IT Executive news

• IDG Contributor Network: 5 tips for continuously improving as a project manager

  06-05-2016 23:12
  We can always get better. Many of us have a long way to go...some are closer to the top than others. But improvement should always be the goal. We can always be serving our project, team and customers better tomorrow than we are today. But how do we get there? What can we do to be continually improving ourselves and our project management processes?I've come up with a list of five ways we can be doing this on each project...just by incorporating these concepts into each project going forward. I'
  
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• 29% off Seagate 4TB Portable External Hard Drive with 200GB of Cloud Storage - Deal Alert

  06-05-2016 21:46
  
  The Seagate Backup Plus portable drive offers the mobility of a portable drive with the high capacity of a desktop drive. With this 29% off deal you get a staggering 4TB physical storage + 200GB cloud storage for just $127 (list price $179.99). The unit averages 4.5 out of 5 stars on Amazon from over 7,500 people (read reviews).  To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• 3D printing industry to triple in four years to $21B

  06-05-2016 21:09
  
  The 3D printing market, which has grown by as much as 30% year-over-year in the past, is now set to triple in revenue over the next four years, according to a new report.
  This year, the 3D printing industry, which includes machines, materials and printing services, will reach $7.3 billion. By 2020, it is expected to grow to $21 billion, the report said. The new study is called "3D Printing: The Next Revolution in Industrial Manufacturing."Consumer Technology Association, United Parcel Service
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• IDG Contributor Network: You can't make money from open source

  06-05-2016 20:59
  
  During the Open Networking Summit, Peter Levine, general partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz said that open source needs a business model. Then at OpenStack Summit I bumped into a consultant who shared Levine's views. His exact words were: "Tell me a single company other than Red Hat that makes more than a billion dollars from Linux."This is something I often hear critics of open source: There is only one Red Hat and there isI have thought about addressing this topic for a ve
  
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• Not lost in translation: Researchers 'teach' computers to translate accurately

  06-05-2016 20:51
  
  Online translators are getting better, but there's still room for improvement. Researchers are now contributing new artificial intelligence techniques that could help accurately build full sentences.Algorithms developed by researchers at the University of Liverpool give computers a human-like touch while translating words and languages. They believe their methods are key to improving accuracy.Using the algorithms, a computer will be able to translate a word from an unknown language, an
  
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• That massive reported 'data breach' was just hype, Mail.ru says

  06-05-2016 20:46
  Hold Security made quite a splash in the security world on Wednesday when it claimed to have recovered 272 million stolen email credentials from a much larger trove, but on Friday the email provider most strongly affected called the report an effort to create media hype.Hold suggested that nearly 57 million of the stolen email accounts uncovered were from the popular Russian service Mail.ru. But more than 99.9 percent of the Mail.ru account credentials in a sample examined by the provider are in
  
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• The Oracle-Google trial over Android starts Monday. Here's what you need to know

  06-05-2016 20:10
  
  Oracle’s legal fight with Google over its use of Java in Android goes to a jury trial for the second time next week, and the stakes are even higher than when the two sides met in court four years ago.Oracle wants a whopping $8.8 billion in damages from Google, much more than the first time around, making it one of the biggest copyright cases ever, and it's anyone’s guess which way the jury will go.The timing is awkward for Google – its I/O conference comes smack in the middle o
  
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• Retailers must upgrade authentication, encryption and pen testing

  06-05-2016 19:23
  
  The PCI Security Standards Council now requires better authentication, encryption and penetration testing by companies that accept consumer payments, improvements lauded by security experts.
  "There are a lot of people who consider compliance to be policy for policy sake," said Ryan O’Leary, vice president of the threat research center at WhiteHat Security. "But with these three recommendations, it is really security-industry standards that are finally being forced upon companies. I would
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: CIO focus needs to shift from cutting IT costs

  06-05-2016 19:10
  
  Put your own house in order before you start giving advice to others is a popular idiom. And CIOs have been doing that for years, incrementally cutting costs in IT functions. But what if the mandate from your CEO is for IT to help improve the performance of another department such as finance and accounting (F&A), for instance, but at the same time cut F&A costs by 60 percent? How can IT help that department?We at Everest Group are assisting in a strategic plan for a client’s IT org
  
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• What does the future of the Apache Software Foundation hold?

  06-05-2016 18:40
  
  The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) will hold its second annual Apache: Big Data North America conference in Vancouver, BC, starting Monday next week. Alongside keynotes from companies like Netflix and IBM, and panels on a huge range of topics — from security and storage to managing distributed systems and machine learning — the foundation will also host a forum that looks to cut to the heart of its community model and how private companies should be involved in its work.On Wednesda
  
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• Lenovo patches serious flaw in pre-installed support tool

  06-05-2016 18:35
  
  Lenovo has fixed a vulnerability in its Lenovo Solution Center support tool that could allow attackers to execute code with system privileges and take over computers.The Lenovo Solution Center (LSC) is an application that comes pre-installed on many Lenovo laptops and desktops. It allows users to check their system’s virus and firewall status, update their software, perform backups, check battery health, get registration and warranty information and run hardware tests.The tool has two comp
  
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• 15 steps to become a CEO success

  06-05-2016 17:33
  
  EMC Chairman and CEO Joe Tucci is stepping down. Tucci said his goodbyes at this year’s EMC World [Disclosure: EMC is a client of the author]. He leaves his job as a success, assuring the firm will survive his departure (a best practice). However, we are surrounded by so many CEOs who are in trouble that I thought it would be good to explain what I think makes for a successful CEO in the hope we get more like Joe.There is very little good CEO training out there. The best have learned by ru
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: How hardware builds two-sided markets in the Internet of Things

  06-05-2016 17:07
  
  “Hardware is hard” is the mantra of Silicon Valley – I have heard it firsthand more than once in discussions along Sand Hill Road. The phrase goes hand-in-hand with Marc Andreessen’s “Software is eating the world.” Both statements are profoundly true and, in my experience; create the foundational doctrine for most venture capital today whether in the Valley or not. But these two statements, taken together or separately, do not define the opportunity in technol
  
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• Lyft and GM will put self-driving taxis on the road within a year

  06-05-2016 16:57
  
  The self-driving taxi revolution could soon be at hand as Lyft and GM prepare to test driverless cars on public roads.
  A Lyft executive told the Wall Street Journal that a pilot program will launch within one year in a still-undisclosed city, using GM’s Chevrolet Bolt electric cars. Some details are still being ironed out, but the plan is to let users opt into the program wherever it happens. The self-driving technology will be powered by Cruise Automation, a startup that GM intends to ac
  
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• Cloud coding pitfalls: Tips for avoiding big, bad bugs

  06-05-2016 16:45
  
  According to this ACM article, the seven coding constructs that have been the most frequent source of bugs are function calls, assignments, conditions, pointers, uses of NULL, variable declarations, function declarations, and return statements. There are dozens of other conference presentations, books, and taxonomies that provide statistically valid guidance — or at least opinions — on coding practices to avoid.But so far, I haven’t found anything like that for coding in the cl
  
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• Apple's SAP deal means more iOS enterprise apps

  06-05-2016 16:03
  
  In an effort to expand its presence in the enterprise market, Apple this week announced another major partnership with a business-software giant.  In a wide-ranging deal with SAP that's set to begin later this year, Apple will work alongside one the stalwarts of enterprise to develop more native iOS apps, as well as an SDK for SAP's HANA cloud platform. The SDK is designed to let SAP's more than 2.5 million developers build native iOS apps that can tap into SAP systems and access data
  
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• Interop: Ransomware should haunt you all the time

  06-05-2016 16:00
  
  When the ransomware demands come in it’s really too late to come up with a good response plan, so do that as soon as you can, an Interop audience was told.
  “You need to decide beforehand whether you will pay and under what circumstances,” John Pironti, president of IP Architects, says. “It’s a cost benefit decision in the end.”
  +More on Network World: FBI: Ransomware threat at all-time high; how to protect company jewels | See all the stories from Interop +To
  
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• 72% off Cambridge SoundWorks OontZ Angle 3 Wireless Bluetooth Speaker - Deal Alert

  06-05-2016 15:48
  
  The Cambridge SoundWorks OontZ Angle 3 Next Generation Ultra Portable Wireless Bluetooth Speaker currently averages 4.5 out of 5 stars from over 5,000 people on Amazon (read reviews).  It's regular list price is $99.99, but with the current 72% discount you can get it for just $27.99. The OontZ Angle 3 connects effortlessly to your device via bluetooth. It is designed to be loud and clear, with rich bass delivered through their proprietary passive subwoofer design. IPX5 water res
  
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• The CSO password management survival guide

  06-05-2016 15:33
  
  By now we're all well aware of what makes a bad password … it's us.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Prepare your project for the 7 faces of change

  06-05-2016 15:20
  
  Over the years, a few key concepts have driven my approach to leading projects, programs and portfolios. Chief among them is change. Consider the definition of a project:"A project can be defined as a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service” - Project Management InstituteProjects always effect change - creating something new or different.  Even the exertion to create brings change.  Plus, we live in a world of constant change – change that c
  
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• Qualcomm flaw puts millions of Android devices at risk

  06-05-2016 14:36
  
  A vulnerability in an Android component shipped with phones that use Qualcomm chips puts users' text messages and call history at risk of theft.The flaw was found by security researchers from FireEye and was patched by Qualcomm in March. However, because the vulnerability was introduced five years ago, many affected devices are unlikely to ever receive the fix because they're no longer supported by their manufacturers.The vulnerability, which is tracked as CVE-2016-2060, is located on an Android
  
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• Toys "R" Us hires CIO to boost ecommerce, customer tech

  06-05-2016 14:28
  
  Toys "R" Us has named Phil Newmoyer as its new CIO, filling a key position for a toy retailer struggling to compete with Amazon.com and other ecommerce retailers. Newmoyer, fresh off a two-year stint as CIO of Serta Simmons Bedding, started his new role Monday and is based in the company's Wayne, N.J., headquarters.A Toys "R" Us spokeswoman told CIO.com that Newmoyer will "lead the IT portion of our ecommerce platform transition work in addition to other strategic initiatives, including global s
  
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• Netflix app gets stream-speed option, but you still can't download video

  06-05-2016 14:27
  
  When it comes to streaming video on mobile devices, one speed does not fit all. Users who don't have data caps want to stream at the highest available speed, for example, and others who need to be careful not to blow through their monthly data allotments may want slower speeds.
  Until yesterday, Netflix's mobile users were limited to a slow streaming speed that conserved data but also delivered relatively poor video quality. Today Netflix subscribers can choose the stream rates that suit them be
  
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• US trade body investigates seven smartphone companies

  06-05-2016 13:46
  A U.S. trade body has launched an investigation into seven smartphone companies on charges of patent infringement, which could lead to a ban on the sale of certain phones imported and sold by these vendors in the country.The U.S. International Trade Commission said it had instituted an investigation into devices from a group of mainly Asian companies, including Lenovo and its Motorola subsidiary, Samsung Electronics, ZTE, Sony, LG Electronics, HTC and BlackBerry.The complaint was filed against t
  
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• 5 things you need to know about 'Vibrant Gorilla Glass'

  06-05-2016 13:40
  
  When you hear the term "Gorilla Glass," you likely think of mobile device screens, possibly even smartphone display "stress tests" in which overly enthusiastic nerds attempt to purposely break assess the strength of glass displays. If so, that makes perfect sense, because many of today’s leading smartphone producers use Gorilla Glass, including Samsung and HTC, as well as notable PC makers Dell and HP. (A number of other major gadget makers also use Gorilla Glass, but they choose not to pu
  
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• Samsung Notebook 9 Pro review: This feature-packed 15-inch laptop makes a few compromises

  06-05-2016 13:32
  
  You buy a big and heavy 15.6-inch laptop so you can get real work done faster—that means a burly quad-core CPU and discrete graphics.
  Samsung’s Notebook 9 Pro packs those in, then adds an excellent 4K Ultra HD touchscreen and a 10Gbps USB 3.1 Type C port to the mix. At $1,500 MSRP (available at Best Buy), it’s priced the same as competing laptops that have fewer high-tech features. That’s a hell of a deal.Room to workThe Notebook 9 Pro has the classic look of a Sams
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: 6 free Star Wars games for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch

  06-05-2016 13:00
  
  With the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens a whole new generation has come to love the world and characters created by George Lucas. And the release of the latest Star Wars movie has also gotten many more people interested in playing Star Wars games on their iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.
  In this roundup I've included 6 of the best Star Wars games for iOS devices. All of these Star Wars games are free to play, and also offer in-app purchases to help enhance your gameplay.
  I've included the o
  
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• High-tech moms: Tips for managing family life while steering booming businesses

  06-05-2016 12:30
  
  Happy Mother's Day, Tech Moms!Image by ThinkstockTo help celebrate Mother’s Day, we asked some successful and hard-charging entrepreneurs, who also happen to be moms, to share their insights into managing the many rigors of creating a startup company, all while juggling the daily challenges of parenting. They share how their work lives and home lives sometimes have balance – and sometimes not – and why a strong support network is sacred, and perfection is overrated.To read this
  
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• NativeScript warms up to AngularJS for mobile dev

  06-05-2016 12:00
  
  NativeScript, Telerik's open source platform for building native cross-platform mobile applications, has moved to a 2.0 release this week, highlighted by integration with the planned AngularJS 2 Web development framework.
  NativeScript leverages both JavaScript and TypeScript and uses native components and direct access to native APIs for iOS and Android development. "NativeScript 2.0 [offers] the ability for the Angular community to reuse their Angular 2 code base or at least standardize on Ang
  
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• Maps of Google and other services could require security clearance in India

  06-05-2016 11:42
  
  New rules proposed by the Indian government would require Google and other mapping services to submit their maps for security clearance before distributing them online or offline.The move appears to reflect the Indian government's concern that the maps could expose defense installations and other high-security areas.The government is also apparently concerned that its international boundaries with Pakistan and China, both countries with which it has border disputes, are represented in the way th
  
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• Google, Honeywell resolve patent dispute over Nest thermostats

  06-05-2016 08:22
  Google and Honeywell have signed a patent cross-license agreement that resolves a long-standing patent dispute over thermostats made by Nest Labs, the home automation startup the Internet giant acquired.The proceedings in the case have been pending in court for about four years, awaiting the results of a reexamination of the patents by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, according to court records. The companies said Thursday they believe that the patent accord “promotes product inn
  
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• New tech turns your arm into a smart watch touchpad

  06-05-2016 03:32
  
  A lot of people like the idea of a smart watch but don't like having to use a tiny touch screen.
  Big fingers and a tiny screen can lead to frustration and errant screen commands.
  Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a wearable technology that enables users to turn the skin on their lower arm into a touchpad, giving them a bigger surface to input information or commands to their smart watch.
  Unlike other solutions that have used flexible overlays or a combination of a project
  
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• Why Microsoft won't extend the Windows 10 free upgrade offer

  06-05-2016 03:31
  
  Microsoft today said it would, as it indicated last year, end the free Windows 10 upgrade offer on July 29.
  Today's reiteration shouldn't have come as a surprise: Windows 10 growth, largely spurred by the free upgrade, has slowed since September 2015 and probably has reached a point of diminishing returns.
  In September, Windows 10's global user share as measured by metrics vendor Net Applications, grew 28% over the month prior. Since then, 10's month-over-month growth has slowed, first to 21% f
  
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• Verizon strike taking trickle-down toll on business customers

  06-05-2016 03:30
  
  With the strike by Verizon union members now in its fourth week – and no settlement appearing near -- frustrations born of service delays and cancelations remain primarily the bane of consumers, although business customers are also taking on collateral damage, some of which may not be visible to the untrained eye.
  That’s the view of David Rohde, a longtime industry watcher and senior consultant at TechCaliber in Washington D.C.
  “Customers are asking their Verizon (Enterprise)
  
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• Open wireless standards could save smart cities 30% on tech costs

  06-05-2016 03:28
  
  Open standards used to deploy Internet of Things (IoT) technology could cut costs by 30% and accelerate the growth of smart cities, according to a new research report.
  Machina Research estimated that cities around the world deploying smart tech for traffic and water control and other systems could spend $1.12 trillion by 2025 with currently-available technology, much of it proprietary. With widespread use of open wireless standards like Bluetooth Low Energy and OneM2M, those costs could be redu
  
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• Google looks beyond Cardboard for the future of VR

  06-05-2016 01:57
  
  This year’s Google I/O conference is going to be pretty heavy on virtual reality. The emerging technology is a major push at Google, which helped democratize the technology with Cardboard.
  Clay Bavor, who is now in charge of VR for Google, offered some insights about where the company is going with this technology in an interview with Popular Science. He elaborated on his thoughts about what Cardboard taught Google.We’ve learned so much with Cardboard. We’re not quite ready to
  
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• Businesses can now buy apps in bulk from the Windows Store

  06-05-2016 00:22
  
  App developers now have an easier way to sell their wares to businesses running Windows 10.On Thursday, Microsoft said developers can submit paid apps for inclusion in the Windows Store for Business, a version of the online store for Windows 10 that companies can use to distribute software to their employees over the web. (The store previously offered only free applications.)The move means independent app developers have an easier way to get their wares in front of large enterprise cus
  
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• Skin tracking is the latest zany attempt to solve smartwatch control

  06-05-2016 00:12
  
  Forget digital crowns and rotating bezels; researchers at Carnegie Mellon University are positing that the future of smartwatch control is on your skin.
  The so-called SkinTrack involves a ring that emits a high-frequency signal and a wristband packed with electrodes. As the ring’s signal propagates through the body, SkinTrack measures the phase difference between electrodes on either end of the band to figure out the location of fingers on the skin. This in turn transforms the wearer&rsqu
  
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