It’s definitely a service that’s taken for granted but HBO’s John Oliver this week pointed out that there’s a lot to be concerned about over the nation’s 911 emergency service.On Oliver’s Last Week Tonight HBO show, Oliver said 911 emergency call centers are antiquated, disjointed and in desperate need of funding and new technology. He said everyone should Google “understaffed 911 dispatch and [your town name]” to get an idea of problems near you and nationwide.Watch:
The watchdogs at the Government Accountability Office in 2013 wrote about 911 technologies: “The continuing evolution of communications technologies and wireless phones has implications for 911 services. Since 911 call centers predominantly use older, analog-based infrastructure and equipment, the current E911 system is not designed to accommodate emergency communications from the range of new technologies in common use today, including text and picture messaging and Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephony (e.g., Skype). In response to changing technologies, the Department of Transportation (DOT) launched the Next Generation 911 (NG911) Initiative, which has focused on the research required to develop an NG911 system. With NG911 services, the public could reach 911 callTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The role of network engineer is changing as companies undergo digital transformations. To keep pace with the changes, Cisco is refreshing its core routing and switching certification to ensure that certified network pros have the right skills as companies move toward Internet of Things, cloud computing, network programmability and policy-based network management.The changes announced today pertain to the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) Routing and Switching certification, which is geared for associate-level network engineers. Late last year, Cisco introduced a new framework at the expert level (Cisco Certified Internet Expert, or CCIE) to address the same emerging technologies.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Top-rated gamesAs we head toward summer 2016, it’s time to check in and see how the mobile gaming industry has fared for Apple iOS platforms, the iPhone and iPad. Here’s a look at top rated games issued so far this year, based on App Store user reviews and professional reviewers on Metacritic. We hope you’ll discover a few hidden gems.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
We’re back from some travel and video work to present you with a bunch of quick reviews for the gadget fan (either you or someone you know). Is there a theme this week? Not really, just a bunch of cool stuff I’ve been playing with recently.The scoop: Toddy Gear personalized Toddy Cable, about $12 (Kickstarter project, other options are available so you can donate more and get more stuff in return) What is it? It’s a Lightning charging cable for your iOS device that has a personalized message on it - whether it’s your name or some other funky design (see photo at the top of this page).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The antivirus engine used in multiple Symantec products has an easy-to-exploit vulnerability that could allow hackers to easily compromise computers.
The flaw was fixed by Symantec in Anti-Virus Engine (AVE) version 20151.1.1.4, released Monday via LiveUpdate. The flaw consists of a buffer overflow condition that could be triggered when parsing executable files with malformed headers.
According to Google security engineer Tavis Ormandy, who found the flaw, the vulnerability can be exploited remotely to execute malicious code on computers. All it takes is for the attacker to send an email with the exploit file as attachment or to convince the user to visit a malicious link.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Cybercrime may be booming but its business model is vulnerable on many fronts, according to a new report."We've been observing that they've been acting like a business for a while," said Shogo Cottrell, security strategist at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, which produced the report.The profit motivation accounts for more than three-quarters of all data breaches and has been rising in recent years, according to this year's Verizon data breach report.But cybercrime also shares many of the vulnerabilities that traditional businesses do, said Cottrell.MORE ON CSO: How to spot a phishing email
For example, a criminal group's reputation is even more important in the underground economy than brand reputation in the legitimate world.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Chrome for Work devicesChromebooks have been around for a while, but they haven't received nearly as much business press as hybrid devices like the Surface Pro 4 or iPad Pro. But while they may be flying under the radar, Google has an entire lineup of Chrome-based devices aimed at business users. While these devices might not get as much enterprise-worthy buzz, they are well-equipped for both casual and power users alike. They run the gamut in terms of design and configuration, which means there is likely an option for you -- whether you want a desktop, tablet or notebook experience. Here are nine Chrome for Work devices you've probably never heard of aimed at the enterprise.Acer ChromebaseThe Acer Chromebase will remind you of those all-in-ones that were slated to be the future of the desktop just a few years ago. It features a 21.5-inch touchscreen display, 4 GB of memory, a 16GB hard drive and an NVIDIA Tegra K1 processor. The all-in-one display features two USB 2.0 and 1 USB 3.0 ports, a built in HD webcam and microphone, a microSD memory card slot, two speakers and, of course, the Google Chrome Operating system. Continue reading
People who lead large IT organizations don’t have much time to deal with the nitty-gritty technical details of how their systems run. Their priorities are to provide strategic technology leadership, set policies and manage the overall operation. CIOs and other IT leaders also have to work with executives in other departments to make sure IT is providing the services the business needs. But there are times when a technical problem crops up that requires the boss’s attention, and on those occasions finding the right solution can seem like an overwhelming challenge.To get a sense of the type of technical issues CIOs have to deal with, we asked five IT leaders to recall vexing problems they were able to solve without resorting to complicated, high-cost rollouts.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Kinvey has long been a mover and shaker in the Mobile Backend as a Service (MBaaS) world. That somewhat obscure acronym actually stands for something pretty important—the enabling of mobile applications. As the world increasingly demands data and applications to be accessible anywhere and anytime, mobile applications become even more important. But if you're an enterprise CIO or IT leader with a bunch of conflicting priorities, the last thing you want to do is wrangle the infrastructure and foundational aspects of building mobile apps. This is where Kinvey comes in.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
SAP and Microsoft have expanded an existing partnership to offer new products to users of the Azure and Office 365 cloud services, focused on better integrating the two companies' offerings. Azure customers will be able to use SAP HANA in Microsoft's public cloud, expanding the reach of that popular relational database service. SAP is also integrating its services including Fieldglass, Concur and SuccessFactors with Microsoft Office 365, so users can get the benefits of Microsoft's communications, collaboration, calendar and document editing tools.This all fits into Microsoft's ongoing strategy of partnering broadly with a variety of companies, including those that compete against it in some businesses. Teaming up with SAP can make Azure and Office 365 more appealing to companies that are already tied into SAP's ecosystem, and drive adoption of each company's products.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
If a dropped ice cream cone is one of the saddest images in the world, then the loss of tens of thousands of dollars of ice cream—especially Ben & Jerry’s ice cream—is a tragedy.
It’s also a huge financial hit, and one that Udder Ventures experienced when a new walk-in freezer malfunctioned at its Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shop in the Haight-Asbury section of San Francisco.
The equipment wasn’t installed perfectly—it wasn’t localized for temperature variances in San Francisco properly, said John Slater, Udder Ventures’ chief euphoria officer (the managing member of the company). So, it kept tripping the system, and when the system tripped, the freezer shut off—and the ice cream melted.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Firefox now has more desktop users than both Microsoft's web browsers combined -- but it's a rivalry that is increasingly irrelevant as Google Chrome has almost twice the share of Firefox and Microsoft together.The latest figures from Statcounter show that Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer combined had a 15.5 percent share of worldwide desktop browser usage in April, a decline from 15.8 percent in March.The effect of Microsoft's new Edge browser is, it seems, marginal, with Windows 10 users apparently preferring other browsers.The boost to Microsoft's overall browser share that it might have expected from the launch of the Windows 10 with Edge hasn't happened yet, Statcounter said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The U.S. has warned of fragmentation of the Internet if China goes ahead with proposed rules that would require compulsory registration of Internet domain names in China through government-licensed providers.The regulations for the administration of Internet domain names would also forbid the registration of websites containing any one of nine categories of broadly and vaguely defined prohibited content, and create a blacklist of ‘forbidden characters’ in the registration of domain names, “adding an extra layer of control to China’s Great Firewall,” two top U.S. officials in charge of Internet policy and administration, wrote in a statement Monday. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Two U.S. House lawmakers are involved in a bipartisan effort to change how H-1B visas are allocated, moving away from a random lottery and using salary offers instead.The legislation by Reps. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) has not yet been introduced. It's uncertain whether it will be put forward anytime soon or whether this effort to reach a bipartisan agreement will stick. While staffers have met to discuss the bill, and Issa has indicated support for a joint effort, it has little chance unless Issa is firmly behind it.+ RELATED: With H-1B visa, diversity doesn’t apply +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Apple yesterday updated OS X El Capitan to version 10.11.5, patching nearly 70 vulnerabilities as it began to wind down changes prior to the next iteration launching later this year.OS X 10.11.5 offered few non-security bug fixes and no new features; in other words, it was a typical late-life refresh of an edition.Apple on Monday also patched the older OS X Mavericks (from 2013) and OS X Yosemite (2014), and issued updates to both iTunes and the firm's Safari browser.MORE ON NETWORK WORLD: 6 simple tricks for protecting your passwords
Of the 67 security flaws fixed in El Capitan, a dozen also applied to Mavericks and 14 to Yosemite, according to Chris Goettl, director of product management at Salt Lake City-based LANDESK, which makes systems and asset management software.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A cheaper alternative to DRAM just took a step closer to enterprise data centers as IBM unveiled a way to make it more dense.PCM (phase-change memory) is one of a handful of emerging technologies that aim to be faster than flash and less expensive than DRAM. They could give enterprises and consumers faster access to data at lower cost, but there are challenges to overcome before that happens.Density is one of those, and IBM says it’s achieved a new high in that area with a version of PCM that can fit three bits on each cell. That’s 50 percent more than the company showed off in 2011 with a two-bit form of PCM. Greater density lets IBM squeeze more capacity out of what is still a pricey technology.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A cheaper alternative to DRAM just took a step closer to enterprise data centers as IBM unveiled a way to make it more dense.
PCM (phase-change memory) is one of a handful of emerging technologies that aim to be faster than flash and less expensive than DRAM. They could give enterprises and consumers faster access to data at lower cost, but there are challenges to overcome before that happens.
Density is one of those, and IBM says it’s achieved a new high in that area with a version of PCM that can fit three bits on each cell. That’s 50 percent more than the company showed off in 2011 with a two-bit form of PCM. Greater density lets IBM squeeze more capacity out of what is still a pricey technology.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Riverbed baked several new features into the latest version of its SteelCentral application performance and network management suite, designed to help manage networking components and applications that live in the cloud and unified communications systems – as well as making the whole thing a little more intuitive.The new features, which are available for SteelCentral customers to download today, provide visibility into application traffic in Azure and AWS, as well as PaaS and containerized environments. They also offer newly integrated support for a range of unified communications applications, letting IT manage them from the same portal.+ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD: New build of Windows 10 Anniversary Update preview tweaks Edge, Wi-Fi Sense + Half the Web's traffic comes from bots, and that's costing you more than you thinkTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Google’s I/O developer conference starts Wednesday and some big announcements are expected during the opening two-hour keynote, likely around virtual reality, Android and the Internet of Things.In a change of pace, the show is being held outdoors at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, California, and Google has advised the press to pack sunscreen along with laptops and mobile devices. Here are five questions I want company executives to answer during the course of this year's keynote. What’s the company’s plan for the Internet of Things?
Google has made some big bets on the Internet of Things, with its Brillo and Weave developer tools, along with its acquisition of Nest in 2014. Then, there’s the OnHub wireless router Google announced last year. It’s clear that the company is interested in playing a major role as part of the growing world of internet-connected devices, but it’s been a while since we’ve heard anything major from the company in the IoT realm.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here