet
  
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• Google for Work much quicker to deploy than Office 365

  20-01-2016 14:00
  
  Companies that deploy Google for Work migrate to the platform at least four months faster, on average, than organizations that choose Office 365 for their collaboration needs, according to a new report from BetterCloud, a company that sells IT tools to manage both cloud suites. The average amount of time it takes to research, plan and go live with a Google for Work deployment is 11.2 months, BetterCloud found, compared to the average of 15.3 months it takes to complete the same process for Offic
  
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• 12 questions to ask marketing automation vendors (before you buy)

  20-01-2016 14:00
  
  Marketo. Eloqua. HubSpot. Pardot. Act-On. With so many marketing automation platforms and services available today, how can you determine which products best fit your needs?To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: 5 tips for getting that potential client off the fence

  20-01-2016 13:44
  
  Hi consultants and project managers. Have you ever had one of those clients who have seemingly sat on the fence so long it seems like they've taken up residence there? And by “sitting on the fence,” I mean, can't seem to decide to move forward or to decline the opportunity to work with you and take advantage of your expertise and incredible leadership skills. Never? Well, if you haven't...don't worry...your day will come.Whether you have, or have not, I'm sure you can at least imagin
  
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• 5 cloud computing predictions for 2016

  20-01-2016 13:31
  
  The salty tang in the air is the fragrance of a sea change in IT – a tidal shift that will change the role of IT and IT participants over the next five years. I believe that 2016 will go down as the year in which the future of IT appears out of a murky, dank, blinding fog into the clear sunshine of the shape of things to come. And it’s safe to say that no traditional IT practitioners – vendor and enterprise IT organization alike – will emerge unscathed from this transitio
  
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• The real cost of unused software will shock you

  20-01-2016 13:22
  
  How much is that software in the window? If it's just sitting there, a lot. According to a new study, U.S. organizations wasted $30 billion — yes, billion — on unused software over the course of a four-year study. That's the conclusion reached by 1E, which recently released its "The Real Cost of Unused Software" report. The study looked at data on about how 1,800 software titles were installed on 3.6 million desktops in 129 companies across 14 different industry sectors, all ove
  
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• 10 IT workplace predictions for 2016

  20-01-2016 12:35
  
  Attracting, retaining and engaging employees is job number 1 for employers in 2016 as the IT talent crunch intensifies. The improving economy, aggressive recruiting practices and an emphasis on workplace culture have drastically shifted the relationship between employer and employee. Experts from The Workforce Institute at Kronos Incorporated and the Staples Advantage 2015 Workplace Index weigh in on their top 10 workplace predictions for the coming year.1. The year of talentThe improved economy
  
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• How to save on mobile plans: Your guide to 17 no-contract carriers

  20-01-2016 12:30
  
  Forget everything you thought you knew about buying a mobile phone. In just the past year, we've seen more changes to the industry than there are numbers on the dial-pad. The Big Four carriers (AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless) have all but abandoned their old business models. Major phone makers like Google, Motorola and even Apple will now sell you their phones unlocked and contract-free. And don't forget the disruptors: The companies offering cheap (or even free) service and fea
  
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• Asus ZenBook UX305 review: Still the best budget ultrabook around

  20-01-2016 12:30
  
  Last year we declared the Asus ZenBook UX305 the best budget ultrabook of 2015, for delivering performance and quality that belied its price. It's no surprise Asus has barely altered the blueprint for the 2016 model.
  The most notable difference is the CPU. The previous model's Broadwell-based Core M-5Y10 is now replaced by Intel's Skylake Core m3-6Y30 chip.
  Other than that, there's little detectable difference. That means while the previous model's strengths remain, so do its weaknesses. As bef
  
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• 6 tips to improve your self-promotion skills

  20-01-2016 12:30
  
  Tips for improving your self-promotion skillsImage by ThinkstockSuccessful self-promotion is critical in today's competitive, hyper-social work world. Especially for women looking to get ahead and make their mark in IT, self-promotion is no longer just a professional advantage -- it's become a career survival skill. "Your career success depends on your ability to promote yourself correctly. Yet many people have a blatant inability to properly express their value to higher-ups and hiring managers
  
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• 5 things that top CSO candidates need on a resume

  20-01-2016 12:13
  
  If all the recent IT hiring surveys are to be believed, chief security officers can expect a pretty sweet year in 2016. Job demand is up. Salaries are way up. And neither trend is expected to slow anytime soon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• You will upgrade to Windows 10: Inside Microsoft's strong-arm upgrade tactics

  20-01-2016 12:00
  Windows 10’s deep stash of carrots lured a record-breaking numbers of users to the operating system when it launched. But now that adoption’s slowing down, Microsoft’s breaking out the sticks in its quest to shift 1 billion users to Windows 10 by July 2018.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• Technology of the Year 2016: The best hardware, software, and cloud services

  20-01-2016 12:00
  
  InfoWorld’s Technology of the Year Awards have celebrated the most important technology trends and the best IT products for 15 years now. Our awards have marked the rise of everything from 64-bit hardware to hardware virtualization, from Java servers to JavaScript servers, from XML Web services to REST APIs, and from Microsoft Word for Windows to Microsoft Word for iOS. We’ve seen a lot of changes.
  And the changes keep coming. Among this year’s winners, handpicked by InfoWorld
  
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• Memory that learns could help tomorrow's intelligent computers

  20-01-2016 12:00
  
  As researchers try to build more complex computers that get closer to emulating the way the human brain works, one of the areas of focus is memory.
  Existing chips, hard disks and tape drives are great at storing large amounts of data, but a new breed of memory chip called a memristor could go a step further: helping the artificial intelligence systems of tomorrow actually understand the data and make more use of it.
  Memristors could help computers connect the dots to identify diseases or help s
  
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• Investeringen in mobiele applicaties lonen

  20-01-2016 10:56
  Onder de 85% van bedrijven die gebruikmaken van key performance indicators (KPI’s) om het succes van een mobiele applicatie te meten, zegt driekwart een positieve return on investment (ROI) te behalen. Negen procent gebruikt andere methoden en het resterende deel meet mobiel succes niet. Daarop duidt onderzoek in... lees meer
  
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• Apple plans to set up stores in India

  20-01-2016 08:54
  
  Apple has applied to the Indian government for permission to set up a wholly-owned store operated by the company, taking advantage of changing rules for retail in India.The bid by Apple to set up a direct retail presence in India coincides with the company's move to strengthen its presence in a key market that is still seeing high growth in the smartphone market. The company's phones are currently sold through third-party retailers.Indian rules currently allow 100 percent foreign ownership in "s
  
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• Data scientists have the hottest job in America

  20-01-2016 05:59
  
  A report released today by Glassdoor says that data scientists have the best jobs in the U.S., according to that company’s analysis of its outsized database of job information.With a median base salary of $116,840, more than 1,700 job openings on Glassdoor’s site, and a user-provided career opportunities rating of 4.1, “data scientist” took the prize for most highly rated job title in America, ahead of “tax manager,” “solutions architect,” “e
  
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• Dridex banking malware adds a new trick

  20-01-2016 05:44
  Dridex, the banking malware that won't go away, has been improved upon once again.IBM's X-Force researchers have found that the latest version of Dridex uses a DNS (Domain Name System) trick to direct victims to fake banking websites.The technique, known as DNS cache poisoning, involves changing DNS settings to direct someone asking for a legitimate banking website to a fake site.DNS cache poisoning is a powerful attack. Even if a person types in the correct domain name for a bank, the fake
  
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• Microsoft plans to donate $1 billion in cloud services to nonprofits, researchers

  20-01-2016 05:25
  
  Microsoft plans to donate US$1 billion in cloud services over three years to nongovernmental organizations and researchers, in a bid to provide access to these services to communities that can't afford them.The donation by Microsoft, the size of which has been calculated at fair market value, could also bring long-term business benefits, as it would help the company win over a number of potential long-term users to its cloud platform.Among the questions being asked at the World Economic Forum at
  
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• AMD's Zen chips coming first to high-end desktops at end of 2016

  20-01-2016 04:28
  
  AMD's highly anticipated Zen processor architecture will first come to high-end desktops like gaming PCs at the end of this year.The chip maker is in conversations with PC makers to use Zen-based chips, code-named Summit Ridge, said Lisa Su, CEO of AMD, during an earnings call on Tuesday.Early next year, Zen chips will be in servers. There's no word on when Zen would be introduced in laptops.AMD has high expectations for its Zen processors. The company hopes to provide the best virtual reality a
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7 Beta now available

  20-01-2016 02:20
  Red Hat has announced the availability of Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform (JBoss EAP) 7 beta.
  JBoss EAP is part of JBoss Enterprise Middleware portfolio of software. It's Red Hat's Java EE application server that's used for building, deploying, and hosting highly-transactional Java applications and services. The beta brings containers and microservices closer to the Java EE application server, in addition to integrating the WildFly Application Server 10.
  The comprehensive list of
  
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• Oracle issues record number of patches

  20-01-2016 02:04
  
  Oracle admins will be busy: The company issued 248 patches on Tuesday, its largest-ever release, according to one security vendor.
  Five of the vulnerabilities have the highest severity rating according to the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS), wrote ERPScan, a security company that specializes in SAP and Oracle systems.
  Most of those vulnerabilities related to Java SE, Oracles's platform for running Java applications on servers and desktops.
  In a long advisory, Oracle recommended
  
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• Microsoft's Build dev con sells out in 1 minute

  20-01-2016 01:30
  
  Microsoft today sold out its Build developers conference in about a minute, the company said.
  "Last year we sold out in 20 minutes and in 1 minute this year. Sorry for everyone can't attend in person," tweeted Steven Guggenheimer, the executive who leads Microsoft's developer evangelism group.
  Ticket sales opened today at 9 a.m. PT (noon ET), with prices $100 higher, a 5% increase, than in recent years.
  The almost-instant sell-out was the fastest in Build's history. Microsoft exhausted its tick
  
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• Trump unleashes his anger about Apple and tech

  20-01-2016 01:29
  
  Donald Trump is not anti-technology, but seems unimpressed by the U.S. tech industry. He doesn't fawn over it, and sees its behavior as part of a larger problem. As a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, Trump quickly proposed restricting the use of H-1B visas to protect U.S. jobs, and by doing so attacked a top legislative priority for the tech industry.
  He is now taking aim at one of tech's most successful companies, Apple, for its overseas manufacturing.
  Trump's attack on Ap
  
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• For retailers, e-commerce alone won't make the sale

  20-01-2016 01:27
  
  NEW YORK -- Two or three years ago, major companies at the National Retail Federation were focused on building out their e-commerce sites.
  Their money went into e-commerce. Their meetings were all about e-commerce. Online was king.
  This week, though, retailers like Disney, Under Armour and Nike all said they no longer focus on online sales.
  Today, retailers need to focus on creating a customer experience that crosses channel borders, linking mobile with brick-and-mortar stores and websites.To r
  
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• British voice encryption protocol has massive weakness, researcher says

  20-01-2016 00:59
  
  A protocol designed and promoted by the British government for encrypting voice calls has a by-design weakness built into it that could allow for mass surveillance, according to a University College London researcher.Steven Murdoch, who works in the university's Information Security Research Group, analyzed a protocol developed by CESG, which is part of the spy agency GCHQ.The MIKEY-SAKKE (Multimedia Internet KEYing-Sakai-KasaharaKey Encryption) protocol calls for a master decryption key to be h
  
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