Speaking to the immense demand Apple is forecasting for the iPhone 8, the Cupertino, California-based company recently inked a deal for a whopping 92 million OLED panels from Samsung.While reports from earlier in the week pegged Apple's OLED order in the 70 million range, a more recent from Digitimes relays the figure has since been bumped up."Based on the contract," the report notes. "Samsung Display will ship 70-92 million small-size OLED panels to Apple in 2017. ... This means that about 30 percent of iPhone devices shipped in 2017 will come with curved OLED panels, given that Apple currently ships about 200 million iPhone devices a year."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The modern enterprise is data-driven. The capability to quickly access and act upon information has become a key competitive advantage. But business data is often siloed and fragmented. To gain a competitive edge from your information, you need a single view of your data.Most organizations today have a complicated process for managing their data, one that usually involves multiple data sources of variable structure, ingestion and transformation, loading into an operation database and supporting the business applications that need the data. Analytics, business intelligence (BI) and reporting tools require access to the data, which frequently requires a separate data warehouse or data lake. These layers all need to comply with security protocols, information governance standards and other operational requirements.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The U.S. government is taking action that will likely increase the visa denial rates of H-1B programmers, a move that could help U.S. nationals, both in terms of wages and jobs.The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) wants programmers who offer skills that are specialized or unique. That means firms seeking to hire programmers at entry-level wages may see their H-1B visa requests denied.There's a reason the U.S. doesn't want entry-level visa workers.[ Further reading: 8 project management skills in high demand ]
Take for instance, Michigan, a state that President Donald Trump won. The prevailing wage for an entry-level computer programmer in Flint is $38,000, while the mean wage for that occupation in the city is $60,000.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
In a very unusual move, Apple this week renounced its usual secrecy about future products to counter questions about its commitment to the Mac, analysts said today.At an invite-only meeting with a handful of Apple bloggers and reporters, two of Apple's top executives -- marketing head Philip Schiller and Craig Federighi, who leads software engineering -- acknowledged that the firm's strategy for the Mac Pro, the company's top-of-the-line desktop, had been a mistake. While a refreshed Mac Pro will not ship this year, Schiller and Federighi promised that one is in the pipeline.[ Further reading: 15-in. MacBook Pro delivers on speed and design – for a price ]
Along with talk of the Mac Pro -- a niche item in Apple's Mac line, which in turn has been dwarfed by the iPhone -- the executives stressed that the company was committed to the professional part of its customer base. Apple will ship new iMacs this year, they said, some configured for the "pro" users at the advanced end of the spectrum.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
If you haven’t read the story of the original mechanical Turk, you really should. This was a 1770s machine that appeared to use complicated mechanisms to play competent chess against even very good human players, and it has fired the imaginations of everyone from computing pioneer Charles Babbage to today’s steampunk nerds. Here’s a great summary from Atlas Obscura.The Turk has lent its name to many things over the years, including Amazon’s Mechanical Turk micro-job service, but the latest is the Pi-powered Raspberry Turk, which works like this:
The heart of the machine is a Raspberry Pi 3 running an open-source chess engine called Stockfish. A Pi camera module and a lot of custom Python code let the system translate the physical pieces into a chess position that the Stockfish engine can digest, and little tiny magnets embedded in the tops of the pieces let the robotic arm actually move things around.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Attackers are exploiting a vulnerability patched last month in the Apache Struts web development framework to install ransomware on servers.The SANS Internet Storm Center issued an alert Thursday, saying an attack campaign is compromising Windows servers through a vulnerability tracked as CVE-2017-5638.The flaw is located in the Jakarta Multipart parser in Apache Struts 2 and allows attackers to execute system commands with the privileges of the user running the web server process.This vulnerability was patched on March 6 in Struts versions 2.3.32 and 2.5.10.1. Attackers started exploiting the flaw almost immediately, leaving very little time for server administrators to deploy the update.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Cloud architecture has settled into its “plateau of productivity” phase in the hype cycle. It has gone through experimental adoption, irrational enthusiasm, and despondent disillusion. Does that mean cloud projects are more likely to succeed now? Good question. The answer depends on both the business and engineering side of the project.On the productivity plateau, the battle is over. Efficient implementations blithely pile up profits for the stakeholders. Stop! This is not exactly my experience as a software engineer and architect. Projects succeed and fail in every stage of the hype cycle. The predominant reasons for failure may change with the phase, but a more mature technology is no guarantee of success. An engineer builds systems to meet the stakeholders’ requirements. The hype cycle is perception and expectation, not requirements.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A group of what appears to be Chinese hackers infiltrated a U.S. trade-focused lobbying group as the two countries wrestle with how they treat imports of each other's goods and services.The APT10 Chinese hacking group appears to be behind a "strategic web compromise" in late February and early March at the National Foreign Trade Council, according to security vendor Fidelis Cybersecurity.The NFTC lobbies for open and fair trade and has pledged to work with U.S. President Donald Trump to "find ways to address Chinese policies that frustrate access to their market and undermine fair trade, while at the same time encouraging a positive trend in our trade relationship." Trump will meet with China President Xi Jinping in Florida this week.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Linux containers have been around for almost a decade, but it was only with the release of Docker four years ago that large numbers of developers began to adopt the technology. Now it seems that containers are everywhere and their popularity continues to rise.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
Tableau is making a big change in the way it sells its business intelligence products. The company announced Thursday that all of its software will be available as a subscription, rather than a single license plus a service fee.Businesses will need to pay $70 per user per month for a license of Tableau Desktop Professional, and $35 per user per month for Tableau Server. That compares to the company’s boxed software prices of $2000 for Desktop, plus a $400 annual renewal fee for software updates, and $800 for Server, plus a $200 annual fee.It’s a move that will provide additional flexibility, scalability and risk mitigation for Tableau customers, according to Francois Ajenstat, the company’s chief product officer.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Employees want access to business applications from mobile devices, which is a conundrum for CIOs: Do they adapt legacy software designed to run on desktops and laptops to run on smartphones and tablets or buy a platform that enables such portability with minimal coding? Trucking conglomerate Paccar chose the latter option to help deliver mobile applications across the company’s DAF, Peterbilt, Leyland and Kenworth business units, says CIO Lily Ley. Paccar
Paccar's CIO Lily Ley.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Happy Birthday, Windows 3.1Imagine a world without the Start button. No, I'm not talking about Windows 8. Dig deep into your memory, and you may recall a time when Windows 3.1 ruled the Earth.Twenty-five years ago this month, Microsoft released version 3.1 of its MS-DOS graphical-shell-turned-operating-system. Windows 3.1 became the first version of Windows to be widely distributed with new PCs, cementing the dominance of Microsoft's OS on the IBM PC platform and signaling the dawn of the Golden Age of Windows.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Cisco has rolled out new certifications and training for networking professionals looking to bolster their digital networking skillsets.“The workforce is changing and needs to evolve to handle a more software-centric, automated digital ecosystem,” Tejas Vashi, senior director, product strategy and marketing for Learning@Cisco.+More on Network World: Cisco issues variety of security warnings on wireless gear+Vashi said the digital network requires new skills and network engineers need to adapt to rapidly evolving technologies in analytics, software-defined networking, mobility, security and virtualization and cloud services. Traditional hardware-centric, manually configured networking models will be unable to scale and keep pace of digital businesses.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
With demand for technology talent increasing and IT facing competition for the best people from vendors, startups, and even other functions within their own companies, a tight labor market is quickly moving up the list of CIO challenges. They know that the best strategies for digital transformation will amount to nothing if they don’t have the right talent to implement them.But before IT leaders change their talent strategies, they need to understand what IT employees want and expect from their job. Recent findings from CEB’s Global Talent Monitor reveal three facts about IT staff and the way they think about compensation, job opportunities and personal development (Disclosure: I am employed by CEB).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
With attacks against Mac users growing in number and sophistication, endpoint security vendor F-Secure has decided to acquire Little Flocker, a macOS application that provides behavior-based protection against ransomware and other malicious programs.Little Flocker can be used to enforce strict access controls to a Mac's files and directories as well as its webcam, microphone and other resources. It's particularly effective against ransomware, spyware, computer Trojans and other malicious programs that attempt to steal, encrypt or destroy files.F-Secure plans to integrate Little Flocker, which it calls "the most advanced security technology available for Macs," into its new Xfence technology. Xfence is designed to add behavioral-based protection to its existing endpoint security products for macOS.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
One of the world's highest capacity portable chargers. Charge Zendure while charging your devices at full speed with a single wall charger, a feature rarely seen in other power banks. The QC port outputs 5-6V/3.0A,6-9V/2.0A,9-12V/1.5A (18W Max) when connected to a compatible device. Charges an iPhone 6s 9 times and the Galaxy S6 over seven times. Durable, stylish, and built to retain 95% of its charge after 6 months without use. An LED digital display accurately shows the remaining capacity. The product averages 4.5 out of 5 stars on Amazon from over 570 people (read recent reviews). The typical list price has been reduced a generous 29%. See this deal on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Office scanners are now susceptible to attack, according to researchers. The ubiquitous office equipment’s light-sensitivity can allow passing vehicles, or laser-carrying drones to trigger malware in a network, says a research team from two Israeli universities.The computer experts say they have been able to successfully create a test “covert channel” between a server and flatbed scanner. The proof-of-concept hack, in some experimental cases, was performed almost a kilometer away from the scanner. They used a kind of infiltrating illumination to fool the device.Numerous light sources could be used, they say. Hijacked smart bulbs and lasers were both used for the data-grab in experiments, the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and Weizmann Institute of Science researchers say in their paper (PDF).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The federal government is doing something it has never done before: It's encouraging people to file H-1B abuse complaints.This week the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department of Labor each posted information about how to file a complaint against suspected H-1B abuse. It's a clear signal that government scrutiny of H-1B use will intensify and that the U.S. may challenge employers.But it creates a dilemma aptly summed up by Norm Matloff, a professor of computer science at the University of California at Davis, in a blog post titled, "American Victims of H-1B Get Their Chance -- Will They Take It?"To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Today's CISOs are undoubtedly overwhelmed with trying to make the most informed, efficient, and economical decisions about securing the most valuable assets in the enterprise. In the days of old, those decisions were a little bit easier because investing in prevention provided decent protection.That's not true today, which is why Ira Winkler president of Secure Mentem and author of Advanced Persistent Security said that trying to protect against every threat is not cost efficient.Shifting the mentality of those defenders who came to age in the world of preventative protection has been slow going. As a result, some security programs are failing, "Not because the bad guys got in, but because they got out," Winkler said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Certificate authorities (CAs) have given themselves a black eye lately, making it hard for users to trust them. Google stopped trusting Symantec after discovering the CA had mis-issued thousands of certificates over several years, and researchers found that phishing sites were using PayPal-labeled certificates issued by Linux Foundation’s Let’s Encrypt CA. Even with these missteps, the CAs play a critical role in establishing trust on the internet.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here