Facebook is bringing artsy neural networks to a phone near you

Facebook users will be able to record smartphone videos that ape the style of famous artworks with a new feature unveiled Tuesday. Using a technique called style transfer, the feature takes live video and turns it into something that resembles the work of Van Gogh, Picasso and other artists.That effect is probably familiar to people who have used the app Prisma, which uses similar techniques to change the look of photos. Prisma's app can't perform live filtering, and some filters require a connection to the internet. Facebook's system can work offline and render live.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

New Webinar Series: Network Automation Use Cases

In June 2016 I got an interesting idea: let’s create a webinar series with numerous guest speakers that would describe several widely-used network automation use cases.

It took me almost half a year to get there, but finally the first session is scheduled for November 22nd.

SAP aims to simplify innovation with update to HANA in-memory database

SAP wants businesses struggling to keep up with the pace of innovation in its HANA in-memory database to relax as it readies a new version, to be known as HANA 2.Since introducing HANA in 2010, SAP has been releasing updates twice a year, providing customers with new capabilities but also pushing them to keep their software current to benefit from continuing support.The new version gives businesses two reasons to relax, according to Marie Goodell, vice president of product marketing at SAP.HANA 2 is designed to simplify things for the IT department, reducing the effort it takes to keep the lights on so that businesses can spend more time working on new, next-generation applications that take advantage of new types of data, she said. Even if they choose to keep upgrading, that should involve less work going forward.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

China’s vague cybersecurity law has foreign businesses guessing

The most disturbing thing for foreign businesses facing China's new cybersecurity law may just be how vague and broad it is. Under the new law, adopted on Monday and taking effect next June, it's possible that any major company working in the country might be subject to "security reviews" from the Chinese government. Any company involved in telecommunications, information services, finance or any sector "where the loss of data can harm the country's security" is subject to a possible review. But what these security reviews actually entail isn't clear in the law.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

China’s vague cybersecurity law has foreign businesses guessing

The most disturbing thing for foreign businesses facing China's new cybersecurity law may just be how vague and broad it is. Under the new law, adopted on Monday and taking effect next June, it's possible that any major company working in the country might be subject to "security reviews" from the Chinese government. Any company involved in telecommunications, information services, finance or any sector "where the loss of data can harm the country's security" is subject to a possible review. But what these security reviews actually entail isn't clear in the law.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Rift.io Releases Commercial MANO Software Based on OSM

It’s based on the recently released OSM open source code.

Google Home: the good, the bad, and the potential

Google Home was released to consumers earlier this month, but some journalists got a chance to test out Google's favorite personal assistant before it hit store shelves.So what did they think? Most agreed that Google Home was generally smarter than the Amazon Echo, in part because it's connected to Google's omniscient search engine. In addition, many liked Google Home's rather responsive microphone, though having to say "OK Google" every time you wanted to interact with the device could get tiresome.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Carriers are going virtual to give enterprises more freedom

Starting carrier services like routing and security is getting faster and easier thanks to a new way of deploying them that doesn’t require specialized equipment at customer’s sites.The new approach, called virtualized business services, lets various carrier services run on standard infrastructure at either customer sites or service-provider facilities. Because the services are virtual, companies can order and change them quickly, and they won’t get locked into whatever capabilities come with a particular device.On Monday, Orange Business Services launched its virtualized network services program, called Easy Go Network. It joins AT&T, Verizon and other operators that are selling or developing such programs. Easy Go Network is available as a month-to-month subscription and its launch follows a year-long customer trial. Orange Business Services claims more than 3,000 multinational organizations as customers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Carriers are going virtual to give enterprises more freedom

Starting carrier services like routing and security is getting faster and easier thanks to a new way of deploying them that doesn’t require specialized equipment at customer’s sites.The new approach, called virtualized business services, lets various carrier services run on standard infrastructure at either customer sites or service-provider facilities. Because the services are virtual, companies can order and change them quickly, and they won’t get locked into whatever capabilities come with a particular device.On Monday, Orange Business Services launched its virtualized network services program, called Easy Go Network. It joins AT&T, Verizon and other operators that are selling or developing such programs. Easy Go Network is available as a month-to-month subscription and its launch follows a year-long customer trial. Orange Business Services claims more than 3,000 multinational organizations as customers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Carriers are going virtual to give enterprises more freedom

Starting carrier services like routing and security is getting faster and easier thanks to a new way of deploying them that doesn’t require specialized equipment at customer’s sites.The new approach, called virtualized business services, lets various carrier services run on standard infrastructure at either customer sites or service-provider facilities. Because the services are virtual, companies can order and change them quickly, and they won’t get locked into whatever capabilities come with a particular device.On Monday, Orange Business Services launched its virtualized network services program, called Easy Go Network. It joins AT&T, Verizon and other operators that are selling or developing such programs. Easy Go Network is available as a month-to-month subscription and its launch follows a year-long customer trial. Orange Business Services claims more than 3,000 multinational organizations as customers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

68% off Anker Astro E1 Ultra Compact High Speed Portable Charger – Deal Alert

This inexpensive smartphone charger from Anker is the size of a candy bar, and has enough juice to recharge any smartphone, including the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, at least 1-2 times over. It's discounted 68% to just $16, making it a good stocking-stuffer idea. The Astro E1 currently averages 4.5 out of 5 stars from over 4,300 people on Amazon (84% rate 5 stars: See reviews), and it's listed there as a #1 best-seller. See the attractively priced Anker Astro E1 charger now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

$13 million: That’s an early termination fee

Let’s call it a tiny little consolation prize for anyone who’s ever had to pay a carrier early-termination fee: U.S. Cellular had to pony up $13 million last quarter to buy its way out of a stadium naming rights agreement with the Chicago White Sox.From a Chicago Tribune report: Mortgage provider Guaranteed Rate recently bought the naming rights, and the ballpark's name officially changed earlier this week to Guaranteed Rate Field, from U.S. Cellular Field. The stadium originally was called Comiskey Park until U.S. Cellular bought the naming rights in 2003 in a deal that had been scheduled to run through 2028.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: New Relic delivers its infrastructure monitoring—and with that provides a broad platform

There’s an interesting thing happening in the IT monitoring space that is a reflection on broader trends happening in enterprise IT.Whereas in the past there was a fairly distinct line between application monitoring and infrastructure monitoring, that line is rapidly reducing. And the former application monitoring vendors are moving into the infrastructure space, while vendors that were focused on monitoring the status of servers and the like are increasingly giving the application side of the house more attention.+ Also on Network World: New Relic aims to be your dashboard of the future + The trend is, of course, a direct response to the DevOps movement—the idea that developers and operations teams need to work more closely (or, at the ultimate level, be essentially the same people). DevOps as an approach enables organizations to move faster, reduce their deployment times, innovate and reduce the risks involved in experimentation.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Young tech entrepreneurs inspired by hearts, minds, stomachs, and not necessarily in that order

There's nothing quite like an empty stomach to get the old creative juices flowing, as participants at last week's Babson College Rocket Pitch event explained during their 3-minute pitches before peers, investors and assorted people like myself.(I captured a handful of the presentations via Facebook Live, as seen in the saved video at the bottom of this post, for your viewing enjoyment...)To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Apple just removed hundreds of fake shopping apps from the App Store

Just in time for the holiday shopping season, the iOS App Store is seeing a deluge of fake shopping apps branding themselves with designer names in hopes of trapping gullible buyers. Apple is now stepping in to remove the counterfeit apps, which are sneaking in by changing the content after Apple’s approval or by resubmitting apps under different names and credentials after being outed as fraudulent.After reports of apps using reputable companies’ names to shill their fake wares in the App Store surfaced in the New York Times and New York Post, Apple removed hundreds of offenders. But hucksters keep coming back: The Times found that an app called Overstock Inc. was trying to convince shoppers that it was Overstock.com by selling clothes and Ugg boots. Apple killed the app, only to see it return the next day, because sketchy developers are finding new ways to bypass the company’s traditionally tough app review process.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Apple just removed hundreds of fake shopping apps from the App Store

Just in time for the holiday shopping season, the iOS App Store is seeing a deluge of fake shopping apps branding themselves with designer names in hopes of trapping gullible buyers. Apple is now stepping in to remove the counterfeit apps, which are sneaking in by changing the content after Apple’s approval or by resubmitting apps under different names and credentials after being outed as fraudulent.After reports of apps using reputable companies’ names to shill their fake wares in the App Store surfaced in the New York Times and New York Post, Apple removed hundreds of offenders. But hucksters keep coming back: The Times found that an app called Overstock Inc. was trying to convince shoppers that it was Overstock.com by selling clothes and Ugg boots. Apple killed the app, only to see it return the next day, because sketchy developers are finding new ways to bypass the company’s traditionally tough app review process.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft postpones Windows anti-exploit tool’s retirement

Microsoft last week announced that it would support the Enterprise Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET) through July 2018, a year-and-a-half extension for the anti-exploit utility.At the same time, the Redmond, Wash. company dismissed EMET as a behind-the-times tool, and again urged customers to upgrade to Windows 10, arguing that the new operating system is much more secure than previous editions when supplemented by EMET."EMET hasn't kept pace," wrote Jeffrey Sutherland, a Microsoft principal program manager lead, in a post to a company blog Nov. 3. "Its effectiveness against modern exploit kits has not been demonstrated, especially in comparison to the many security innovations built into Windows 10."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft postpones Windows anti-exploit tool’s retirement

Microsoft last week announced that it would support the Enterprise Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET) through July 2018, a year-and-a-half extension for the anti-exploit utility.At the same time, the Redmond, Wash. company dismissed EMET as a behind-the-times tool, and again urged customers to upgrade to Windows 10, arguing that the new operating system is much more secure than previous editions when supplemented by EMET."EMET hasn't kept pace," wrote Jeffrey Sutherland, a Microsoft principal program manager lead, in a post to a company blog Nov. 3. "Its effectiveness against modern exploit kits has not been demonstrated, especially in comparison to the many security innovations built into Windows 10."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Six big projects that went open-source

More code, more projectsMaking big software and hardware projects open-source is an increasingly popular thing to do, whether you’re a big company, a small company, or even the government. Here’s a sampling of the latest major projects to hit the open-source realm. Enjoy.Facebook’s VoyagerImage by FacebookTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Worth Reading: The Value of a Degree

This post is not a “People with degrees are better than others” post and is written from my perspective as a network architect. I do believe though that the skills I will describe here are applicable to all networking/IT jobs and will be even more relevant further down the road. Here is some of the value I see in a degree based on that you get a degree in a relevant discipline at a good university and that you have the willingness to learn. —Daniel’s Networking Blog

The post Worth Reading: The Value of a Degree appeared first on 'net work.