Apple offers to repair iPhone 6 Plus devices with ‘touch disease’

Apple is offering to repair at a reduced price iPhone 6 Plus smartphones with display flickering or multitouch issues.The problem, described in August as “touch disease” by repair guide website iFixit, is characterized by a gray, flickering bar at the top of the display and an unresponsive touchscreen. The issue affects both the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus, according to iFixit.Apple appears to consider it a problem with the way users handled the phone rather than a defect. It said Thursday that the company has determined that the smartphones may exhibit display flickering or Multi-Touch issues “after being dropped multiple times on a hard surface and then incurring further stress on the device.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Freshly-funded Message.io buddies up with Microsoft on chatbots

Starting from behind the likes of Slack and HipChat with its new workplace collaboration Teams service, Microsoft can use all the help it can get. Startup Message.io is among those coming to its aid.Message.io, a bot translation tool and syndication service provider founded last year, enables developers to quickly port and scale their bots to work on numerous enterprise messaging platforms without making coding changes. It is partnering with Microsoft so that bots built for other messaging platforms will work on Teams within Office 365 (not to mention on Microsoft's Skype for Business).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Look what GE can do with industrial IoT

Look what GE can do with industrial IoTImage by Stephen LawsonGeneral Electric showcased its industrial internet of things solutions and partnerships this week at its annual Minds + Machines conference in San Francisco this week. The industrial powerhouse is transforming itself into an IoT software and services company focused on improving customers' efficiency, productivity and revenue streams.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Technology Short Take #73

Welcome to Technology Short Take #73. Sorry for the long delay since the last Technology Short Take; personal matters have been taking quite the toll (if you follow me on Twitter, you’ll know to what personal matters I’m referring). In any case, enough of that—here’s some data center-related content that I hope you find useful!

Networking

• Ansible has made some good progress in supporting network automation in the latest release (2.2), according to this blog post. This is an area where I hope to spend more time in the coming weeks before years’ end.
• Tomas Fojta shows how to use a PowerShell script to monitor the health of NSX Edge gateways.
• Jeremy Stretch mulls over the (perceived) problem of getting traffic into and out of overlay networks. I recommend reading this article, as well as reading the comments. Many commenters suggest just using L3 and having the hosts participate in a routing protocol like BGP, but as Jeremy points out many switches don’t have the capacity to handle that many routes. (Or, if they do, they’re quite expensive.) Seems like there’s this company in Palo Alto making a product that handles this issue pretty decently…(hint).
• Cumulus Continue reading

Kubernetes Founders Create a New Container Company

Heptio has already raised $8.5 million.

AWS October roundup: Hybrid deployments with Amazon’s cloud get a boost

You might think Amazon Web Services would have chilled out in the month before its big Re:Invent conference. After all, that show, which takes place at the end of November, is when the cloud provider typically shows off a bonanza of new products and features.But Christmas has come early in October, at least for people who are looking to run hybrid cloud deployments with AWS. Here's the rundown of important news you may have missed. VMware and Amazon team up The big bombshell for the month was a partnership between AWS and VMware. The latter company is going to launch a managed service that will make it easy for people to migrate workloads from on-premises hardware to the public cloud and back again, using VMware's vSphere management software.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

29% off RTIC 30 oz. Tumbler – Deal Alert

This 30oz. RTIC tumbler is made of 18/8 stainless steel, and is double wall vacuum insulated to keep your drinks ice cold for up to 24 hrs, and hot beverages up to 6. It features a shatterproof crystal clear lid so you always know how much you've got left. It's tall & narrow shape makes it suitable for most cup holders. The RTIC tumbler is currently a #1 Amazon best seller with 4.5 out of 5 stars from nearly 8,000 people (80% rate 5 stars: read recent reviews). Its list price is currently discounted 29% to just $11.99. See it on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Security Firm Prevalent Closes $60M in Funding

The company helps small and mid-size companies reduce threats and risks from third-party vendors.

Azure October Roundup: Price drops, data analysis, and more

Put away the Halloween candy, and dust off your stuffed turkeys, folks. October is long gone, as are a fresh set of announcements from Microsoft about changes to its Azure cloud platform. Here's the important news you might have missed.Price drops for a bunch of Azure compute instances If there's one constant in the public cloud, it's the back-and-forth between competing providers over who gets to claim that they have the cheapest services. Microsoft fired another shot in that war in October, dropping prices for its A1, A2, Dv2 and F series compute instances. Here's how that breaks down, straight from a blog post by Microsoft Corporate Vice President Takeshi Numoto:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

A Dark Horse to Buy Brocade’s IP Business: Arris

For $2.2B, Arris could boost CPEs while also diversifying.

Cloud Foundry CEO Decamps to Join Diane Greene at Google

Sam Ramji has a new mission in the cloud.

TSA: Keep grandma’s gravy at home but the turducken can fly

I am not sure how many problems the TSA has had with this but I was surprised to learn that Thanksgiving gravy is not allowed on carry-on bags.From the TSA: “Gravy is sadly prohibited from carry-on bags unless you pack it in accordance with our liquid polices mentioned above. You can also pack it in your checked baggage.”+More on Network World: 26 of the craziest and scariest things the TSA has found on travelers+Gravy as well as cranberry sauce for that matter fall under the sometimes mysterious “Liquid Rules” which basically states that you’re “allowed to take as many 3.4 ounce or smaller sized containers that will fit in one sealed, clear, quart-sized zip-top bag – and one bag per person. Make sure you take the zip-top bag out of your carry-on prior to sending it through the X-ray.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

TSA: Keep grandma’s gravy at home but the turducken can fly

I am not sure how many problems the TSA has had with this but I was surprised to learn that Thanksgiving gravy is not allowed on carry-on bags.From the TSA: “Gravy is sadly prohibited from carry-on bags unless you pack it in accordance with our liquid polices mentioned above. You can also pack it in your checked baggage.”+More on Network World: 26 of the craziest and scariest things the TSA has found on travelers+Gravy as well as cranberry sauce for that matter fall under the sometimes mysterious “Liquid Rules” which basically states that you’re “allowed to take as many 3.4 ounce or smaller sized containers that will fit in one sealed, clear, quart-sized zip-top bag – and one bag per person. Make sure you take the zip-top bag out of your carry-on prior to sending it through the X-ray.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Intel chases AI with new chips, but still lacks a potent GPU

Intel is taking a new direction in chip development as it looks to the future of artificial intelligence, with the company betting the technology will pervade applications and web services.The company on Thursday said it is developing new chips that will handle AI workloads, which will increasingly be a part of its chip future. For now, the AI chips will be released as specialized primary chips or co-processors in computers and separate from the major product lines.But over time, Intel could adapt and integrate the AI features into its mainstream server, IoT, and perhaps even PC chips. The AI features could be useful in servers, drones, robots, and autonomous cars. Intel is aggressively chasing these sectors as it tries to diversify outside the weakening PC market.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Stocking Stuffer Ideas, Deals and Discounts – Deal Alert

Just because it fits in a stocking doesn't make it a good idea, or a smart use of your money this season. Here we've compiled a list of great techie stocking stuffer ideas that are reasonably priced, highly rated, and deeply discounted. We'll update this list throughout the season as we find you more good deals on sensible stocking-stuffers.51% off Apple USB-C to Lightning Cable This USB-C cable connects your iPhone, iPad, or iPod with Lightning connector to your computer's USB-C port for syncing and charging.  Currently discounted 51% on Amazon from Apple, taking its typical list price down to just $19. See the discounted cable on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Worth Reading: Large BGP Communities

But there is one sub-area of BGP which can’t handle 4-byte ASNs: the BGP communities mechanism. BGP uses special sub-packets inside the protocol to exchange values that encode as 32-bit values, and use one of these 32-bit values to associate two 16-bit numbers; one identified as an ASN and the other as an arbitrary community tag. This permits a relationship between the two values to be specified cleanly and permit BGP routing decisions to be informed by the community tag associated with a given ASN. —APNIC

The post Worth Reading: Large BGP Communities appeared first on 'net work.

Apple explores possibility of making iPhones in the U.S.

Well before Donald Trump became the Republican nominee for President, the current President-elect didn't mince words when it came to American companies relying upon factories in China for manufacturing purposes. Speaking to a crowd at Liberty University last January, Trump said if he were to become President, he would take steps to ensure Apple "builds their damn computers in this country." More broadly, Trump added that he'd like to see Apple manufacture all of their devices in the United States instead of outsourcing said duties to Asian-based partners such as Foxconn. While Trump's promise will likely go unfulfilled, Apple reportedly isn't taking any chances. In an apparent effort to remain prepared for any type of new policy Trump might dream up, Apple has reportedly asked both Foxconn and Pegatron about the feasibility of "moving iPhone production" to the United States.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Apple explores possibility of manufacturing iPhones in the United States

Well before Donald Trump became the Republican nominee for President, the current President-elect didn't mince words when it came to American companies relying upon factories in China for manufacturing purposes.Speaking to a crowd at Liberty University last January, Trump said that if were to become President, he would take steps to ensure that Apple "builds their damn computers in this country." More broadly, Trump added that he'd like to see Apple manufacture all of their devices in the United States instead of outsourcing said duties to Asian-based partners like Foxconn.While Trump's promise will likely go unfulfilled, Apple reportedly isn't taking any chances. In an apparent effort to remain prepared for any type of new policy Trump might dream up, Apple has reportedly asked both Foxconn and Pegatron about the feasibility of "moving iPhone production" to the United States.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Azure Stack Portable – The Enterprise Cloud (in a Briefcase)

Azure Stack is Microsoft’s enterprise cloud technology that allows organizations to run Microsoft Azure on their own premise.  During the early adopter testing phase, I needed an Azure Stack host that I could take between my office (by day) and home (on weekends), or to take to client sites to demonstrate.  So I created a portable version of Azure Stack by building a 14-core / 10-terabyte cloud in a briefcase!For those who need a background on Azure Stack, please see a couple articles I wrote on Azure Stack describing the technology in more detail, as well as the business use cases of who is lining up to buy Azure Stack.  My initial article back in February 2016 covers some early experiences, and then a October 2016 article that updated some more recent work on Azure Stack.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Azure Stack Portable – The Enterprise Cloud (in a Briefcase)

Azure Stack is Microsoft’s enterprise cloud technology that allows organizations to run Microsoft Azure on their own premise.  During the early adopter testing phase, I needed an Azure Stack host that I could take between my office (by day) and home (on weekends), or to take to client sites to demonstrate.  So I created a portable version of Azure Stack by building a 14-core / 10-terabyte cloud in a briefcase!For those who need a background on Azure Stack, please see a couple articles I wrote on Azure Stack describing the technology in more detail, as well as the business use cases of who is lining up to buy Azure Stack.  My initial article back in February 2016 covers some early experiences, and then a October 2016 article that updated some more recent work on Azure Stack.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here