IT Executive news

• 50% off Tactical Bracelet with Fire Starter, Compass and Military Grade 550 Paracord - Deal Alert

  19-09-2016 23:03
  
  From starting fires, to fishing, to making a sustainable shelter, be more prepared for whatever the world throws your way with a tactical bracelet like this one from Aegis Gears. The band, adjustable between 6 and 9 inches, is made from 12 feet of Mil Spec grade type III paracord (in a king cobra weave) so it's extremely strong and reusable. It features a compass, a magnesium firestarter rod, and a serrated ultra-sharp eye knife fire striker. The bracelet averages 4.5 out of 5 stars on Amazon f
  
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• Oracle pushes hybrid by letting customers rent cloud hardware

  19-09-2016 23:02
  
  One of the big issues facing public cloud vendors is convincing companies to take on-premises workloads and move them to a public cloud data center. Oracle is trying to enable that shift with a new set of products that allow customers to get the same hardware that Oracle runs in its data centers behind their own firewalls. Executive Chairman Larry Ellison unveiled the Big Data@Customer and Exadata@Customer machines on Sunday, building on the company's Cloud@Customer hardware offering.I
  
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• IBM targets x86 server territory with new Power servers

  19-09-2016 22:00
  
  IBM sold off its x86 server business two years ago to Lenovo, thinking it was exiting a cut-throat, low-margin business. But the cloud has only intensified x86 server chip sales, and IBM is paying attention.The company is adapting a new range of Power servers -- which typically run powerful systems -- for the cloud. The Power E870C and E880C servers, announced Monday, are flexible in handling many tasks and can scale for distributed computing and cloud integration.The new servers, which support
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: It’s official, Linux was released on September 17, 1991

  19-09-2016 21:48
  
  25 years ago, on August 25, 1991 Linus Torvalds announced the kernel he was working on. That kernel later became Linux. August 25th is celebrated as the birthday of Linux. But the interesting fact is that August 25 is not the date when Linux was released.
  In an interview during LinuxCon North America (Toronto), Torvalds told me that the first release of Linux (version 0.01) was never announced publicly. He uploaded it to an FTP server and sent an email about it to people who showed interest in
  
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• Twitter changes up rules for 140-character limit

  19-09-2016 21:35
  
  Feeling a little cramped in your tweets?
  Twitter has a solution for you, without exactly lifting its 140-character limit.
  The company announced in a tweet today that media will no longer count in the long-standing 140-character limit on tweet limit.
  “Rolling out now: photos, videos, GIFs, polls, and Quote Tweets no longer count toward your 140 characters,” Twitter tweeted out today.
  For a while now, people have been speculating that Twitter, which has been trying to gain a little mo
  
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• Twitter's live NFL debut a good start, but …

  19-09-2016 21:14
  
  Twitter needed a win, and it got one in a big way last Thursday night when the New York Jets beat the Buffalo Bills 37 to 31. Twitter's NFL debut was a significant test for the beleaguered social media platform. The live broadcast didn't experience any major hiccups and, according to the NFL and Nielsen, 2.1 million people watched the game on Twitter.Thursday night's game was the first of 10 matchups Twitter plans to stream throughout the remainder of the season. Twitter inked the deal with the
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: 5 incredibly creative uses of social proof in marketing

  19-09-2016 20:45
  
  Social proof is a tool that every marketer attempts to use, yet few are able to master. It’s not as simple as sharing a quote from a client. In order to generate positive feedback, you need to naturally integrate social proof in strategic places that reach customers when they’re about to make a decision.The value of social proof
  Social proof does what traditional marketing and advertising can’t: it promotes consumer confidence in an unbiased fashion. When customers see an eleme
  
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• 17% off Sensi Wi-Fi Programmable Thermostat, Alexa Compatible - Deal Alert

  19-09-2016 20:42
  
  According to Emerson, makers of this UP500W Sensi Wi-Fi Programmable Thermostat, their customers save up to 33% in energy costs every year using programmed heating and cooling schedules. The Sensi thermostat makes it easy to remotely control and schedule the comfort of your home using your phone, tablet or PC. You can start with a preloaded schedule that reflects common daily patterns and quickly adapt it to your unique schedule, or you can use the intuitive swipe controls to buil
  
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• Oracle refocuses the company on chasing the cloud

  19-09-2016 19:24
  
  Intent on getting in on the momentum building behind the cloud, Oracle Corp. is refocusing the company to become a top cloud player.
  The company is making that clear at its annual customer conference, Oracle OpenWorld,in San Francisco this week.
  During his opening keynote, Larry Ellison, Oracle executive chairman and chief technology officer, said the companyintends to take on Amazon Web Services and its top position in the cloud market.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please
  
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• The iPhone 7's sleeper hit feature is its display

  19-09-2016 19:13
  Rumor has it that next year’s iPhone will have an OLED display, but the iPhone 7’s LCD display is more impressive than anyone expected.
  The iPhone 7’s screen looks exactly the same as the 6 and 6s—it’s the same size and has the same resolution. But DisplayMate’s new iPhone 7 shoot-out, which compares the new phone to the iPhone 6, turned up a bunch of neat details.Susie OchsApple’s iPhone 7.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please clic
  
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• Microsoft won't bundle IE patches with new cumulative updates for Windows 7 and 8.1

  19-09-2016 19:12
  
  Microsoft will not include bug fixes for Internet Explorer (IE) in the new cumulative updates slated to upend Windows patching next month.
  According to answers given to questions posed by customers, IE patches will not be bundled with the über updates that debut Oct. 11. Instead, they will be delivered separately as individual updates, as they have been for decades.
  "We are working to get IE included in the monthly rollup and security-only update but do not have a confirmed schedule yet,"
  
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• Oracle is also getting in on the chatbot revolution

  19-09-2016 18:16
  
  Oracle CTO Larry Ellison ordered himself some new business cards on stage at the company's OpenWorld conference in San Francisco on Sunday, just by having a conversation. As part of his keynote address to attendees, Ellison took the time to show off a new set of tools for creating intelligent chatbots that integrate with Oracle's software. It's aimed at making it easier for businesses to build bots that let users connect with their enterprise software, and help businesses connect with consu
  
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• Polaroid Swing review: For those times when a snapshot is not enough

  19-09-2016 18:07
  
  There’s Apple’s Live Photos, Microsoft Pix’s Live Images, and now with the new Polaroid Swing iOS app (free on the iTunes Store), there’s Polaroid’s Moving Photos, the latest in a series of image hybrids created for times when a picture equals more than a thousand static words. Polaroid Swing creates a one-second photo/video that aims to capture an instant the way we actually see it—in motion.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click her
  
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• New Skype Preview lets Windows 10 Insiders manage phone texts on PCs

  19-09-2016 18:06
  
  After a short absence, Messaging Everywhere is back, and—just as Microsoft promised—it’s built into the Skype Preview for Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile.
  Microsoft doesn’t call Skype's new feature “Messaging Everywhere” of course, but it’s essentially the same thing: the ability to use an app on your Windows 10 PC to send and view text messages via your Windows 10 Mobile device. The feature's called SMS relay, and it includes the ability to send
  
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• Oracle CEO Mark Hurd: We have the whole cloud stack

  19-09-2016 18:05
  
  Few enterprise IT transformations can match the importance of today’s long migration from on-premises, client-server computing to cloud computing. This week at Oracle’s mammoth OpenWorld conference in San Francisco, Oracle will make it abundantly clear that it intends to become a leader in all three flavors of cloud -- not only SaaS, where the company has already demonstrated strength, but also in PaaS and IaaS, where Oracle is a new player.
  Last Friday, in advance of OpenWorld, IDG
  
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• Games yanked from Steam after developer sues users for nasty negative reviews

  19-09-2016 18:04
  A game developer’s catalog recently disappeared from Steam after the company decided to sue 100 Steam users who were leaving negative reviews.
  Digital Homicide co-founder James Romine, the game developer in question, is seeking damages of $18 million from the commenters for a variety of claims, including harassment, stalking, criminal damage, and criminal impersonation, according to a copy of the complaint posted to Scribd by Kotaku.
  Steam owner Valve confirmed to Motherboard that it had
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: iOS 10: How to use the new lock screen

  19-09-2016 17:43
  
  Since iOS 10 was released many users have been upgrading all of their devices, only to find out that there’s much more to iOS 10 than meets the eye. And one of the biggest changes in iOS 10 is the lock screen.The new version of the iOS lock screen lets you conveniently access the camera app with a swipe, and it also lets you access the widgets page via swiping as well.The widgets can be customized to show only the widgets you want to see, in the order that you prefer to view them. You can
  
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• How ITSM laid the foundation for a cultural transformation

  19-09-2016 17:18
  
  You wouldn't think IT service management (ITSM) could serve as the lingua franca for 15 different organizations in a corporation but it’s played a key role in unifying technology for Oshkosh Corp., a maker of military vehicles, postal trucks and fire trucks. Wisconsin-based Oshkosh’s technology had become siloed since acquiring 15 companies between 1996 and 2006, says CIO Dave Schecklman.Oshkosh had long let the organizations govern their own IT services but this is no longer tenable
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: At your service

  19-09-2016 16:52
  
  In a previous CIO blog post, I addressed how technology leaders must take on the role of IT diplomat in an increasingly business-driven world. Adopting many of the behaviors and attitudes of modern diplomacy when reaching out to business people — showing humility and a willingness to partner — will set you up for a long-term strategic role and a boost to your career.But it’s only a first step. Beyond diplomat, now you can add “servant” to your job description.
  
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• Enter the brave new world of Windows 10 license activation

  19-09-2016 16:04
  
  Windows 10 brought a lot of changes to Microsoft's flagship desktop operating system when it debuted on July 29, 2015, and it has changed even more since then. With the release of the Anniversary Update in August (Build 1607 for Current Branch users, at Build 14393.105 as I write this), even license activation has changed. Here's what most users of the business-oriented Windows 10 Enterprise will see if they check their Activation screen:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please
  
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• SAP makes HANA available on the PC and offline

  19-09-2016 15:56
  
  Aiming to make it simpler to experiment with SAP HANA, and to prototype and build applications on the platform, SAP Monday announced a new SAP HANA, express edition, of its in-memory platform that developers can download for free to their desktops or laptops, or use in the cloud."It is a streamlined, smaller version of SAP HANA," says Marie Goodell, vice president, SAP HANA Platform Marketing. "This is exciting for us. It allows a developer to bring this down to a personal computer that he or sh
  
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• 1 Free Amazon Echo Dot When You Buy 5 - Deal Alert

  19-09-2016 15:28
  
  Echo Dot is a hands-free, voice-controlled device that uses Alexa to play & control music (either on its own, or through a connected speaker/receiver), control smart home devices, provide information, read the news, set alarms, and more. If you’re looking to buy them as gifts, or for different homes or rooms, Amazon will throw in a free one ($50 value) when you buy 5, or two free ones when you buy 10 (a $100 value). To take advantage of this limited time offer, select 6 or 12 in the qu
  
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• SAP woos SMB developers with an 'express' edition of Hana

  19-09-2016 15:00
  
  SAP has made no secret of the fact that its bets for the future rest largely on its Hana in-memory computing platform. But broad adoption is a critical part of making those bets pay off.Aiming to make Hana more accessible to companies of all shapes and sizes, the enterprise software giant on Monday unveiled a downloadable "express" edition that developers can use for free.The new express edition of SAP Hana can be used free of charge on a laptop or PC to develop, test and deploy production appli
  
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• What to think about when moving to the cloud

  19-09-2016 14:59
  
  Well, it's 2016, and a few years ago Garnter reported that "By 2016, poor return on equity will drive more than 60 percent of banks worldwide to process the majority of their transactions in the cloud."
  Enterprises across all sectors are either in the cloud, transitioning to the cloud, or thinking about making the idea of cloud a reality. 
  For those who are preparing to make the move, there are a variety of concerns to consider and plan for in order to make for a smooth transition. In
  
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• Performance, management and privacy issues stymie SSL inspections — and the bad guys know it

  19-09-2016 14:58
  
  The technology is there for companies to inspect the SSL traffic going in and out of their networks, but performance, management and privacy concerns combine to hinder its adoption -- allowing cyberattackers to hide their malicious activity in the encrypted traffic.
  According to a new report by the Ponemon Institute, 41 percent of companies who were victims of a cyberattack said that the attacker used SSL encryption to hide their activities and to sneak data out of organizations.
  And this perce
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Video PaaS market is growing, and Vidyo.io exemplifies it well

  19-09-2016 14:37
  
  In case you've been living under a rock, real-time video is hot right now — real hot. We're seeing real-time video streaming everywhere, including drones, ATMs and smart glasses and now Google Duo, video-enabled Atlassian Hipchat and Facebook video chat Messenger. And it's only going to become more ubiquitous with the growing availability of easy-to-use, lower risk video platform-as-a-service (PaaS) platforms.Vidyo Industry giants Cisco, Huawei and Microsoft are participating in the video
  
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• Continuous Authentication: The future of Identity and Access Management (IAM)

  19-09-2016 13:27
  
  Although vendor-written, this contributed piece does not promote a product or service and has been edited and approved by Network World editors.
  Usernames and passwords act as a gateway. Insert another authentication step on top of these credentials and this gateway becomes harder to infiltrate. But once access is gained, how can the device or Web application be certain that the authenticated user is, in fact, the same person throughout the entire session?
  For example, you may log in and walk a
  
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• New call-blocking apps in iOS 10 can stop spammers and scammers before they reach you

  19-09-2016 13:26
  Constantly hassled by incoming calls on your iPhone that promise riches for filling out a survey, claim the IRS will arrest you if you don’t wire a payment (to Costa Rica), or say they’re calling from your “credit-card company” without mentioning which one? iOS 10 packs a solution: apps can now identify callers as scammy or spammy, and optionally automatically block them.
  This may be useful for you, or to help a loved one install on their phone if they can’t always
  
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• Got an iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus? Do these 10 things first

  19-09-2016 13:26
  
  Well, you did it. You pulled the trigger on a shiny (or matte) new iPhone 7 or 7 Plus. Nice! Before you head out to take a squillion 12-megapixel photos to fill up the super-sized storage, there are a few housekeeping details you should tend to first.1. Back up and restoreThis isn’t poor planning, I swear—I like to back up my old phone after I have my new iPhone in hand, so the backup is as up-to-date as it can possibly be. While you can back up via iCloud or iTunes, I prefer the fa
  
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• Apple's iMessage finally grows up

  19-09-2016 13:25
  
  Apple is finally taking on Snapchat, WeChat and Slack.
  Wait, what?
  When iOS 10 appeared on Tuesday, it featured a long list of enhancements. The biggest news is the transformation of Apple's messaging service, iMessage, into a full-fledged, modern messaging platform.
  As with so many things, Apple is an exception to industry norms. The new iMessage will become far more than just another messaging service. It changes everything.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• Why it’s time to start developing a drone security strategy

  19-09-2016 13:24
  
  Everyone is familiar with the military use of drones. You’ve probably heard about Amazon’s plans to deliver commercial goods to consumers via drones. And Google is reportedly developing solar-powered drones that will deliver high-speed Internet.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• Why (and how) you should manage Windows PCs like iPhones

  19-09-2016 13:23
  
  The days of Microsoft's System Center may be numbered. With the introduction of Windows 10, Microsoft has begun championing a different approach to systems management -- the same approach that Apple created for the iPad and iPhone, and Google later adopted for Android. Organizations adopting Windows 10 can take advantage of this new approach, allowing IT to manage all client devices -- Windows 10 PCs (as older Windows versions are retired), Macs, iOS devices, and Android devices -- from the sam
  
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• We tear apart a hard drive and SSD to show you how they work

  19-09-2016 13:23
  It's what's inside that countsImage by Mike HomnickIt’s the day everybody dreads: You power up your PC and it sits dormant, failing to boot because your hard drive or SSD is dead. But after you stop cursing and reaching for your backups—you do create backups regularly, right?—you might as well make the best of things.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• Oracle plans two major Java EE upgrades for the cloud

  19-09-2016 13:22
  
  Modernizing Java EE (Enterprise Edition), the server-side version of Java, for the cloud and microservices will require two critical upgrades to the platform. Version 8 is set to arrive in late 2017, followed by Java EE 9 a year later, Oracle revealed on Sunday.
  Although Java EE already is being used in cloud deployments, Oracle sees a need to better equip it for this paradigm, said Anil Gaur, Oracle's group vice president of engineering, at the JavaOne conference in San Francisco. To this
  
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• Get to know the all-new, much-improved Maps app in iOS 10

  19-09-2016 13:21
  
  If you haven’t been using Apple’s Maps app, the all-new version in iOS 10 is worth another look. It’s prettier than ever, smarter about finding stops for gas and coffee along your actual route, and thanks to machine learning iOS 10 it can do things like remind you when it’s time to leave for your next appointment, and then remember where you parked your car.
  I use Maps on a daily basis, after relying on Waze or Google Maps for years. A good mapping app is pretty importan
  
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• Free and cheap ways to study for IT certifications

  19-09-2016 13:20
  
  For as long as there have been technology certifications, IT pros have debated their value. Some believe they're the key to a fatter paycheck, while others contend that they're often not worth the paper they're printed on. Others take the middle road and say they can be valuable in the right circumstances, but experience is king.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• Microsoft Surface Special Edition NFL Type Cover delivers an unofficial benefit

  19-09-2016 13:19
  
  Few tech products in this world warrant a voiceover from late NFL Films narrator John Facenda, but we’ll make an exception for Microsoft’s Special Edition NFL Type Cover, which seems deserving of the “voice of god.”
  As the name implies, the NFL Type Cover is basically a standard Surface Pro 4 Type Cover with an officially licensed NFL team logo printed on the back. All 32 team logos are offered, including the generic Cleveland Browns (sorry, Cleveland.) MicrosoftOnl
  
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• How to keep IT security at the forefront during a merger

  19-09-2016 13:19
  
  1. Let two become one—safelyImage by PexelsStephen Boyer, CTO and co-founder of BitSight, knows one of the biggest threats to your company's tech security: the possibility that it might buy another company. He points to a survey from West Monroe Partners that found that 40% of acquiring companies discovered a cybersecurity problem in an acquired company—after a deal went through. It probably shouldn't be surprising that, in a 2014 survey from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, a stagger
  
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• Settings in iOS 10: Every notable change you need to know

  19-09-2016 13:18
  iOS’s Settings app is the quiet MVP of Apple’s mobile operating system: It’s the place you go to when you need to get something done, and get it done your way. So whenever you update iOS on your iPhone or iPad, it pays to peruse the settings to find, enable, and configure any new features just to your liking. The biggies for iOS 10? Maps, with its plethora of new features, and Siri, since she now supports third-party app integration.
  Here’s a rundown of the major ch
  
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• Overheid krijgt advies van consortium bij strategische ICT-vraagstukken

  19-09-2016 13:13
  Het Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken en Koninkrijksrelaties heeft de combinatie Quint Wellington Redwood en PBLQ - met TNO en ITSX als onderaannemers - geselecteerd als een van de voorkeursadviseurs voor rijksbrede aanbesteding van ICT. Het Ministerie maakte deze keuze na een Europese aanbesteding, waarbij de... lees meer
  
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• ‘Betere man-vrouwverhouding verhoogt kwaliteit in IT’

  19-09-2016 12:45
  Vier op de tien Nederlandse IT’ers verwachten een hogere kwaliteit van dienstverlening als de man-vrouwverhouding op de werkvloer gelijker wordt. Een ruime meerderheid verwacht echter geen noemenswaardige veranderingen door verandering in de verhouding tussen mannen en vrouwen op de werkvloer. Daarop duidt... lees meer
  
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• When it comes to IT certifications, trust but verify

  19-09-2016 10:46
  
  Trust, but verify, the old adage goes. But in a tight IT talent market, it seems hiring companies are doing a heck of a lot of the former and not enough of the latter. New research shows that organizations are trusting employees when they say they've attained certifications, but aren't investing the time or energy to verify whether or not those credentials have actually been earned.
  "We'd heard this anecdotally, but to see it in the hard data was very concerning, and it made us cringe. The value
  
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• What’s difference between project management and change management?

  19-09-2016 10:27
  
  Project management involves the use of people, processes and methodologies to plan, initiate, execute, monitor and close activities. It is designed to meet an organization's project goals, and hopefully overall strategic objectives.Change management, similar to project management, involves people, processes, and tools to effectively help organizations manage all the changes that occur, whether as a result of project initiatives, or other factors that might impact the business.
  While project mana
  
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• Robot cars will make up most of Lyft’s rides in five years

  19-09-2016 08:51
  Autonomous self-driving cars are set to take off but they are less likely to be driven by private owners and will in all probability be part of networks operated by ride-hailing services, according to Lyft's view of the future of transportation.The ride-hailing company expects that Lyft rides in the robot cars will outstrip those in cars driven by human drivers within the next five years in the U.S, according to John Zimmer, its co-founder and president.Ride-hailing companies, car makers and tec
  
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• Oracle is gunning for AWS with new infrastructure offering

  19-09-2016 06:23
  
  Larry Ellison has a message for Amazon Web Services: Oracle is going to give Amazon a run for its money in the cloud market."Amazon's lead is over," he said during his keynote address at the OpenWorld conference in San Francisco. "Amazon's going to have serious competition going forward."To that end, the company he co-founded is launching a set of new cloud datacenters that are aimed at providing more powerful compute instances to help it compete against the likes of AWS, Azure and other cloud p
  
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• Intel's new PC, IoT chief brings fresh ideas to the veteran chip maker

  19-09-2016 05:10
  
  Intel is now more than just a PC company. At industry events, the company's keynotes feature drones flying around, robots walking on stage and musicians creating tunes from wearables. The chip maker is helping BMW build an autonomous car, will sell modems to Apple, and is leading the development of next-generation 5G cellular networks. For all these new markets, it will provide chip and data-center technologies.
  The transformation is happening partly under the leadership of Venkata Renduchintal
  
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• Oracle will acquire cloud security vendor Palerra

  19-09-2016 04:50
  
  Oracle has agreed to acquire Palerra, a vendor of software for securing cloud services, as part of its strategy to provide customers comprehensive identity and security cloud servicesPalerra offers a Cloud Access Security Broker product called Loric that offers a combination of visibility into cloud usage, data security, user behavior analytics, and security configuration, with automated incident responses."We think this is an important addition to our overall cloud security portfolio," Larry El
  
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• Salesforce is betting its Einstein AI will make CRM better

  19-09-2016 00:00
  
  If there was any doubt that AI has officially arrived in the world of enterprise software, Salesforce just put it to rest. The CRM giant on Sunday announced Einstein, a set of artificial intelligence capabilities it says will help users of its platform serve their customers better.AI's potential to augment human capabilities has already been proven in multiple areas, but tapping it for a specific business purpose isn't always straightforward. "AI is out of reach for the vast majority of companie
  
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