IT Executive news

• Samsung's Tizen 3.0 to take on Android and iOS starting in September

  28-04-2016 22:36
  
  Many alternative mobile operating systems like Firefox have fallen by the wayside while Android and iOS continue to dominate, but Samsung's Tizen has survived.After years of inactivity, Tizen is now back on the map with a major OS upgrade. A new version of the OS -- Tizen 3.0 -- was announced this week at the Samsung Developers Conference in San Francisco.Tizen 3.0 is a big technological upgrade that should make it compatible with some of the latest smartphones and tablets. Other
  
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• Uber might charge you extra for making your driver wait

  28-04-2016 22:30
  
  Next time you hail an Uber, make sure you’re ready to head out the door or it might cost you. 
  Uber is considering adding new extra charges for passengers who make their Uber drivers wait longer than two minutes. According to The Wall Street Journal, these charges will accrue on a per-minute basis, starting from the time the Uber app notifies passengers that their ride has arrived.
  In addition, Uber is decreasing the no-penalty cancellation window from five minutes down to two minute
  
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• OneNote gets easy video embedding and many more new features

  28-04-2016 22:25
  
  Microsoft has announced a veritable bonanza of new features for its OneNote note-taking software across multiple platforms, providing added functionality for people who rely on it to organize their thoughts. First and foremost, Microsoft made it easier to save online videos for later use inside OneNote. Users can now add a link to one of a handful of popular video services inside OneNote for Windows 10, Mac, and iOS, and Microsoft's software will automatically embed the linked video into th
  
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• Motorola's former president returns to Google to head new hardware division

  28-04-2016 22:24
  
  Rick Osterloh may no longer be head of Motorola, but he'll still be plenty involved with Android hardware. Recode reports that the former president has been officially hired by Google to run its hardware division.
  Osterloh is Google’s newest senior vice president of hardware and will report directly to CEO Sundar Pichai. He’ll be overseeing the company’s Nexus devices, as well as other consumer hardware, including tablets, Chromebook laptops, OnHub, and even Google Glass.
  
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• Facebook in the zone: 5 things it’s doing right

  28-04-2016 22:16
  
  After all the news that came out of Facebook's earnings call Wednesday, the social networking giant has hit the zone.
  Wall Street was pleasantly surprised by Facebook's financial results , while the company also had good news to report about user growth, mobile usage and Instagram.
  "Facebook is hitting on all cylinders now," said Dan Olds, an analyst with The Gabriel Consulting Group. "Advertising revenue is up an astounding 57 percent year-over-year, with total revenue up 52 percent. Better ye
  
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• 25% off Logitech MX Anywhere 2 Wireless Mobile Mouse - Deal Alert

  28-04-2016 21:30
  
  The MX Anywhere 2 from Logitech is designed to track accurately on virtually any surface you need it to -- from your desk, to an airplane seat, to even a piece of glass. Easy-Switch technology allows you to pair up to three Windows or Mac devices at the same time, and switch between them with the touch of the button. The sculpted shape supports your hand and is designed to feel comfortable for hours on end.  And the MX 2 Anywhere charges quickly. A one-minute charge gets you an ho
  
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• As tablet sales take a dive, analysts expect smartphone vendors to launch convertibles

  28-04-2016 21:18
  
  The traditional tablet may not be dying, but it’s increasingly being relegated to the low end of the market, according to an IDC report released Thursday. Users are migrating toward convertibles instead, and the vendors are following.
  IDC said worldwide tablet sales fell 14.7 percent to just 39.6 million units during the first quarter of 2016. Excluding some seasonal holiday upticks, tablet sales have generally declined from their all-time high in the fourth quarter of 2013, when wor
  
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• 73% off Tribe Premium Water Resistant Cell Phone Armband - Deal Alert

  28-04-2016 20:59
  
  Tribe's armband cell phone holder regularly lists for $29.99, but with this 73% discount you can buy it now for just $7.98. It averages 4.5 stars out of 5 from over 4,700 people on Amazon (read reviews).
  Tribe's band is designed for activity. It's water-resistant, ultra-light, and made of high quality neoprene so it can flex, twist and bend without stretching or losing its shape. It features a key holder, as well as a reflective strip for increased outdoor visibility. Your touchscreen remains f
  
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• Microsoft, Google sweeten cloud freebies

  28-04-2016 20:26
  
  Microsoft and Google each this week increased incentives offered for joining their cloud platforms, highlighting the aggressive nature of this battle for market share.
  It’s not uncommon for cloud computing providers to offer free services. In the IaaS market all the big providers have free service tiers that allow customers to test their products before paying for them. The expanded freebies announced this week by these vendors goes beyond that though.
  + MORE AT NETWORK WORLD: Free cloud
  
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• Samsung explains why it’s all in on VR

  28-04-2016 20:03
  
  SAN FRANCISCO — Virtual reality technology (VR) is very much the center of attention at the fourth annual Samsung Developer Conference (SDC).The company's day one keynote address kicked of with futuristic video clips that showcased its various VR products, including the Gear VR headset and the new Gear 360 VR camera, which lets Galaxy S7 users capture 360-degree video. The company talked up its Milk VR service, designed to help users discover compelling VR content.Samsung also announced a
  
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• Developers leak Slack access tokens on GitHub, putting sensitive business data at risk

  28-04-2016 19:53
  
  Developers from hundreds of companies have included access tokens for their Slack accounts in public projects on GitHub, putting their teams' internal chats and other data at risk.
  Slack has become one of the most popular collaboration and internal communication tools used by companies because of its versatility. The platform's API allows users to develop bots that can receive commands or post content from external services directly in Slack channels, making it easy to automate various tasks.
  M
  
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• What Apple's first down quarter in 13 years really means

  28-04-2016 19:38
  
  Apple's 13-year revenue growth streak has come to an end. The company this week reported its first year-over-year decline in revenue since 2003, down 13 percent in the first quarter of 2016 from the same period last year. 
  The downswing, which comes almost five years after former CEO and founder Steve Jobs passed away, is fueling some negative perceptions of Apple amidst the realization that companies cannot continue to grow in perpetuity. The reason Apple's improbable period of growth end
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: How to build leadership DNA skills

  28-04-2016 19:34
  
  If you’re lucky, you’ve had an amazing boss at some point in your career. Someone who helped you grow, solve problems and guide you to the next stage in your career.Mine was my first manager, who led our multi-disciplinary team as we implemented a massive customer care solution. There were more than 100 people on the project, yet we each felt he knew us well, understood what information we needed to be successful, and made leadership look easy. Even now, more than 20 years later, he
  
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• Nvidia GPU-powered autonomous car teaches itself to see and steer

  28-04-2016 18:45
  
  During the past nine months, an Nvidia engineering team built a self-driving car with one camera, one Drive-PX embedded computer and only 72 hours of training data. Nvidia published an academic preprint of the results of the DAVE2 project entitled End to End Learning for Self-Driving Cars on arXiv.org hosted by the Cornell Research Library.
  The Nvidia project called DAVE2 is named after a 10-year-old Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) project known as DARPA Autonomous Vehicle (DA
  
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• Thumb PC uses Google software to give computer vision to robots and drones

  28-04-2016 18:41
  
  A new USB stick computer uses Google's machine-learning software to give drones and robots the equivalent of a human eye, and add new smarts to cameras.Movidius’ Fathom Neural Compute Stick isn't your conventional PC. It is instead designed to analyze pixels and provide the right context for images.Fathom provides the much-needed horsepower for devices like drones, robots and cameras to run computer vision applications like image recognition. These devices alone typically don't have the ab
  
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• Facebook gives Windows 10 a hug with new Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram apps

  28-04-2016 18:26
  
  Facebook has made good on its plans to embrace Windows 10, offering new apps for Messenger, Instagram, and its core social network.
  The new Facebook and Messenger apps should be available on desktop and tablet PCs later today, with the former replacing the current Windows 8 version. While you could just keep using Facebook’s desktop website, the native Windows 10 apps support Live Tiles and Action Center notifications. The apps also have a slightly cleaner design than their Web counterpar
  
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• 5 things containers need to win the enterprise

  28-04-2016 18:20
  
  5 things containers need to win the enterpriseImage by PexelsContainer technology like Docker and CoreOS is growing in popularity as companies to realize the benefits of the flexible service and application delivery platform they offer. But the technology is not without its challenges in the enterprise.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Bots are the new generation of apps

  28-04-2016 17:46
  
  Bots (or chatbots) seem to be taking the technology world by storm. Not a week goes by without some exciting announcements related to chatbots. Recently, at the F8 conference, Facebook announced a new chatbot platform for its messenger app. This announcement comes just a few days after Microsoft’s release of its Bot Framework at the Build Conference. While we are still in the early days of the “Bot revolution,” we can clearly see how chatbots are going to become an integral par
  
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• Oracle sets its sights on engineering and construction with Textura buy

  28-04-2016 17:19
  
  Oracle is spending $663 million to buy Textura, a company that offers cloud services for the engineering and construction industry.Textura's products will be combined with Oracle's existing Primavera project-management suite -- the result of a 2008 acquisition by the database giant -- in the Oracle Engineering and Construction Global Business Unit, Oracle announced on Thursday. The focus of that unit will be offering a comprehensive cloud-based project control and execution platform that manages
  
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• ISIS cyberattack capabilities are unorganized, underfunded -- for now

  28-04-2016 17:16
  
  The U.S. and its allies should be concerned about cyberattacks from ISIS-affiliated groups, but the hackers are poorly organized and likely underfunded, at least in the short term, according to a new report.
  Several pro-ISIS hacking groups announced this month they are joining together to form the United Cyber Caliphate, but the groups seem to have limited abilities, according to a report from security intelligence research group Flashpoint. Still, with new coordination, "even limited succ
  
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• Estonian man gets over 7 years in prison for role in global DNS hijacking botnet

  28-04-2016 17:09
  An Estonian man has been sentenced to seven years and three months in prison in the U.S. for his role in a cybercriminal operation that infected over 4 million computers with DNS hijacking malware.Vladimir Tsastsin, 35, from Tartu, Estonia, was one of the key players in a US$14 million click fraud scheme. He is the sixth individual to be sentenced in the case and has received the longest prison sentence. The sentence was handed down Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New
  
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• Zuckerberg sees 'better than human' AI in next 10 years

  28-04-2016 16:40
  
  Mark Zuckerberg expects artificial intelligence will progress to make computers better than humans at basic sensory perception within the next 10 years, and that Facebook will end up knowing a lot more about you than it does now.The prediction is the latest from a top tech CEO to indicate the fast improvement being made in machine learning systems that just a few years ago would have struggled to recognize a dog from a cat.The Facebook CEO was speaking about core things that humans do, such as s
  
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• The post-acquisition blues

  28-04-2016 15:32
  
  I have written before about the wisdom of involving security early in the process of acquiring another company. But given what happened at my company last week, it’s probably a good idea to say it all again.Trouble TicketAt issue: The company has signed a deal to acquire a small software company, but no security review was conducted ahead of the deal’s close.
  Action plan: Quickly assess the company’s weaknesses and shore them up just as fast.To read this article in full or to
  
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• IBM Watson teams up with Elmo

  28-04-2016 15:27
  
  IBM's Watson cognitive computing platform is heading into the classroom, thanks to a new partnership between Big Blue and Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit group that produces Sesame Street.This week, IBM and Sesame Workshop announced that they have entered into a three-year research partnership aimed at developing new tools to deliver personalized learning experiences for preschool-age children.[ Related: Why early STEM education will drive the U.S. economy ]"Really the goal of the partnership is
  
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• FBI confirms it won't tell Apple how it unlocked terrorist's iPhone

  28-04-2016 15:24
  
  The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) confirmed Wednesday that it will not tell Apple how the agency hacked an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino terrorists.
  In a statement, Amy Hess, assistant director for science and technology, said the FBI will not submit technical details to the Vulnerabilities Equities Process (VEP), a policy that permits government agencies to disclose acquired software vulnerabilities to vendors.
  Hess said that the FBI does not have enough information about th
  
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• HP's new Chromebook 13 has features to match top-line Windows PCs

  28-04-2016 15:22
  
  HP's new Chromebook 13 offers some of the latest technologies that the company is also putting in its top-line Windows PCs.The new laptop is just 12.9-millimeters thick and has a 13.3-inch display that shows images at a 3200 x 1800 pixel resolution. That is the highest-resolution screen ever in Chromebooks, an improvement from the 2560 x 1700 pixel display on Google's Chromebook Pixel.The Chromebook 13 weighs 2.86 kilograms, and is the first with Intel's Skylake-based Core M processor, which foc
  
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• Big data tegen fraude en misdaad vraagt nieuwe kaders

  28-04-2016 15:08
  Inzet van big data voor bestrijding van fraude en criminaliteit biedt kansen. Big data maakt snelle en precieze reconstructies van misdaden mogelijk, evenals gerichte inspecties en het realtime volgen van ontwikkelingen bij crisissituaties. Maar er zitten ook allerlei risico’s aan vast, zegt de WRR in een vandaag... lees meer
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: What kind of ERP solution do you seek, Mr. Right or Mr. Right Now?

  28-04-2016 14:02
  
  It is a tough choice to evaluate and determine both short term (Mr. Right Now) and long term best fit (Mr. Right).  Just like when you are searching for your soul mate, you need to think about this decision in the long term.Therefore it is best to focus on a total evaluation of the vendor and the solution. Most companies do not rip and replace their ERP system frequently, so selecting the right solution for you now and long term is critical. As part of the total evaluation, you should evalu
  
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• How Snapchat paves the way for future of location marketing

  28-04-2016 14:00
  
  Snapchat is bringing user location to the forefront of its social media experience. Today location is a defining characteristic of Snapchat, and the company continues to develop new features that make otherwise mundane longitudes and latitudes meaningful.The effective use of location data has proven difficult for the social giants, and the market is rife with unmet opportunity around user location. Nine out of 10 smartphone owners enable location services on their devices, according to eMarketer
  
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• 10 top social media marketing success stories

  28-04-2016 14:00
  
  Bold and successful social media campaignsImage by PexelsPop quiz. It's Black Friday, one of the year's biggest shopping days. Your company sells a product online that would make a great holiday gift. So you, (a) offer a juicy one-day discount; (b) ignore the day completely and do business as usual; or (c) charge customers $5 and give them absolutely nothing in return.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• MashZone NextGen ontsluit en visualiseert streaming data én ‘data-at-rest’

  28-04-2016 13:55
  Softwaremaker van applicaties voor procesmanagement en real-time analytics Software AG komt met een nieuwe zakelijke analytics-oplossing waarmee gebruikers interactieve data-visualisaties kunnen maken en dashboards en inzichten kunnen bekijken en delen op vaste en mobiele platformen.Voor organisaties is het cruciaal... lees meer
  
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• Why paid family leave is good business

  28-04-2016 13:54
  
  When I gave birth to my son, there were some complications. I'm not going to go into it, but he had to stay in the NICU for 12 days after he was born. I can honestly say they were the worst 12 days of my life. I think back to that time, and the only reason I emerged with my sanity (relatively) intact was that my husband was with me, 24/7, the entire time.
  I was working freelance at the time, so I simply moved deadlines and told my clients I'd be taking some time off. My husband had initiated his
  
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• Should hospitals pay up when it comes to ransomware?

  28-04-2016 13:11
  
  Ransomware has become a major threat to the U.S. healthcare industry this year. The high-profile attacks that involved Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital in Los Angeles, MedStar Health in Washington, D.C., and other healthcare systems are just the tip of the iceberg. Over half of hospitals surveyed recently by HIMSS Analytics and Healthcare IT News said they had been hit by ransomware attacks in the past year. Another 25 percent were unsure whether such attacks had occurred. To read this artic
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: IT managers may need to change their work behavior to succeed

  28-04-2016 13:06
  
  People who work in IT have very consistent work behavior tendencies. In fact, 90 percent or more have similar tendencies in three of four major personality categories. The bottom line is that IT attracts a certain type of personality.These work behavior tendencies help us become successful as technology experts, but they can present major challenges when you move into a management role.It's important for any IT manager to be aware of these tendencies and "what makes IT people tick." Understandin
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Deadpool: The first R rated superhero movie is on iTunes

  28-04-2016 13:00
  I’ve been a fan of comics for quite a long time, but somehow I never ended up reading Deadpool. It’s a comic that has been around since the 90s, but it just never got on my radar. And that’s a real shame because Deadpool is one of the best characters in the Marvel universe.Fortunately for me, Deadpool was recently made into a movie and, after watching the movie, I’ve begun reading the comics. You can buy Deadpool in HD on iTunes for $14.99. The film also comes bundled wit
  
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• Five years later, my sturdy iPad 2 keeps plugging along

  28-04-2016 13:00
  It’s been five years since I bought a then-brand-new iPad 2, and—unsurprisingly—the machine I bought back then now shows every bit of its age: There are cracks in the bezel, scratches on the back, and the 30-pin syncing/charging cable that it came with has some bare stretches of wire that need some electrical tape, probably sooner than later.
  Yeah, it might make sense to replace it, trade it in, and flat-out retire it—considering how many iPad models Apple has in its sto
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Learning to let go and get out of the weeds

  28-04-2016 12:54
  
  2015 was my year of learning to let go.  I will admit that it was tough, I was successful some of the time, like a mother hen most of the time, gritting my teeth and trying not to take over things a lot of the time.  I am, to all intents and purposes a control freak.  Strike that… a recovering control freak.What am I learning to let go of?
  I’ve had a serious dose of life lessons at home and at work. At work I decided to expand my team, to write two more books (both wi
  
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• 4 tips to protect digital identity in an IoT world

  28-04-2016 12:15
  
  Identity protectionImage by ThinkstockThe IoT security battle is lost if you’re uncertain that the person or thing on the other end of an online transaction is actually who or what it claims to be. Most IoT attacks occur when malicious actors are able to replace an authentic sensor with a compromised device, or when unauthorized remote access is gained and transmits a false signal to a device. To prevent these kinds of attacks, digital identity must establish effective online trust for all
  
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• My year with the Apple Watch: Good-looking tech, still flawed

  28-04-2016 12:01
  
  When it comes to the Apple Watch, it's important to know this: Before its arrival last year I was 1) initially skeptical about the whole concept; 2) willing to give it a try as details emerged; and 3) among the first wave of buyers to plunk down $599 and put it on my wrist. I've been loving and hating on it ever since.
  I'm not alone, at least when it comes to buying. An estimated 12 million Apple Watches have been sold and it's dominating in the wearables market. But even fans like me can see t
  
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• GNU compilers learn new C++, parallelism tricks

  28-04-2016 12:00
  
  The GNU Compiler Collection will be refreshed with updated C++ standards compliance and improvements in parallelism and diagnostics.
  Described as a "major" release, GCC 6.1 leverages the C++ 14 standard, which was approved in 2014. "The C++ front end now defaults to the C++ 14 standard, instead of C++98, [which] it has been defaulting to previously," said Jakub Jelinek, a Red Hat consulting engineer and a co-release manager of GCC, in a bulletin.[ The art of programming is changing rapidly. We
  
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• 10 Android apps developers will love

  28-04-2016 12:00
  
  Android apps for app buildersWhen it comes to tablet apps, iPad vs. Android comparisons spark spirited debate. In the area of apps for developers, the Android tablet apps are more often free and less polished. On the other hand, there are plenty of Android tablet apps that will help developers in one way or another. While Android takes a lot of flack for “fragmentation,” in many ways it is now less fragmented than iOS from the viewpoint of a developer. It’s straightforward to c
  
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• Smartphone shipments dip as iPhone ‘fatigue’ sets in and China reaches saturation

  28-04-2016 08:42
  
  The global smartphone market saw its first year-on-year decline in the first quarter of this year, with both Samsung Electronics and Apple shipping fewer phones, according to a research firm.Global smartphone shipments fell 3 percent annually to 334.6 million from 345 million units in the first quarter of 2015, Strategy Analytics said late Wednesday.It attributed the decline to slowing smartphone growth because of increasing saturation in major markets like China and consumer caution about the f
  
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• U.S. cyberwar against ISIS could use methods and tactics criminals use against enterprises

  28-04-2016 03:19
  
  Cyberwar against ISIS could bring into play tools and tactics that corporate security pros face every day, only this time they will be used as part of a larger objective than criminal profit.
  The goals of the offensive are to disrupt communications within ISIS and between the group and potential recruits, according to a story in the New York Times.
  To meet those goals, U.S. Cyber Command could use such means as DDoS and man-in-the-middle attacks, banking Trojans and even ransomware-type attacks
  
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• Elon Musk says Tesla’s next-gen Model 4 will be affordable for everyone

  28-04-2016 03:18
  
  Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk gave the world a peek into how the company plans to follow its latest electric vehicle, the Model 3 sedan, saying the fourth generation of the vehicle will be affordable to nearly everyone.
  During a question-and-answer period at the Future Transport Solutions conference in Oslo last week, Musk told Norway's Minister of Transport and Communications, Ketil Solvik, that with economies of scale and higher volume production lines, vehicle prices will drop.
  The Model 3, whi
  
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• Despite growth, Twitter still disappoints

  28-04-2016 03:16
  
  Twitter, industry analysts generally agree, is a company doing really cool things, but it continues to disappoint investors.
  Tuesday, when Twitter reported its first-quarter results, was no exception. The company reported user growth, adding 5 million users for a total of 310 million, and posted $595 million in revenue.
  Twitter's good news was quickly overshadowed by the fact that the company didn't meet analysts' expectations of nearly $608 million in revenue for the quarter.
  The social networ
  
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• With Fiorina pick, Cruz’s H-1B stance now in question

  28-04-2016 03:14
  
  In 2013, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) emerged as one of the Senate's top H-1B visa supporters, and argued for a 500% H-1B visa cap increase. But during his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, Cruz had a conversion.
  Cruz's presidential platform proposed a $110,000 minimum wage for visa workers, among other restrictions, as a way ending their use as low-cost labor. The move marked a complete turnabout on the H-1B issue.
  Cruz's decision Wednesday to add former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fior
  
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• Comcast raises trial data caps to a terabyte but won't commit to nationwide rollout

  28-04-2016 03:09
  If you’ve begun limiting your Netflix viewing because your home is one of the minority of users laboring under a Comcast data cap, good news: Comcast said late Tuesday that it has raised the cap to a terabyte’s worth of data per month.
  The bad news? You can’t help but think that Comcast will soon be extending data caps nationwide.
  In a blog post, Comcast said that the company had “experimented with offers, listened to feedback, and learned a lot.” In 2012, Comcast
  
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• Microsoft is making big data really small using DNA

  28-04-2016 02:32
  
  Microsoft has partnered with a San Francisco-based company to encode information on synthetic DNA to test its potential as a new medium for data storage. Twist Bioscience will provide Microsoft with 10 million DNA strands for the purpose of encoding digital data. In other words, Microsoft is trying to figure out how the same molecules that make up humans' genetic code can be used to encode digital information. While a commercial product is still years away, initial tests have show
  
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