IT Executive news

• As AMD mulls GPU for 32-core Zen chip, it develops software tools

  14-11-2016 22:39
  
  AMD has a clear-cut business plan: Its upcoming 32-core Zen chip will bring it back into high-performance servers, and the company has expressed a desire to make high-performing GPUs for such systems.The combination could make for a powerful server and a signature re-entry for AMD into the server market, where it virtually has no presence after bad product decisions cost it market share. The company is already doing the background work so software can be written and installed on those servers.AM
  
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• China hints at retaliation against Apple and iPhones if trade war goes hot

  14-11-2016 22:14
  
  China yesterday signaled that if President-elect Donald Trump follows through with campaign pledges to slap steep tariffs on goods imported into the United States, retaliation will result in shrunken iPhone sales.
  In an op-ed piece published Sunday in Global Times -- one of several newspapers controlled by the Communist Party -- the editorial writers warned that higher tariffs imposed by the U.S. would trigger reprisals.
  "China will take a tit-for-tat approach then," the piece said of any tarif
  
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• GE buys ServiceMax for $915M to boost its IoT power

  14-11-2016 21:38
  
  General Electric’s US$915 million acquisition of field service management company ServiceMax on Monday should help enterprises combine what GE does for industrial products and assets with more tools for those who work on them.GE Digital, the division that’s buying ServiceMax, sells software and services for connecting industrial assets and products in the field, then collecting and analyzing data about them. ServiceMax has a cloud-based platform for tasks like scheduling maintenance
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: How voice recognition will affect privacy in the Internet of Things

  14-11-2016 21:30
  
  A key differentiator for devices being created for use as part of the Internet of Things (IoT) is usability. Traditional user interfaces are being eschewed in favor of voice recognition. In fact, in some studies of voice recognition have shown that this approach to be faster and more accurate than traditional user interface methods.The use of voice recognition requires the collection and interpretation of sounds. A device needs to determine when it is being addressed and then send the sounds tha
  
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• Cisco names 10 cities using its cloud-based smart service

  14-11-2016 21:30
  
  Cisco, which has promoted its smart city technologies for more than two years, today announced that 10 cities, including Paris and Copenhagen, are using its cloud-based service to connect to traffic, parking and environmental sensors in real time.
  Insights from the data collected from the Internet of Things sensors can help city agencies make operations more efficient, reduce costs and respond quicker to emergencies, Cisco said.
  Cisco is showcasing the technology at the Smart City Expo World Co
  
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• Three customer service robots land in San Jose airport

  14-11-2016 21:25
  
  Silicon Valley is synonymous with innovation and high-tech, and Mineta San Jose International Airport wants to make sure travelers know it. The Silicon Valley travel hub is the first airport in the U.S. to introduce customer service robots. The three robotic gals (stationed in front of gates 11, 21, and 25) provide travelers with entertainment, as well as directions to dining and shopping destinations. "It’s very important for Silicon Valley’s airport to offer services for our t
  
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• Web developers get their own browser

  14-11-2016 21:13
  
  With a belief that existing browsers were made for looking at the web and not for developers, Brisk has built a browser specifically focused on website development.
  Based on Google’s Chromium open source browser project, Blisk features a toolbox for developing, debugging, and testing “modern” websites. Available via a subscription service, Blisk is in a 1.0 release, having completed a beta program. It is available for Windows and Mac.[ Safeguard your browsers; InfoWorld's expe
  
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• Where are the wearables you wear elsewhere?

  14-11-2016 21:10
  
  Where did wearables go wrong?
  Futurists promised a "wearable computing" world in which you could buy gadgets that could perform a thousand functions and live anywhere on your body.
  Instead, the vast majority of wearables are biometric wristwatches, measuring mostly heart rate and bodily movement. The top-selling wearables come from Fitbit, Apple, Xiaomi, Garmin and Samsung -- all watches that measure movement and heart rate.
  The overwhelming predominance of fitness watches is problematic in fou
  
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• UK approves extradition of British hacker to the US

  14-11-2016 21:00
  
  A U.K. official has ordered the extradition of a British man to the U.S. on charges of hacking government computers belonging to NASA and the Department of Defense.Lauri Love, a 31-year-old hacktivist, has been fighting his extradition, but on Monday, U.K. Home Secretary Amber Rudd signed the order."Mr. Love has been charged with various computer hacking offences which included targeting U.S. military and federal government agencies," the U.K. Home Office said in a statement.The U.S. originally
  
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• Best Black Friday 2016 deals on Apple iPhones, iPads, watches and more

  14-11-2016 20:05
  
  Apple appetiteApple traditionally gives retailers little leeway on iPhone, iPad and Mac promotions, even around Black Friday, but retailers do find ways around these restrictions by bundling phones with gift cards and other goodies. Apple typically slips a few Black Friday deals out close to the Thanksgiving holiday. But here are deals we know about already on iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches and more. (Black Friday watchers such as BFads and Best Black Friday have been a b
  
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• 12 steps to lower your espionage risk

  14-11-2016 20:05
  
  "What company would not like to know exactly what its competitor is doing?"To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• 6 tips for buying or selling a smart home

  14-11-2016 19:40
  
  Recently, one of our neighbors sold their home and they had a Google Nest thermostat. This became an issue during the sale process. The prospective buyers wanted the Nest to remain, but current owners wanted to take it with them.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• 19% off Motorola MR350R 35-Mile Range FRS/GMRS Two-Way Radio - Deal Alert

  14-11-2016 19:22
  
  Motorola Talkabout MR350 is the ultimate communication tool for the outdoor enthusiast. It boasts a range of up to 35 miles (actual mileage will vary based on a variety of conditions) and is loaded with every possible radio feature. It's also both lightweight and rugged, with extra large buttons to help you operate even with gloves on. The MR350 features 11 weather channels (7 NOAA) with alert features, 22 channels each with 121 privacy codes for superior interference protection, iVOX
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: A stalwart of the early web, Shutterfly rebuilds with the future in mind

  14-11-2016 19:09
  
  There’s a relatively short list of Internet companies founded in the late 1990s who are still considered successful.But Shutterfly, founded in 1999, must invariably be included alongside names like Amazon (founded 1994), EBay (1995), and Priceline (1998) are among those who not only survived the Internet bubble of the late 1990s, but has thrived since.In an age when consumers snap photos on their phones and share them globally on Instagram and Snapchat, Shutterfly’s business of selli
  
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• Kaspersky Labs says Microsoft is anticompetitive towards third-party antivirus

  14-11-2016 18:34
  With the advent of Windows 10, Microsoft has slowly ramped up the competitiveness of Windows’ built-in software such as browsers (Microsoft Edge), app and game gateways (the Windows Store and Play Anywhere), and security products (Windows Defender). This is leading at least some company leaders to worry that Microsoft is trying to push out third-party software when Microsoft-made solutions are readily available.
  The latest Microsoft competitor to take a stand is Eugene Kaspersky, founder
  
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• Cray aims for the 500-petaflop mark with XC50 supercomputer

  14-11-2016 18:34
  
  The fastest computer in the world today can deliver about 125 petaflops of performance, but that could quadruple in the coming years.Cray's XC50, announced Monday, can deliver a petaflop of performance in a single box, and up to 500 petaflops for an entire supercomputer. A supercomputer is typically multiple servers -- also called nodes -- strung together, combining to provide multiple petaflops of horsepower. So the XC50 needs to be specifically configured to hit 500-petaflop performance, an ef
  
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• BrandPost: Most Important Lessons for IT Transformation Success

  14-11-2016 18:09
  
  In today’s complex digital world, the journey toward successful IT transformation from slow, legacy technologies, processes, and skills to digital technologies, agile processes, and skills that move at the speed of business is a must.                     However, many IT transformation initiatives are hardly, well, transformative. Instead, many companies looking to develop valuable digital capabilities find themselves hampered by infle
  
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• Startup Forward Networks helps search, protect and predict network behavior

  14-11-2016 18:02
  
  A team founded by PhD researchers who studied some of the first instantiations of software defined networking at Stanford University have a new startup named Forward Networks that help users understand network behavior while protecting and predicting how changes will impact the system.
  The key to Forward Networks' technology is an algorithm developed at Stanford that allows a software copy of a network to be created. Using this copy, users can run tests on it before implementing changes into pr
  
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• Dear Mirai, how thou shall plan for thee

  14-11-2016 18:02
  
  If you've seen Macbeth, you know the tragedy of Lady Macbeth who realizes in the final act that, "What's done cannot be undone." Overcome with guilt, she is unable to erase the image of blood stained on her hands, and she commits suicide. 
  What makes Macbeth one of the most famed tragedies of Shakespeare is that he and his wife made rash decisions without thinking about the consequences of their actions. They didn't plan ahead. 
  For centuries, audiences have loved to hate Macbeth and
  
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• The top 12 overused IT terms

  14-11-2016 17:58
  
  Every part of the corporate world has its share of unusual and even strange jargon. IT is no different, offering us clouds, ecosystems, waterfalls, sprints and scrums, and even cookies and breadcrumbs. Does anyone outside of IT really know what these expressions mean? Here are the top 12 annoying, overused IT terms that we should replace with normal language. (No need to limit ourselves to 10 just because David Letterman did.)Todd Kale EcosystemIt’s not Biosphere 2 with an IT twist, and i
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: 9 reasons why I will be buying the new MacBook

  14-11-2016 17:07
  
  Apple has finally announced the much-awaited upgrades to its Pro line of MacBooks. As expected, Apple made some unorthodox decisions and they are getting beaten up for it.
  I use a mix of technologies. I have a MacBook, Chromebook, Google Pixel C, Windows 10 PC and I primarily use openSUSE on my main desktop. As a result, I consider myself well educated on the advantages and disadvantages of each platform, without any bias.
  Although my 2013 MacBook with 8GB of RAM is in great shape and is my go-
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Is the 2016 MacBook Pro with Touch Bar worth buying?

  14-11-2016 17:00
  
  Apple’s recent announcement of new MacBook Pros with a Touch Bar caught the attention of many Mac users who have been waiting a long time to upgrade their laptops. Potential buyers of these new MacBook Pros have been wondering if the new Touch Bar feature is worth the money Apple is asking for the new computers.That's a very valid concern considering that the MacBook Pros with Touch Bar start at $1799 for the 13-inch model and $2399 for the 15-inch model, and go for $1999 for the higher-en
  
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• 37% of IT pros to look for new jobs in 2017

  14-11-2016 17:00
  
  If your IT department isn’t already worried about staff retention, some new stats might change that. A new poll finds 37% of IT pros plan to begin searching for a new employer in 2017, and 26% plan to accept a new job.
  Many factors are driving people’s desire for a job change, according to Spiceworks’ 2017 Tech Career Outlook. The most frequently cited reasons are: to advance my IT skills (cited by 69%); to get a more competitive salary (64%); to work at a company that makes I
  
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• IT users review 6 software test management tools

  14-11-2016 16:40
  
  Software teams use test management tools to plan and track the quality assurance (QA) process — whether the tests are manual or automated — and then manage projects to eliminate the software defects uncovered by the tests.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• The 10 fastest supercomputers in the world

  14-11-2016 16:36
  
  Fast and powerfulThe twice-annual Top500 list of the most powerful supercomputers in the world (adjudged by their performance on the Linpack benchmark) is out this morning, and there are a pair of newcomers on the list. Check it out.TrinityImage by Los Alamos National LaboratoryTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• DoS technique lets a single laptop take down an enterprise firewall

  14-11-2016 16:32
  
  At a time when the size of distributed denial-of-service attacks has reached unprecedented levels, researchers have found a new attack technique in the wild that allows a single laptop to take down high-bandwidth enterprise firewalls.
  The attack, dubbed BlackNurse, involves sending Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) packets of a particular type and code. ICMP is commonly used for the ping network diagnostic utility, and attacks that try to overload a system with ping messages -- known as
  
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• Blockchain adoption in banks coming, but slower than expected

  14-11-2016 15:39
  
  Recent headlines suggest that blockchain technology is revolutionizing financial services. JP Morgan Chase, Barclays, Commonwealth Bank, Wells Fargo and several other leading banks are using the digital ledger technology to conduct equity swaps, cross-border trades, and other transactions.You might think that blockchain has gone mainstream. Not so fast, says former UBS CIO Oliver Bussmann, who claims it may take banks two years to run blockchain in production due to regulatory hurdles, a lack of
  
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• China still has the two most powerful supercomputers in the world

  14-11-2016 15:00
  
  China’s Sunway TaihuLight and Tianhe-2 topped the list of supercomputers, maintaining the lead the systems had six months ago, according to the Top500 supercomputer rankings.The U.S. and China increased the number of supercomputers in the list and are now neck and neck with each having 171 systems, according to the 48th edition of the rankings, released Monday. China had 167 systems to 165 from the U.S. in June's edition of the biannual listing.Germany trailed with 32 systems in the curren
  
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• What Snap can learn from Twitter ahead of its IPO

  14-11-2016 14:51
  
  Momentum is important for an organization before its initial public offering (IPO), and Snap, maker of the Snapchat social network, has no shortage of it as it prepares to go public during the next few months. The popular messaging and entertainment app continues to grow quickly, with about 150 million daily users as of June, according to Bloomberg. Snap also last week released a limited supply of a new set of $130 video-recording glasses, called Spectacles, to drum up more interest and prove it
  
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• How 'Bring your parents day' improves work-life balance

  14-11-2016 14:20
  
  Though it started as an inside joke four years ago, LinkedIn's annual Bring In Your Parents (BIYP) day has evolved and expanded to highlight how many companies are emphasizing family-friendly culture and work-life balance.
  "A few years ago, some of us were having lunch and joking about how none of our parents really understood what it was we did -- as a professional social network, as a tech company, as a digital company. Everyone had a funny story about trying to explain their job to their pare
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Platform economy: new platform ecosystems and the value of co-creation

  14-11-2016 14:12
  
  Industry competition is constantly redefined through transformation. Fragmented industries are using open platform ecosystems, reputation systems, and ubiquitous connectivity to connect communities to create value. Unlocking the hidden value starts with an understanding of the capabilities for the four main platform ecosystems and the communities they connect.The appeal of platforms for profitabilityPlatforms magnify profitability by offering non-linear ecosystem growth. Network effects are the
  
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• First look: The 13-in MacBook Pro's Touch Bar wows

  14-11-2016 14:06
  
  When you show someone Apple's new 13-in MacBook Pro -- the one with the virtual Touch Bar -- the first thing they'll want to do is play with the darn thing. They'll adjust the screen brightness or turn up the volume. Launch some apps to see the virtual buttons change. And slide their fingers along it to see how it feels.
  And they'll probably agree that, as innovations go, this is one cool update to a laptop line that was long overdue for an upgrade.
  But that's not the only big change to the 13-
  
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• BrandPost: Customer Comes First In Successful Digital Transformation

  14-11-2016 14:06
  
  Digital transformation, AKA DT, DX or Industry 4.0, is changing everything, as is the other hot business phenomenon, customer experience (CX). CX is the product of an interaction between an organization and a customer over the duration of their relationship, including a customer's attraction, awareness, discovery, cultivation, advocacy and purchase and use of a service. But is DT driving CX, or CX driving DT?
  According to at least one report, CX is on top (55% of organizations). However address
  
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• Employees feel pressure to use personal smartphones at work

  14-11-2016 14:00
  
  Eren says that businesses typically approach BYOD from the perspective of hardware security. But instead of worrying about security on devices and peripherals, Eren says businesses should focus on securing the corporate data that resides on the devices and creating policies around what can and cannot live on a personal device.Eren says it's not hardware and devices that are the security threat, it's the apps that host corporate data, which is what hackers are after. Your BYOD strategy doesn't ne
  
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• Samsung boosts audio, connected car businesses with $8B Harman buy

  14-11-2016 13:49
  
  Samsung Electronics wants to buy its way into the connected car market, with a plan to acquire Harman for US$8 billion.It's the latest in a line of acquisitions by Samsung, as it seeks to diversify its business beyond the slowing smartphone market. Other recently announced deals include last month's buy of artificial intelligence startup Viv Labs, which has developed a virtual personal assistant Samsung hopes to put in its consumer electronics products, and the June purchase of Joyent, a supplie
  
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• Best bookmark managers for Google Chrome

  14-11-2016 12:48
  
  Recently, while going through my bookmarks in Chrome to determine which ones I wanted to keep, I accidentally deleted all of them. Rather than panic, I felt an odd sense of…relief. I realized that I had collected several hundred bookmarks over the years, and that managing them was difficult.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• Cool Yule Tools 2016: Our Top Picks

  14-11-2016 12:02
  
  Digital disruption at Santa's WorkshopImage by Stephen SauerSanta's not the only one going digital - here are our favorite digital products to give (or receive) for the holidays. The next 20 slides are the "best of the best" from this year's Cool Yule Tools, now in its 17th incarnation. To access the entire guide, head here.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• Trump's election sets stage for H-1B reform

  14-11-2016 12:01
  
  President-elect Donald Trump gave laid-off IT workers something his rival, Hillary Clinton, did not during the campaign: Attention and a promise to reform the H-1B visa program.
  The IT workers that Trump wanted to appeal to don't work for startups, Google, Facebook or Microsoft. They run IT systems at insurance firms, banks, utilities and retailers. They live in Rust Belt cities and in New York City, but are too spread out for pollsters to measure.
  Trump recognized that IT workers are aggrieved
  
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• Cool Yule Tools 2016: Digital disruption at Santa's Workshop

  14-11-2016 12:01
  
  Things are hopping at Santa 2.0 (S2) – the new name for Santa’s Workshop. The North Pole toy factory has undergone a serious digital transformation, with centuries-old processes giving way to new and more efficient methods. 
  Even the sleigh has gone digital – it’s now a self-driving, self-flying gift distribution system. Initially the S2 team wanted to hire Uber drivers to deliver presents, but after some more tinkering the autonomous system kicked in. But don&rsquo
  
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• Get started with TensorFlow

  14-11-2016 12:00
  
  Machine learning couldn’t be hotter, with several heavy hitters offering platforms aimed at seasoned data scientists and newcomers interested in working with neural networks. Among the more popular options is TensorFlow, a machine learning library that Google open-sourced a year ago.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• As Watson matures, IBM plans more AI hardware and software

  14-11-2016 11:05
  
  Just over five years ago, IBM's Watson supercomputer crushed opponents in the televised quiz show Jeopardy. It was hard to foresee then, but artificial intelligence is now permeating our daily lives.Since then, IBM has expanded the Watson brand to a cognitive computing package with hardware and software used to diagnose diseases, explore for oil and gas, run scientific computing models, and allow cars to drive autonomously. The company has now announced new AI hardware and software packages.The
  
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• 412 million FriendFinder Network accounts said to be exposed in hack

  14-11-2016 06:51
  
  Over 412 million accounts on dating and entertainment network FriendFinder Networks have reportedly been exposed, the second time that the network has been breached in two years, according to a popular breach notification website.The websites that have been breached include adultfriendfinder.com, described as the "world's largest sex and swinger community," which accounted for over 339.7 million of the 412 million accounts exposed, LeakedSource said Sunday.Other network sites that had user accou
  
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