The new APC Back-UPS BE600M1 provides instant battery power to your critical electronics when the power goes out, keeping you connected and available both personally and professionally. Designed specifically to enhance the features that matter most to you, including more runtime, more battery backup outlets, and a USB port for charging convenience, the BE600M1 is also smaller and lighter than the previous model. APC's BE600M1 offers guaranteed surge and lightning protection for attached devices. When the power goes out, the APC BE600M1 will power critical devices including home networking equipment; allowing you to maintain your internet connection. This allows you to work productively, avoid the loss of valuable data, and safely shut down equipment. It currently averages 4.5 out of 5 stars from over 4,400 people on Amazon (read reviews), where its list price of $74.99 has been reduced 20% to $59.95.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The software used to program and deploy code to various Schneider Electric industrial controllers has a weakness that could allow hackers to remotely take over engineering workstations.The software, known as Unity Pro, runs on PCs used by engineers and includes a simulator for testing code before deploying it to programmable logic controllers (PLCs). These are the specialized hardware devices that monitor and control mechanical processes -- spinning motors, opening and closing valves, etc. -- inside factories, power stations, gas refineries, public utilities and other industrial installations.Researchers from industrial cybersecurity firm Indegy found that unauthenticated attackers could execute malicious code on Windows computers where the Unity Pro PLC simulator is installed. That code would run with debug privileges leading to a complete system compromise.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The stars are finally aligned for WiGig, an ultra-fast, short-range wireless network that took a long time to become a reality.On Monday, the Wi-Fi Alliance launched a certification process for WiGig products, which will go as fast as 8Gbps (bits per second) and could include virtual-reality headsets and high-speed office Wi-Fi zones.The technology was announced in 2009 and is based on a standard, IEEE 802.11ad, that’s now available in some shipping products. But the official WiGig logo will assure buyers that networks and devices from different vendors can work together out of the box. That’s a crucial issue for almost anyone investing in network gear.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A biometric fingerprint reader makes it convenient to sign into your computer, by just pressing or swiping your finger on the reader which scans your fingerprint. It bypasses the need for entering a password while increasing the level of security for the computer -- anyone can enter your password if they get it somehow, but not your finger, after all. It can also be a convenient and secure system to set up on a computer at work that should be accessed by only a specific person or persons.In late September, BIO-key launched three fingerprint reader devices for the business and everyday computer user. Each sells for $40: the EcoID, the SideSwipe, and the SideTouch. You plug these readers into an USB port on your computer. They’re meant to be used with Windows 10 and this OS’ biometric sign-in feature, Windows Hello. (The EcoID and SideSwipe also run on Windows 7.)To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The ultimate Google phoneImage by Derek WalterEven if you’re a longtime devotee of Android, there’s nothing out there quite like the Pixel. It’s the most advanced and thoughtful synthesis of Android with smartphone hardware, and enhances how Google’s services can be the driving force for the way you use a smartphone.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Everywhere you go, you see signs for "Free Wi-Fi." And oftentimes, that free Wi-Fi is useless. The problem is that the free Wi-Fi in the airport or Starbucks often isn't very good, especially if you have a lot of data to download. It's usually so slow you can't get anything done. So you either turn to a 4G connection, if you are so fortunate, or pay for a premium Wi-Fi service. Usually this comes in the form of a $10 per night fee in your hotel.The cost of that, plus other intangibles, costs businesses in Europe and North America at least $2.91 billion every year according to a report from iPass, a provider of global mobile connectivity, and Rethink Technology Research, a wireless technology research firm.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A study from Spiceworks found that even though 80 percent of organizations experienced a "security incident" in 2015, only 29 percent of companies have a cybersecurity expert working in their IT department and only 7 percent have a cybersecurity expert on their executive team. And a majority -- 55 percent to be exact - said that their business didn't have "regular access" to any IT security experts at all, internal or third-party, with the majority of companies also reporting they had no plans to hire or contract one within the next year.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
For six years, Watchfinder, a U.K.-based global buyer and seller of pre-owned luxury watches, split the role of DevOps between application development and management of a virtual infrastructure environment. But the company's ambitious growth plans, which included expansion to the U.S. earlier this year and an expected doubling of monthly watch sales, required IT director Jonathan Gill to think differently.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
Nothing slows down a project more than waiting for the IT and network teams to get it deployed. Right? What most of us want is for the network to just get out of our way so we can make progress on the things that really matter. Networks don’t matter. Customers matter. Revenue matters. Competitive advantage matters.+ Also on Network World: The network effect on wealth creation +
In previous blog posts, I’ve made the case that networks are a strategic element for rapid innovation and the critical foundation for a competitive digital business. But aren’t networks just plumbing? Aren’t they just the dumb connections between machines that only need to be fast, cheap and invisible? Don’t we already have networks that are good enough? After all, Google, Amazon and Pokémon Go all seem to work just fine, right? We certainly don’t want to invest more in our networks. In fact, we want to invest less.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Stefanie Tellex, assistant professor of computer science at Brown University, is solving a thorny robotics problem: robotic grasp. She has built a machine learning model so that robots can automatically learn to manipulate objects and can produce much-needed sample data with which other researchers can use to train robots to pick up objects, she explained at the MIT Technology Review’s EmTech conference.
Video Credit: MIT Technology ReviewTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Stefanie Tellex, assistant professor of computer science at Brown University, is solving a thorny robotics problem: robotic grasp. She has built a machine learning model so that robots can automatically learn to manipulate objects and can produce much-needed sample data with which other researchers can use to train robots to pick up objects, she explained at the MIT Technology Review’s EmTech conference.
Video Credit: MIT Technology ReviewTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
London is next in line to receive the Link high-speed Wi-Fi service that briefly brought high-speed porn to the streets of New York.Intersection, the company behind LinkNYC, is partnering with British telecommunications operator BT and outdoor advertising company Primesight to deliver the service in London. Intersection is partly funded by Sidewalk Labs, a subsidiary of Google's parent Alphabet.Next year, BT will replace 100 of its phone booths with the LinkUK pillars, delivering gigabit Wi-Fi, free phone calls, and local information services on built-in Android tablets. The companies aim to install up to 750 of the hotspots across the UK in the coming years.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
RIPMicrosoft has rolled out plenty of new things in 2016, including the latest edition of Windows Server, additions to its Azure cloud platform and increased availability of its futuristic HoloLens mixed reality technology. But as always, the company has had to make room for the new by ditching some of the old. Here’s a roundup of products, services and more that Microsoft rid itself of in 2016. (Here’s our broader 2016 Tech Industry Graveyard and our 2016 Google Graveyard)To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Small satellites, sometimes called cubesats or just smallsats are a very popular way of getting inexpensive communications and surveillance into space quickly.Looking to bolster that notion, the White House recently revealed a number of program that it says will help drive the use of smallsats even further. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) announced what it called the “Harnessing the Small Satellite Revolution” initiative, which basically brings together National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Department of Defense, the Department of Commerce, and other Federal agencies, to promote and support government and private use of small satellites for remote sensing, communications, science, and the exploration of space. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
If you know how to drive one car, you know how to drive pretty much any car. The gas pedal is always on the right and brake on the left. Push the turn signal up to go right and down to go left. Whether it’s a Ford or a Toyota, you don’t need to relearn how to drive each car.Public cloud should be the same way, argues Bob Wysocki, CTO of Digital Infrastructure for General Electric and a member of the Open Networking User Group (ONUG). This week at ONUG’s annual fall meeting in New York a key theme is making it easier for enterprises to use public IaaS cloud services. Earlier this year ONUG created a new Hybrid Cloud Working Group that has created a sort of wish-list of what enterprise customers from GE, Pfizer, Citigroup and Gap would like to see from public cloud vendors to achieve easier usability.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The old way of doing IT at The LEGO Group was very much “we decide how you work,” said Michael Loft Mikkelsen. But things are changing at the family-owned company based in Billund, Denmark. One big change is the growing number of Mac users among the 17,000 worldwide LEGO employees. Driving the change is LEGO’s corporate mission.“We have one overarching mission: to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow. That’s our single most important goal,” said Loft Mikkelsen, infrastructure engineer at LEGO. “To create these fantastic products, we need an IT infrastructure that’s agile, scalable and robust enough to keep up with our development and growth.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Researchers have devised a new way to compromise Android devices without exploiting any software vulnerabilities and instead of taking advantage of a physical design weakness in RAM chips. The attack technique could also affect other ARM and x86-based devices and computers.The attack stems from the push over the past decade to pack more DRAM (dynamic random-access memory) capacity onto increasingly smaller chips, which can lead to memory cells on adjacent rows leaking electric charges to one another under certain conditions.For example, repeated and rapid accessing of physical memory locations -- an action now dubbed "hammering" -- can cause the bit values from adjacent locations to flip from 0 to 1 or the other way around.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
KMASHI's 15,000mAh power bank can charge any 2 smartphones, tablets or USB devices simultaneously at high speed, and several times over without needing to be recharged. It currently averages 4 out of 5 stars on Amazon from over 7,700 customers (read reviews). With the current 66% discount you can buy it on Amazon for just $17. See it now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Hacked cameras, DVRs and other internet-connected consumer devices were conscripted by perpetrators who installed botnet malware, causing last Friday’s internet outages. The national media reported the event, but it failed to tell consumers what they need to know about buying those types of devices. For example, before making a purchase, consumers need to ask:
Does the manufacturer routinely update this device with security patches?
Can I change the default passwords when I install the device?
The national media could have talked to someone who has first-hand experience with this type of attack, such as Brian Krebs, former Washington Post journalist and now one of the leading security industry bloggers, who would have repeated what he posted on Friday:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
An artificial intelligence system designed to predict the outcomes of cases at the European Court of Human Rights would side with the human judges 79 percent of the time.Researchers at University College London and the University of Sheffield in the U.K., and the University of Pennsylvania in the U.S., described the system in a paper published Monday by the Peer Journal of Computer Science."We formulated a binary classification task where the input of our classifiers is the textual content extracted from a case and the target output is the actual judgment as to whether there has been a violation of an article of the convention of human rights," wrote the paper's authors, Nikolaos Aletras, Dimitrios Tsarapatsanis, Daniel Preoţiuc-Pietro and Vasileios Lampos.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here