What happens when you have great experiences with a brand? For most people it captivates them, changes their thinking and resets their expectations.I had the opportunity to work at Walt Disney World in the central reservations department, taking phone calls from families, travel agents and special events coordinators who all wanted to share in the trademarked Disney magic. At my core I was a salesperson, leveraging a well-structured process to guide “guests” to the highest-revenue resort rooms.+ Also on Network World: How the 'digitization of everything' will become a reality +
I had the opportunity to see first hand the value of a great customer experience. People from around the globe travel thousands of miles to get a slice of the Disney “guest” experience. And somehow the theme, view or location of a hotel room most people will spend little to no waking hours in matters. It matters only because it’s part of the experience and therefore not rationalized independently.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The cloud has been mainstream now for over a decade, but adoption has been spotty as businesses experimented and learned what kind of benefits it can provide. Over the past couple of years, digital transformation has become a top initiative for business leaders, causing IT executives to look for ways to be more agile and dynamic. This has increased the adoption of cloud as not just a cheaper alternative to traditional, on-premises computing but rather a strategic alternative that can pay big dividends. We are rapidly approaching a cloud “tipping point” where there will be more workloads and applications in the cloud than in an organization’s private data center. This week ServiceNow, a company that has enabled many organizations to make the shift to cloud, announced some interesting survey data, as well as a new solution for businesses that are thinking cloud-first. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The iPod celebrates 15 yearsFifteen years ago this week, Apple released the original iPod, and the tech and music world was never the same.The iPod wasn’t an immediate hit, but it eventually helped kick-start the digital music revolution. In addition to changing the way the world listened to and eventually would buy music, the iPod helped transform Apple into a force to be reckoned with in the tech world.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Samsung Electronics continued on top of the smartphone market in the third quarter but was battered by the impact of the Galaxy Note7 recall and increased competition in India, China and the U.S., according to Strategy Analytics.Overall the market grew by 6 percent annually to reach over 375 million units in the quarter, which was the smartphone industry’s fastest growth rate for a year, according to the research firm. Chinese brands Huawei, Oppo and Vivo posted strong growth rates in shipments even as Samsung and Apple saw volumes drop.“Samsung's worldwide slowdown is due to the sizeable loss of several million Note 7 shipments, combined with fierce competition from Chinese brands like OPPO in the huge China and India markets,” wrote Neil Mawston, executive director at Strategy Analytics in an email. “Samsung is filling some, but not all, of the Note 7 gap with increased S7 and S7 edge promotions.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Oracle has taken its bid for up to US$9 billion in damages to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit after a judge in a federal court in California recently struck down its bid for a retrial in a copyright infringement suit against Google over the use of Java code in the Android operating system.A jury had cleared Google of copyright infringement in May this year, upholding the company’s stand that its use of 37 Java APIs (application programming interfaces) in the Android mobile operating system constituted "fair use" under the Copyright Act, which allows copying of creative works under certain circumstances. Judge William Alsup of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California entered a final judgment in favor of Google on June 8.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
On Thursday morning, Tim Cook and other Apple executives will appear on stage and introduce long-awaited changes to Apple's Mac lineup. With Apple understandably focused on iterating the iPhone every single year, Apple's lineup of desktops and notebooks haven't seen a meaningful refresh in quite some time. Thankfully, that is poised to change this week.Based on rumblings from the rumor mill, the keynote item from Apple's "Hello Again" media event will be a completely retooled MacBook Pro. By all accounts, the new MacBook Pro will be thinner and lighter than previous models. Additionally, the machines should offer improvements in battery life thanks to Intel's more power efficient SkyLake processors.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Samsung's smartphone division struggled to breakeven between July and September as sales plunged due to the recall of its high-end Note 7.The smartphone giant said quarterly sales in its IT and Mobile Communications division were down 15 percent on the same period last year to 22.5 trillion Korean won (US$19.8 billion) while operating profit crashed 95 percent to 100 billion won.Problems with the Note 7 starting hitting sales shortly after it went on sale in mid-August. By early September, reports that several units had caught on fire prompted Samsung to begin a costly recall and replacement program. When it became clear that the replacements had the same problem, Samsung pulled the phone for good.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Dyn says that the DDoS attack that swamped its DNS resolution service last week was backed by far fewer internet of things (IoT) devices than it thought before.
Previously it said it was hit by traffic from tens of millions of IP addresses, some of which were likely spoofed, making the actual number of bots involved far fewer. “We are still working on analyzing the data but the estimate at the time of this report is up to 100,000 malicious endpoints,” the company says in a status update.
The attacks, which knocked out access to some high-profile Web sites, threw as many packets at Dyn’s infrastructure as it could and the company responded with its own mitigation actions as well as cooperation from upstream internet providers who blocked some of the attack flow. “These techniques included traffic-shaping incoming traffic, rebalancing of that traffic by manipulation of [DNS querying] anycast policies, application of internal filtering and deployment of scrubbing services,” the company says.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Guaranteed to never shatter, leak or dent, the 22 ounce Nomader collapsible water bottle is healthy, versatile, stylish, and comes backed by a lifetime warranty. The Nomader bottle is certified BPA free and made from 100% food-grade material. It's engineered with a thick, soft silicone body and a rigid insulated sleeve. Foldable for compact travel, handles hot or ice cold drinks, and is dishwasher safe. A patented locking twist cap eliminates spills with a quick half-turn, and doubles as a hygienic and protective spout cover. Nomader claims this water bottle will be with you for many years and backs its claims with its lifetime warranty. Averaging 4.5 out of 5 stars from over 500 people (read reviews), its typical list price of $24.95 has been reduced 32% to just $16.95 on Amazon, making it a good stocking stuffer consideration for this holiday season.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Although vendor-written, this contributed piece does not promote a product or service and has been edited and approved by Network World editors.The large scale DDoS attack on DYN last week interrupted access to many major web sites, and while the specifics of the attack have been widely analyzed, here are the important lessons learned:* DDoS attacks are alive and well: A few years ago DDoS attacks were hot news, but reports died down as the focus shifted to news about social engineering attacks, large scale data breachs and insider trading schemes. DDoS attacks seemed like yesterday’s risk but they are very much alive and well. In fact, they are back and stronger than ever.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Friday's massive internet disruption came from hackers using an estimated 100,000 devices, many of which have been infected with a notorious malware that can take over cameras and DVRs, said DNS provider Dyn."We are able to confirm that a significant volume of attack traffic originated from Mirai-based botnets," Dyn said in a Wednesday blog post.The malware known as Mirai had already been blamed for causing at least part of Friday's distributed denial-of-service attack, which targeted Dyn and slowed access to many popular sites in the U.S.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Microsoft's "SharePoint has conquered the enterprise intranet," but its complexity requires expensive third-party help, according to reviews by enterprise users in the IT Central Station community. Meanwhile, user reviews of Atlassian's Confluence say that Confluence is great for posting technical documents, but not great for searching that content.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
Identifying a goal is easy. Achieving it is another thing—especially if you are in IT and have to deal with other departments and vendors. Indeed, figuring out what is a realistic goal and then determining how it will be met is one of the biggest challenges IT executives and project managers face. And while project management software can help, it is up to the project leader to lay out the goal, or goals, and create a road map. Here are eight tips to help IT managers do that.[ Related: 7 nontechnical skills every project manager needs ]To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
One WindowsImage by Blair Hanley FrankMicrosoft’s big event in New York on Tuesday included plenty of new Surface hardware, but nevertheless, it’s easy to see why the company called this a Windows event rather than a Surface shindig.Windows and devices chief Terry Myerson kicked things off with a tantalizing glimpse of the features that will debut with the new Windows 10 Creators Update, scheduled to release in the spring. The rest of event was dedicated to new Surface gear designed specifically to marry powerful, thoughtful hardware with the best of those new software features. But don’t take my word for it! Here’s everything Microsoft announced at its October 26 Windows event.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
LAS VEGAS -- Executives at 1-800-Flowers.com expect a new wave in artificial intelligence technology will help to change their business so much it’ll be like running a brand new business.“We are on the cusp of a change as big as when e-commerce hit,” said Chris McCann, president and CEO of 1-800-Flowers.com. “It’s giving us the opportunity to have such deep relationships with our customers that it’ll be like the company hasn’t existed before. It can change our market, our supply chain. Everything. It will drive change all through the company.”That’s big talk from a businessman who knows about transformative change. After all, 1-800-Flowers.com already has transformed itself several times.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
An initial progress report by the FCC-sanctioned and industry-led Robocall Strike Force this afternoon was highlighted by the claim that a trial of a single fraud-prevention technique had resulted in a 90 percent reduction in consumer complaints about scams involving automated phone calls falsely claiming to be from the IRS.Since the first meeting of the strike force in August, representatives from 30 companies held more than 100 meetings and produced a 47-page report detailing both their short-term accomplishments and future goals. And while the latter outweighed the former – a point emphasized by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler – there was a hopefulness expressed throughout the hour-long presentation that relief from the scourge of robocalls is on the way.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Portworx, a data storage company for containers, released the results of its recently completed survey. Although I can't vouch for the survey instrument, the survey sample or the analysis of the data, the results were interesting and the study appeared to be constructed well.Portworx's analysis of the survey data
This is what Portworx had to say about the results of its survey:
"The survey identified which business benefits IT professionals are seeking through the deployment of containers. Agility (75 percent) and reduced costs (53 percent) were the top benefits sought.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Surgery requires steady hands—and power.How do hospitals make sure they always have life-saving power? Or that standby generators and switches kick in when needed? How can patient safety be preserved during a power outage?Sprawling hospital campuses, large power needs and zero downtime tolerance make it difficult. It’s so important, though, that there are even federal regulations for hospitals to ensure they’re prepared for potential outages.With IoT-based facility management, though, hospitals concentrate on saving lives and worry less about power issues.The challenge: maintaining equipment
Emergency power supply systems (EPSS) are the critical power infrastructure that supports hospitals during a power outage. This standby network of generators and switches ensures critical, life-saving power for equipment is always available. The systems have to be regularly tested and monitored to make sure they are in good working order.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A team made up of executives from Aruba Networks and Panzura are out with a new self-funded startup this week that aims to deploy security tools that enterprises use in their campus and extend it to the cloud.The idea of Nubeva is to create a Security as a Service platform that takes existing security tools and controls that organizations use in their data centers and other on premises infrastructure and mirror that same stack of security tools in the public cloud. Nubeva has created a platform that automates the deployment of those security resources in the public cloud.+MORE AT NETWORK WORLD: How the Dyn DDoS attack unfolded +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Microsoft unleashed a ton of Windows and Surface news on the world from New York on Wednesday, revealing new Windows features and brand new hardware. Here's the run-down on the biggest news from the company's two-hour-long presentation.Surface Studio takes a fresh look at the Desktop PC
There were a ton of rumors about a forthcoming all-in-one Surface desktop, and Microsoft brought the thunder. The Surface Studio is an all-in-one PC with an ultrathin, 28-inch, 4.5K touchscreen. The screen is mounted on a pair of hinges that let it sit up vertically like a traditional desktop computer, and lower down to a drafting position, where the display is only inclined to the desk by 20 degrees.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here