Say goodbye to MS-DOS command prompt

My very first technology article, back in 1987, was about MS-DOS 3.30. Almost 30 years later, I’m still writing, but the last bit of MS-DOS, cmd.exe — the command prompt — is on its way out the door. It’s quite possible that you have been using Microsoft Windows for years — decades, even — without realizing that there’s a direct line to Microsoft’s earliest operating system or that an MS-DOS underpinning has carried over from one Windows version to another — less extensive with every revision, but still there nonetheless. Now we’re about to say goodbye to all of that. Interestingly, though, there was not always an MS-DOS from Microsoft, and it wasn’t even dubbed that at birth. The history is worth reviewing now that the end is nigh.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Backdoor accounts found in 80 Sony IP security camera models

Many network security cameras made by Sony could be taken over by hackers and infected with botnet malware if their firmware is not updated to the latest version.Researchers from SEC Consult have found two backdoor accounts that exist in 80 models of professional Sony security cameras, mainly used by companies and government agencies given their high price.One set of hard-coded credentials is in the Web interface and allows a remote attacker to send requests that would enable the Telnet service on the camera, the SEC Consult researchers said in an advisory Tuesday.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Backdoor accounts found in 80 Sony IP security camera models

Many network security cameras made by Sony could be taken over by hackers and infected with botnet malware if their firmware is not updated to the latest version.Researchers from SEC Consult have found two backdoor accounts that exist in 80 models of professional Sony security cameras, mainly used by companies and government agencies given their high price.One set of hard-coded credentials is in the Web interface and allows a remote attacker to send requests that would enable the Telnet service on the camera, the SEC Consult researchers said in an advisory Tuesday.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Arago teaches an AI to play games, the better to manage IT systems

If an AI could rule a world, would you trust it to manage your IT systems? German software company Arago is hoping you will.The developer of IT automation system Hiro (short for Human Intelligence Robotically Optimized) has been teaching its software how to play Freeciv, an open source computer strategy game inspired by Sid Meier's Civilization series of games, and in the process is learning to make IT management more fun.Hiro is an AI-based automation system that usually sits on top of other IT service management tools. Unlike script-based systems, it learns from its users how best to manage a company's IT systems.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Arago teaches an AI to play games, the better to manage IT systems

If an AI could rule a world, would you trust it to manage your IT systems? German software company Arago is hoping you will.The developer of IT automation system Hiro (short for Human Intelligence Robotically Optimized) has been teaching its software how to play Freeciv, an open source computer strategy game inspired by Sid Meier's Civilization series of games, and in the process is learning to make IT management more fun.Hiro is an AI-based automation system that usually sits on top of other IT service management tools. Unlike script-based systems, it learns from its users how best to manage a company's IT systems.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Google says it will reach 100% renewable energy goal by end of 2017

Google in 2012 announced a goal of running its operations 100% on renewable energy. Today the company announced that it plans to meet that target by the end of 2017, a year ahead of schedule.Google will purchase direct renewable energy and buy renewable energy credits that match the amount of power the company uses to power its global operations. That’s 2.6 GigaWatts of electricity, or 2,600 MegaWatts (MW).Google is just one of a handful of vendors, particularly those in the IaaS cloud computing market, who have committed to buying renewable energy to power their operations. Last week Amazon Web Services announced that it plans to be 50% powered by green energy sources by the end of next year.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Reaction: Openflow and Software Based Switching

Over at the Networking Nerd, Tom has an interesting post up about openflow—this pair of sentences, in particular, caught my eye—

The side effect of OpenFlow is that it proved that networking could be done in software just as easily as it could be done in hardware. Things that we thought we historically needed ASICs and FPGAs to do could be done by a software construct.

I don’t think this is quite right, actually… When I first started working in network engineering (wheels were square then, and dirt hadn’t yet been invented—but we did have solar flares that caused bit flips in memory), we had all software based switching. The Cisco 7200, I think, was the ultimate software based switching box, although the little 2ru 4500 (get your head out of the modern router line, think really old stuff here!) had a really fast processor, and hence could process packets really quickly. These were our two favorite lab boxes, in fact. But in the early 1990’s, the SSE was introduced, soldered on to an SSP blade that slid into a 7500 chassis.

The rest, as they say, is history. The networking world went to chips designed to switch Continue reading

10 companies with employee benefits you won’t believe

Startup culture introduced a lot of change to the traditional workplace by normalizing open office plans, fun break rooms, free food and flexible schedules. Part of these perks are a way to compete for the top tech talent, but they also serve as a way to keep current employees happy, encouraging them to stay with the company for the long haul.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

GoDaddy offers $1.8 billion for Host Europe

U.S. web-hosting giant GoDaddy has agreed to buy German company Host Europe Group in a move that will take the number of domain names it manages to 70 million.Host Europe, based in Germany, has 1.7 million customers and manages 7 million domain names, while GoDaddy has 14 million customers and 63 million domain names under management.The acquisition values Host Europe at €1.69 billion (US$1.79 billion) and will make GoDaddy market leader in small business cloud services in Europe, the U.S. company said Tuesday. It expects to close the deal during the second quarter of 2017.Both companies focus on services to small businesses. A deal will allow them to scale up existing systems to sell one another's products to existing customers, GoDaddy said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

GoDaddy offers $1.8 billion for Host Europe

U.S. web-hosting giant GoDaddy has agreed to buy German company Host Europe Group in a move that will take the number of domain names it manages to 70 million.Host Europe, based in Germany, has 1.7 million customers and manages 7 million domain names, while GoDaddy has 14 million customers and 63 million domain names under management.The acquisition values Host Europe at €1.69 billion (US$1.79 billion) and will make GoDaddy market leader in small business cloud services in Europe, the U.S. company said Tuesday. It expects to close the deal during the second quarter of 2017.Both companies focus on services to small businesses. A deal will allow them to scale up existing systems to sell one another's products to existing customers, GoDaddy said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Getting started with blockchain smart contracts

Few managers look forward to negotiating contracts. In large companies, there are many stakeholders to consult and it’s easy to make a misstep. And then there’s the expense involved in working with lawyers.Smart contract technology promises to simplify the contract process and provide greater transparency.[ Also on CIO.com: Blockchain: You’ve got questions; we’ve got answers ]What are smart contracts? Early approaches to smart contracts included some that were merely “augmented by technology,” says Houman B. Shadab, professor of law at New York Law School. “In a sense, you could view contract signing and management services like DocuSign as an example of [smart contracts].” Other approaches automated the production of traditional contracts using templates.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

IBM building blockchain ecosystem

IBM believes blockchain technology, with its capability to create an essentially immutable ledger of digital events, will alter the way whole industries conduct transactions. To make that happen, Big Blue asserts, requires a complete ecosystem of industry players working together.To that end, IBM today said it is building a blockchain ecosystem, complete with a revenue sharing program, to accelerate the growth of networks on the Linux Foundation's Hyperledger Fabric. IBM envisions the ecosystem as an open environment that allows organizations to collaborate using the Hyperledger Fabric.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

WD will make a record-breaking 14TB hard drive available next year

With its enormous capacity, a new 14TB drive from Western Digital is unlike any seen before and is now being shipped to customers for testing.It's the highest-capacity hard drive developed yet, beating 12TB hard drives from WD and Seagate. It's a larger capacity version of the 12TB HGST Ultrastar He12 PMR hard drive, which also is shipping for testing.Hard drives ruled when it came to capacity, but this year were overtaken by flash-based SSDs. The 14TB drive, though setting a record for hard drives, comes nowhere close in capacity to Seagate's 60TB SSD, which was shown at the Flash Memory Summit in August.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

WD will make a record-breaking 14TB hard drive available next year

With its enormous capacity, a new 14TB drive from Western Digital is unlike any seen before and is now being shipped to customers for testing.It's the highest-capacity hard drive developed yet, beating 12TB hard drives from WD and Seagate. It's a larger capacity version of the 12TB HGST Ultrastar He12 PMR hard drive, which also is shipping for testing.Hard drives ruled when it came to capacity, but this year were overtaken by flash-based SSDs. The 14TB drive, though setting a record for hard drives, comes nowhere close in capacity to Seagate's 60TB SSD, which was shown at the Flash Memory Summit in August.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Verizon sells its data centers to Equinix for $3.6B

Telecommunications giants Verizon and CenturyLink have each now sold off their data center assets, with Verizon being the most recent to offload its infrastructure operations to Equinix in a $3.6 billion deal.+MORE AT NETWORK WORLD: Amazon's biggest re:Invent cloud announcements +Equinix operates data centers around the world for its colocation and interconnection business and is purchasing 24 sites that have a total of 29 data centers in 15 metropolitan areas. The acquisition brings Equinix’s total data center footprint to 175 in 43 metro areas. Verizon is keeping its data centers in 27 sites across Europe, Asia and Canada.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Apple admits that it’s working on self-driving car technologies

If there's one thing that Apple values more than most other tech companies, it's product secrecy. Whereas other big name tech companies like Google and Microsoft enjoy showing users what type of crazy new technologies they've been working on, Apple in contrast prefers to keep everything under wraps until it has a shipping product to show off.That said, a recent letter that Apple sent to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) finally gives us some concrete proof that the company has a strong and ongoing interest in self-driving car technology. Sure, it was no secret that Apple was working on a car initiative of some sort given its hiring spree of engineers with deep experience across the entirety of the car design and manufacturing process. Still, it was never entirely clear if Apple was initially looking into building a car of its own or, perhaps, focusing on ancillary software technologies instead.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Dropbox boosts mobile productivity with offline folder support

Users who need to make sure they can get access to files stored in Dropbox while they're on the go and away from the web have a new feature to help with that. The company announced Tuesday that users of its mobile apps will soon be able to save files locally for use offline.It's a move by the cloud storage company to better compete with the other players in the cloud storage space,  and provide users with functionality that will help them be more productive when they're on planes, out in low-connectivity areas or just want to save their cellular data quota for other purposes. Here's how it works: users select a file or folder in the Dropbox app, tap "Make Available Offline," then wait for the app to download the requested files. After that, those files will be available for viewing, even if the phone or tablet storing them is without a connection to the web. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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