IT Executive news

• Microsoft customizes Surface tablets for enterprises

  13-07-2016 22:53
  
  Microsoft is doing new things with its Surface tablets, and hoping that enterprises will find a lot to like.The company is taking steps to tailor the tablets to the needs of enterprises. The goal of customization is to differentiate the Surface from look-alike products, and to tie devices closely to a company's operations."We're going to meet the enterprise on their terms," said Hayete Gallot, general manager of Microsoft Devices, in an interview with the IDG News Service.Surface tablets have be
  
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• GE and Microsoft team on IoT platform

  13-07-2016 22:07
  
  GE's industrial Internet of Things platform, Predix, is going to be available on the Microsoft Azure cloud, but not immediately. It will be globally commercial available in the second quarter of 2017.
  GE believes that Predix needs to be a complete product, from the edge (the sensor on the shop floor) to the cloud, or Azure in this instance. The upshot: It will be easier to integrate tools such as Microsoft's Cortana, the intelligent personal assistant, with Predix.To read this article in full o
  
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• Amazon says Prime Day was company’s biggest sales day ever

  13-07-2016 22:04
  
  Amazon said it's Prime Day was the biggest sales day ever for the online retail giant.
  The company’s second annual sales event, which was held Tuesday, saw customer orders surpass Prime Day 2015 by more than 60% worldwide and more than 50% in the U.S., the company reported.
  “It was a huge success,” said Sucharita Mulpuru-Kodali, an analyst with Forrester Research. “It was a big day, by all accounts, with enormous growth. It reinforces that e-commerce continues to grow an
  
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• New York driver crashes car into tree while playing Pokémon Go

  13-07-2016 21:54
  
  A driver in New York state ran his car off the road and into a tree last night as a result of playing "Pokémon Go."Police in Auburn, a town near Syracuse in upstate New York, were called to a traffic accident shortly before 11 p.m."The driver admitted to actively playing the Pokémon Go game while driving causing him to become distracted and run off the roadway into a tree," the police said in a statement.The car was badly damaged in the accident and police say the driver is lu
  
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• Slideshow: Inside Facebook's lab where it tests 2,000 phones at once

  13-07-2016 21:50
  Facebook can test its code on 2,000 phones at onceImage by FacebookFacebook makes thousands of changes in its code every week. Any one of them could accidentally cause Facebook software to take up more data, memory or battery life on your phone. So the company tests code on more than 2,000 phones to account for different hardware models, operating systems and network connections.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• Microsoft spices up Surface Hub with Azure cloud services

  13-07-2016 21:28
  
  Microsoft's supersize Surface Hub is often viewed as a computer for videoconferencing and digital whiteboarding, but it is emerging as more than just the centerpiece of a conference room.The Surface Hub is a one-of-a-kind, all-in-one PC with a 55- or 84-inch screen that started shipping a few months back. The device provides new ways for users to present, exchange, share and manipulate data from the Azure cloud, said Hayete Gallot, general manager at Microsoft Devices.Users are still exploring w
  
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• Save Hundreds On The Complete Linux System Administrator Bundle - Deal Alert

  13-07-2016 21:19
  
  You don’t need a fancy college degree (and $100,000 in student debt) to land a tech job, as long as you can prove you’ve got the skills. And because Linux is such an in-demand skill, underlying everything from desktop performance to online security--it’s a great place to start. The Complete Linux System Administrator Bundle will more than get you up to speed, and it’s now only $69.Packed with over 100 hours of instruction, this bundle will help you dive into Linux, the po
  
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• Facebook reveals elaborate phone-testing process for thousands of weekly code updates

  13-07-2016 20:59
  
  Facebook on Wednesday unveiled insights into how it tests new code on thousands of mobile devices at an until-now secret lab in its Prineville, Ore., data center.
  The social networking company also said it plans to open source the hardware design used in its custom mobile device testing rack as well as its Chef software. which is  used to control smartphones and other devices for the testing operation.
  In a lengthy blog post, Facebook production engineer Antoine Reversat laid out how the t
  
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• 26% off Miracle-Gro AeroGarden Bounty with Gourmet Herb Seed Pod Kit - Deal Alert

  13-07-2016 20:57
  
  The Miracle-Grow AeroGarden, with room for 9 plants and 45 Watts of LED Lighting, the AeroGarden Bounty is the largest and most powerful AeroGarden to date. It comes with a Gourmet Herbs Seed Kit that will deliver fresh, flavorful herbs right at your fingertips. The easy-to-use Control Panel has an interactive LCD display that utilizes on screen prompts to guide you from set up to harvest. It automatically creates optimal conditions for your plants by turning the lights on and off and reminding
  
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• Microsoft touts $404 per user savings with Windows 10

  13-07-2016 20:53
  
  Microsoft this week said enterprises and organizations could save up to $404 per employee over a three-year span by adopting Windows 10.
  That claim came from a company-commissioned analysis done by Forrester Research. After interviewing four Microsoft customers which have begun migrations from Windows 7 to Windows 10, Forrester created a hypothetical composite organization -- one with 24,000 Windows devices, and a large number of mobile workers among its 20,000 employees -- that it then used to
  
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• Hands-on with Walmart Pay: The retailer's answer to Apple Pay is a pleasant surprise

  13-07-2016 20:48
  
  Walmart has rolled out its Walmart Pay system to all its U.S. stores following a several-month long trial. The payment option is built into its existing iOS and Android apps, and allows enrolling all major credit and debit cards, gift cards, and prepaid cards, but it notably doesn’t link to checking accounts directly. I tested out the service, and while it’s no Apple Pay (nor Android Pay), with the ease of tap-and-confirm, the feature is easy to set up and has very little friction t
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Linux Mint 18: It's not pixel perfect

  13-07-2016 20:47
  
  Linux Mint rose to popularity when both Ubuntu and Gnome decided to fork ways and push their own shells and desktop environments (DEs). Linux Mint took Gnome and created Cinnamon on top of an Ubuntu base. As a result, Linux Mint Cinnamon became popular among those users who wanted the Ubuntu base without having to deal with either Unity or Gnome 3 Shell.I have a Dell XPS 13 Skylake Developer Edition (2016) on loan, which I think is the best laptop a Linux user can get. So, I decided to give
  
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• 33% off Logitech Z623 200 Watt 2.1 Home Speaker System - Deal Alert

  13-07-2016 20:19
  
  The Z623 home speaker system has what Logitech describes as "200 watts of window-rattling power". Its THX certified audio is rich and loud with deep impressive bass. From music lovers to gamers, just plug in your gear and stand back as this compact system has no trouble filling the room and immersing everyone in it. The system has generated almost 3,000 reviews on Amazon, averaging 4.5 out of 5 stars (87% rate it 4+ stars -- read reviews). Amazon indicates that its typical list price of $14
  
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• Tesla admits Autopilot was on during latest Model X accident

  13-07-2016 20:13
  
  Tesla has confirmed that another of its all-electric vehicles was involved in an accident while its advanced driver assistance system (ADAS), which it calls Autopilot, was engaged.
  The second accident involving Autopilot comes less than two weeks after Tesla revealed the feature was also involved in a fatal crash that took place in May. It is unclear whether anyone involved suffered injuries in the second crash. Eresan/Tesla Motors ClubA photo of the Model X crash, which took place around midni
  
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• How Facebook keeps you from hating its apps

  13-07-2016 20:05
  
  An app has to do a lot of things for you to love it—and do only two things wrong to make you hate it: perform sluggishly and consume a lot of power.
  Facebook operations engineer Antoine Reversat revealed what Facebook does to prevent those two things and keep users from uninstalling its apps. He showed me the automated mobile testing lab, which has never before been disclosed to the public, that he designed and operates. The system automates testing of Facebook’s mobile apps, Messen
  
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• Google Glass takes flight at Boeing

  13-07-2016 19:58
  
  Boeing, the largest aerospace company on the planet, builds a lot of planes. The organization manufactures aircraft for airlines and governments in more than 150 countries. And every one of those planes contains thousands of wires that connect its various electrical systems.These complex webs of wires don't weave themselves, and putting all the parts together is a monumental task. Each week, thousands of Boeing's U.S. workers construct "wire harnesses," or "people-size portions of the electrical
  
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• Solar Impulse 2 is one flight away from circling the globe on no fuel

  13-07-2016 19:46
  
  The Solar Impulse 2 aircraft landed in Cairo on Wednesday, putting it tantalizingly close to completing a circumnavigation of the globe without burning a single drop of fuel.The aircraft swept over the pyramids before landing at Cairo International Airport at just after 7 a.m. local time this morning. It's now about 3,000 kilometers (1,800 miles) away from Abu Dhabi, where it began its journey in March 2015.Solar Impulse 2 was designed to run entirely on solar power, generated by hundreds of thi
  
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• Negen op de tien Industrial Control Systems mogelijk kwetsbaar

  13-07-2016 19:30
  Industrial control systems (ICS) worden geacht te zijn opgezet in een fysiek geïsoleerde omgeving. Heel vaak is dit echter niet het geval en Nederland staat op 11 in de top-20 van landen met de meest blootgestelde hosts. Dat zegt Kaspersky Labs in een gisteren gepubliceerd rapport.De analyse is gebaseerd op... lees meer
  
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• Chinese hackers blamed for multiple breaches at US banking agency

  13-07-2016 19:25
  Chinese government hackers were the likely attackers in three breaches in recent years at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the U.S. agency that insures bank accounts, according to a congressional audit.Breaches at the FDIC in 2010, 2011, and 2013 were caused by an "advanced persistent threat ... believed to have been the Chinese government," according to an interim report on the agency's cybersecurity from the House of Representatives Science, Space, and Technology Committee.
  
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• How 'human-aware' AI could save us from the robopocalypse

  13-07-2016 19:05
  
  Much virtual ink gets spilled each week enumerating the many horrors that could be ours in an AI-filled world, but top researchers in the field are already thinking ahead and making plans to ensure none of that happens.In particular, the importance of making artificial intelligence "human-aware" has come to be viewed as a top imperative for the field, earning it special status as an official theme of the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence taking place this week in New York
  
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• Glue Networks wants to be the orchestration platform for the networked world

  13-07-2016 19:04
  
  Glue Networks used the Cisco Live conference in Las Vegas this week to announce what CEO Jeff Gray describes as the “first multi-vendor software defined network orchestration platform focused on end-to-end automation, all the way from the data center across the WAN as well as the LAN.”While Software Defined Networking promised to simplify the management of network devices by centralizing control, Gray argues the SDN tools are still vendor specific: “Juniper has their controller
  
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• Omni Hotels' new CIO shores up cybersecurity amid data breach

  13-07-2016 18:25
  
  New Omni Hotels & Resorts CIO Ken Barnes is mulling how to shore up corporate defense in the wake of a cybersecurity attack that impacted 48 of its 60 hotels in North America. Barnes, who started in May, of course says he plans to improve the protection for Omni's payment processing systems. New defenses could include analytics that detect anomalous behavior suggesting that a hacker has entered or is trying to enter Omni's computer network.Omni Hotels & Resorts CIO Ken Barnes.To read thi
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: The future of jobs and education

  13-07-2016 17:49
  
  Life is a learning experience, or so they say.
  Broadly speaking, educational activities can be split into two categories: life skills and professional skills. The life skills that we all need to learn, and the way we learn them, have remained relatively consistent across the ages: how to communicate, socialize and survive. But you can argue that today’s education system is skewed toward the second category, the teaching of professional skills and it’s this category that will face th
  
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• Vicious new ransomware takes your money and still deletes your files

  13-07-2016 17:38
  
  There’s a new form of ransomware—apparently built by amateurs—that takes your money but deletes your personal files anyway. Security research firm Talos recently published a blog post about a new form of malware dubbed Ranscam.
  This ransomware follows the basic premise of previous variants. It claims your files have been encrypted, and thus inaccessible to you, then threatens to delete all your files if you don’t pay up. Ransomware's scary premise prompts many peopl
  
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• Microsoft launches new Skype for Linux and Chrome

  13-07-2016 17:16
  
  Linux and Chromebook users now have new versions of Skype to play with.Microsoft launched an alpha version of a new client for Linux on Wednesday, in a push to get users of the open-source operating system to make video calls and send messages with Skype.There was a Linux client available for the service previously, but this launch is a move by the company to get users of the operating system on the latest version of Skype. Users will get a new interface, emoticons, and a file-sharing interface.
  
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• Opening the 5G wireless frontier

  13-07-2016 17:00
  
  An explosion of devices and new forms of digital content is producing a continued surge in wireless internet traffic. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), accordingly, is working on ways to free up more airwaves for new wireless networks and services. On Thursday, July 14, the FCC will release its Spectrum Frontiers order that will recommend ways to unleash new batches of higher frequency spectrum for fifth-generation, or 5G, wireless networks.  
  Mobile video and the inte
  
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• Goodbye, firstborn children: This study shows how wordy terms of service hurt users

  13-07-2016 16:44
  
  It’s no secret that few people pay much attention to reading and understanding all the terms of service and privacy policies you come across online. Now a new study shows just how ridiculous and anti-consumer the lengthy agreements really are.
  The new paper, titled “The Biggest Lie on the Internet,” created a fake social networking site with suggestive and outrageous clauses in its Terms of Service (ToS). But surprise! Nearly everyone joined anyway, as first reported by Ars Te
  
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• Shlomo Kramer: a security investor looking for smart entrepreneurs to disrupt markets

  13-07-2016 16:38
  
  Shlomo Kramer
  Recently, endpoint-protection startup LightCyber announced a second round of funding - $20 million – including an investment from an individual investor with an impressive track record backing successful security startups: Shlomo Kramer.
  Kramer, who is Israeli, has a long-term relationship with the company’s CEO Gonen Fink, who worked with him for years at Check Point Software where Kramer was one of the founders.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, plea
  
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• BrandPost: Keep Your Finger on the Pulse of Software Trends

  13-07-2016 16:12
  PC Connection recently partnered with industry-leading technology research organization IDG to learn more about today’s top software trends and challenges. The responses we received help illustrate today’s emerging software trends. For example, did you know that half of our respondents are planning to move existing workloads to the cloud; and 30% report they will do so by the end of 2016? Additionally, of those IT decision makers polled, the majority plan to investigate Microsoft Az
  
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• BrandPost: Moving to the Cloud?

  13-07-2016 16:05
  If you looked out of the window today, you’d probably see a large assortment of clouds. Clouds of all different types, shapes, and sizes. There are cirrus clouds, cumulus clouds, public clouds, and hybrid clouds; but do you see your cloud? Is it light, fast moving, and flexible? Is it dark, erratic, and unpredictable? Chances are you don’t know yet, and there is nothing wrong with this sentiment. You manage IT in a very real business, with very real concerns. But with the proper pla
  
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• Microsoft fixes critical vulnerabilities in IE, Edge, Office, and Windows print services

  13-07-2016 16:03
  
  Microsoft's new batch of security patches fixes 47 vulnerabilities across its products, including in Internet Explorer, Edge, Office, Windows and the .NET Framework.The patches, released Tuesday, are arranged in 11 security bulletins, 10 of which are for Microsoft products. The remaining patch covers Adobe Flash Player, which is bundled with Internet Explorer in Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012, Windows RT 8.1, Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 10.Six security bulletins, including the Flash Pla
  
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• BrandPost: Time to Grow Your Desktop as a Service?

  13-07-2016 15:53
  One of the benefits of a VDI/DaaS for organizations is that data is never saved locally to devices. For mobile devices/laptops that can suddenly turn up missing, information can’t be compromised, because it is only displayed as pixels on a screen. The very nature of remote data/local presentation inherent to VDI/DaaS is especially valuable if there is a failure to a desktop or other device. Because end users can access their virtual desktop from another device, they can be more productive
  
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• Close the IT skills gap by improving gender equality

  13-07-2016 15:04
  
  How can CIOs develop a workforce of the future when they don’t have the talent they need? IT organizations, like their peers in other parts of the business, continue to struggle with significant skill gaps. That is no wonder. CIO.com earlier this year reported on the low unemployment in the tech sector – 3 percent in the United States.  [ Related: How to conquer recruiting, retention and IT skills challenges ]To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click
  
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• No, sharing a Netflix password will NOT land you in jail

  13-07-2016 14:43
  
  Good news for cord cutters and fans of streaming services such as Netflix and HBO Now: Sharing your paid login credentials with friends or family members is no more likely to get you in serious trouble today than it did yesterday. That's despite a federal court ruling this week that made it illegal to share computer password.
  Headlines such as "Sharing your Netflix password is now a federal crime," may be excellent clickbait, but given the realities of the business world, they makes little
  
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• FAQ: What the FCC’s 5G vote will mean

  13-07-2016 14:04
  
  The FCC on Thursday will vote to identify and open new high frequency bands for use in the forthcoming 5G wave of wireless technology, clearing the way for development to continue on the next big jump in mobile data capabilities.
  Why?
  Netflix and Pokemon Go, mostly.
  Not exactly. Pokemon Go doesn’t use much data.
  Fine. It’s actually because FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler decided that now is the time to start the ball rolling on the process, which has been delayed in the past. Standards bod
  
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• Taking a closer look at bots from Apple, Facebook and Google

  13-07-2016 14:00
  
  "Bots" have been around for decades. Recently, however, it's become the norm for large technology companies to build, support and develop bots for a wide variety of uses. Because bots can be so many different things, it's often difficult to parse the bona fides from the wannabes — or even determine what bots do.What exactly are bots? 
  "A bot is an autonomous machine interface that's built to serve a purpose that traditionally was served by a human," says Michael Facemire, a principal
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Will macOS Sierra get a true dark mode?

  13-07-2016 14:00
  Apple has been taking baby steps toward adding a true dark mode to iOS and macOS.The company has realized that there are many users of its mobile and desktop operating systems who have had enough of bright white backgrounds.Currently in macOS, only the Dock and Menu Bar have a dark mode available for users. You can enable it by clicking on the General icon in System Preferences, and then clicking on "Use dark menu bar and Dock."While it's helpful to use dark mode for those two parts of the macOS
  
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• Fake Olympic tickets and Zika news apps scam users

  13-07-2016 13:22
  
  These days not a headline goes by without some cybercriminal jumping all over it. Now, with the Olympics coming up and travelers wary of the Zika virus, scammers are creating fake websites and apps to steal money or to infect users with malware.
  "There are actually sites that say they sell tickets, but never actually give you tickets," said James Pledger, research director at RiskIQ.
  Sometimes, it's easy to spot the fakes.
  "One of the most common things is very poor English," he said. "Or they'
  
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• IT service desk suites: The features users love and hate

  13-07-2016 13:17
  
  IT service management (ITSM) tools typically focus on serving the needs of internal customers and solving their IT problems. Enterprise IT managers say the most important criteria to consider when choosing an ITSM vendor include customizable workflow automation, a system for creating trouble tickets and escalation mechanisms.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• Google quietly brings forgetting to the U.S.

  13-07-2016 13:00
  
  If you are worried about your online privacy, it might be of interest to you that Google has quietly brought its Google forget program to the U.S. It has made it quite simple, for the most part. Simply go to myactivity.google.com to see the history of your searches, YouTube viewing and everything else you do on Google platforms, and then be guided through the process of trimming that history.
  But be careful. Privacy restrictions bring with them good and bad, and some consumers who become g
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Dispelling 5 IT outsourcing myths

  13-07-2016 12:30
  
  Managing computer systems in-house can be difficult. Growth organizations place stress on IT departments. During an organization’s startup years, the IT department consists of a person supporting a small server rack in a closet. Network needs can be met using a wireless router. Help desk requests are solved by shouts down the hall. As an organization grows, the complexity of the IT department grows exponentially.
  A growing company's technology needs expand, and the result is the creation
  
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• Privacy Shield vol gaten

  13-07-2016 12:27
  Gisteren heeft de Europese Commissie het U.S.-EU Privacy Shield aangenomen, de opvolger van het in oktober door het Europese Hof ongeldig verklaarde Safe Harbour. Bedrijven kunnen zich per 1 augustus certificeren. Het is echter de vraag of er veel animo is, omdat de meeste organisaties opereren met alternatieve... lees meer
  
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• Feds to hire 3,500 cybersecurity pros by year's end

  13-07-2016 12:01
  
  Last October, the U.S. government began hiring 6,500 new cybersecurity IT professionals. It has hired 3,000 so far, and plans to hire another 3,500 by January 2017, the White House said Tuesday.
  The government is now trying to improve its recruiting and retention of cybersecurity professionals. This includes finding ways to improve government pay, which can be well below the private sector.
  This strategy was detailed Tuesday in a White House memo. In it, officials called for expanded job recrui
  
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• Review: Promisec goes the extra step to secure PCs

  13-07-2016 12:00
  
  In the past year we've seen an influx of endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools that promise to bring order, through greater visibility, to the wild west of endpoints within a large organization. The scenario is all too common: IT security usually doesn't know all of the hardware and software assets that need to be protected, yet has to protect them. Even as we struggle to put security controls in place for prevention, we know that many of these endpoints are already compromised by active
  
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• OK, Google: 160 valuable voice commands for Android

  13-07-2016 12:00
  
  Android has actually had a robust voice command system in place for ages -- and the number of things it can do for you is expanding all the time.
  In fact, Google may be preparing to unveil a newly rebranded and even more conversational version of its virtual assistant later this year, but you don't have to wait to start making the most of your mobile device's listening smarts.
  Below, we've listed 160 commands that are fully functional and ready to be used right now. We've put words and phrases
  
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• IT career roadmap: Research scientist

  13-07-2016 11:47
  
  Amanda Stent fell in love with the computer science field in high school, where she was fortunate enough to take a class on artificial intelligence. She enrolled in college after 1th grade and declared a double major in math and music, but her university didn't offer a dedicated computer science program. Instead, Stent tackled that subject via a study-abroad program before entering post-secondary education where she received a bachelor's in mathematics and music and a Ph.D in computer science.No
  
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• Microsoft expands its Surface Enterprise Initiative

  13-07-2016 11:35
  
  At its Worldwide Partner Conference in Toronto yesterday, Microsoft continued its unrelenting quest to become the enterprise hybrid standard, announcing new partnerships and programs under its Surface Enterprise Initiative, which was introduced shortly after the Surface Pro 4 was originally released last fall.It's no surprise that Microsoft plans to further incentivize businesses that choose the Surface lineup, especially considering past efforts seem to have worked in the company's favor. Micro
  
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• Fiat Chrysler launches bug bounty program for connected vehicles

  13-07-2016 08:43
  
  Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has launched a bug bounty program to attract white-hat hackers to spot out cybersecurity flaws in its products and connected services.
  The program is focused on FCA's connected vehicles, including systems within them and external services and applications that link to them.
  The move follows the remote hack and control of a Jeep Cherokee, one of the company’s products, by security researchers. That breach led to the recall of 1.4 million vehicles last year. 
  
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• US Senator has privacy concerns about Pokémon Go’s data collection

  13-07-2016 07:27
  
  The popularity of augmented reality smartphone game Pokémon Go has raised a variety of concerns, including a warning by the National Safety Council, urging drivers not to play the game behind the wheel and asking pedestrians to be careful while playing it.U.S. Senator Al Franken, a strong privacy advocate, has raised the inevitable question about the privacy of the extensive data the game collects from its users, including children, and whether the data is used for other purposes.“I
  
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• 40% off APC Performance SurgeArrest Outlet with Phone Splitter and Coax Protection - Deal Alert

  13-07-2016 07:00
  
  The APC Surge Arrest Performance series from APC offers the highest level of protection for your professional computers, electronics and connected devices, as well as provides surge protection for all of your data lines. The P11VT3 features 11 heavy duty outlets. Telephone and coax cable line surge suppression jacks are available to protect against dangerous surges traveling along data lines. Wiring Fault LED proactively notifies you of potentially dangerous building wiring condit
  
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