IT Executive news

• Microsoft seems ready to give up on Windows phones, if not Windows 10 Mobile

  31-10-2016 22:12
  
  The future of Windows phones...might not be phones?
  Rumors and hopes for a category-defining Surface phone were not satisfied at Microsoft's press event last Wednesday. The company didn’t even mention Windows 10 Mobile. With the collective market share of Windows phones stagnant at about 1 percent, customers and partners have to wonder why anyone should bother investing in Microsoft’s mobile strategy.   
  In an interview with ZDnet’s Mary Jo Foley, Microsoft exec
  
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• These tiny robots are exploring history's most iconic shipwrecks

  31-10-2016 21:29
  
  Underwater explorers no longer need to get their feet wet to uncover some of history's most notable shipwrecks. Oxygen tanks and flippers are being replaced by underwater robots. Sam Macdonald is the president of Deep Trekker, a Canadian company that makes underwater bots. Since Deep Trekker's creation in 2010, the company's robots have become a standard in the aquaculture industry, but, Macdonald says, that wasn't the original intent. 
  "One night I dropped a flashlight off my boat and
  
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• System76 brings Ubuntu to $699 laptop with Kaby Lake chips

  31-10-2016 21:04
  
  If Windows 10 isn't your cup of tea, System76 has a new Ubuntu laptop with Intel's Kaby Lake chip that won't burn your wallet.The 14-inch Lemur laptop starts at $699, a more affordable price for cost-sensitive users than Dell's Ubuntu-based XPS 13 Developer Edition, which starts at $949."We don't have any Mac tax or Windows tax that goes into [Lemur]," said Ryan Sipes, community manager at System76.Despite having a free OS, Dell's XPS 13 laptop has been criticized for being more expensive than t
  
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• Next step after Node.js: Framework for 'universal' JavaScript apps

  31-10-2016 20:58
  
  The Next.js framework for server-rendered "universal" JavaScript apps is going open source.
  Built on top of the React JavaScript library, the webpack module bundler and the Babel JavaScript compiler, Next.js is a minimalistic framework for server-rendered React applications. It's offered by development tools builder Zeit and installed via npm "We created Next.js because we believe universal isomorphic applications are a big part of the future of the web," Next's developers said.To read thi
  
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• IBM deploys machine learning to bolster online banking security program

  31-10-2016 19:54
  
  Behavioral biometrics that uses machine learning is behind new features being added to IBM’s Trusteer Pinpoint Detect platform, which financial institutions use to head off crooks who may have stolen the username and password of legitimate account holders.
  The new feature looks for anomalies between legitimate users’ normal mouse gestures and those of the current user, and over time refines the accuracy of its analysis, says Brooke Satti Charles, Financial Crime Prevention Strategis
  
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• Mozilla plans to rejuvenate Firefox in 2017

  31-10-2016 19:52
  
  Mozilla last week named its next-generation browser engine project and said it would introduce the new technology to Firefox next year.
  Dubbed Quantum, the new engine will include several components from Servo, the browser rendering engine that Mozilla has sponsored, and been working on, since 2013. Written with Rust, Servo was envisioned as a replacement for Firefox's long-standing Gecko engine. Both Servo and Rust originated at Mozilla's research group.
  "Project Quantum is about developing a
  
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• Dell/EMC, SnapRoute reinforce OpenSwitch networking features

  31-10-2016 19:12
  
  Looking to broaden the qualities of its open source stack, the OpenSwitch project said SnapRoute and Dell EMC will add new features to its network operating system.
  Specifically, the new contributions include:SnapRoute’s open source network stack and management services, which support a modular, hardware independent NOS, accessible through a complete set of APIs.
  Dell EMC’s OS10 Open Edition, which represents an open, disaggregated base subsystem incorporating hardware and platform
  
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• CIO Career Coach: How to ace a job interview, part 3 (video)

  31-10-2016 19:12
  
  Welcome to the sixth episode of "CIO Career Coach," a video series I created with CIO.com and IDG.tv, the video division of CIO's parent company IDG.This installment is the last in a series of three videos focused on helping you ace your next job interview. In the previous episode, I shared valuable pointers on how to turn an interview into a conversation, and I stressed the importance of structuring your responses.I have spent many years coaching candidates who were looking for the IT
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: 6 steps to creating a culture of security ownership

  31-10-2016 19:10
  
  The state of corporate cybersecurity is anything but static. With the list of potential threats diversifying, the stakes are high for securing company systems and data. As the average cost of a data breach grows (currently estimated at $4 million), business leaders’ appetite for risk lessens. And yet fewer than half of information security professionals feel that their company’s defenses are completely up to par, according to our research at CompTIA.Contrary to what some business lea
  
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• IBM, LEGO offer Macs as recruiting tool

  31-10-2016 19:06
  
  In a job-seeker’s market, employers will do everything they can to attract and retain skilled talent. For some companies, that extends to the technology they offer to employees.
  At IBM, employees can now choose Apple devices, thanks to an initiative launched in June of 2015. In the first few months of the user-choice program, IBM deployed 30,000 Macs to its workforce. Today, IBM has 90,000 Macs deployed and is on pace to exceed 100,000 by year end.
  The Mac@IBM program is part of a larger
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: 7 IT tools and resources every digital advertising agency needs

  31-10-2016 18:30
  
  Knowledge, experience and raw skills are all crucial components of success in the digital advertising world, but the truth of the matter is that everyone possesses them. Some have more talent than others, but at your level, it’s impossible to deny that these things are pretty consistent from organization to organization.However, there are a couple of things that set growing digital advertising agencies apart from stagnant ones. The first is innovation, which fully embodies the enhancement
  
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• Visualization analytics helps utility provider escape ‘Excel hell’

  31-10-2016 18:29
  
  Analytics software is helping National Grid improve how it collects late payments, a crucial exercise for the utility provider whose customers owe it millions of dollars for gas and electricity. The software helped National Grid escape "Excel hell," in which analysts manually analyzed data and built ineffective PowerPoint decks to share their findings with business leaders.The presentations fell flat because they didn’t allow people to look at the data from different angles or perform ad h
  
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• Just a test? If only!

  31-10-2016 18:29
  
  The yearly testing of our incident response protocol was on my radar for later this year, but circumstances moved it up on the agenda and turned it from a tabletop exercise to a real-world crisis.
  What precipitated the crisis was the distributed denial-of-service attack against DNS provider Dyn on Oct. 21. Calls started coming in around 8:30 a.m. EDT, just as our East Coast customers were arriving to work and attempting to log in to my company’s cloud-based software-as-a-service applicati
  
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• Enterprises continue to struggle to find cybersecurity talent, survey finds

  31-10-2016 18:17
  
  As enterprises rapidly digitize more business processes with cloud computing, mobile, IoT, and data they are straining their ability to find the security talent they need to secure their systems.
  According to the Global State of Information Security Survey (GSISS) 2017 -- a worldwide study conducted by PwC, CIO and CSO released this month - skilled cybersecurity professionals are hard to come by — and continue to make enterprise IT security all the more challenging. Many enterprises are a
  
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• Apple design chief Jony Ive rules out touchscreen Macs

  31-10-2016 17:21
  
  PC makers have fully embraced touchscreen laptops and desktops, but don’t expect Apple to head down that road.
  Last week, the company introduced two MacBook Pros that feature slim OLED displays to replace the keyboard’s function keys. Apple launched its latest products just one day after Microsoft unveiled its massive Surface Studio desktop designed for creative professionals, a demographic once solidly in Apple territory. Why didn’t Apple go fully touchscreen with its new Mac
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: TouchFart: A fart app for the new MacBook Pro's Touch Bar

  31-10-2016 16:56
  
  When Apple revealed its new MacBook Pro computers, the standout feature was the Touch Bar. It offers the promise of a whole new world of functionality on the MacBook Pro, and many developers were excited to find out about it.One developer quickly showed that Apple can expect some…er…unique apps to be developed for the Touch Bar. One of the first is called TouchFart, and lets your spiffy new MacBook Pro sound like it has just eaten a can or two of boston baked beans.The app has a Gi
  
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• New ARM GPU could bring VR to low-cost smartphones by 2018

  31-10-2016 16:48
  
  Today, a robust, VR-capable smartphone could cost you more than US $500. But a new GPU from ARM could make VR a default feature in low-cost handsets by 2018.ARM's Mali-G51 GPU is targeted toward budget smartphones and has the horsepower to handle VR applications. It can bring VR to mainstream handsets priced around $200.Today, 4K and virtual reality are mostly limited to high-end handsets like Samsung's Galaxy S7, which allows users to hook up to a VR headset to roam virtual worlds.Google's
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: May I see your comprehensive security policy please?

  31-10-2016 16:17
  
  May I see your comprehensive security policy please? Huh? What’s that?Lack of compliance with the HIPAA security standards is common in county and municipal government agencies even though many of these organizations have covered entities (CE) under their umbrellas. For some reason, almost everyone got the memo on required compliance with HIPAA privacy rules in 2003, but many organizations missed the subsequent memo on required compliance with security rules by April of 2005.Nearly 14 year
  
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• BrandPost: Digital Transformation Changes Everything — Are you Ready?

  31-10-2016 15:04
  
  The world is undergoing the most disruptive set of changes ever experienced, and they will transform everything. Called Digital Transformation (DT or DX), digitization or Industry 4.0, it is being accelerated by the explosive growth of data (actionable data will grow by 9.6x by 2025) and devices (connected devices will grow by more than 50% to 30 billion by 2020, and 80 billion by 2025).
  "Digital transformation is not just a technology trend, it is at the center of business strategies across al
  
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• How to maximize the value of your software IP

  31-10-2016 14:46
  
  Last month, BlackBerry announced that it was quitting the phone-making business, but the BlackBerry name will live on. That's because the company has entered into a licensing agreement with an Indonesian company that will manufacture, distribute and promote BlackBerry-branded devices running BlackBerry software.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• 53% off Etekcity Wireless Bluetooth 4.0 NFC-Enabled Audio Adapter - Deal Alert

  31-10-2016 14:44
  
  The Roverbeats Unify enables Bluetooth 4.0 capability on traditional audio systems lacking Bluetooth functionality. Just connect it to your system's A/V, RCA, or 3.5mm jack input. The Unify is the first Bluetooth receiver to have a 200mAh battery, allowing it to provide up to 10 hours of continuous high quality music playback. And with NFC capability, the Unify can quickly connect with any other NFC enabled device in the matter of seconds. The adapter gives you wireless control up to 33 feet. It
  
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• Internet of Things poised to transform cities

  31-10-2016 14:26
  
  The internet of things (IoT) is set to transform municipal life, according to government officials surveyed by the nonprofit trade association Computing Industry Trade Association (CompTIA)."Cities and city leaders are thinking more holistically about different uses of technology that are integrated and bringing different aspects of the city together into a unified whole," says Tim Herbert, senior vice president, research and market intelligence, CompTIA."Improved decision-making made possible t
  
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• Apple's MacBook Pro price hikes bolster iPad Pro-as-PC argument

  31-10-2016 14:25
  
  Apple's dramatic price increase for its top-of-the-line MacBook Pro notebooks was aligned with the company's recent contention that the iPad Pro, when equipped with a keyboard, was a suitable substitute for a personal computer, analysts argued today.
  "Normally they keep the price the same, but it's not just a refresh. They're trying to find a different place in the market for the MacBook Pro," said Carolina Milanesi of Creative Strategies.
  That "different place," Milanesi continued, was at an e
  
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• Messaging and collaboration tools are most valuable enterprise apps

  31-10-2016 14:09
  
  Messaging and collaboration applications are the most mission-critical mobile apps in enterprise today, according to a new survey of executives commissioned by Adobe. More than half of the professionals surveyed (57 percent) said mobile apps for messaging and collaboration are critical to their organizations' success, and a similar number of respondents (59 percent) said such apps will continue to be critical in 2019. The survey, which was conducted by Edelman Intelligence, included respons
  
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• Joomla websites attacked en masse using recently patched exploits

  31-10-2016 13:13
  Attackers are aggressively attacking Joomla-based websites by exploiting two critical vulnerabilities patched last week.
  The flaws allow the creation of accounts with elevated privileges on websites built with the popular Joomla content management system, even if account registration is disabled. They were patched in Joomla 3.6.4, released Tuesday.
  Hackers didn't waste any time reverse engineering the patches to understand how the two vulnerabilities can be exploited to compromise websites, acc
  
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• CenturyLink will acquire Level 3 Communications in $34B deal

  31-10-2016 13:08
  
  CenturyLink plans to acquire internet backbone company Level 3 Communications in a US$34 billion cash and stock deal that aims to consolidate the networks and customers of the two companies.The combined company, operating in more than 60 countries, will be able to offer CenturyLink's larger enterprise customers the benefits of a larger global presence, and will also be positioned to further invest in the reach and speed of its broadband infrastructure for small businesses and consumers, the comp
  
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• Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Tablet modules add features but limit functionality

  31-10-2016 13:00
  
  We gave Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 tablet high marks not for its performance, but for the elegance of its design. We can’t say the same for its three add-on productivity modules, as their price and bias toward tablet mode lower their appeal substantially.
  Modularity has emerged as a theme for Lenovo, home of the Moto Mods and Thinkpad Stack modular accessories. Now a series of three “modules” do the same for the Lenovo X1 Tablet: the $150 Productivity modul
  
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• Why don't developers have a 'spellchecker' for security'?

  31-10-2016 12:00
  
  Despite all the news coverage about successful cyberattacks, developers are still writing code full of security vulnerabilities.
  Of course, nobody is perfect. We all make mistakes, and as software projects get more and more complex, it can be easy to mix potential problems.
  But that doesn't explain why so much software is full of the most basic errors.
  According to a report released this month by Veracode, 61 percent of all internally-developed applications failed a basic test of compliance wit
  
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• Why Blockchain’s growing pains will be worth it

  31-10-2016 12:00
  
  HALF MOON BAY, Calif. – Experts at a recent technology conference agreed that blockchain has a bright future, but warned it may be a rocky ride until that future arrives. Blockchain is a distributed database that uses a secure digital ledger of transactions that users can share across a computer network. It’s also the technology behind virtual currency bitcoin.      “When you are at the leading edge there will be mistakes. People will get a lot wro
  
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• The FCC’s new privacy rules are toothless

  31-10-2016 12:00
  
  When the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted last Thursday (Oct. 27) to accept new privacy rules for ISPs, the move was heralded by many as an important step forward in U.S. privacy protections. But a closer look at the particulars shows a decision that has so many exceptions — and and that makes it easy for ISPs to hide customer permission deep within lengthy terms and conditions documents — it amounts to a big backward step for privacy, one that will likely embolden any
  
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• 8 things Google Assistant does on Pixel that it can't do in Allo

  31-10-2016 12:00
  
  Anyone can use Assistant in Allo, but it comes alive on PixelImage by Ryan WhitwamGoogle is in the process of making Assistant a prominent part of its products, including the chat app Allo and the new Google Pixel. The Pixel is the first phone to have Assistant built-in, and it's actually much more robust than the version of Assistant in Allo. There's plenty of overlap, and of course there are things Assistant can't do in Pixel (like text input and emoji games), but you can do things in Assistan
  
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• Tesla's new solar shingles could be the spark needed to ignite the industry

  31-10-2016 11:39
  
  Tesla has announced four different solar roof tiles that the company plans to tie tightly into its manufacturing and sales of household and commercial battery systems, that will be able to store the energy while at the time making it available to charge Tesla electric cars.
  Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk held a press conference Friday to announce the new rooftop solar tiles at Universal Studios Hollywood's old "Desperate Housewives" set, where the houses surrounding him all had recently had th
  
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• The paranoid user’s guide to Windows 10 privacy

  31-10-2016 11:36
  
  Since its release, a major point of controversy with Windows 10 has been the many ways that it can track your personal activity and gather other data about you. Many people don’t mind sharing personal information in exchange for enabling or enhancing a helpful app or service.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• Is your IT staff ready for IoT?

  31-10-2016 11:30
  
  The city of Kansas City, Mo., blazed a new technology trail in May when it launched its first streetcar line with public Wi-Fi that spreads across two square miles, covering more than 50 square blocks. It also marked the debut of the city's first-generation smart city corridor for new technologies, many of which will run wirelessly over one of the largest free public Wi-Fi zones in the country.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• Beat the bad guys at their own game with SafeBreach’s simulated cyberattacks

  31-10-2016 11:15
  
  The best way to get experience with most jobs or tasks is to do them. It’s difficult to learn how to drive a car without getting behind the wheel. Soldiers need to face the enemy in order to gain combat experience. And IT administrators have to experience and mitigate attacks to learn how to best defend their networks.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• China’s policing robot: Cattle prod meets supercomputer

  31-10-2016 11:00
  
  China's fastest supercomputers have some clear goals, namely development of its AI, robotics industries and military capability, says the U.S.
  But some of the early iterations of this effort seem a little weird.
  China recently deployed what it calls a "security robot" in a Shenzhen airport. It's named AnBot and patrols around the clock. Here's what AnBot looks like, according to a Chinese government newspaper, The People's Daily online. And here is AnBot with its electric cattle prod-like devic
  
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• 17 essential tools to protect your online identity, privacy

  31-10-2016 11:00
  
  Make no mistake: Professional and state-sponsored cybercriminals are trying to compromise your identity -- either at home, to steal your money; or at work, to steal your employer’s money, sensitive data, or intellectual property.
  Most users know the basics of computer privacy and safety when using the internet, including running HTTPS and two-factor authentication whenever possible, and checking haveibeenpwned.com to verify whether their email addresses or user names and passwords have be
  
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• Robots and AI won't cost you your job anytime soon

  31-10-2016 09:00
  
  MIT Technology Review's EmTech conference is all about looking to the future of tech and what's more futuristic than artificial intelligence? If you are up to date with the latest news on AI, or maybe you've just watched a few episodes of HBO's Westworld, you might be wondering how soon your job will be replaced by a robot. But if the presentation at MIT 's EmTech conference this year is any indication, while artificial intelligence is at an impressive point, we're still far off from robot domin
  
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• 4 women describe their nontraditional journeys to tech

  31-10-2016 09:00
  
  Discussion abounds around building an IT talent pipeline of young women, starting as early as elementary school, continuing through high school and into college, to address the dearth of women in the field. But mid-career women looking for a career change are also part of a pipeline -- and nontraditional education, through boot camps and continuing education programs, are helping them make the change.
  At a panel discussion at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, held October 19-21
  
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