FBI: Bank robbery? There’s an app for that

The FBI today said it released a new application easier for the public—as well as financial institutions, law enforcement agencies, and others—to view photos and information about bank robberies in different geographic areas of the country.+More on Network World: The weirdest, wackiest and coolest sci/tech stories of 2016 (so far!)+The Bank Robbers application runs on iPhones and iPads (Apple iTunes) as well as Android smartphones (Google Play) and lets users sort bank robberies by the date they occurred, the category they fall under (i.e., armed serial bank robber), the FBI field office working the case, or the state where the robbery occurred.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Ericsson Uses Silicon Photonics to Virtualize Physical Ports

One of the hidden surprises in the HDS 8000.

EFF: Urge your alma mater to not feed the patent trolls

Maybe you, like me, did not even know that universities are selling patents secured by their employee researchers to patent trolls. Maybe you did.In either case, the Electronic Frontier Foundation is looking to curb this unproductive practice by harnessing the persuasive powers alumni. The EFF explains: When universities invent, those inventions should benefit everyone. Unfortunately, they sometimes end up in the hands of patent trolls, companies that serve no purpose but to amass patents and demand money from other innovators and inventors.Why are universities selling patents to trolls in the first place? Shouldn’t they sell their inventions to companies that will actually do something with them?To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

New battery technology could double capacities for consumer electronics

A startup called SolidEnergy says that it has developed a new design for a safe, rechargeable lithium metal battery, potentially revolutionizing energy storage for small devices like smartphones and wearables.Breakthroughs in materials science mean that former MIT post-doctoral student Qichao Hu’s company can produce batteries with double the energy density of current-generation lithium ion batteries. This means that they can either be twice as powerful as a lithium ion battery of equivalent size, or pack the same capability into a unit half as large, according to MIT News.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

One smart plug isn’t so bright when it comes to security

Smart sockets that let you control an electrical plug over the internet may sound cutting edge, but they can also be rife with security flaws.One such plug was found vulnerable to hacks. Security firm Bitdefender said that it could steal user email logins from the device, control it over the Internet, and potentially use the socket to launch other malware attacks. “This is a serious vulnerability, we could see botnets made up of these power outlets,” Alexandru Balan, chief security researcher at Bitdefender, said in a Thursday blog post.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

One smart plug isn’t so bright when it comes to security

Smart sockets that let you control an electrical plug over the internet may sound cutting edge, but they can also be rife with security flaws.One such plug was found vulnerable to hacks. Security firm Bitdefender said that it could steal user email logins from the device, control it over the Internet, and potentially use the socket to launch other malware attacks. “This is a serious vulnerability, we could see botnets made up of these power outlets,” Alexandru Balan, chief security researcher at Bitdefender, said in a Thursday blog post.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Pelican

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ZeroStack’s Private Cloud Can Ride on Dell & HPE

Another step toward a shrink-wrapped cloud.

SDxCentral Weekly News Roundup — August 19, 2016

Hewlett Packard Enterprise released new shared storage solutions.

Shared code in Snowden leaks and NSA breach support hackers’ claims

Documents leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden share a malware tracking code with several files released this week by hacking group Shadow Brokers, according to a news report.Shadow Brokers claimed they had hacked a cyberespionage team linked to the U.S. spy agency when they released a group of sample files earlier this week. Similarities between the Shadow Broker files and information in documents leaked by Snowden give credence to the claims by the anonymous hacking group.Fourteen files in the Shadow Brokers leak contain a 16-character string, "ace02468bdf13579," that NSA operatives used to track their use of one malware program, The Intercept reported Friday. That tracking string was described in an NSA manual for implanting malware originally leaked by Snowden, The Intercept reported.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Shared code in Snowden leaks and NSA breach support hackers’ claims

Documents leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden share a malware tracking code with several files released this week by hacking group Shadow Brokers, according to a news report.Shadow Brokers claimed they had hacked a cyberespionage team linked to the U.S. spy agency when they released a group of sample files earlier this week. Similarities between the Shadow Broker files and information in documents leaked by Snowden give credence to the claims by the anonymous hacking group.Fourteen files in the Shadow Brokers leak contain a 16-character string, "ace02468bdf13579," that NSA operatives used to track their use of one malware program, The Intercept reported Friday. That tracking string was described in an NSA manual for implanting malware originally leaked by Snowden, The Intercept reported.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How to Mitigate the Top 3 Risks of Cloud Migration

IT teams need to be aware of the factors that can derail a migration project.

Worth Reading: Hosts versus the network

There are a number of ways to view the relationship between hosts and the network in the Internet. One view is that this is an example of two sets of cooperating entities that share a common goal: hosts and the network both want content to be delivered. Both have an interest in seeing this delivery happen quickly, efficiently and without fuss. This leads to one view of the relationship between hosts and the network: the more the elements of the network provide the host with a description of their capabilities and connectivity, and the more the host provides the network with a description of the desired treatment of their traffic flow, the more harmonious the relationship, and the better the carriage service can attune its service response to match the host’s requirements, and vice versa. —Potaroo

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Linux Foundation Conquers the World, or at Least Becomes Quite Influential in SDN & NFV

The King Kong of SDN and NFV open source groups.

GE CIO Jim Fowler talks collaboration and IT transformation

General Electric's (GE) CIO isn't interested in picking a winner or loser when it comes to collaboration apps. Nor does he want to preclude any of GE's 333,000 employees from using the collaboration tools that work best for them. "Collaboration is a noisy space right now because there are so many different tools," Jim Fowler said during an interview this week at CIO.com's CIO 100 event in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. "I'm not going to get in the middle of it. I'd like to see how it works itself out on its own."  GE CIO Jim Fowler. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Best Deals of the Week, August 15-19 – Deal Alert

Best Deals of the Week, August 15-19 - Deal AlertCheck out this roundup of the best deals on gadgets, gear and other cool stuff we have found this week, the week of August 15th. All items are highly rated, and dramatically discounted!34% off Lumsing 5 Port 40W USB Charging Station, with Quick Charge PortInexpensive, highly rated and discounted. That's the situation with this Lumsing charging station. This compact device will be the central charging hub in your dorm room, kitchen, bedroom, etc, and can charge up to 5 devices simultaneously. It currently averages 4 out of 5 stars on Amazon from 900+ people (read reviews) and its list price of $29 has been reduced to $19.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Best Deals of the Week, August 15-19 – Deal Alert

Best Deals of the Week, August 15-19 - Deal AlertCheck out this roundup of the best deals on gadgets, gear and other cool stuff we have found this week, the week of August 15th. All items are highly rated, and dramatically discounted!34% off Lumsing 5 Port 40W USB Charging Station, with Quick Charge PortInexpensive, highly rated and discounted. That's the situation with this Lumsing charging station. This compact device will be the central charging hub in your dorm room, kitchen, bedroom, etc, and can charge up to 5 devices simultaneously. It currently averages 4 out of 5 stars on Amazon from 900+ people (read reviews) and its list price of $29 has been reduced to $19.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft announces Insider program for Visio on iPad

Microsoft announced it plans to launch its charting and diagramming app Visio on the iPad, and with it an Insider Program for users to get a chance to try out the app before it launches.Amazing how creative companies are at avoiding the word "beta."The company is looking for 2,000 Insiders, and in a break from its usual English-only Insider programs, Microsoft is supporting multiple languages this time: English, Chinese, French, German, Russian and Spanish.The program will run on all iPads, including iPad Mini and iPad Pro, that are capable of running iOS 9.0 or later, which basically means iPad third generation or later. Microsoft plans to roll out the first feature update around August or September.  To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Smartphone sales jump 4% in Q2, Gartner says

Global smartphone sales jumped 4.3% in the second quarter compared to a year ago, but iPhone sales declined for the third straight quarter, market research firm Gartner said today.Gartner’s figures for second-quarter smartphone growth were more optimistic than numbers reported by Strategy Analytics and Canalys recently. Both had reported modest growth of no more than 3% in smartphone shipments.IDC last month reported second-quarter shipments were flat, growing just 0.3%.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

macOS Sierra’s beta cadence points to October launch

Apple's macOS Sierra has been on a slower tempo of preview releases than last year's El Capitan, hinting that the upgrade will launch in October. macOS Sierra's release tempo of developer preview builds (in green) is about two weeks behind the 2015 timetable of El Capitan (in red), hinting at a later launch this year, perhaps around mid-October. Although Apple has been somewhat more transparent in its development process -- earlier this year it launched a new preview program for the Safari browser -- the Cupertino, Calif. company still does not publicly mark release dates on a calendar.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here