Hands on the Acer’s Swift 5, a competitor to Microsoft’s Surface Pro

Microsoft has set the gold standard for tablet-style 2-in-1 devices with its Surface Pro, and other PC vendors have followed suit with their own designs. Acer's latest Surface-style device, the Switch 5, offers a couple of advantages but lacks in other areas.I had a chance to play with the Switch 5 at an Acer event in New York City, where new PCs and tablets were announced. The Switch 5 is a tablet first, but a keyboard attachment can be hooked up to make it a laptop.As a tablet, the Switch 5 is quite light, about the equivalent of the Surface Pro 4. The device doesn't look as polished as the Surface Pro, nor does it have the premium finish. But it does have solid technologies, like the latest Intel processor and liquid cooling, that set it apart from rival devices.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Hands on Acer’s Switch 5, a competitor to Microsoft’s Surface Pro

Microsoft has set the gold standard for tablet-style 2-in-1 devices with its Surface Pro, and other PC vendors have followed suit with their own designs. Acer's latest Surface-style device, the Switch 5, offers a couple of advantages but lacks in other areas.I had a chance to play with the Switch 5 at an Acer event in New York City, where new PCs and tablets were announced. The Switch 5 is a tablet first, but a keyboard attachment can be hooked up to make it a laptop.As a tablet, the Switch 5 is quite light, about the equivalent of the Surface Pro 4. The device doesn't look as polished as the Surface Pro, nor does it have the premium finish. But it does have solid technologies, like the latest Intel processor and liquid cooling, that set it apart from rival devices.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Worth Reading: The Telsa Bubble

Tesla has carved out a small niche by selling a $50,000 car for $100,000 to customers who are willing to pay a premium to be able to say that they’re on the cutting edge or that they’re saving the planet. It’s now trying to go to a larger market by selling a $20,000 car for $35,000. It’s not clear that this business model works without government subsidies. What the regulatory support for Tesla has actually managed to achieve is to inflate a massive bubble that sucked billions of dollars of private capital into a company that probably doesn’t have a sustainable long-term business model. At the very least, money and capital are being diverted from places they would otherwise have gone and instead are being used to support a politically favored innovation at a very high risk of failure. —The Federalist

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Book Review: Practical Packet Analysis: Using Wireshark to Solve Real-World Network Problems

The 3rd edition of this book will have you confidently using Wireshark to solve the kind of problems you're likely to run into. You'll be capturing and analyzing packets, understanding network protocols, and gaining important insights into what's happening on your network.

Book Review: Practical Packet Analysis: Using Wireshark to Solve Real-World Network Problems

The overall equation is pretty simple: If you want to understand network traffic, you really should install Wireshark. And, if you really want to use Wireshark effectively, you should consider this book. Already in its third edition, Practical Packet Analysis both explains how Wireshark works and provides expert guidance on how you can use the tool to solve real-world network problems.Yes, there are other packet analyzers, but Wireshark is one of the best, works on Windows, Mac, and Linux, and is free and open source. And, yes, there are other books, but this one focuses both on understanding the tool and using it to address the kind of problems that you're likely to encounter.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Book Review: Practical Packet Analysis: Using Wireshark to Solve Real-World Network Problems

The overall equation is pretty simple: If you want to understand network traffic, you really should install Wireshark. And, if you really want to use Wireshark effectively, you should consider this book. Already in its third edition, Practical Packet Analysis both explains how Wireshark works and provides expert guidance on how you can use the tool to solve real-world network problems.Yes, there are other packet analyzers, but Wireshark is one of the best, works on Windows, Mac, and Linux, and is free and open source. And, yes, there are other books, but this one focuses both on understanding the tool and using it to address the kind of problems that you're likely to encounter.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Book Review: Practical Packet Analysis: Using Wireshark to Solve Real-World Network Problems

The overall equation is pretty simple: If you want to understand network traffic, you really should install Wireshark. And, if you really want to use Wireshark effectively, you should consider this book. Already in its third edition, Practical Packet Analysis both explains how Wireshark works and provides expert guidance on how you can use the tool to solve real-world network problems.Yes, there are other packet analyzers, but Wireshark is one of the best, works on Windows, Mac, and Linux, and is free and open source. And, yes, there are other books, but this one focuses both on understanding the tool and using it to address the kind of problems that you're likely to encounter.To read this article in full, please click here

Acer’s new Holo 360 is a 360-degree camera in a smartphone

The effort to grow in the virtual reality market has Acer chasing weird, but rather interesting, devices.The company introduced the Holo 360 camera, which is first and foremost a 360-degree camera. It can capture 3D content, much like other 360-degree cameras, and could be used to capture, view, and create content for VR headsets.But, seemingly as an afterthought, the device also has WiFi and LTE connectivity. The device itself looks like a bulky smartphone and can be used to make phone calls. It has a small screen, much like those on candy-bar phones.It's clearly not designed to be a full-fledged smartphone. No information about the chipset was provided. Different countries have different types of networks, and not all modems support all networks, especially in countries like China.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How Google and Amazon think about multi-cloud workloads

It was not a big announcement from Google this week, but in a way it could be seen as a symbolic one.In a blog post, Google announced new functionality that will allow its Cloud Endpoints API (Application Programming Interface) management platform to integrate with Amazon Web Service’s Lambda functions-as-a-service product. The idea is you can build an application in Lambda and use Google Cloud’s Endpoints to manage API calls associated with it.+MORE AT NETWORK WORLD: Serverless explainer: The next generation of cloud infrastructure +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cloudflare wants to secure IoT connections to the internet

Many people are worried about putting smart internet-connected devices in their homes or offices because of flaws that could allow attackers into their private networks.Web optimization and security firm Cloudflare is trying to alleviate those fears with a new service that could allow internet-of-things manufacturers to protect devices from attacks and deploy patches much quicker.Cloudflare's content delivery network is used by millions of people and companies to increase the performance of their websites and to protect them from malicious traffic. The company's servers work as invisible proxies between websites and visitors, providing on-the-fly encryption and firewall protection.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cloudflare wants to secure IoT connections to the internet

Many people are worried about putting smart internet-connected devices in their homes or offices because of flaws that could allow attackers into their private networks.Web optimization and security firm Cloudflare is trying to alleviate those fears with a new service that could allow internet-of-things manufacturers to protect devices from attacks and deploy patches much quicker.Cloudflare's content delivery network is used by millions of people and companies to increase the performance of their websites and to protect them from malicious traffic. The company's servers work as invisible proxies between websites and visitors, providing on-the-fly encryption and firewall protection.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Nokia’s Turnaround Plan Takes Shape as Q1 Losses Narrow

The CEO hinted at a major product announcement mid-year.

2.4GHz is a headache for Wi-Fi users, and it’s here to stay

Current-generation Wi-Fi technology lives in the 5GHz band. Almost all of the major innovation in wireless standards takes place in the relatively untroubled frequencies around 5GHz (and well above), where there’s little radio competition and the living is easy.But wireless LAN users can’t just stay comfortable in the 5GHz realm – the older 2.4GHz frequency bands are a necessary part of most wireless implementations, and they’re rarely a favorite of the people who have to build and operate Wi-Fi networks.+ ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD: Toward a bigger, faster, denser Wi-Fi WorldTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

2.4GHz is a headache for Wi-Fi users, and it’s here to stay

Current-generation Wi-Fi technology lives in the 5GHz band. Almost all of the major innovation in wireless standards takes place in the relatively untroubled frequencies around 5GHz (and well above), where there’s little radio competition and the living is easy.But wireless LAN users can’t just stay comfortable in the 5GHz realm – the older 2.4GHz frequency bands are a necessary part of most wireless implementations, and they’re rarely a favorite of the people who have to build and operate Wi-Fi networks.+ ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD: Toward a bigger, faster, denser Wi-Fi WorldTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Open Source MANO Supports Public and Hybrid Cloud Deployments

Release Two includes an Amazon Web Services plugin.

Advances in multifactor authentication (MFA) technologies

Enterprises authenticate users based on their knowledge, possession, or inherence of some evidence that they are the party with the given right of access. Some experts see the context of the user’s authentication such as the time, their network IP and device, and their location as the fourth factor of authentication.Stephen Cobb, senior security researcher at ESET says you can assure greater security with each additional factor of authentication that you add.MFA is more important than ever as attackers are increasingly breaking into accounts that use single-factor authentication and sometimes even those with two factors. In one example, attackers tried to get the second factor by using phishing texts that asked users to send over their tokens.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Advances in multifactor authentication (MFA) technologies

Enterprises authenticate users based on their knowledge, possession, or inherence of some evidence that they are the party with the given right of access. Some experts see the context of the user’s authentication such as the time, their network IP and device, and their location as the fourth factor of authentication.Stephen Cobb, senior security researcher at ESET says you can assure greater security with each additional factor of authentication that you add.MFA is more important than ever as attackers are increasingly breaking into accounts that use single-factor authentication and sometimes even those with two factors. In one example, attackers tried to get the second factor by using phishing texts that asked users to send over their tokens.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

9 essential tools for the security-conscious mobile worker

Have security gadgets, will travelImage by Kensington, Anonabox, Yubikey The highly digitized and hyper-connected world that we live in today has heightened the security stakes for us all. But if work frequently takes you away from the home office, you have some particular security and privacy concerns.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

9 essential tools for the security-conscious mobile worker

Have security gadgets, will travelImage by Kensington, Anonabox, Yubikey The highly digitized and hyper-connected world that we live in today has heightened the security stakes for us all. But if work frequently takes you away from the home office, you have some particular security and privacy concerns.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Sensitive data often follows former employees out the door

There is an old cliché that says a company's most valuable assets walk out the door at the end of the day. However, according to a recent security report, some other valuable assets are walking out the door as well, and they're not coming back.In a survey from Osterman Research, 69 percent of organizations polled say that they have suffered significant data or knowledge loss resulting from employees who took information resources with them when they left the business.Any form of data loss is a threat to a business, but the report notes that problems can arise both from employees actually taking data with them when they leave, and when departing employees have parked corporate information in locations like cloud storage services that are unknown or inaccessible to their former employer.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here