Patrick Thibodeau
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Patrick Thibodeau
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Trump reviews right of H-1B spouses to work
For H-1B workers, one of the most hated and frustrating parts of working in the U.S. is this: Their spouses were idled, unable to work under law. That changed in 2014, when President Obama signed a regulation that allowed some spouses to get a job. But the future of this rule may be in doubt under the new administration.President Donald Trump's administration, which is broadly repealing Obama-era regulations, is reviewing the H-1B spouse rule as well, according to a new court filing.The Obama rule change affected H-1B holders who were seeking green cards or permanent residency. It allowed their spouses to get work authorization. There may have been as many as 180,000 spouses eligible, according to a lawsuit that's challenging this rule.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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5 tech battles facing Trump
President Donald Trump may face protests from scientists and technologists like no other president before him.It's not just the tech industry that may battle Trump. New forces are arising, some grassroots, such as Neveragain.tech and a planned massive "March for Science," in Washington and elsewhere. The tech industry protest over the seven-country immigration ban is just a preview.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Booted up in 1993, this server still runs — but not for much longer
In 1993, President Bill Clinton was in the first year of his presidency, Windows NT 3.1 and Jurassic Park were both released, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was signed, and Phil Hogan, an IT application architect, booted up a brand-new Stratus Technologies fault tolerant server.A lot has changed in 24 years, but one thing hasn't: The Stratus server is still in operation and Hogan -- who works at steel products maker Great Lakes Works EGL in Dearborn Mich. -- continues to keep it that way.This is a fault tolerant server, which means that hardware components are redundant. Over the years, disk drives, power supplies and some other components have been replaced but Hogan estimates that close to 80% of the system is original.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Booted up in 1993, this server still runs — but not for much longer
In 1993, President Bill Clinton was in the first year of his presidency, Windows NT 3.1 and Jurassic Park were both released, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was signed, and Phil Hogan, an IT application architect, booted up a brand-new Stratus Technologies fault tolerant server.A lot has changed in 24 years, but one thing hasn't: The Stratus server is still in operation and Hogan -- who works at steel products maker Great Lakes Works EGL in Dearborn Mich. -- continues to keep it that way.This is a fault tolerant server, which means that hardware components are redundant. Over the years, disk drives, power supplies and some other components have been replaced but Hogan estimates that close to 80% of the system is original.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Booted up in 1993, this system still runs — but not for much longer
In 1993, President Bill Clinton was in the first year of his presidency, Windows NT 3.1 and Jurassic Park were both released, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was signed, and Phil Hogan, an IT application architect, booted up a brand-new Stratus Technologies fault tolerant server. A lot has changed in 24 years, but one thing hasn't: The Stratus server is still in operation and Hogan -- who works at steel products maker Great Lakes Works EGL in Dearborn Mich. -- continues to keep it that way. This is a fault tolerant server, which means that hardware components are redundant. Over the years, disk drives, power supplies and some other components have been replaced but Hogan estimates that close to 80% of the system is original.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Trump eyes an H-1B visa aimed at ‘best and brightest’
President Donald Trump is considering a new way of distributing the H-1B visa to ensure they go to the "best and brightest."The phrase "best and the brightest" has long been used by tech industry groups to champion the H-1B program. It's greeted with derision by critics, who say the program's mostly entry-level workers are used to displace U.S. workers.But some critics of the visa, a group that now includes top officials in the Trump administration, are adopting the phrase to advance the idea of a priority-based H-1B distribution system.This comes from a draft executive order by Andrew Bremberg, the director of Trump's Domestic Policy Council. The order -- if signed by the president -- opens the door to major reforms of the H-1B and the Optional Practical Training programs.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Trump’s federal hiring freeze won’t kill government IT hiring
If you are planning to apply for a federal IT job, President Donald Trump's federal hiring freeze makes it harder, but not impossible, to land a position with the U.S. government.On Monday, Trump signed an executive order preventing the filling of vacant positions or creating new jobs "except when necessary to meet national or public security responsibilities," said Trump Administration Press Secretary Sean Spicer at a briefing today.[To comment on this story, visit Computerworld's Facebook page.]Defense agencies are big users of IT and appear to be unaffected by the freeze. Cybersecurity hiring is a major impetus at civilian agencies and, depending on how broadly the government defines IT jobs related to "public security," there could still be quite a bit of hiring.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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New Senate bill seeks sweeping H-1B changes
A new bill in Congress would give foreign students who graduate from U.S. schools priority in getting an H-1B visa.The legislation also "explicitly prohibits" the replacement of American workers by visa holders.This bill, the H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act, was announced Thursday by its co-sponsors, U.S. Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), longtime allies on H-1B reform. Grassley is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which gives this bill an immediate leg up in the legislative process.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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China reminds Trump that supercomputing is a race
China intends to develop a prototype of an exascale supercomputer by the end of 2017, tweaking an exascale delivery date that's already well ahead of the U.S. The timing of the announcement, reported by an official government news service, raised the possibility it was a message to President-elect Donald Trump.China's announcement comes the same week Trump takes office. The Trump administration is bringing a lot of uncertainty to supercomputing research, which is heavily dependent on government funding."The exascale race is also a publicity and mindshare race," said Steve Conway, a high-performance computing analyst at IDC. "The Chinese are putting a stake in the ground and saying we're going to have a prototype computer soon, maybe a year or so sooner than people expected," he said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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China reminds Trump that supercomputing is a race
China intends to develop a prototype of an exascale supercomputer by the end of 2017, tweaking an exascale delivery date that's already well ahead of the U.S. The timing of the announcement, reported by an official government news service, raised the possibility it was a message to President-elect Donald Trump.China's announcement comes the same week Trump takes office. The Trump administration is bringing a lot of uncertainty to supercomputing research, which is heavily dependent on government funding."The exascale race is also a publicity and mindshare race," said Steve Conway, a high-performance computing analyst at IDC. "The Chinese are putting a stake in the ground and saying we're going to have a prototype computer soon, maybe a year or so sooner than people expected," he said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Trump turns to H-1B advocates for advice
In his campaign for president, Donald Trump tapped into the viral anger over H-1B use. The outsourcing of high-skill jobs is a "tremendous threat," he said. Disney workers who trained visa-holding replacements spoke at some of his rallies.But soon after the election, President-elect Trump assembled a 16-member team of CEO-level executives to advise him on job creation, including many from firms that send jobs overseas and have advocated for an H-1B cap increase.[To comment on this story, visit Computerworld's Facebook page.]To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Will Trump’s policies increase IT employment?
Estimates for IT employment growth this year range from flat to gangbuster. But the actual 2017 outcome will depend on the economy and the still-uncertain policies of President-elect Donald Trump.Trump has talked about actions such as tariffs to keep some firms from relocating operations to Mexico or other countries. But analysts don't know how deep or broad the tariffs might be and what their hiring impact would be.[To comment on this story, visit Computerworld's Facebook page.]To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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How U.S. intelligence agencies envision the world in 2035
By 2035, developers will have learned to automate many jobs. Investments in artificial intelligence (A.I.) and robotics will surge, displacing workers. And a more connected world will increase -- not reduce -- differences, increasing nationalism and populism, according to a new government intelligence assessment prepared just in time for President-elect Donald Trump's administration.The "Global Trends" report, unveiled Monday, is produced every four years by the National Intelligence Council. It is released just before the inauguration of a new or returning president. The council is tasked with helping to shape U.S. strategic thinking.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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How U.S. intelligence agencies envision the world in 2035
By 2035, developers will have learned to automate many jobs. Investments in artificial intelligence (A.I.) and robotics will surge, displacing workers. And a more connected world will increase -- not reduce -- differences, increasing nationalism and populism, according to a new government intelligence assessment prepared just in time for President-elect Donald Trump's administration.The "Global Trends" report, unveiled Monday, is produced every four years by the National Intelligence Council. It is released just before the inauguration of a new or returning president. The council is tasked with helping to shape U.S. strategic thinking.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Why France’s new ‘right to disconnect’ law matters
France recently implemented a law giving workers "a right to disconnect" from email, messaging and calls after work. It may ultimately be ignored by many workers in France and scoffed at in the U.S., but it addresses a problem many employees deal with.Emails arriving at night, on weekends and during vacation can create stress and interrupt family life. An "always on" culture can hurt productivity in the long run because employees don't get time to rest and recharge, say researchers. Some companies see the problem.Daimler AG, the German automotive giant, has an optional email feature called "Mail on Holiday." It automatically deletes incoming emails during time off. An auto reply offers alternative contacts or suggests resending messages once the employee returns. It's available to 100,000 workers in Germany.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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New GOP H-1B bill appears to fall short of Trump’s goal
In the first week of the new Congress, U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is attempting to win support for a controversial H-1B reform bill.The bill, introduced Wednesday, is called the "Protect and Grow American Jobs Act" (HR 170) and co-sponsored by Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.). It is aimed at tightening, but not closing, a loophole in the visa law that has benefitted large H-1B-using firms.[To comment on this story, visit Computerworld's Facebook page.]Issa introduced this bipartisan bill last July. It faced some criticism and stalled in committee. The big difference this year is the impending inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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FTC sets $25,000 prize for automatic IoT patching
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is scheduled to announce Wednesday a "prize competition" for a tool that can be used against security vulnerabilities in internet of things systems.The prize pot is up to $25,000, with $3,000 available for each honorable mention. The winners will be announced in July. The announcement is scheduled to be published Wednesday in the Federal Register.The tool, at a minimum, will "help protect consumers from security vulnerabilities caused by out-of-date software," said the FTC.The government's call for help cites the use of internet-enabled cameras as a platform for a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack last October. Weak default passwords were blamed.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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FTC sets $25,000 prize for automatic IoT patching
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is scheduled to announce Wednesday a "prize competition" for a tool that can be used against security vulnerabilities in internet of things systems.The prize pot is up to $25,000, with $3,000 available for each honorable mention. The winners will be announced in July. The announcement is scheduled to be published Wednesday in the Federal Register.The tool, at a minimum, will "help protect consumers from security vulnerabilities caused by out-of-date software," said the FTC.The government's call for help cites the use of internet-enabled cameras as a platform for a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack last October. Weak default passwords were blamed.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Trump threatens electronic rights, EFF warns
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is keenly worried that President-elect Donald Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress will step up surveillance activities and pass laws to curtail electronic rights.As a result, the EFF is advising the tech sector to use end-to-end encryption for every transaction by default, and to scrub logs. "You cannot be made to surrender data you do not have," the EFF said.[To comment on this story, visit Computerworld's Facebook page.]"We need to start securing our systems now," said Rainey Reitman, director of the EFF's activism team, in an interview. "If we wait until he [Trump] starts putting overbroad government demands on tech companies, they won't have the time to clean up their logs and encrypt data."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Obama White House’s final tech recommendation: Invest in A.I.
One of the most important things that the U.S. can do to improve economic growth is to invest in artificial intelligence, or A.I., said the White House, in a new report. But there's a dark side to this assessment as well.A.I.-driven, intelligent systems have the potential to displace millions, such as truck drivers, from their jobs. But potential negative impacts can be offset by investments in education as well as by ensuring there is a safety net to help affected people, the White House argued, in what will likely be the Obama administration's final report on technology policy.Some of the report's recommendations, which include expanded unemployment help and access to healthcare, may be anathema to a Republican-controlled Congress with a focus on tax reductions and spending cuts. But this report -- "Artificial Intelligence, Automation, and the Economy" (PDF) -- which was in the works well before election day, also describes broader, technological-driven changes that will impact jobs and may pose issues for President-elect Donald Trump.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here