How Microsoft rebounded to outshine Apple

Microsoft claims that more people are switching to Surface devices from Macs than ever before. That's a concept that would have been hard to picture when Microsoft first released the Microsoft Surface RT and Surface Pro in 2012 and 2013, respectively. The Surface RT suffered from a watered-down version of the new -- and generally disliked -- Windows 8 operating system and, while the Surface Pro featured the full desktop version, it came with hardware limitations and a high price tag.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Which mobile data provider is best?

That thing you carry in your pocket may be called a smartphone, but its main purpose isn’t to talk to other people — it’s a tiny computer you use to connect to the internet, get information and find and use apps. So, for the fourth year in a row we’ve gone on a mission to find out which mobile service provider gives you the most comprehensive and reliable data network coverage, the fastest upload and download speeds, and the most bang for the buck.To do it, we turned to the experts — you and other Computerworld readers. We conducted an 8-week-long online survey this summer asking smartphone users to rate providers in multiple categories: average upload speeds, average download speeds, availability of connection, reliability of connection, performance relative to cost, technical support, selection of phone models, customer service/billing and more.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

5 rock-solid Linux distros for developers

Developers love things their way and no other way. To that end, Linux stands to be the ultimate developer’s desktop environment. Linux is endlessly customizable, and it provides easy access to nearly all the software a developer might need. But a good Linux for developers must have other key attributes—like a comfortable work environment, good documentation, and useful features that a developer can benefit from generally.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

Q&A: Puppet CEO sees devops going mainstream

Puppet has become synonymous with devops, and Sanjay Mirchandani, CEO of Puppet since late September, says the Puppet Enterprise platform for automating software delivery is now being used in more than 70 percent of the Fortune 100. InfoWorld Editor at Large Paul Krill recently spoke with Mirchandani about where the company is headed and devops' progress these days.[ Give yourself a technology career advantage with InfoWorld's Deep Dive technology reports and Computerworld's career trends reports. GET A 15% DISCOUNT through Jan.15, 2017: Use code 8TIISZ4Z. ] InfoWorld: Does the company still find a need to define devops and its importance to prospective clients?To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Obama White House’s final tech recommendation: Invest in A.I.

One of the most important things that the U.S. can do to improve economic growth is to invest in artificial intelligence, or A.I., said the White House, in a new report. But there's a dark side to this assessment as well.A.I.-driven, intelligent systems have the potential to displace millions, such as truck drivers, from their jobs. But potential negative impacts can be offset by investments in education as well as by ensuring there is a safety net to help affected people, the White House argued, in what will likely be the Obama administration's final report on technology policy.Some of the report's recommendations, which include expanded unemployment help and access to healthcare, may be anathema to a Republican-controlled Congress with a focus on tax reductions and spending cuts. But this report -- "Artificial Intelligence, Automation, and the Economy" (PDF) -- which was in the works well before election day, also describes broader, technological-driven changes that will impact jobs and may pose issues for President-elect Donald Trump.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How to improve your security grade in 2017

The City of San Diego seems to have all the building blocks in place to make the smart city an exceptionally safe one when it comes to cyber attacks. Deputy director and CISO Gary Hayslip has built out the city’s security operations center, he’s partnering with innovative security vendors and startups, and conferring with law enforcement to keep up with the latest threats. He has the backing of the mayor and city executives, with plenty of funding, and he’s hiring more staff.Yet when asked how he would grade his organization’s ability to detect and mitigate cyber threats, he offered a sobering assessment.“I would probably say about a C+,” Hayslip says. “I’m realistic. There’s a lot of risk out there. We’re dealing with about a million attacks a day on our networks. I’ve got 40 departments, 24 networks and 40,000 endpoints” to protect. As the smart city adds more IoT devices connecting streetlights, stoplights and HVAC systems to the network, the threat surface will only grow.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The best Android apps of 2016

These are the best new apps of the yearImage by Ryan WhitwamTrying to keep track of every app that comes to the Play Store would be a complete impossibility. There are so many apps being uploaded every day that it can be easy to miss the good stuff hidden by all the mediocrity. We pay close attention to the Play Store, so here's your chance to catch up on all the best apps to hit Android in 2016. Every app on this list is worth trying—they're the best of the best.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

2016: The year of augmented reality

Over the past decade as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) have matured, VR has overshadowed its cousin, AR. Media coverage and public interest favored VR, hailing it as the next big tech breakthrough. At the outset of 2016, the narrative looked no different: VR would continue to dominate. VR headsets such as the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive were poised to hit the market in 2016. At the same time, the Samsung Gear VR made its public debut at the end of 2015 to make VR accessible through mobile. Despite these releases, the content, accessories and consumer readiness weren’t quite there. VR’s move to the mainstream faltered this year, as it now sits in a holding pattern waiting for the other pieces to mature.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Network predictions for 2017

It’s hard to believe the year is almost up. That means ‘tis the season to be jolly and to deck the halls. For analysts, it’s time to put on a Carnac the Magnificent hat and try and predict the future. I already did a couple of posts look at the strategies of Cisco and some of its key competitors, so I’ll stick to broader industry themes. 1. A repatriation holiday passes and stimulates some mergers and acquisitions.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

To beat cyber extortionists, enterprises need to punch above their weight class

There are only two types of enterprises it seems. Enterprises who have paid cyber extortionists to recover data, and those that have not yet paid.The outlook is bad and getting worse According to IBM Security’s report on Ransomware (pdf – sign in required): “Almost one in two executives (46 percent) has some experience with ransomware attacks in the workplace, and 70 percent of that 46 percent have paid to get data back."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Tech companies like Privacy Shield but worry about legal challenges

Privacy Shield, the new international framework allowing companies to transfer customer data between the EU and the U.S., is getting good reviews so far, but some companies aren't betting on it for the long term.Companies using Privacy Shield worry that it may face the same fate as long-used predecessor the Safe Harbor Framework, which was overturned by the European Court of Justice in October 2015 after revelations of mass surveillance by the U.S National Security Agency. Digital Rights Ireland and French civil liberties group La Quadrature du Net have also challenged Privacy Shield in court, saying the new framework doesn't adequately protect Europeans' privacy.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Google sued by employee for confidentiality policies that ‘muzzle’ staff

A product manager at Google has sued the company for its allegedly illegal confidentiality agreements, policies and practices that among other things prohibit employees from speaking even internally about illegal conduct and dangerous product defects for fear that such statements may be used in legal discovery during litigation or sought by the government.The alleged policies, which are said to violate California laws, restrict employees' right to speak, work or whistle-blow, and include restrictions on speaking to the government, attorneys or the press about wrongdoing at Google or even “speaking to spouse or friends about whether they think their boss could do a better job,” according to a complaint Tuesday in the Superior Court of California for the city and county of San Francisco.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Congressional report sides with Apple on encryption debate

The U.S. is better off supporting strong encryption that trying to weaken it, according to a new congressional report that stands at odds with the FBI’s push to install backdoors into tech products.On Tuesday, a bipartisan congressional panel published a year-end report, advising the U.S. to explore other solutions to the encryption debate.“Any measure that weakens encryption works against the national interest,” the report said.The congressional panel formed back in March, amid the FBI’s public battle with Apple over trying to gain access to a locked iPhone belonging to the San Bernardino shooter.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Opening Web Internet Location Files on Ubuntu

As part of my effort to make myself and my workflows more “cross-platform friendly,” I’ve been revisiting certain aspects of how I do things. One of the things I’m reviewing is how I capture—and later review—posts or articles on the web. On OS X, I would run an AppleScript that generated a .webloc file (aka an Internet location file). This is an XML file that OS X understands. However, Linux doesn’t natively understand these files, so today I came up with a solution to reading .webloc files with Ubuntu and Firefox.

The solution to the file involves the use of xmllint, a tool that you can install on Ubuntu as part of the “libxml2-utils” package. Using xmllint, you can easily extract a single XML element from an XML file—and .webloc files are just XML files. For the sake of illustration, here’s the contents of a .webloc file generated on OS X:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>URL</key>
    <string>http://blog.fntlnz.wtf/post/systemd-nspawn/</string>
</dict>
</plist>

Using xmllint, you can extract the URL value, and then pass Continue reading

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