Professor Dina Katabi's endlessly inventive team at MIT's CSAIL outfit has now come up with what it says is an unobtrusive way to wirelessly detect possible health issues via changes in walking speed.The Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) claims its WiGait system is more accurate than wearables like FitBits and smartphone-based step trackers, and they outline the technology in a new paper titled "Extracting Gait Velocity and Stride Length from Surrounding Radio Signals" to be presented at the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. The researchers claim WiGait, a wall-mounted device described as being the size of a small painting, is 95% to 99% accurate at measuring walking speeds of multiple people and requires no wearable gear on its targets.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Perhaps new research that found more iPhone buyers opting for legacy models over the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus will give Apple a little nudge to make sure there's really incentive to buy the forthcoming iPhone 8 (or iPhone X) instead of going with the 7 or 7 Plus later this year.Not that Apple necessarily is going to take any cues from research outfits like Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, but anything to ensure that the next flagship iPhones aren't dull is worth at least pointing out...IPHONE 8 BATTERY LIFE
Battery life is far from a glamorous topic, but really, what's more important in terms of an iPhone upgrade for most users? As Apple Insider reports, citing the relentless KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple could be planning to use a logic board format that will allow for more space in the iPhone 8 chassis, and that could mean room for a more powerful and longer lasting battery. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Perhaps new research that found more iPhone buyers opting for legacy models over the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus will give Apple a little nudge to make sure there's really incentive to buy the forthcoming iPhone 8 (or iPhone X) instead of going with the 7 or 7 Plus later this year.Not that Apple necessarily is going to take any cues from research outfits like Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, but anything to ensure that the next flagship iPhones aren't dull is worth at least pointing out...IPHONE 8 BATTERY LIFE
Battery life is far from a glamorous topic, but really, what's more important in terms of an iPhone upgrade for most users? As Apple Insider reports, citing the relentless KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple could be planning to use a logic board format that will allow for more space in the iPhone 8 chassis, and that could mean room for a more powerful and longer lasting battery. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Lydia Kavraki, a professor of computer science and bioengineering at Rice University, has been named as the 2017-2018 Athena Lecturer by the Association for Computing Machinery in recognition her work in robotics. Initiated in 2006 by the ACM Council on Women in Computing, the Athena Lecturer Award celebrates women researchers who have made fundamental contributions to computer science and comes with a cash prize of $25K via Google. And there is an actual lecture, to be presented at an ACM event. Association for Computing Machinery/Rice University
Lydia Kavraki, Professor of Computer Science and Bioengineering at Rice UniversityTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Tomorrow's leadersImage by ThinkstockWith today’s push across the education landscape for more emphasis on STEM studies, it’s not surprising that top leaders and innovators in technology would be a draw as college commencement speakers. Here’s a roundup of some of the bigger names.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Tomorrow's leadersImage by ThinkstockWith today’s push across the education landscape for more emphasis on STEM studies, it’s not surprising that top leaders and innovators in technology would be a draw as college commencement speakers. Here’s a roundup of some of the bigger names.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
An exciting class of startups with a focus on enterprise IT are those built on open source foundations, in some cases commercializing and adding value to an already popular open source project.We recently highlighted 5 such open source-oriented companies, and below we introduce you to 5 more. Note that this list only contains companies that have announced funding over the past year or so, and isn't intended to be an all-inclusive compilation. Without further ado…ConfluentFounded: 2014To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's USAFacts project, an ambitious and sometimes overwhelming repository of data about local to state to federal U.S. government spending and outcomes that was launched on Tax Day, is surprisingly light on technology-related data.Not that Ballmer is obligated to spend his post-Microsoft life focused on technology —indeed, he's mainly been known for his purchase of the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers in recent years — but given his background I expected that I might find more tech-related nuggets in this graphically-pleasing data trove that's been three years in the making. Interested in the possibilities for data journalism stories spun from USAFacts, I made an inquiry to the outfit's media relations contact and will update this post if I hear back from them with any clarification on possible additions of such techie numbers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Some 350 Wi-Fi true believers have gathered in Tysons Corner, Va., this week to sing the wireless networking technology’s praises, peek into its future and warn of its challenges.The Wi-Fi Now event featured sessions and exhibitors focused on consumer, enterprise and service provider technologies, though I mainly concentrated on the enterprise technology in the sweet spot for Network World’s target readers. This included the latest alphabet soup of new and emerging IEEE 802.11 standards, including 11ad, ah, ax and ay. Bob Brown/IDG/NetworkWorld
Wi-Fi Now exhibitors' floorTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Some 350 Wi-Fi true believers have gathered in Tysons Corner, Va., this week to sing the wireless networking technology’s praises, peek into its future and warn of its challenges.The Wi-Fi Now event featured sessions and exhibitors focused on consumer, enterprise and service provider technologies, though I mainly concentrated on the enterprise technology in the sweet spot for Network World’s target readers. This included the latest alphabet soup of new and emerging IEEE 802.11 standards, including 11ad, ah, ax and ay. Bob Brown/IDG/NetworkWorld
Wi-Fi Now exhibitors' floorTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
As if getting venture funding themselves isn't exciting enough for open source-oriented startups, seeing an open source-focused company like Deis get snapped up by Microsoft must be a thrill as well.While it would be more thrilling, perhaps, if Microsoft disclosed how much it paid, I'm sure those in the startup world and their backers have ways of finding out that information. Not that the acquisition path is necessarily the exit route that all of these startups envision for themselves, but such money can obviously talk.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
When it comes to iPhone 8 (or iPhone X) scuttlebutt, there are rumors, and then there are leaks. This has been a big week for leaks...LEAKY IPHONE 8
Renders, schematics or whatever you want to call them were circulating wildly among Apple rumor mongerers and watchers this week. Appropriately enough, one such schematic surfaced on a site called /Leaks, and shows an iPhone with a vertical dual-camera set-up and a home button on the back, and a very comprehensive display on the front.MacRumors cautions that it's very hard to say how legit the schematic is, and that if it is for real, it could well be any of numerous prototypes that Apple engineers have tested.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
If you're a Verizon customer who uses the carrier's email service, you very well might have an imminent decision to make about your Verizon.net address or risk losing access to your account and associated data.Verizon has been notifying customers on a rolling basis in recent months that it plans to shutter its email service so that the company can focus on higher priorities. The Verizon.net email domain can be traced back to 2000, when Verizon formed, and the company stopped issuing new Verizon.net email addresses in late 2015.While attempting to reconfigure my wireless plan today to avoid a possible data overage charge, I noticed on my main Verizon Wireless account page that I had received a series of increasingly urgent messages from the service provider in recent weeks —"Act now or lose email access" was the latest. I actually never use my Verizon email, so hadn't been checking messages and really don't care if mine dies off. Verizon is giving me a cut-off date of April 19.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
If you're a Verizon customer who uses the carrier's email service, you very well might have an imminent decision to make about your Verizon.net address or risk losing access to your account and associated data.Verizon has been notifying customers on a rolling basis in recent months that it plans to shutter its email service so that the company can focus on higher priorities. The Verizon.net email domain can be traced back to 2000, when Verizon formed, and the company stopped issuing new Verizon.net email addresses in late 2015.While attempting to reconfigure my wireless plan today to avoid a possible data overage charge, I noticed on my main Verizon Wireless account page that I had received a series of increasingly urgent messages from the service provider in recent weeks —"Act now or lose email access" was the latest. I actually never use my Verizon email, so hadn't been checking messages and really don't care if mine dies off. Verizon is giving me a cut-off date of April 19.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Networking and other technology businesses are among the highest paying companies in America, according to a new report from jobs marketplace Glassdoor. And if you find yourself out of a tech job, well, there’s always consulting, where the pay isn’t too shabby either. In fact, the top two companies on the list, A.T. Kearney and PwC’s Strategy&, are both consulting firms, and two others are on the Top 25 List as well. A.T. Kearney and Strateg& offer median total compensation of $175K and $172K, respectively, according to the Glassdoor study, which is based on self-reported data by Glassdoor members. The report reveals total and base compensation, with the difference between the two often in the $15K-$30K range once you factor in commissions, bonuses, etc. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Networking and other technology businesses are among the highest paying companies in America, according to a new report from jobs marketplace Glassdoor. And if you find yourself out of a tech job, well, there’s always consulting, where the pay isn’t too shabby either. In fact, the top two companies on the list, A.T. Kearney and PwC’s Strategy&, are both consulting firms, and two others are on the Top 25 List as well. A.T. Kearney and Strateg& offer median total compensation of $175K and $172K, respectively, according to the Glassdoor study, which is based on self-reported data by Glassdoor members. The report reveals total and base compensation, with the difference between the two often in the $15K-$30K range once you factor in commissions, bonuses, etc. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Cisco is holding its first big developers' conference, DevNet Create, on May 23-24 in San Francisco, and the focus will be on the Internet of Things and cloud computing.You won't find mentions of terms more commonly associated with Cisco, like routers or switches, on this event site, though they're there in spirit in that the conference is described as being "where applications meet infrastructure."You can learn more about DevNet Create via my interview with Susie Wee, Cisco VP and CTO of DevNet Innovations. But here are 5 basic things to know about the event if you're thinking this might be a show for you:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Cisco initially scheduled its inaugural DevNet Create developers’ conference in San Francisco for what turned out to be the same week in May as Google's wildly popular I/O event in Mountain View (that coy old Google didn't reveal its show dates until late January). So Cisco wound up bumping its new event to the following week “to make sure we don’t take audience away from Google I/O. Okay okay — maybe it’s the other way around…” quipped Susie Wee, VP & CTO of Cisco DevNet Innovations in a recent blogpost.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Cisco initially scheduled its inaugural DevNet Create developers’ conference in San Francisco for what turned out to be the same week in May as Google's wildly popular I/O event in Mountain View (that coy old Google didn't reveal its show dates until late January). So Cisco wound up bumping its new event to the following week “to make sure we don’t take audience away from Google I/O. Okay okay — maybe it’s the other way around…” quipped Susie Wee, VP & CTO of Cisco DevNet Innovations in a recent blogpost.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Cisco initially scheduled its inaugural DevNet Create developers’ conference in San Francisco for what turned out to be the same week in May as Google's wildly popular I/O event in Mountain View (that coy old Google didn't reveal its show dates until late January). So Cisco wound up bumping its new event to the following week “to make sure we don’t take audience away from Google I/O. Okay okay — maybe it’s the other way around…” quipped Susie Wee, VP & CTO of Cisco DevNet Innovations in a recent blogpost.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Bob Brown