How career mobility programs improve retention

New research from HR executive network and research firm Future Workplace reveals that companies are increasingly investing in career mobility programs to improve employee engagement, productivity and teamwork.The Future Workplace Forecast: Navigating the Future of Work surveyed 2,147 global HR leaders and hiring managers and highlighted an emerging trend: Employers are offering internal career mobility opportunities to allow employees to "test drive" new roles and prepare them for the future workplace, according to the research.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Why a cross-platform Microsoft is good for your business

Microsoft has joined the Linux Foundation as a Platinum member. Google is joining not just the .NET foundation but the steering committee, alongside RedHat and Samsung, which is supporting .NET code on all of its Tizen devices, from smart TVs to wearables and IoT devices, running on ARM. The preview of SQL Server on Linux is ready for IT teams to try out and it has key security and data warehouse features, not just the basics. A version of Microsoft’s premier development tool, Visual Studio, has even come to Mac OS.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

Generating Documentation for TypeScript Projects

Documentation for JavaScript projects has traditionally been generated via annotations inserted as code comments. While this gets the job done, it seems far from ideal. In this post, I’ll explore how to use TypeScript to generate documentation from source code alone.

CC BY-SA 2.0 image by David Joyner

TypeScript is JavaScript with optional types. Here’s a simple example:

// Sends some data to some analytics endpoint
function sendAnalyticsJS(data) {  
  if (typeof data.type !== 'string') {
    throw new Error('The `type` property is required')
  }

  navigator.sendBeacon('/beacon', JSON.stringify(data))
}


// Results in run-time error
//    The `type` property is required
sendAnalyticsJS({ foo: 'bar' })

The JavaScript code will result in a run-time error. This is fine if the developer catches it early, but it would be better if the developer were warned as the bug was introduced. Here’s the same code written using TypeScript:

// Describe the shape of the data parameter
interface IAnalyticsData {  
  // Type is required
  type: string
  // All other fields are fair game
  [propName: string]: string
}


// We don’t particularly need the data.type check here since
// the compiler will stamp out the majority of those cases.
function sendAnalytics(data: IAnalyticsData) {  
  if  Continue reading

Trump to attack visas that ‘undercut the American worker’

President-elect Donald Trump on Monday sent out the strongest signal yet that the H-1B visa program is going get real scrutiny once he takes office.Trump listed five executive actions he plans to take on his first day in office. They  include asking the Department of Labor to investigate "all abuses of the visa programs that undercut the American worker."Trump did not get into details and didn't specifically mention the H-1B visa, but his intent is clear. During the campaign, he was critical of the H-1B visa program and invited displaced IT workers from Disney to speak at his rallies. He said the visa is being used to undercut workers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Trump appoints critics of net neutrality rules to FCC transition team

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has appointed two opponents of current net neutrality rules to his team charged with overseeing the transition in the Federal Communications Commission.The FCC voted in February last year by 3-2 to reclassify broadband as a regulated, common-carrier service, thus prohibiting providers from selectively blocking or throttling or offering paid prioritization of traffic. The new president, who will be sworn in January, will likely undo some of the policies in the 2015 Open Internet Order, as both his nominees to the transition team - Jeff Eisenach and Mark Jamison – have previously opposed the new FCC rules.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Trump appoints critics of net neutrality rules to FCC transition team

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has appointed two opponents of current net neutrality rules to his team charged with overseeing the transition in the Federal Communications Commission.The FCC voted in February last year by 3-2 to reclassify broadband as a regulated, common-carrier service, thus prohibiting providers from selectively blocking or throttling or offering paid prioritization of traffic. The new president, who will be sworn in January, will likely undo some of the policies in the 2015 Open Internet Order, as both his nominees to the transition team - Jeff Eisenach and Mark Jamison – have previously opposed the new FCC rules.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Who has the most impact in driving security advancement?

Depending on the size of the organization, the person who has the most impact on driving security advancement could be a C-level or board member, but non-executive administrators, and sometimes the one man IT/security show is the person paving the path.Whoever it is, every business needs someone who makes security not only a line item on the budget but also a part of the overall culture. More often than not, though, organizations prioritize security for one of two reasons.Josh Feinblum, vice president of information security at Rapid7 said,"Companies that care about security have either a progressive leadership team that believes it is important, or it is a company that has gone through a major event."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Who has the most impact in driving security advancement?

Depending on the size of the organization, the person who has the most impact on driving security advancement could be a C-level or board member, but non-executive administrators, and sometimes the one man IT/security show is the person paving the path.Whoever it is, every business needs someone who makes security not only a line item on the budget but also a part of the overall culture. More often than not, though, organizations prioritize security for one of two reasons.Josh Feinblum, vice president of information security at Rapid7 said,"Companies that care about security have either a progressive leadership team that believes it is important, or it is a company that has gone through a major event."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Beware of fake apps and bad Wi-Fi hotspots while shopping by mobile phone

Black Friday and Cyber Monday holiday shoppers using smartphones should beware of fake commerce apps and fake Wi-Fi hot spots inside malls, two security firms have warned.Hackers use these fakes to grab account numbers and sensitive personal information."Cyber criminals are increasing our risk of using mobile devices while shopping, whether it is Black Friday or Cyber Monday," warned Brian Duckering, mobility strategist for Skycure, an enterprise security firm, in a blog. "Going to physical stores and connecting to risky Wi-Fi networks, or shopping online both pose increasing risks we should all be aware of."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Beware of fake apps and bad Wi-Fi hotspots while shopping by mobile phone

Black Friday and Cyber Monday holiday shoppers using smartphones should beware of fake commerce apps and fake Wi-Fi hot spots inside malls, two security firms have warned.Hackers use these fakes to grab account numbers and sensitive personal information."Cyber criminals are increasing our risk of using mobile devices while shopping, whether it is Black Friday or Cyber Monday," warned Brian Duckering, mobility strategist for Skycure, an enterprise security firm, in a blog. "Going to physical stores and connecting to risky Wi-Fi networks, or shopping online both pose increasing risks we should all be aware of."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Why an iPhone could cost double under Trump

President-elect Trump campaigned on a promise to get Apple to start manufacturing the iPhone in the U.S. But would you pay double the price for an iPhone if it helped make America great again?In this week’s episode of The iPhone Show, we break down why it’s unfeasible for the iPhone to be made in the U.S., instead of in China. Based on the labor costs alone, a new iPhone under Trump’s plan could cost upwards of $1,300. And that’s assuming the U.S. has the skilled workforce to assemble iPhones stateside and that all these workers would work for minimum wage.Trump has also campaigned for a 45 percent tax increase on all products manufactured outside of the United States. That alone could make the iPhone $100 more expensive.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Raspberry Pi roundup: Dangerous guided missiles, electric skateboards and the Internet of Licks

The Raspberry Pi is a happy-go-lucky little gizmo, isn’t it? I always associate it with education, cheap ways to get kids into programming, innocent little hobbyist projects and general “the world is a nice place” activity. And not unreasonably.Surely nobody would turn such an innocuous gadget into something malicious or dangerous, ri-oh, wait I forgot what sort of world we were living in for just a moment:Yeah, it’s some sort of missile guidance system, according to the string of Russian-language LiveJournal pages credited by Popular Mechanics, whose original report can be found here. Popular Mechanics says there’s hints in there that the weapon is guided by sound, which would be highly unusual for a weapon that isn’t designed to attack, say, submarines.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Raspberry Pi roundup: Dangerous guided missiles, electric skateboards and the Internet of Licks

The Raspberry Pi is a happy-go-lucky little gizmo, isn’t it? I always associate it with education, cheap ways to get kids into programming, innocent little hobbyist projects and general “the world is a nice place” activity. And not unreasonably.Surely nobody would turn such an innocuous gadget into something malicious or dangerous, ri-oh, wait I forgot what sort of world we were living in for just a moment:Yeah, it’s some sort of missile guidance system, according to the string of Russian-language LiveJournal pages credited by Popular Mechanics, whose original report can be found here. Popular Mechanics says there’s hints in there that the weapon is guided by sound, which would be highly unusual for a weapon that isn’t designed to attack, say, submarines.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Linux-y things I am thankful for

Thanksgiving is in a few days, and talking about “things I am thankful for” is pretty traditional this time of year. So, here we go. Here’s my list of Linux-y (and free software-y) things I am thankful for in 2016. (At least the ones I could remember when I sat down to write this list.)1. I am thankful for the developers of cmus, tmux, midnight commander and all of the other projects that help make using the shell in Linux such a productive and enjoyable experience. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

BroadSoft: The most important UC vendor you probably haven’t heard of

Most businesses aren’t aware of who BroadSoft is, but if they use a unified communications as a service (UCaaS) provider, they are likely using BroadSoft’s services. The company provides the building blocks for service providers to build cloud-based communications services such as voice, video, web conferencing and now team messaging and contextual services. Customers of BroadSoft are a veritable “who’s who” in the telecom world, including Verizon, Comcast, Vonage and Orange. Service providers have sold over 15 million BroadSoft seats, so the company may be the most important vendor that most businesses have never heard of.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The false-false-balance problem

Until recently, journalism in America prided itself on objectivity -- to report the truth, without taking sides. That's because big debates are always complexed and nuanced, and that both sides are equally reasonable. Therefore, when writing an article, reporters attempt to achieve balance by quoting people/experts/proponents on both sides of an issue.

But what about those times when one side is clearly unreasonable? You'd never try to achieve balance by citing those who believe in aliens and big-foot, for example.Thus, journalists have come up with the theory of false-balance to justify being partisan and one-sided on certain issues.

Typical examples where journalists cite false-balance is reporting on anti-vaxxers, climate-change denialists, and Creationists. More recently, false-balance has become an issue in the 2016 Trump election.

But this concept of false-balance is wrong. It's not that anti-vaxxers, denialists, Creationists, and white supremacists are reasonable. Instead, the issue is that the left-wing has reframed the debate. They've simplified it into something black-and-white, removing nuance, in a way that shows their opponents as being unreasonable. The media then adopts the reframed debate.


Let's talk anti-vaxxers. One of the policy debates is whether the government has the power to force vaccinations on people (or on Continue reading

BrandPost: What CIOs need to know about SD-WAN

There has been much talk about Software Defined Networking (SDN) and how SDx benefits virtual environments and data centres. However an area that is often overlooked is how abstraction can apply to application performance and value across the wide area network (WAN). The WAN has always been about connecting users to applications and moving data more effectively over long distances. This includes connectivity for collaboration among enterprise users, clients, suppliers, and partners, as well as the movement of data over distance for disaster recovery and business continuity. While these requirements still exist, the adoption of virtualisation and the cloud across traditional WAN architectures, such as MPLS, has introduced performance bottlenecks, thereby impairing user productivity when connecting to data centre and cloud applications from branch and remote office locations. As cloud initiatives gain momentum and traction, CIOs are increasingly reevaluating their corporate WAN requirements.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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