Consumers have no right to buy a PC without an OS, European court rules

Bare metal buyers beware: PC makers have no obligation to offer you a machine without an OS, the European Union's highest court has ruled.The case dates back to PC prehistory, a time when Vaio was still a Sony brand and Vista was the latest version of Windows.It all began on Dec. 27, 2008, when Frenchman Vincent Deroo-Blanquart bought a Sony Vaio laptop with Windows Vista Home Premium and various software applications installed. Deroo-Blanquart refused to accept the Vista end-user license agreement (EULA) when he first turned the PC on, and on Dec. 30, asked Sony to refund the part of the computer's €549 (then US$740) purchase price corresponding to the cost of the software.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The Business Value of Agility

Communication service providers (CSPs) can increase their competitiveness in two ways: lower costs as they seek bottom-line growth and increase their revenue streams as the achieve top-line growth.

IDG Contributor Network: D-Day: Dell and EMC create a new dawn

Today marks a big day in tech history as two of the biggest names in the game join forces. Sept. 7 will go down in history as one of the largest tech transactions ever to be completed. At an unfathomable $67 billion, I'm pretty sure you will get to witness some fireworks. A couple marketing changes will be most noticeable from day one. Dell becomes: "Dell Technologies" and EMC becomes: "Dell EMC."On Sept. 6, signs were pulled off buildings to make room for the new branding. And the signs are down in Cork, goodbye #emc pic.twitter.com/fJ1BgVdcBtTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: D-Day: Dell and EMC create a new dawn

Today marks a big day in tech history as two of the biggest names in the game join forces. Sept. 7 will go down in history as one of the largest tech transactions ever to be completed. At an unfathomable $67 billion, I'm pretty sure you will get to witness some fireworks. A couple marketing changes will be most noticeable from day one. Dell becomes: "Dell Technologies" and EMC becomes: "Dell EMC."On Sept. 6, signs were pulled off buildings to make room for the new branding. And the signs are down in Cork, goodbye #emc pic.twitter.com/fJ1BgVdcBtTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Worth Reading: What Facebook learns by shutting down entire facilities

As we have reported before, Facebook has one of the boldest approaches to testing its infrastructure resiliency. The Facebook data center team regularly shuts down entire sites to see how its application will behave and to learn what improvements can be made. During his keynote this morning at the Facebook @Scale conference in San Jose, California, Jay Parikh, the company’s head of engineering and infrastructure, shared some of the big lessons his team has learned so far from these fire drills. —Data Center Knowledge

The post Worth Reading: What Facebook learns by shutting down entire facilities appeared first on 'net work.

DigitalOcean Announces Hatch to Help Startups Scale

Who couldn't use $100K worth of free cloud?

Last-minute iPhone 7 rumors detail new color options, improved water resistance and more

We’re just a few short hours away from Tim Cook and company taking the stage at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco and taking the wraps off of the highly anticipated iPhone 7. Predictably, the rumor mill has been operating at full throttle over the last few days, and we thought we’d color in some last-minute rumors about the iPhone 7 that you might have missed.+ Also on Network World: How to watch iPhone 7 reveal on Apple, Windows or Android +Over the weekend, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo published an expansive research report detailing a number of previously unknown tidbits about the iPhone 7’s features and specs. While iPhone rumors can sometimes be a dime a dozen, Kuo’s track record has always been rather impressive. So, let’s drive right in.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

17% off Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300i Mobile Document Scanner – Deal Alert

The ScanSnap S1300i from Fujitsu is the smallest multi-page double-sided ScanSnap scanner for one-button ease of use at the desk or on the road. Just stack up to 10 pages into the feeder and press the blue button. The S1300i features a powerful set of automated image processing functions including auto skew correction, auto orientation, and auto color detection -- all working behind the scenes so your scanned content looks great without effort. Scan directly to Evernote, Google Docs, Salesforce CRM and SharePoint Online. Scanning to the cloud lets you access your documents from just about anywhere. The unit is powered by USB or the included AC power cord. Averaging 4.5 out of 5 stars on Amazon from over 1,400 people (read reviews), the typical $295 list price of this Amazon best-seller has been reduced by $50 to $245. See the discounted Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300i now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

‘Stupid simple’ attack can steal credentials from locked Windows and Mac computers

Hats off to security researcher Rob Fuller, aka mubix, for spending part of his Labor Day weekend figuring out how to use a spoofed USB Ethernet adapter to steal credentials from logged in but locked Windows and Mac computers. It works!!! Muhahahahah I can steal credentials from a locked computer. Muahahahhahahahah pic.twitter.com/9l3d0tvs8i— Rob Fuller (@mubix) September 4, 2016 Fuller did not use a zero-day; although the attack is “stupid simple” and “should not work,” it does work because most computers automatically install Play-and-Play USB devices. “Even if a system is locked out, the device still gets installed.” There may be restrictions on what devices can be installed when the box is a locked state, but he said, “Ethernet/LAN is definitely on the white list.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

‘Stupid simple’ attack can steal credentials from locked Windows and Mac computers

Hats off to security researcher Rob Fuller, aka mubix, for spending part of his Labor Day weekend figuring out how to use a spoofed USB Ethernet adapter to steal credentials from logged in but locked Windows and Mac computers. It works!!! Muhahahahah I can steal credentials from a locked computer. Muahahahhahahahah pic.twitter.com/9l3d0tvs8i— Rob Fuller (@mubix) September 4, 2016 Fuller did not use a zero-day; although the attack is “stupid simple” and “should not work,” it does work because most computers automatically install Play-and-Play USB devices. “Even if a system is locked out, the device still gets installed.” There may be restrictions on what devices can be installed when the box is a locked state, but he said, “Ethernet/LAN is definitely on the white list.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

EMC is now Dell EMC

The largest acquisition in the technology industry’s history today became official and with it, EMC Corp. is no longer.EMC is now referred to as Dell EMC. It’s a subsidiary of Dell Technologies and includes the enterprise business units of the former EMC Corp. and Dell.+MORE AT NETWORK WORLD: What Dell-EMC means for VMware | Video recap of 3 big takeaways from VMWorld 2016 +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Smartphone infections double, hotspots are also a trouble area

Malware infection rates on smartphones have been rapidly escalating, says an endpoint security solutions provider.Over 1.06 percent of devices in April, were infected by some variant of malware. That’s an all-time high. Nokia’s twice-a-year report, released last week says it’s found that infections doubled in the first half of 2016, compared with the second half of 2015.The Nokia Threat Intelligence lab includes “ransomware, spy-phone applications, SMS Trojans, personal information theft and aggressive adware” in its malware definition.Android got pummeled. Three-fourths of all infections were discovered on the Android mobile OS. For comparison “Windows/PC Systems” attracted 22 percent and Apple’s iOS only 4 percent.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Google Safe Browsing gives more details to compromised website owners

Google is now providing more information to website owners whose online properties are temporarily blocked as unsafe by its Safe Browsing technology as a way to help them fix the identified problems faster.Google Safe Browsing is a technology used by Google's search engine, the Google Chrome browser, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, and Android to steer users away from websites that host malicious or deceptive content.On the back-end, Google uses robots to scan the web and build a list of websites that host malware, harmful downloads, or deceptive ads and pages. Software developers can then plug into an API to integrate this list into their own applications.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Google Safe Browsing gives more details to compromised website owners

Google is now providing more information to website owners whose online properties are temporarily blocked as unsafe by its Safe Browsing technology as a way to help them fix the identified problems faster.Google Safe Browsing is a technology used by Google's search engine, the Google Chrome browser, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, and Android to steer users away from websites that host malicious or deceptive content.On the back-end, Google uses robots to scan the web and build a list of websites that host malware, harmful downloads, or deceptive ads and pages. Software developers can then plug into an API to integrate this list into their own applications.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Survey says! 3 surprising IT facts

I’m always interested in Spiceworks’ annual State of IT survey of hundreds of IT folks around the world. Last year I wrote about results indicating that PCs continue to top IT hardware investments. Well, the 2017 report isn’t out yet, but the company has release a few teaser findings, which still piqued my interest.1. The cloud is growing—duh First, and least surprising, the results indicate continued cloud computing momentum. According to Spiceworks, “38 percent of IT pros consider cloud very or extremely important in 2016 compared to 29 percent in 2015.” That kind of growth is only to be expected in the current environment.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Survey says! 3 surprising IT facts

I’m always interested in Spiceworks’ annual State of IT survey of hundreds of IT folks around the world. Last year I wrote about results indicating that PCs continue to top IT hardware investments. Well, the 2017 report isn’t out yet, but the company has release a few teaser findings, which still piqued my interest.1. The cloud is growing—duh First, and least surprising, the results indicate continued cloud computing momentum. According to Spiceworks, “38 percent of IT pros consider cloud very or extremely important in 2016 compared to 29 percent in 2015.” That kind of growth is only to be expected in the current environment.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Cambium Networks helps provide the network for the IoT

We here a lot about the Internet of Things (IoT) these days. Call it the IoT, the industrial internet, the internet of customers or some other variation on a theme, but it means essentially the same thing—devices and sensors in a dizzying variety of different locations being connected and able to exchange data. But many of the use cases we see for IoT are pretty lightweight in terms of their operating requirements. While a connected toaster, refrigerator or toothbrush might make for a great concepts video, it’s not exactly difficult from a connectivity perspective—just leverage the existing wireless network that already exist in a home and from there jump onto the public internet.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Router Basics: The Lost Configuration

User-Centric Networks Will Drive New Architectures

On eve of iPhone 7, a third of iPhones are 3+ years old

A third of the iPhones now in use are three or more years old, an app analytics vendor said a day before Apple unveils the new iPhone 7. According to Boston-based Localytics, 32% of all iPhones used in August were models that debuted in 2013 or earlier, with that year's iPhone 5S the third-most popular device at 17%. Others, including 2012's iPhone 5 and 2011's iPhone 4S, accounted for single digit shares. Localytics measured share by tallying the models among more than 100 million iPhones that reported data to the app developers that use its analytics tools.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here