White House slates $80M for city tech innovations

The White House last week announced $80 million in new federal funds for its ongoing Smart Cities Initiative while doubling the number of participating U.S. cities to more than 70. The funding is meant to spur development of technologies and programs in four primary areas: to reduce energy usage; improve urban transportation with connected and autonomous vehicles; beef up public safety and disaster response; and transform city services such as outreach to the homeless. The funding is partly a response to a comprehensive report from presidential advisors in February recommending ways to maximize technology innovation in cities. Dozens of experts worked on the report, including Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Alphabet, and Eric Lander, president of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Verizon on firm footing to push for discount in Yahoo deal, analysts say

Verizon should push for a big discount off its pending $4.8 billion deal to buy Yahoo, given Yahoo’s recent data breach and reported questionable security practices, several analysts said Friday.“Verizon should certainly pay less for Yahoo at this point,” said Patrick Moorhead, an analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy. “Unfortunately, the property is damaged goods, particularly after the acknowledged security breach.”A report on Thursday in the New York Post, quoting unnamed sources, said Verizon pushed Yahoo for a $1 billion discount on the purchase deal.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Verizon on firm footing to push for discount in Yahoo deal, analysts say

Verizon should push for a big discount off its pending $4.8 billion deal to buy Yahoo, given Yahoo’s recent data breach and reported questionable security practices, several analysts said Friday.“Verizon should certainly pay less for Yahoo at this point,” said Patrick Moorhead, an analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy. “Unfortunately, the property is damaged goods, particularly after the acknowledged security breach.”A report on Thursday in the New York Post, quoting unnamed sources, said Verizon pushed Yahoo for a $1 billion discount on the purchase deal.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

French software developer sues Apple, seeking improvements in iOS browser

Software developer Nexedi is so keen to see Apple improve the rendering engine in its iPhone browser that it's filed suit against the company in a French court.Nexedi develops cross-platform business apps in HTML5 that can run unchanged on Windows, Linux, and Android.On Apple's iOS, however, it runs into a problem: The browser rendering engine on iOS, WebKit, doesn't have the same HTML5 capabilities as the rendering engines used on other platforms.Among the HTML5 capabilities missing in the iOS version of WebKit are access to APIs for vibration, ambient light detection, battery status, notifications, filesystem access and the WebRTC videoconferencing protocol, according to a copy of Nexedi's lawsuit seen by the IDG News Service.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Perspica Uses Machine Learning for Root Cause Analysis

Perspica customers include advertising companies, government agencies, and small businesses.

Worth Reading: Modernizing business services through the CPE

In a previous blog, I discussed how equipment providers are facing a lucrative but pitfall-laden path in deciding how to invest in NFV to displace dedicated appliances. CSPs have similar NFV investment decisions to make on the user side of the equation. They need to answer the question: “Where should I start implementing an NFV strategy to deliver network functions and customer services as a means of improving my bottom line and business success?” One strong candidate for this starting point is Universal Customer Premises Equipment. —ECI

The post Worth Reading: Modernizing business services through the CPE appeared first on 'net work.

SD-WAN Manifesto: Eight Critical Characteristics for Building an SD-WAN

More than a mere trend, SD-WAN is the way of the future.

4 ways Cognizant customers can protect themselves amid corruption probe

Following Cognizant’s announcement late last week that it had launched an internal investigation into possible anti-corruption violations, there have been more questions than answers about what may have occurred at the Teaneck, N.J.-headquartered provider of offshore IT services. Particularly perplexing to some was the attendant news that the company’s long-time president Gordon Coburn was stepping down.Cognizant gave no reason for the departure of Coburn, who has been replaced by head of IT services Rajeev Mehta. However, the company did say in a regulatory filing that it was looking into whether it had violated the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) within a small number of company-owned facilities. Cognizant owns 12 of the 45 delivery centers it operates in India, where 75 percent of its employees work.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

4 ways Cognizant customers can protect themselves amid corruption probe

Following Cognizant’s announcement late last week that it had launched an internal investigation into possible anti-corruption violations, there have been more questions than answers about what may have occurred at the Teaneck, N.J.-headquartered provider of offshore IT services. Particularly perplexing to some was the attendant news that the company’s long-time president Gordon Coburn was stepping down.Cognizant gave no reason for the departure of Coburn, who has been replaced by head of IT services Rajeev Mehta. However, the company did say in a regulatory filing that it was looking into whether it had violated the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) within a small number of company-owned facilities. Cognizant owns 12 of the 45 delivery centers it operates in India, where 75 percent of its employees work.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The Windows weakness no one mentions: speech recognition

Windows has a feature it doesn’t like to talk about. While the OS lets you scrawl notes with a stylus, log in with you face (or secure the Web) via Windows Hello, and even order Cortana to set a reminder, what it’s not so eager for you to do, apparently, is use its speech recognition engine to issue commands or take voice dictation.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Deloitte leaders detail new iOS partnership with Apple

Apple will soon expand its enterprise roadmap thanks to a partnership that should result in the release of a new set of industry-specific iOS apps. The deal with Deloitte is designed to increase the value and appeal of Apple devices in the workplace with new specialized applications, network integrations and mobile-first processes for businesses. [Related: Should Apple worry about Microsoft-IBM deal]To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Watson’s the name, data’s the game

There's a data expert making a name for himself in the corporate world today, and he's attracting a lot of attention. He's a lightning-fast learner, he speaks eight languages and he's considered an expert in multiple fields. He's got an exemplary work ethic, is a speed reader and finds insights no one else can. On a personal note, he's a mean chef and even offers good dating advice.  The name of this new paragon? Watson. IBM Watson. Named after IBM's first CEO, Watson was born back in 2007 as part of an effort by IBM Research to develop a question-answering system that could compete on the American quiz show "Jeopardy." Since trouncing its human opponents on the show in 2011, it has expanded considerably. What started as a system focused on a single core capability -- answering questions posed by humans in natural language -- now includes dozens of services spanning language, speech, vision and data analysis.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Watson’s the name, data’s the game

There's a data expert making a name for himself in the corporate world today, and he's attracting a lot of attention. He's a lightning-fast learner, he speaks eight languages and he's considered an expert in multiple fields. He's got an exemplary work ethic, is a speed reader and finds insights no one else can. On a personal note, he's a mean chef and even offers good dating advice.  The name of this new paragon? Watson. IBM Watson. Named after IBM's first CEO, Watson was born back in 2007 as part of an effort by IBM Research to develop a question-answering system that could compete on the American quiz show "Jeopardy." Since trouncing its human opponents on the show in 2011, it has expanded considerably. What started as a system focused on a single core capability -- answering questions posed by humans in natural language -- now includes dozens of services spanning language, speech, vision and data analysis.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

It’s (not) elementary: How Watson works

What goes into making a computer understand the world through senses, learning and experience, as IBM says Watson does? First and foremost, tons and tons of data.To build a body of knowledge for Watson to work with on Jeopardy, researchers put together 200 million pages of content, both structured and unstructured, including dictionaries and encyclopedias. When asked a question, Watson initially analyzes it using more than 100 algorithms, identifying any names, dates, geographic locations or other entities. It also examines the phrase structure and the grammar of the question to better gauge what's being asked. In all, it uses millions of logic rules to determine the best answers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

It’s (not) elementary: How Watson works

What goes into making a computer understand the world through senses, learning and experience, as IBM says Watson does? First and foremost, tons and tons of data. To build a body of knowledge for Watson to work with on Jeopardy, researchers put together 200 million pages of content, both structured and unstructured, including dictionaries and encyclopedias. When asked a question, Watson initially analyzes it using more than 100 algorithms, identifying any names, dates, geographic locations or other entities. It also examines the phrase structure and the grammar of the question to better gauge what's being asked. In all, it uses millions of logic rules to determine the best answers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Here’s to our health, with help from Watson

IBM may have originally built Watson to win at Jeopardy, but it saw potential applications in healthcare early on. Eventually, it formed a dedicated business unit focused squarely on making those applications happen.As far back as 2012, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and IBM teamed up to develop a Watson-based system that could help doctors create individualized cancer treatment recommendations for their patients.The following year, IBM, Memorial Sloan-Kettering and WellPoint introduced products based on Watson. A project with Cleveland Clinic, meanwhile, focused on developing a new tool to help physicians and medical students learn how to make better decisions more quickly.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Milestones along the way in Watson’s colorful history

How did IBM's Watson get to where it is today? Here are some key events that happened along the way.May 1997: Deep Blue conquers chess IBM's Deep Blue computer beats world chess champion Garry Kasparov in a six-game match that lasts several days and receives massive media coverage around the world. It also inspires researchers at IBM to undertake an even bigger challenge: build a computer that could beat the champions at Jeopardy.February 2011: Victorious at Jeopardy Watson competes on Jeopardy and defeats the TV quiz show’s two biggest all-time champions. It wins US$1 million; IBM donates the full amount to charity.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Here’s to our health, with help from Watson

IBM may have originally built Watson to win at Jeopardy, but it saw potential applications in healthcare early on. Eventually, it formed a dedicated business unit focused squarely on making those applications happen. As far back as 2012, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and IBM teamed up to develop a Watson-based system that could help doctors create individualized cancer treatment recommendations for their patients. The following year, IBM, Memorial Sloan-Kettering and WellPoint introduced products based on Watson. A project with Cleveland Clinic, meanwhile, focused on developing a new tool to help physicians and medical students learn how to make better decisions more quickly.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Milestones along the way in Watson’s colorful history

How did IBM's Watson get to where it is today? Here are some key events that happened along the way. May 1997: Deep Blue conquers chess IBM's Deep Blue computer beats world chess champion Garry Kasparov in a six-game match that lasts several days and receives massive media coverage around the world. It also inspires researchers at IBM to undertake an even bigger challenge: build a computer that could beat the champions at Jeopardy. February 2011: Victorious at Jeopardy Watson competes on Jeopardy and defeats the TV quiz show’s two biggest all-time champions. It wins US$1 million; IBM donates the full amount to charity.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cloud-Managed WiFi Provider Open Mesh Adds Switches