Palo Alto Primes PAN-OS 8.0 With New Security Features

Biggest announcement ever! (In terms of volume.)

As IoT sales surge, consumers still lead the way

The internet of things will have nearly one-third more devices by the end of this year, though many of them won’t exactly be exotic.There will be 8.4 billion IoT devices in use at the end of 2017, up 31 percent from the end of 2016, Gartner estimated on Tuesday. That's slightly faster than the growth rate last year. The number will keep growing at about the same pace until 2020, when there will be just over 20 billion devices, the research company says.Nearly two-thirds of the connected objects in use this year will be consumer products, especially smart TVs, set-top boxes, and in-car devices such as entertainment systems and sensors that help insurance companies monitor driving. Home IoT gadgets like connected door locks and lightbulbs are still popular mostly among tech-focused early adopters, analysts say.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

27% off HAVIT 3-Fan USB Powered Laptop Cooling Pad – Deal Alert

With a thin body and light weight design, the USB-powered Havit HV-F2056 cooling pad allows you to take it wherever you go and cool your laptop anytime you want. Three ultra-quiet fans create a noise-free environment, and a high-quality multi-directional metal mesh provides your laptop with a wear-resistant and stable laptop carrying surface. A built-in dual-USB hub allows for connecting more USB devices. The cooling pad from HAVIT averages 4.5 out of 5 stars from over 3,500 people on Amazon (read reviews). Its typical list price of $29.49 has been reduced 27% to $21.49. See it now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Samsung Galaxy S7 hardware will come to the DragonBoard 820c computer

Meet DragonBoard 820c, a supercharged board computer that will make Raspberry Pi 3 look like a turtle.The computer can be used as an Android OS computer and is based on components in premium smartphones like Samsung's Galaxy S7.The board is now listed on the website of Arrow Electronics but isn't commercially available so far. The price isn't yet available. The board has Qualcomm's 820 chip, which is used some premium smartphones today. Qualcomm recently announced the Snapdragon 835, which succeeds the 820 and 821 chips, and next round of premium smartphones with the new chip will be announced in the coming months.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Google Fiber Executive Becomes CEO of Barefoot Networks

Google has paused its Fiber initiative.

BlackBerry offers secure mobile communications platform for developers

BlackBerry on Tuesday announced a new line of business to provide developers with a secure, cloud-based, mobile communications platform for texting, voice, video and file sharing.Developers can insert these capabilities into their existing custom apps and services using the new BBM Enterprise SDK (software developer kit), BlackBerry said. The SDK will be sold as a per-user license on a subscription basis to developers, including those employed at enterprises, and to independent software vendors (ISVs).BlackBerry didn’t say what the licenses would cost, but did say the cost would be affordable, especially compared to communications products from competitors that usually charge on a usage basis for texts, voice and video calls. The SDK will be available worlwide later in February for apps running on iOS and Android.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Trump reviews right of H-1B spouses to work

For H-1B workers, one of the most hated and frustrating parts of working in the U.S. is this: Their spouses were idled, unable to work under law. That changed in 2014, when President Obama signed a regulation that allowed some spouses to get a job. But the future of this rule may be in doubt under the new administration.President Donald Trump's administration, which is broadly repealing Obama-era regulations, is reviewing the H-1B spouse rule as well, according to a new court filing.The Obama rule change affected H-1B holders who were seeking green cards or permanent residency. It allowed their spouses to get work authorization. There may have been as many as 180,000 spouses eligible, according to a lawsuit that's challenging this rule.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Mac malware, possibly made in Iran, targets US defense industry

Just because you’re using a Mac doesn’t mean you’re safe from hackers. That’s what two security researchers are warning, after finding a Mac-based malware that may be an attempt by Iranian hackers to target the U.S. defense industry.The malware, called MacDownloader, was found on a website impersonating the U.S. aerospace firm United Technologies, according to a report from Claudio Guarnieri and Collin Anderson, who are researching Iranian cyberespionage threats.The fake site was previously used in a spear phishing email attack to spread Windows malware and is believed to be maintained by Iranian hackers, the researchers claimed.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Mac malware, possibly made in Iran, targets US defense industry

Just because you’re using a Mac doesn’t mean you’re safe from hackers. That’s what two security researchers are warning, after finding a Mac-based malware that may be an attempt by Iranian hackers to target the U.S. defense industry.The malware, called MacDownloader, was found on a website impersonating the U.S. aerospace firm United Technologies, according to a report from Claudio Guarnieri and Collin Anderson, who are researching Iranian cyberespionage threats.The fake site was previously used in a spear phishing email attack to spread Windows malware and is believed to be maintained by Iranian hackers, the researchers claimed.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Toyota funds AI research to build autonomous cars

Toyota is partnering with Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to research artificial intelligence and robotics in order to bring greater autonomy to Toyota cars.The car maker will contribute US$50 million over five years to two research centers that are being set up at Stanford and MIT.However, don't expect a computer to completely drive your Camry any time soon.Toyota will always assume a person will be at the wheel, said Gill Pratt, who oversaw the DARPA Robotics Challenge and is now joining Toyota as an executive technical adviser.Toyota will focus on creating "human-centric systems" that are supplemented by technology, Pratt said Friday at a press conference in Palo Alto, California.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Worth Reading: Addressing in 2016

The process of exhausting the remaining pools of IPv4 addresses in each of the Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) is continuing. Yet, despite this hiatus in the supply of IPv4 addresses, the Internet continues to grow. The reasons for this growth are changing, however. Personal computers have gone the way of mainframes and are no longer the staple of the consumer IT market. It looks as if laptops are now also feeling the pinch as the mainstream computer industry continues to focus on the smart device market. But even in the personal device sector, we see a market that is no longer expanding at massive rates. —APNIC

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Flaw in Intel Atom chip could crash servers, networking gear

A flaw in an old Intel chip could crash servers and networking equipment, and the chipmaker is working to fix the issue. The issue is in the Atom C2000 chips, which started shipping in 2013. The problem was first reported by The Register. In January, Intel added an erratum to the Atom C2000 documentation, stating systems with the chip "may experience [an] inability to boot or may cease operation."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Flaw in Intel Atom chip could crash servers, networking gear

A flaw in an old Intel chip could crash servers and networking equipment, and the chipmaker is working to fix the issue. The issue is in the Atom C2000 chips, which started shipping in 2013. The problem was first reported by The Register. In January, Intel added an erratum to the Atom C2000 documentation, stating systems with the chip "may experience [an] inability to boot or may cease operation."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

3 ways AI assistants improve enterprise productivity

For today’s knowledge workers, heavy workloads and slow productivity growth is a major challenge. Some products and services emphasize processes and systems such as continuous improvement and removing wasteful steps. Others emphasize the human aspects of productivity — a manager training a junior employee to take over a task, for example. AI assistants offer another approach to the workplace productivity challenge, but are they ready for “prime time” use in the enterprise?To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

Democratic senators push to save net neutrality rules under Trump

Democratic senators have promised to fight any move by President Donald Trump's administration to gut the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality rules.Any moves by Trump or the Republican-controlled FCC to roll back the 2015 regulations will meet stiff resistance from Democratic lawmakers and digital rights groups, the five senators said during a press conference Tuesday.Millions of U.S. residents called for the FCC to pass strong net neutrality rules that prohibit broadband providers from selectively slowing or blocking internet traffic, said Senator Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat.ALSO: The end of net neutrality is nigh—here’s what’s likely to happen The senators were joined by seven digital rights groups, including Public Knowledge, Free Press, and Fight for the Future.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Democratic senators push to save net neutrality rules under Trump

Democratic senators have promised to fight any move by President Donald Trump's administration to gut the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality rules.Any moves by Trump or the Republican-controlled FCC to roll back the 2015 regulations will meet stiff resistance from Democratic lawmakers and digital rights groups, the five senators said during a press conference Tuesday.Millions of U.S. residents called for the FCC to pass strong net neutrality rules that prohibit broadband providers from selectively slowing or blocking internet traffic, said Senator Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat.ALSO: The end of net neutrality is nigh—here’s what’s likely to happen The senators were joined by seven digital rights groups, including Public Knowledge, Free Press, and Fight for the Future.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Now you can try Microsoft’s supersized Surface Hub before buying

Microsoft's program allowing potential customers to try a Surface Hub for 30 days before buying it will start on Feb. 15.The try-and-buy program is available only through Surface Hub resellers in North America, Asia, and Europe. A list of resellers can be found on Microsoft's website.The Surface Hub is a gigantic Windows 10 computer available with a 55-inch or 84-inch screen. The 55-inch model is priced at US$8,999 and the 84-inch model is $21,999.The computer is designed for collaboration, videoconferencing, and whiteboarding.  It runs a custom version of Windows 10.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Irish court hears case challenging transatlantic data transfers

Max Schrems' 2013 complaint to the Irish data protection commissioner over Facebook's handling of his personal information put him in an unusual position on Tuesday: He's a co-defendant, alongside Facebook, in a case before the High Court of Ireland.The case concerns the standard contract clauses that Facebook and other companies relied on to legalize their export of European Union citizens' personal information to the U.S. for processing in the months after the Safe Harbor agreement was overturned.The three-week hearing began Tuesday with representations from the data protection commissioner, which brought the case; Schrems and Facebook will get their turn next week.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Study: 1 in 3 website visitors is an attack bot

For the 5th straight year, impersonator bots were the most active bad bots, making up 24.3 percent of all bot activity. Both cheap and effective, impersonator bots are most commonly used to launch DDoS attacks, including October’s attack against DNS provider Dyn.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

Study: 1 in 3 website visitors is an attack bot

For the 5th straight year, impersonator bots were the most active bad bots, making up 24.3 percent of all bot activity. Both cheap and effective, impersonator bots are most commonly used to launch DDoS attacks, including October’s attack against DNS provider Dyn.That’s among the key findings of Imperva’s Bot Traffic Report 2016, which is based on analysis of over 16.7 billion visits to 100,000 randomly-selected domains on the Imperva content delivery network from August 9, 2016 to November 6, 2016.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)