In 1969, the U.S. Department of Defense created ARPANET, the precursor to today’s internet. Around the same time, the SWIFT protocol used for money transfers was also established. These are both early examples of distributed systems: a collection of independent computers that appear to users as a single coherent system.Many come to know they have a distributed system when the crash of a computer they’ve never heard of affects the whole system. This is often the result of assumptions architects and designers of distribution systems are likely to make.In 1994, Peter Deutsch, who worked at Sun Microsystems, wrote about these assumptions to explore what can go wrong in distributed systems. In 1997, James Gosling added to this list to create what is commonly known as the eight fallacies of distributed computing. Traditional approaches, which use time-based replication to architect and build distributed systems, suffer from many of these fallacies and result in systems that are inefficient, insecure and costly to maintain. Modern approaches, using complex mathematics such as the Paxos algorithm, overcome many of these significant hurdles.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Recent data breaches underline the need for Internet users to regularly update the passwords for all their Internet accounts.On Wednesday, Spotify reset the passwords of an unspecified number of users, just a day after data on 68 million accounts from Dropbox began reaching the Internet.In a notice to users, Spotify said their credentials may have been compromised in a leak involving another service, if they used the same password for both.“Spotify has not experienced a security breach and our user records are secure,” the company said in an email. The password reset is merely a precaution, it said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Tablet sales have been in a serious downward spiral, but market research firm IDC has reason for optimism and believes they are due for a comeback.There is a caveat to that prediction, and that's because of a qualifier category: detachables. Tablet sales are already down 11.5 percent worldwide, while convertible and detachable devices are enjoying an uptick in sales, which is expected to continue through 2020, with shipments reaching 194.2 million as detachable tablets continue to take share from traditional PCs. + Also on Network World: Enterprise use of hybrid tablets growing fast +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
As the institutional use of open-source software continues to expand like an octopus, the public sector remains a key target market.Government users like Linux and other open-source software for several reasons, but the most important ones are probably that total cost of ownership is often lower than it is for proprietary products and that open-source projects don’t vanish if the company providing them goes under.Government IT folks are likely quite familiar with the perils of proprietary legacy systems - a recent Congressional hearing revealed that there are computers that date back to 1976 still in use at the federal level, and that critical taxpayer data is stored on a system written more than 50 years ago, in assembly language.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Practical and reliable is the image Huawei Technologies is trying to project with two new smartphones unveiled at the IFA tradeshow on Thursday.
The two phones are aimed squarely at the mid-market, and feature tried and trusted technologies, according to Kevin Ho, president of Huawei's handsets product line. So it's strange that, for phones with so little novelty, Huawei has decided on the name Nova.
The Nova and Nova Plus are solid phones with rigid, confidence-inspiring aluminum cases. They run Android Marshmallow on eight-core Qualcomm processors with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of flash storage, expandable via a microSD slot. There's a fingerprint sensor on the back of the case.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Okta has changed key parts of its product portfolio to attract new users to its corporate identity management and access control platforms. The startup is launching a new API access management product and revamping its provisioning service to make it easier to change employees' permissions within a company.The changes, announced at the company's Oktane conference in Las Vegas on Tuesday, were designed to give Okta more ammunition against a growing field of identity-management rivals, including Microsoft and OneLogin.Okta API Access Management builds on Okta's existing tools for developers who manage application logins. It lets administrators control how users of those apps access business systems that are surfaced through APIs.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
In case you missed it, Apple yesterday sent out invitations for a special media event slated to take place on Wednesday, September 7 at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco. Per usual, the event will kick off at 10 AM Pacific time and will be live-streamed via Apple’s website.Apple’s upcoming media event will, naturally, primarily center on the iPhone 7. The iPhone 7 likely won’t deliver any breakthrough technological features but users can expect to see substantial camera improvements and enhanced internals. Of particular interest will be how Apple addresses the rumored removal of the traditional 3.5mm headphone jack. While some have speculated that the removal was simply done to make the iPhone 7 thinner, others believe that Apple may introduce a superior Bluetooth alternative in its place. Another item to keep an eye on will be if battery life has been improved or if it will remain largely in line with what we've seen from past iPhone models.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
These screen cleaning cloths from iCloth currently average 4.5 out of 5 stars from over 700 people (read reviews) and its list price is currently discounted 25% to $28.12 for a pack of 150, individually packaged. The aerospace-grade soft fabric wipes are made from high quality and extremely low-linting Dupont Sontara fabric, and are premoistened with a purified water-based formula containing a isopropyl alcohol (not harmful ethyl alcohol) and proprietary ingredients that are safe on all sensitive optics and specialty coatings. So they are ideal for tablets, smartphones and laptops, but will work equally well on your sensitive eyewear. iCloth wipes are made in America, and come with a money-back-guarantee if you're not satisfied. See the discounted 150-pack now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
VMware this week announced plans to extend NSX, its software defined networking product, to public IaaS cloud computing platforms, allowing customers to manage multiple cloud environments with a single network management portal.About 1,700 customers have already deployed NSX as an on-premises network virtualization platform. At some point in the future (VMware executives will not say when) the company will allow customers to deploy NSX across multiple different cloud providers. The idea is customers can centrally manage their on premises and public cloud resources within NSX. How exactly will this work?To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
VMware is poised to take you to the cloud, and it wants to prove its worth to be your cloud broker.During yesterday’s keynote address at VMworld in Las Vegas, CEO Pat Gelsinger talked about a new layer between the cloud and a data center. For purposes of discussion, I’ll call it the hybrid cloud control plane. It’s not quite an operating system and not quite compute as a service, but it’s close to both of these. It’s an intelligent brokerage system, designed to keep you loving VMware.+ Also on Network World: Hot products from VMworld 2016 +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Dell will complete its acquisition of EMC on Sept. 7, ending nearly a year of approvals and decades of history for the two companies that will combine to become Dell Technologies.The mammoth deal was announced last October with an estimated value of US$67 billion. The companies recently crossed their last regulatory hurdle when China’s Ministry of Commerce signed off on the deal.Buying EMC and its federation of related companies will make Dell a stronger player in key areas that include software-defined data center, converged infrastructure, hybrid cloud, and security, Dell Technologies Chairman and CEO Michael Dell said in a press release.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
An EU regulatory group Tuesday imposed tough new rules on European ISPs, in a move that advocates for net neutrality are hailing as a great victory.The Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications published a 45-page report that essentially bans paid prioritization of network traffic, and imposes strict requirements on any specialized services that ISPs want to offer.MORE: Net Neutrality may be unenforceable – here’s whyISPs, the new rules say, “should treat all traffic equally, without discrimination, restriction or interference, independently of its sender or receiver, content, application or service, or terminal equipment.” Quality of service measures are allowed, according to the EU, but those measures have to be “transparent, non-discriminatory and proportionate,” as well as being targeted strictly towards technical service quality, and not commercial gain.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Making a career change is never easy, but few things are more motivating than the prospect of a good salary and a dearth of competition. That's a fair summary of the data science world today, as at least one well-publicized study has made clear, so why not investigate a little further?There's been a flurry of free resources popping up online to help those who are intrigued learn more. Here's a small sampling for each step of the way.1. Understand what it is
Microsoft's website might not automatically spring to mind as a likely place to look, but sure enough, a few months ago the software giant published a really nice series of five short videos entitled "Data Science for Beginners." Each video focuses on a specific aspect, such as "The 5 questions data science answers" and "Is your data ready for data science?"To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Identity management vendor Okta and Google have announced a partnership aimed at getting enterprises to secure their users' identities in the cloud.As part of the deal, Google will use Okta as its preferred identity provider for Google Apps enterprise customers. Businesses that buy a ton of Apps for Work licenses will also be encouraged to use Okta's services to manage how their users connect to business apps. Okta's identity management product makes it possible for companies to create one central directory of employees, who can then use a single set of credentials to get into business software that they need to use. That includes Google Apps and a variety of other services like Salesforce, Yammer, and ServiceNow. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Over on the Linux section of Reddit, someone asked the following question:
“Within the community, there seems to be many people that dislike the Free Software Foundation, the GNU Project, and Richard Stallman, being the leader of them both. Why is this? I am unable to understand this; I value free software and the aforementioned people that have made it possible, and I do not understand why they get as much hate as they do.”
It’s a good question.Within the open source and free software worlds, Stallman (and the Free Software Foundation—the FSF) hold an almost deity-like position in the hearts of many. For other people, well, they have the exact opposite feeling towards the man.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Inspired by the classic designs of luxury watches, with cutting-edge technology, the Huawei Watch redefines what we’ve come to expect from a smartwatch. Developed as a statement piece rather than a smartphone for your wrist, it combines elegant craftsmanship with Android Wear, iOS and iPhone compatibility to deliver a new high-end standard for the category. The 400x400 display delivers notifications, music from your phone, and more than 4,000 apps you can personalize and explore without being tethered to your phone – keeping you connected rather than distracted. With a variety of watch faces to choose from, it’s ready to pair with any ensemble or occasion. Whether you’re getting ready to walk down the aisle, hike up a mountain, or step into an important meeting, the Huawei Watch seamlessly fits any situation while tracking your movement with built-in heart rate monitoring and exercise pattern recognition.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Apple will take the wraps off the newest iPhone(s) and perhaps a second-gen Apple Watch at an event on Sept. 7 at 10 a.m. Pacific/1 p.m. Eastern. The venue is a standard Apple pick, San Francisco’s Bill Graham Civic Auditorium.
The invitation, which Apple emailed to media outlets on Monday morning, gives away absolutely nothing. “See you on the 7th,” it says. That’s it. But if history tells us anything, it’s that new iPhones are on deck next week. The invite’s colorful lights could be hinting at that incredible dual lens camera we’ve been hearing so much about, though maybe we’re just grasping there. The next-gen iPhone is also expected to ditch the headphone jack, a controversial decision if ever there was one.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Various Sony audio products are currently discounted at Amazon, and will remain discounted only through September 3rd. Some of the highlights are below:
31% off Sony SRSX11 Ultra-Portable Bluetooth Speaker
25% off Sony MDRXB650BT/R Extra Bass Bluetooth Headphones
21% off Sony STRDH130 2 Channel Stereo Receiver
26% off Sony NWE393/B 4GB Walkman MP3 Player
22% off Sony SSCS3 3-Way Floor-Standing Speaker
22% off Sony SACS9 10-Inch Active Subwoofer
24% off Sony SSCS5 3-Way 3-Driver Bookshelf Speaker System
20% off Sony HTCT790 Sound Bar with 4K and HDR Support
See the table below for exact prices. Other models may be discounted as well, so be sure to look around once you visit and take advantage of the savings while they're here.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Security researchers have highlighted in recent months how the web proxy configuration in browsers and operating systems can be abused to steal sensitive user data. It seems that attackers are catching on.A new attack spotted and analyzed by malware researchers from Microsoft uses Word documents with malicious code that doesn't install traditional malware, but instead configures browsers to use a web proxy controlled by attackers.In addition to deploying rogue proxy settings, the attack also installs a self-signed root certificate on the system so that attackers can snoop on encrypted HTTPS traffic as it passes through their proxy servers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Hopefully you were not curious about why McChicken was trending on Twitter. If you checked it out and saw the graphic video of a man engaging in a sexual act with the McDonald’s sandwich, then you might have wished for a miracle cure to unsee it. @geraldtbh
But Twitter was not the only place McChicken was trending; it was also trending on Facebook because it was going viral.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here