The Internet has changed young children’s lives and they now are as comfortable picking up an iPad as they are a coloring book.Kids now spend twice as much time on the Internet as they did 10 years ago, and it’s escalating, research from an age-verification software developer has discovered.UK-based Agechecked says that over a quarter of kids there (28 percent) are using the Internet before they attend their first school. The statutory school age there is from five years old.And “one in six children, or 16 percent, begin their online experience at age three or under” the report (PDF) claims. Parents need to get aware, the company believes, and they should be acquainting themselves with their kids’ habits.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
There’s more evidence that the internet is changing the way we think. Problem solving and recall are among the things people use the internet for. However, the more one does it, the more reliant on the internet one gets, researchers say.And so much so that people who use Google and other internet tools a lot don’t even try to remember things, a study just published in Memory says.“Memory is changing,” says Dr. Benjamin Storm, the lead author in academic publisher Routledge’s press release. “Our research shows that as we use the internet to support and extend our memory, we become more reliant on it. Whereas before we might have tried to recall something on our own, now we don't bother.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), more commonly known as blockchain, has the potential to revolutionize financial, investment and insurance technology infrastructure and networks. It will form one of the foundations of “next-generation financial services infrastructure,” the World Economic Forum (WEF) says in a new report.The WEF pulls together political and business leaders to focus on global issues such as technology changes.+ Also on Network World: Blockchain: You’ve got questions; we’ve got answers +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), more commonly known as blockchain, has the potential to revolutionize financial, investment and insurance technology infrastructure and networks. It will form one of the foundations of “next-generation financial services infrastructure,” the World Economic Forum (WEF) says in a new report.The WEF pulls together political and business leaders to focus on global issues such as technology changes.+ Also on Network World: Blockchain: You’ve got questions; we’ve got answers +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Smartphones can disclose locations through non-location sensors when combined with algorithms and iffy apps, researchers say. And the device doesn’t need to have traditional location services such as GPS and network positioning turned on, or even ask your permission.The scientists from Northeastern University documented a number of roads and then drove real and simulated routes on them. They found that the phones in use knew where they were, without using the GPS or the other radios traditionally used for location reporting.“Changing positions, including the angles of turns and the trajectory of curves” derived from sensors, which include the accelerometer, were enough to provide data that gave locations away sometimes, the scientists from Northeastern University claim.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Most people aren’t interested in fingerprint authentication and other biometric logins, a study has found.Free email portal mail.com and Yougov surveyed over a thousand folks around the world in July and discovered over half (58 percent) prefer traditional passwords.A significant proportion of the respondents also said biometry was too hazardous, with “only 9 percent finding the use of biometric methods risk-free,” the mail provider said in its press release.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
We might have to limit the growth of the Internet of Things, according Lancaster University researchers.The reason for the frightening suggestion is that massive data-collection efforts from billions of projected-to-be-commissioned IoT sensors threaten to suck up so much power that carbon emissions will be impossible to tame and global warming will escalate, they say.A kind of “speed limit” should be introduced now, the scientists suggest. By imposing restrictions in the short term, internet traffic won’t have to be curtailed in the future—when things will be really out of hand—the experts propose in their recently published paper (PDF).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Both the securing of the Internet of Things, as well as the monetizing of it, are roles for blockchain technology, experts say.In one developing case, the Isle of Man, a self-governing British dependency located just off the U.K. mainland, is testing the use of a blockchain prototype to try to preemptively see-off IoT hacking, according to Financial News, which wrote about the island’s efforts.The island is a financial center and is looking to expand its offerings through fintech. It’s already involved in digital currency.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Cybersecurity staffing continues to be a problem, a new report has found. Intel Security says a massive 82 percent of IT professionals that it surveyed are battling a shortage in workers specializing in cybersecurity.It’s proving to be a major deficit and is resulting in serious damage. Australia, France, Germany, Israel, Japan, Mexico, U.S. and U.K. are all hurting for hires, the study says.Market research specialist Vanson Bourne performed the survey and interviewed IT decision makers working in cybersecurity in developed countries.+ Also on Network World: Closing the cybersecurity talent gap, one woman at a time +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Commonly installed Trane thermostats were vulnerable to hacking for a while, says a security firm. The Internet of Things-connected gadgets had been liable to provide burglar-friendly, private information because their authentication system was weak and they use hardcoded credentials, Trustwave claims in its SpiderLabs blog.Trane is an Ingersoll Rand brand that specializes in heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems (HVAC). Ireland-based Ingersoll Rand is a “$13 billion global business,” it proclaims on its website.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Commonly installed Trane thermostats were vulnerable to hacking for a while, says a security firm. The Internet of Things-connected gadgets had been liable to provide burglar-friendly, private information because their authentication system was weak and they use hardcoded credentials, Trustwave claims in its SpiderLabs blog.Trane is an Ingersoll Rand brand that specializes in heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems (HVAC). Ireland-based Ingersoll Rand is a “$13 billion global business,” it proclaims on its website.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Will we be able to take a nap behind the wheel of a future autonomous car? Probably not. Autopilots and other automated machinery require forms of human-operator supervision.Autonomy, for example, is dependent on chips and sensors, such as GPS for position and magnometers for directional bearing, among others. That tech, at least in the near-term, has to be monitored by humans in real time in case the sensors become glitchy.+ Also on Network World: Self-driving warehouse robots give Giant Eagle a lift +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Allowing algorithms to curate our lives might have unintended consequences, an Australian researcher says.Algorithms are used throughout our interaction with technology. They range from those used by Facebook to tell us which friends we find most interesting, to Google’s Now product that reminds us of meetings we may care so little about that we’ve forgotten about them. The pictures we see in social media photo streams are dictated by algorithms, as are search results and the music we listen to on online radio stations.+ Also on Network World: 10 amazing algorithms +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Tech industry CEOs are extremely concerned about their products’ relevancies in the next few years, so they are concentrating on innovation as a strategy, according to a new survey.The way they intend to move forward is by developing a combined human and digital labor force, says accountancy and advisor KPMG, which conducted the survey.By that, it means deploying automation and cognitive machine learning digitization, but also building a human workforce geared towards constant innovation.+ Also on Network World: Turns out machine learning is a champ at fixing buggy code +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Being always-on, along with pressure to answer email out of work hours, is leading to dangerous levels of emotional exhaustion, a study has found. As a result, employees are experiencing burnout, absenteeism and low job productivity.The report suggests that managers are kidding themselves when they think workers checking email at home adds to productivity. The folks are, in fact, feeling like they never left the workspace and aren’t able to mentally detach from work, which is something experts say is necessary for family balance and emotional health.+ Also on Network World: How to avoid becoming overwhelmed with email +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A bottleneck in data rates is coming, some scientists say. The ever-increasing demand for faster devices, networked information and collected data threatens to ultimately disappoint society—data throughputs and speeds aren’t going to be able to keep up with our digital thirst if we don’t figure out more efficient methods to do it.The problem is particularly prevalent within systems. The semiconductor itself is pretty fast, but an issue arises when one tries to get the data in and out of the semiconductor and over to the surrounding electronics. The conventional interconnects, like wires, slow it all down.Lasers as a solution
Some are betting on lasers as a solution. And indeed growing lasers on silicon substrate is one proposed way. Transistors meshed with photonics is another—silicon-germanium has inherent light-absorbing capabilities.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A bottleneck in data rates is coming, some scientists say. The ever-increasing demand for faster devices, networked information and collected data threatens to ultimately disappoint society—data throughputs and speeds aren’t going to be able to keep up with our digital thirst if we don’t figure out more efficient methods to do it.The problem is particularly prevalent within systems. The semiconductor itself is pretty fast, but an issue arises when one tries to get the data in and out of the semiconductor and over to the surrounding electronics. The conventional interconnects, like wires, slow it all down.Lasers as a solution
Some are betting on lasers as a solution. And indeed growing lasers on silicon substrate is one proposed way. Transistors meshed with photonics is another—silicon-germanium has inherent light-absorbing capabilities.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Continuing perception of IT being slow to innovate is reflected in a new report from consultancy Accenture. IT is no longer the body sought out by executives to perform business transformations, research has found. And IT doesn’t have the skills to adapt successfully to an as-a-service environment either.As-a-service is a term for cloud, software, tech services and so on that is delivered on-demand over the internet.+ Also on Network World: The IT skills gap is a reality, but doesn’t have to be +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
IT is moving to the cloud big time, says research and consulting firm Gartner. And while we’ve been aware of that for a while, the firm has also been coming up with some staggering corroborating numbers.It says that by 2020, $1 trillion in IT spending will be “affected” by the shift to cloud. That’s roughly a little under a third of all IT spending, which in 2015 was $3.41 trillion globally and is projected to be $3.79 trillion in 2020, according to Gartner’s Q2 2016 forecast, published earlier this month.+ Also on Network World: Spending on public cloud IT infrastructure to hit $23.3 billion +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
IT is moving to the cloud big time, says research and consulting firm Gartner. And while we’ve been aware of that for a while, the firm has also been coming up with some staggering corroborating numbers.It says that by 2020, $1 trillion in IT spending will be “affected” by the shift to cloud. That’s roughly a little under a third of all IT spending, which in 2015 was $3.41 trillion globally and is projected to be $3.79 trillion in 2020, according to Gartner’s Q2 2016 forecast, published earlier this month.+ Also on Network World: Spending on public cloud IT infrastructure to hit $23.3 billion +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Patrick Nelson