IT Executive news

• Windows Phone's no-show at Build drives home Microsoft's mobile neglect

  30-03-2016 23:19
  IfWindows Phone isn’t dying, Microsoft sure has a funny way of keeping it on life support.
  From super-smart conversational bots to the birth of HoloLens, Microsoft hadplenty of surprises in storeat its annual Build event keynote on Wednesday. But the most shocking aspect of the keynote was how much attention Windows 10 Mobile received in the spotlight: zilch, nada, nothing. No roadmaps, no upcoming features, no future plans.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click
  
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• World's largest renewable energy developer on verge of bankruptcy

  30-03-2016 22:09
  
  The world's largest renewable energy developer, SunEdison, may be on the verge of filing for bankruptcy protection after it was revealed that it is reportedly being investigated for overstating its financial stability.
  SunEdison has had an aggressive acquisition history, but those buyouts have left it with $11 billion in debt, Reuters reported.
  "SunEdison is having more than its share of troubles," Deutsche Bank wrote in an announcement that it was suspending its ratings of both SunEdison and i
  
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• OpenText CEO: 'One does not upgrade to digital'

  30-03-2016 22:05
  
  Every company is an information company today, and transforming for the digital era requires looking beyond the ERP systems that have played such a central role in the corporate world over the past few decades.That's according to Mark Barrenechea, CEO and CTO of OpenText, which makes enterprise information management (EIM) systems.Enterprise resource planning technology allowed companies to automate back-office processes and reduce their general and administrative expenses from 20 percent down t
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: How to keep requirements wish lists from crippling software purchases

  30-03-2016 21:04
  
  When an organization recognizes they have outgrown their software or that it has become obsolete, they may decide it is time to replace it. When these projects start, there is only a fuzzy picture of the general needs. The purpose of the requirements discovery process is to bring those needs into sharp focus where they can be expressed as specific requirements. In particular, the discovery process must uncover requirements the organization does not know they need. Significant requirements missed
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: How to augment your career with leadership coaching

  30-03-2016 20:58
  
  Burnout. Pipeline problems. Harassment. The laundry list of issues for women's leadership in tech is long and the list of solutions seems much shorter.One of the popular pieces of advice for women in tech looking to advance their careers is to find a mentor. Sheryl Sandberg, in her book Lean In, talks about her mentors who encouraged her, challenged her, and advocated for her throughout her career. ARA Mentors, founded by IT recruitment specialist Megan McCann in 2013, has the admirable goal of
  
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• Kent State CIO talks about his cloud ambitions, accomplishments, and his new cloud book

  30-03-2016 20:49
  
  Ed Mahon, CIO at Kent State University, was bitten by the cloud bug in 2012 and is methodically marching the school to the cloud model, with early benefits being better use of resources and the ability to focus IT staff on bigger picture efforts, among other things.  In fact Mahon is so smitten with the cloud he wrote a book about it, “Transitioning the Enterprise to the Cloud:  A Business Approach,” which is is an Amazon #1 New Release and is also available on Barns &
  
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• Startup 8ninths uses Microsoft HoloLens to build a partially holographic desk of the future

  30-03-2016 20:30
  
  So far, Microsoft has yet to make an effective productivity case for the HoloLens. But now a new startup, 8ninths, aims to do it for them.
  The company has built a “holographic workstation”—a physical desk with a large cutout where holograms can be placed—as a proof-of-concept for Citi financial traders. The company (whose name refers to the proportion of an iceberg lying underwater) demoed the corresponding app for PCWorld on Tuesday. Company executives said they wi
  
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• HoloLens uncensored: A candid hands-on with HoloLens Development Edition

  30-03-2016 20:30
  
  It felt like an undercover operation: On Tuesday night, while Microsoft executives were rehearsing their keynote presentations for Microsoft Build, I was in a hotel room next door to the conference venue, testing out what everyone would be coming to see: the HoloLens Development Edition. 
  This is actually the third time I’ve gone hands-on with HoloLens hardware, and it's clear Microsoft has used the last 15 months of HoloLens development to craft a remarkably polished experience.&nbs
  
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• Apple's 4 best and 4 worst products

  30-03-2016 20:28
  Apple's 4 best and 4 worst productsImage by Michael KanAs Apple turns 40, a look back at four decades of product innovation that influenced the entire computer industry -- with the odd miss thrown in.Apple IIImage by Martyn WilliamsTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Can your CEO pass the digital strategy laugh test?

  30-03-2016 20:24
  
  A billion customer touch points annually.
  Over a billion dollars of in-app payments per year.
  An average annual investment of one billion dollars over the next two years in e-commerce.
  A digital start-up-within-a-company launched with one billion dollars in revenue with a goal of five by 2020.Talking about “digital transformation” has become de rigueur in C-suites, boardrooms, and investor briefings far and wide. When I hear companies like Nike, Starbucks, Walmart, and GE make public
  
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• Can your CEO pass the digital strategy laugh test?

  30-03-2016 20:24
  
  A billion customer touch points annually.
  Over a billion dollars of in-app payments per year.
  An average annual investment of one billion dollars over the next two years in e-commerce.
  A digital start-up-within-a-company launched with one billion dollars in revenue with a goal of five by 2020.
  Talking about “digital transformation” has become de rigueur in C-suites, boardrooms, and investor briefings far and wide. When I hear companies like Nike, Starbucks, Walmart, and GE make publi
  
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• Skype is getting infused with conversational 'bots'

  30-03-2016 20:20
  
  Microsoft is hoping to make Skype conversations a bit smarter by injecting then with artificial intelligence.
  At its Build 2016 conference, Microsoft demonstrated how Cortana, along with other third-party “bots,” can provide more information and potential actions as part of Skype messaging. As a basic example, Cortana will highlight key parts of a conversation, which users can tap on to pull up more information.
  But that’s just the beginning. During any conversation, users wil
  
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• Cortana will become even more powerful with proactive actions, greater contextual awareness

  30-03-2016 19:55
  
  At Tuesday's Build keynote, Microsoft showed how the company plans to add increased utility to its Cortana digital assistant, through greater contextual awareness and more proactive actions.
  It’s not clear when these capabilities will come to Cortana, though it seems likely they’ll be rolled out over the coming months, probably timed to coincide with the Anniversary Update of Windows 10 this summer. Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella said the improvements to Cortana are part of
  
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• IT leaders must move fast (and decisively) to land tech talent

  30-03-2016 19:25
  
  Recruiting, motivating and keeping top talent is of paramount importance to IT leaders. Yet only 11 percent IT leaders with hiring authority report that they have a “robust, strong talent pipeline,” according to the CIO Executive Council’s (CEC) 2016 IT Talent Assessment Survey.While 83 percent of IT leaders anticipate that they will recruit IT talent in the next six months — everyone from full-time, in-house IT talent to consultants — 38 percent of these same IT le
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: How do you build trust in your organization?

  30-03-2016 18:47
  
  You are getting ready to undertake a digital transformation project. There are major changes ahead. But not everyone is on board. Many might not trust the process.  Or perhaps it is because they don't trust the transformation agent (you). In order to get people on-board with the transformation you need to gain their  trust. Gaining trust takes time.  And the way you gain trust is different for different people. Think about your relationships. Are there people you trust?  Why
  
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• Hell freezes over: Microsoft partners with Ubuntu to bring Bash shell to Windows 10

  30-03-2016 18:39
  
  Microsoft’s Linux love affair continued at the company’s annual Build keynote on Monday, with the revelation that popular Linux command-line tool Bash is coming to Windows 10. Whoa.
  And no, it’s not running in a virtual machine or emulator. Microsoft partnered with Canonical, the company behind the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution, to build native Ubuntu Linux binaries directly into Windows 10 that allow Bash to run. And Microsoft’s already brought SQL Server and V
  
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• Microsoft boasts of rapid Windows 10 adoption to more than 270 million computers

  30-03-2016 18:36
  
  Windows 10 adoption remains strong, Microsoft said, as it opened its Build developer conference in San Francisco on Wednesday. The company said more than 270 million computers are already actively running Windows 10, easily outstripping the adoption rate of all previous operating systems. Company officials also said users have logged more than 75 billion hours of time driving Windows 10. 
  “Windows 10 is off to an amazing start,” said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. “It&
  
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• AtScale simplifies connecting BI tools to Hadoop

  30-03-2016 18:10
  
  For the past few years, Hadoop has been gaining traction in the enterprise not only for its capability to store massive amounts of data, but with the hope that it can help companies scale their data warehouses and power business intelligence (BI). But enabling interactive queries on Hadoop using standard BI tools — tools in which many companies have already heavily invested — has proved a challenge.Hadoop is hugely flexible and scalable, but it wasn't built to support the kind of int
  
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• Merging firms appealing targets for attackers

  30-03-2016 18:01
  
  Companies going through a merger or acquisition, as well as their lawyers, financial advisers, and other associated firms are all tempting targets for cyberattackers, according to a new report from Digital Shadows.
  The attackers use public sources for the first round of information gathering, then spearphishing and malware campaigns against targeted individuals. They are often undetected because many companies still ignore cybersecurity when doing due diligence, the report said.ALSO ON CSO: How
  
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• US has asked Apple, Google to help unlock devices in more than 70 cases

  30-03-2016 17:57
  
  U.S. government agencies have filed more than 70 orders requiring Apple or Google to help law enforcement agencies unlock mobile devices since 2008, despite the agency insisting its fight with Apple in a recent terrorism case was limited in scope.The Department of Justice dropped its California case against Apple after the FBI found a way to break into one of the San Bernardino shooters' iPhone without assistance.But the American Civil Liberties Union has identified 64 cases where representative
  
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• Survey: With all eyes on security, talent shortage sends salaries sky high

  30-03-2016 17:53
  
  Jason Hoffman started his career as an internal auditor, but after 7 years he was ready to leave the job he was "really good at" and try something different. The transition to security more than 18 years ago "was probably the best decision I made in my career," says Hoffman, who is now CSO at marketing automation software vendor Marketo. "I don’t think anyone in 1998 could have predicted how important security would be today."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please clic
  
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• Brocade dials up DevOps

  30-03-2016 17:46
  
  Brocade is buying automation startup StackStorm in an effort boost its DevOps offerings and capabilities, StackStorm announced on its website.Terms of the deal were not disclosed.StackStorm’s software is an event-driven automation platform designed to integrate components of an IT environment. It’s used for auto-remediation, including response to security events and easing complex deployments.It also integrates with chat platforms such as Slack and HipChat for launching and tracking
  
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• Custom developed Dripion backdoor used in highly targeted attacks in Asia, US

  30-03-2016 17:42
  A new custom developed backdoor program has been used in highly targeted attacks against organizations from Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and the U.S. over the past year.Malware researchers from Symantec first came across the program, which they've named Dripion, in August 2015. However, due to its custom nature and sparse use, it has managed to fly under the radar since as early as November 2013.When their analysis began, the Symantec researchers believed Dripion was a local threat used against or
  
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• Former NSA deputy director says Edward Snowden lacks courage

  30-03-2016 17:39
  
  In the first segment of an interview with Chris Inglis, former deputy director of NSA, the Irari Report talks with him about his perceptions of Edward Snowden’s motivations and intentions in committing his acts of espionage. In the video segment, Inglis discusses his impressions of Snowden, and theorizes as to why Snowden left for China, and to where he intended to defect.
  Edward Snowden's defection occurred during Inglis' tenure as Deputy Director of NSA, and as such, Inglis was extremel
  
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• What smartphones, craft beer and Ferris Bueller say about change

  30-03-2016 17:20
  
  I've covered the mobile and wireless market for more than a decade, and I've been partial to quality beer for nearly twice as long.
  When I first started covering smartphones as a news writer for CIO.com, I owned a "feature phone" or a "dumb phone." BlackBerry was the king of wireless. The iPhone was just a twinkle in Steve Jobs' eye. When I got my first BlackBerry smartphone, the difference between it and my years-old Motorola RAZR couldn't have been clearer. Similarly, when I tasted my first D
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: 5 ways your content strategy needs to adapt in 2016

  30-03-2016 16:55
  
  The hallmark of a good long-term content strategy is its adaptability; even if you start out with an awesome strategy and a packed editorial calendar, if you remain stagnant with that approach for too long, you’ll eventually hit a plateau.How should a content strategy adapt? That depends. When new technologies emerge, it pays to take advantage of them, and when your competitors adapt, you should too. When reader preferences begin to change, you need to stay ahead of them. And even barring
  
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• iPhone 5SE shows stronger appeal among laggards, switchers

  30-03-2016 16:10
  
  Preliminary data from U.S. sales of Apple's new smaller iPhone 5SE suggested that the phone had strong appeal among purchasing laggards and those who had previously owned an Android or Windows smartphone, a market research firm said this week.
  Online sales of the iPhone 5SE -- Apple's first 4-in. model since 2013 -- may have been a very small fraction of the opening weekend of its last flagship, 2015's iPhone 6S, but buyer demographics portrayed a group noticeably different than the stereotypic
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Fedora 24 alpha brings Gnome 3.20

  30-03-2016 16:00
  
  It’s not Fedora if it ships on time.  After a couple of delays, the Fedora community has announced the alpha release of Fedora 24, the next version of this free and open source Linux distribution.
  Fedora now comes in 3 versions, targeted at different use cases: Workstation for desktops; Server for (obviously) servers and Cloud for containers. For testing purposes, I downloaded the Workstation version and installation was easy, as is the case with most Linux distributions.
  The release
  
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• How the cloud is transforming HR

  30-03-2016 15:34
  
  "Wash, rinse and repeat." That's how Justin Watras describes the paper-based process that used to take up hours of managers' time whenever a new employee started at Brooks Brothers.
  "In a perfect scenario they'd show up with a bunch of employment documents, but more often than not they forgot or weren't told," explained Watras, the clothing retailer's director of talent management and organizational effectiveness. "Either way, a manager or HR member would have to devote significant time to sitt
  
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• This Android smartphone and barcode reader comes in a 10-oz. package

  30-03-2016 15:30
  
  Rugged computer maker Janam Technologies on Wednesday announced the XT2, a 10-oz. rugged device with a 5-in. touchscreen that runs Android 5.0 (Lollipop).
  The device could be called a rugged smartphone, since it comes with many smartphone features, including voice. It supports GSM and GPRS radio signals for voice, as well as 4G LTE for data -- with a Chrome browser. But Janam also added in a Zebra barcode-scanning feature, the ability to withstand 5-foot drops and immersion in up to three feet
  
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• Five signs 40-year-old Apple is having a midlife crisis -- and five reasons it isn't

  30-03-2016 15:00
  As he opened Apple's latest breathless gadget debut last week, CEO Tim Cook struck three appropriately serious notes for a company that will turn 40 next week.
  Apple is safeguarding Americans' privacy, Cook said. It's recycling and going renewable. It's even helping to cure diseases by making ResearchKit. Clearly, this is no long-haired startup in a garage.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• Comcast sells cable via Amazon, but its customer service still sucks

  30-03-2016 14:52
  
  Selling cable TV through Amazon seems like a reasonable idea, so at first I didn't give much thought to Comcast's recent announcement that it had started to sell services via the giant Web retailer. However, less than two weeks later, Amazon's Comcast page is filled with one-star reviews knocking the pay TV provider.I can't say I'm surprised. More like disappointed. Comcast last year reacted to a barrage of negative stories about its famously terrible customer service with a pledge to spend $300
  
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• Expert: Comprehensive software security for cars will take years

  30-03-2016 14:44
  
  Software security for automobiles is improving but it will take another three or four years until manufacturers can put overarching security architecture in place, says Stefan Savage, winner of the 2015 ACM-Infosys Foundation Award in the Computing Sciences.
  “We’re at a point where the industry has to recognize that this is a real issue for them,” says Savage, a professor in the Computer Science and Engineering department at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering.
  + MOR
  
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• Top 10 DBaaS security concerns

  30-03-2016 14:33
  
  DBaaS securityImage by ThinkstockPlacing a database in the cloud significantly changes its security threat landscape. While many of the traditional on-premises risks remain—data leakage risk from privileged users with access to the data, the presence of unidentified sensitive data and SQL injection attacks are some examples—the cloud introduces its own additional risks.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• Stop passing around those passwords!

  30-03-2016 14:02
  
  There’s no getting around that security incidents will happen. The best I can hope for is that they don’t completely ruin my day and that they aren’t specific to my organization, so that I can write about them and possibly help my readers through similar situations.
  What happened last week was one of those.Trouble TicketAt issue: Our manager finds an easily accessible spreadsheet containing sensitive passwords in an employee’s home directory.
  Action plan: Find every copy
  
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• How to use CRM, marketing automation to improve hiring

  30-03-2016 13:53
  
  A new generation of recruiting, hiring, applicant tracking and candidate management software solutions are incorporating new features, inspired by CRM and marketing automation, to help conquer recruiters' and hiring managers' biggest challenges."We're solving the most common problems companies have with sourcing and hiring: aggregating information about all potential candidates; maintaining updated information about candidates; and communicating with that candidate pool on an ongoing basis," say
  
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• The IT skills gap is a reality, but doesn’t have to be

  30-03-2016 13:39
  
  Foote Partners, an independent IT benchmark research and advisory firm recently released its "1Q 2016 IT Skills Demand and Pay Trends Report," offering data and analysis of salary trends for 202 jobs and the pay premiums for 835 certified and noncertified IT skills.
  To arrive at its numbers, data is collected and tracked from 2,815 private and public sector U.S. and Canadian employers, which collectively employ 218,101 IT pros from different industries. The report shows an overall increase in th
  
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• How to set up a portable, non-cloud-based password manager

  30-03-2016 13:12
  
  Nothing helps strong passwords become a central tenet of your electronic life than conscientious use of a password manager. However, the compromise of at least one cloud-based password manager last year and recent actions by a government agency may have given you second thoughts about using the cloud for something that instinctively feels like it should be managed locally.Those incidents aside, password managers remain the best way to avoid reusing weak passwords which is as commonplace as the n
  
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• What Microsoft’s multi-platform strategy means for mobile app developers

  30-03-2016 13:00
  
  Microsoft's February acquisition of Xamarin will open the floodgates to a deluge of new corporate mobile applications for iOS, Android and even Windows 10 Mobile in the coming months.Xamarin makes it fairly straightforward for Windows developers to take their existing C# code and after some modifications compile it into native Android, iOS and Windows 10 Mobile apps with native interfaces."This is not for people who write iOS or Android apps, but if you are a corporate Windows developer and you
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: 9.7-inch iPad Pro reviews: A small powerhouse that is worth buying

  30-03-2016 13:00
  
  Ever since Apple announced the 9.7-inch iPad Pro many users have wondered whether or not it’s worth buying. Reviews have finally started to come in and so far the critics seem quite impressed with the smaller iPad Pro. The consensus seems to be that it packs the power of the 12.9-inch model into a much more portable form.Read on to see what reviewers are saying about the 9.7-inch iPad Pro.Ars Technica: The smaller Pro straddles the line between the 12.9-inch version and the Air 2
  Andrew Cu
  
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• Is outsourcing IT worth the compliance risk?

  30-03-2016 12:55
  
  Banking has changed since the global financial crisis in 2008. The steady increase in regulations from Washington, the states and international organizations are now impacting IT leaders. As regulators examine vendor relationships and outsourcing arrangements more closely, there is a significant risk that poorly managed IT could trigger an audit finding, a fine or negative publicity. As IT leaders plan to review and renew IT service providers in 2016, here are some of the risks to manage.In 2013
  
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• With Sharp deal, contractor Foxconn is buying a global brand

  30-03-2016 12:12
  Foxconn, the faceless contractor that assembles many Apple products, is moving up the manufacturing stack with an acquisition that will give it a global consumer brand.After years of negotiation, it has finally sealed its on-again, off-again deal to buy troubled Japanese components and consumer electronics vendor Sharp.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• Review: Databricks makes big data dreams come true

  30-03-2016 12:00
  
  To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• Meteor JavaScript framework moves to NPM

  30-03-2016 12:00
  
  The Meteor JavaScript framework, for building real-time mobile and Web apps, will transition to NPM as a mechanism for accessing third-party application packages.
  The change begins this week with the release of Meteor 1.3, which supports a module system that integrates with Node.js and NPM to enable better testing. The full switch to NPM will happen later in 2016, along with decoupling of some core packages.[ Use JavaScript in your dev shop? InfoWorld looks at 17 JavaScript editors and IDEs and
  
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• California’s $15-an-hour minimum wage may spur automation

  30-03-2016 11:57
  
  For many California business groups, the state's decision to gradually raise its minimum wage to $15 by 2022 is a terrible thing. But for its technology industry, it may be a plus.Higher wages, says the California Restaurant Association, will force businesses to face "undesirable" options, including cutting staff, raising prices and adopting automation.But a higher minimum wage will "signal to tech companies and entrepreneurs" to look at the restaurant industry, said Darren Tristano, president o
  
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• Court vacates iPhone hack order against Apple, focus shifts to New York

  30-03-2016 06:57
  A judge in California vacated on Tuesday an earlier order asking Apple to assist the FBI in cracking the passcode of an iPhone 5c running iOS 9 that was used by one of the San Bernardino terrorists.The focus of the dispute between Apple and the government over whether it can be compelled to help agencies access data on iPhones now shifts to a court in Brooklyn, New York, where Apple is contesting an order to extract data from the passcode-locked iPhone 5s of an alleged drug dealer.The FBI had re
  
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• CNBC just collected your password and shared it with marketers

  30-03-2016 04:40
  
  CNBC inadvertently exposed peoples' passwords after it ran an article Tuesday that ironically was intended to promote secure password practices.
  The story was removed from CNBC's website shortly after it ran following a flurry of criticism from security experts. Vice's Motherboard posted a link to the archived version.
  Embedded within the story was a tool in which people could enter their passwords. The tool would then evaluate a password and estimate how long it would take to crack it.
  A
  
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• Instagram expands to 60-second videos, verging into YouTube territory

  30-03-2016 03:15
  
  Big changes are coming to Instagram, but don’t worry: the algorithmic feed is not yet here.
  On Tuesday, Instagram announced that the length of video posts will expand to 60 seconds. Previously, an Instagram video could last for only 15 seconds. In addition, iOS users will be able to edit and stitch together different video clips from their camera roll to create a minute-long masterpiece. According to Instagram, this video length expansion was sparked because users now watch more videos on
  
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• Report: Google to cut off support for physical Wallet card on June 30

  30-03-2016 03:13
  
  It may be time to say farewell to the Google Wallet card.
  Granted, if you have one it’s probably in a desk drawer next to a non-working Lumia phone and Nexus Player remote. But if you’re still using it, you should know that indications are Google will cut off support on June 30.
  That’s the finding from an APK Teardown of the latest version of Google Wallet. The move makes sense, as Google’s mobile payment solution has shifted to Android Pay. Wallet has been re-purpo
  
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• Load DynamiX and Virtual Instruments merge, and not a moment too soon

  30-03-2016 03:09
  
  Networking analytics provider Virtual Instruments and storage analysis company Load DynamiX announced today that they would merge, with the latter company’s backers putting up $20 million to help the process along.
  The new company will use the Virtual Instruments name and brand, but it will be led by Load DynamiX President and CEO Philippe Vincent. The status of Virtual Instruments CEO John Thompson, who is also the chairman of Microsoft’s board of directors, was initially unclear,
  
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