Why ecommerce hasn’t taken off on social media

Shopping is still not common on social media, and social sites are unlikely to become major destinations for buying any time soon. Social media has clear potential for facilitating purchases, but the major platforms haven't invested seriously in shopping, and users don't seem particularly interested in spending on social networks, according to analysts.Social media intersects with commerce to varying degrees on certain sites and at various stages of the purchase process, but users today simply don't finalize purchases on social sites, according to Jessica Liu, a senior analyst with Forrester Research. The firm mapped the customer life cycle into six stages, and the buy stage is the least active on social, she says.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Scholars, infosec experts call for action on Russian hacking

In the wake of reports about Russian involvement in fake news and hacks against political targets leading up to the recent presidential election, scholars and security experts are calling for federal action.As of Sunday, 158 scholars have signed an open letter calling for a congressional investigation."Our country needs a thorough, public Congressional investigation into the role that foreign powers played in the months leading up to November," the letter said.Democrats in Congress have also called for an investigation, and were recently joined by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Scholars, infosec experts call for action on Russian hacking

In the wake of reports about Russian involvement in fake news and hacks against political targets leading up to the recent presidential election, scholars and security experts are calling for federal action.As of Sunday, 158 scholars have signed an open letter calling for a congressional investigation."Our country needs a thorough, public Congressional investigation into the role that foreign powers played in the months leading up to November," the letter said.Democrats in Congress have also called for an investigation, and were recently joined by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Dell Wyse 5060: The thin client for knowledge workers

Dell just released a thin client system that is clearly designed to address the needs of those having heavy computational, graphics and security requirements working in a virtual access/VDI computing environment. The Wyse 5060 comes equipped with an AMD 2.4GHz quad core processor that supports up to 8GB RAM and 64GB flash. The company claims this offering provides "up to 30 percent greater performance over the previous generation."Features of the Wyse 5060 Dell made the following statements about the Wyse 5060: Broad operating system support: The Wyse 5060 is available with a choice in OS, giving customers the ability to configure the thin client based on their specific requirements. At launch, the 5060 can be purchased with Dell’s own Wyse ThinOS software or with Windows Embedded Standard (WES) 7p. In early 2017, an upgrade to Windows 10 IoT will be available for WES customers, and the 5060 will also then be available with Wyse ThinLinux. Innovative security: Dell provides more than one security layer with the Wyse 5060 thin client. The device includes an embedded Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chipset with the ability to recognize if a system’s integrity has been compromised while safely storing encryption keys, Continue reading

20 years ago: Hot sci/tech images from 1996

Looking back at 1996Image by Reuters/Ethan MillerAs we wind down 2016, we thought it would be fascinating to take a look at what some of the hot topics were 20 years ago. What we found are monkeys in space; a heaping helping of interesting computer news from the old Comdex trade show; Bill Gates in full form and Al Gore with the ENIAC. Take a look back at what was hot in 1996.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

20 years ago: Hot sci/tech images from 1996

Pulling cableImage by Reuters/Gregg NewtonVice President Al Gore gives the OK sign as he and President Bill Clinton participate in an Internet demonstration at Ygnacio Valley High School with students Luke Rockwell (L) and Julie Allen. The president and vice president earlier helped wire the school so the connection with the Net was possible.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

AWS re:Invent 2016 Keynote with Werner Vogels

This is a liveblog of the Thursday keynote at AWS re:Invent 2016. Today’s keynote is led by Werner Vogels, CTO of Amazon Web Services. Unlike yesterday, today I opted not to attend the keynote in the main hall, viewing the keynote instead from an “overflow” area. Turns out the “overflow” area has drinks, tables, and power! That’s a far better option that being crammed in the main hall, though in the past I’ve found it more difficult to liveblog when not viewing the keynote directly. We’ll see if that continues to hold true.

After an entertaining “remix” of Werner quotes in the pre-keynote music mix, Vogels takes the stage at 9:30. The remote viewing is, unfortunately, off-sync; the video doesn’t match up to the audio. Vogels starts his keynote by looking back at the last 10 years, and seeing the sorts of transformations have occurred. He rails against the vendors, and how AWS vowed to be “the Earth’s most customer-centric IT company.” Vogels says customers should be in charge, not vendors, and that includes AWS.

How does AWS be a customer-centric IT company?

  1. Listen closely to customers and act.
  2. Give customers choice.
  3. Work backwards from the customer.
  4. Help customers Continue reading

QKD – How Quantum Cryptography Key Distribution Works

How Does Internet Work - We know what is networking

QKD – Quantum key distribution is the magic part of quantum cryptography. Every other part of this new cryptography mechanism remains the same as in standard cryptography techniques currently used. By using quantum particles which behave under rules of quantum mechanics, keys can be generated and distributed to receiver side in completely safe way. Quantum mechanics principle, which describes the base rule protecting the exchange of keys, is Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle. Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle states that it is impossible to measure both speed and current position of quantum particles at the same time. It furthermore states that the state of observed particle will change if and

QKD – How Quantum Cryptography Key Distribution Works

iPhone 8 said to feature a curved OLED display

Now that the iPhone 7 has been out for nearly three months now, the always-busy Apple rumor mill is refocusing its attention on what may very well be Apple's most anticipated product launch in years -- the iPhone 8.Speaking to the gravitas that surrounds Apple's next-gen iPhone, it's widely believed that Apple next year will forgo the iPhone 7s name and will instead call its 2017 smartphone the iPhone 8. Not only does the upcoming iPhone mark the 10th anniversary of the iPhone, it will also usher in some long-overdue changes to the iPhone's industrial design.According to a number of reports, Apple's upper-tier iPhone model will feature a curved OLED panel along with an edge to edge display. In effect, the entire device will effectively consist of one giant piece of glass. As a result, many of the device's sensors are said to be embedded underneath or into the display itself.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Retailers bombarded Black Friday & Cyber Monday 2016 shoppers with emails at record rates

Some say email is or will soon be dead, but try telling that to retailers promoting Black Friday & Cyber Monday 2016 sales in recent weeks.Amazon, Walmart and the rest absolutely inundated shoppers who wittingly or not had shared their email addresses with retailers. MORE: 50-plus eye-popping Black Friday 2016 tech dealsEmail marketing analysis firm eDataSource reports that more than 35,000 Black Friday-themed email campaigns were mailed during the period from 10 days before Black Friday (Nov. 25) to Cyber Monday (Nov. 28), representing a 50% increase from a year ago. The Cyber Monday messaging deluge followed suit, with about 24,000 campaigns mailed over the same period and a 36% increase from 2015.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

2016 will be 1 second longer: Google can help you cope

Like a man eager to show off his new watch, Google is encouraging anyone running IT operations to ask it for the time.The company will let anyone use its NTP (Network Time Protocol) servers, a move to help IT shops cope with the next “leap second,” which will be tacked onto 2016 just after midnight on Dec. 31.Leap seconds help to keep clocks aligned with Earth’s rotation, which can vary due to geologic and even weather conditions. But an extra second can wreak havoc with applications and services that depend on systems being tightly synchronized.Most Internet-connected devices get their time through NTP, an open-source technology that's used all over the world. NTP has its own problems, mainly around funding, but it's long been the standard. Google runs its own NTP servers and uses them to ease its systems through leap seconds, according to Michael Shields, technical lead on the company’s Time Team, in a blog post on Wednesday.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

2016 will be 1 second longer: Google can help you cope

Like a man eager to show off his new watch, Google is encouraging anyone running IT operations to ask it for the time.The company will let anyone use its NTP (Network Time Protocol) servers, a move to help IT shops cope with the next “leap second,” which will be tacked onto 2016 just after midnight on Dec. 31.Leap seconds help to keep clocks aligned with Earth’s rotation, which can vary due to geologic and even weather conditions. But an extra second can wreak havoc with applications and services that depend on systems being tightly synchronized.Most Internet-connected devices get their time through NTP, an open-source technology that's used all over the world. NTP has its own problems, mainly around funding, but it's long been the standard. Google runs its own NTP servers and uses them to ease its systems through leap seconds, according to Michael Shields, technical lead on the company’s Time Team, in a blog post on Wednesday.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Here’s what your hardware needs for the AWS Greengrass IoT service

Amazon is bringing a bit of its AWS magic to devices and board computers with its Greengrass IoT service, which will help boost offline data collection and analysis.The goal of Greengrass, an AWS software tool, is to make IoT devices and maker boards smarter. Even underpowered devices collecting data won't be "dumb" anymore, Amazon says.Amazon has kept in mind that smart devices can't always be connected to the cloud for data analysis, and Greengrass brings some AWS software tools to devices to aid in better collection and analysis of data.Developer boards are strongly tied to cloud services, which add more functionality to smart devices. Data collected from sensors are typically dispatched and collected in the cloud, where it can be analyzed and can define the next steps.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IBM warns of rising VoIP cyber-attacks

Cyber-attacks using the VoIP protocol Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) have been growing this year accounting for over 51% of the security event activity analyzed in the last 12 months, according to a report from IBM’s Security Intelligence group this week.“SIP is one of the most commonly used application layer protocols in VoIP technology… we found that there has been an upward trend in attacks targeting the SIP protocol, with the most notable uptick occurring in the second half of 2016,” IBM wrote. “In actual attacks on VoIP communications, we note various types of disruption. Spikes in July and September were mostly the result of specially crafted SIP messages that were terminated incorrectly. Persistent, invalid messages are known to cause vulnerable servers and equipment to fail. The spike in October 2016 was largely influenced by SIP messages with invalid characters in the SIP “To” field. These could be reflective of suspicious activity, necessitating further investigation.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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