The 5 things I hate about CRM systems

This article was inspired by a post on Facebook by Ben Parr, former co-editor of Mashable. What he wrote hit a nerve with me—a nerve as raw as any of Lewis Black’s—evoking my tirade. Parr posted:  “Favorite CRM software and why?” I replied, “They all pretty much suck and have since Siebel Systems invented it.”Let’s start with platform companies like Google and Square Payments that do not generally use CRM systems and rarely use call centers. These companies understand that any CRM system will collapse at scale, so they build well-designed web-facing responsive self-service systems as part of the product design. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

DARPA hits snag in GEO satellite service plan

DARPA is going to have to contend with an Earth-bound problem if it is to get its plan to service satellites in geosynchronous orbit into space.The agency this week said it had picked Space Systems Loral (SSL) as its commercial partner to develop technologies under its Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites (RSGS) program that would enable cooperative inspection and servicing of satellites in geosynchronous orbit (GEO), more than 20,000 miles above the Earth, and demonstrate those technologies on orbit.+More on Network World: How to catch a 400lb drone traveling at full speed+To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

DARPA hits snag in GEO satellite service plan

DARPA is going to have to contend with an Earth-bound problem if it is to get its plan to service satellites in geosynchronous orbit into space.The agency this week said it had picked Space Systems Loral (SSL) as its commercial partner to develop technologies under its Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites (RSGS) program that would enable cooperative inspection and servicing of satellites in geosynchronous orbit (GEO), more than 20,000 miles above the Earth, and demonstrate those technologies on orbit.+More on Network World: How to catch a 400lb drone traveling at full speed+To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft celebrates 20 years of Visual Studio

Microsoft announced today it is celebrating 20 years of Visual Studio with the introduction of Visual Studio 2017, the latest iteration of its developer tool suite, on March 7.A lot has changed in those 20 years, as illustrated by a picture Microsoft posted of the contents of Visual Studio 97 (below), the first iteration of the IDE. Back then it was pretty much just a bunch of languages in one box with no real integration.  Microsoft And most of the languages supported back then are gone—such as Visual J++, a Java compiler that caused all kinds of legal problems with Sun Microsystems, and Visual C++, which has been ditched in favor of C#. Also, Visual FoxPro is pretty much dead, and the support apps, including SourceSafe and InterDev, have been replaced with newer apps or functions. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Worth Reading: Evolving LTE for 5G

With 5G research progressing at a rapid pace, the standardization process has started in 3GPP. As the most prevalent mobile broadband communication technology worldwide, LTE constitutes an essential piece of the 5G puzzle. As such, its upcoming releases (Rel-14 and Rel-15) are intended to meet as many 5G requirements as possible and address the relevant use cases expected in the 5G era. —Ericsson

The post Worth Reading: Evolving LTE for 5G appeared first on 'net work.

Android privacy assistant seeks to stop unwanted data collection

Not sure what your phone is collecting about you? A free Android app is promising to simplify the privacy settings on your smartphone, and stop any unwanted data collection.The English language app, called Privacy Assistant, comes from a team at Carnegie Mellon University, who’ve built it after six years of research studying digital privacy.  “It’s very clear that a large percentage of people are not willing to give their data to any random app,” said CMU professor Norman Sadeh. “They want to be more selective with their data, so this assistant will help them do that.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Android privacy assistant seeks to stop unwanted data collection

Not sure what your phone is collecting about you? A free Android app is promising to simplify the privacy settings on your smartphone, and stop any unwanted data collection.The English language app, called Privacy Assistant, comes from a team at Carnegie Mellon University, who’ve built it after six years of research studying digital privacy.  “It’s very clear that a large percentage of people are not willing to give their data to any random app,” said CMU professor Norman Sadeh. “They want to be more selective with their data, so this assistant will help them do that.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

5G wireless goes legit: It has an official logo

5G wireless is already being hyped by AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon as their next-gen tech trials get underway, even though the term is often taken more lightly by industry observers (including us), who tone it down as just a marketing term. The 3GPP (3rd generation partnership project), which oversees cellular communications standards, has now taken a step to further rein in 5G marketing before it really gets out of hand by establishing an official logo for it that comes with some rules.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft lawsuit against indefinite gag orders can proceed

A Microsoft lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice over indefinite gag orders attached to search warrants can proceed, following a federal judge’s ruling on Thursday.The tech titan sued last year to end the government’s practice of indefinitely blocking it from informing customers of search warrants for their information. Microsoft alleged that such orders violate its First Amendment frees speech rights and the Fourth Amendment privacy rights of its users.The Justice Department argued that Microsoft couldn’t bring either of the claims in a motion argued in front of the judge two weeks ago.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft lawsuit against indefinite gag orders can proceed

A Microsoft lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice over indefinite gag orders attached to search warrants can proceed, following a federal judge’s ruling on Thursday.The tech titan sued last year to end the government’s practice of indefinitely blocking it from informing customers of search warrants for their information. Microsoft alleged that such orders violate its First Amendment frees speech rights and the Fourth Amendment privacy rights of its users.The Justice Department argued that Microsoft couldn’t bring either of the claims in a motion argued in front of the judge two weeks ago.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Intel works on next-generation Optane SSD, memory technologies

"Every gamer is going to want to have 3D Xpoint. Every single gamer."Those were words from Intel's CEO Brian Krzanich when updating investors on the company's Optane technology, which the chipmaker believes could ultimately replace SSDs and DRAM in PCs and servers.Intel is now shipping the first-generation Optane but is also working on next-generation technologies as looks to increase density in this new class of storage and memory.Intel says Optane is significantly denser and faster than SSDs and DRAM. It is based on a technology called 3D Xpoint, co-developed with Micron.The chipmaker looks at Optane as the Moore's Law of storage. With future generations, Intel wants to make the memory smaller, denser and cheaper, and that's driving the development of Optane.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IT and C-level leaders point fingers at each other over cyber defense

IT managers disagree with chief executives over who is responsible for a cyber security breach, according to a survey released Thursday.The survey -- of a group of 221 chief executive officers and other C-level executives and another group of 984 IT decision makers -- found that each group largely believes the other group is responsible in the event of a breach.In the survey, 35% of C-level respondents said IT teams would be responsible in a breach, while 50% of IT leaders think that responsibility rests with their senior managers.Also, IT managers estimate a single cyber attack will cost their business nearly twice what top-level executives estimate. The IT managers put the cost of a single attack at $19 million, compared to the C-suite estimate of about $11 million.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IT and C-level leaders point fingers at each other over cyber defense

IT managers disagree with chief executives over who is responsible for a cyber security breach, according to a survey released Thursday.The survey -- of a group of 221 chief executive officers and other C-level executives and another group of 984 IT decision makers -- found that each group largely believes the other group is responsible in the event of a breach.In the survey, 35% of C-level respondents said IT teams would be responsible in a breach, while 50% of IT leaders think that responsibility rests with their senior managers.Also, IT managers estimate a single cyber attack will cost their business nearly twice what top-level executives estimate. The IT managers put the cost of a single attack at $19 million, compared to the C-suite estimate of about $11 million.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How DevOps, agile spurred Slack enterprise adoption

If Jennifer Manry has her way bots will automate much of the repetitive and onerous workplace activities that consume her Capital One colleagues' time and effort. But until then the bank's vice president of workforce technology is busy helping 40,000 employees get more comfortable with new software from Slack, which allows corporate workers to instant message each other and share documents, files and other content.Capital One deployed Slack in mid-2016 and it quickly become the preferred tool for the IT department, which is embracing agile software development and DevOps principles that require close collaboration between software developers and product managers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Intel: Cannonlake will be more than 15 percent faster than Kaby Lake

Upgrading CPU performance hasn't been a priority for Intel in many years, but that could be changing.Intel's upcoming Cannonlake chips will deliver a performance improvement of more than 15 percent compared to its Kaby Lake chips, said Venkata Renduchintala, president of the Intel Client and Internet of Things businesses and Systems Architecture Group.Intel didn't provide exact numbers at the company's annual investor day Thursday, but the projection is based on the SysMark benchmark. Detailed performance improvement numbers will emerge over time.The performance improvements from Skylake to Kaby Lake topped out at 15 percent. The CPU performance boost for Cannonlake should be at least that, Intel said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cray Outpaces HPC Market, Books Historic Quarter

It is hard to tell which part of the systems market is lumpier – that for traditional HPC systems like supercomputers or that for massive cluster deployments for the hyperscalers that run public clouds and public facing applications on a massive scale. But what we do know for sure is that the HPC market is slowing down, and that the bellwether for that market, Cray, is doing better than that market according to its latest financial results.

Despite the softness in the traditional HPC market for clusters to run simulations and models (partly driven by the political climates around the …

Cray Outpaces HPC Market, Books Historic Quarter was written by Timothy Prickett Morgan at The Next Platform.

38% Apple USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter – Deal Alert

This Original OEM Apple USB Lightning Cable For iPhone connects your iPhone, iPad, or iPod with Lightning connector to your computer's USB port for syncing and charging or to the Apple USB Power Adapter for convenient charging from a wall outlet. Its typical list price of $79 has been reduced 38% to just $49. See it now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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