In my ongoing quest to interview the leadership of every Linux distribution on the planet (see my interviews with the heads of elementary, Fedora and openSUSE) I reached out to the top dog in the Ubuntu world: Mark Shuttleworth.This is not a hard-hitting, no-holds-barred sort of interview. It’s just a casual chat to hear about Ubuntu from the guy that started it and hopefully, in the process, get to know him a little better.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Most people know that a student who does well in a class would likely do well in another class, but could you predict whether a student would succeed based on how many times they logged into the campus network?To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
I’ve seen a number of great technologies come and go. Some are fun for a while, as they are the first to market, such as game systems, entertainment devices and lifestyle products. But without staying ahead of the competition, they soon become irrelevant. Others simply don’t solve a big enough problem to warrant spending money to become an early adopter, such as Google Glass, Amazon’s Fire mobile phone or HD DVD.
How do you know when the time is right to invest in new technology? For personal technology, if you’re like me, you’ll forever be an early adopter and likely always be first in line for the next iPhone or Android device—even if the existing one works perfectly fine. But if you’re committing thousands and thousands of dollars of your company’s limited IT resources, how do you know what you’re buying today will be still be the best technology five years from now—or even next year?To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
New research shows that IT executives view “responsiveness” and “collaboration” as the top characteristics of a strategic vendor.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
We humans may still be licking our wounds following AI's victory at the ancient game of Go, but it turns out we still have something to be proud of: We're doing a lot better than machines are at solving some of the key problems of quantum computing.Quantum mechanics are notoriously mind-bending because so-called "qubits" -- the atomic-scale building blocks of quantum computers -- can inhabit more than one physical state at once. That's known as superposition, and it's what gives the prospect of quantum computers their exciting potential.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Warnings about U.S. critical infrastructure’s vulnerabilities to a catastrophic cyber attack – a cyber “Pearl Harbor” or “9/11” – began more than 25 years ago. But they have become more insistent and frequent over the past decade.Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned in a 2012 speech of both a “cyber Pearl Harbor” and a “pre-9/11 moment.”They have also expanded from within the security industry to the mass media. It was almost a decade ago, in 2007, that the Idaho National Laboratory demonstrated that a cyber attack could destroy an enormous diesel power generator – an event featured in a 2009 segment on the CBS news magazine “60 Minutes.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Computer science is a fundamental skill in the modern economy, President Obama declared on Tuesday as the White House announced a series of initiatives aimed at advancing education in the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.That includes a $200 million investment from Oracle to extend computer science education to 125,000 U.S. students, along with a host of commitments from federal agencies, schools and other groups to promote STEM training.[ Related: Obama expands STEM education and training efforts ]To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Intel wants you to know just how real and just how fast its game-changing Optane storage technology is, so it demonstrated how its new pervasive memory technology leaves a conventional NAND SSD in the dust.The demo, the first public one using a traditional desktop environment, took place Wednesday morningat the company’s annual developer forum in Shenzhen, China. Intel executive Rob Crooke showed identical desktop computers performing a simple file copy.+ MORE INTEL: What's happening with the Intel executive turnover? +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Developing advanced auto communications and automation is the central notion behind a new $30 million project announced today by the US Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E).
+More on Network Wolrd: Six key challenges loom over car communication technology+
The program, known as NEXTCAR or NEXT-Generation Energy Technologies for Connected and Automated on-Road vehicles will develop technology that will result in a 20% reduction in the energy consumption of future so-called Connected and Automated Vehicles, compared to vehicles without these technologies, ARPA-E stated.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
If you're a golfer, or need a gift for one, you may want to take advantage of this 39% off deal. With a regular price of $179.99, you can buy the GolfBuddy VS4 Talking Golf GPS for just $109.99.Just press a button and the the VS4 from GolfBuddy tells you the distance to the front, center and back of the green. It's as simple as that. The product currently averages 4.5 out of 5 stars on Amazon from over 325 people (see reviews), and most reviewers seem to agree that it's accurate and easy to use.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The strange tale of the San Bernardino iPhone seems like it’s almost over, although it touched off a national debate about encryption that’s just getting started. Apple probably won’t find out what method was used by the third-party firm that broke into the iPhone 5c used by shooter Syed Rizwan Farook, reports Reuters.The government says that the unidentified international firm that did the hack has legal ownership of the method, so while the FBI got the data it wanted, it’s unable to disclose the method to Apple. There’s actually a system in place, known as the Vulnerabilities Equities Process, that’s designed to evaluate flaws discovered by the government’s own agencies to determine if they should be disclosed to the technology companies who can patch them, or if the vulnerabilities can remain secret to be used by the NSA, FBI, or other agencies.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Apple just added a big-league player to its executive lineup—literally. The company just named National Football League lobbyist Cynthia Hogan its vice president for public policy and government affairs in Washington DC, overseeing the Americas. Politico
Cynthia Hogan starts at Apple on April 29.
Before she joined the NFL, where she dealt with huge issues like concussion controversies and Deflategate, Hogan served as counsel to Vice President Joe Biden. It’s unclear if Hogan’s Biden connection will come in handy for Apple’s dealings with the White House, but it certainly couldn’t hurt.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
By now even casual sports fans know that the Golden State Warriors just eclipsed Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls for the best regular season in NBA history. Many even realize the team is owned by Silicon Valley venture capitalist Joe Lacob, and that it relied heavily on technology and advanced analytics to construct its roster and set its strategy and tactics.Even with all that, winning 73 games in an 82-game season was far from a foregone conclusion. Many observers—and team officials—worried that the ongoing effort required to set the record would fatigue the players and increase the risk of injury. That could jeopardize the ultimate goal, winning the franchise’s second-consecutive championship.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Intel is in transition right now: An executive shakeup this month laid the path for new boss Venkata Renduchintala to put his imprint on the company's PC, Internet of Things and software operations.So no wonder the vibe at this week's Intel Developer Forum in Shenzhen was mellow. Intel kept the show a low-key affair, choosing not to bring it to the attention of a worldwide audience, unlike previous years.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Microsoft has sued the U.S. government in an attempt to strike down a law allowing judges to gag tech companies when law enforcement agencies want access to their users' data.The lawsuit, filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, argues that a section of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act is unconstitutional for requiring tech companies to keep requests for data under wraps. Microsoft argued the law is unconstitutional under the First Amendment, by limiting the company's freedom of speech, as well as under the Fourth Amendment's due process protections. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Over the past few years, there has been a significant increase in the amount of enterprise network traffic to and from Asia Pacific due to globalization. In my recent visit to the region, I engaged in some interesting discussions around the WAN. For example, one of the biggest costs for large financial institutions are point-to-point dedicated leased lines between their regional and global offices called International Private Leased Circuit (IPLC). These circuits are typically provided by a carrier to offer auto re-routable network for maximum uptime and data protection.One of my recommendations to executives I spoke with was to consider the internet as an alternate transport. The typical response I received was, “I’m not conformable moving my real-time applications to the Internet because of its best effort model and lack of quality of service.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Ransomware authors are using the bitcoin blockchain, which serves as the cryptocurrency's public transaction ledger, to deliver decryption keys to victims.The technique, which removes the burden of maintaining a reliable website-based infrastructure for cybercriminals, was observed in a recent version of the CTB-Locker ransomware that targets Web servers.CTB-Locker has targeted Windows computers for a long time, but a PHP-based variant capable of infecting websites first appeared in February, marking an interesting evolution of this ransomware threat.The decryption routine in the original PHP-based CTB-Locker version involved a script called access.php that served as a gateway to the attackers' back-end server. This gateway script was hosted on multiple hacked websites and was necessary to obtain the decryption key after victims made a payment.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The U.S. Marine Corps intends to protect its networks and communications with a new cyberspace operations team. Notably, the organization said its new unit will have an “offensive” element.“The Marine Corps is seeing the need for defense of its networks and communications,” a press release on the Marines Corps’ website explained. That will include “what can we do to hinder an enemy,” said Sgt. Brian Mueller, a digital network exploitation analyst with the new Marine Corps Cyberspace Warfare Group (MCCYWG), in the release. He is referring to the “offensive” element.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A pair of studies released this week shed light on challenges -- including career advancement and equal pay -- facing women in technology.Tech learning site Pluralsight and the nonprofit Women Who Code joined forces on an online survey of 1,500 women working in tech and have shared the results here.The biggest challenges facing those women surveyed involve things that are lacking: opportunities for advancement, role models, mentors and work-life balance.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Your clothes could one day monitor your fitness levels or boost your smartphone reception thanks to a new technique that uses ultrathin electronic thread to embroider circuits into fabric.Measuring just 0.1 mm in diameter, the thread comprises seven filaments made of copper and silver. Using it, researchers at Ohio State University have found a way to embroider circuits into fabric with enough precision to integrate electronic components such as sensors and memory devices into clothing. Ultimately, such "e-textiles" could be used to create shirts that act as antennas, bandages that tell your doctor how well a wound is healing, or even caps that sense activity in the brain.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here