IT Executive news

• Facebook details its 2016 open source accomplishments

  15-07-2016 22:35
  
  Facebook added 54 new projects to its open-source initiative during the last six months. The company is on a mission to open source its code for software and hardware to encourage ongoing development from outside companies and engineers. 
  "We build tools that enable engineers to work more easily across platforms, automate testing to catch problems sooner, and help improve the overall performance of our products," wrote Christine Abernathy, a developer advocate with Facebook's open source t
  
  Read more

• Microsoft disavows 1B-or-bust goal for Windows 10

  15-07-2016 22:16
  
  Microsoft today acknowledged that it would not make its self-imposed goal of putting Windows 10 on 1 billion devices by mid-2018.
  "We're pleased with our progress to date, but due to the focusing of our phone hardware business, it will take longer than FY18 for us to reach our goal of 1 billion monthly active devices," a Microsoft spokesman said in an emailed statement. "In the year ahead, we are excited about usage growth coming from commercial deployments and new devices - and increasing cust
  
  Read more

• NASA ready to build Mars 2020 rover

  15-07-2016 21:47
  
  NASA is ready to wrap up the final design and begin building the next Mars rover, which is set to search, for the first time, for signs of past life on the planet.
  The space agency announced Friday that plans are moving ahead for the robotic rover to launch in the summer of 2020 and land on Mars in February 2021.
  The new rover also is designed to test the planet for usable resources, such as oxygen, that will be needed for future missions to Mars that will include humans.
  The Mars Curiosity rov
  
  Read more

• BrandPost: Reflecting on a Decade of Hadoop

  15-07-2016 21:40
  
  Ten years. As I sit here and type the words, I still can’t believe it’s already been that long. Ten years since Hadoop entered the lives of data and data management professionals like myself and ushered in an unprecedented (and still ongoing) era of change, investment, exploration, doubt, and discovery.To say the time has flown by would be the very definition of an understatement. To say the Hadoop experience has changed the lives and careers of everyone in its path would be an equal
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Gender equality? I smell a rat

  15-07-2016 21:14
  
  Diversity is an important issue in the tech field, and at CIO.com we regularly cover the conscious and unconscious biases women and monitories face in landing jobs and advancing in their careers. We're proud of the job Senior Writer Sharon Florentine does with her new Diverse-IT blog, which focuses on such issues. And sometimes diversity issues crop up where you least expect them.Yesterday Florentine picked up on a recent Wired article on how medical research labs use primarily male rats and mic
  
  Read more

• Samsung may place a $450m bet on electric cars and batteries

  15-07-2016 20:52
  
  Samsung Electronics is on the verge of making a substantial investment in BYD, a Chinese manufacturer of electric cars and batteries.The Samsung investment comes as its chief rivals are investing in car tech and the market for car battery technology continues to grow.The investment was first reported by the Korea Economic Daily, which said Samsung will pay 3 billion yuan ($450 million) for a 4 percent share of BYD. BYD later confirmed the two are in talks but did not con
  
  Read more

• Use Tor? Riffle promises to protect your privacy even better

  15-07-2016 20:31
  
  Privacy-minded people have long relied on Tor for anonymity online, but a new system from MIT promises better protection and faster performance.Dubbed Riffle, the new system taps the same onion encryption technique after which Tor is named, but it adds two others as well. First is what's called a mixnet, a series of servers that each permute the order in which messages are received before passing them on to the next server.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
  Read more

• Microsoft will miss its one billion Windows 10 device target

  15-07-2016 20:24
  Last year, Microsoft announced that it planned to have a billion devices running Windows 10 by the middle of 2018. Now, the company is saying that was too ambitious."We’re pleased with our progress to date, but due to the focusing of our phone hardware business, it will take longer" to reach the goal, Microsoft Corporate Vice President Yusuf Mehdi said in an emailed statement. "In the year ahead, we are excited about usage growth coming from commercial deployments and new devices.&rdq
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• IDG Contributor Network: CIO Masters Series: David Wilde, CIO of Essex County Council

  15-07-2016 20:19
  
  If you’re a CIO and would like to be interviewed for our special U.K. vs. U.S. CIO Master series, please get in touch.
  It’s a hot day, one of the rare few in London, when I meet David Wilde, the Essex County Council’s CIO, for a round of coffees and a chat to discuss how he and his team are making a difference to the people of Essex and helping the county government get through turbulent times.
  The global recession changed the world, and the Essex County Council felt one of th
  
  Read more

• Another near-final Windows 10 build adds an Amazon extension to Microsoft Edge

  15-07-2016 20:12
  
  It's a few days late for Prime Day, but Microsoft’s Edge browser now has an Amazon extension for your shopping convenience. It’s one of the last remaining features to be added to Windows 10 as its Anniversary Update draws closer to its “final,” shipping code.
  Microsoft released Build 14390 for both PC and Mobile to Windows Insiders in the Fast Ring on Friday, with an emphasis on bug fixes. The one exception is the new Amazon extension for Edge, bringing the number of ava
  
  Read more

• This fake Pokemon Go game will secretly drive porn ad clicks

  15-07-2016 20:06
  
  A newly discovered fake Pokemon Go game will actually lock your phone and then secretly run in the background, clicking on porn ads.Security firm ESET found it on Google Play and its called Pokemon Go Ultimate. However, once downloaded, the app itself doesn’t even pretend to offer anything remotely like the hit game.Instead, it simply appears as an app called “PI Network.” Once it runs, the app will then freeze the phone with a screen lock of a Pokemon Go image, forcing the use
  
  Read more

• How Salesforce.com's Wave Analytics helps publisher track leads

  15-07-2016 20:05
  
  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) is leaning heavily on data to identify sales opportunities and track the status of existing accounts, both crucial activities as the textbook publisher’s business increasingly shifts from ink and paper to learning software.Houghton Mifflin Harcourt CTO Brook Colangelo.HMH CTO Brook Colangelo says the company has bet on analytics software as part of a sweeping transformation at the 184-year-old publisher designed to give sales staff more easily accessible dat
  
  Read more

• AT&T deploys drones for cell tower inspections, network expansion

  15-07-2016 19:44
  
  AT&T is now using drones to conduct aerial inspections of its cellular towers and foresees them as a way to beef up its wireless LTE network.
  Down the road, the carrier said it might use a drone as a Flying Cell on Wings (COW) to enhance LTE coverage at a large concert or sporting event where thousands of fans can clog the network. Or a drone could be used in rapid disaster response, offering wireless coverage when a vehicle is unable to drive to an area hit by a storm or other catastrophe.
  
  Read more

• BrandPost: Cloud Adoption Accelerates, But Challenges Remain

  15-07-2016 19:33
  
  As CIOs lead their organizations down the path towards digital transformation, cloud adoption continues to soar: According to Gartner, the worldwide public cloud services market is projected to grow 16.5 percent in 2016 to a total of $204 billion, up from $175 billion in 2015, reflecting a shift away from legacy IT services and over to cloud-based services.The 2016 Harvey Nash/KPMG CIO Survey, The Creative CIO, found that four in ten IT leaders (40 percent) use cloud technology to improve respon
  
  Read more

• After conquering the iPhone, chip designer ARM chases supercomputers

  15-07-2016 19:07
  
  Having dominated the mobile world for some time, ARM -- the company whose CPU design is in Apple's iPhone -- is now going after the fastest computers in the world.The chip-design company wants to graduate its processor architecture and take on complex calculations that drive tasks like weather modeling, economic forecasting and scientific research -- the domain of high-performance computing (HPC).Next month, ARM will detail the "ARMv8-A Next Generation Vector Architecture for HPC" at the Hot Chi
  
  Read more

• Most CEOs are planning to kill their companies

  15-07-2016 18:20
  
  I had an interesting briefing earlier in the week. KPMG just finished a large CEO survey looking at how CEOs are thinking about technology. The good news is they apparently think about technology and IT a lot. The bad news is they don’t trust what they’re getting from IT and that suggests that not only will the move to cloud services accelerate, but it may very well accelerate without IT.  Other than looking for a job at Amazon Web Services this suggests the perception of q
  
  Read more

• MIT researchers: Network pros could learn a lot from ants

  15-07-2016 17:36
  
  How ants decide where to move their nests may hold lessons for computer scientists seeking efficient ways to gather data from distributed networks of sensors, according to MIT researchers.
  It turns out that the frequency with which explorer ants bump into each other as they wander around looking for a new home for their colony is a pretty good indicator of how many other explorer ants are investigating the same site.
  +More on Network World: What’s hot at Cisco Live | Hungry ants knock out
  
  Read more

• Big banks, big applications, big outsourcing

  15-07-2016 17:21
  
  Large application outsourcing transactions in the banking sector hit a record five-year high last year, according to a recent report by outsourcing consultancy Everest Group. There were 54 new big application outsourcing projects in the sector with a total contract value of $5.9 billion in 2015—an increase in volume of 45 percent and in value of 25 percent over the previous year.[ Related: How to turbocharge digital transformation ]Financial institutions tend to outsource applications arou
  
  Read more

• US pumps $400 million into next-generation wireless research

  15-07-2016 17:08
  
  The U.S. National Science Foundation will spend more than US$400 million over the next seven years to fund next-generation wireless research in an effort to bring super-fast mobile service to the country.U.S. officials hope the investments, announced Friday, will speed up the county's move to next-generation 5G mobile service, potentially offering speeds of 10Gbps, and allow for a rapid expansion of the internet of things. The next-generation mobile services will enable self-drivi
  
  Read more

• IDG Contributor Network: VMware embraces open source with Dirk Hohndel leading the way

  15-07-2016 17:07
  
  Dirk Hohndel is one of the most recognizable faces at Linux and open source conferences. You often see him sharing the stage with Linus Torvalds during panel discussions.Hohndel recently joined VMware as vice president and chief open source officer. He moved to VMware from Intel where he was the chief Linux and open source technologist since 2001. Previously, Hohndel held the position of CTO of SUSE, one of the three major Linux companies.Hohndel also maintains Subsurface, the open source divelo
  
  Read more

• IDG Contributor Network: How to install Arch Linux on your PC

  15-07-2016 16:31
  
  Arch Linux is one of my favorite Linux-based desktop OSes. I have written at length why I use Arch Linux. If you want an OS that gives you complete control over your computing, Arch Linux is the one.However, installing Arch Linux can be a daunting task. That's why I wrote this tutorial. My goal is to present the installation process in a manner that is easy to understand and follow. You might also want to read the official Arch Linux Wiki for more in-depth information on Arch Linux.To read
  
  Read more

• In Nice attack, government's official terror alert comes too late

  15-07-2016 16:11
  
  "Take cover," the French government warned people in Nice via its official terror alert app.But the alert came almost three hours after police shot the driver of a truck as he plowed through crowds gathered on the waterfront late Thursday to watch a firework display celebrating France's national holiday.The System to Alert and Inform Populations (SAIP) app, introduced last month, is supposed to provide more timely and informative warnings than the existing nationwide network of sirens and radio
  
  Read more

• Cisco patches serious flaws in router and conferencing server software

  15-07-2016 15:49
  
  Cisco Systems released patches this week for several vulnerabilities in its IOS software for networking devices and the Cisco and WebEx conferencing servers.
  The most serious vulnerability affects the Cisco IOS XR software for the Cisco Network Convergence System (NCS) 6000 Series Routers. It can lead to a denial-of-service condition, leaving affected devices in a nonoperational state.
  Unauthenticated, remote attackers can exploit the vulnerability by initiating a number of management connectio
  
  Read more

• Best Deals of the Week - Deal Alert

  15-07-2016 14:50
  
  Best Deals of the WeekCheck out this roundup of the best deals on gadgets, gear and other cool stuff we have found this week. All items are highly rated, and dramatically discounted.APC Performance SurgeArrest Outlet with Phone Splitter and Coax ProtectionThe 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 fe
  
  Read more

• Publishers rely on Facebook at their own peril

  15-07-2016 14:00
  
  A new report from video advertising company Mixpo details how today's publishers place their futures in the hands of Facebook and its algorithms. Every time Facebook changes its policies, as it did last month, publishing companies are reminded of the potential perils that come with relying on Facebook for their audiences. However, the data suggests publishers have little choice. Publishers overwhelmingly cite video as the biggest trend in digital media today, and video makes them even more
  
  Read more

• IDG Contributor Network: iOS 10: How to use Raise to Wake

  15-07-2016 14:00
  
  iOS 10 has many new features, but one that hasn’t gotten much media attention is Raise to Wake. If you turn on Raise to Wake, you can see your iPhone’s Lock screen without having to touch the Home button.Raise to Wake is particularly useful if you have the second generation Touch ID sensor, which is so fast that it makes it hard to see your Lock screen before you get taken to the Home screen.In this how-to I’ll show you how to enable Raise to Wake (or disable it if you prefer n
  
  Read more

• Polaroid Swing app brings 'Live Photos' to old iPhones

  15-07-2016 13:55
  
  Polaroid cameras used to be cool. Seriously.Some 20 million years ago, I owned two of them, which I'd pass around at large parties and ask guests to snap candids. Those beloved instant-print cameras still exist, but the rest of the party moved on to smartphone photos and selfies. Polaroid as a company only exists to license its well-known brand ... which brings us to the new, free iOS camera app, Polaroid Swing.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
  Read more

• Companies failing to plan for many cyber dangers

  15-07-2016 13:02
  
  Only 22 percent of companies have a comprehensive plan in place to deal with major cybersecurity incidents, according to a new survey from KPMG and British Telecom.
  Meanwhile, 97 percent said they have been the victims of a digital attack, and 55 percent said that they have seen an increase in cyberattacks.
  "Our research is showing us that people don't have a plan that they can turn to if they are under considerable attack," said BT Americas CISO Jason Cook.
  In particular, a good plan should in
  
  Read more

• Zin en onzin over de CIO

  15-07-2016 12:46
  Met vakmatige interesse probeer ik nu en dan chocola te maken van de continue stroom persberichten en onderzoeken met betrekking tot de CIO-functie. Zijn er soms nieuwe tendensen waarneembaar? Weten anderen dingen die ik niet weet? Nieuwe inzichten die de rol en functie kunnen opstuwen in de vaart der volkeren? Nope.... lees meer
  
  Read more

• Tesla needs to rethink its Autopilot technology

  15-07-2016 12:30
  
  In light of several accidents that have involved its assisted driving technology, Tesla should rethink just how much automation it provides to drivers, automotive experts said today.
  While Tesla's Autopilot advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) uses cameras and radar, the carmaker should consider adding LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) technology, which uses lasers to create 3D scans of objects around a vehicle.
  Currently, Tesla's radar only ranges the distance to objects, but it cannot n
  
  Read more

• 10 travel apps to smooth your next business trip

  15-07-2016 12:30
  
  Clear skies aheadImage by ThinkstockIt sometimes seems as if business travel is expressly designed to raise blood pressure. Cancelled flights, long airport security lines, even a misplaced receipt for your expense report can throw a monkey wrench into your trip. To help, we’ve rounded up several mobile apps designed to reduce travel stress in a variety of ways, from booking a flight or last-minute hotel room to finding a quiet airport lounge or secure Wi-Fi hotspot. With one exception, all
  
  Read more

• Wearables could compromise corporate data

  15-07-2016 12:00
  
  As smartwatches and other wearables gain popularity, experts are warning of potential data security risks in workplaces.
  Some employees have begun connecting their personal smartwatches with corporate Wi-Fi networks, which could mimic the problems caused when personal smartphones started showing up at work several years ago.That earlier bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend fostered an explosion of software products from various vendors for managing devices securely, alongside laptops and desktops
  
  Read more

• Q&A: SnapLogic tackles app integration in cloud era

  15-07-2016 12:00
  
  Gaurav Dhillon knows a thing or two about integration. In his twenties, he co-founded Informatica and helped thousands of enterprises deal with the challenges of application and data integration in the client-server world. Now, as CEO of San Mateo, California-based SnapLogic, Dhillon is tackling the integration challenges IT shops face in the new world of cloud.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
  Read more

• 10 compelling reasons to upgrade to Windows 10

  15-07-2016 12:00
  An offer you shouldn't refuseThe deadline cometh. July 29 looms, and after that, Windows 7 and 8 users will no longer be able to upgrade to Windows 10 for free. If you’ve been waiting for Microsoft to polish out the operating system’s initial bugs, it’s time to make the leap.This article’s more for the fence-sitters—the folks who haven’t decided whether to stick with what they know or embrace Microsoft’s new-school operating system. There are some very v
  
  Read more

• Windows as a Service: What's it mean?

  15-07-2016 11:58
  
  The idea that Microsoft would eventually unveil a subscription licensing model for Windows 10 -- the so-called Windows-as-a-Service (WaaS) model -- has been bandied about for a while now. This week Microsoft made that idea real, but only for enterprise customers. At its Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) in Toronto, the company announced the details of Windows 10 Enterprise E3 and Windows Enterprise E5.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
  Read more

• Microsoft trekt aan langste eind in Ierse Warrant Case

  15-07-2016 11:35
  Gisteren heeft een federale rechtbank in de VS uitspraak gedaan in de zogenoemde ‘Warrant Case’. Microsoft hoeft geen e-mails van klanten te overhandigen op verzoek van Amerikaanse inlichtingendiensten als die e-mails in datacenters buiten de VS zijn opgeslagen. In dit specifieke geval had de overheid... lees meer
  
  Read more

• Tesla asked to brief Senate committee on fatal car crash

  15-07-2016 06:31
  
  Tesla Motors has been asked by a U.S. Senate Committee to brief it on the circumstances leading to a fatal accident that killed the driver of a Tesla Model S, while the vehicle’s Autopilot driver-assistance software was turned on.The request by the committee on Thursday comes on the same day that Consumer Reports, a product-testing and rating nonprofit, called on Tesla to disable hands-free operation in its cars until it can be made safer. Though advanced active safety technology in vehicl
  
  Read more

• This Android Trojan blocks the victim from alerting banks

  15-07-2016 02:23
  
  A new Trojan that can steal your payment data will also try to stymie you from alerting your bank.Security vendor Symantec has noticed a “call-barring” function within newer versions of the Android.Fakebank.B malware family. By including this function, a hacker can delay the user from canceling any payment cards that have been compromised, the company said in a blog post.Fakebank was originally detected in 2013. It pretends to be an Android app, when in reality, it will try to steal
  
  Read more

• BrandPost: Building a Strong Data Analytics Foundation

  15-07-2016 01:13
  
  In a recent conversation with a colleague, we talked about people’s natural tendency to focus on the newest and coolest tools for data analytics. People often want to believe that if you invest in the bright and shiny toy for a very specific purpose, your problems are going to be over. But, of course, it’s never that simple—especially when it comes to data analytics. Many people have learned the hard way that chasing a bright, shining analytics toy can get you into a lot of tro
  
  Read more

• Microsoft's overseas privacy battle may be far from over

  15-07-2016 00:15
  
  Privacy advocates, especially those outside the U.S., can rest a little easier now.  A federal court has rebuked the U.S. government’s attempt to access emails stored on a Microsoft server in Ireland.But the legal battle may be far from over. Thursday’s ruling could affect how the U.S. conducts surveillance over suspected criminals and terrorists overseas, so expect the government to appeal, said Roy Hadley, a lawyer at Thompson Hine who studies cybersecurity issues.“There
  
  Read more

Follow @ITExecutiveNews on Twitter!