As IT rises up the list of business priorities, CEOs are more likely to read about new technologies than they are to ask their CIOs for information.That's one of the findings in a new survey by Gartner, in which 31 percent of business leaders questioned put IT among their top three priorities. It's the highest-ever ranking in the survey for IT, which was trumped only by profits and growth, cited by 58 percent.The 388 business leaders questioned -- mostly CEOs, with a smattering of CFOs and COOs -- are twice as likely to want to build up in-house IT capabilities (57 percent) as to outsource it (29 percent), which ought to be good news for CIOs.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Apple's iPhone 8 will introduce a completely new design to Apple's iPhone lineup, a welcome change in light of the fact that the current iPhone form factor hasn't really changed much since the iPhone 6 was released more than two and a half years ago. From what we've gathered thus far from the Apple rumor mill, the iPhone 8 will, without a doubt, be the most advanced iPhone ever released by a wide margin. Design wise, the iPhone 8 will likely incorporate an edge to edge OLED display with 4mm bezels surrounding said display.As exciting as that is, the downside is that the iPhone 8 release date may be pushed back quite a bit. Over the past few weeks, we've seen some conflicting information regarding Apple's timetable for releasing the iPhone 8. While some reports have said Apple is pushing hard for a September launch, other scattered reports said the iPhone 8 release might be pushed back anywhere from four to eight weeks.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Why did VMware acquire Wavefront? The start of the answer to this question comes with an understanding of what Wavefront is (or was). Wavefront was started by former Google engineers who set out to build a monitoring system for the commercial market that had the same features and benefits as the monitoring system that Google had built for itself.Due to the massive scale of Google, such a system would have to have two key attributes:
The ability to consume and process massive amounts of data very quickly. In fact, the Wavefront website make the claim, "Enterprise-grade cloud monitoring and analytics at over 1 million data points per second."
The ability to quickly find what you want in this massive ocean of data
So, it is clear that the folks at Wavefront viewed modern monitoring to be a big data problem, and it is clear that some people at VMware were willing to pay a fair amount of money for a monitoring system that took a real-time and highly scalable approach to monitoring.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
It seems like a lifetime ago when the primary way we interacted with applications was through a web browser (let alone via an installed application—let’s not even go there). Today, the mobile application is increasingly the way people communicate, socially mediate, post pictures and do the myriad other things that technology allows.And as the usage of mobile applications has increased, organizations increasingly look to up the sophistication of these applications. Where market opportunity exists, vendor soon follow—and vendors are sprouting up on a daily basis to help organizations increase the complexity, effectiveness and optionality of their mobile apps.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
AMD's new Radeon Pro Duo graphics packs two of the company's fastest GPUs, but surprisingly, is slower than its 2016 predecessor.The Pro Duo, announced on Monday, is based on the Polaris architecture. It provides 11.45 teraflops of single-precision performance, which is a downgrade from the 16 teraflops of performance offered by last year's Pro Duo, based on the Fiji architecture.Performance usually goes up with each new GPU generation, but AMD opted to lower the power draw and the number of processing cores in the Pro Duo; as result, the product generates less heat. The Pro Duo draws 250 watts of power, compared to 350 watts by its predecessor.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The biggest news from DockerCon 2017, the semi-annual conference on Linux containerization, was the lack of big news. After the last two years of feverish development, there are signs one of the hottest trends in tech might be slowing down.“I’m not sure,” said one software developer loitering just outside of the Austin Convention Center. That was the most common response to my question, “What was the biggest news at DockerCon this year?” I must have asked 30 people that question over my two days at the event. An informal, unscientific polling of my Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook connections has been similar.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The number of Windows computers infected with NSA backdoor malware continues to rise since Shadow Brokers leaked the hacking tools on April 14.DoublePulsar infection rate climbing
Two different sets of researchers scanning for the DoublePulsar implant saw a significant bump in the number of infected Windows PCs over the weekend.For example, Dan Tentler, CEO of the Phobos Group, suggested that Monday would not be a good day for many people, as his newest scan showed about 25 percent of all vulnerable and publicly exposed SMB machines are infected.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
This vendor-written tech primer has been edited by Network World to eliminate product promotion, but readers should note it will likely favor the submitter’s approach.Seeing the success of the Bring Your Own Device movement, a cadre of leading companies are starting to explore if a similar approach can be used to address the authentication challenge. If BYOD essentially makes the device a proxy for the work environment, can that same device serve as a proxy for customers online?This new movement, known as Bring Your Own Authentication (BYOA), holds the same promise of reimagining the way we think of authentication, putting the consumer (and device) front and center in the interaction, and relegating passwords to the background or eliminating them completely. But there are challenges to overcome in order for mass adoption.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Last week, Qualcomm revealed that the first Windows 10 laptops using its Snapdragon 835 processors are due to hit the market late in 2017. That’s a big deal because up until now, Windows 10 has run only on x86 chips from Intel and AMD, and the Snapdragon chips use an ARM-based architecture optimized for mobile use.Windows 10 on ARM: Thinner, lighter, more connected
Here’s how PC World described these new machines, which are being jointly developed by Microsoft and Qualcomm:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
When Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Canonical (the company behind the Ubuntu Linux distribution), announced his company would not only be abandoning their custom desktop environment (Unity), but also halting development on their phone/tablet operating system, many questions were left unanswered.One of those questions: What happens to the existing phones and tablets running Ubuntu Touch that have already been sold? To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
With a motion-activated camera, two-way audio and HD video, you’ll never miss a visitor again. Ring detects motion and can alert you on your mobile device, even at night thanks to built-in infrared LED night vision. Optionally, video can be archived to the cloud for later viewing. See, hear and speak to whomever is at your door in real time from your smartphone, tablet or desktop. Day or night, rain or shine -- you’re always home. Right now the Ring Video Doorbell Pro is discounted 20%, or $50, on Amazon. Its typical list price of $249 has dropped to $199.99 (see Ring Video Doorbell Pro now on Amazon). That's a deal that doesn't come around very often.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A 32-year-old Russian hacker was sentenced to 27 years in prison in the U.S. for stealing millions of payment card details from businesses by infecting their point-of-sale systems with malware.The sentence is the longest ever handed out in the U.S. for computer crimes, surpassing the 20-year jail term imposed on American hacker and former U.S. Secret Service informant Albert Gonzalez in 2010 for similar credit card theft activities.Roman Valeryevich Seleznev, a Russian citizen from Vladivostok, was sentenced Friday in the Western District of Washington after he was found guilty in August of 10 counts of wire fraud, eight counts of intentional damage to a protected computer, nine counts of obtaining information from a protected computer, nine counts of possession of 15 or more unauthorized access devices and two counts of aggravated identity theft.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The Drupal project has released a patch to fix a critical access bypass vulnerability that could put websites at risk of hacking.The vulnerability does not have the highest severity level based on Drupal's rating system, but is serious enough that the platform's developers decided to also release a patch for a version of the content management system that's no longer officially supported.Successful exploitation of the vulnerability can lead to a complete compromise of data confidentiality and website integrity, but only Drupal-based websites with certain configurations are affected.To be vulnerable, a website needs to have the RESTful Web Services enabled and to allow PATCH requests. Furthermore, the attacker needs to be able to register a new account on the website or to gain access to an existing one, regardless of its privileges.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Weighing in at just over a pound, the AUKEY Sountank is the ideal lightweight, water resistant companion speaker for your all your adventures. The dual 5 watt speaker drivers are powered by a 2600mAh rechargeable battery delivering up to 30 continuous hours of wireless audio. Utilizing the latest in Bluetooth audio with A2DP, improved connection stability, faster pairing, lower latency, and lower power consumption from connected devices when wirelessly streaming audio across distances up to 33ft. This speaker has a durable silicone casing providing a rugged layer of protection from daily wear and tear. This speaker recently received a 4 out of 5 star rating (read review). The Aukey's list price of $54.99 has been reduced 18% to $44.99. (See it on Amazon)To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Apple is building a new data center in Denmark, and it has some interesting ideas on how to power the data center with renewable energy, while also giving back to the community.Excess heat generated by the data center will be captured and returned to the local district's heating system, which will warm up homes in the community.The data center in the Jutland region will be partly powered by recycling waste products from farms. Apple is working with Aarhus University on a system that passes agricultural waste through a digester to generate methane, which is then used to power the data center.The digester reaction turns some of the waste into nutrient-rich fertilizer, which Apple returns to local farmers to use on their fields. It's a "mutually beneficial relationship," Apple said in its environment report for 2016, released this week.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Users that run unpatched software beware. Hackers have been relying on an old software bug tied to the Stuxnet worm to carry out their attacks.Microsoft may have initially patched the flaw in 2010, but it's nevertheless become the most widespread software exploit, according to security firm Kaspersky Lab.On Thursday, Kaspersky posted research examining the use of exploits, or malicious programs designed to take advantage of certain software flaws. Once an exploit goes to work, it can typically pave the way for other malicious programs to install onto a computer.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Microsoft is offering IT pros some new guidance on when they can expect major feature updates for Windows 10, Office 365's client applications, and System Center Configuration Manager.Office and Windows are slated to receive two major patches per year, one in March and the other in September. SCCM will be updated in time with those releases to facilitate deployments. That means the next major update to Windows 10, codenamed Redstone 3, is due out in September.On top of that, Microsoft confirmed that each feature release of Windows 10 will be supported for 18 months after it is first made generally available.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
If you want a Windows 10 PC that doesn't have an x86 chip from Intel or AMD, your wish will be granted in the fourth quarter.Qualcomm said the first cellular laptop with Windows 10 and its ARM-based Snapdragon 835 will come by the end of the year."Our Snapdragon 835 is expanding into mobile PC designs running Windows 10," and it's scheduled to launch in the fourth quarter, said Steve Mollenkopf, CEO of Qualcomm, according to a transcript of a Wednesday earnings call posted on Seeking Alpha. Until now, Windows 10 has worked only on x86 chips. Qualcomm and Microsoft are collaborating to make the ARM-based Windows 10 PCs.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
“America runs on Dunkin” is the company’s official slogan. But, now, you could say Dunkin runs on AWS.Amazon Web Services, the IaaS public cloud computing provider, announced this week that the venerable New England-based coffee chain Dunkin’ Donuts has signed up as a customer.+MORE AT NETWORK WORLD: Battle of the clouds Amazon vs. Azure vs. Google +Dunkin’, along with sister brand Baskin’-Robbins have made encouraged customers in recent years to use the company’s mobile applications to track and make purchases and rack up rewards. Dunkin’, in a release, says it now hosts the back-ends of those systems in AWS’s cloud, along with other enterprise apps that used to be hosted in an on-premises environment. Dunkin’ says events like National Coffee Day, National Donut Day, as well as the holiday season create peaks of traffic that are difficult to predict.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
U.S. President Donald Trump signed his so-called “Buy American, Hire American" executive order on Tuesday, aimed in part reforming the H-1B visa process for temporary foreign workers. The order clarifies that the new administration does indeed intend to address the visa program -- heavily used by IT outsourcers both foreign and domestic — this year. However, the details of the proposed reforms — and the powers of the executive branch to compel changes to the system — remain murky.[ Related: Trump to order wholesale H-1B reform ]To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here