New businesses try for successImage by Barbara KrasnoffTechCrunch Disrupt is a city-by-city gathering of technology startups looking for seed money, partnerships and/or media attention; investors looking for possible investments; techies looking for jobs; and tech fans looking for the Next Big Thing.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Mark your calendars: Google will disable support for the RC4 stream cipher and the SSLv3 protocol on its SMTP servers and Gmail servers on June 16.After the deadline, Google's SMTP servers will no longer exchange mail with servers sending messages via SSLv3 and RC4. Users still using older and insecure mail clients won't be able to send mail using Google's SMTP servers after that date.[ Safeguard your data! The tools you need to encrypt your communications and Web data. • The tools you need to encrypt your communications and Web data. • InfoWorld's encryption Deep Dive how-to report. | Discover how to secure your systems with InfoWorld's Security newsletter. ]
Most Google Apps organizations have already stopped using RC4 or SSLv3, but those on older systems have a month to update to modern Transport Layer Security configurations. However, there are plenty of systems still using SSLv3, including inbound/outbound gateways, third-party emailers, and systems using SMTP relay. Administrators should consider fully transitioning to newer standards as soon as possible.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Nokia is back in the mobile phone business, after a fashion.It has granted HMD Global an exclusive, 10-year license to the famous brand, allowing the Finnish startup to sell Nokia mobile phones and tablets.Meanwhile Microsoft, which bought Nokia's mobile phone activities in 2013, is finally getting out of the feature-phone business, selling its remaining interests in the Nokia brand and its Vietnamese phone factory to HMD and to FIH, a subsidiary of contract manufacturing giant Foxconn, for around US$350 million.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
After meeting with U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez yesterday, Verizon and union leaders representing some 40,000 striking workers agreed to continue stalled contract negotiations with the assistance of a federal mediator who has on her resume decades of experience as general counsel for a major union. From a U.S. Department of Labor press release:“The parties involved in the Verizon labor dispute, including the senior leadership of the unions and the company and their bargaining teams, met today in Washington with Labor Secretary Tom Perez and Allison Beck, an experienced federal mediator who the parties agreed today would assist in the ongoing contract negotiations. Discussions will continue in Washington this week under the auspices of the Department of Labor.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Looking for a new job and a new city? See which metro areas made Glassdoor's ranking of the best locations in the U.S. for job seekers.Several of the top sites are major U.S. cities and tech hubs, but if that’s not your speed, don’t fret. Some of the best job opportunities are located in small and midsize metro areas, Glassdoor reports.To come up with its list, Glassdoor equally weighted four factors: hiring opportunity, cost of living, job satisfaction, and work-life balance.The report also includes median pay for employees and a few in-demand jobs for each metro location. While the ranking covers all kinds of jobs across all industries, a wide variety of tech positions appear among the in-demand jobs in most of the 25 cities.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
ARM has acquired Apical, a U.K. designer of embedded computer vision technology, and plans to incorporate that technology into future ARM microprocessor and system-on-chip designs, it said Wednesday.The move will open up new opportunities for designers of autonomous vehicles and security systems, among other connected things, according to ARM CEO Simon Segars. Computer vision is in its early stages, and Apical is at the forefront of embedding such technology, he said.Apical's technologies is already used in 1.5 billion smartphones, according to ARM, although many of those phones may be using nothing more sophisticated than a display brightness control Apical calls Assertive Display. That technology also turned up in Samsung Electronics' new laptop, the ATIV Book 9.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
In a bid to win over more Indian developers, Apple on Wednesday announced it would set up by early next year a facility to help developers on best practices and to improve the design, quality and performance of their apps on the iOS platform.The facility in Bangalore, called a Design and Development Accelerator, aims to provide specialized support for the “tens of thousands” of developers in the country, who develop applications for the iOS operating system.Bangalore has a large base of developers, working for the research and development centers of multinational companies or in startups, besides others who work independently. Apple estimates that over 1 million people in the city work in the tech sector, with over 40 percent of graduates from local universities specializing in engineering or IT.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
As SAP holds its annual Sapphire Now user conference in Orlando this week, two of the leading IaaS providers are making the case for running SAP apps on their public clouds.Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella joined SAP CEO Bill McDermott during the Sapphire keynotes on Tuesday to announce a broad partnership between the two companies that will optimize the Azure public cloud to run SAP workloads.Not to be outdone, early this morning before the keynote even kicked off Amazon Web Services issued a press release announcing a handful of customers – including General Electric, Brooks Brothers and Lionsgate are running SAP apps on its public cloud.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Tribune Publishing Co., a major newspaper chain, is laying off as many as 200 IT employees as it shifts work overseas.The firm, which owns the Los Angeles Times, The Baltimore Sun, Chicago Tribune, Hartford Courant and many other media properties, told IT employees in early April that it's moving work to India-based Tata Consultancy Services.Interestingly, the Tribune IT employees were notified within weeks of a similar announcement involving IT employees at the McClatchy Company, another major newspaper chain.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
John Deere is taking the Internet of Things out into the field by developing new technologies and embracing existing ones to boost the efficiency of prepping, planting, feeding and harvesting with the goal of improving per-acre crop yields.+More on Network World: 10 Internet of Things companies to watch+
Ron ZinkTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Regular paper, of the kind one writes and prints on, can be embedded with radio frequency tags, researchers say. That could ultimately allow internet connectivity.Not only could the internet paper be manufactured with tags added at the mill, but an end user could actually draw the tagged antennas on by hand using conductive ink in a school or the workplace.By responding to commands via gestures, the paper can be made to “do anything from controlling music using a paper baton to live polling in a classroom,” the University of Washington says in a press release.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Microsoft has come out against a proposal for the U.K. to leave the European Union, joining other tech giants that oppose the controversial measure.The so-called Brexit (Britain exit) referendum will ask U.K. voters on June 23 whether the country should leave the 28-state EU. Proponents say membership in the union has hurt Britain’s economy and opens the country up to too much immigration.Boris Johnson, London’s colorful former mayor, has compared the EU to Hitler. Polls suggest the vote may be tight.IBM, Cisco Systems, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise also oppose Brexit. As multinational companies, they often rely on flows of capital and employees across borders.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Digital has become the way. Look through any business publication or trade magazine, and you’ll see a plethora of articles about digital transformation.
A digital business is highly dependent on the underlying infrastructure to enable new services that can give it a competitive advantage. The underlying technology not only needs to seamlessly deliver the services, but also provide the highest levels of security, orchestration capabilities and many other requirements unique to this era of business.
+ Also on Network World: Why 2015 was the year of the cloud, and 2016 will be too +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
SAP has updated its flagship Hana in-memory computing platform with a raft of new features designed to make IT simpler while giving organizations a better handle on their data.The updates, announced Tuesday at the company's annual Sapphire Now conference in Florida, include a new hybrid data management service in the cloud and a new version of the company's Hana Edge edition for SMBs."We’ve taken an already rock solid platform and further hardened security, enhanced availability, unified the development and administration experience, and expanded advanced analytic capabilities," Michael Eacrett, vice president of product management for SAP, wrote in a blog post detailing the new release.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
BOSTON -- The head of the leading cable trade group feels like the federal government is trying to pick winners and losers.Michael Powell, president and CEO of NCTA, the organization representing firms like Comcast and Cox in Washington, argues that federal regulators have been pursuing policies that would create a two-tier regulatory regime that favors Internet firms over the telecom providers that deliver broadband and cable access services."What I believe is most troubling is an emerging government view that the communication market is bifurcated and should be regulated differently -- Internet companies are nurtured and allowed to run free, but network providers are disparagingly labeled 'gatekeepers' that should be shackled," Powell said in a keynote address at NCTA's annual Internet and TV conference. "The implications of this world view go far beyond how it affects one industry."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
In a general sense, it appears that Apple's effort to double down on product secrecy is paying off. The fact is, it's already mid-May, and we truthfully don't know all that much about the iPhone 7. Sure, we've seen a few reports pass through the rumor mill, but many of those reports seemingly contradict one another, a situation that inevitably brings us back to square one.While it's widely assumed that the iPhone 7 will sport the same form factor as the iPhone 6s and won't be a blockbuster device, a new report out of Taiwan via CNBC intimates that Apple's next-gen iPhone may be more interesting than most people anticipate.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
You may be better off not inhaling—especially when you consider all the airborne pollutants indoors.The EPA estimates that there are over 65,000 chemicals releasing pollutants into the air that are often too small for regular air filters to catch. Mold, flame retardants on carpets, and vapors from synthetic materials are just some of the sources of this type of pollution. For people with breathing difficulties, children, and the elderly, the impact is especially hazardous.Biome's solution is based on bio-mimicry: "innovation that seeks sustainable solutions to human challenges by emulating nature’s time-tested patterns and strategies.The goal is to create products, processes, and policies—new ways of living—that are well-adapted to life on earth over the long haul. The core idea is that nature has already solved many of the problems we are grappling with. Animals, plants, and microbes are the consummate engineers." To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Cybercriminals can call on an extensive network of specialists for "business" expertise, including people who train and recruit, launder money, and provide escrow services, according to HPE.The cybercriminal underground includes people who provide human resources functions, like recruiting and background checks, but also specialists who help market and sell exploit kits and compromised data and others who serve as middlemen in anonymous transactions, says The Business of Hacking white paper from Hewlett Packard Enterprise.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A gray hat replacing the Locky ransomware payload with a PSA, Windows 10 to double the number of ads after the Anniversary Update, and Quaker Oats threatening to sue actual Quakers for trademark infringement are some of the varied bits and bytes which caught my attention today.New Locky ransomware PSAThe command and control servers for Locky ransomware were previously hacked to show a “Stupid Locky” message instead of locking a victim’s machine, but F-Secure researcher Sean Sullivan discovered “a similar grey hat hack” that delivers a PSA to would-be Locky victims.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Security researchers have found a new version of a malware program called Skimer that's designed to infect Windows-based ATMs and can be used to steal money and payment card details.Skimer was initially discovered seven years ago, but it is still actively used by cybercriminals and has evolved over time. The latest modification, found by researchers from Kaspersky Lab at the beginning of May, uses new techniques to evade detection.Upon installation, the malware checks if the file system is FAT32 or NTFS. If it's FAT32 it drops a malicious executable file in the C:WindowsSystem32 directory, but if it's NTFS, it will write the file in the NTFS data stream corresponding to Microsoft's Extension for Financial Services (XFS) service.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here