IT Executive news

• Web developers, meet WebGazer: software that turns webcams into eye-trackers

  02-06-2016 23:26
  Eye-tracking technology has long been the domain of high-end research, but this week new software brings it within reach for anyone with a website.Developed by computer scientists at Brown University, WebGazer.js can be added to any site with just a few lines of code. Running on a website visitor's browser, it essentially turns the computer's webcam into an eye-tracker that can infer where on a page the viewer is looking.Ultimately, it could help Web developers optimize content and make their we
  
  Read more

• Minecraft's PC share shrinks as users stampede to cheaper console and mobile versions

  02-06-2016 22:44
  
  If you still think Minecraft is a PC game—well, you’re flat wrong. According to new numbers released by Mojang and Microsoft, the original version for the PC is the least popular platform, in almost every region worldwide.
  Microsoft said Thursday that Minecraft has sold more than 106,859,714 copies to date across all platforms—which would represent the twelfth most populous nation in the world, right behind Japan. Four copies have even been sold into Antarctica. 
  But
  
  Read more

• Debate continues over where CISOs sit in the C-suite

  02-06-2016 22:30
  
  Pundits scrutinizing senior executive dynamics have opined for years about to whom the CISO should report. Some say the CISO should report to only the CIO because the top security role is inextricably linked to IT. Others say this is a terrible idea because the CISO's must lock down the corporate network while the CIO is challenged to innovate. A CISO panel convened at the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium last month rekindled this longstanding C-suite debate.MIT professor and panel moderator Stuart Madni
  
  Read more

• NetApp's new SolidFire software option is buy once, use anywhere

  02-06-2016 22:09
  Enterprise storage technology, once bound tightly to specialized boxes, now has more to do with software that can run on standard computing gear. This shift gives companies more freedom to deploy storage as they like. It’s also changing how they pay for it.NetApp's SolidFire division, a recent acquisition focused on all-flash technology, is introducing a way for customers to buy its software and hardware separately. As their needs grow and change, enterprises will be able to use the same s
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Facebook's DeepText A.I. can read, understand your posts

  02-06-2016 22:07
  
  Facebook has built a technology that not only allows it better understand users, but also help them connect with the people they're most interested in on the social network.The company announced yesterday that it has built what it's dubbed DeepText, a deep-learning-based engine designed to read users' posts and comments with what Facebook says is "near human" accuracy.DeepText, according to Facebook, can read and understand several thousand posts per second thanks to its deep learning capabiliti
  
  Read more

• SS8 makes enterprise version of traffic-analysis platform designed for intelligence agencies

  02-06-2016 21:56
  
  SS8 built its network traffic-inspection and analysis platform as a tool for intelligence agencies to discover communications among criminals and terrorists but now has scaled it back for enterprises to stop data breaches.
  Called BreachDetect, the business-sized software gathers highly detailed network traffic data that discovers application flows and the activity of individual machines and analyzes them to find anomalies that indicate foul play.
  The platform also stores the information it coll
  
  Read more

• Texas goes big with 18-petaflop supercomputer

  02-06-2016 21:40
  
  The Texas Advanced Computer Center (TACC) has received $30 million in U.S. funding for a new supercomputer that will roughly double the performance of its existing 9-petaflop supercomputer.
  The new system, named Stampede 2 after its predecessor, is being funded by the National Science Foundation. It will be available for scientific research by June 1, 2017.
  The Texas supercomputing center occupies a unique niche. The U.S. government owns the nation's largest and most powerful supercomputers. Th
  
  Read more

• What performance boost will Intel's next chips deliver?

  02-06-2016 21:29
  Do you want more power-efficiency or CPU horsepower with your next PC chip?The merits of each have propelled an interesting debate among those who want more performance or longer battery life in their PCs. But raw CPU performance drives the ongoing rivalry between AMD and Intel.Intel wants to continue to deliver 10 to 20 percent performance improvements with chips based on the upcoming 10-nanometer and 7-nanometer manufacturing processes, company CEO Brian Krzanich said this week.Some
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• 75% off Opolar LC06 Laptop Fan Cooler with Temperature Display - Deal Alert

  02-06-2016 21:29
  
  The LC06 laptop fan from Opolar averages 4.5 out of 5 stars on Amazon from nearly 900 customers (read reviews), and currently lists for just $29.99. It's designed for laptops with vents on the sides or rear, quietly and rapidly reducing the internal and surface temperatures by 18-50 degrees in minutes, far outperforming most cooling pads. Temp can be monitored on the built-in display. The motor is built to last through many years of heavy use, and is backed by a one year warranty for product def
  
  Read more

• Mysterious malware targets industrial control systems, borrows Stuxnet techniques

  02-06-2016 21:23
  Researchers have found a malware program that was designed to manipulate supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems in order to hide the real readings from industrial processes.The same technique was used by the Stuxnet sabotage malware allegedly created by the U.S. and Israel to disrupt Iran's nuclear program and credited with destroying a large number of the country's uranium enrichment centrifuges.The new malware was discovered in the second half of last year by researchers from
  
  Read more

• Microsoft's drastic upgrade tactic pays off with boost to Windows 10 share

  02-06-2016 21:19
  
  Windows 10 in May recorded its largest increase in user share since August 2015, the first full month after its launch last summer, data published Wednesday showed.
  The impressive increase came after Microsoft began what will likely be its last big push to put the free Windows 10 on customers' PCs, a campaign that started mid-May and featured a much-derided trick to get users to approve the upgrade from Windows 7 and Windows 8.1.
  According to U.S.-based analytics vendor Net Applications, Window
  
  Read more

• IBM and Cisco are taking IoT analytics to the edge

  02-06-2016 20:04
  
  The Internet of Things is no good without a way to act on the data it generates. A new partnership between two of the biggest IoT players promises to put smart collection and advanced analysis of data right where it’s needed.IBM and Cisco Systems have worked out how to run components of IBM’s Watson IoT analytics on Cisco edge devices. This will bring more intelligence closer to where the action is, helping enterprises run things like factories and oil rigs more efficiently.In 2014,
  
  Read more

• How millennial tech grads should tailor their resumes

  02-06-2016 19:56
  
  You’ve recently graduated and now it’s time to start applying to jobs -- but what skills and experience should you highlight on your resume? To help you decide, CompTIA released the results of its 2016 IT Industry Outlook report, which surveyed 673 IT industry companies in the U.S., Canada and the U.K., and found that millennials have certain skills businesses are clamoring for in the coming year.“Recent grads have grown up in an age of evolving technologies, particularly the I
  
  Read more

• Oracle: We're going to sue that whistleblower cloud employee

  02-06-2016 19:27
  
  Oracle plans to sue whistleblower Svetlana Blackburn for malicious prosecution, the company said Thursday.On Wednesday, Blackburn -- a senior finance manager in Oracle’s cloud business -- said in a lawsuit she was terminated from her job for refusing to go along with cloud-computing accounting principles she considered unlawful.Blackburn alleges that upper management was trying to fit "square data into round holes" in a bid to boost the financial reports for Oracle's cloud services bu
  
  Read more

• IDG Contributor Network: Record & playback automation: It’s a trap

  02-06-2016 19:13
  
  As an automation architect at a consulting firm I see a lot of clients fixing or replacing existing automation efforts. A lot of these failed or troubled projects share the same characteristics.  The main characteristic is that they tried to have non/light-technical resources create their automation.  All too often this means record & playback.When you first look at record & playback, it looks like a great option.  It allows your testers to create automation without needin
  
  Read more

• BrandPost: CIO Interview with Michael Ludwig, CTO and Chief Product Architect, Blazent

  02-06-2016 18:03
  
  Headquartered in Burlingame, CA, Blazent Inc. is a provider of big data services that help enterprise IT departments and managed service providers collect and analyze masses of decision-making information from their management and operational systems in near real time. In this executive Q&A, Blazent CTO and chief product officer Michael Ludwig shares his front-line perspective on implementing and operating an effective big data platform.What are the keys to success in big data? First, you ha
  
  Read more

• Federal CIOs need help with legacy-to-cloud transition

  02-06-2016 17:57
  
  "Modernization" was one of the watchwords in President Obama's proposal for the federal IT budget in fiscal 2017, and while that broad effort might sound anything but controversial, updating legacy systems entails a host of challenges that agency CIOs are only beginning to work through.[ Related: U.S. CIO aims to cut legacy spending, proposes IT moderization ]Obama called for a $3 billion fund that would directly support agencies' projects to update or replace aging applications and infrastructu
  
  Read more

• Deal with Microsoft notwithstanding, China’s Xiaomi won't be stateside anytime soon

  02-06-2016 17:57
  
  Xiaomi's cross-licensing and patent-transfer deal with Microsoft announced earlier this week prompted a flurry of renewed interest in how soon the Chinese smartphone maker will sell its devices directly in the U.S.
  Several analysts interviewed this week said they believe a U.S. arrival won't happen for more than a year, perhaps even two years, and will certainly pose big marketing challenges for Xiaomi.
  One of the biggest issues will be how to effectively build Xiaomi's brand with its latest pr
  
  Read more

• Data visualization firm Qlik sells for $3 billion

  02-06-2016 17:51
  Qlik, a vendor of data visualization tools, has agreed to be acquired by private equity investment firm Thoma Bravo for US$3 billion.The sale will give Qlik "additional flexibility" to operate, Lars Björk, the company's CEO, said in a statement.Qlik is touted as a software package for business intelligence needs, with some customers saying it has strong data modeling features. Qlik offers what it calls "self-service" data visualization and discovery, with customer able to bui
  
  Read more

• BrandPost: Save Your Business with Disaster Recovery-as-a-Service

  02-06-2016 17:13
  
  Every minute a business remains closed due to a disaster is a minute during which revenue isn’t being earned, bringing the business one step closer to complete failure with every tick of the clock.
  Frank Jablonski, Product Marketing Director for Acronis Cloud and Mobility Solutions puts it this way: “Can you afford to be down for a week?” The answer to that question for large numbers of businesses is a definite “No.”
  For most businesses, no matter what products or
  
  Read more

• Extortion schemes expand, threatening consumers and businesses with data leaks

  02-06-2016 17:10
  Ransomware authors are not the only cybercriminals who use extortion tactics to make money from users and companies. Data thieves are also increasingly resorting to intimidation.
  The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has received many reports from users whose data was stolen in various high-profile breaches and then received emails threatening to publicly disclose their personal information, including phone numbers, home addresses and credit card information.
  The ransom amount asked b
  
  Read more

• Nearly a third of all Facebook users share content every day

  02-06-2016 16:31
  
  User activity on Facebook continues to climb, but the average member today is more a viewer than active participant, according to a new survey from content marketing firm Fractl. A quarter of the 2,000 active Facebook users surveyed by the company in April share content at least twice a week, and as frequently as six times. according to the research.For context, two of every three Facebook users, or roughly 1.09 billion people, actively use the world's largest social network every day, and 989 m
  
  Read more

• How one brave woman fought sexism — and won

  02-06-2016 15:35
  
  Have you heard of Shreya Ukil? If not, it's a name you should know. Ukil filed suit against Indian IT professional services firm Wipro in the London Employment Tribunal in October 2015, alleging that she was subjected to a "deeply predatory, misogynistic culture" at the outsourcing giant. The tribunal found the company guilty of unfairly dismissing Ukil, direct sex discrimination and multiple instances of victimization, according to The Huffington Post.To read this article in full or to lea
  
  Read more

• COO en CDO succesvoller met big data dan CIO

  02-06-2016 15:27
  Een ruime kwart van de organisaties die een big data project ondernemen, maakt hier winst op. Bij financieel succesvolle projecten is het echter veelal de COO of CDO die verantwoordelijk is voor een dergelijk project, ofschoon CIO’s vaker de leiding hebben over big data-projecten. Hierop duidt onderzoek door... lees meer
  
  Read more

• IDG Contributor Network: Collaboration trumps cooperation

  02-06-2016 15:14
  
  Does this sound familiar? You sit down with a client’s team to work on a project and as you start to ask questions to gain clarity and insight, the client gets exasperated and says something like, “Why are you asking us? You’re supposed to be the experts. Can’t you tell us?” Or maybe you are the client and the consultant is telling you how it is going to be without taking the time to understand the context of the challenge within your culture and structure.It happen
  
  Read more

• IDG Contributor Network: What not upgrading enterprise software could cost you

  02-06-2016 15:11
  
  Some things in life are inevitable: death, taxes, and obsolete software.  For extreme examples of obsolete software see this article by Kenneth Corbin: U.S. CIO aims to cut legacy spending, proposes IT modernization. While technologies fall out of favor, companies change, their markets grow, they are familiar with their software and may hang onto it long past its prime. Though there are many reasons not to change enterprise software, possibly the biggest is inertia. If it isn’t broken
  
  Read more

• How to embrace the benefits of shadow IT

  02-06-2016 15:03
  
  The terms shadow IT conjures up negative images in the minds of most IT organizations. Yet non-IT enterprise functions and lines of business are buying more of their own IT systems than ever before, particularly product, operations and external customer-facing groups and highly dynamic services areas. “As business functions seek to realize the benefits from these non-traditional channels of IT enablement, the shadow IT organizations are growing aggressively in order to help orchestrate and
  
  Read more

• IDG Contributor Network: Telehealth and the levers that will move the healthcare industry

  02-06-2016 15:00
  
  There has been a lot of progress in telehealth over the last three years. In 2013 there were only 13 states that were cleared for consultation and prescribing and three states restricted consultation in the absence of a prior in-person relationship. According to American Well, a telemedicine technology solutions company by January 2016 most states had been cleared to consult and prescribe, with various exceptions in Alaska, Louisiana, and Indiana. Inconsistent state definitions create challenges
  
  Read more

• Apple's enterprise partnerships, big and small, start to pay off

  02-06-2016 14:00
  
  Apple has been the target of recent criticism for its current pace of innovation. However, though the company's slow-and-steady approach to the enterprise may not be winning over financial analysts, it is proving to be an effective strategy for expansion into the business market. Apple set the stage for a formal courtship of the enterprise nearly two years ago, when it inked an alliance with IBM. Since then, the company has struck deals with Cisco and SAP to tap the strengths of these stalwarts
  
  Read more

• Intel's data center chief talks machine learning -- just don't ask about GPUs

  02-06-2016 13:50
  
  If you want to get under Diane Bryant’s skin these days, just ask her about GPUs.
  The head of Intel’s powerful data center group was at Computex in Taipei this week, in part to explain how the company's latest Xeon Phi processor is a good fit for machine learning.
  Machine learning is the process by which companies like Google and Facebook train software to get better at performing AI tasks including computer vision and understanding natural language. It’s key to improving all
  
  Read more

• Does your performance review process need a performance review?

  02-06-2016 13:50
  
  Recent headlines have proclaimed that Accenture, Dell, Microsoft and others have “eliminated” the performance review. Actually, these organizations are streamlining the performance management process; the only thing they are eliminating is the practice of ranking employees and then firing those with the lowest evaluations, commonly known as the “rank and yank.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
  Read more

• IDG Contributor Network: Stop pushing Material Design on iOS users, Google!

  02-06-2016 13:00
  
  Remember that old saying that “those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it?” Google seems to be blissfully unaware of it and is set on following in Microsoft’s footsteps by pushing interface elements from Android on iOS users.Jason Snell reports for Macworld:
  As someone in Google’s ecosystem as well as Apple’s, I’m happy that they continue to develop apps for iOS. Unfortunately, every time I open one of them, I’m brought back to the mi
  
  Read more

• ‘Vendor overload’ adds to CISO burnout

  02-06-2016 12:34
  
  There are multiple reasons for the relatively rapid burnout of Chief Information Security Officers (CISO).
  They include a combination of pressure and the unrealistic expectation that the CISO should not just lower the risk of major breaches, but prevent them altogether.
  The modern CISO is also expected to have skills that go well beyond being a technology geek – to understand and “speak the language of business,” and be a strategic participant in business decisions.T
  
  Read more

• Cuba works to join the global economy, and IT sees a golden opportunity

  02-06-2016 12:30
  
  Ask IT hiring managers and tech executives what they think about the 6 million educated adults in Cuba, many of whom have an interest in IT, coming online in the near future. Then tell them that Cuba's National Statistics Office reports those citizens currently make an average salary of just $20 to $30 per month, and statistics from the United Nations show that over a fifth of them have technical degrees from reputable universities. It's enough to make hearts race.
  After decades of isolation an
  
  Read more

• Tricks that ransomware uses to fool you

  02-06-2016 12:18
  
  Pulling ransomware out of …Image by ThinkstockRansomware quite often targets businesses (for example hospitals) rather than individuals. Corporations have more valuable data and more money for ransom (ransom increases from roughly $500 per computer to $15,000 for the entire enterprise). Cyphort has examined different variants of ransomware to help users get an idea of what might be coming down the Internet pipeline. So keep an eye out for these characteristics before your network is taken
  
  Read more

• New shell packs power of Python and Bash

  02-06-2016 12:00
  
  Xonsh, now in development, provides a shell that combines the Python language with features of Bash Unix and the fish and zsh shells.
  Pronounced "conch," the tool works with Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X, and it offers a shell language and command prompt. It compiles to a Python AST (Abstract Syntax Tree), features a superset of Python 3.4, and relies on the Python standard library and the PLY parsing tool.[ Also from InfoWorld: 10 hard-core coding tips for faster Python. | Keep up with hot topi
  
  Read more

• How Intel turned Thunderbolt from a failure into a success

  02-06-2016 12:00
  The third time could be the charm for Intel and its Thunderbolt technology. A year after introducing Thunderbolt 3 at Computex 2015, Intel is finally starting to see success with its high-speed external I/O—enough that even doubters might agree it’s winning.You needn’t look far for signs that Thunderbolt 3 will succeed where its two predecessors failed dismally on the PC. This year’s top-tier laptops from HP and Dell, as well models from MSI, Asus, Razer, and Acer,
  
  Read more

• Code red: Health IT must fix its security crisis

  02-06-2016 12:00
  
  The health care industry provides an alluring target for malicious hackers. Personal health information has a much longer shelf life than financial information, making it a major draw for identity thieves. But a new and more troubling threat has arisen: the potential disruption of critical hospital systems by cybercriminals.
  With a diverse array of digital systems, hospitals have evolved into complex technology operations. Yet they remain singularly ill-prepared to defend against attacks,
  
  Read more

• New peripherals are bringing Windows Hello to any Windows 10 PC

  02-06-2016 11:38
  Japan's Mouse Computer has developed add-on biometric sensors that will bring Windows Hello to any PC running Windows 10.
  Windows Hello is Microsoft's biometric security system. It allows users to dump passwords for facial or fingerprint recognition, but only on PCs that have the correct hardware.
  Many new PCs do, but generations of older machines that can run Windows 10 don't have the infrared camera or fingerprint sensors that are required. That's where the new add-on peripherals come in.
  The
  
  Read more

• Carbonite koopt EVault Europe van Seagate Technology

  02-06-2016 11:12
  Carbonite, leverancier van cloud-backup- en restore-oplossingen voor het mkb, neemt de cloud-gebaseerde business continuity en disaster recovery activa van EVault over, een divisie van Seagate.In tegenstelling tot aanbieders die uitsluitend on-premise software en hardware leveren, heeft EVault een volledige lijn van... lees meer
  
  Read more

• IDG Contributor Network: OwnCloud forked to create Nextcloud

  02-06-2016 10:00
  
  As I expected, Frank Karlitschek is forking ownCloud to create a new open source project called Nextcloud. In an interview, Karlitschek told me that he is joining with Spreedbox founder Niels Mache to create a new company with the same name.
  The new company, Nextcloud, is being founded in Germany. Both Mache and Karlitschek will serve as managing directors.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
  Read more

• Server market slumps after seven quarters of growth

  02-06-2016 08:30
  
  The worldwide server market saw a year-on-year revenue slump of 3.6 percent in the first quarter to US$12.4 billion, after a winning streak of seven quarters of growth, IDC said Wednesday.The slowdown in the market, which also witnessed shipments of servers drop by 3 percent year-on-year to 2.2 million units, is largely put down to an end in the enterprise refresh cycle and what is described as a “pause” in investments in hyperscale server deployments.Those investments are expected t
  
  Read more

• Check out these crazy modded gaming rigs Corsair brought to Computex

  02-06-2016 04:53
  
  Check out the crazy modded gaming rigs Corsair brought to ComputexImage by James NiccolaiWe stopped by Corsair’s suite at the Computex trade show this week to check out the gaming PCs built to show off its latest components. Pick a CPU, graphics card and motherboard, and Corsair has everything else you need to build out a custom, high performance rig. This system uses the Mirror's Edge Catalyst chassis, modelled after the game of the same name. Someone bolted an LED panel to the side just
  
  Read more

• Oracle employee says she was sacked for refusing to fiddle cloud accounts

  02-06-2016 04:47
  A senior finance manager in Oracle’s cloud business has complained to a federal court that she was terminated from her job because she refused to go along with, and threatened to blow the whistle on accounting principles that she considered to be unlawful.In a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Svetlana Blackburn has stated that her superiors instructed her “to add millions of dollars in accruals to financial reports, with no concrete or for
  
  Read more

• Game of Drones is a form of aerial warfare where drones fight to the death

  02-06-2016 02:32
  
  Walking into a drone-fighting pit is much like walking into a boxing ring. The audience looks on as pilots on either side make last-minute preparations, swapping out propellers and tucking in loose cables before the round begins. With a smooth flick of the joysticks, the drones zoom into the air. They sway from left to right, right to left, as if anticipating what the other will do. A moment’s carelessness and one of the warriors is on the ground, its propellers torn and its motors screech
  
  Read more

• Father's Day 2016 gift ideas for the discerning geek techie

  02-06-2016 01:00
  
  Going above and beyond the typical Dad giftI’ve been a father for a decade now, so I’ve become accustomed to getting a lot of Father’s Day gifts from my wife and kids. At first it was the “Draw something cute for Dad” type of gifts, or my wife took over and got me some really cool stuff. With the kids getting older, though, I’m entering the “Typical gifts for Dad” era of my life, where I’ll end up with things like “Hey, Dad, here’
  
  Read more

Follow @ITExecutiveNews on Twitter!