IT Executive news

• LastPass fixes serious password leak vulnerabilities

  22-03-2017 22:21
  
  Developers of the popular LastPass password manager rushed to push out a fix to solve a serious vulnerability that could have allowed attackers to steal users' passwords or execute malicious code on their computers.The vulnerability was discovered by Google security researcher Tavis Ormandy and was reported to LastPass on Monday. It affected the browser extensions installed by the service's users for Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge.According to a description in the Google Proje
  
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• Q1s newest CIO appointments

  22-03-2017 22:03
  
  As we get ready to welcome spring and to close out the first quarter of this year, we offer hearty congratulations to these new CIOs.Martha Gallo was promoted from chief auditor to CIO with AIG.Kevin Chase joined Sempra Energy as CIO. Previously, Chase served as CIO and senior vice president of Technology and Supply Chain at Energy Future Holdings.John Barden joined Yale University as associate vice president and CIO.  Previously, Barden served as CTO & associate CIO, Applications &
  
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• The anatomy of a powerful desktop with an ARM chip

  22-03-2017 21:43
  
  When he was growing up, a dream of Linux pioneer Linus Torvalds was to acquire the Acorn Archimedes, a groundbreaking personal computer with the first ARM RISC chips.But in 1987, Archimedes wasn't available to Torvalds in Finland, so he settled for the Sinclair QL. In the meanwhile, the Archimedes failed and disappeared from the scene, killing any chance for ARM chips to dominate PCs.Since then, multiple attempts to put ARM chips in PCs have failed. Outside of a few Chromebooks, most PCs have x8
  
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• LinkedIn add news curation with ‘trending storylines’

  22-03-2017 21:42
  
  LinkedIn is taking a more forceful approach to news curation. The company today is releasing a “trending storylines” feed that lives alongside your personally curated feeds to showcase news articles and related posts personalized based on your interests and profession.The experience is like the trending topics Facebook surfaces for its users. The trending storylines are determined by a mix of algorithms and human curation from LinkedIn’s editorial team. When you are in the tren
  
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• iPhone, Mac owners: How to stymie hackers extorting Apple, threatening to wipe devices

  22-03-2017 21:23
  
  Hackers claiming to have hundreds of millions of iCloud credentials have threatened to wipe date from iPhones, iPads and Macs if Apple does not fork over $150,000 within two weeks.
  "This group is known for getting accounts and credentials, they have gotten credentials in the past," said Lamar Bailey, director of security research and development at Tripwire, of the purported hackers. "But whether they have that many ... who knows?"
  There's another reason for not panicking, Bailey said: People c
  
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• Wal-Mart launches emerging tech incubator

  22-03-2017 21:17
  Wal-Mart Stores is creating what it's calling a technology incubator in Silicon Valley that's focused on technologies that will change how people shop.
  Dubbed Store No. 8, named for an Arkansas location where Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton tested new store features, the new venture will try out and possibly invest in technologies like virtual reality, drone delivery and autonomous vehicles.
  Don't get your hopes up about shopping in the world's coolest Wal-Mart. This will not be an actual store.
  St
  
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• AI, machine learning blossom in agriculture and pest control

  22-03-2017 20:38
  
  Artificial intelligence (AI) is rising in prominence with the proliferation of chatbots, virtual assistants and other conversational tools that companies are using to improve customer service, productivity and operational efficiency. But AI is also helping to automate and streamline tasks in data-intensive industries traditionally ruled by rigorous science and good old-fashioned human analysis.Seed retailers, for example, are using AI products to churn through terabytes of precision agricultural
  
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• Apple and Amazon take fight from smart home to hotel room

  22-03-2017 20:30
  
  Amazon’s Alexa has successfully challenged Apple on your home turf—literally. The Echo and other various Alexa-equipped devices are rapidly becoming the go-to when you need assistance at home, though Apple’s HomeKit has the edge when it comes to automation and security standards. But the real battle comes down to Alexa vs. Siri—which voice-activated assistant is more useful? Now hotel chains are trying to decide for themselves.
  The high-end Wynn Las Vegas resort chose Al
  
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• Google cites progress in Android security, but patching issues linger

  22-03-2017 20:08
  
  The chances of you encountering malware on your Android phone is incredibly small, according to Google.By the end of last year, less than 0.71 percent of Android devices had installed a "potentially harmful application," such as spyware, a Trojan, or other malicious software.That figure was even lower, at 0.05 percent, for Android phones that downloaded apps exclusively from the Google Play store.The internet giant revealed the figures in a new report detailing its efforts to making the Android
  
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• Windows 10 Creators Update could take months to roll out, data suggests

  22-03-2017 20:00
  
  Users waiting for Windows 10's Creators Update, which is expected to release soon, may need to be patient. Data released Wednesday by AdDuplex suggests that Microsoft’s Windows 10 Anniversary Update took months to roll out to users after it was released last August, and the same pace could apply to the Creators Update. 
  AdDuplex, which runs its own ad network and sniffs the platforms on which its ads deploy, said it took about 4 months for 80 percent of Microsoft’s user ba
  
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• Google will now let you share your location with friends in Maps

  22-03-2017 19:34
  
  Google is on a Maps mission in 2017. Since the beginning of the year, it has added some pretty great features to make it easier to get where you’re going, including Uber integration, parking availability, and saved places. Now it wants to help your friends know where you are.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• Instagram will let you book appointments to become more like Yelp and OpenTable

  22-03-2017 19:20
  
  Need to book an appointment? Soon you won’t even need to leave the Instagram app to do that.
  In the next couple of months, Instagram is planning to give its users the ability to book appointments in-app, according to Bloomberg. Instagram hopes this new feature will give users more of an incentive to interact with business profiles. It will also help businesses better measure the impact of running an Instagram account, and potentially drive them to advertise more on the platform.
  “Wh
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: The biggest data play yet could be coming from a company you've never heard of

  22-03-2017 18:46
  
  There is a lot of talk about big data and how important it is to big business. Not a lot of focus has been put on how inaccessible data is--or how the sources of data are so disconnected. There are many publicly accessible repositories of legitimate, raw data but it is often useless without normalization or visualization to make the data digestible to the point an average person can gain applicable insights without knowledge of SQL or R.We are living in an era where data is being is produced at
  
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• 50% off Watch Dogs 2 by Ubisoft, for Xbox One - Deal Alert

  22-03-2017 18:46
  
  Explore the birthplace of the tech revolution as Marcus Holloway, a brilliant young hacker who has fallen victim to ctOS 2.0's predictive algorithms and accused of a crime he did not commit.
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: How deep learning is transforming healthcare

  22-03-2017 18:09
  
  Deep learning has been used to transform artificial intelligence (AI) development, whether it is from beating players in games like Go or poker to improving self-driving AI. But perhaps the most important changes for most of us is how AI advances and machine learning are affecting healthcare. In January, a medical startup won FDA approval for an AI-assisted cardiac imaging system called Arterys, and AI is playing vital roles in other health fields such as fighting cancer and aging. NVIDIA boasts
  
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• Via's 360-degree VR cameras ship for under $100

  22-03-2017 18:06
  
  Via Technologies is now shipping new 360-degree cameras for under US$100, making it more affordable for users to capture and play virtual reality content in headsets.The cameras -- called Vpai by Via -- are being touted as being "720-degree" as they capture everything within view horizontally and vertically. But effectively, the Via cameras capture images at an angle of 360 degrees.Some 360-degree cameras like Kodak's PixPro SP360 or LG 360 Cam can achieve the angle but not the full scope of Vpa
  
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• Vodafone prepares an LTE moon shot

  22-03-2017 18:04
  
  Thanks to Vodafone, the Taurus-Littrow Valley will get its first mobile phone base station next year.It hasn't needed one up to now, as the last visitors drove through in 1972, the year before the mobile phone was invented.Next year, though, it will get the very latest in 4G LTE coverage, when it receives a visit from two very special self-driving vehicles.Taurus-Littrow is the landing site of Apollo 17, where humans last walked on the moon. Next year, an international group based in Berlin plan
  
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• Facebook live videos take aim at Twitch with streaming software, hardware support

  22-03-2017 18:00
  
  YouTube’s already muscling in on Twitch’s territory, and now Facebook’s going after hardcore game streamers, too. Alongside news that live videos can now be shot on standard PCs, not just mobile devices, Facebook also revealed today that personal accounts are now able to live stream videos funneled through streaming software or external streaming hardware.
  Branded Facebook Pages have been able to use specialized streaming tools for a while now. The social network’s been
  
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• Hackers threaten to wipe millions of Apple devices, demand ransom

  22-03-2017 17:43
  
  A group of hackers is threatening to wipe data from millions of Apple devices in two weeks if the company doesn’t pay them US$150,000.
  The group, which calls itself Turkish Crime Family, claims to have login credentials for more than 627 million icloud.com, me.com and mac.com email addresses. These are email domains that Apple has allowed for users creating iCloud accounts over the years.
  Even though the Turkish Crime Family hasn't been in the media spotlight before, its members clai
  
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• Cisco closes AppDynamics deal, increases software weight

  22-03-2017 17:42
  
  Cisco today closed its approximately $3.7 billion deal for application analytics specialist AppDynamics giving the networking giant a nice revenue stream and bolstering its software strategy.
  The nine-year-old company – which Cisco bought Jan. 24, days before it was to go IPO -- and its almost 1,250 employees become part of Cisco as the 17th acquisition since Chuck Robbins took the CEO reigns in 2015.
  +More on Cisco software from Network World: Has Cisco broken out of the network hardware
  
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• The top-secret X-37B space plane is about to break another record

  22-03-2017 17:36
  
  The U.S. Air Force's top-secret autonomous space plane, the X-37B, is days away from breaking its own longevity record. The aircraft, which looks like a mini Space Shuttle, will on March 25 begin its record-setting 675th day in orbit, but we still don't know much about what it's doing up there.
  The X-37B looks a little like the Space Shuttle, but it's much smaller. It began life as a NASA project but was transferred to the Air Force in 2004 as part of the U.S. military's little-known space prog
  
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• Microsoft is playing Windows hardball

  22-03-2017 17:19
  
  Microsoft really wants all of us on Windows 10. And it's done asking nicely. For many users of Windows 7 and 8.1, upgrade cajolery just morphed into something that looks a lot like upgrade coercion. (It had already tried upgrade trickery.)
  I’m sick and tired of this. Windows 10 is OK, but I still prefer Windows 7, thank you very much. I’m not the only one.
  The Federal Digital Analytics Program (DAP), which gives the broadest and most accurate reading on operating system popularity,
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Is the new, cheaper iPad worth buying?

  22-03-2017 17:05
  
  iPad sales have been sluggish in recent years, and Apple has become painfully aware of how its tablet sales pale in comparison to iPhone sales. Now the company has released a new, cheaper iPad that starts at $329 for 32GB and goes up to $429 for 128GB.But is the new iPad worth the money?Well let’s start with the tech specs of the new, cheaper iPad. MacRumors has a list of what you can expect from the new iPad in terms of hardware:
  The new 9.7-inch iPad is similar in many ways to the iPad A
  
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• 63% off Anker Quick Charge 3.0 39W Dual USB Car Charger - Deal Alert

  22-03-2017 17:01
  
  Dual ports pump out 39W of power to simultaneously charge power-hungry USB devices at full speed. Charge compatible devices up to 80% in just 35 minutes with Quick Charge 3.0. Patented PowerIQ and VoltageBoost deliver high-speed charging to non-Quick Charge devices. Anker's Quick Charge Dual USB Car Charger is discounted right now to just $21.99. See this deal now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• BrandPost: The Evolution of Desktop Virtualization

  22-03-2017 16:54
  
  Desktop virtualization, also known as virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), as a technology born out of the hypervisor revolution of the past 10–15 years, has moved from cutting edge to mainstream, and today is regarded as a highly mature solution for delivering secure, reliable, centrally managed desktops with many advantages over traditional PCs and laptops. The features and benefits of VDI are well-known in the industry and include:Lower cost
  More reliable end-point devices
  Consistent u
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: How artificial intelligence is impacting the highest levels of finance

  22-03-2017 16:35
  
  Artificial intelligence (A.I.) has a vice grip on everyone's attention right now. We have started entrenching it into our organizational structures with chief artificial intelligence officers, while simultaneously developing strategies to protect ourselves from the future threat posed by super-intelligent computers.But while the jury is still out on how A.I. will shape the future, it is actively shaping our present. Versions of this technology have found their way into the highest echelons of go
  
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• US lawmakers question police use of facial recognition tech

  22-03-2017 16:33
  
  Reacting to concerns about the mass collection of photographs in police databases, U.S. lawmakers plan to introduce legislation to limit the use of facial recognition technology by the FBI and other law enforcement organizations.The FBI and police departments across the country can search a group of databases containing more than 400 million photographs, many of them from the drivers' licenses of people who have never committed a crime. The photos of more than half of U.S adults a
  
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• 5 tips to ace your next tech interview

  22-03-2017 16:23
  
  You may feel confident going into an interview armed with your technical background and education but when it comes to tech jobs -- especially positions for engineers, developers and coders -- technical knowledge won’t be enough to get you through the interview process.“Companies put candidates through rigorous technical interviews where they are asked difficult questions and asked to complete coding tasks. These interviews can be difficult to prepare for, especially for candidates w
  
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• Why Apple dropped iPad’s price to lowest yet

  22-03-2017 15:22
  
  Apple this week is releasing its most affordable iPad to date. The refreshed 9.7-inch iPad, which packs a Retina screen and Apple’s A9 chip in a device that effectively replaces the iPad Air 2, is priced at $329 with 32GB of storage.The $70 price drop makes the entry-level iPad more competitive, particularly among schools that can now snag the tablet for under $300 at educational pricing. Businesses that are motivated by price and don’t require more advanced features in the iPad Pro
  
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• Double Agent attack can turn antivirus into malware

  22-03-2017 15:13
  
  A zero-day attack called Double Agent can take over antivirus software on Windows machines and turn it into malware that encrypts files for ransom, exfiltrates data or formats the hard drives.
  Based on a 15-year-old feature in Windows from XP through Windows 10, the attack is effective against all 14 antivirus products tested by security vendor Cybellum – and would also be effective against pretty much every other process running on the machines.
  Double Agent was discovered by Cybellum re
  
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• Netflix debuts on Firefox for Linux, but not everyone's happy about it

  22-03-2017 14:59
  Firefox on Linux is now playing Netflix, but not everyone is happy about it.
  The streaming video service recently announced that anyone running the latest version of Firefox on Linux can now stream Netflix videos. Previously, only Chrome on Linux worked with Netflix—and unofficially at that.
  For several years, Netflix has been moving away from plugins like Microsoft’s Silverlight to HTML5 video on Windows and Mac. The idea was that HTML5 freed Netflix streaming from reliance on brow
  
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• BrandPost: The Virtues of Virtualizing with SDDC

  22-03-2017 14:48
  
  The software-defined data center (SDDC) is emerging as a means of simplifying and cost-reducing enterprise computing—as well as deploying software-defined appliances that leverage existing technologies to enable a standardized, repeatable framework for data center operations. But is implementing SDDC worth the effort it takes you to virtualize data center resources?We’re all generally accustomed to looking at dedicated hardware platforms that serve clearly defined functions, but virt
  
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• 64% off MOTA JETJAT Ultra Mini Drone with One Touch Take-Off & Landing - Deal Alert

  22-03-2017 14:46
  
  Experience first class flight with auto landing, takeoff, and hover with the push of a button, features never before seen in mini drones. ULTRA is smartphone ready – allowing a connection with your phone through Wi-Fi or remote control for crystal-clear video and photos. Use your phone as a display with the remote or complete flight control. The list price on the MOTA JETJAT mini drone has been reduced to just $47.38. See this deal now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a c
  
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• Amazon’s Alexa lands on the Mate 9 at last, but with more hoops and fewer skills

  22-03-2017 14:43
  
  Hot on the heels of its addition to the Amazon app on the iPhone, Alexa is looking to make its presence known on Android, too. Huawei has announced that the virtual assistant is on its way to the Mate 9, making it the first Android phone to receive Amazon's AI aide.
  With Alexa on the Mate 9, you’ll be able to do many of the things the Echo and Dot can do, including control your home automation devices while you’re away. Huawei is touting its smart home capabilities as the flagship f
  
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• Why AI will rule all UIs

  22-03-2017 14:28
  
  "AI is the new UI" may be a cliché now, but back in 2011 when Apple first released Siri the capability to control a mobile device by talking to it through an intelligent assistant was revolutionary. Granted, Siri wasn't as smart as HAL in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey or Eddy, the shipboard computer in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but it made enough of an impact on consumer technology to spawn a stream of similar intelligent assistants.Siri was soon followed by Amazon's Alexa,
  
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• LinkedIn's Trending Storylines aims to broaden users' news horizons

  22-03-2017 14:05
  
  In an effort to become to be its users’ professional news feed, LinkedIn has launched a new feature aimed at providing a broad set of perspectives on relevant business news.A new Trending Storylines feature will show users a set of curated feeds based on key news of the day. For example, a recent storyline rounded up all of the Apple product announcements from Tuesday morning. The storylines open with a quick summary of the news, followed by a “must-read” story that LinkedIn ha
  
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• Trello connects to HipChat, BitBucket, Jira and Confluence

  22-03-2017 14:00
  
  Trello is getting hooked into the entire Atlassian ecosystem with a series of integrations unveiled Wednesday. The new “power-ups” for the project management software connect it with BitBucket, Jira, HipChat and Confluence, to help customers get their work done more efficiently.
  Using Trello is supposed to help people keep their projects organized. The service lets people lay out virtual cards in columns on a workspace known as a board. Doing so can help with things like tracking th
  
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• Linium Announces Appointment of Dorothy Hill to Lead New Cybersecurity Services Practice

  22-03-2017 14:00
  
  Linium, a world-class provider of business services that empower the entire enterprise, today announced the appointment of Dorothy Hill as Associate Partner to lead its new Cybersecurity Services practice, which will provide consulting expertise to prepare and protect businesses against growing cyberthreats and attacks.
  
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• Critical infrastructure: Off the web, out of danger?

  22-03-2017 12:40
  
  The debate over the chances of a catastrophic cyber attack taking down a major part of the nation’s critical infrastructure (CI) has been ongoing for a generation.
  But it hasn’t been settled – in some ways it is more intense now than ever.
  On one side are those, including high government officials, who warn of a “cyber Pearl Harbor” that could leave swaths of the country in darkness and cold – without electric power – for months.
  Retired Adm. James Stav
  
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• Papieren informatie versus digitalisering

  22-03-2017 12:21
  “Een economie draait niet alleen op consumptie. We moeten continu blijven innoveren”, zegt Xavier Biermez, Managing Director van IT-servicesprovider Konica Minolta Business Solutions Nederland en België. De branchekenner spreekt over de gevolgen van de digitalisering voor de scan- en printbranche,... lees meer
  
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• Melanie Rieback meest innovatieve leider van Nederland

  22-03-2017 12:00
  Melanie Rieback heeft de jaarlijkse TIM Award gewonnen voor de meest innovatieve IT-leider van Nederland. De medeoprichter en CEO van Radically Open Security (ROS) won de prijs voor haar inspanningen om de online securitywereld te dwingen tot transparantie.Picnic en We are Triple vielen in de prijzen in de... lees meer
  
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• One more thing: Why Apple could still launch a new iPad Pro at Apple Park in April

  22-03-2017 11:33
  
  You could say Apple just had its first ever non-event.
  On Tuesday, Apple released an all-new 9.7-inch iPad, a red iPhone 7, and a bunch of new iPhone cases and Apple Watch bands. In addition, Apple increased the iPhone SE storage size options to 32GB and 128GB, up from 16GB and 64GB.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• These 10 people may be your greatest inside security risks

  22-03-2017 11:32
  
  Internal threatsImage by ThinkstockLast year was the worst on record for information security incidents, and the majority of those were due to inside sources, many studies agree. Prime suspects are employees and contractors with privileged user access, says Sam Elliott, director of security product management at Bomgar. Elliott warns that these 10 employees could be your greatest internal security threat.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Build digital DNA: Leveraging M&A to reshape the IT workforce

  22-03-2017 11:30
  
  Authors: Seth Van Winkle, McCree Lake, Daniel McCarthy
  As organizations going through M&A transactions begin to emerge from the massive surge of work, CIOs must consider how they can pivot toward an operating model that drives digital value. We have already explored the areas of the IT workforce to assess before M&A activity, and how to seize the value of the surge to reconfigure IT. Mapping the digital journey from the surge to a longer-term vision is a significant challenge for e
  
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• How AI, machine learning will impact tech recruiting

  22-03-2017 11:18
  
  Artificial intelligence and machine learning already make a huge impact on the way we watch movies and television, shop, and travel, but how will these new technology advancements affect you as a sourcing or recruiting professional?It all comes down to being able to quickly analyze huge amounts of data and make decisions and predictions based on that, says Summer Husband, senior director, data science, at Randstad Sourceright, in a presentation at SourceCon, in Anaheim, Calif, last week.
  [ Relat
  
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• Rust, React, JavaScript, Python top Stack Overflow survey

  22-03-2017 11:00
  
  There may be a perception in some circles that software developers have been busy coding since childhood. But online programming community Stack Overflow in its recent developer survey found many coders have been coming aboard much later.
  The annual survey, which had 64,000 developers participating worldwide in January and February, uncovered a wide range of experience levels. Thanks to online courses and coding boot camps, adults with little to no programming experience can now more easil
  
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• How to fix five Windows 10 headaches

  22-03-2017 11:00
  
  Microsoft Windows 10 has gone a long way towards fixing the problems that were endemic with earlier versions of Windows -- notably Windows 8. But it's still far from a perfect operating system and has its share of headaches.4. Recover lost storage spaceTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• 5 ways to speed up Chrome: Tips for power users and newbies

  22-03-2017 11:00
  
  Chrome is already the most popular and powerful browser for your PC, but you may be missing out on more ways to improve your experience. Delve into Chrome’s massive extensions library or tinker with under-the-hood features, and see how you can enjoy smarter, faster browsing.
  Chrome has a considerable network of extensions, some of which can be found in the Chrome Web Store, while others are available from particular providers. For the most part, extensions, err, extend what your brow
  
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• Airbnb adopts new brand name Aibiying in China

  22-03-2017 08:17
  
  Airbnb will rebrand its short-term home rental service in China as “Aibiying” and triple the size of its workforce in the country as it tries to woo a large but complex market for foreign tech companies.Aibiying translates as ‘welcome each other with love,’ which is the kind of reception that Airbnb may require to compete with local platforms such as Tujia and Xiaozhu.A number of tech companies targeting the Chinese market have had to make adjustments to their traditional
  
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• L.A. and NYC still rank behind smaller cities in wireless performance

  22-03-2017 05:02
  
  The two biggest cities in the U.S. -- New York City and Los Angeles -- continue to rank well below many smaller U.S. cities in overall wireless performance, according to millions of field tests performed by RootMetrics in the second half of 2016.
  The New York metro area, with 18 million people, ranked just 66th in the latest round of tests of the nation's largest 125 metro areas. Meanwhile, L.A., with 12.1 million people, ranked 49th. In testing done by RootMetrics in the first half of last yea
  
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