My life is filled with conundrums.One of those conundrums is the fact that I spend a huge amount of my time promoting and advocating free and open-source software. Yet in order to reach a large audience with that advocacy, I end up needing to use social networks (such as Twitter and Google Plus) which are—not free software.If I'm going to be speaking at a conference about GNU, Linux and other free software-y topics, I announce it on Twitter. And, perhaps rightly so, my freedom-loving friends toss a little (usually good-natured) mockery my way for doing so.Over the years, a few social networks have sprung up that are a bit more free software-based—or, at least, open source. Yet none of them has really captured the interest of the broader public—something necessary for what I do. Diaspora is a great example of one that showed great promise but never really took off. (It still exists, but without the audience numbers and/or growth that is needed.) To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
In an IT world where security software patches seem to be a dime a dozen, the researchers at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency want to take a different approach – bake cybersecurity right into the circuitry.The research outfit will this month detail a new program called System Security Integrated Through Hardware and Firmware (SSITH) that has as one of its major goals to develop new integrated circuit architectures that lack the current software-accessible points of criminal entry, yet retain the computational functions and high-performance the integrated circuits were designed to deliver. Another goal of the program is the development of design tools that would become widely available so that hardware-anchored security would eventually become a standard feature of integrated circuit in both Defense Department and commercial electronic systems, DARPA stated.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Microsoft is acquiring Deis, a company that makes tools to work with the Kubernetes open-source container orchestration system. The deal, announced Monday, marks Microsoft’s continued interest in container orchestration.Deis creates tools that aim to simplify the development of modern, containerized applications. Containers allow developers to write an application for an isolated, portable runtime that is supposed to be easily transferrable from a workstation to a server environment.Tools like Deis’s Workflow, Helm, and Steward are supposed to ease the complex process of managing multi-container applications. They build on top of Kubernetes, the popular open-source container orchestration system that Google released to the world in 2014. Deis plans to continue its contributions to those tools as part of Microsoft, company CTO Gabe Monroy said in a blog post.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The suspected CIA spying tools exposed by WikiLeaks have been linked to hacking attempts on at least 40 targets in 16 countries, according to security firm Symantec.The tools share “close similarities” with the tactics from an espionage team called Longhorn, Symantec said in a Monday post. Longhorn has been active since at least 2011, using Trojan programs and previously unknown software vulnerabilities to hack targets.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Cisco is holding its first big developers' conference, DevNet Create, on May 23-24 in San Francisco, and the focus will be on the Internet of Things and cloud computing.You won't find mentions of terms more commonly associated with Cisco, like routers or switches, on this event site, though they're there in spirit in that the conference is described as being "where applications meet infrastructure."You can learn more about DevNet Create via my interview with Susie Wee, Cisco VP and CTO of DevNet Innovations. But here are 5 basic things to know about the event if you're thinking this might be a show for you:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
This tiny motion-sensing strip contains 6 bright LEDs, and sticks anywhere. Just the trick for illuminating an entryway door-lock, a kitchen cabinet, drawers, closet or the glove box in your car. Simply turns on when somebody is there, and turns off when no motion is sensed. And the part that sticks is actually a magnetic base, so you can pop the light off and take it with you as a torch if needed. Currently priced at 50% off, so right now you're paying just $14.99 for a two-pack. See this deal on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Insurance giant Anthem has effectively scared off possible victims of a 2015 data breach by asking to examine their personal computers for evidence that their own shoddy security was to blame for their information falling into the hands of criminals.Some of the affected Anthem customers sued for damages they say resulted from the breach but then withdrew their suits after Anthem got a court order allowing the exams.The examiners would be looking only for evidence that their credentials or other personal data had been stolen even before the Anthem hack ever took place, according to a blog by Chad Mandell, an attorney at LeClairRyan.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The University of Utah announced last week that it had become the first school in a Power Five athletic conference to field its own varsity esports team.+More on Network World: Most notable tech leaders delivering 2017 college commencement addresses+Adding League of Legends and several other as yet unconfirmed games to the varsity list, alongside football, baseball, basketball, track and so on, Utah said that it hopes to prod other schools into following suit, creating a flourishing college esports scene.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Reprise your role as a supernatural assassin, and play your way in a world where mysticism and industry collide. The story responds to your choices, leading to intriguing outcomes, as you play through each of the game's hand-crafted missions. The game is currently discounted 50%.
Cisco initially scheduled its inaugural DevNet Create developers’ conference in San Francisco for what turned out to be the same week in May as Google's wildly popular I/O event in Mountain View (that coy old Google didn't reveal its show dates until late January). So Cisco wound up bumping its new event to the following week “to make sure we don’t take audience away from Google I/O. Okay okay — maybe it’s the other way around…” quipped Susie Wee, VP & CTO of Cisco DevNet Innovations in a recent blogpost.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Many businesses with branch offices that have IP-enabled phones must decide what type of circuit medium to use for their communication to the corporate headquarters site.Two of the most selected choices are a MPLS circuit or internet VPN. Both solutions have their pros and cons, and what is best can depend on your business requirements. Speed, quality of service (QoS), security and cost are the key factors you should consider when making this decision.Pros and cons of an internet VPN
A significant advantage of using an internet VPN for communication is the cost. Most times, a branch site can use its existing internet connection for communication back to its headquarters. Usually, a 10 Mbps internet circuit costs much less than a 10 Mbps MPLS circuit. This can encourage a business to purchase more bandwidth for their branch site.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Engaging customers via their mobile devices is an exciting proposition for many organizations; however, it has to be done with care. These solutions often carry a significant cost and depend on a Return on Investment (ROI) model to make sense.Achieving this ROI requires walking a fine line between meaningful engagement and being a nuisance. Here are five best practices to help you do that. 5 ways to ensure your mobile strategy works
1. Think big picture
The goal is to create a user experience that provides vast amounts of data to the organization while delivering value to the customer. Accomplishing that means the experience needs to be immersive and omni-channel (e.g., SMS, email, app-based, digital signage, direct mail, etc.).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Attackers have been exploiting an unpatched vulnerability in Microsoft Word for the past few months to compromise computers and infect them with malware.The first report about the attacks came Friday from antivirus vendor McAfee after the company's researchers analyzed some suspicious Word files spotted a day earlier. It turned out that the files were exploiting a vulnerability that affects "all Microsoft Office versions, including the latest Office 2016 running on Windows 10."The flaw is related to the Windows Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) feature in Microsoft Office that allows documents to embed references and links to other documents or objects, the McAfee researchers said in a blog post.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A Russian man long connected with sending spam emails has been arrested and is being held in Spain, with a law enforcement source contracting news reports saying he was involved with a computer virus linked to U.S. President Donald Trump's recent election victory.The arrest of Piotr Levashov at the Barcelona airport on Friday was not tied to Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election, said the source, who is close to the investigation. That contradicts news reports from Agence France-Presse and other news outlets, which said Levashov's wife, Maria Levachova, was told his arrest was connected to Trump's election.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Ticked at President Trump, the Shadow Brokers hacking group released the password for the NSA hacking tools they previously tried to sell.In an open letter to President Donald Trump, the group asked, “Respectfully, what the f**k are you doing?” In broken English, they accused the president of “abandoning ‘your base,’ ‘the movement,’ and the peoples who getting you elected.”After a “quick review” of the tools unlocked with the password, Edward Snowden noted that “it’s nowhere near the full library, but there’s still so much here that NSA should be able to instantly identify where this set came from and how they lost it. If they can’t, it's a scandal.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
When Microsoft released Build 15031 of the Windows 10 Insider Preview on February 8, 2017, it added a new OS feature for Bluetooth-equipped devices. It's called Dynamic Lock, and lets you control access to your PCs based on how close they — and your Bluetooth-paired phones — are to them. That is, if the phone you've paired with your PC (it works for laptops, notebooks, tablets and desktops) is not found within radio range of your PC, Windows 10 turns off the screen and locks the PC after 30 seconds have elapsed. Thus, Dynamic Lock makes a dandy new security feature in Creators Update, one that most business users (or their IT departments) will find worth turning on and using.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Ah, Windows Embedded. The Microsoft operating system that millions of devices and machines are running, typically with a custom application or skin running on top of it so that users don't automatically notice the OS. The operating system that underpins hundreds of thousands of medical devices, automatic teller machines, kiosks at airports and other crowded public places, industrial machinery and control planes, set top boxes, game consoles.Windows Embedded is a relatively unheralded version of Windows whose existence might surprise you. But it seems like Windows Embedded's existence might also surprise a lot of folks up in Redmond. Here, at the Microsoft campus, despite all of the hullabaloo about Windows 10 and device updates -- and the new Creators Update and Redstone versions that will be coming down the pike at an almost breakneck speed -- Windows Embedded suffers from an opposite problem. It appears unfortunately stuck in a place where no future has clearly been laid out for it.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Programmers love to sneer at the world of fashion where trends blow through like breezes. Skirt lengths rise and fall, pigments come and go, ties get fatter, then thinner. But in the world of technology, rigor, science, math, and precision rule over fad.That's not to say programming is a profession devoid of trends. The difference is that programming trends are driven by greater efficiency, increased customization, and ease of use. The new technologies that deliver one or more of these eclipse the previous generation. It's a meritocracy, not a whimsy-ocracy.[ Find out how to get ahead with our career development guide for developers. | Keep up with hot topics in programming with InfoWorld's App Dev Report newsletter. ]
What follows is a list of what's hot and what's not among today's programmers. Not everyone will agree with what's A-listed, what's D-listed, and what's been left out. That's what makes programming an endlessly fascinating profession: rapid change, passionate debate, sudden comebacks.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Enterprises are finding all sorts of reasons to moved their data and business processes to the cloud.Capital One Financial Corp., for instance, is using the cloud as it advances from a financial services provider to a tech company with collaborative workspace, IT workers with new skill sets, fast-paced apps, and a focus on leading with cutting-edge technologies.The American Heart Association is working with Amazon Web Services to set up a cloud-based system where scientists from around the world can store, share and analyze research data. Making that data available in the cloud could accelerate research and lead to a cure for cardiovascular disease, which is the top cause of death worldwide.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
This past February marks the two-year anniversary when Livingston County, Michigan, was hit by ransomware. The wealthiest county in the state had three years’ worth of tax information possibly at the mercy of cybercriminals.As a local government, county CIO Rich C. Malewicz said they have been a target of ransomware, but in this instance they had backups at the ready. He said the most memorable ransomware attack was a result of a watering hole campaign using malvertizing to infect users visiting a local news website. “This attack was very clever in that all you had to do to get infected was visit the website, you didn't even have to click on the page. Once the user went to the local news website, they were immediately redirected to a site hosting exploit code and the infamous page appeared demanding a ransom with instructions,” he said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here