This morning, the unthinkable happened: My wife, an avowed PC user who long ago swore to never touch an Apple device, started shopping around for a Mac Mini. And it’s all thanks to Windows 10. Or rather, the nasty new way that Microsoft’s tricking Windows 7 and 8 users into automatically updating to Windows 10.I adore Windows 10, but I’ve long been a vocal critic of the heavy-handed tactics that Microsoft’s been using to force people into the upgrade, all to hit a goal of migrating 1 billion users to an operating system brimming with freemium services and ads. The annoying “Get Windows 10” pop-up began using deceiving malware-like tactics months ago, but it recently received an overhaul that seems purposefully designed to confuse users who have been wearily slogging through the nagging for half a year now.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
About a year ago I started a new business offering interactive "escape room" challenges in the Detroit area. Although I'd hoped to keep it strictly an online affair, with an informative website and simple ticketing system, it quickly became clear I'd need a phone line. Customers needed a way to reach me with questions, booking issues and so on.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
The well-meaning advice to not carry a grudge certainly didn’t come from anyone who’s wrestled with a computer for a living. Toil for anytime with the infernal logic of a programming language and you’ll know the horrors of the inky void where the worst bugs dwell.Sure, everyone loves a computer language when they first encounter it. And why wouldn’t we, with all those “hello world” examples that show how powerful the language can be in three lines of code. Programming languages are defined to be implicitly logical, but that doesn’t mean they spread logic everywhere they go. A pleasant barkeep may make the lives of everyone at the bar happier. A brave firefighter radiates bravery. But the logical mechanisms of programming languages often breed illogic, confusion, and doubt.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Recruiting open source talent is a top priority for IT recruiters and hiring managers in 2016. According to the 2016 Open Source Jobs Report released today by IT hiring platform Dice.com and The Linux Foundation, 65 percent of hiring managers say open source hiring will increase more than any other part of their business over the next six months, and 79 percent of hiring managers have increased incentives to hold on to their current open source professionals.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
When you decide to start looking for a new job, Twitter and Facebook might be the last places you'd expect to connect with recruiters. But that's quickly becoming the reality, as more recruiters turn to social media to find viable candidates to fill open job requisitions. Alexander Mann Solutions, a talent acquisition and management service; and Social Talent, a recruiting software and analytics company, released their 2016 Global Recruiting Survey, which shed light on how some recruiters use social media in their efforts.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
With a regular list price of $180, the current discount makes the Jaybird X2 Sport available for just $120. Features include:
Premium Bluetooth Audio For Skip-Free Music Outdoors
8 Hours of Music + Calls With Complete Remote Controls
Secure Over/Under-Ear Fit Options
Lifetime Sweat proof Warranty
Includes Comply Premium Sport Memory Foam Ear Tips, Patented Secure-Fit Ear Fins, Friction-Fit Silicone Sport Carrying Case, Silicone Ear Tips, Charging Cable & Cord Management Clips.
Jump to Amazon now for additional details, and to explore buying options.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
There’s an old canard that if you ask market researchers about the future of a specific new technology, they’ll pretty much always tell you that it will be a $10 billion market in 10 years. Given that anything from tinker toys to tater tots seems en route to being a $10 billion market, it makes sense to take optimistic market predictions with a hefty pile of salt. But when you hear numbers at the scale of the latest report from IDC concerning intelligent connected systems—sometimes known as the Internet of Things—you have to pay attention.Trillions, with a T
That’s because we’re not talking billions, tens of billions, or even hundreds of billions of dollars. We’re talking trillions, with a “t.” More than $2.2 trillion in just four years, according to IDC's Worldwide Embedded and Intelligent Systems 2015-2020 Market Forecast. Now, that is real money!To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
10 more pointless (but awesome) Linux terminal tricksOne year ago, I put together a list of my favorite “pointless but awesome” Linux terminal tricks—filled with such classics as making a cow talk with “cowsay” and rainbow-coloring your terminal with “lolcat.” As was correctly pointed out to me at the time, there are a lot of ridiculous (but cool) things you can do in the terminal that didn’t make that list. So, here’s round two. You’re welcome. (Note: Some of these you will need to install using apt-get, zypper or whatever package manager your Linux distribution uses.)To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The Wi-Fi Alliance recently announced a new IEEE specification, 802.11ah, developed explicitly for the Internet of Things (IoT). Dubbed HaLow (pronounced HAY-Low), it’s aimed at connecting everything in the IoT environment, from smart homes to smart cities to smart cars and any other device that can be connected to a Wi-Fi access point.Here’s what you need to know about HaLow.1. What are the potential advantages of HaLow?First, HaLow operates in the 900-MHz band. This lower part of the spectrum can penetrate walls and other physical barriers, which means better range than the current 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi bands.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Cool featuresImage by ThinkstockCars used to be just for driving. Today they’re equipped with Wi-Fi hotspots, self-parking technology and road hazard detection systems. Check out some of the coolest connected car features available today.RELATED: BMW’s vision for a world of connected cars To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The 1950s saw the introduction of automobile seat belts; in the 70s, airbags began showing up in cars. Electronic Stability Controlled rolled out in the late 80s, and the last decade has seen the deployment of radar and camera-based backup assist and blind-spot warning systems.Auto safety experts say network technology could be the next major car safety innovation. “Decades from now, it's likely we'll look back at this time period as one in which the historical arc of transportation safety considerably changed for the better, similar to the introduction of standards for seat belts, airbags, and electronic stability control technology," said David Freedman, administrator for the National High Transportation Safety Agency (NHTSA) in 2014.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
As you’re brushing your teeth in the morning you monitor a digital display mirror that shows all your relevant information for the day: Schedule of appointments, weather and battery levels of all your devices, including your phone and BMW i3 electric car in the garage.As you walk into your kitchen and turn on your coffee machine, that’s the cue your car has been waiting for to turn itself on and begin to warm up. Time to go: With a swipe on your touch-enabled car key, the vehicle detaches from its charging unit, pulls out of the garage and up to your front door. It’s already calculated the best route to your first appointment, taking into account traffic and weather.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Remember when you ditched Firefox for Chrome and pinkie-swore you’d never go back? Yeah, me too. But recently I needed to test a web-based app in Firefox, so, with some hesitance, I took the plunge and installed it.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
Loving FirefoxRemember when you ditched Firefox for Chrome and pinkie-swore you’d never go back? Yeah, me too. But recently I needed to test one of our web-based apps in Firefox, so, with some hesitance, I took the plunge and installed it. Turns out, the good folks at Mozilla took their vanishing market share to heart and fought back with one of the most notably improved products I have seen in recent memory. Here are 10 things we love about Firefox. (Read the full story.)To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
New products of the weekOur roundup of intriguing new products. Read how to submit an entry to Network World's products of the week slideshow.Zuznow “Red Fox” versionKey features: A frontend-as-a-Service (FaaS) platform, the new Zuznow “Red Fox” version automatically creates and maintains web and native apps for smartphones, tablets, desktops and laptops. Enterprises can build and deploy premium mobile apps in minutes – without coding – through a simple, three-step configuration wizard. More info.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Kansas Heart Hospital in Witchita was hit with ransomware last week. The ransomware attack occurred on Wednesday and the KWCH 12 news video from Friday night said some files were still inaccessible by the hospital.Hospital president Dr. Greg Duick refused to disclose the ransom amount and the ransomware variant; he said, “I'm not at liberty because it's an ongoing investigation, to say the actual exact amount. A small amount was made.”Yes, the hospital paid the ransom. No, the hackers didn’t decrypt the files – at least it was described as not returning “full access to the files.” Instead, the attackers asked for another ransom. This time the hospital refused to pay because it was no longer “a wise maneuver or strategy.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Kansas Heart Hospital in Witchita was hit with ransomware last week. The ransomware attack occurred on Wednesday, and the KWCH 12 news video from Friday night said some files were still inaccessible by the hospital.Hospital President Dr. Greg Duick refused to disclose the ransom amount and the ransomware variant. He said, “I'm not at liberty because it's an ongoing investigation, to say the actual exact amount. A small amount was made.”Yes, the hospital paid the ransom. No, the hackers didn’t decrypt the files—at least it was described as not returning “full access to the files.” Instead, the attackers asked for another ransom. This time the hospital refused to pay because it was no longer “a wise maneuver or strategy.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The Boston BSides conference is bursting at its seams and may have to find a new place to carry out its mission of providing inexpensive IT security training, educational sessions and informal networking where peers can share experiences and help guide aspiring security pros.The conference this weekend at Microsoft’s New England Research and Development (NERD) Center in Cambridge, Mass., was full to capacity with about 400 people attending – the NERD limit, says Daniel Reich, one of the show’s organizers.He says the organizers had to turn away about 100 others who wanted to attend, and after reading surveys by attendees and comments on Twitter, they may be looking for a larger venue for next year.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Now when ransomware tries to take over your computer, there’s something you can be sides pay up: stop it, buy more time to deal with it or mitigate the damage it might do.These options include both hardware and software approaches IT pros can take to defeat the malware, a group at this weekend’s Security BSides Boston conference was told.By looking at how several variants of ransomware work - CryptoLocker, CryptoWall, Locky, SamSam - researcher Weston Hecker found characteristics of their behavior that could be turned against them.One method goes after the droppers that first infect target machines in preparation for downloading the main malware payloads. Their purpose is to examine the machines for indications that it might be an inhospitable host and to eliminate the roadblocks if possible.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Stressed? Of course you are. Do you find it hard to chill without a drink or three in the evening? Yep, that’s pretty common when you’re dealing with the kind of pressures IT professionals are often under. And then what about when you get up in the morning? Are you low on energy? How about when it’s 2pm and you’re flagging and there’s the prospect of having to pull an all-nighter to roll out the new whatever-it-is you’re wrestling with? Do you turn to endless cups of coffee or, the gods forfend, do you down endless energy drinks until you have a caffeine high that makes you vibrate like a tuning fork? To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here