IBM-Salesforce deal will bring Watson data into applications

Watson and Einstein are teaming up, and IBM and Salesforce hope the pairing proves as smart as it sounds. The two companies are working together to bring information from IBM systems into Salesforce’s products through a series of integrations announced Monday.As part of the partnership, joint customers will be able to combine Watson's insights from their unstructured data with Einstein's insights about information stored with Salesforce. That comes alongside other integrations that bring weather and application data into Salesforce.Both Salesforce and IBM have massive customer bases that could be reached by this partnership. It's an interesting deal given IBM's historic strength in on-premises computing and Salesforce's cloud focus. Each tech titan has been focused on machine intelligence, so collaborating makes sense. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Consumers are wary of smart homes that know too much

Nearly two-thirds of consumers are worried about home IoT devices listening in on their conversations, according to a Gartner survey released Monday.Those jitters aren’t too surprising after recent news items about TV announcers inadvertently activating viewers’ Amazon Echos, or about data from digital assistants being used as evidence in criminal trials. But privacy concerns are just one hurdle smart homes still have to overcome, according to the survey.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Consumers are wary of smart homes that know too much

Nearly two-thirds of consumers are worried about home IoT devices listening in on their conversations, according to a Gartner survey released Monday.Those jitters aren’t too surprising after recent news items about TV announcers inadvertently activating viewers’ Amazon Echos, or about data from digital assistants being used as evidence in criminal trials. But privacy concerns are just one hurdle smart homes still have to overcome, according to the survey.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

GE favors SaaS for non-differentiated apps, moves away from MPLS, has big plans for IoT

GE is rethinking many aspects of IT, including its internal reporting structure, where and how it supports apps, and how it networks its 4,500 offices.  Network World Editor in Chief John Dix got an update from Chris Drumgoole, Chief Technology Officer of IT. GE  Chris Drumgoole, GE Chief Technology Officer of IT As Chief Technology Officer for GE IT (GE also has a CTO on the product side), how do you work with the IT teams in the business units?To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

GE favors SaaS for non-differentiated apps, moves away from MPLS, has big plans for IoT

GE is rethinking many aspects of IT, including its internal reporting structure, where and how it supports apps, and how it networks its 4,500 offices.  Network World Editor in Chief John Dix got an update from Chris Drumgoole, Chief Technology Officer of IT. GE  Chris Drumgoole, GE Chief Technology Officer of IT As Chief Technology Officer for GE IT (GE also has a CTO on the product side), how do you work with the IT teams in the business units?To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Open Networking Summit 2017: Harmonize, Harness, and Consume!

Ready to make your mark as a networking innovator and leader? Interested in learning how today’s open source and open standards initiatives are coming together? Want to know how networking is revolutionizing hot markets such as micro-services and Internet of Things (IoT)? Feeling the need to reach out to executives, technologists, vendors, and investors? If... Read more →

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Worth Reading: Five jobs robots will take first

Oxford University researchers have estimated that 47 percent of U.S. jobs could be automated within the next two decades. But which white-collar jobs will robots take first? First, we should define “robots” (for this article only) as technologies, such as machine learning algorithms running on purpose-built computer platforms, that have been trained to perform tasks that currently require humans to perform. —Shelly Palmer

The post Worth Reading: Five jobs robots will take first appeared first on 'net work.

Microsoft’s update shrinking reduces Windows 10 Insider betas by 65%

Microsoft last week repeated its assertion that future Windows 10 feature upgrades will shrink in size later this year, and supported the claim with a smattering of data.Those running Windows 10's preview, labeled "Insider," will see the largest reductions in download size, the data showed. Microsoft Windows 10's new update delivery system reduces the size of downloads -- in this case by 65% for an Insider refresh (in green) -- compared to a full-install "canonical" update (in blue), by sending only what has changed since the last update.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

7 tips for managing an IT outsourcing contract

IT organizations put great focus into drawing up their outsourcing contracts, but those agreements alone do not guarantee satisfactory outcomes. Attorney Brad Peterson has seen it time and time again. “Time and money are spent on drafting the contract—often a substantial amount of money. And a tremendous amount of potential value is created in that contract,” says Peterson, partner in Mayer Brown’s Chicago office and leader of its technology transactions practice.But then the engagement is handed over to a well-intentioned supplier management team that wasn’t involved in the contract and often can’t make heads or tails of what’s in it. “It’s understandable. Contracts are complex and confusing, and relationship managers are selected based on their knowledge of technology or their skill in building relationships, not on their knowledge of how to run a contract,” Peterson says.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Researchers link Middle East attacks to new victim in Europe

Kaspersky Labs announced new research this morning that shows some links between the massive Shamoon attack that took down 35,000 computers in Saudi Arabia to a new attack against a target in Europe.The Shamoon attack, which occurred in 2012, was followed by a series of related against against Gulf States earlier this year. The attacks were widely attributed to Iran.The new malware, called StoneDrill, is, like Shamoon, a wiper -- it destroys all the data on a computer.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Researchers link Middle East attacks to new victim in Europe

Kaspersky Labs announced new research this morning that shows some links between the massive Shamoon attack that took down 35,000 computers in Saudi Arabia to a new attack against a target in Europe.The Shamoon attack, which occurred in 2012, was followed by a series of related against against Gulf States earlier this year. The attacks were widely attributed to Iran.The new malware, called StoneDrill, is, like Shamoon, a wiper -- it destroys all the data on a computer.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: 7 ways to improve your Joomla security

Joomla has exploded in popularity as an open-source website creation tool for individuals, small and medium-sized businesses, enterprises, and developers. It has been downloaded 78 million times and currently powers millions of websites.Joomla websites have not been entirely unaffected by the cyber crime problems that have plagued content management systems (CMSs) and the internet in general. A wave of fake jQuery attacks hit Joomla and WordPress sites in 2015 and 2016, affecting over 4.5 million sites.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: 7 ways to improve your Joomla security

Joomla has exploded in popularity as an open-source website creation tool for individuals, small and medium-sized businesses, enterprises, and developers. It has been downloaded 78 million times and currently powers millions of websites.Joomla websites have not been entirely unaffected by the cyber crime problems that have plagued content management systems (CMSs) and the internet in general. A wave of fake jQuery attacks hit Joomla and WordPress sites in 2015 and 2016, affecting over 4.5 million sites.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Consumer Reports to grade tech products on security, privacy

Consumer Reports, a major source for gadget and appliance reviews in the U.S., plans to start rating products on data security and privacy.On Monday, the non-profit publication unveiled a set of new testing standards it hopes will push the tech industry to create safer products."The goal is to help consumers understand which digital products do the most to protect their privacy and security, and give them the most control over their personal data," the publication said.Already, cybersecurity  experts are constantly finding new tech products, whether they be cars or smart teddy bears, that are often poorly secured and easy to hack.  To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Consumer Reports to grade tech products on security, privacy

Consumer Reports, a major source for gadget and appliance reviews in the U.S., plans to start rating products on data security and privacy.On Monday, the non-profit publication unveiled a set of new testing standards it hopes will push the tech industry to create safer products."The goal is to help consumers understand which digital products do the most to protect their privacy and security, and give them the most control over their personal data," the publication said.Already, cybersecurity  experts are constantly finding new tech products, whether they be cars or smart teddy bears, that are often poorly secured and easy to hack.  To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IT Pros’ Happiness Depends Heavily on Co-Workers

IDG Contributor Network: Robots are malfunctioning, hurting people

A mounting list of robot-related accidents has experts questioning whether the devices will be prone to more dangerous malfunctions or even programmed attacks.Notable mishaps that have been documented include a robotic security guard knocking over a child at a California shopping mall, a demonstration robot smashing a window at a Chinese conference—it caused a bystander to get injured, and 144 deaths in the United States caused by robotic surgery. All this according to security firm IOActive.+ Also on Network World: How secure are home robots? + These incidents “clearly demonstrate the serious potential consequences of robot malfunctions,” the consultancy says in a white paper it recently published about existing robot security (PDF).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Robots are malfunctioning, hurting people

A mounting list of robot-related accidents has experts questioning whether the devices will be prone to more dangerous malfunctions or even programmed attacks.Notable mishaps that have been documented include a robotic security guard knocking over a child at a California shopping mall, a demonstration robot smashing a window at a Chinese conference—it caused a bystander to get injured, and 144 deaths in the United States caused by robotic surgery. All this according to security firm IOActive.+ Also on Network World: How secure are home robots? + These incidents “clearly demonstrate the serious potential consequences of robot malfunctions,” the consultancy says in a white paper it recently published about existing robot security (PDF).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Which Linux distros should newbies use?

Easy or tough?Image by ThinkstockLinux has a bad rap as a daily driver – the programs aren’t written to run on Linux, it’s tricky to install stuff, and so on. But it might surprise people who think along those lines to learn that plenty of the distributions out there are actually quite simple to use. Here’s our latest appreciation of the desktop Linux landscape.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Sigfox, Ingenu Aggressively Expand IoT Networks in Land Grab

Sigfox often deploys antennas on billboards to speed deployment.