IBM promises a one-stop analytics shop with AI-powered big data platform

Big data is in many ways still a wild frontier, requiring wily smarts and road-tested persistence on the part of those hoping to find insight in all the petabytes. On Tuesday, IBM announced a new platform it hopes will make things easier.Dubbed Project DataWorks, the new cloud-based platform is the first to integrate all types of data and bring AI to the table for analytics, IBM said.Project DataWorks is available on IBM's Bluemix cloud platform and aims to foster collaboration among the many types of people who need to work with data. Tapping technologies including Apache Spark, IBM Watson Analytics and the IBM Data Science Experience launched in June, the new offering is designed to give users self-service access to data and models while ensuring governance and rapid-iteration capabilities.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Yahoo’s claim of ‘state-sponsored’ hackers meets with skepticism

Yahoo has blamed its massive data breach on a "state-sponsored actor." But the company isn't saying why it arrived at that conclusion. Nor has it provided any evidence.The lingering questions are causing some security experts to wonder why Yahoo isn't offering more details on a hack that stole account information from 500 million users."I think there's a lot of fishiness going on here," said Michael Lipinski, the chief security strategist at Securonix.Yahoo didn't respond to a request for comment. The company has protocols in place that can detect state-sponsored hacking into user accounts. In a December 2015 blog post, the company outlined its policy, saying it will warn users when this is suspected. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Yahoo’s claim of ‘state-sponsored’ hackers meets with skepticism

Yahoo has blamed its massive data breach on a "state-sponsored actor." But the company isn't saying why it arrived at that conclusion. Nor has it provided any evidence.The lingering questions are causing some security experts to wonder why Yahoo isn't offering more details on a hack that stole account information from 500 million users."I think there's a lot of fishiness going on here," said Michael Lipinski, the chief security strategist at Securonix.Yahoo didn't respond to a request for comment. The company has protocols in place that can detect state-sponsored hacking into user accounts. In a December 2015 blog post, the company outlined its policy, saying it will warn users when this is suspected. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

GE, Bosch and open source could bring more IoT tools

Partnerships that could shape the internet of things for years are being forged just as enterprises fit IoT into their long-term plans.A majority of organizations have included IoT as part of their strategic plans for the next two to three years, IDC said last week. No one vendor can meet the diverse IoT needs of all those users, so they're joining forces and also trying to foster broader ecosystems. General Electric and Germany's Bosch did both on Monday.The two companies, both big players in industrial IoT, said they will establish a core IoT software stack based on open-source software. They plan to integrate parts of GE's Predix operating system with the Bosch IoT Suite in ways that will make complementary software services from each available on the other.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft confirms Windows 10 adoption slowdown

Microsoft today acknowledged that the Windows 10 adoption pace had slowed when it claimed the new operating system was running on approximately 400 million devices.The company reset the Windows 10 uptake status on the same day it kicked off the 2016 edition of its Ignite conference in Atlanta.Microsoft's last Windows 10 update was at the end of June, a month before it halted the free upgrade for consumers and small businesses running Windows 7 or Windows 8.1. Then Microsoft pegged the number of "active devices" -- a metric of those machines that ran the OS at least once in the past four weeks -- at 350 million.The increase of 50 million over more than 12 weeks -- or about 17 million every four weeks -- was lower than during the free upgrade offer period. For example, in the eight weeks from May 5 to June 29, Microsoft claimed 50 million active users were added to the Windows 10 rolls, or 25 million every four weeks.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft commits to running data centers off 50% renewable energy by 2018

Microsoft announced it plans to power its data centers around the world using 50% renewable energy by 2018.The company also plans to boost its use of renewable power for its data centers to 60% by the early 2020s.Rob Bernard, Microsoft's chief environmental & cities strategist, made the announcement at the VERGE16 conference last week.Bernard's comments during a conference keynote were a reiteration of a commitment earlier this year by the company to increase its use of clean energy.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft commits to running data centers off 50% renewable energy by 2018

Microsoft announced it plans to power its data centers around the world using 50% renewable energy by 2018.The company also plans to boost its use of renewable power for its data centers to 60% by the early 2020s.Rob Bernard, Microsoft's chief environmental & cities strategist, made the announcement at the VERGE16 conference last week.Bernard's comments during a conference keynote were a reiteration of a commitment earlier this year by the company to increase its use of clean energy.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

34% off Master Lock Bluetooth Keyless Outdoor Padlock – Deal Alert

Use your smartphone to open this padlock from Master Lock. Share access, monitor access history and receive alerts if someone is tampering. Designed for outdoor use, its shackle offers 2 inch vertical clearance and is made of boron for maximum resistance to cutting and sawing. The lock features alternate methods of access for when Bluetooth isn't available or the replaceable battery dies. Its typical list price of $89 has been reduced 34% to $59 (see on Amazon). An indoor version is available, also at a discount (28% off, $50 -- See on Amazon).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

34% off Master Lock Bluetooth Keyless Outdoor Padlock – Deal Alert

Use your smartphone to open this padlock from Master Lock. Share access, monitor access history and receive alerts if someone is tampering. Designed for outdoor use, its shackle offers 2 inch vertical clearance and is made of boron for maximum resistance to cutting and sawing. The lock features alternate methods of access for when Bluetooth isn't available or the replaceable battery dies. Its typical list price of $89 has been reduced 34% to $59 (see on Amazon). An indoor version is available, also at a discount (28% off, $50 -- See on Amazon).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

As Adobe, Microsoft Azure ink cloud partnership, Amazon looms

To kick off his company’s Ignite conference in Atlanta this week, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced that Adobe will run three of its most popular software as a service apps on the Microsoft Azure IaaS cloud.The move is a power play by Microsoft and Adobe on multiple fronts, analysts say. But, it should also be taken with a grain of salt: A spokesperson for Adobe confirmed that the company has a “large footprint” with AWS and it expects to use both AWS and Azure moving forward. In that sense, it shows the dynamic nature of partnerships across the cloud market.+MORE AT NETWORK WORLD: Docker containers are coming to Windows | Review: Windows Server 2016 steps up security, cloud support +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Baidu’s New Yardstick for Deep Learning Hardware Makers

When it comes to deep learning innovation on the hardware front, few other research centers have been as forthcoming with their results as Baidu. Specifically, the company’s Silicon Valley AI Lab (SVAIL) has been the center of some noteworthy work on GPU-based deep learning as well as exploratory efforts using novel architectures specifically for ultra-fast training and inference.

It stands to reason that teams at SVAIL don’t simply throw hardware at the wall to see what sticks, even though they seem to have more to toss around than most. Over the last couple of years, they have broken down …

Baidu’s New Yardstick for Deep Learning Hardware Makers was written by Nicole Hemsoth at The Next Platform.

New Mac Trojan uses the Russian space program as a front

Security researchers have found a new Mac OS X malware that appears to be targeting the aerospace industry.The Trojan, called Komplex, can download, execute, and delete files from an infected Mac, according to security firm Palo Alto Networks. Interestingly, the Trojan will also save a PDF document to the infected system concerning the Russian space program.The PDF document details planned Russian space projects from 2016 to 2025, but it acts as a decoy, Palo Alto Networks said in Monday blog post.In reality, the Trojan is a package of tools that will attempt to secretly communicate with its creators' command-and-control servers. This includes sending back data on the version, username, and process list running on the infected system. The Trojan can also receive instructions, and it will forward the results to the control servers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

New Mac Trojan uses the Russian space program as a front

Security researchers have found a new Mac OS X malware that appears to be targeting the aerospace industry.The Trojan, called Komplex, can download, execute, and delete files from an infected Mac, according to security firm Palo Alto Networks. Interestingly, the Trojan will also save a PDF document to the infected system concerning the Russian space program.The PDF document details planned Russian space projects from 2016 to 2025, but it acts as a decoy, Palo Alto Networks said in Monday blog post.In reality, the Trojan is a package of tools that will attempt to secretly communicate with its creators' command-and-control servers. This includes sending back data on the version, username, and process list running on the infected system. The Trojan can also receive instructions, and it will forward the results to the control servers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Worth Reading: The Internet revolution is nothing to email home about

Economist Robert Gordon argues that the Second Industrial Revolution, entailing developments in electricity, internal combustion engines, modern communications, entertainment, petroleum/hydrocarbons, and chemicals, has had the most impact on productivity and living standards. By comparison, the Third Industrial Revolution, based around computing and the internet, appears to be less important. —Market Watch

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42% off Corsair Waterproof Shockproof 256GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive – Deal Alert

Military-style data transportation. That's how Corsair describes their Flash Survivor Stealth series of USB flash drives. Its anodized, aircraft-grade aluminum housing is waterproof to 200 meters, vibration-resistant, and shock-resistant while small enough to fit on your keychain. USB 3.0 offers read speeds up to four times faster than traditional USB 2.0 drives, so it's fast enough to play most videos directly from it, without having to transfer to a hard drive first. The drive is backwards compatible to 2.0 as well. Just plug it in, and it works with Windows, Mac OS and Linux without any additional software or drivers. This product also comes with a limited 5 year warranty. It averages 4.5 out of 5 stars from over 170 people on Amazon (read reviews), many of which report it's still alive after years of hard use. The 256GB model's list price of $156 has been reduced 42% to $91.30. If 256GB is more storage than you need, they have a 32GB model that's currently discounted 25% ($20.73 -- See it on Amazon).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Auto-Adding Routes When Mac PPTP Connection Comes Up

Before you read this post, understand that PPTP is insecure. Don’t use PPTP to create a VPN to anything you care about.

TL;DR

Skip to Solution #3.

Problem

When successfully making a PPTP connection to a remote VPN server with the built-in Mac OS X client, you find that you can’t connect to hosts on the other side of the VPN tunnel. You can still connect to the Internet and LAN hosts.

The root issue is that, by default, OS X has no reason to send traffic across the VPN tunnel. A reason must be provided.

Solution #1 – Setting Service Order

In System Preferences > Network, perform “Set Service Order” (the drop down gear icon), and move the PPTP connection to the top of the list.

This means that when the PPTP tunnel is up, traffic will flow through it before other network connections. This will gain you access to hosts on the other side of the VPN tunnel. It will also break everything else, unless the network on the other side of the PPTP tunnel can also service your Internet traffic. This is going to be a function of the VPN termination device as well as the firewall configuration at the remote site.

The issue here Continue reading

MIT Twitter dashboard muffles election news echo chamber

The Twitter dashboard Electome project at MIT, which charts Twitter in unique detail for journalists, announced its collaboration with the Commission on Presidential Debates. Electome will give journalists covering the debates near real-time feedback about the sentiments of people in the Twitter-sphere. It is a feedback loop for journalists to measure public sentiment to balance the attention given to subjects that sometimes receive copy-cat coverage of a lead story by a major news outlet in which the public has little interest.Electome was produced by Deb Roy, director and chief scientist at the MIT Media Lab, Laboratory for Social Machines; William Powers, longtime journalist and author turned Media Lab Electome research scientist; and Russell Stevens, project leader. Roy is also Twitter’s chief media scientist. He came to Twitter through the acquisition of Bluefin Labs, a social TV analytics company he co-founded.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Forget the robocalypse — ‘Homo connecticus’ may be what’s coming

Robots' potential to take over the world is a commonly expressed fear in the world of AI, but at least one Turing Award winner doesn't see it happening that way. Rather than replacing mankind, technology will create a new kind of human that will coexist with its predecessors while taking advantage of new tech-enabled tools.So argued Raj Reddy, former founding director of Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute and 1994 winner of the Turing Award, at the Heidelberg Laureate Forum in Germany last week.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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