Apple had a tough 2016. Early in the year, the tech giant became entangled in a legal battle with the FBI over the company's refusal to help the agency unlock the phone of San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook. Apple argued that doing so would open a back door that would put other iPhone users at risk of privacy breaches. Apple also had a somewhat disappointing financial year with annual sales dropping for the first time since 2001, when the company released the iPod. On the hardware side, Apple did release a refreshed version of the iPhone and the MacBook Pro, but both received mixed reviews. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
After Disney IT workers were told in October 2014 of the plan to use offshore outsourcing firms, employees said the workplace changed. The number of South Asian workers in Disney technology buildings increased, and some workers had to train H-1B-visa-holding replacements. Approximately 250 IT workers were laid off in January 2015.Now 30 of these employees filed a lawsuit on Monday in U.S. District Court in Orlando, alleging discrimination on the basis of national origin and race.The Disney IT employees, said Sara Blackwell, a Florida labor attorney who is representing this group, "lost their jobs when their jobs were outsourced to contracting companies. And those companies brought in mostly, or virtually all, non-American national origin workers," she said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
As some of the tech sector’s heaviest hitters prep for a meeting this week with president-elect Donald Trump, they need to make sure they get answers to critical questions about issues that could affect not only their businesses but the U.S. economy in general.While the meeting has been called by Trump, the Silicon Valley executives should be prepared to set some of it themselves so they aren’t blindsided by policy shifts that can affect their success. Items of interest range from encryption to China policy.Here are some of the issues important to Trump and that are important to the interests of technology vendors and service providers.Where does Trump stand on encryption?To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Last Wednesday was historic for Qualcomm. In one day, the company jumped beyond its comfort zone of mobile chips and entered the PC and server markets.With the expansion, Qualcomm now has chips for most computing products. It wants to outcompete even Intel, which dominates in PCs and servers but gave up on markets like smartphone CPUs earlier this year.Qualcomm on Wednesday announced its Centriq 2400 server chips, which started shipping to test customers. Later that day, Microsoft revealed that first PCs based on Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 chip would come next year. The chip will also be used in high-end smartphones.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
U.S. efforts to get to the bottom about Russia’s role in hacking this year’s presidential election may very well end up mired in politics, hampering any response.On Monday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, was the latest U.S. lawmaker to call for an investigation into Russia’s possible involvement. “This simply cannot be a partisan issue,” he said during a press conference.A growing number of lawmakers, in addition to U.S. intelligence agencies, also assert that Russia was behind the high-profile hacks that were intended to influence this year’s election. Among the targets were Democratic groups and figures whose emails were stolen and later leaked online.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Evolution inevitably involves the creation of new problems, and the big tech stories of the year show that this goes for IT just like anything else. While the internet has brought the world closer together, it also paved the way for fake news and new forms of espionage. The rise of AI has humans worried about being replaced. Chip makers are consolidating and scrambling to retool to meet the demands of virtual reality and the internet of things. And while Apple removed legacy ports on its new devices, a lot of users are grumbling about needing adapters for their favorite headphones and other peripherals. It's been a big year for trade-offs like this. Here are the IDG News Service's picks for the top 10 tech stories of the year.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
In recent years, Microsoft has made enormous efforts to get people to migrate off products that had reached their end of life. In 2014, it was Windows XP. In 2015, it was Windows Server 2003. This year it was SQL Server 2005. So, knowing what the company went through to make people migrate makes this latest bit of news somewhat baffling. Microsoft has quietly announced the addition of a third tier to its product lifecycle, expanding the lifespan of both Windows Server and SQL Server by an additional six years. Microsoft usually offers two tiers of lifecycle support covering a 10-year lifespan. The first five years, known as Mainstream support, include new features as well as security and non-security updates. The last five years, covering Extended support, has security and non-security updates, but no new features are added to the product. After that, all support ceases. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The nature of the workplace is changing dramatically. Project teams are typically more geographically dispersed and more mobile. And yet, in some ways they remain more connected than ever. More than 8 in 10 managers in a 2016 Millward Brown survey, conducted on behalf of Sennheiser, said meetings aimed at flexibly bringing together experts from different sites helped their business, in terms of saving time and other factors. While the cloud and mobile technologies have made it easier for team members to collaborate virtually using group chat and similar tools, audio conferencing remains one of the most effective ways for teams to communicate. The challenge is that legacy conferencing technology has not kept pace with the changing needs of organizations. Who doesn’t have a horror story of a conference call featuring team members huddled around a speaker phone, straining to hear remote team members speaking over a poor-quality connection? Other times, it can be difficult to simply find a room with the proper conferencing setup.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Several models of Netgear routers are affected by a publicly disclosed vulnerability that could allow hackers to take them over.An exploit for the vulnerability was published Friday by a researcher who uses the online handle Acew0rm. He claims that he reported the flaw to Netgear in August, but didn't hear back.The issue stems from improper input sanitization in a form in the router's web-based management interface and allows the injection and execution of arbitrary shell commands on an affected device.The U.S. CERT Coordination Center (CERT/CC) at Carnegie Mellon University rated the flaw as critical, assigning it a score of 9.3 out of 10 in the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Microsoft's Surface Hub large-screen PC isn't your regular computer, and it takes a bit of practice to fully exploit it. With that in mind, Microsoft is starting a program in which users can try the Surface Hub for 30 days before buying it.No such program is offered for other Surface devices. The supersized Surface Hub -- which comes in screen sizes of 55-inch and 84-inches, is mostly designed as a centerpiece for conference rooms to be used for video conferencing, collaboration, and digital whiteboarding.The Surface Hub is off to a fast start, said Julia Atalla, senior director of the Windows and Devices Group at Microsoft. The company has 600 Hub customers and expects more than 2,000 customers by the end of the year.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Yes, it's that time of the year again. Where does the time go? Anyway, it's time for us in the news business to make our annual predictions for the coming year. Unlike some, I own up to my misfires by leading off with the predictions made a year ago and admitting what came true and what didn't. So let's get into that. How good were my 2016 predictions? 1. IBM becomes a major cloud player.Not really. The most recent numbers, which covered Q2 of this year, put IBM at under 10 percent share. It's still an Amazon and Microsoft world. The good news is IBM grew 57 percent year over year, so it is making up for lost ground. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Yes, it's that time of the year again. Where does the time go? Anyway, it's time for us in the news business to make our annual predictions for the coming year. Unlike some, I own up to my misfires by leading off with the predictions made a year ago and admitting what came true and what didn't. So let's get into that. How good were my 2016 predictions? 1. IBM becomes a major cloud player.Not really. The most recent numbers, which covered Q2 of this year, put IBM at under 10 percent share. It's still an Amazon and Microsoft world. The good news is IBM grew 57 percent year over year, so it is making up for lost ground. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
U.S. president-elect Donald Trump is meeting this week in New York with top tech executives, including Oracle CEO Safra Catz, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Alphabet CEO Larry Page and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, according to news reports.Invitations to the meeting were signed by Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, chief of staff Reince Priebus, and billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel, a Silicon Valley figure who came out openly early on in favor of Trump.The relationship between Trump and Silicon Valley companies has been difficult with some senior tech executives openly backing his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the run-up to the presidential elections. The president-elect and tech companies also appear to have differing views on issues such as immigration, outsourcing abroad, clean energy, net neutrality, encryption, surveillance and on restoring lost manufacturing jobs in the U.S.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Netgear router owners, I hope you have a spare router – at least those of you with remotely exploitable models, since US-CERT recommended discontinuing use of router models which are vulnerable to arbitrary command injection.Which models? Right now it looks like Netgear R7000, R6400 and R8000 routers, but there may be more models that are vulnerable. Should you really take this seriously and unplug your router? You betcha, since US-CERT said it is “trivial” to exploit this vulnerability. Visit a booby-trapped page and whammo! An attacker would be saying hello to root privileges on your router.An exploit, which was released on Exploit Database, was published on Dec. 7. Netgear has yet to issue new firmware to patch the flaw in its vulnerable routers. There is a way to test if your router is vulnerable and even a non-official temporary fix you can try if tossing out your router is not an option.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
What makes this product truly nerdy is that you have to be kind of a nerd to drive around with a lit up Christmas tree on your car roof. A PR company recently sent me a sample of the aptly named Christmas Car Tree and, natch, I had to, er, test drive it. The Christmas Car Tree It’s easy to assemble, solidly made (it’s got a metal, bolt-together frame), and unless you're driving a Ferrari, this 30-inch tree isn’t going to come loose. The Christmas Car Tree has 70 LEDs in multiple colors and can be folded flat so you can get into low garages.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A US trade judge ruled today that Arista Networks infringed on two Cisco switch patents – the second important victory the networking giant has won against Arista in their ongoing legal confrontation since it began in 2014.U.S. International Trade Commission Judge MaryJoan McNamara issued the so-called “initial determination” on the case which now must be reviewed by the ITC. In the end should the ITC find against Arista its switches could once again be banned from import into the US. The ITC you may recall ruled against Arista in another part of this case and between June and August the company could not import those products. In November Arista announced that US Customs has given it permission to resume importing its networking gear in the United States.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
‘Tis the season for tech bloggers to prognosticate and pontificate about the trends for the next year. This is also the time of year when we fondly reflect on the amazing rate of innovation during the past year and try to imagine how the pace of new technology will continue to accelerate. When publicly making these types of predictions, it is prudent to write about trends that are probable, and it is unwise to write about things that are too far-reaching. Along these lines, here are six network and security technology predictions that are probable for 2017.1. Malware will continue to evolve Malware has been the most effective way for attackers to reach targets globally. Malware propagation has been the definitive attack method for the past few years, and now the effectiveness of most antivirus products is called into question. More and more security vendors offer malware defenses, but not all of these vendor’s solutions are completely effective as malware continues to metamorphize.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Earlier this year, ESG and the Information Systems Security Association (ISSA) published a research report titled, The State of Cyber Security Careers. The report was based on a survey of 437 cybersecurity professionals, the clear majority of which were ISSA members.Two-thirds of these cybersecurity professionals worked at an organization that employed a CSO or CISO. These individuals were then asked to identify the most important qualities that make a successful CISO. Here is a sample of the results: 50% of respondents said that strong leadership skills were most important 47% of respondents said that strong communication skills were most important 30% of respondents said that a strong relationship with business executives was most important 29% of respondents said that a strong relationship with the CIO and other members of the IT leadership team was most important 23% of respondents said that strong management skills were most important Based upon this list, it’s clear that successful CISOs need to be strong business people who can work with business and IT executives. This is an important consideration since many security professionals are deeply rooted in the technology rather than the business aspects of infosec.To Continue reading
Earlier this year, ESG and the Information Systems Security Association (ISSA) published a research report titled, The State of Cyber Security Careers. The report was based on a survey of 437 cybersecurity professionals, the clear majority of which were ISSA members.Two-thirds of these cybersecurity professionals worked at an organization that employed a CSO or CISO. These individuals were then asked to identify the most important qualities that make a successful CISO. Here is a sample of the results: 50% of respondents said strong leadership skills were most important 47% of respondents said strong communication skills were most important 30% of respondents said a strong relationship with business executives was most important 29% of respondents said a strong relationship with the CIO and other members of the IT leadership team was most important 23% of respondents said strong management skills were most important Based upon this list, it’s clear that successful CISOs need to be strong business people who can work with business and IT executives. This is an important consideration since many security professionals are deeply rooted in the technology rather than the business aspects of infosec.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please Continue reading
Intel and Microsoft are working on technology allowing you to shout out commands to Cortana or activate a Windows 10 PC from sleep mode without being all that close to it.The chipmaker is working with Microsoft to add "far-field speech recognition" technology, where one can shout out Cortana commands to a Windows PC from longer distances."Soon, you’ll be able to speak to your PC from a distance and access all of your information on the device and in the cloud," Navin Shenoy is senior vice president and general manager for the Client Computing Group for Intel, said in a blog entry this week. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here