Designers are really trying to outdo each other in early 2017, pumping out Apple iPhone 8 design concept videos at a rapid pace in advance of an expected iPhone 8 (or iPhone 10 or iPhone X?) release in the fall. The latest to grab attention -- with more than 61K views on Youtube as of this writing -- envisions a transparent smartphone screen.The design for the iPhone 7 follow-on comes courtesy of Georgy Pashkov via ConceptsiPhone. Featured design elements beyond the transparent screen (with optical sensor) include an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor and piezeoelectric speaker.As for the likelihood of a transparent screen on the actual iPhone 8? Highly unlikely, say Apple watchers. Though advances in Harry Potter-like invisibility cloaks are for real.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Google Senior Product Manager Isaac Hepworth has delivered this Friday diversion dubbed the Executive Order Generator, poking fun at President Trump's early penchant for issuing such rules. Github
The tool, on Github, lets you create your own executive order, held up by the Commander in Chief, and encourages you to share it on Twitter (one of Hepworth's former employers, by the way).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
While we've all been busy watching for the newest iPhone 8 leaks, Apple has apparently been selling iPhone 7 and 7 Plus smartphones like crazy. With all the buzz about Apple's record-breaking iPhone sales in Q1 of 2017, iPhone 8 rumors had to take a back seat.But enough about the iPhone 7...Even More Expensive iPhones
At $650 or $770 for an iPhone 7 or 7 Plus, respectively, Apple's smartphones certainly aren't cheap. But Apple might be asking patrons to pay even a bit more for the iPhone 8, if the latest reports can be believed.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The Internet Hall of Fame, a virtual museum celebrating the living history of the Internet, is back seeking a new class of inductees after going quiet for the past couple of years.A spokeswoman for the Internet Society, which fights the good fight for an open and secure Internet, says "we wanted to take some time to get the inductees more involved in the program and get their insights to make sure it was positioned and well-structured for the long-term. We now have an Advisory Board of inductees who provide leadership on the program’s direction and are responsible for the selection of the next class of inductees. With 2017 as the Internet Society’s 25th anniversary, we felt it was the ideal time to host the next induction ceremony."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) has announced it will celebrate 50 years of the A.M. Turing Award -- dubbed the "Nobel Prize of Computing -- with a (tech) star-studded conference in San Francisco this summer.The two-day event, to be held June 23-24, will "explore how computing has evolved and where the field is headed," according to the ACM.MORE: Why there's no official Nobel Prize in ComputingACM, which boasts of nearly 100,000 computing professional and student members around the world, is calling the event the Celebration of 50 Years of the ACM Turing Award. If you can't attend in person, be aware that a live stream will be available.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) has announced it will celebrate 50 years of the A.M. Turing Award -- dubbed the "Nobel Prize of Computing -- with a (tech) star-studded conference in San Francisco this summer.The two-day event, to be held June 23-24, will "explore how computing has evolved and where the field is headed," according to the ACM.MORE: Why there's no official Nobel Prize in ComputingACM, which boasts of nearly 100,000 computing professional and student members around the world, is calling the event the Celebration of 50 Years of the ACM Turing Award. If you can't attend in person, be aware that a live stream will be available.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
You won’t find many public references by Apple to its Mobility Partner Program, an expanding effort by the company to unite with software developers/integrators to boost sales of iPhones and iPads to businesses. In fact, Apple reportedly has discouraged partners in years past from discussing MPP out in the open.But the veil of secrecy surrounding the program is thinning. Apple’s public relations department didn't acknowledge my queries about MPP, such as how long the program has actually been around. But CEO Tim Cook has begun citing the program during Apple (AAPL - NASDAQ) earnings calls over the past year: He specified in October that more than 120 partners have signed on worldwide, and that’s up from about 90 at the start of the year. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
F5 Networks CEO and President John McAdam, thrust back into that role in late 2015 under unusual circumstances, has announced that Ciena SVP and COO Francois Locoh-Donou will succeed him on April 3.McAdam joined F5 in 2000 and served as CEO and President until July 2015, when he handed the reins to Manuel Rivelo. But Rivelo stepped down in December of that year for unspecified personal conduct issues, and McAdam jumped back into the fray at the Seattle company, which he has helped to build into an application delivery powerhouse generating about $2B in annual revenue. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
F5 Networks CEO and President John McAdam, thrust back into that role in late 2015 under unusual circumstances, has announced that Ciena SVP and COO Francois Locoh-Donou will succeed him on April 3.McAdam joined F5 in 2000 and served as CEO and President until July 2015, when he handed the reins to Manuel Rivelo. But Rivelo stepped down in December of that year for unspecified personal conduct issues, and McAdam jumped back into the fray at the Seattle company, which he has helped to build into an application delivery powerhouse generating about $2B in annual revenue. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
F5 Networks CEO and President John McAdam, thrust back into that role in late 2015 under unusual circumstances, has announced that Ciena SVP and COO Francois Locoh-Donou will succeed him on April 3.McAdam joined F5 in 2000 and served as CEO and President until July 2015, when he handed the reins to Manuel Rivelo. But Rivelo stepped down in December of that year for unspecified personal conduct issues, and McAdam jumped back into the fray at the Seattle company, which he has helped to build into an application delivery powerhouse generating about $2B in annual revenue. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
While I acknowledge that my first choices for podcast listening tend toward entertainment (All Songs Considered, The Moth, This American Life), I also encourage myself to consume to those that might help me better understand networking and keep up on the general technology scene. Here’s a short list of podcasts that enterprise IT pros might find useful --and even enjoyable.Voices from DARPA
I’ll admit that this podcast intimidated me before I first listened to it, but it’s actually quite digestible even if you’re not a Ph.D. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency kicked off the series in September and pumps out one or two episodes per month, based on interviews by Ivan Amato with program managers from DARPA’s six technical offices (Biological Technologies, Defense Sciences, Information Innovation, Microsystems Technology, Strategic Technology, and Tactical Technology). Topics have included “Molecule Man”, “Space Sentinel” and “The Semiconductor Whisperer”, the latter of which gives a great short history of semiconductors and a look to the future. All episodes so far are less than 30 minutes long and several are under 20 minutes long. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The flashy projected features of the iPhone 8 (or iPhone X?) are dominating the Apple rumor mill of late, but let's not overlook the iOS software on the inside. Developers this week gained access to iOS 10.3 beta 1, even as iOS 11 rumors heated up.If you have an Apple Developer account you can go ahead and grab iOS 10.3 beta 1 now, but if not, here's what developers will be dabbling with (BGR shares the release notes here). The public will gets its chance to experience the new iOS features for iPhones and iPads in the weeks or months to come.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Call it the first real result from Microsoft's recently finalized $26B buyout of LinkedIn: The former has named the career networking site’s Kevin Scott as its new CTO, a job he will hold in addition to being LinkedIn’s SVP of Infrastructure.
Having not actually met Scott, where else to start learning about him than on his LinkedIn page, which features a nice fresh post dated Jan. 24, 2017 and titled “Dream Jobs”?
(I checked his Twitter profile too, but this self-described “Old School Geek, Husband, Father, Hacker of Things Large and Small” had no public posts there since late 2014.)To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Call it the first real result from Microsoft's recently finalized $26B buyout of LinkedIn: The former has named the career networking site’s Kevin Scott as its new CTO, a job he will hold in addition to being LinkedIn’s SVP of Infrastructure.
Having not actually met Scott, where else to start learning about him than on his LinkedIn page, which features a nice fresh post dated Jan. 24, 2017 and titled “Dream Jobs”?
(I checked his Twitter profile too, but this self-described “Old School Geek, Husband, Father, Hacker of Things Large and Small” had no public posts there since late 2014.)To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
iPhone 8 (or iPhone X?) security is indeed a touchy subject, though it could become less so if the latest rumors about the next great Apple smartphone prove true.Say Cheese!
Apple Insider's Mikey Campbell has an excellent piece dissecting the latest research from Apple insider (small "i") and KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who says to expect Apple to deliver full-face bio-recognition technology before long on the iPhone.First up, though, might be a Touch ID replacement based on optical fingerprint reading, technology that won't require an indented button as is the case on current models. Optical fingerprint readers would work with the sort of full-screen OLED display most expect Apple to bring forth with its next slew of iPhones.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Data scientists continue to be in huge demand, and you won't fare badly either if you have expertise as a technical program manager, data engineer or DevOps engineer, according to the latest rankings from a couple of big jobs-related websites.Glassdoor on Monday released its annual list of the Best Jobs in America, and I've zeroed in on those most techie in nature (though of course practically any job on such a list has a tech component these days). Tops for the second straight year is the job of Data Scientist, based on three key factors: earning potential, job satisfaction and job openings.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
UC Berkeley on Monday launched a five-year research collaborative dubbed RISELab that will focus on enabling apps and machines that can interact with the environment around them securely and in real-time.The RISELab (Real-time Intelligence with Secure Execution) is backed by a slew of big name tech and financial firms: Amazon Web Services, Ant Financial, Capital One, Ericsson, GE Digital, Google, Huawei, Intel, IBM, Microsoft and VMWare. MORE: 7 really cool networking & IT research projectsTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
UC Berkeley on Monday launched a five-year research collaborative dubbed RISELab that will focus on enabling apps and machines that can interact with the environment around them securely and in real-time.The RISELab (Real-time Intelligence with Secure Execution) is backed by a slew of big name tech and financial firms: Amazon Web Services, Ant Financial, Capital One, Ericsson, GE Digital, Google, Huawei, Intel, IBM, Microsoft and VMWare. MORE: 7 really cool networking & IT research projectsTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Avaya Holdings has withdrawn the $1 billion IPO offering it filed more than 5 years ago in the wake of last week's filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy by principal U.S. subsidiary Avaya, Inc.
Avaya was taken private in 2007 after being acquired by two private equity firms for $8.2 billion.
Enterprise networking and collaboration vendor Avaya said last week that its Chapter 11 filing is part of its transition from a hardware to software and services company. The company, which is looking to shed its $6 billion debt load, last week reported decreased revenue and an operating loss for its fiscal year ended Sept. 30.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Organizations can be pretty darn strategic when it comes to timing bad news announcements, typically after the market closes...on Fridays...of long weekends.I can't say whether Samsung has purposely timed its press conference to explain the cause of the Galaxy Note7 fires and explosions for a Monday morning (10AM Korea Standard Time) in Seoul, South Korea knowing that many in the US will be otherwise distracted at that time (8pm Eastern Standard Time on Sunday) by the NFL's AFC Championship Game. After all, American football is down on the list of popular sports in Korea after soccer and baseball, and the company might just want to get its press conference over first thing during the week in Seoul.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Bob Brown