Artificial intelligence (AI) may conjure up far-fetched ideas of robot assistants, or perhaps an all-seeing presence like HAL 9000, the sentient machine in the movie 2001. But the likelier truth is that AI will come in the form of software running in your data center.And it will be coming very soon: Research firm Gartner predicts that "smart machines" will have a widespread impact on business within the next four years.In general terms it's likely that AI will be able to help IT departments do their job - and help businesses be more productive – by ensuring that "processes get applied, stuff is accurate, errors are eliminated, and compliance is met," according to Dr Stuart Anderson, a research fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute at the University of Oxford.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Rumors of the demise of Flash have been greatly exaggerated, to paraphrase Mark Twain. The multimedia and software platform's days may well be numbered, but today it’s still alive, even if its kicks are not exactly vigorous.It’s now five years since the late Steve Jobs published his famous Thoughts on Flash memo, in which he put the knife in to Flash on the grounds that it was proprietary, unreliable and insecure, that it drains mobile device batteries and is a cross-platform development tool that results in developers using only a lowest common denominator set of features.MORE ON NETWORK WORLD: 26 crazy and scary things the TSA has found on travelers
It's certainly true that Flash has been plagued by security issues – prompting Mozilla to block Flash plugins in Firefox and Google to block most Flash content from its Chrome browser. Google also converts many Flash ads on its AdWords system into HTML5, and Amazon has also stopped accepting Flash ads entirely.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Application container giant Docker and upstart rival CoreOS have ceased hostilities following the announcement of the Open Container Project (OCP). The project will work to develop industry standards for a container format and runtime software.As a starting point, the OCP standards will be based on Docker technology: Docker has donated about 5 percent of its codebase to the project to get it going.The OCP will run under the auspices of the Linux Foundation, and its sponsors include AWS, Google, IBM, HP, Microsoft, VMware, Red Hat and HP as well as Docker and CoreOS. So this can be seen as an industry-wide initiative to ensure that containers meet the following criteria:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The Internet of Things promises to be a job bonanza for developers, and coders can expect plenty of work at very good pay, according to Michael Rasalan, a director at California-based developer research company Evans Data Corp.But there's a catch: To get the best jobs, you'll need the right skills and plenty of experience.INSIDER: 5 ways to prepare for Internet of Things security threats
Most developers are already on the right path to acquiring that mix of skills and experience. An Evans Data survey in July found that 17 percent of the developers contacted were already working on applications for connected devices, while an additional 23 percent expected to begin working on them in the next six months.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Paul Rubens