Microsoft conscripts upload bandwidth in Windows 10’s latest Insider update

Microsoft today updated the Windows 10 beta, switching on a controversial technology that commandeers users' upload bandwidth to shift some responsibility for updating from the company's own servers.Build 14915 was released earlier Wednesday to participants in the Windows Insider "Fast" track.The notable change highlighted by Dona Sarkar, the software engineer who acts as the public face of Insider, was the enabling of Windows 10's "Delivery Optimization" technology.INSIDER Review: Enterprise guide to Windows 10 Delivery Optimization, formally dubbed "Windows Update Delivery Optimization" (WUDO) by Microsoft, was part of Windows 10 from the get-go. But it was only switched on as of the November 2015 upgrade, which was pegged as 1511. Insider builds of Windows 10, however, were exempt until now.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Lenovo kicks off IFA with four new notebook/tablet offerings

People who feel that there’s “nothing new to see” in the world of notebooks and tablets should take a look at what Lenovo announced today. Ahead of the IFA show in Berlin, the company announced four new offerings, highlighting design upgrades and features that challenge users to think about what can be done with a computer. That’s no small feat in today’s technology device world, where everything often looks the same, with just a different label slapped on the cover.Here’s a quick look at the announcements:Yoga Book This 2-in-1 device takes its Book moniker seriously - when spread out flat, the device looks a lot more like a book than a notebook or even a tablet (see photo above). The Yoga Book features a “halo keyboard”, which is a full touch screen backlit keyboard that integrates software and hardware into the interface. The glass touch screen includes an anti-glare coating to create a touch-typing experience, which should be helpful since there are no physical keys. Instead, it displays as a solid white outline on the Yoga Book’s second panel, and it’s only on when the user needs a keyboard. Software is also included that “learns about and adapts Continue reading

The company behind Hillary Clinton’s erased emails is riding high

The company behind Hillary Clinton’s erased emails is riding high

A small open source firm behind the erasure of Hillary Clinton's personal email server is enjoying a lot of free publicity thanks to the investigation into the server's contents. BleachBit, an open source system erasure tool, has been around for a few years and won some accolades, and now it's the center of attention on the Clinton email scandal.It started with Trey Gowdy, the Republican congressman from South Carolina leading the investigation into the private email server. He mentioned BleachBit in an interview, saying Clinton's 33,000 deleted emails have been "deleted where even God can't read them."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Windows 10’s new beta lets computers download updates from other PCs

Microsoft is trying to make it faster for people to download Windows updates by using the vast network of PCs around the world to deliver them. A new beta build of Windows 10 released on Wednesday enables Delivery Optimization by default, which lets PCs download update bits from other computers connected to the internet. Those bits can be delivered alongside those brought in from Microsoft's servers, to help speed up the process of downloading updates, especially on less reliable network connections. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Lenovo will ditch hard keyboards in planned Chromebook and 2-in-1s

Lenovo's new Yoga Book will be a sleek folding laptop with stunning secrets inside.Opening up the device reveals a big surprise: It has no hard keyboard. The keyboard area instead has a versatile touch panel that turns into a smartphone-like virtual keyboard, a draw pad, or a digital notepad.The new touch input panel, which has a back-lit virtual keyboard, is a big deal for Lenovo. It will be featured in a new line of 2-and-1s and laptops and is Lenovo's ambitious attempt to break a decades-old habit of using one-dimensional hard keyboards.The Yoga Book will be the company's first product with a touch panel replacing a hard keyboard to type, draw, or take notes. Its price will start at US$499, and come with Windows or Android. Lenovo hasn't provided a shipment date for the device.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Moto Z Play with Hasselblad True Zoom: Finally a smartphone and camera worth talking about

Smartphone reviewers, including myself, write reviews that read more like Robert Parker’s reviews of expensive wines from great vineyards. Oenophiles and smartphone reviewers alike often meander through subtle differences that most consumers don’t have the palette to distinguish. The Moto Z with the Hasselblad True Zoom Moto Mod add-on module, however, allows smartphone reviewers, for the first time in a long time, to stop meandering with subtleties and gives them something tangible to write about.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

10 under-the-radar software products users love

Top mid-market software productsG2 Crowd, an online platform hosting more than 100,000 user reviews, has shared its list of top mid-market software products as rated by users of such tools based on how much they like the software and would recommend it to others. While you might be familiar with some of the products on this list, you won’t find much in the way from the highest profile software companies, such as Microsoft and Salesforce.com. “Like the majority of smaller organizations, mid-market companies [51 to 1,000 employees] require software products that are sophisticated but not too pricey, and also easy to use,” says Michael Fauscette, chief research officer at G2 Crowd.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

10 under-the-radar software products users love

Top mid-market software productsG2 Crowd, an online platform hosting more than 100,000 user reviews, has shared its list of top mid-market software products as rated by users of such tools based on how much they like the software and would recommend it to others. While you might be familiar with some of the products on this list, you won’t find much in the way from the highest profile software companies, such as Microsoft and Salesforce.com. “Like the majority of smaller organizations, mid-market companies [51 to 1,000 employees] require software products that are sophisticated but not too pricey, and also easy to use,” says Michael Fauscette, chief research officer at G2 Crowd.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Infinera Bases its SDN for Transport Networks on OpenDaylight

The SDN also employs containers.

Ericsson Pushes Envelope By Making 5G Networking Gear Available in 2017

This is well ahead of the 2020 time frame expected for 5G specifications from the ITU.

AI, Machine Learning, and The Hitchhiker’s Guide

I had a great conversation with Ed Horley (@EHorley) and Patrick Hubbard (@FerventGeek) last night around new technologies. We were waxing intellectual about all things related to advances in analytics and intelligence. There’s been more than a few questions here at VMworld 2016 about the roles that machine learning and artificial intelligence will play in the future of IT. But during the conversation with Ed and Patrick, I finally hit on the perfect analogy for machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI). It’s pretty easy to follow along, so don’t panic.

The Answer

Machine learning is an amazing technology. It can extrapolate patterns in large data sets and provide insight from seemingly random things. It can also teach machines to think about problems and find solutions. Rather than go back to the tired Target big data example, I much prefer this example of a computer learning to play Super Mario World:

You can see how the algorithms learn how to play the game and find newer, better paths throughout the level. One of the things that’s always struck me about the computer’s decision skills is how early it learned that spin jumps provide more benefit than regular Continue reading

A new OpenSUSE Linux is coming to town, and it’s all about stability

Linux users come in many shapes and sizes, but those in the business world typically steer clear of the bleeding edge. That's why the OpenSUSE project recently switched to a two-pronged development approach, with one version focused on constant updates and another on enterprise-grade stability. On Wednesday, the latter took a big step forward.The first beta version of OpenSUSE Leap 42.2 is now available, giving enterprises and other stability-minded users the chance to check it out and get a taste of what's coming in the final release, which is due Nov. 16. This is the first key update to the Leap software since OpenSUSE adopted its dual-path approach late last year with OpenSUSE 42.1.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

An I2RS Overview

What is the Interface to the Routing System (I2RS), and why do we need it? To get a good I2RS overview, consider the following illustration for a moment—

What does the interface between, say, BGP and the routing table (RIB) actually look like? What sort of information is carried over this interface, and why? A short (and probably incomplete) list might be—

• Routes being installed by the routing protocol into the RIB—this is the most obvious bit of information, allowing the device to actually build a forwarding table
• Routes being overwritten—this isn’t as obvious as installed routes, but BGP (for instance), can only advertise what is installed in the local table; hence if a route it has installed is overwritten, the process needs to know to stop advertising the route
• Routes being removed from the routing table—perhaps even less obvious, but some routing protocols (BGP is one) allow for multihop routes; when the next hop is removed, any routes using that next hop need to be removed as well
• Connected interfaces removed—this is often handled as a route removal, but it impacts more than just multihop routes; removing a connected route implies loss of reachability to a specific set of Continue reading

Asus may be planning Microsoft HoloLens competitor in its VR push

Virtual reality headsets are considered the hot new PC devices, and Asus is planning to stake a claim of its own.  Asus on Wednesday said it intends to release VR headsets. VR headsets can be versatile 3D PCs that make 2D laptops and desktops look pale in comparison, Asus said at the IFA trade show in Berlin. "Asus has a few VR options coming up really soon. Once that happens, you will be free from devices and immersed in 360 degrees of pure entertainment that will blow you away," said Jen Chuang, Asus' design center director. Asus didn't provide further details, but the company seems to want to focus on untethered VR headsets, or perhaps even mixed-reality headsets like Microsoft's HoloLens. It could tap into a few technologies to do so.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Instagram finally lets iOS users zoom in

File this under: What took you so long, Instagram?I can't tell you the number of times I've attempted to zoom in on one of my crummy Instagram photos, hoping I might see better detail than I usually capture in my faraway shots. Now Instagram has enabled pinching and zooming of not just photos, but videos, for those with iPhones and other iOS devices. And I checked: It works with existing photos and videos, not just ones created from here on."Starting today, you can pinch to zoom on photos and videos in feed, on profiles and on Explore. Dive into an adorable puppy’s smile or into every detail of your friend’s new shirt," Instagram proclaims.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

SAP builds next-gen data warehouse for the cloud

With an eye on the need for more scalable, real-time analytics, SAP today unveiled SAP BW/4HANA, its next-generation data warehouse product for the real-time digital enterprise.BW/4HANA will support on-premises deployments, but will also be available on Amazon Web Services (AWS) and SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud (HEC), says Neil McGovern, senior director, Product Marketing, SAP Data Warehousing."We're trying to give our customers some options," he says. "AWS is infrastructure as a service (IaaS) — you can provision very quickly and inexpensively. With HEC, it's far more of a complete, turnkey solution — more platform as a service (PaaS)." SAP’s next-generation data warehouse service, SAP BW/4HANA, provides interactivity with historical and live data whether that data lives inside or outside the enterprise. (Click for larger image.)To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

HPE CIO tackles tough ‘spin merge’ with CSC

It’s become fashionable to call CIOs chief integration officers because they integrate acquired assets, blend on-premises infrastructure and cloud technology, and collaborate with several stakeholders on digital services. HPE Scott Spradley, CIO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise. You can call Scott Spradley, CIO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, a chief separation officer. Spradley is racing to complete his second major asset split within 12 months, extracting HPE's $20 billion enterprise services business in an $8.5 billion "spin merge" with Computer Sciences Corp. The technology services company will absorb HPE’s services business, acquired in a 2008 acquisition of EDS.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Facebook’s new algorithm will help save VR movies from shaky-cam

Facebook wants to make sure that any VR home movies shared on its social network won't make people puke. That's why the company is building a new video stabilization algorithm that will help smooth out all of the bumps and shakes that come from wielding a 360-degree camera. The new algorithm is designed for stabilizing 360-degree videos in particular, something that Facebook says is important for addressing the growing amount of spherical footage. Previous stabilization technology was designed primarily for videos with a smaller field of view because they were usually taken with traditional 2D cameras. It's an important step for Facebook, which has been focused on virtual reality content and 360-degree video, especially after its US$2 billion acquisition of VR hardware maker Oculus in 2014. The social network introduced support for 360-degree video a year ago and has been pushing it ever since. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

1,650lb 3D printed aircraft tool sets Guinness World Record

A 17.5 foot long, 5.5 foot wide and 1.5 foot tall the 3D printed aircraft design tool has earned the title of largest solid 3D printed item by Guinness World Records.The 1,650 lb. apparatus known as a trim-and-drill tool is comparable in length to a large sport utility vehicle and will ultimately be tested for use in building the Boeing 777X passenger jet. Basically the tool will be used to secure the jet’s composite wing skin for drilling and machining before assembly according to researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ONRL) who developed the tool.+More on Network World: The hottest 3D printing projects+To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here