IT Executive news

• Google 'moonshots' not yet profitable

  22-04-2016 23:23
  
  When Google parent company Alphabet Inc. reported yesterday that its first-quarter earnings didn't hit Wall Street's expectations, execs laid the blame directly at the feet of the company's so-called moonshot projects.
  Yep, those sometimes seemingly out-there projects, like autonomous cars, high-tech medical devices, smart clothes and smart home devices are interesting -- but they're not cheap.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Blockchain technology: hype or reality?

  22-04-2016 21:58
  
  There's been a lot of coverage in the technology press recently about an emerging technology garnering a lot of interest in multiple industries: blockchain, and it's ecosystem. There are still some limitations with the technology before it is widely accepted and deployed, but in some industries (for example, banking), initial testing has proven to be successful. Today's CIO should take a closer look at this technology, as there are some real benefits that are starting to come to light through th
  
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• How AMD is ressurecting itself as a formidable rival to Intel

  22-04-2016 21:45
  
  The rivalry between AMD and Intel peaked during the first decade of the 2000s, when the companies consistently challenged each other with a stream of chip innovations.Since then, AMD lost its way, and today it barely registers as a threat to Intel. But the competitive landscape could start changing as early as next year.Intel's x86 chips are installed in most PCs and servers, and AMD has been losing market share for years. AMD's chip technology has fallen behind Intel's after some ill-advis
  
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• How AMD is resurrecting itself as a formidable rival to Intel

  22-04-2016 21:44
  
  The rivalry between AMD and Intel peaked during the first decade of the 2000s, when the companies consistently challenged each other with a stream of chip innovations.
  Since then, AMD lost its way, and today it barely registers as a threat to Intel. But the competitive landscape could start changing as early as next year.
  Intel's x86 chips are installed in most PCs and servers, and AMD has been losing market share for years. AMD's chip technology has fallen behind Intel's after some ill-ad
  
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• Microsoft gives testers first look at the Windows 10 upgrade slated to debut this summer

  22-04-2016 21:16
  
  Microsoft today released to testers the first real look at its next major Windows 10 upgrade, dubbed the "Anniversary Update."
  Build 14328, which was issued to the Insider "Fast" ring -- or release track -- early Friday, included the biggest feature changes since the original edition of last summer. Microsoft had touted most of the new features at its Build developer conference three weeks ago.
  "This is a major build, packed with lots of new features and improvements," said Gabriel Aul, enginee
  
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• 15 ways to not get fired from your dream job

  22-04-2016 21:15
  
  This week a famous pitcher who clearly should have known better, lost his very high paying job at ESPN. It reminded me how many kids fresh out of college undid all of those years in school by getting fired for doing something similar.I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve seen kids bust their hump to get a job at a named company only to lose it a few days later, or even before they officially start. This applies to more than just tech jobs. So if you are a parent and don’t w
  
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• 3 things you need to know about today's popular messaging apps

  22-04-2016 20:46
  
  All the action in the mobile world these days seems to be focused on messaging apps. There's good reason for that. Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp combined account for 60 billion messages a day, compared to about 20 billion daily SMS texts, according to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who spoke at the recent F8 developers conference. That's a whole lot of smiley emojis shooting back and forth across the globe.
  In case you haven't been paying attention to messaging apps lately, here are 3 things y
  
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• Cloud storage pioneer Bitcasa is killing its cloud storage

  22-04-2016 20:32
  Bitcasa is getting out of the consumer cloud storage business, the company announced Thursday.
  “We are discontinuing our Bitcasa Drive service in order to focus our full attention on our growing platform business,” the company said in a short blog post, as first reported by VentureBeat. “All account owners must take action to avoid losing their files.”
  Users who need assistance recovering and preserving their files should use Bitcasa’s Help Center, the company said
  
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• Facebook's latest News Feed change puts articles you'll actually read front and center

  22-04-2016 20:30
  Facebook wants to put a nail in the coffin of clickbait, so it's changing your News Feed. Again.
  The social network is tweaking its algorithm to show users more stories that they’re likely to spend time reading.
  “With this change, we can better understand which articles might be interesting to you based on how long you and others read them, so you’ll be more likely to see stories you’re interested in reading," Facebook’s Moshe Blank and Jie Xu wrote
  
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• Intel refocusing itself, and its revenue stream, on cloud

  22-04-2016 20:29
  
  With Intel looking to lock in on the next big thing and cloud continuing to grow in importance, it makes sense for the chip maker to seize on cloud computing as a way to transform itself.
  That's the word coming from industry analysts after Intel this week announced it will lay off 12,000 employees-- or 11% of its global workforce -- as it shifts focus from its traditional PC business to the Internet of Things (IoT) and the cloud.
  With PCs seen as yesterday's tech trend, Intel is betting its fut
  
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• Doom will be AI's next big gaming challenge

  22-04-2016 20:22
  
  AI may have trounced humanity in the ancient game of Go, but it remains untested in countless other gaming arenas. Case in point: Doom, which, it turns out, will be the technology's next big challenge.Launched in 1993, Doom is widely considered a landmark title in the video-game industry for popularizing the first-person shooter genre. Now, artificial-intelligence researchers will have a chance to pit their creations against others in a contest based on the game at the IEEE Computational Intelli
  
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• Popular desktop Linux distro Ubuntu has potentially serious privacy flaw

  22-04-2016 19:52
  
  A feature in the just-released 16.04 version of Ubuntu could pose a serious threat to the privacy of desktop Linux users, according to a well-known open-source software expert.
  Version 16.04, the latest long-term-support release of Ubuntu, features a new package format used for installing software on an Ubuntu system, called snap. Snaps are designed to be easier for developers to construct, simpler to deploy, and able to work comfortably alongside the existing deb package format.
  ALSO ON NETWOR
  
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• Cloud will make U.S. immigration agency more agile

  22-04-2016 19:50
  
  Improving the delivery of services to citizens has been one of the driving goals of government IT reform, in particular as consumers seek out more services through agency websites or applications.At the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS), a unit of the Department of Homeland Security, CIO Mark Schwartz is helping lead an overhaul of the way the agency approaches software and application development[ Related: Government wants to increase IT spending 13% in proposed budget ]To read th
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: 5 things that set openSUSE, elementary OS and Ubuntu apart

  22-04-2016 19:49
  
  I am a huge fan of openSUSE and Arch Linux; those are the two distributions that I run on my main system. But I don't belong to any fan-base; I also run some of the major Linux distributions on my machines, to keep an eye on their development.One distribution that’s getting a lot of attention lately is elementary OS. I have been using it on a virtual machine and I love what they are doing. Then there is Ubuntu, one of the most popular Linux-based operating systems. The latest release of Ub
  
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• Google and Microsoft agree to end regulatory battles

  22-04-2016 18:23
  
  Google and Microsoft have agreed to end their long-running regulatory battles and stop complaining to government agencies about each other.Microsoft had been one of the leading companies calling for governments to investigate Google over potential antitrust violations in recent years. Earlier this year, though, Microsoft withdrew its support for FairSearch, a coalition of companies pushing the EU to file formal antitrust complaints against Google.The announcement of the new agreement between the
  
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• Savvy CIOs poised to snap up talent cast off by struggling unicorns

  22-04-2016 17:46
  
  CIOs working for large companies are forever lamenting the challenge in luring technical talent, as employees gravitate toward high-flying, cash-rich startups based in Silicon Valley. At a time when CEOs are asking CIOs to oversee digital transformations, IT leaders at Walgreens, Whirlpool and other companies say luring more software developers, data scientists and user experience designers is difficult.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Red Hat shows us its OpenStack arsenal

  22-04-2016 17:46
  
  Red Hat, the most successful open source company, is a building a very strong portfolio of its cloud stack. The market is leaning towards OpenStack: AT&T is building its massive infrastructure on top of OpenStack; Volkswagen has chosen OpenStack; and Yahoo! Japan is building the world’s largest open source-based private cloud platform with Pivotal Cloud Foundry running on OpenStack.The stakes are high for any OpenStack player.To read this article in full or to leave a co
  
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• Google I/O to shine a spotlight on Android

  22-04-2016 17:17
  
  Google's upcoming developer conference will feature a familiar theme: mobile.
  A surprise to no one, Android will be a principal topic at the Google I/O event being held May 18 to 20. The conference will shine a light on new features in the mobile platform as well as capabilities for battery optimization, image loading, sensors, and automobiles.[ Android is now ready for real usage in the enterprise. Read InfoWorld's in-depth guide on how to make Android a serious part of your business. | Get th
  
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• Mammoth Windows 10 Insider preview adds new Anniversary Update features galore

  22-04-2016 17:05
  
  If you’re a member of Microsoft’s Windows 10 Insider program, today is like Christmas. Build 14328 of Windows 10 for PCs and Windows phones packs Anniversary Update features like Windows Ink, changes to the Action Center, and better battery life into what’s probably the largest Insider update ever. Get ready to freak out. 
  Though Microsoft stuffed tons of updates into this new build, some should feel familiar. Bugs halted the deployment of Windows 10 Mobile build 14322&nb
  
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• LinkedIn Students app helps graduates get gigs

  22-04-2016 15:50
  
  LinkedIn released a new app this week for its fastest-growing audience: students. Students and recent graduates represent nearly 10 percent of LinkedIn's total monthly active user base, according to the company. LinkedIn wants to help students search for jobs during "in-between moments" and identify potential career paths for graduates of specific majors.[ Related: LinkedIn takes to TV with 'moon shot' ad ]To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• BrandPost: Life After "SQL-mageddon"

  22-04-2016 15:48
  With the official end of life looming (RIP, April 12, 2016) for the up to 2 million-plus servers running some form of Microsoft’s popular relational database management system,SQL Server 2005, putting in place a migration plan is not optional—it’s a must. For most, staying with Microsoft represents the least painful alternative, although this is not without its challenges. In addition to the current successor, SQL Server 2014, other options include SQL Server 2012, the eventua
  
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• Why early STEM education will drive the U.S. economy

  22-04-2016 14:34
  
  The Obama administration is continuing its push to advance math and science education this week, turning attention to early learning with the announcement of a slew of initiatives aimed at promoting the so-called STEM fields of science, technology, mathematics and engineering.[ Related: STEM education gets boost from White House ]The White House and Department of Education are positioning early STEM education as a key to the administration's goal of elevating the nation's competitive position, b
  
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• Indians can now tweet for air pollution data

  22-04-2016 14:22
  
  Indians love to discuss the weather and more recently the pollution that is on the increase in some of the country's cities. A new tool from Twitter could help people stay updated on pollution levels.The company has teamed up with a local data journalism outfit, IndiaSpend, to launch a service that provides users in Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai with updates on the pollution level in their locality if they send a tweet using the #Breathe hashtag with their location.Users will then get a reply with
  
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• Why enterprise developers could save Windows 10 Mobile

  22-04-2016 14:00
  
  Microsoft's Windows 10 Mobile platform, formerly known simply as Windows Mobile, has less than 3 percent mobile OS market share, and it is so far from the center of Microsoft's focus that it was barely even mentioned at last month's Build developer conference in San Francisco. The company also recently released iOS versions of some of its most popular apps, including Office, that were greatly improved, taking away one of Windows' traditional advantages over rival platforms.So why would a savvy s
  
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• Next big thing in smartphones might be small

  22-04-2016 14:00
  
  During the past few years, high-end smartphones have grown progressively larger. But that wasn't always the case.In the early days of smartphones, mobile devices were already colossal. The word "brick" was often used when describing the first BlackBerry phones, and early Palm Treos were weighty enough to injure a toe if you dropped one on your foot. In the mid-to-late 2000s, phone manufacturers focused on packing more and more features into smaller, thinner and lighter handsets.Samsung Samsung's
  
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• Windows 10's upgrade model temporarily wipes $1.6B from Microsoft's books

  22-04-2016 13:03
  
  Microsoft's decision to radically change the distribution and maintenance of Windows 10 put a $1.6 billion temporary dent in its revenue, the company said Thursday.
  In a filing covering the March quarter, Microsoft pointed to the revenue deferral of Windows 10 -- a relatively new way of accounting for the Redmond, Wash. company -- as a reason for the 6% year-over-year decline in revenue.
  "Revenue decreased $1.2 billion or 6%, primarily due to the impact of a net revenue deferral related to Wind
  
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• LG G5 vs. Samsung Galaxy S7: Which one is right for you?

  22-04-2016 13:00
  
  If you’re an Android user and you’re looking to get the latest premium phone, you’re likely choosing between the recently-launched Samsung Galaxy S7 or the LG G5.
  Both phones are impressive in their own right, but because they’re virtually similar in their hardware offerings, choosing between one or the other could be tough. You could peruse through our reviews of both the G5 ($649 on Amazon) or Galaxy S7 ($633 on Amazon) to figure out which one is ri
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: How to silence your Apple Watch

  22-04-2016 13:00
  One of the great things about the Apple Watch is how convenient it is to get notifications. However, it can also be annoying to hear notification chimes while wearing your watch.Not to worry, it’s quick and easy to set your Apple Watch to silent mode so you can avoid unwanted noises.Two ways to silence your Apple Watch
  You can silence your Apple Watch right from the watch itself, or you can do it via the Watch app on your iPhone. Either way works and it takes just a few seconds to mute you
  
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• Windows phones' free-fall may force Microsoft to push harder on Windows 10 adoption

  22-04-2016 12:40
  
  Poor little Windows phone could have a bigger effect on Microsoft's business than you'd think. As the company's mobile device strategy continues to disintegrate, Microsoft may feel compelled to push harder on Windows 10 adoption and paid services to prove it can survive without a viable smartphone—and that could be bad news for consumers. 
  The raw numbers are shocking: Microsoft sold a minuscule 2.3 million Lumia phones last quarter, down from 8.6 million a year ago. Phone revenue de
  
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• Samenwerking leidt tot geavanceerde oplossingen voor data-analyse

  22-04-2016 12:26
  Atos en Siemens gaan gemeenschappelijke oplossingen voor data-analyse, gebaseerd op het Sinalytics-platform van Siemens, naar de markt brengen. Het platform komt tegemoet aan strenge eisen op het gebied van veiligheid en integriteit van data in verschillende sectoren, in het bijzonder de industrie.Atos en Siemens... lees meer
  
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• Hands on: The iPhone SE -- a classic design with modern hardware

  22-04-2016 12:08
  
  I've learned in recent years that -- when it comes to laptops, smartphones and tablets -- bigger is better for my personal use and work. So spending time with latest round of Apple devices has been a bit odd, and a little nostalgic.
  Not long ago, 4-in. iPhones and 9.7-in. iPads were the high-end options in Apple's mobile lineup. But that was before the 4.7-in. iPhone 6 and iPad Pro (available in 9.7-in. and 12.9-in. models).
  Now comes the iPhone SE, which was unveiled last month and is now ship
  
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• Dag van de Aarde: drie milieuvriendelijke ict-initiatieven

  22-04-2016 12:08
  Vandaag is de internationale Dag van de Aarde, een dag die in het teken staat van de problematiek rond natuur, milieu en klimaatverandering. In het bedrijfsleven staat maatschappelijk verantwoord ondernemen (mvo) meer dan ooit op de agenda, het wordt langzamerhand echt onderdeel van de dienstverlening en het... lees meer
  
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• Meteor’s Apollo unites client apps and back-end databases

  22-04-2016 12:00
  
  Developers of the Meteor JavaScript framework this week are introducing Apollo, a data stack leveraging Facebook's GraphQL query language and managing data access from mobile and browser clients.
  Available as a technical preview, Apollo features a client that can be dropped into a JavaScript front end, where developers can use data from a GraphQL server. An API enables apps to be developed on top of services. Eventually, Apollo will serve as the data stack inside of Meteor, and it will work wit
  
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• Here's how Apple's updated MacBook stacks up against current PCs

  22-04-2016 12:00
  
  Apple arguably led the way into sleeker, more advanced ultraportable laptops. But with yet another minor update, this time to its 12-inch MacBook, there seems to be less leading and more following these days. While our colleagues at Macworld put the new laptop through the wringer, we’re comparing it spec-to-spec against the current crop of PC laptops to see how it might measure up. Alaina Yee The LG Gram 15 has a giant screen compared to the 12-inch MacBook but they weigh virtually the sam
  
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• Acer’s (almost) crush-proof, spill-proof Chromebook

  22-04-2016 12:00
  
  Acer is producing a Chromebook that is designed specifically for business -- and the truly clumsy.
  The new laptop, Chromebook 14 for Work, is due in May at a starting price of $349. As its name suggests, it may be aimed at a specific group of users: Businesses that have adopted Google for Work or live mostly in the cloud. But it also has some interesting design features.
  Say you're sitting in an airport lounge and accidentally spill your coffee on it. The coffee saturates the keyboard. The hot
  
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• Apple’s iBooks Store and iTunes Movies shut down by Chinese government

  22-04-2016 09:22
  
  A Chinese regulator is said to have ordered Apple to shut down its iBooks Store and iTunes Movies only six months after the services were launched in the country.The action against Apple in a country, which it rates as its second largest market by revenue after the U.S., came from the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, reported The New York Times, quoting two persons who spoke on the condition of anonymity.U.S. tech companies have been under pressure to compl
  
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• Uber settles with drivers without compromising on their contractor status

  22-04-2016 07:22
  
  Uber Technologies has arrived at a settlement with drivers in two lawsuits, that could see the company paying up to US$100 million, but without a change in the classification of its drivers from independent contractors to employees.The settlement, submitted in court Thursday, is a big boost for the ride-hailing app company as driver reclassification would have raised its costs in terms of employee benefits as well as set a precedent for similar court disputes against on-demand companies that typ
  
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• The FBI paid more than $1 million to hack the San Bernardino iPhone

  22-04-2016 04:22
  
  In the San Bernardino case, it turned out that the FBI didn’t actually need Apple’s help to access the data in shooter Syed Rizwan Farook’s iPhone 5c. But if Apple had helped, it certainly would have been cheaper.
  Speaking at a security conference in London, FBI Director James Comey was asked how much the bureau paid the third-party gray-hat hackers for the tool that broke into the iPhone. “A lot, more than I will make in the remainder of this job, which is seven years a
  
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• Apple's iCloud problems are reportedly due to office politics

  22-04-2016 04:21
  As iPhone sales growth slows, Apple has pointed to software and services like Apple Music, Apple Pay, and iCloud as strong revenue generators. But the company’s quest to turn its cloud services into the next big thing has been sabotaged by internal conflicts, The Information reported on Thursday.
  The problem: Apple needs to develop new infrastructure to make iCloud and iTunes more reliable. Anyone who has been prompted to enter their Apple ID and password over and over again for no reason
  
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• Tips for hiring the right remote worker

  22-04-2016 01:37
  
  Interviewing remote workers is much different than hiring for a traditional, on-site position. In addition to the usual questions about knowledge, hard skills and experience, interviewing candidates for a remote position must take into account commitment, ability to work independently, oral and written communication skills, conflict resolution, motivation and technology prowess.
  "There are some differences to look for when you're hiring remote workers. You need to emphasize constant communicatio
  
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• MIT uses 4D maps to help robot teams navigate moving obstacles

  22-04-2016 01:35
  
  It's one thing to keep robots from crashing into fixed obstacles like walls or furniture, but preventing collisions with other moving things is a much tougher challenge. Targeting teams of robots working together, MIT on Thursday announced a new algorithm that helps robots avoid moving objects.Planning algorithms for robot teams can be centralized, in which a single computer makes decisions for the whole team, or decentralized, in which each robot makes its own decisions. The latter approac
  
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• Google's CEO just called the next wave in computing, and it's not VR

  22-04-2016 01:19
  Every decade or so, a new era of computing comes along that shapes everything we do. Much of the 90s was about client-server and Windows PCs. By the aughts, the Web had taken over and every advertisement carried a URL. Then came the iPhone, and we're in the midst of a decade defined by people tapping myopically into tiny screens.So what comes next, when mobile gives way to something else? Mark Zuckerberg thinks it's VR. There's likely to be a lot of that, but there's a more foundational technolo
  
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• 43% off Energizer Cigarette Lighter Power Inverter - Deal Alert

  22-04-2016 00:01
  
  The Energizer EN100 Ultra Compact Plug-in Power Inverter provides 100 watts of continuous AC power to your devices. Designed for road trips or anyone who drives frequently, this device simply plugs into your cigarette adaptor and can charge everything from your laptop, to your portable DVD player, to your various phones and tablets simultaneously. Or keep it on hand for emergencies.This unit averages 4.5 out of 5 stars on Amazon from almost 500 people (read reviews). Regularly listed for $3
  
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