Petition urges Apple not to release technology for jamming phone cameras

Over 11,000 people have signed a petition asking Apple not to deploy technology that would allow third parties like the police to use it to disable cameras on user phones under certain circumstances.Apple got a patent for this infrared technology in June and bagging a patent does not necessarily mean that the company is going to use the technology in its new devices.But there is considerable anxiety that the technology that appears designed to prevent people from recording copyrighted and prohibited material could also be used by the police to remotely disable cameras that could be recording misconduct by law enforcement."The release of this technology would have huge implications, including the censoring of political dissidents, activists, and citizens who are recording police brutality," according to the petition.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Petition urges Apple not to release technology for jamming phone cameras

Over 11,000 people have signed a petition asking Apple not to deploy technology that would allow third parties like the police to use it to disable cameras on user phones under certain circumstances.Apple got a patent for this infrared technology in June and bagging a patent does not necessarily mean that the company is going to use the technology in its new devices.But there is considerable anxiety that the technology that appears designed to prevent people from recording copyrighted and prohibited material could also be used by the police to remotely disable cameras that could be recording misconduct by law enforcement."The release of this technology would have huge implications, including the censoring of political dissidents, activists, and citizens who are recording police brutality," according to the petition.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Southwest Airlines delays flights after computer issues

Southwest Airlines in Dallas, Texas, said Wednesday that performance issues with its technology systems had led to flight delays.The airline said it began experiencing intermittent performance issues in the afternoon with multiple technology systems as a result of an outage. “We are now managing flight delays across our system, with a temporary ground stop in place for those flights that have not left the gate,” it said in a statement.The airline’s website www.southwest.com also had a notice saying, "We're working hard to get you where you want to be......Thank you for your patience," suggesting that online reservations, check-ins and other customer services would not be immediately possible. Users were asked not to refresh their browsers as they would be automatically transferred to the site as soon as possible.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Samsung files artificial muscle patent for use in flexible smartphones

Samsung has filed two U.S. patents for a smartphone that can bend using what it calls "artificial muscle," which when voltage is applied through an internal controller can hold virtually any shape. Originally noted by Korean IT News, the first patent (US20160195902) describes a flexible display panel; a flexible image processing board that controls the video signal to the panel; and "a support member provided between the display panel and the image processing board...and at least one artificial muscle connecting at least two plates and configured to be deformed to change a shape of the support member in accordance with a voltage applied thereto."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Google’s DeepMind A.I. can slash data center power use 40%

Google tapped into the superior intelligence of its DeepMind neural network to find ways to vastly reduce the energy it uses in its data centers, which make up 40% of the worldwide Internet."This will also help other companies who run on Google's cloud to improve their own energy efficiency," Google said in a blog about the achievement. "While Google is only one of many data center operators in the world, many are not powered by renewable energy as we are."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Windows revenue ticks up slightly in June quarter

Microsoft yesterday reported that second-quarter revenue for its More Personal Computing division was down 4% even though Windows revenue was up over the prior year.Analysts on the company's earnings call Tuesday didn't seem to care: None of those who questioned CEO Satya Nadella or CFO Amy Hood bothered to ask about the division, Windows, or the Surface hardware -- much less about the plummeting revenue of the nearly-abandoned mobile handset strategy.More Personal Computing (MPC) -- one of three financial reporting groups -- booked revenue of $8.9 billion, off from last year's $9.2 billion. It was a return for MPC to the negative after the March quarter's revenue climbed 1%.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Google’s DeepMind A.I. can slash data center power use 40%

Google tapped into the superior intelligence of its DeepMind neural network to find ways to vastly reduce the energy it uses in its data centers, which make up 40% of the worldwide Internet."This will also help other companies who run on Google's cloud to improve their own energy efficiency," Google said in a blog about the achievement. "While Google is only one of many data center operators in the world, many are not powered by renewable energy as we are."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Enterprise encryption adoption up, but the devil’s in the details

I was talking about security with a good friend of mine who runs a software development company. He’s a really smart, technology-savvy guy but his take on encryption wasn’t positive. While he completely understands the need, he hates encryption (and security in general) because he says it always gets in the way when he’s trying to get work done. In this respect, I don’t think he’s that different from most people in the high tech world or, indeed, in the business world in general. This general dislike of encryption is because encryption doesn’t seem valuable when it’s a virtual speed bump in the road to getting stuff done and its benefits, despite the huge increase in breaches and hacking, are hard to quantify. So, with the exception of the paranoid and security geeks, encryption has traditionally been seen as a belt added to the braces of other simpler and therefore more tolerable security measures.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Enterprise encryption adoption up, but the devil’s in the details

I was talking about security with a good friend of mine who runs a software development company. He’s a really smart, technology-savvy guy but his take on encryption wasn’t positive. While he completely understands the need, he hates encryption (and security in general) because he says it always gets in the way when he’s trying to get work done. In this respect, I don’t think he’s that different from most people in the high tech world or, indeed, in the business world in general. This general dislike of encryption is because encryption doesn’t seem valuable when it’s a virtual speed bump in the road to getting stuff done and its benefits, despite the huge increase in breaches and hacking, are hard to quantify. So, with the exception of the paranoid and security geeks, encryption has traditionally been seen as a belt added to the braces of other simpler and therefore more tolerable security measures.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Intel ships Kaby Lake chips, pointing to PC availability in a few months

Tablets and laptops with Intel's 7th Generation Core chips code-named Kaby Lake should become available in the coming months.Intel is shipping Kaby Lake chips to PC makers now, CEO Brian Krzanich during Intel's earnings call Wednesday. Systems with new processors usually become available a few months after Intel delivers the chips.Kaby Lake will succeed current Core processors named Skylake. The new chip has the underpinnings of Skylake and won't necessarily be smaller in size, but it'll provide speed improvements over its predecessor, Krzanich said.That raises a question: should you wait a few months for Kaby Lake instead of upgrading to a Skylake PC now? Experts generally say you should buy a PC as and when you need it rather than wait for the next improvement to come along.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

2016 Cisco Live, US – Geeks for life. — Just another day at the office…

CiscoLive 2016 LasVegas was my absolute favorite CiscoLive EVER!  They just keep getting better and better and better every year!  I so adore my “Nerd Herd” friends.

I was going to write a blog.. but I just couldn’t find the words……

So please enjoy my friend’s blog (@amyengineer) reblogged here.

Fish 

Putting together a wrap up post on Cisco Live US always makes me smile, and 2016 is no exception. As many of you know, this CLUS marked 5 years since Tom and a small group of engineers first bonded over networking nerdiness and an addiction to 140 characters. We’ve followed and helped each other through […]

via 2016 Cisco Live, US – Geeks for life. — Just another day at the office…

Intel Forecasts a Rebound Driven by Data Centers & IoT

The company reported revenues of $13.5 billion in 2Q.

Intel profit slides on costs related to layoffs

Intel's profit dropped sharply last quarter due to heavy costs from a restructuring announced in April, though sales were up thanks to the company's powerful data center group.Intel's profit for the quarter, ended July 2, was $1.3 billion, down from $2.7 billion a year earlier, the company announced Wednesday. Revenue climbed 3 percent to $13.5 billion.Intel said in April that it would axe 12,000 jobs worldwide, or 11 percent of its staff, in a plan to cut costs and focus on growing businesses like server processors and chips for the internet of things.In the process, it canceled the development of low-power Atom processors and more or less gave up on the smartphone and tablet markets -- areas where it's never done well.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Wireless on wheels? Cable can play at that game, too

When lots of people gather for concerts or sports events, cellular carriers often bring their networks to the scene with cell towers mounted on trucks, or COWs (cells on wheels). Not to be outdone, Comcast is joining the fray using Wi-Fi.The U.S. cable giant will bring WoW (Wi-Fi on Wheels) to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia next week. WoW is what it sounds like: a van with six access points (APs) mounted on a 40-foot mast.Each AP points in a different direction so the truck can deliver strong signals over a wide area. It can serve as many as 3,000 people within a range of 500 feet, according to Comcast. Those users can get speeds as much as five times as fast as cellular, the company says.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Wireless on wheels? Cable can play at that game, too

When lots of people gather for concerts or sports events, cellular carriers often bring their networks to the scene with cell towers mounted on trucks, or COWs (cells on wheels). Not to be outdone, Comcast is joining the fray using Wi-Fi.The U.S. cable giant will bring WoW (Wi-Fi on Wheels) to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia next week. WoW is what it sounds like: a van with six access points (APs) mounted on a 40-foot mast.Each AP points in a different direction so the truck can deliver strong signals over a wide area. It can serve as many as 3,000 people within a range of 500 feet, according to Comcast. Those users can get speeds as much as five times as fast as cellular, the company says.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

AT&T & Orange Align on Standardizing SDN and NFV

Can two telecom heavyweights accelerate SDN & NFV standardization?

Hackers are targeting the Rio Olympics, so watch out for these cyberthreats

The Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro will attract more than just athletes and tourists this year. Hackers from across the world will also be on the prowl, trying to exploit the international event.  That means visitors to the Olympics and even people watching from home should be careful. Cyberthreats related to the games will probably escalate over the coming weeks and could creep into your inbox or the websites you visit.Don't click if it's too good to be true The Olympics have become a beacon for cyber criminals, said Samir Kapuria, senior vice president with security firm Symantec. A great deal of money is spent on the international event, so hackers naturally want a slice of the pie, he added.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Hackers are targeting the Rio Olympics, so watch out for these cyberthreats

The Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro will attract more than just athletes and tourists this year. Hackers from across the world will also be on the prowl, trying to exploit the international event.  That means visitors to the Olympics and even people watching from home should be careful. Cyberthreats related to the games will probably escalate over the coming weeks and could creep into your inbox or the websites you visit.Don't click if it's too good to be true The Olympics have become a beacon for cyber criminals, said Samir Kapuria, senior vice president with security firm Symantec. A great deal of money is spent on the international event, so hackers naturally want a slice of the pie, he added.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

39% off Pebble Time Smartwatch – Deal Alert

With this deal, the Pebble Time smartwatch is currently sub-$100, which for some may make this a worthwhile purchase considering everything it can do. First off, the Pebble Time gives you all of your notifications in a glance, from calendar items to texts, emails and incoming call data. Pebble Health comes built-in, and tracks your activity and sleep with daily and weekly reporting. A built-in mic lets you take voice notes or give quick responses. Choose from thousands of watch faces and apps. The Pebble Time is water resistant up to 30 meters, and its e-paper screen reads clearly in bright sun and is scratch resistant. Its battery lasts up to 7 days on a single charge. There is a lot packed into this highly rated wearable, which averages 4 out of 5 stars on Amazon from over 630 customers (read reviews). With the current 29% off deal you can pick it up for just $91.90, a significant discount from its typical $149.99 list price. See the Pebble Time Smartwatch now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Worth Reading: All the Apache streaming projects

The speed at which data is generated, consumed, processed, and analyzed is increasing at an unbelievably rapid pace. Social media, the Internet of Things, ad tech, and gaming verticals are struggling to deal with the disproportionate size of data sets. These industries demand data processing and analysis in near real-time. Traditional big data-styled frameworks such as Apache Hadoop is not well-suited for these use cases. —the New Stack

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