CES 2017: Early trends and thoughts

After a full day of meetings at CES 2017, I noticed a few trends that could bubble up beyond some of the bigger ones that get a lot of the media’s attention. Roaming around a large hotel ballroom (The Mirage Events Center, actually) during the Pepcom Digital Experience event, I noticed a LOT of individual products, but some of them have coalesced into themes to watch during the year.Technology hits the bedroom Humans spend about 1/3 of their life sleeping or trying to sleep, so it’s been interesting to see that products are finally addressing our needs for a better night’s sleep. Companies and products like Smart Nora, the Zeeq Smart Pillow and Sleepace all have different approaches towards alleviating the annoyance of someone snoring (alleviating for the partner, since it probably doesn’t bother you if you’re the snorer). Different approaches are used by some of the products – the Nora device, for example, uses a small device that raises the pillow slightly to get you to move when snoring is detected through its sound sensor. The Zeeq includes speakers (which let you play music to help you get to sleep) that can activate when it detects snoring. Continue reading

Response: Vendor Frustrations on Subscription Pricing

The pain of software subscriptions is only just beginning. In this case, $vendor is being sneaky about unchallenged price increases.

MrFogg97 – Network Ramblings: Vendor Frustrations: “Today I sit here, last day of vacation. Skimmer though work email just so it doesn’t overflow. (I am pretty bad at the disconnection part). I have received 2 emails from vendor $. Basically telling me that my renewal is about 60 days past and wondering am I going to renew. Oh and they have graciously allowed me to continue to use the product. Along with this was a quote for 3 years for the product.”

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Top 10 Google searches of 2016 in pictures

Fond of these imagesImage by REUTERS/Stefan WermuthFrom Pokemon Go phenomenon and iPhone 7 to Donald Trump and Deadpool, Reuters visualized the Top 10 Google searches of 2016 in order. Take a look.Pokemon GoImage by REUTERS/Tyrone SiuTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Samsung: “Very soon we will be sharing root cause report on Note7”

Samsung Electronics America President and COO Tim Baxter didn't mess around during the company's press event at CES 2017 in Las Vegas this week: He addressed the company's tough 2016 and fiery Note7 phablet debacle right away.Baxter began: "As you know, this year was a challenging year for Samsung. Some of you were directly impacted and certainly many saw the media coverage, especially about the Note7. We continue our intensive efforts internally, and with third-party experts, to understand what happened and to make sure it doesn't happen again. And very soon, we will be sharing the root cause report on the Note7." (See Baxter's talk in the video below at about the 33-minute mark.)To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

53% off Executive Office Solutions Portable Adjustable Laptop Desk/Stand/Table – Deal Alert

The Executive Office Solutions Portable Adjustable Laptop Desk/Stand/Table is designed to allow you to set up an office anywhere! It is easy to carry, with a light weight aluminum frame. This device makes a perfect desk for your laptop.  The adjustable legs allow you to rotate 360 degrees and lock it in place at various angles. This desk is also vented and connects to your computer via the  included USB cord to power two quiet CPU cooling fans.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Windows 10 growth ebbs as 2016 ends

Windows 10's global growth slowed in December, but the operating system ended 2016 on more than a quarter of the world's Windows personal computers.But in the U.S. Windows 10 continued to gain ground at a consistent clip. By year's end, it powered more than a third of all Windows PCs there.According to analytics vendor Net Applications, Windows 10 gained six-tenths of a percentage point of user share last month, ending on 24.4% of all personal computers. However, Windows 10 ran 26.6% of all Windows machines: The difference between the user share of all PCs and only those running Windows stems from the fact that Windows powers 92% of all personal computers, not 100%.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Smart city tech growing in the U.S.

The adoption of smart city technology to manage traffic, water supplies, air pollution and other needs will see an upswing this year in U.S. cities, according to AT&T's smart city executive and a market research analyst.IBM and Cisco have been pitching the themes of a smarter planet and the internet of everything for more than five years. Now, city governments nationwide are pushing pilot projects of these efforts and seeking ways to raise revenues for tech deployments by issuing bonds and imposing sales taxes to pay for them."2016 was when a lot of cities and their leadership got active around wanting to become smarter, but 2017 is the year we'll see cities move from the project phase to building out a holistic framework for smart technology," said Mike Zeto, general manager of the AT&T Smart Cities business unit, in an interview.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Intel says standalone VR is coming by the end of this year

Intel is serious about bringing its Project Alloy untethered VR headset to the masses. On Wednesday, company CEO Brian Krzanich said at the company's CES press conference that it will be available in the fourth quarter of 2017. That will be roughly a year and a half after the company announced it at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco.It’s still unknown how much a Project Alloy headset will cost, or even which company will make it. Krzanich said that the headsets will be made available through Intel’s hardware partners, but didn’t provide details beyond that.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Busted! 5 myths of digital transformation

“Digital” is the new “cloud.” Once upon a time, these words meant something. Now they mean whatever a speaker wants them to mean -- especially if, internally or externally, they’re trying to sell you something. Not surprising, this level of ambiguity has created a fertile environment for mythical thinking.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

New GOP H-1B bill appears to fall short of Trump’s goal

In the first week of the new Congress, U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is attempting to win support for a controversial H-1B reform bill.The bill, introduced Wednesday, is called the "Protect and Grow American Jobs Act" (HR 170) and co-sponsored by Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.). It is aimed at tightening, but not closing, a loophole in the visa law that has benefitted large H-1B-using firms.[To comment on this story, visit Computerworld's Facebook page.]Issa introduced this bipartisan bill last July. It faced some criticism and stalled in committee. The big difference this year is the impending inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Why companies offer a hacking bounty

Want to make a cool $20,000?All you have to do is hack the Nintendo 3DS, a handheld console that’s been out for a few years already. A listing on HackerOne spells everything out: Hackers will receive a cash payment for discovering a vulnerability in the system, which does let gamers make purchases and stores private information like your age and gender. There’s a range for this, of course -- some discoveries will pay $100. Also, anyone who files a report must follow the exact template.It makes you wonder -- why would a major Japanese corporation offer a reward like this? Why is it even worth the expense, especially when you know they have internal security researchers?To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Why companies offer a hacking bounty

Want to make a cool $20,000?All you have to do is hack the Nintendo 3DS, a handheld console that’s been out for a few years already. A listing on HackerOne spells everything out: Hackers will receive a cash payment for discovering a vulnerability in the system, which does let gamers make purchases and stores private information like your age and gender. There’s a range for this, of course -- some discoveries will pay $100. Also, anyone who files a report must follow the exact template.It makes you wonder -- why would a major Japanese corporation offer a reward like this? Why is it even worth the expense, especially when you know they have internal security researchers?To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Ransomware took in $1 billion in 2016–improved defenses may not be enough to stem the tide

Increased user awareness of phishing threats, better antivirus technology, more industry-wide information sharing and cross-border efforts by law enforcement authorities will combine to turn the tide against ransomware this year, according to some security experts, but others expect the attacks to continue to increase.According to a security expert who requested anonymity, ransomware cybercriminals took in about $1 billion last year, based on money coming into ransomware-related Bitcoin wallets.That includes more than $50 million each for three wallets associated with the Locky ransomware, and a fourth one that processed close to $70 million. Cryptowall brought in close to $100 million before it was shut down this year. CryptXXX gathered in $73 million during the second half of 2016, and Cerber took in $54 million, the expert said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Ransomware took in $1 billion in 2016–improved defenses may not be enough to stem the tide

Increased user awareness of phishing threats, better antivirus technology, more industry-wide information sharing and cross-border efforts by law enforcement authorities will combine to turn the tide against ransomware this year, according to some security experts, but others expect the attacks to continue to increase.According to a security expert who requested anonymity, ransomware cybercriminals took in about $1 billion last year, based on money coming into ransomware-related Bitcoin wallets.That includes more than $50 million each for three wallets associated with the Locky ransomware, and a fourth one that processed close to $70 million. Cryptowall brought in close to $100 million before it was shut down this year. CryptXXX gathered in $73 million during the second half of 2016, and Cerber took in $54 million, the expert said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Using Wireshark To Ease Network Configuration

IDG Contributor Network: Is dynamic resource execution the answer to auto-scaling cloud apps?

Dynamic resource management for cloud computing is at a critical crossroad. The ultimate objective when provisioning software-defined infrastructure, synchronizing inter-cloud resources, or allocating network bandwidth is allowing applications to successfully execute on demand without concern for capacity. While these approaches are effective in supplying applications with additional capacity on demand, the downside is that application performance may not be optimized in the process.Cloud applications and services have become so complex that the runtime synchronization of resources required to support them drags down overall performance and leaves capacity unused. To tap this unused capacity, and deliver the performance expected, we need to enhance resource management with something like intelligent resource execution.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: 3 steps to increase the business value of your network

In 2016, I wrote several columns encouraging readers to begin taking steps to turn their networks into a platform for innovation. As I’ve said previously, forward-thinking companies view the network as an asset, rather than an expense, and leverage its full benefits to enable new services, new sources of revenue, and new ways to compete. But let’s be honest, agreeing in theory is one thing; getting started is something else altogether.So, in the spirit of New Year’s resolutions for 2017, let’s actually peel back the onion a bit. Over the next few columns, we’re going to roll up our sleeves and get to work.Let’s begin.3 steps to turn your network into a growth engine for your business To make it as is simple as possible, here are three things you can do in 2017 to realize this sometimes daunting, but more-important-than-ever, network revitalization:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: 3 steps to increase the business value of your network

In 2016, I wrote several columns encouraging readers to begin taking steps to turn their networks into a platform for innovation. As I’ve said previously, forward-thinking companies view the network as an asset, rather than an expense, and leverage its full benefits to enable new services, new sources of revenue, and new ways to compete. But let’s be honest, agreeing in theory is one thing; getting started is something else altogether.So, in the spirit of New Year’s resolutions for 2017, let’s actually peel back the onion a bit. Over the next few columns, we’re going to roll up our sleeves and get to work.Let’s begin.3 steps to turn your network into a growth engine for your business To make it as is simple as possible, here are three things you can do in 2017 to realize this sometimes daunting, but more-important-than-ever, network revitalization:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Musing: Average Life Span on S&P Index

On average, your big corporate employer won’t be around in ten years.

Plan your career accordingly.

• When the boss says “people are our most important asset” its not about you particluarly.
• Don’t transfer responsibility for your life and career to someone else.
• Don’t trust your employer to to be on your side, they can be but the company comes first, profits second…… and several steps later its you.

Source: https://twitter.com/CBinsights/status/808861430908850176

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10 iPhone features that rocked the smartphone world

The 10 most revolutionary iPhone featuresImage by ThinkstockTen years ago, Steve Jobs stepped on the stage at the Moscone Center in San Francisco and introduced the world to the iPhone. “I have been looking forward to this for two and a half years,” Jobs said that day. “And today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone.” To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here