Echo Dot is designed to work seamlessly in every room of your house, and right now you can get $20 off your order when you buy 3 Dots, or get one Dot free when you buy 6. Echo Dot is a hands-free, voice-controlled device that uses Alexa to play music, control smart home devices, provide information, read the news, set alarms, read audiobooks from Audible, and more. New Alexa "skills" are being created all the time. If you're in the market for a few Dots, jump over to Amazon and claim your discount while it lasts.To read this article in full, please click here
How are the Linux vendors addressing the recently-exposed Intel processor flaw? I asked Red Hat and got some solid answers.What is the nature of the problem?
Discovered some time ago, but only just yesterday brought into public view, the CPU flaw allows an attacker to bypass restrictions to gain access to privileged memory (which should be inaccessible) -- possibly stealing sensitive information from computer systems, mobile devices, and cloud deployments. There are actually two problems and they've been dubbed "Meltdown" and "Spectre". They potentially affect 90% of computer servers and virtually every Intel microprocessor.The Meltdown flaw is specific to Intel while Spectre is a design flaw that has been used by many processor manufacturers for decades.To read this article in full, please click here
Here's something you probably didn't know existed. With SanDisk's iXpand iPhone base, you'll never have to worry about losing your memories again. Every time you charge your iPhone with the iXpand Base, it automatically backs up your photos, videos and contacts. The iXpand Base offers plenty of room to save your files in their original quality with no worry about recurring monthly fees for Internet-based storage. Designed for everyday use with a soft rubber top, a sturdy base, and a wrap-around groove to keep your Apple Lightning to USB cable tidy. Its typical list price has been discounted $50, for now, to $149.99. See this deal on Amazon.To read this article in full, please click here
Carbon Monoxide is odorless, tasteless and invisible, and it accounts for over 72,000 cases of poisoning each year. Kidde calls their C3010D model "worry free" because its sensor and sealed battery provide 10 years of uninterrupted CO detection, and a digital display that updates every 15 seconds. The unit will chirp when its reaching the ends of its life, so you don't have to wonder. The Kidde C3010D alarm is currently discounted 32% to $34.91. See this deal now on Amazon.To read this article in full, please click here
We were excited to participate in the November MEF 17 conference in Orlando, one of the industry’s most informative service provider events of the year. There is a lot of buzz and interest in managed SD-WAN services. It was a key focus area of MEF’s new SD-WAN initiatives and for this year’s conference agenda.Silver Peak Founder and CEO David Hughes delivered a CEO perspective: “SD-WAN From Software-Defined to Self-Driving.” David presented a vision for how SD-WAN technologies that leverage AI and automation can further accelerate the development of managed, customized SD-WAN services. David’s presentation also explored the future of SD-WAN and its impact on the broader software defined networking space.To read this article in full, please click here
It is truly remarkable to what extent corporate and personal behavior is dictated by tax policy. Much of the discussion in our nation’s capital in regard to tax reform has been about competitiveness as a rational to lower corporate tax rates. It appears as though the United States charges a 20 percent higher tax rate than much of the rest of the world, forcing corporations to shift some operations and assets into lower tax rate jurisdictions. It’s safe to say that tax policy impacts behavior in measurable ways.Just yesterday I was speaking with a communications service provider analyst. We discussed the overhead of SD-WAN tunnels. I showed the math of how it can tax various protocols. The tax for various protocols was:To read this article in full, please click here
As global markets hurtle towards a 2018 that’s shaping up to possibly be one of the most innovative years on record, eager onlookers who are tapped into the tech-scene’s pulse are wondering what the next trends will be that drive the IoT forward. After a crazy 2017 that saw the IoT become a household name throughout the world, some are wondering what 2018 could possibly have in store that could still surprise us, but you’d be surprised at what’s yet to come.Brush up on 7 of the leading IoT trends that will come to define 2018 and reshape the world as we know it, and you’ll be setting yourself down the path of success well before the new year even begins.To read this article in full, please click here
As I discussed in "Why web-scale is the future," over the past year, we’ve seen more organizations embrace it as the “go-to” model for flexible, resilient and on-demand infrastructure. Gartner predicts that by 2020, 40% of global enterprise CIOs will have initiated a corporate web-scale IT initiative.As web-scale principles continue their rise within large enterprises, the role the network plays for the business, as well as the day-to-day working lives of network engineers, will change in some pretty significant ways in the year ahead.1. Networks will help fuel digital transformation rather than slow it down
40 percent of CEOs rank digital transformation as their top imperative, according to a recent Economist Intelligence Unit survey. More than ever, digital transformation is crucial to business success; in 2018, spending on the software, hardware and services that enable digital transformation will reach nearly $1.3 trillion, predicts analyst firm IDC. This figure “represents a 16.8 percent jump compared to the $1.1 trillion spent this year” (Datamation).To read this article in full, please click here
Managing networks has become increasingly complex, and it will remain a challenge as the use of Internet of Things devices continues to grow. This complexity makes it difficult to reconfigure a traditional network in a timely manner to respond to malicious events or fix configuration errors.A software-defined network (SDN) can help by giving network engineers the flexibility to dynamically change the behavior of a network on a node-by-node basis — something not typically available in a traditional network. An SDN uses virtualization to simplify the management of network resources and offers a solution for increased capacity without significantly increasing costs.To read this article in full, please click here
Sea turtles have been survived for millions of years, but now face extinction. as poachers. How do you protect sea turtles eggs on remote, miles-long beaches in developing countries from poachers working in the dark?Global System for Mobile Communications, or GSM, enabled IoT trackers may provide an answer to this scourge.Background
Poachers kill sea turtles for their shells and their eggs are considered a delicacy and aphrodisiac. Sad but true. The trade of sea turtle products is restricted, but that doesn’t stop poachers. Tracking this illegal trafficking is difficult. The transit routes and final destinations are unknown.Sea turtle products are the second most frequently trafficked wildlife product smuggled from Latin America to the US. Eggs are a quarter of illegal imports and most originate in Mexico or Central America. This trade is devastating to turtle populations. A recent shipment of a thousand turtle eggs that was intercepted at the Mexico/U.S. border represented nearly 5 percent of the year’s total egg production for the beach from which they were poached!To read this article in full, please click here
The arrival of the holiday shopping season always brings sharp focus onto ecommerce, which just keeps disrupting how retailers and consumers shop. But it’s striking just how much running room remains in front of this trend, which already has a couple decades of Christmases under its big black Santa belt.According to eMarketer, ecommerce sales will grow more than 23 percent in 2017 – and still only account for a tenth of retail sales globally. Opportunities remain huge in the online shopping sector, but only if companies can continue to keep the digital payments at the heart of it simple, fast and secure for consumers and retailers alike. That’s a perpetual challenge.To read this article in full, please click here
Back when I started working with computers, understanding the nature of ASCII was exciting. In fact, just knowing how to convert binary to hex was fun.That was a lot of years ago — berfore ASCII had yet reached drinking age — but character encoding standards are as important as ever today with the internet being so much a part of our business and our personal lives. They're also more complex and more numerous than you might imagine. So, let’s dive into some of the details of what ASCII is and some of the commands that make it easier to see coding standards in action.Why ASCII?
ASCII came about to circumvent the problem that different types of electronic systems were storing text in different ways. They all used some form of ones and zeroes (or ONs and OFFs), but the issue of compatibility became important when they needed to interact. So, ASCII was developed primarily to provide encoding consistency. It became a standard in the U.S. in 1960. Initially, ASCII characters used only 7 bits. Some years later, ASCII was extended to use all 8 bits in each byte.To read this article in full, please click here
NordVPN promises a private and fast path through the public internet, with no logs and unmetered access for 6 simultaneous devices. They are currently running a holiday promotion, but you'll have to use this link to find it. Its typical price has been discounted to $99 for 3 years of service. That's a good deal at just $2.75 per month. See the $2.75/month NordVPN holiday deal here.
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Unable to even come close to SSDs in terms of performance, hard disk makers have chosen to compete with capacity. A SSD over 1TB in size starts to become expensive, especially for consumers, so HDD makers Seagate and Western Digital have gone for massive capacity, introducing drives with up to 14TB of capacity.But now Seagate promises greater speed thanks to a new drive head technology. Dubbed the multi-actuator technology, it’s a simple idea that’s been around a while but wasn’t economically viable in the past due to higher component costs.Hard drive heads are connected to an arm called an actuator. This moves back and forth across the disk while the disk spins. Hard drives have multiple platters for storing data, and the actuator arms have drive heads on both sides of the platter, since data is written to both sides of the platter.To read this article in full, please click here
With the happiest of holidays soon upon us and New Year’s right around the corner, now is an appropriate time to reflect on data center managers around the world so that all their days may be merry and bright. But wait, is that an IT staff member attempting to forecast capacity with his head buried in an MS Excel spreadsheet? And another, tiredly walking the data center with a Stanley tape measure hooked on his belt while daydreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones he used to know?Our hearts go out to them, knowing that without accurate intel these data center managers won’t be able to take timely and appropriate actions, to say nothing about missing out on their CFOs’ figgy pudding. But they are not alone.To read this article in full, please click here
If you still need to buy, don't worry -- there's still time. Amazon still has deals running every day, in every category imaginable, and with Prime shipping you'll have it by Christmas. Discounted USB cords, chargers, phone accessories, BlueTooth speakers, splitters, and other gadgets. Jump over to Amazon's "Last Minute Deals" page. If you're not a Prime member, sign up for a free trial and you'll instantly get access to free 2-day shipping, which will be critical at this point. To read this article in full, please click here
The ongoing debate over net neutrality has the internet abuzz, and for good reason; forthcoming changes to how internet service providers are regulated could fundamentally reshape the modern internet, with unknown implications for the internet of things. As the IoT continues to grow at a staggering pace, it’s important for its advocates to understand the ongoing hubbub surrounding net neutrality, and how its cessation will impact the IoT for years to come.So, what exactly is net neutrality, and what specific obstacles may spring up in the IoT’s path should it come to an end? By examining the heated ongoing debate surrounding net neutrality, IoT enthusiast can come to have an understand as to how vital a free and open internet is towards its continued success, and prepare themselves for a future where net neutrality is gone.To read this article in full, please click here
In most cases, I try to turn a skeptical eye on hyperbole. So when a cybersecurity expert tells me that IoT security is a “ticking time bomb,” my initial reaction is not to worry about an upcoming “security apocalypse.”But I am already worried about security in the Internet of Things. So, I took the opportunity to ask Srini Vemula, global product management leader and security expert at SenecaGlobal, what’s really at risk as we hurtle toward 2020 and an estimated 20.4 billion connected devices.To read this article in full, please click here
The advancement of edge computing, along with increasingly powerful chips, may make it possible for artificial intelligence (AI) to operate without wide-area networks (WAN).Researchers working on a project at the University of Waterloo say they can make AI adapt as computational power and memory are removed. And indeed if they can do that, it would allow the neural networks to function free of the internet and cloud — the advantages being better privacy, lower data-send costs, portability and the utilization of AI applications in geographically remote areas.The scientists say they can teach AI to learn it doesn’t need lots of resources.To read this article in full, please click here
The concept of intent-based networks has received a lot of attention from media and networking professionals since Cisco launched its “Network Intuitive” earlier this year. Cisco has certainly made the term “intent-based” a household term, but that wasn’t the first time I had heard a vendor talk about this vision. Years ago, I was at an event held by Juniper Networks where its founder and CTO at the time, Pradeep Sindhu, talked about the death of Moore’s Law and how that would drive us towards this thing called intent-based networking. To read this article in full, please click here