How Roomba & AWS Could Kick-Start Consumer IoT

You do want your home's floor plan stored in the cloud, right?

UNH SDN consortium promises interoperability testing, benchmarking

Looking to help business customers ensure their Software Defined Networking products and applications work and perform properly, the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL) this week said it would form consortium to perform controller and switch interoperability, conformance and benchmark testing. The Software-Defined Networking (SDN) Consortium expects to open for business August 1 and the 28,000 square foot lab will be working with Spirent Communications and Ixia to develop performance tests said Timothy Winters, UNH-IOL Senior Executive, Software and IP Networking.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

UNH SDN consortium promises interoperability testing, benchmarking

Looking to help business customers ensure their Software Defined Networking products and applications work and perform properly, the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL) this week said it would form consortium to perform controller and switch interoperability, conformance and benchmark testing. The Software-Defined Networking (SDN) Consortium expects to open for business August 1 and the 28,000 square foot lab will be working with Spirent Communications and Ixia to develop performance tests said Timothy Winters, UNH-IOL Senior Executive, Software and IP Networking.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft customizes Surface tablets for enterprises

Microsoft is doing new things with its Surface tablets, and hoping that enterprises will find a lot to like.The company is taking steps to tailor the tablets to the needs of enterprises. The goal of customization is to differentiate the Surface from look-alike products, and to tie devices closely to a company's operations."We're going to meet the enterprise on their terms," said Hayete Gallot, general manager of Microsoft Devices, in an interview with the IDG News Service.Surface tablets have been successful with consumers and professionals, and Microsoft is giving it an additional enterprise twist. The effort comes as companies look to upgrade to Windows 10 PCs, with tablet-laptop hybrids like Surface being popular replacements.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft reveals details of Windows 10 subscription model

It was always Microsoft's intention to turn Windows 10 into a cloud service with a monthly subscription attached, and now the company has rolled out details of its new subscriptions for enterprise customers, which will be introduced later this year. Microsoft made the announcement at the Worldwide Partner Conference currently taking place in Toronto. Starting this fall, the company will offer Windows 10 Enterprise E3 through its Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) network on a subscription basis at $7 per seat.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

New York driver crashes car into tree while playing Pokémon Go

A driver in New York state ran his car off the road and into a tree last night as a result of playing "Pokémon Go."Police in Auburn, a town near Syracuse in upstate New York, were called to a traffic accident shortly before 11 p.m."The driver admitted to actively playing the Pokémon Go game while driving causing him to become distracted and run off the roadway into a tree," the police said in a statement.The car was badly damaged in the accident and police say the driver is lucky he was not seriously injured."This is an example of how easily accidents can occur when someone is engaged in the game and not paying attention," the police said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Slideshow: Inside Facebook’s lab where it tests 2,000 phones at once

Facebook can test its code on 2,000 phones at onceImage by FacebookFacebook makes thousands of changes in its code every week. Any one of them could accidentally cause Facebook software to take up more data, memory or battery life on your phone. So the company tests code on more than 2,000 phones to account for different hardware models, operating systems and network connections.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft spices up Surface Hub with Azure cloud services

Microsoft's supersize Surface Hub is often viewed as a computer for videoconferencing and digital whiteboarding, but it is emerging as more than just the centerpiece of a conference room.The Surface Hub is a one-of-a-kind, all-in-one PC with a 55- or 84-inch screen that started shipping a few months back. The device provides new ways for users to present, exchange, share and manipulate data from the Azure cloud, said Hayete Gallot, general manager at Microsoft Devices.Users are still exploring ways in which it can be used. The large screen and collaborative features can be powerful tools in visualizing data extracted from the cloud, Gallot suggests.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Etisalat Chooses Arista and Ubuntu OpenStack for Its NFV Deployment

Etisalat says it wants to “cloudify the network”

Worth Reading: Who’s world is this?

On both sides of the Atlantic, we are witnessing the dramatic expansion of government hacking powers. In the United States, a proposed amendment to Rule 41 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure would permit the government to obtain a warrant, in certain circumstances, to hack unspecified numbers of electronic devices anywhere in the world. Meanwhile, across the pond, the British Parliament is currently debating the Investigatory Powers Bill, which (among many other things) would authorize the government to hack the devices of broad classes of people without geographic limitation. The exercise of these powers will have significant implications for the privacy and security of individuals around the world and therefore commands our attention. —Just Security

The post Worth Reading: Who’s world is this? appeared first on 'net work.

Save Hundreds On The Complete Linux System Administrator Bundle – Deal Alert

You don’t need a fancy college degree (and $100,000 in student debt) to land a tech job, as long as you can prove you’ve got the skills. And because Linux is such an in-demand skill, underlying everything from desktop performance to online security--it’s a great place to start. The Complete Linux System Administrator Bundle will more than get you up to speed, and it’s now only $69.Packed with over 100 hours of instruction, this bundle will help you dive into Linux, the popular open-source operating system. Throughout its 7 courses, you’ll make your way from Linux/Unix basics to more advanced concepts like penetration testing, bash scripting, and openSUSE system administration. With such a robust curriculum, this bundle has everything you need to become a Linux pro.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft touts $404 per user savings with Windows 10

Microsoft this week said enterprises and organizations could save up to $404 per employee over a three-year span by adopting Windows 10.That claim came from a company-commissioned analysis done by Forrester Research. After interviewing four Microsoft customers which have begun migrations from Windows 7 to Windows 10, Forrester created a hypothetical composite organization -- one with 24,000 Windows devices, and a large number of mobile workers among its 20,000 employees -- that it then used to model costs of rolling out Windows 10 and savings generated after the fact.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

26% off Miracle-Gro AeroGarden Bounty with Gourmet Herb Seed Pod Kit – Deal Alert

The Miracle-Grow AeroGarden, with room for 9 plants and 45 Watts of LED Lighting, the AeroGarden Bounty is the largest and most powerful AeroGarden to date. It comes with a Gourmet Herbs Seed Kit that will deliver fresh, flavorful herbs right at your fingertips. The easy-to-use Control Panel has an interactive LCD display that utilizes on screen prompts to guide you from set up to harvest. It automatically creates optimal conditions for your plants by turning the lights on and off and reminding you when to add water and our Specially Formulated Liquid Plant Food.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Samsung’s new UFS memory cards as fast as SSD drives

External storage cards that read more than five-times faster than normal microSD cards are being released by Samsung, the company announced.The cards, using the Universal Flash Storage (UFS) standard read at 530 megabytes per second. That read speed is comparable to SATA Solid State Drives or Disks (SSDs).Write speeds are about double the fastest microSD cards, with sequential write speeds of 170 megabytes per second, Samsung claims in a press release.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Google Glass takes flight at Boeing

Boeing, the largest aerospace company on the planet, builds a lot of planes. The organization manufactures aircraft for airlines and governments in more than 150 countries. And every one of those planes contains thousands of wires that connect its various electrical systems.These complex webs of wires don't weave themselves, and putting all the parts together is a monumental task. Each week, thousands of Boeing's U.S. workers construct "wire harnesses," or "people-size portions of the electrical systems" designed to help them join the various shapes and sizes of wires, according to Kyle Tsai, a research and development (R&D) engineer with Boeing Research and Technology (BRT), the company's central R&D organization. "Wire harnesses are very complex and very dense, and the technicians have to use what are, in essence, roadmaps to find the attachment points and connector pins," Tsai says. "There are so many that it can be information overload at times."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

TelePacific Expands Footprint with SD-WAN Pilot

SD-WAN allows the CLEC to expand without deploying a network.

33% off Logitech Z623 200 Watt 2.1 Home Speaker System – Deal Alert

The Z623 home speaker system has what Logitech describes as "200 watts of window-rattling power". Its THX certified audio is rich and loud with deep impressive bass. From music lovers to gamers, just plug in your gear and stand back as this compact system has no trouble filling the room and immersing everyone in it. The system has generated almost 3,000 reviews on Amazon, averaging 4.5 out of 5 stars (87% rate it 4+ stars -- read reviews). Amazon indicates that its typical list price of $149.99 has been reduced by a significant 33%, so you can buy the 200 watt 2.1 speaker system now on Amazon for $99.99.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How Facebook keeps you from hating its apps

An app has to do a lot of things for you to love it—and do only two things wrong to make you hate it: perform sluggishly and consume a lot of power.Facebook operations engineer Antoine Reversat revealed what Facebook does to prevent those two things and keep users from uninstalling its apps. He showed me the automated mobile testing lab, which has never before been disclosed to the public, that he designed and operates. The system automates testing of Facebook’s mobile apps, Messenger and Instagram for iOS and Android.Almost 2,000 Android and iOS smartphones are housed in 60 racks at Facebook’s Prineville, Oregon, data center. The standard-sized, specially designed racks hold 32 phones each, interconnected to a server. Linux servers interconnect Android phones, and Mac Minis interconnect iPhones. The phones are remotely controlled and monitored during the testing using an automated system that, like much of what Facebook does, will be open sourced for other mobile testers to use and contribute improvements.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Three popular Drupal modules get patches for site takeover flaws

The security team of the popular Drupal content management system worked with the maintainers of three third-party modules to fix critical vulnerabilities that could allow attackers to take over websites.The flaws allow attackers to execute rogue PHP code web servers that host Drupal websites with the RESTWS, Coder or Webform Multiple File Upload modules installed. These modules are not part of Drupal's core, but are used by thousands of websites.The RESTWS module is a popular tool for creating Rest application programming interfaces (APIs) and is currently installed on over 5,800 websites. Unauthenticated attackers can exploit the remote code execution vulnerability in its page callback functionality by sending specially crafted requests to the website.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Three popular Drupal modules get patches for site takeover flaws

The security team of the popular Drupal content management system worked with the maintainers of three third-party modules to fix critical vulnerabilities that could allow attackers to take over websites.The flaws allow attackers to execute rogue PHP code web servers that host Drupal websites with the RESTWS, Coder or Webform Multiple File Upload modules installed. These modules are not part of Drupal's core, but are used by thousands of websites.The RESTWS module is a popular tool for creating Rest application programming interfaces (APIs) and is currently installed on over 5,800 websites. Unauthenticated attackers can exploit the remote code execution vulnerability in its page callback functionality by sending specially crafted requests to the website.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here