Microsoft paces delivery of Windows 10 upgrades

If Microsoft orchestrates next month's Microsoft Windows 10 upgrade as it did 2016's mid-year Anniversary Update refresh, it will take about three months for the latest version to reach most eligible devices.According to advertising network AdDuplex, 60 days after the Aug. 2, 2016, introduction of Windows 10 1607 -- aka Anniversary Update -- just 35% of measured Windows 10 PCs were running the upgrade. By the 90-day mark, however, that number had soared to 80%, showing that Microsoft, after a purposefully slow start, had stomped on the update accelerator.[ Related: Windows 10 Redstone: A guide to the builds ] There has been no sign from Microsoft that Creators Update, the company's label for April's feature upgrade, will be deployed any differently.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Ignore that call from “Apple” about an iCloud breach

Earlier on Monday, my wife let me know that “Apple Support” had called about iCloud security. She was dubious, and rightly so. “Apple” then called five more times (and counting). Suffice it to say, it wasn’t Apple, but fraudsters trying to piggyback on reports that a major breach of iCloud credentials could render hundreds of millions of accounts vulnerable.Apple says no such breach occurred, and security researchers, like Troy Hunt of HaveIBeenPwned.com, say the group trying to extort Apple likely has reused credentials from other sites’ password leaks. (We recommend turning on two-factor authentication at iCloud regardless.)To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Ignore that call from “Apple” about an iCloud breach

Earlier on Monday, my wife let me know that “Apple Support” had called about iCloud security. She was dubious, and rightly so. “Apple” then called five more times (and counting). Suffice it to say, it wasn’t Apple, but fraudsters trying to piggyback on reports that a major breach of iCloud credentials could render hundreds of millions of accounts vulnerable.Apple says no such breach occurred, and security researchers, like Troy Hunt of HaveIBeenPwned.com, say the group trying to extort Apple likely has reused credentials from other sites’ password leaks. (We recommend turning on two-factor authentication at iCloud regardless.)To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How to respond to device and software backdoors inserted or left by vendors

It’s bad enough when black hat hackers insert malicious backdoors into systems and software after vendors/makers have sold these into the marketplace. It is another matter when the vendors who create these devices and programs unwittingly or purposely leave backdoors inside their products.With IHS forecasting an influx of 30.7 billion IoT devices by 2020 and 75.4 billion by 2025, additional products that could house vendor backdoors will flood the enterprise, multiplying the risks of these kinds of security holes.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

IDG Contributor Network: IoT-enabled Delta Gloves help you keep your workout resolutions

Did you resolve to workout more this year? If you're like many, that resolution didn't last.One way to improve and strengthen your resolve is to track your workouts. But manually tracking sessions is messy. How many drills were done? What weights were used? How well did you perform the exercises? Should any adjustments be made?To help, PureCarbon has created IoT-enabled Delta Gloves. They help you keep your exercise resolutions and improve your workouts.The Delta Gloves The challenge with monitoring exercise workouts is that they require small sensors with low power requirements and the ability to work without connectivity. PureCarbon’s Delta Gloves use piezoresistive sensors, Bluetooth and advanced data analytics to track weights lifted, exercises performed and the number of reps performed.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: What enterprises should take away from the CIA leak

The recent document leak detailing CIA spying campaigns and hacking techniques has fostered conversations and news stories on how to balance intelligence gathering with privacy, as well as discussions on the agency’s extensive spying capabilities. What hasn’t been discussed as much is what enterprises (and governments in one case) can learn from the WikiLeaks Vault 7 leak.To me, three key takeaways are that leaks can happen to any organization, figuring out what entity carried out an attack is difficult to do, and we’re in an era when nation-state weapons end up in the hands of criminals. Collectively, these development make practicing information security more complex than ever. Now, let’s explore each one in more detail.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: What enterprises should take away from the CIA leak

The recent document leak detailing CIA spying campaigns and hacking techniques has fostered conversations and news stories on how to balance intelligence gathering with privacy, as well as discussions on the agency’s extensive spying capabilities. What hasn’t been discussed as much is what enterprises (and governments in one case) can learn from the WikiLeaks Vault 7 leak.To me, three key takeaways are that leaks can happen to any organization, figuring out what entity carried out an attack is difficult to do, and we’re in an era when nation-state weapons end up in the hands of criminals. Collectively, these development make practicing information security more complex than ever. Now, let’s explore each one in more detail.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Use Optane Memory Like A Hyperscaler

The ramp for Intel’s Optane 3D XPoint memory, which sits between DDR4 main memory and flash or disk storage, or beside main memory, in the storage hierarchy, is going to shake up the server market. And maybe not in the ways that Intel and its partner, Micron Technology, anticipate.

Last week, Intel unveiled its first Optane 3D XPoint solid state cards and drives, which are now being previewed by selected hyperscalers and which will be rolling out in various capacities and form factors in the coming quarters. As we anticipated, and as Intel previewed last fall, the company is …

Use Optane Memory Like A Hyperscaler was written by Timothy Prickett Morgan at The Next Platform.

IDG Contributor Network: Automation rolls on. What are you doing about it?

The only constant in work is that work changes. It shifts. It pivots. It requires new skills, new training, new ideas. This has always been the case. But today, with everything becoming connected to the internet and digitization reshaping the definition of value in entire industries, the rate of change is increasing dramatically.In IT specifically, automation technology is driving a new wave of change, making many rote operations tasks that we’ve performed manually for decades a thing of the past. All of this is great news; after all, how many of us truly enjoy the laborious and time-intensive process of manually configuring and troubleshooting devices using Command Line Interface (CLI)?To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Automation rolls on. What are you doing about it?

The only constant in work is that work changes. It shifts. It pivots. It requires new skills, new training, new ideas. This has always been the case. But today, with everything becoming connected to the internet and digitization reshaping the definition of value in entire industries, the rate of change is increasing dramatically.In IT specifically, automation technology is driving a new wave of change, making many rote operations tasks that we’ve performed manually for decades a thing of the past. All of this is great news; after all, how many of us truly enjoy the laborious and time-intensive process of manually configuring and troubleshooting devices using Command Line Interface (CLI)?To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Remote working works. Here’s data that proves it

Traditionalists are notoriously hard sells. I don’t mean politically; I mean technologically.While remote working might not sound controversial, the ideological divides are clearly drawn.Over the past few years, Google, Yahoo and Best Buy have all made headlines with their “no remote working” policies. The most recent entry into this hardline approach is IBM. Just last month, CMO Michelle Peluso announced in a private video to marketing staff: Move on site, or move out.After 19 straight quarters of declining revenue, the decision to relocate their dispersed teams to one of six “strategic” offices is driven not just by the bottom line, but by an underlying assumption about what makes great teams great. As Peluso explained:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

802.11ay Wi-Fi: “It’s going to be a very scalable spec”

Peraso Technologies, one of the early players in 802.11ad (WiGig) gigabit wireless networking, is also readying for enhanced Wi-Fi technology called 802.11ay that promises higher speeds and greater reach. The Toronto-based company, whose semiconductors enable smartphones, tablets and other devices to exploit unlicensed 60 GHz wireless technology, is bullish on 11ay to support an even wider range of products than 11ad.  (See Also: Our FAQ on 802.11ay)To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

FAQ: What is 802.11ay wireless technology?

Products based on the IEEE 802.11ad (WiGig) standard have really only begun rolling out over the past year, but an effort to deliver an enhancement dubbed 802.11ay that promises to deliver faster and longer range W-Fi networks is gaining steam. Here’s the lowdown on this newest in the 802.11 WLAN series… I can’t believe I have another 802.11something-or-other to keep track of. Believe it. Though really think of 802.11ay as an enhancement of 11ad in the unlicensed 60 GHz millimeter wave band of spectrum, so it should be a pretty natural upgrade. And it could really be worth any trouble given potential speed and range improvements.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Canceling the OVS Cookbook Project

In my list of proposed 2017 projects, I mentioned that I wanted to launch an open source book project. In late February, I launched The Open vSwitch Cookbook, an unofficial—as in not formally affiliated with the Open vSwitch (OVS) project—effort to gather together OVS “recipes” into an open source book. Today, I’m shutting down that project, and here’s why.

It really comes down to wanting to be a better member of the OVS community. I honestly hadn’t anticipated that the OVS community might prefer that the information I was going to gather in these “recipes” be collected in the OVS documentation (which has undergone a tremendous transformation). Instead of creating yet another source of information for OVS, I’ll focus my efforts on expanding the upstream documentation. This will take some effort on my part—I’ll need to learn reStructuredText and spend some time understanding how the docs are organized now—but I think that it’s the better long-term option for the OVS community as a whole.

And what about my goal for launching an open source book project? I’ll continue to evaluate options on that front to see if it makes sense, and I’ll post here if and when something happens.

Apple releases iOS 10.3 for iPhone and iPad owners

After a steady dose of multiple betas, Apple today finally introduced a final version of iOS 10.3 for both iPhone and iPad users. While most iOS updates in between major numerical releases don't often bring much to the table, iOS 10.3 is certainly an exception. Most notably, iOS 10.3 introduces a new file system dubbed Apple File System -- or APFS for short -- which brings with it stronger encryption along with better optimization for accessing flash storage.That aside, there are more than  a few consumer-facing features that are worth checking out, including new animations when opening up an app and a new "Find My AirPods" feature for those who enjoy Apple's relatively new wireless headphones.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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