The first step in a digital transformation strategy

Virtually all digital transformation strategies focus on the network edge, as the goal is to enable agility and autonomy where technology and business meet. This edge is composed of internal and external users and their devices on the wireless network, as well as those who may interface over the Internet via VPN or even through mobile apps or websites that facilitate users. + Also on Network World: 3 telltale signs it's a real digital transformation + The focus on the edge has changed significantly as business explore customer and employee engagement, the Internet of Things, and the integration of layers of business intelligence and analytics over the top. Multidisciplinary teams are now needed to ensure there is alignment between the business and IT, and full participation is required to get the right requirements up front. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The first step in a digital transformation strategy

Virtually all digital transformation strategies focus on the network edge, as the goal is to enable agility and autonomy where technology and business meet. This edge is composed of internal and external users and their devices on the wireless network, as well as those who may interface over the Internet via VPN or even through mobile apps or websites that facilitate users. + Also on Network World: 3 telltale signs it's a real digital transformation + The focus on the edge has changed significantly as business explore customer and employee engagement, the Internet of Things, and the integration of layers of business intelligence and analytics over the top. Multidisciplinary teams are now needed to ensure there is alignment between the business and IT, and full participation is required to get the right requirements up front. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Network check-ups critically important to a business’ health

It’s best practice that every year we see our primary care doctor for a full physical exam. According to the CDC, regular health check-ups can help find problems before they start and improve the chances of treatment and recovery from illnesses. So, with just an annual exam, we should be in great shape, right? Most Americans, of all ages, are in poorer health when compared to their counterparts in comparable countries. So, where’s the disconnect, and what lessons can those of us in the technology industry take away?To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Network check-ups critically important to a business’ health

It’s best practice that every year we see our primary care doctor for a full physical exam. According to the CDC, regular health check-ups can help find problems before they start and improve the chances of treatment and recovery from illnesses. So, with just an annual exam, we should be in great shape, right? Most Americans, of all ages, are in poorer health when compared to their counterparts in comparable countries. So, where’s the disconnect, and what lessons can those of us in the technology industry take away?To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: An API recipe for the disruption of traditional industries

The use of APIs is a good indicator of an enterprise’s ability to adapt to the digital needs of customers. APIs are at the heart of a business’ ability to develop products faster, seamlessly integrate data systems, and extend their reach to new partners and other value co-creators.Business readiness for digital You can often tell a business’ API readiness just by looking at their website. If they have an online chat system for customers to reach out, offer email or white paper downloads, have an intuitive, engaging design, and offer some way to contact them via mobile devices, chances are they are at least taking steps towards being digitally ready.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: How IoT faded when net neutrality became ‘pay to play’

It’s 2020, and the Internet of Things (IoT) is in decline. What happened? People whisper that it started in 2017 when net neutrality was killed.In the spirit of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, here’s what may unfold if net neutrality becomes "pay to play."Loss of net neutrality: The beginning The regulations were changed with the promise of providing "better" internet access. Internet carriers were given free rein to charge what they liked for traffic on their networks. “Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty carriers are free to rule at last,” exclaimed Bill Paider, a fictional carrier executive paraphrasing Martin Luther King Jr. "We've even published a Carrier Code of Conduct to guide our improved public service!"To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Smart buildings start with awareness

I want to work in an energy-efficient smart building. It would have advanced energy systems that would ensure no watt gets wasted. It would have lighting, like my fridge, that would magically turn off when unneeded, and doors that would reliably swish open Star Trek-style when and only when appropriate.Unfortunately, most buildings aren’t like that today. The majority of commercial buildings are relatively barbaric with primitive infrastructure oblivious to its purpose or costs. Far too often, building managers lack basic visibility into the infrastructure they are responsible for.+ Also on Network World: How IoT with bio-mimicry reduces indoor air pollution + However, times have changed, and today it’s appropriate to be green, although the interpretation of “green” ranges from environmental to financial motivations. Of course, a building with smart infrastructure might not always be viable. Renters wouldn’t want to pay for the upgrades. And, as long as infrastructure is otherwise working, it might not be green at all to replace it. A better option could be to focus on visibility.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

7 things Microsoft left out of Windows 10

As usual in the tech industry, not everything that’s previewed by a vendor shows up in the final product. That’s what happened with the latest update to Windows 10, the Creators Update, which was released last month. Microsoft showed off some big changes and some smaller tweaks in its Insider Previews that are nowhere to be found in the Creators Update.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 4 is coming in phones midyear

If you hate waiting for your smartphone to charge, relief is coming soon.After some hiccups, Qualcomm's superfast charging technology, called Quick Charge 4, will be in smartphones around the middle of this year.Qualcomm says Quick Charge 4 is one of the fastest smartphone battery technologies. It can charge a smartphone up to 50 percent in less than 15 minutes, or give enough juice for five hours of talk time in five minutes, the chip maker claims.The new charging technology is about 20 percent faster than its predecessor, Quick Charge 3, which is in many smartphones from Sony, LG, HTC and Motorola.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Hot jobs of the future

"Roughly 50 percent of all the jobs on the planet will disappear by the year 2025," predicts futurist Thomas Frey, founder of the DaVinci Institute think tank.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

12 top tech fields of the future

Top jobsImage by ThinkstockTech jobs of the future will include programmers, analysts, application and system developers, database and network administrators, engineers, designers, architects, scientists, researchers, statisticians, specialists, project and system managers, system and data integrators, technicians and tech support, quality controllers, trainers, and consultants in each of the following 12 areas. (Read the full story: Hot jobs of the future.)To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

12 top tech fields of the future

Top jobsImage by ThinkstockTech jobs of the future will include programmers, analysts, application and system developers, database and network administrators, engineers, designers, architects, scientists, researchers, statisticians, specialists, project and system managers, system and data integrators, technicians and tech support, quality controllers, trainers, and consultants in each of the following 12 areas. (Read the full story: Hot jobs of the future.)To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Echo Discounted 17% With This Rare Deal From Amazon – Deal Alert

You can pick up Amazon Echo for $30 below list price right now with this rare deal from Amazon. Amazon Echo is a hands-free speaker you control with your voice. Echo connects to the Alexa Voice Service to play music, provide information, news, sports scores, weather, and more—instantly. All you have to do is ask. Echo has seven microphones and beam forming technology so it can hear you from across the room—even while music is playing. Echo is also an expertly tuned speaker that can fill any room with 360° immersive sound. When you want to use Echo, just say the wake word “Alexa” and Echo responds instantly. If you have more than one Echo or Echo Dot, Alexa responds intelligently from the Echo you're closest to with ESP (Echo Spatial Perception). Echo's typical list price is $179.99, but it's been reduced $30, at least for now, to $149.99.  See the Amazon Echo on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Hacker dumps, magnet links, and you

In an excellent post pointing out Wikileaks deserves none of the credit given them in the #MacronLeaks, the author erroneously stated that after Archive.org took down the files, that Wikileaks provided links to a second archive. This is not true. Instead, Wikileaks simply pointed to what's known as "magnet links" of the first archive. Understanding magnet links is critical to understanding all these links and dumps, so I thought I'd describe them.

The tl;dr version is this: anything published via BitTorrent has a matching "magnet link" address, and the contents can still be reached via magnet links when the original publisher goes away.


In this case, the leaker uploaded to "archive.org", a popular Internet archiving resource. This website allows you to either download files directly, which is slow, or via peer-to-peer using BitTorrent, which is fast. As you know, BitTorrent works by all the downloaders exchanging pieces with each other, rather getting them from the server. I give you a piece you don't have, in exchange for a piece I don't have.

BitTorrent, though still requires a "torrent" (a ~30k file that lists all the pieces) and a "tracker" (http://bt1.archive.org:6969/announce) that keeps a list Continue reading

Using a Makefile with Markdown Documents

It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of using Markdown (specifically, MultiMarkdown) for the vast majority of all the text-based content that I create. Over the last few years, I’ve created used various tools and created scripts to help “reduce the friction” involved with outputting Markdown source files into a variety of destination formats (HTML, RTF, or DOCX, for example). Recently, thanks to Cody Bunch, I was pointed toward the use of a Makefile to assist in this area. After a short period of experimentation, I’m finding that I really like this workflow, and I wanted to share some details here with my readers.

First, if you’re not familiar with make and its use of a Makefile, check out this introduction. There’s a ton of power and flexibility here, of which I’ve only scratched the surface so far. The basic gist behind a Makefile is that it provides a set of instructions to the make command. Each set of instructions is tied to a target, which has one or more dependencies. In the “traditional” use cases for make, this is to allow programmers to define how a set of files should be compiled as well Continue reading

iPhone 8 Rumor Rollup: Tim Cook cites rumors; LTE shortfall; envisioning a function area

If you think you’re sick of the iPhone 8 rumors, pity Apple CEO Tim Cook, who acknowledged during a Q&A following the company’s earnings results announcement this past week that “earlier and much more frequent reports about future iPhones” did in fact “pause” purchases of current models.451 Research, issuing smartphone demand survey findings this week, concurred with Cook's assessment, noting that while Apple remains the preferred manufacturer among planned smartphone buyers surveyed, much fewer of them are planning purchases in the next 90 days as they anticipate iPhone 7s, iPhone 7s Plus and possibly a 10th-anniversary premium phone. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

iPhone 8 Rumor Rollup: Tim Cook cites rumors; LTE shortfall; envisioning a function area

If you think you’re sick of the iPhone 8 rumors, pity Apple CEO Tim Cook, who acknowledged during a Q&A following the company’s earnings results announcement this past week that “earlier and much more frequent reports about future iPhones” did in fact “pause” purchases of current models.451 Research, issuing smartphone demand survey findings this week, concurred with Cook's assessment, noting that while Apple remains the preferred manufacturer among planned smartphone buyers surveyed, much fewer of them are planning purchases in the next 90 days as they anticipate iPhone 7s, iPhone 7s Plus and possibly a 10th-anniversary premium phone. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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