IT Executive news

• Ex-NSA contractor hoarded two decades' worth of secrets

  20-10-2016 23:42
  The former National Security Agency contractor suspected of stealing U.S. hacking tools allegedly was found hoarding two decades' worth of classified materials.In a Thursday court filing, federal investigators provided new details on their case against 51-year-old Harold Martin, who was arrested in late August. Investigators have seized 50 terabytes of information from Martin, in addition to thousands of pages of documents, the filing said. Among them are classified operational plans against a k
  
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• Cloud growth continues to be the name of the game for Microsoft

  20-10-2016 23:12
  
  Microsoft's ongoing move to the cloud paid off once again over the past quarter, as strong growth from Azure and Office 365 offset declines in the PC market.
  The company announced on Thursday that its quarterly revenue for the three-month period ending in September was flat overall at US $20.5 billion. The company's net profit was down 4 percent year-over-year from $4.9 billion to $4.7 billion.
  Those results were driven by quarterly revenue from the company's Intelligent Cloud segment, whi
  
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• 32% off Asus 15.6-Inch Laptop, 2.1GHz Core i3, 4GB RAM, 500GB Hard Drive, Windows 10 - Deal Alert

  20-10-2016 23:05
  
  Housing multiple USB 3.0 ports for fast data transfer and the latest 802.11ac wireless for fast Internet connectivity, Asus promises it'll be fast and easy to get things done with their F555 laptop. It comes loaded up with Windows 10, Intel's 5th generation Core i3 processor, a 15.6-Inch Full HD (1920*1080) display, 4GB RAM, a 500GB hard drive, an HD camera, and much more. It averages 4 out of 5 stars on Amazon from over 1,600 people, and its typical list price of $499.99 has been redu
  
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• Apple sues Amazon supplier over fake iPhone chargers

  20-10-2016 22:21
  
  In a federal lawsuit filed this week, Apple asserted that nearly all the iPhones, chargers and cables it surreptitiously purchased from online retailer Amazon were fakes.
  "As part of its ongoing brand protection efforts, [Apple] has purchased well over 100 iPhone devices, Apple power products, and Lightning cables sold as genuine by sellers on Amazon.com and delivered through Amazon's 'Fulfillment by Amazon' program," Apple's complaint said of a nine-month operation. "Apple's internal examinati
  
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• Apple lays out plans for Swift 4.0

  20-10-2016 21:54
  
  Fresh from releasing version 3.0 of its Swift language, Apple is elaborating further on plans for Swift 4.0, which is expected late next year.
  The upgrade will range from resilience to memory ownership model to strings, with particular focus on source stability for code and ABI stability for the standard library, according to documentation in GitHub.[ Find out how to get ahead with our career development guide for developers. | The art of programming is changing rapidly. We help you navigate wh
  
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• Celebrating 12 years of Ubuntu

  20-10-2016 21:36
  
  Happy birthdayImage by Thinkstock/UbuntuFounder Mark Shuttleworth announced the first public release of Ubuntu – version 4.10, or “Warty Warthog” – on Oct. 20, 2004. The idea behind what would become the most recognizable and widely used Linux distributions ever was simple – create a Linux operating system that anybody could use. Here’s a look back at Ubuntu’s history.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• Samsung releases super-high-capacity 8GB DRAM

  20-10-2016 21:33
  
  Samsung today introduced the world's first 8GB LPDDR4 DRAM package, a memory chip with twice the capacity and twice the speed of typical DRAM used in PCs.
  The new LPDDR4 (low power, double data rate 4) DRAM uses new 10-nanometer-class process technology, which gives it twice the capacity of previous 20-nanometer (nm) process chips. The DRAM package is 15mm x 15mm x 1.0mm in size. Samsung now plans to expand its use of 10nm process technology across its fabrication plants.
  While many high-end, u
  
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• Microsoft rescues disheveled lady Skypers with its TeleBeauty virtual makeup app

  20-10-2016 21:33
  
  I hate to say it, but this sounds like the solution a man would come up with to solve the problem of makeup: a new Skype overlay applies “virtual makeup” to women conducting Microsoft Skype calls.
  Microsoft Japan, in conjunction with cosmetics supplier Shiseido, has developed TeleBeauty, an app that applies virtual makeup—with styles ranging from “cool” to “trendy”—over a face. TeleBeauty uses the laptop’s camera to superimpose the make
  
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• Mars lander goes silent, but scientists remain hopeful

  20-10-2016 21:16
  All was well as the European Space Agency's robotic explorer Schiaparelli closed in on its Mars landing on Wednesday.
  Data coming back to Earth showed that the robotic lander entered the Martian atmosphere as expected. Its parachute opened to slow its descent.
  And then it went silent as the lander's signal stopped.
  At the point that Schiaparelli, which was launched with the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter on March 14, should have been about to touch down on the Martian surface, it was lost.
  The Europ
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: The apps you need to run a business

  20-10-2016 21:15
  
  “There’s an app for that” may be cliché nowadays, but there’s also some truth to it — if you need it for your business, chances are good there really is an app that covers that service. In fact, today's business owners can virtually run their entire business using these software and mobile applications.Organization
  Document Sharing
  Services like Dropbox, Google Drive and Box have become ubiquitous office features for businesses of all sizes, and with good rea
  
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• Gartner: By 2020, you'll say more to a machine than to your spouse

  20-10-2016 21:15
  
  ORLANDO, Fla. -- The message at Gartner's Symposium/ITxpo is to prepare for a fast move to augmented reality, the decline of mobile apps, and a major shift away from web browsing to voice interaction.
  Many users will expect businesses, universities and governments to respond to these shifts, the market research firm said at its annual conference.
  Here's what Gartner sees arriving soon:
  1. By 2020, 100 million consumers will shop in augmented reality environments.
  AR will be "overlaying data on
  
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• RASP rings in a new Java application security paradigm

  20-10-2016 20:18
  
  Runtime Application Self Protection (RASP) is a next-generation cyber security technology designed to redress some of the weak points of application security. Unlike firewalls or code analysis, runtime-based technologies contain application data and contextual awareness, enabling them to be both precise and preemptive.
  In this article I introduce RASP. I'll briefly compare RASP to other cyber security techniques and explain the factors that enable a runtime-based security solution to fend off c
  
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• Apple to host event next week, probably to strut new Macs

  20-10-2016 20:15
  
  Apple yesterday issued invitations to reporters and analysts to an Oct. 27 presentation at its California headquarters, where it's expected to unveil new Mac personal computers.
  The event will be live-streamed from Apple's website.
  As it has regularly over the years, Apple made only the vaguest reference to the content of the presentation: "Hello again" was all the invite read.
  The last time Apple bothered to host a Mac-specific event was March 2015, when it unveiled the new MacBook, a notebook
  
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• How switching to Macs is paying off for IBM

  20-10-2016 19:34
  Last year, IBM made a bold decision. The company let its employees choose between a Windows PC or a Mac for their own work machines. IBM staffers prefer Macs, so the company bought up 30,000 of them. This year, IBM has 90,000 Macs in use. But Macs are expensive, as we all know, so IBM must be spending a fortune on making the switch…right? Apparently not.
  IBM said Wednesday at the Jamf Nation User Conference that it’s actually saving money on each Mac: $273 to $543 per Mac over four
  
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• 19% off HooToo Shuttle Type C Hub With Charging, HDMI Output, Card Reader, 3 USB 3.0 Ports - Deal Alert

  20-10-2016 19:30
  
  Here's an adapter you might want to have on hand. This highly rated all-in-one style adapter from HooToo charges and powers your laptop, while allowing you to connect multiple peripherals, transfer data, and even extend/mirror your screen to an external display in 4k. Ports include USB Type-C, HDMI, 3 x USB 3.0 Ports, and an SD Memory Card slot. Its display port is capable of outputting 4K UHD or Full HD 1080p video to HDTV, monitor or projector.  Its Mac-inspired design features
  
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• Tesla ratchets up fully autonomous cars; watchdog group wants tighter safety regs

  20-10-2016 19:24
  
  A non-profit consumer advocacy group yesterday called on the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to keep robotic cars off the road until the federal government enacts "enforceable" safety standards.
  Consumer Watchdog made its announcement on the same day that Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk revealed all new Tesla models will be equipped with hardware that could enable fully robotic driving.
  The Santa Monica-based, non-partisan consumer rights group said Tesla has been irresponsible in depl
  
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• TravelBank uses machine learning to save businesses money on travel

  20-10-2016 18:52
  
  Figuring out how much a business trip will cost can be a hassle. Employees are often put in the position of figuring out how to get somewhere, and once they get there, they don't have an incentive to keep their spending to a minimum.A new startup called TravelBank is aiming to help by providing a predictive budget for a trip, based on when someone is traveling and where they're going. After that, it helps them document their spending and file an expense report that shows how much money they've s
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Tips for using images to enhance your website

  20-10-2016 18:19
  
  To attract today’s customers, every business needs an attractive, brand-enhancing website. Whether the site is designed by internal employees or an outside firm, as an IT department you may be brought in as an advisor. Without the right planning on the front end, you may find yourself answering questions about issues at the server level, even when problems have everything to do with design.Complicating matters is today’s attention to image-based website content. A business can’
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Dreamforce 2016 was all about getting through giving

  20-10-2016 17:57
  
  Co-authored by Ahsan Awan.More than 170,000 people from an estimated 83 plus countries descended on San Francisco recently for Salesforce.com’s annual Dreamforce event, Oct. 4 to 7. The annual conference featured thousands of thought leaders, industry pioneers and executives focused on customer relations management (CRM), artificial intelligence (A.I.), monetization of social capital and service differentiation. It has rapidly become one of the largest technology conferences in the wo
  
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• Puppet tightens links to Docker, Jenkins, VMware

  20-10-2016 17:45
  
  Puppet is forging tight links between its devops platform and Docker containers, Jenkins continuous integration, and VMware virtual machines. These improvements are part of a series of product unveilings Thursday that also includes the latest version of the Puppet Enterprise data center orchestration platform.For Docker, Puppet is offering its Docker Image Build tool for automating the container build process. "What this allows people to do is reuse their existing Puppet code," Tim Zonca, Puppet
  
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• BrandPost: Secure Access for Outsourced IT Vendors – Without a VPN?

  20-10-2016 17:28
  
  If you’re planning to outsource any of your IT operations to an outside partner, those vendors will need access to your infrastructure. But granting third-party partners access via a VPN presents a number of security risks and challenges. Fortunately, there is another way to grant third parties access to the systems they manage – one that strengthens security and eases management.IT organizations have traditionally relied on VPNs to provide secure remote access. A VPN establishes an
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Where APIs and empathy meet

  20-10-2016 17:15
  
  Last month, I kicked off a new series where I sit down with forward-looking business and IT leaders to talk about digital transformation inside their companies. It’s been an insightful, and in many ways inspiring, few weeks on the road.In my conversations with executives about their digital transformations, I keep hearing one word come up time and time again. Much to my surprise, it’s not “disruption.” It’s not even “APIs.”It’s “empathy.
  
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• Wipro is buying cloud consultant Appirio for $500M

  20-10-2016 17:11
  
  It's India meets Indianapolis: Bangalore-based consulting firm Wipro is buying Appirio for US$500 million to bulk up its cloud applications business.With more resources behind it, cloud services vendor Appirio will be in a better position to fight back against big consulting firms like Accenture and Deloitte, which "have garnered disproportionate market share" in the cloud services market in recent years, Appirio CEO Chris Barbin wrote in a blog post explaining the deal.Appirio, based
  
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• Dropbox is now a must-have iOS app due to these new features

  20-10-2016 17:11
  
  Thanks to a new iOS update, Dropbox is now an even more useful mobile document tool, instead an app that simply lets you access and sync files. Here are three new features that make Dropbox's app stronger.1. Dropbox lets you sign PDFsThe ability to sign PDFs from within Dropbox is the most significant new feature. (Dropbox didn't specify when PDF signing will come to its Android app.)
  Say someone emails you a contract that requires your signature and a date. Now you can open the document,
  
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• Facebook now lets you order dinner and buy movie tickets

  20-10-2016 16:57
  
  Facebook does many things for its 1.7 billion users, but it still has work to do before it can close some lingering loops that exist between businesses and potential customers who use the social network. To that end, the company this week introduced a series of new ecommerce features, including food delivery, appointment booking and ticket purchase options, that let customers make direct transactions with businesses on Facebook. 
  The social giant enabled the features through a mix of partn
  
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• 42% off 17-Piece Precision Smartphone Repair Kit For iPhone, Android, Samsung and Others - Deal Alert

  20-10-2016 16:56
  
  Save money by repairing your own device. This 17-piece tool set averages 4.7 out of 5 stars on Amazon from over 450 people (read reviews), and is discounted 42% off its typical list price. The 17-piece kit works with iPhones, iPads, Android devices, and more. It includes several hard to find tools, constructed of heavy duty materials and lightly magnetized to make the job easier.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Enterprise analytics isn't about competitive advantage

  20-10-2016 16:37
  
  To be "enterprising" is to be eager to undertake or prompt to attempt. To show initiative and be resourceful. These are leadership traits, so to be enterprising is to lead. "Analytics" is how we use data to inform decision-making, in the context of achieving business objectives. These are management practices, so analytics is about management.
  "Enterprising Analytics" is about being creative, resourceful and adventurous with decision-making to achieve business objectives. It is about the set of
  
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• 5 Dreamforce takeaways to guide your CRM strategy

  20-10-2016 16:37
  
  If you’ve attended a few Dreamforce events, you know it’s easy to become hypnotized (if not downright numbed) by all the sensory input. There’s a lot of information buried in all the propaganda, and if you’re in the press you get inundated. But a few days later, you realize it’s like fixating on a Twitter feed: In real-time, it’s hard to discriminate what’s going to have an importance half-life of more than an hour or two.That said, this Dreamforce had s
  
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• Free tool protects PCs from master boot record attacks

  20-10-2016 16:30
  Cisco Systems' Talos team has developed an open-source tool that can protect the master boot record of Windows computers from modification by ransomware and other malicious attacks.The tool, called MBRFilter, functions as a signed system driver and puts the disk's sector 0 into a read-only state. It is available for both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows versions and its source code has been published on GitHub.The master boot record (MBR) consists of executable code that's stored in the first sector (s
  
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• BrandPost: Expanding Technology

  20-10-2016 16:21
  These days, everything connects to the Internet in some way or another. People carry a minimum of three devices with them at all times: their phone, their notebook, and their tablet. And that doesn’t take into consideration many other smart gadgets that people may indulge in every day—like smart watches, smart thermostats, and even smart fridges. Face it; digital devices have all but taken command of our lives!In our hyper connected world, the Internet of Things (IoT) has grown drama
  
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• 3 ways Windows Server 2016 is tackling security

  20-10-2016 15:58
  
  Every version of Windows — client and server — has promised improved security. But with Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016, Microsoft is going beyond the usual incremental improvements and closing of loopholes and giving you the tools to reduce the dangers of phished credentials, over-privileged admins and untrustworthy binaries.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• MDM helps real estate developer mobilize business processes

  20-10-2016 14:31
  
  A few years ago Edward Rose & Sons was suffering from the mother of all business process messes. The real estate developer's business processes had become inefficient. Its four divisions were using different property management, accounting and construction management systems. Employees were forced to shuffle paper for contracts and various other work documents. This made it difficult for management to consolidate and make sense of financial statements as they mulled purchasing more land.Edwa
  
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• The first things to do with your new Pixel phone

  20-10-2016 13:00
  
  Pixel PerfectImage by Derek WalterIt’s finally here.The new Google Pixel is in your hands and ready to deliver on the promise of Google-designed smartphone bliss. There’s a lot to unpack, even if you’ve already been down the Nexus road before. Google has taken the integration of Android and hardware to a new level, and there are a lot of little features hiding just underneath the surfaceTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• Clueless CIO cloud confusion continues

  20-10-2016 13:00
  
  You have got to be kidding me. At the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo, the research company’s annual enterprise IT conference, Gartner vice president David Mitchell Smith said, "In many ways we’re nowhere nearer understanding what cloud is." Oh, come on!The year is 2016, but Smith continued, "There are still a lot of gray areas and blurriness in the cloud business.” He thinks 80% of vendors’ “private clouds” aren’t strictly speaking cloud, along with 30% of publ
  
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• 6 essential elements of a good business plan

  20-10-2016 13:00
  
  Whether you are just starting out and need startup investment or are looking to expand your business and raise capital, a business plan is a must. Indeed, a business plan is not only essential if you want to get people to invest in your idea, it can help you articulate what it is you hope to accomplish with your business – your mission, goal(s) and values – and plot the company’s growth trajectory.However, to be successful, a business plan cannot just be a bulleted list of an e
  
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• In three debates, H-1B visa untouched by Clinton and Trump

  20-10-2016 12:49
  
  In three presidential debates, including the final one Wednesday night, the two candidates did not talk about the H-1B visa program. This was the last opportunity for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton to compare and contrast what may be tech's most controversial issue.
  The portion of the debate set aside Wednesday night for immigration quickly shifted to a discussion about hacked emails and Kremlin meddling. Fox New anchor Chris Wallace may be criticized for allowing this portion of the debate t
  
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• 10 beloved PC programs Windows 10 renders obsolete

  20-10-2016 12:30
  Pedal to the metalImage by ThinkstockFor as long as Windows has existed, third-party programs have sprouted up to fix its most glaring headaches and omissions—only to be eventually squashed when Microsoft corrected course. Several of those programs, from PDF readers to ISO mounting tools to file management boosters, became unnecessary when Windows 8 rolled out. But Microsoft’s relentless axe didn’t stop there.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click
  
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• Intel's $1.4B antitrust verdict should be reviewed, top EU judge says

  20-10-2016 12:25
  
  Intel's hope of recovering a record antitrust fine have improved with a recommendation from a top European Union judge on Thursday that the case be reviewed.The company paid the €1.06 billion (then US$1.4 billion) fine in 2009 after the European Commission found it guilty of abusing its dominant position in the market for x86 processors. Since then, it has been seeking to have the judgment overturned, first by the EU's General Court and then, since 2014, by the EU's highest legal authority,
  
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• Why you need to develop an immersive security strategy

  20-10-2016 12:17
  What is immersive security and why it is it important?Image by ThinkstockSecurity solutions today are inadequate in part because they do not provide a truly effective experience for consuming security data and analyzing and responding to threats. In this evolving threat landscape, businesses will need to utilize intuitiveness and situational awareness to enable security professionals to really “experience” the data and become more efficient and strategic. Immersive security is a radi
  
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• Apple Pay at two years: Not much to celebrate (yet)

  20-10-2016 12:01
  
  Apple Pay marks its two-year anniversary this week, and while it supposedly helped spark a revolution for in-store mobile payments, there's not much celebrating by Apple or its payments rivals.
  While Apple, Samsung Pay, Android Pay and many others keep adding users, the rate of adoption is far below what was expected when Apple Pay arrived on Oct. 20, 2014.
  More worrisome is the low repeat-user rate. Many consumers will sign up for a payment app and try it out with contactless technology like N
  
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• Stupid encryption mistakes criminals make

  20-10-2016 12:00
  
  Writing secure code can be challenging, and implementing cryptography correctly in software is just plain hard. Even experienced developers can get tripped up. And if your goal is to swindle people quickly, not to wow them with the quality of your software, there are sure to be serious crypto mistakes in your code.
  Malware authors may provide significant lessons in how not to implement cryptography. Such was the upshot of research by Check Point’s Yaniv Balmas and Ben Herzog at the recent
  
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• Here's how Google is overhauling its cloud storage offerings

  20-10-2016 10:00
  
  There are big changes afoot for Google Cloud Platform's storage offerings. On Thursday, the company announced a complete overhaul of the storage options available to customers, complete with new storage tiers and reduced pricing.Customers that need incredibly high availability storage can use Google's new fully managed Multi-Regional Cloud Storage service, which will replicate data across multiple Google Cloud data centers in different areas for high-uptime access. On the opposite end of the spe
  
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• Tesla cars to have full self-driving gear, but feature disabled for now

  20-10-2016 07:48
  
  Tesla Motors’ cars will come fitted with full self-driving hardware, as the company jousts with tech rivals like Google and car makers like Ford who are making a dash for the autonomous car market.Model S and Model X cars with the inbuilt hardware are already in production and customers can buy one, Tesla said Wednesday. But the features possible with the new hardware will be enabled only later through over-the-air updates after testing over “millions of miles of real-world driving,&
  
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