One year ago, Swift became available as open source, and the community immediately set out to make the language usable for everything from systems programming to mobile apps to cloud services.Building on that momentum and creativity, the enterprise is now poised to deploy Swift for front-end and back-end development.The cloud is rapidly becoming the platform for innovation, with enterprises building applications that leverage cognitive, the Internet of Things (IoT) and other emerging technologies. But enterprises need a simpler way to develop apps and innovate quickly on the cloud. When we saw the speed, performance and creativity our development team experienced using Swift to build more than 100 MobileFirst for iOS apps, we focused our efforts on fully enabling Swift for server development so enterprises could also take advantage of these benefits.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
One would think the addition of a feature like this would have Microsoft screaming from the rooftops, but very quietly Microsoft added a new feature to Skype that supports its real-time translation technology in calls to landlines and mobile phones. The new feature was added to its preview build of the Skype Windows Store app late last week. The new version of Skype Preview can now perform real-time spoken-word translations via Skype Translator when calling landlines and mobile phones, and the person on the other end does not need Skype on their phone to receive translations or be translated.Of course, it's not for everyone. To use this new version of Skype Preview, you need to be run the latest build of Windows 10 Insider preview from the fast ring. That tends to be reserved for dedicated testers and developers, since fast ring releases aren't as stable as normal builds and are geared for debugging. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
It’s an all-too familiar scene: The start of a new financial quarter signals yet another opportunity for CFOs and CIOs to debate the fate of proposed network equipment purchases, upgrades and support. If these two stakeholders are to come together to maximize the return on every IT dollar spent, it’s crucial they have a clear understanding of the shared IT value equation. For many, this is capex and opex through the lens of deferring or lowering capital expenditures without increasing operational costs.
This approach typically includes a “sweat the assets” strategy for extending the useful life of stable network routers and switches. But first, you need to know exactly what’s deployed and supported under current maintenance contracts. Relying solely on OEMs to provide a full accounting of your network assets is akin to flying blind. Don’t get me wrong: While there’s great value in tools such as Cisco’s Smart Collector for discovering and gathering device-related data from all the Cisco gear in your network, it’s a place to start—not stop. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Riverbed, with its highly successful WAN optimization technology, has long competed with Cisco – but in a niche fashion, acknowledges CEO and co-founder Jerry Kennelly. Now, the company is taking its fight to the core of Cisco’s business with new SD-WAN routing technology that could make existing routers obsolete in the world of hybrid clouds and virtual networks. I want to talk more specifically about how SteelConnect makes hybrid cloud easier?To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
This USB 2.0 cable connects your iPhone, iPad, or iPod with Lightning connector to your computer's USB port for syncing and charging, or to the Apple USB Power Adapter for convenient charging from a wall outlet. It's currently discounted 53% on Amazon from Apple, taking its typical list price down to just $9. See the discounted adapter on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Intel’s plan to spin out its security business under the McAfee name could run into rough weather with security expert John McAfee asking a court in New York to order an injunction on the deal until a dispute over the use of his personal name for another company is resolved.In a court filing on Tuesday, John McAfee and MGT Capital Investments claimed that there is a high likelihood that Intel intends to sell the rights to the use of his full name to the new venture. “Should the sale go forward any judgment awarded to Plaintiffs will be ineffectual,” it added.John McAfee and MGT informed the court that they will be seeking a preliminary injunction that would prevent Intel from “selling, trading, assigning, leasing or otherwise transferring any alleged rights, in whole or in part, relating to any marks, names, trade names, or entities containing the word ‘McAfee’” until the resolution of the dispute.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Google is providing for the first time a look into the world of national security letters -- demands from the Federal Bureau of Investigation to hand over details about account holders and keep quiet about it.The letters are a part of business for Google and other major internet companies, but traditionally they have been barred from acknowledging the letters' existence. That changed in 2013 when, in light of revelations about Internet surveillance by U.S. intelligence agencies, Google and others started fighting to disclose more about the demands.That led to the creation of Google's "transparency report," which revealed the company receives thousands of requests for user data each month from law enforcement agencies around the globe. The national security letters remained secret, but on Tuesday, Google published a handful that are no longer covered by nondisclosure rules.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
There are a variety of virtual private network (VPN) solutions available today.Let’s start off with a quick glance at the menu of options:
Software-defined Wide Area Networking (SD-WAN)
Multiprotocol Label Switching (MLPS)
Broadband
Multiservice VPN
Ethernet
Internet Protocol Security (IPSec)
Remote access services
Cloud-connected
The good news is there are site by site options to best meet the needs of your organization. So here’s a quick guide.
SD-WAN: A fast-emerging VPN segment, according to Network World “SD-WANs allow customers to integrate multiple network connection types and let software intelligently route traffic based on application profiles and available network types.”
MPLS: Long recognized as a preferred option for dedicated, high performance WAN connectivity, the MPLS VPN is enabled over a high-speed, single-carrier-operated network. It can handle different types of data streams and offers higher security and traffic policy enforcement. It’s idea for connecting data centers and major hubs.
Broadband VPNs: Utilizing the public Internet via cable and DSL connections, broadband VPNs can connect two or more locations and provide high-speed connections to workers and small satellite locations, for applications that aren’t latency-sensitive.
Multiservice VPNs: A hybrid VPN solution that combines highly secure connectivity for your business voice, video, data, Continue reading
After a nearly two month delay, Apple today announced that its AirPods headphones are finally available for purchase. Apple initially introduced its AirPods in September and promised that they would be available by late October. However, some engineering challenges resulted in a delay that nearly stretched out until the new year.Indeed, it was widely anticipated that Apple's AirPods wouldn't be released until January 2017 at the earliest. Thankfully, Apple managed to fix whatever technical hurdles it was facing and opened up online orders earlier this morning.Per Apple's Newsroom:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Be wary around random, but legitimate-looking emails popping up in your inbox. A foreign government may be using them to try to hack you.That may sound far-fetched, but Russian cyberspies allegedly stole sensitive files from Democratic groups and figures using this very tactic. In some cases, the spoofed emails pretended to be from Google and managed to trick victims into giving up their login details, paving the way for a series of high-profile hacks that rocked this year’s presidential election.But even as the presidential race is over, cybersecurity experts warn that state-sponsored hackers remain a dangerous threat. Political organizations, businesses, and universities all should be on guard -- you’re probably already in their crosshairs.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Microsoft’s Cortana virtual assistant is getting a lot smarter. On Tuesday, the company announced a set of developer tools aimed at bringing it into the internet of things, and adding support for developers to build new functionality for it.The makers of IoT devices like speakers and cars will be able to use a Microsoft software development kit to integrate Cortana into their products. In addition, developers will be able to build custom integrations that add capabilities to Microsoft’s virtual assistant.Microsoft is also launching a new service designed to help users simplify the process of scheduling meetings. Cortana will help find openings on a user’s calendar and work with meeting participants to find a time that works for everyone.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Android is headed to the internet of things in the form of Android Things, an operating system that grew out of Project Brillo and will be able to get updates directly from Google.With the home IoT industry still emerging from the hobbyist realm to mass market, Android’s traction in the smartphone realm could make it a popular platform for devices like lights, locks, thermostats, and household appliances that consumers want to manage through their phones.On Tuesday, Google announced a developer preview of Android Things, which will be able to run on the Raspberry Pi 3, Intel Edison, and NXP Pico hardware platforms. It will be easy for developers to scale their prototypes up to large production runs using custom versions of those boards, Google says.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
If you work with Windows systems, especially on the client side, you’ll occasionally need to bring an inoperable system back to life. The causes of this lamentable system state are as varied as the symptoms, which can range from an inability to boot Windows to a non-functional keyboard or display (hard to do anything in Windows without input or output). Despite all the many potential causes and symptoms, the situation remains the same: For whatever reason, a Windows system won’t start up and run as it should.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
Just over a year ago I reviewed the Ring ($199), a security camera that replaces your conventional doorbell and lets you not only see who’s ringing your doorbell but also talk with them. The Ring doorbell provides movement detection with optional cloud video recording for a monthly fee ($3 per month).While I liked the product conceptually, the startup lag (the time between detecting movement and when recording begins, usually a delay of a few seconds) is long enough that fast moving people like the Fedex guy can come and go before the device starts recording and the so-so video quality led me to give it a Gearhead rating of 3.5 out of 5.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
About three years ago the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) began plotting a migration to Amazon’s cloud. Most companies when they do so target low-hanging fruit: Applications that can be relatively easily lifted and shifted to the cloud.Not FINRA. “We started with the migration of our most critical systems to AWS,” explains Steve Randich, executive vice president and CIO of FINRA, and a former CIO of the NASDAQ stock exchange and Citibank. “We moved our most mission critical, data-intensive services first.” Randich called them FINRA’s “crown jewels.”+MORE FROM NETWORK WORLD: Amazon’s biggest re:Invent announcements | Inside Bank of America’s IT transformation +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Make every beat count with Fitbit Charge 2, the all-new heart rate and fitness wristband built for all-day, workouts and beyond. PurePulse continuous heart rate makes it easy to maximize workouts, better track calorie burn and get a snapshot of your cardio fitness level, while all-day activity and auto sleep tracking, lets you see how your whole routine adds up. Record your workouts with multi-sport modes to see real-time workout stats on screen, or rely on SmartTrack to automatically record select exercises for you. The large OLED display helps you stay connected with call, text and calendar alerts, stay active with Reminders to Move, and find moments of calm with personalized guided breathing sessions. Plus, you can find a look that fits your style with customizable clock faces and interchangeable bands. With more advanced features in a sleeker package, it's the motivation you need to push yourself further-every step, every beat, every day. The Charge 2 is a #1 Amazon best seller with over 3,800 ratings averaging 4.3 out of 5 stars (read recent reviews). Its typical list price is $149.95, but it's currently available on Amazon at the discounted price of $129.95.To read Continue reading
Finding customer service help online can be a pain. Filtering through a knowledge base to find the right answer to your question can be an exercise in fighting with nested frequently asked questions documents.Microsoft is aiming to help by making it easier for companies to create intelligent bots that can answer common questions.The QnA Maker, launched in beta on Tuesday, will let users train an automated conversation partner on existing frequently-asked-questions content. After that information is fed in, the service will create a bot that will respond to customer questions with the content from the knowledge base.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
For the last Patch Tuesday of 2016, Microsoft issued 12 security bulletins, half of which are rated critical due to remote code execution vulnerabilities. Get ready for restarts. Please do not delay deploying patches since three do address vulnerabilities which had been publicly disclosed.Rated criticalMS16-144 pertains to patching a plethora of bugs in Internet Explorer: two scripting engine memory corruption vulnerabilities, two memory corruption vulnerabilities, a security feature bypass bug, and two information disclosure flaws and one Windows hyperlink object library information disclosure vulnerability.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
MIT, which not surprisingly has a good track record of securing techie leaders for its commencement speakers, has signed on Apple CEO Tim Cook to do the honors on June 9, 2017.It will mark the first time one of Apple's leaders delivers a commencement address at MIT. Past MIT speakers from the technology field have included United States CTO Megan Smith (2015), Dropbosx CEO Drew Houston (2013) and Digital Equipment Corp. Founder Ken Olsen (1987).Cook in 2015, as George Washington University's commencement speaker, told grads to ignore the cynics and change the world like Steve Jobs did (see Cook's GW commencement speech transcript).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Almost all of the 300 federal government workers who responded to a recent survey by application performance management vendor Riverbed said slow IT issues impact their jobs.The results shine a startling light on inefficiencies in the federal government stemming from a lack of investment in new technologies, vendor Riverbed says.+ MORE AT NETWORK WORLD: Federal cyber incidents grew an astounding 1,300% between '06 and '15 +The survey asked workers, most of whom are supervisors at more than 30 civilian and defense government agencies, what their greatest frustrations are in IT operations and what the impact of those problems is.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here