Microsoft awarded patent for multiple folding phone

There have been several efforts on the part of handset makers to create a folding device, so the large chocolate bar design of the phone will fit more easily in the pocket. Well, Microsoft has one-upped them with a patent for a mobile device that can be unfolded not once, but twice—turning it into a tablet-style device.The company initially filed the patent application Oct. 16, 2014, and was awarded the patent (US 9,541,962 B2) by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on Jan. 10, 2017. The news was first spotted by MSPoweruser. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Docker for Windows Server and Image2Docker

In December we had a live webinar focused on Windows Server Docker containers. We covered a lot of ground and we had some great feedback – thanks to all the folks who joined us. This is a brief recap of the session, which also gives answers to the questions we didn’t get round to.

Webinar Recording

You can view the webinar on YouTube:

The recording clocks in at just under an hour. Here’s what we covered:

• 00:00 Introduction
• 02:00 Docker on Windows Server 2016
• 05:30 Windows Server 2016 technical details
• 10:30 Hyper-V and Windows Server Containers
• 13:00 Docker for Windows Demo – ASP.NET Core app with SQL Server
• 25:30 Additional Partnerships between Docker, Inc. and Microsoft
• 27:30 Introduction to Image2Docker
• 30:00 Demo – Extracting ASP.NET Apps from a VM using Image2Docker
• 52:00 Next steps and resources for learning Docker on Windows

Q&A

Can these [Windows] containers be hosted on a Linux host?

No. Docker containers use the underlying operating system kernel to run processes, so you can’t mix and match kernels. You can only run Windows Docker images on Windows, and Linux Docker images on Linux.

However, with an upcoming release to the Windows network stack, you will be Continue reading

Think employers must protect workers’ personal info? Think again

There’s good news for security pros worried that their organizations may be liable if their employees’ personal information gets hacked: a panel of judges in Pennsylvania says workers can’t collect damages from their employer if things like Social Security numbers, bank account information, birth dates, addresses and salaries are compromised in a data breach.Even though the stolen data was used to file phony tax returns in order to get the refunds, the workers at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) had no reasonable expectation that the data would be safe, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania ruled recently.The case, known as in Dittman v. UPMC, pertains solely to employee records, not customer records, and not patient records, which are protected by HIPAA.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Think employers must protect workers’ personal info? Think again

There’s good news for security pros worried that their organizations may be liable if their employees’ personal information gets hacked: a panel of judges in Pennsylvania says workers can’t collect damages from their employer if things like Social Security numbers, bank account information, birth dates, addresses and salaries are compromised in a data breach.Even though the stolen data was used to file phony tax returns in order to get the refunds, the workers at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) had no reasonable expectation that the data would be safe, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania ruled recently.The case, known as in Dittman v. UPMC, pertains solely to employee records, not customer records, and not patient records, which are protected by HIPAA.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The Essence Of Multi-Threaded Applications

In the prior two articles in this series, we have gone through the theory behind programming multi-threaded applications, with the management of shared memory being accessed by multiple threads, and of even creating those threads in the first place. Now, we need to put one such multi-threaded application together and see how it works. You will find that the pieces fall together remarkably easily.

If we wanted to build a parallel application using multiple threads, we would likely first think of one where we split up a loop amongst the threads. We will be looking at such later in a …

The Essence Of Multi-Threaded Applications was written by Timothy Prickett Morgan at The Next Platform.

SDxE: Engineer Focused

As an engineer, you’ve probably asked yourself a thousand times—what does all this software defined stuff mean for me? Answers are out there, of course; it seems like everyone is writing about it. Some of the answers out there are even useful, of course, but some of them are not. Most folks writing about the software defined craze are either unrealistic, or they’re focused on the large scale network you probably aren’t working on. Which leaves the question lingering: how does software defined apply to me?

SDxE—Software Defined Enterprise—is a new show designed to answer those questions for the engineer. I’ll be there; the full schedule isn’t in place, but I am currently pulling together a panel about the end of the (appliance) router. I plan to have folks from Cumulus, 6Wind, and at least one independent expert (Jeff Tantsura), sitting down to chat with me about disaggregation and the future of the router market. Specifically, are the tools in place that will allow you, the average engineer, running the “average” “enterprise” network, to take advantage of disaggregation?

Shawn Zandi will be there discussing the LinkedIn data center, and Pete Lumbis will be there talking about network automation. Continue reading

AI should enhance, not replace, humans, say CEOs of IBM and Microsoft

Artificial intelligence should enhance human workers, not replace them, at least according to the CEOs of IBM and Microsoft.Ginny Rometty and Satya Nadella made clear their view of the role of AI in a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, just a few hours after Rometty circulated IBM's three guiding principles for the development of cognitive technologies to company staff.Less dramatic and snappily expressed than Isaac Asimov's three laws of robotics, IBM's three principles are nevertheless intended to limit the harm the introduction of AI technologies causes.The first thing to understand is the purpose of these technologies. For IBM, Rometty said, "it will not be man or machine: Our purpose is to augment and be in service of what humans do."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Walmart Gets a New CIO as It Shifts to E-Commerce

Walmart’s new CIO, along with its Walmart Labs Division, will shift the company's focus to e-commerce.

Report: Samsung probe blames Galaxy Note7 fires on faulty batteries

After months of recalls, scares, and device-killing software updates, Samsung is finally ready to reveal the results of its investigation into the exploding Galaxy Note7s. According to a report from Reuters, the electronics giant will detail its findings on Jan. 23, and to the surprise of no one, it has concluded that the battery is the culprit.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Qualcomm Report Touts 5G as a Trillion-Dollar Opportunity and Job Creator

5G will create 22 million jobs and $12.3 trillion in global sales activity by 2035.

Deep Learning Startup Neurala Raises $14M

That whole AI-on-a-GPU idea? Neurala was trying it in 2006.

Public Spectrum for Public Access

Sensitive access tokens and keys found in hundreds of Android apps

Many developers still embed sensitive access tokens and API keys into their mobile applications, putting data and other assets stored on various third-party services at risk.A new study performed by cybersecurity firm Fallible on 16,000 Android applications revealed that about 2,500 had some type of secret credential hard-coded into them. The apps were scanned with an online tool released by the company in November.Hard-coding access keys for third-party services into apps can be justified when the access they provide is limited in scope. However, in some cases, developers include keys that unlock access to sensitive data or systems that can be abused.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Sensitive access tokens and keys found in hundreds of Android apps

Many developers still embed sensitive access tokens and API keys into their mobile applications, putting data and other assets stored on various third-party services at risk.A new study performed by cybersecurity firm Fallible on 16,000 Android applications revealed that about 2,500 had some type of secret credential hard-coded into them. The apps were scanned with an online tool released by the company in November.Hard-coding access keys for third-party services into apps can be justified when the access they provide is limited in scope. However, in some cases, developers include keys that unlock access to sensitive data or systems that can be abused.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft’s first tethered Windows 10 VR headsets to ship in March

Microsoft will ship its first PC-attached mixed reality headsets for Windows 10 PCs to developers starting in March at the Game Developers Conference.The first Windows 10 VR headsets from Microsoft will be units for developers to write and test applications based on the Windows Holographic platform.The headsets will work with Windows 10 Creators Update, said Vlad Kolesnikov, senior program manager at Microsoft, during a webcast on Friday.GDC is being held from Feb. 27 to March 3 in San Francisco.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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Baidu Hires Former Microsoft AI Specialist Qi Lu

Baidu ramps up its pursuit of AI.

Terrorists are winning the digital arms race, experts say

Terrorist groups are embracing a huge number of digital tools to recruit members and plan attacks, putting them a step ahead of governments trying to combat them, a group of counterterrorism experts said.Twitter removed about 250,000 accounts connected with ISIS in one year, but the terrorist group uses 90 other social media platforms, Rob Wainwright, the director of Europol said Tuesday. Terrorist groups have begun to live stream their attacks, and they are using the internet to launch "innovative crowdfunding" campaigns, he said at the World Economic Forum in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland."The technology is advanced," Wainwright added. "They know what to do, and they know how to use it."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Terrorists are winning the digital arms race, experts say

Terrorist groups are embracing a huge number of digital tools to recruit members and plan attacks, putting them a step ahead of governments trying to combat them, a group of counterterrorism experts said.Twitter removed about 250,000 accounts connected with ISIS in one year, but the terrorist group uses 90 other social media platforms, Rob Wainwright, the director of Europol said Tuesday. Terrorist groups have begun to live stream their attacks, and they are using the internet to launch "innovative crowdfunding" campaigns, he said at the World Economic Forum in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland."The technology is advanced," Wainwright added. "They know what to do, and they know how to use it."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Endpoint Security in 2017

Just a few years ago, there were about 6 to 10 well regarded AV vendors that dominated the market.  Fast forward to 2017 and my colleague Doug Cahill and I are currently tracking around 50 endpoint security vendors. Why has this market changed so much in such a short timeframe?  New types of targeted threats regularly circumvented signature-based AV software over the past few years.  This weakness led to system compromises, data breaches, and panicky CISOs in search of AV alternatives.  This in turn persuaded the fat cats on Sand Hill Rd. to throw VC dollars at anything that hinted at endpoint security innovation.Okay, I get the need for more than signature-based AV but there simply isn’t room in the market for 50 endpoint security vendors.  Thus, it’s safe to assume a lot of M&A activity and outright business failures this year. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here