IT Executive news

• Modular cellphone kit can be used for IoT and wearables

  05-02-2016 22:43
  
  You can assemble a rudimentary 2G cell-phone at home with the RePhone Kit Create, which can also be used to make wearables and IoT devices.The kit from Seeed Studios ships with separate modules that can pieced together to create a 2G phone with a 1.54-inch LCD screen. Icons on the display can be used to make phone calls or send text messages.There's more to RePhone than being a fun device. The kit also is a small development board to make wearable and IoT devices with cellular communication capa
  
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• Mozilla sets kill date for Firefox OS on phones

  05-02-2016 21:38
  
  In a follow-up to a December announcement that it would halt development of Firefox OS, Mozilla yesterday spelled out when it plans to shut down the mobile operating system.
  Firefox OS for smartphones will be retired once Mozilla wraps up version 2.6, George Roter, who leads Mozilla's Participation Lab, said in a long message posted to the company's website.
  Firefox OS 2.6 is currently slated for a May 30 release.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• Samsung display on truck's rear lets vehicles behind see road ahead

  05-02-2016 21:12
  
  Samsung this week officially launched its first prototype of a semi-trailer truck with a large, high-definition display on the back so vehicles behind can see the road ahead, even at night.
  The technology was deployed as a way to make single-lane highways or roads safer by allowing vehicles following trucks to know when it's safe to pass.
  The Samsung Safety Truck uses two built-in front-facing cameras and a specially designed transportation software platform to capture and transmit a picture of
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Role of DevOps in modern IT infrastructure, an interview with SaltStack CTO Thomas Hatch

  05-02-2016 21:06
  
  As ‘everything as a service’ is becoming a common practice in modern IT infrastructure, it’s increasingly important to orchestrate and automate the building blocks of infrastructure, including change management. That's where DevOps tools like the open source systems and configuration management SaltStack comes in.
  I visited the SaltStack booth at SCaLE 14x, where they've been a sponsor since 2012. In a separate conversation with Christer Edwards, a sysadmin at Adobe, he told m
  
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• Now that AI has mastered 'Go,' are all our jobs next?

  05-02-2016 21:01
  
  There was once a time when no one thought computers could master chess; then, in 1997, IBM's Deep Blue beat chess champion Garry Kasparov. The bar then moved to the ancient Chinese game of Go -- until Europe's reigning human champion fell to Google's AlphaGo system late last year.One by one, artificial intelligence has overcome the obstacles set before it. Is this all part of an inevitable trend leading to humanity's obsolescence -- or, at least, unemployment?To read this article in full or to l
  
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• You're so vein: Samsung files a patent for a vein-scanning smartwatch

  05-02-2016 20:37
  
  Who doesn’t love a good Samsung patent filing? This time, Samsung’s flirting with the idea of a smartwatch that can recognize you by your veins.
  That sounds crazy, right? Apparently, it’s totally plausible. Originally discovered by Fast Company, the patent filing describes technology that works similarly to a fingerprint scanner in a smartphone. Only instead of your fingertip, the watch takes a picture of your “vein structure and characteristics,” and stores that i
  
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• Disconnect between CIOs and LOB managers weakens data quality

  05-02-2016 20:35
  
  Having inaccurate or incomplete data is bad for business. Yet substandard data quality is a staple of many organizations, largely because of a disconnect between CIOs and line of business managers, according to a 451 Research survey of 200 senior IT and business leaders from large enterprises. The research bolsters the case for a chief data officer (CDO), a C-suite executive who can both serve as a liaison between CIOs and business managers and boost data quality.Only 40 percent of C-level execu
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Watch out Apple: Android watches can now make calls, get smarter voice commands

  05-02-2016 20:32
  
  Google is bringing some exciting new features to Android Wear, the most notable of which is the ability to take and make phone calls when tethered with a phone. And, in addition to making calls, users can also listen to audio/video messages with apps like Glide.
  (The bad news is that you need a built in speaker in your watch to be able to do so and while some of the upcoming Android Wear devices, including the Huawei Watch and the ASUS ZenWatch 2, have speakers, the existing range of Android We
  
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• Make a $40 Linux or Android PC with new Raspberry Pi 2 rival

  05-02-2016 19:25
  
  If you want to build a powerful $40 Linux or Android PC with 4K video support, consider Hardkernel's Odroid-C2 computer.The developer board is an uncased computer like the popular Raspberry Pi 2, which sells for $35. But South Korea-based Hardkernel claims Odroid-C2 has more horsepower than its popular rival and can be a desktop replacement.The popularity of single-board computers has grown with more people developing robots, wearables, drones and other devices. Few boards have been designed to
  
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• Review: The Huawei Honor 5X -- a lot for a low price

  05-02-2016 19:19
  
  Not everyone drives a Lexus. Lots of people drive less luxurious cars such as a Kia Sportage and are very happy to do so. Along the same lines, not everyone wants/needs/can afford the iPhone 6S Plus or the HTC One M9. Something less expensive that handles the basics will do just fine. And if it does a little more than that? Well, even better.
  That's where the Huawei Honor 5X fits in. It's a slightly underpowered large-format unlocked Android phone that carries some surprisingly sophisticated fe
  
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• Can IBM redefine the future of email?

  05-02-2016 18:53
  
  I was in the middle of the great email battle between Microsoft and IBM [Disclosure: Microsoft and IBM are clients of the author] in the 1990s and there really wasn’t much competition. Microsoft had Exchange, which had its greatest power in its focus on users. IBM bought Lotus to get Notes, which had stronger administration tools and a far better focus on collaboration, but sucked at email. In the end, Microsoft dominated, massively, and Exchange is the recognized standard for business ema
  
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• Microsoft uses the force: You WILL upgrade to Windows 10

  05-02-2016 18:24
  
  I like Windows 10, but I prefer Windows 7. Is that a sin?
  Microsoft thinks so.
  Microsoft Chief Marketing Officer Chris Capossela recently said that if you choose to keep using Windows 7, you do so “at your own risk, at your own peril.”
  Why? Because “We worry, when people are running an operating system that’s 10 years old, that the next printer they buy isn’t going to work well, or they buy a new game, they buy Fallout 4, a very popular game, and it doesn’t w
  
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• Apple might relax its iPhone trade-in rules to accept phones with cracked screens

  05-02-2016 17:59
  
  If you’ve ever cracked your iPhone screen, broken its camera, or damaged its buttons, you know that Apple doesn’t accept those banged-up devices as part of its iPhone trade-in program, which gives you credit to use toward the purchase of a new iPhone. But the company is reportedly softening its stance and will soon start accepting trade-ins of broken iPhone 5s, 6, and 6 Plus units.
  So what’s with Apple’s change of heart? According to 9to5Mac, if people can trade in their
  
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• Internet Archive's malware museum takes you back to the days of cheeky viruses

  05-02-2016 16:21
  Before there were botnets, the MyDoom worm, and Stuxnet, malware that hit your DOS personal computer was of a completely different breed. Some were simply annoying, some would corrupt files or mess with your system, but they all did it with style.
  Now you can relive the magic of malware from the 1980s and 1990s courtesy of the Internet Archive’s brand new Malware Museum. Here, through the safety of an in-browser DOS simulator, you can relive some of the highlights of malware from yesterye
  
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• Assessing the U.S. power grid after Ukraine

  05-02-2016 16:19
  
  It finally happened. The power grid went down, affecting hundreds of thousands of people, and the cause was at least in part computer malware. Some people had been warning about this for years.Maybe you didn’t hear about it. The outage occurred in Ukraine, after all. But even though the incident didn’t get a lot of attention here, it’s still significant. And now that I’ve called your attention to it, you might be wondering how this could have happened. Aren’t our po
  
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• This $16 app turns your iPad Pro into a PC or Mac monitor

  05-02-2016 16:06
  
  I may be a journalist, but my desk looks like it belongs to a stock trader. My 27-inch iMac has two external Dell monitors, one 19 inches and one 24 inches. And thanks to the Duet Display app, I sometimes add a fourth screen: my 12.9-inch iPad Pro.Duet Display is a $16 iOS app that turns any iPhone or iPad into an external monitor for Windows or Mac computers, and it works in both extended desktop and mirror modes.Here are five good reasons why the app is worth the slightly steep price
  
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• Why AT&T's attempt to kill municipal broadband in Tenn. matters to all Americans

  05-02-2016 15:22
  
  Chattanooga, Tenn., is more than 2,400 miles from Silicon Valley, but residents of the Southern city have access to broadband that's 50 times faster than the majority of Internet connections in technology's capital. Why, you ask? Chattanooga's municipally owned electric utility, EPB, provides its broadband Internet.
  Chattanooga's neighbors would like to set up a similar arrangement, but AT&T, which delivers much slower broadband in the area — when it delivers at all —&
  
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• How to fix a broken CRM pipeline

  05-02-2016 14:45
  
  For a company’s executive management and all members of the sales team, a CRM system proves its value by improving the quality of the sales pipeline and the efficiency of closing those deals. Sure, a CRM’s contact and account information are valuable to management — but those pale in comparison to the value of deals that will (or won’t) make the quarter. If a CRM system helps win just one more deal every quarter, it more than pays for itself.Unfortunately, too many sales
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Is the iPad Pro really a good replacement for a Mac?

  05-02-2016 14:00
  
  The iPad Pro has been out for a while now, and the big question for many users is whether or not it can replace their Macbook laptops. And some users have even wondered if it could replace an iMac desktop computer.Apple has certainly been touting the iPad Pro as an alternative to Macs but is it really a viable option?Tim Bajarin at Techpinions has a recent post where he talks about the iPad Pro versus Microsoft's Surface. The part of the post that interests me talks about the iPad Pro, and Tim c
  
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• 11 carry-on bags for today's tech-savvy traveler

  05-02-2016 14:00
  
  Best carry-ons for techie road warriorsImage by ThinkstockYou pack just one bag, a wheeled carry-on, for a short business trip. It includes your laptop, tablet, smartphone, two days' worth of clothes and toiletries. But when you arrive at the airport gate, you're forced to check the carry-on.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• Frans onderzoeksinstituut investeert in petaflop supercomputer

  05-02-2016 13:34
  Het Franse Commissariaat voor Alternatieve en Atoom Energie (CEA) en haar partners van het Centre for Computing Research en Technology (CCRT) hebben na een Europese aanbesteding gekozen voor aanschaf van een petaflop supercomputer van ~1.4 Pflops ontworpen door Bull, het technologiemerk van Atos. De... lees meer
  
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• How the economy affects career confidence in the world’s millennials

  05-02-2016 13:32
  
  Young people in developed economies are significantly more pessimistic about their job prospects and less assured in their technology aptitude than their counterparts in emerging economies, according to research commissioned by IT outsourcing provider Infosys.[ Related: 5 things we know about millennials in 2015 ]The study, conducted by independent research agency Future Foundation, polled 9,000 young people (between the ages of 16 and 25) in Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Sou
  
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• Fed up with bogus computer support calls, man turns tables on scammers

  05-02-2016 13:05
  
  Seth was weary of the calls from bogus Windows support technicians, and decided to, if not get even, at least give them a taste of their own medicine.
  "I was really tired [of the calls], and I really hate computer scammers," said Seth, whose last name Computerworld withheld for privacy reasons. "I got fed up."
  Like millions of others, Seth had been on the receiving end of scammers' phone calls, who rang up and told him that they were with "Microsoft support" or "Windows support," then proceeded
  
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• Dridex banking malware mysteriously hijacked to distribute antivirus program

  05-02-2016 13:04
  Users tricked by spam messages to open malicious Word documents that distribute the Dridex online banking Trojan might have a surprise: they'll get a free anitivirus program instead.That's because an unknown person -- possibly a white hat hacker -- gained access to some of the servers that cybercriminals use to distribute the Dridex Trojan and replaced it with an installer for Avira Free Antivirus.Dridex is one of the three most widely used computer Trojans that target online banking users. Last
  
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• Review: 2 low-cost Windows 10 laptops challenge the Chromebooks

  05-02-2016 12:30
  
  Call it the democratization of technology, but $200 buys an awful lot of notebook today. The staying power of the Chromebook has shown that lightweight, low-cost technology has a place in today's marketplace -- and, perhaps in answer to that, several low-cost Windows 10 laptops have recently hit the market. They appeal to a variety of audiences, from students in need of an inexpensive school PC to business travelers looking for a lightweight second computer for the road.
  And they have one advan
  
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• China vs. the machine (learning)

  05-02-2016 12:08
  
  In the ongoing war against economic espionage – especially by China - the good news for the American private sector is that machine learning (ML) and behavioral analytics, are offering some promise of detecting hackers before they start exfiltrating trade secrets and intellectual property (IP).
  The not so good news is that those businesses are not going to be getting much help from the government.
  That, say most experts, is the reality, even after last September’s agreement between
  
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• SamsaraJS: Famo.us fork juices mobile Web UIs

  05-02-2016 12:00
  
  The former chief architect of the Famo.us JavaScript library has moved on to developing his own JavaScript UI project for the mobile Web, called SamsaraJS.
  Described on GitHub as a "functional reactive library for animating layout," SamsaraJS is the brainchild of David Valdman, who left Famo.us -- now known as Famous -- in August 2014. The library, which recently released version 0.2.0, grew out of his work there.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• How to secure Amazon Web Services like a boss

  05-02-2016 12:00
  
  As cloud IT has proliferated, security concerns have diminished as a barrier to adoption. But that doesn't mean you can ignore security in the cloud, since a major attack can have expensive -- and potentially business-ending -- consequences.
  More and more sensitive data is heading to the cloud. Genomic informatics company GenomeNext, for example, feeds raw genome sequencing data into high-speed computational algorithms running entirely on AWS. Pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb
  
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• Credit card extended warranties and electronics: How a little extra hassle can save lots of money

  05-02-2016 12:00
  
  About a year and a half ago, I received a somewhat menacing voicemail from the Microsoft Store.
  The store representative reminded me that I’d spent a good chunk of change on a Surface Pro 3, and—to paraphrase—it’d be a shame if something happened to it without extended warranty coverage. Peeved, but confident in my resolve never to pay for additional device warranties, I deleted the message.
  A little over a year later, my Surface Pro 3 started developing a nasty yellow d
  
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• UN panel backs WikiLeaks' Julian Assange, but he may not go free

  05-02-2016 09:52
  
  A UN panel has ruled that the time Julian Assange has spent cooped up in the London embassy of the Ecuador government amounts to arbitrary detention by the U.K. and Sweden, but it is unlikely that the founder of the WikiLeaks whistle-blowing website will walk away free soon.The U.K. government has reportedly said that the decision of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention is not binding on it, while there is a warrant against Assange. It did not change its earlier stance that it would arres
  
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• Our 28 favorite Apple commercials

  05-02-2016 08:00
  Must-see TV
  Sunday is Super Bowl Sunday, and any discussion about Super Bowl commercials always leads to Apple—specifically, Apple’s minute-long 1984 ad.
  Apple has a long history of commercials. This slideshow lists my 28 favorite Apple ads. Click on the Watch this ad link to open a separate Web page with video.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• LG G5 to debut on February 21st, going head-to-head with Galaxy S7

  05-02-2016 03:26
  
  February 21st is going to a big day for new Android phones. LG sent out some wacky invitations to announce the forthcoming G5 will get its big reveal at Mobile World Congress that day, the same day Samsung is expected to reveal the Galaxy S7. 
  All the wackiness could just be clever marketing. But it may also hint to some new display technology, like a switchover to an OLED display. Another rumor indicates the phone will be the most premium handset to date from LG and borrow many desig
  
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• 14 sports teams owned by techies

  05-02-2016 03:23
  
  Team playersNerds getting picked on in school are told, “don’t worry, they’ll be working for you someday.” For these pillars of the technology world, that came true in a big way – they’re all owners or part-owners of professional sports teams. Have a look.Mark CubanImage by WikipediaKeith AllisonCC BY-SA 2.0To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• The Week in iPhone Cases: Meet HEX's latest stingray-inspired pattern

  05-02-2016 03:22
  ...plus, a variety of other wallet cases, and moreThis week’s roundup of new iPhone cases features a new wallet case and look from HEX. Plus, a case that glows in the dark. Read on!BelkinThe Slim-Fit Plus (iPhone 6/6s; $35) is a stretchy neoprene armband, which should provide a snug and comfortable fit while you work out.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• The Neutrino exploit kit has a new way to detect security researchers

  05-02-2016 02:45
  The developers of the Neutrino exploit kit have added a new feature intended to thwart security researchers from studying their attacks.The feature was discovered after Trustwave's SpiderLabs division found computers they were using for research couldn't make a connection with servers that delivered Neutrino."The environment seems completely fine except for when accessing Neutrino," wrote Daniel Chechik, senior security researcher.Exploit kits are one of the most effective ways that cybercr
  
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• Edward Yourdon remembered for 'great wisdom about everything IT'

  05-02-2016 02:31
  
  There’s a good chance you have read something by Edward Yourdon, especially if you were interested in emerging IT problems and trends.
  Yourdon, who died Jan. 20 of complications from a blood infection, was a computer consultant and an expert on software engineering principles. He was noted, in particular, for his work on structured programming methodologies and authored or co-authored more than two dozen books, hundreds of technical articles and many columns for Computerworld.
  Inducted in
  
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• 7 smartphone trends to watch this year

  05-02-2016 00:50
  
  Smartphones this year are poised to become more interactive, more fun and maybe a little bit smarter than you’d like them to be.On the high end, smartphones will get into virtual reality, PC docking and 4K home entertainment. Low-cost phones will offer more bang for the buck with higher-resolution screens, better graphics and faster wireless communications.Virtual and augmented realitySmartphones can already be used to roam virtual worlds, such as with the Google Cardboard holder that enab
  
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• Meet Frinkiac, an amazing search engine dedicated solely to Simpsons quotes

  05-02-2016 00:00
  
  Next time you need the perfect Simpsons quote, try using Frinkiac.
  This unusually specific search engine indexes every line of dialog from the first 15 seasons of The Simpsons and displays them next to their corresponding still image.
  Search for “cough syrup,” for instance, and you can see the exact moment Homer reveals the secret ingredient to a Flaming Moe. Search for “excellent,” and you can easily create a compilation of Mr. Burns’ most maniacal moments. Frinki
  
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