Riding the new Wi-Fi wave (part 2)

In part 1 of this mini-series looking at the new wireless mesh networking aimed at home systems, I looked at Luma’s system. Instead of a single router providing coverage for the house, a mesh system uses multiple nodes that work in conjunction with each other to provide greater coverage and faster speeds.So here's part 2, in which I tested another wireless mesh system - this one from San Francisco-based startup eero. Like the Luma devices, the eero system comes in a three-pack of nodes (it costs $499), but you can also buy individual nodes for $199. You can get away with using just one node as its own Wi-Fi router/access point as long as you connect it to your modem (cable/DSL), but the added benefits of the mesh kick in when you add the second, third or any additional nodes. In the three-pack, the system includes power cables for each eero node, and one Ethernet cable that links the first node into your cable modem or WAN connection.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IBM’s Watson just landed a new job: helping Macy’s shoppers

IBM's Watson may be putting its cognitive muscle to work battling cancer and cybercriminals, but it's no slouch at shopping, either. On Wednesday, retail brand Macy's announced that it's testing out a new mobile service that lets in-store shoppers ask Watson for help.Dubbed Macy’s On-Call, the tool gives smartphone-equipped shoppers a way to ask Watson questions about a store's products, services and facilities by typing their questions into a mobile browser. It's delivered through location-based engagement software from IBM partner Satisfi, which accesses Watson from the cloud, and it works in both English and Spanish.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How to wipe an Android phone: The paranoid edition

As a naturally paranoid person, I wiped the Moto G4 and G4 Plus that I recently tested before returning them to Motorola. This isn’t the first tutorial about how to wipe an Android phone, but it is the first one written by a paranoid person. In this tutorial, one more step, critical to safely wiping an Android device has been added. There could be an evil entity extracting personal information from lost, stolen or discarded Android phones or those sold by the unwary on by Craig’s List and Ebay. Maybe not, but I don’t want to find out.  To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Review: 4 mini-PCs give you full power in a very small package

There is a new generation of mini-PCs out there -- small, inconspicuous but powerful. They offer a number of advantages for businesses over laptops or more traditional desktop systems. First, they can be placed where most traditional desktops and laptops won't fit, and can be set up in creative ways, such as in a drawer, on the underside of a desk or on the back of a display. As a result, they are perfect for places like call centers or school computer labs, where you want to maximize space and keep the computers out of sight. They also don't use a lot of electricity, so they are excellent for environments where electrical current can be an issue, such as a construction site trailer. In fact, one of the units we review, the InFocus Kangaroo Pro, is so small and power-efficient that it can run for more than an hour on battery power.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The history of ransomware

Suprisingly long historyImage by ThinkstockRansomware has been the most pervasive cyber threat since 2005. According to publicly available information, ransomware infections have outnumbered data breaches 7,694 to 6,013 over the past 11 years.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The history of ransomware

Suprisingly long historyImage by ThinkstockRansomware has been the most pervasive cyber threat since 2005. According to publicly available information, ransomware infections have outnumbered data breaches 7,694 to 6,013 over the past 11 years.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Businesses are rushing into IoT like lemmings

Companies are rapidly adopting IoT even though many don’t know if they’re getting a good return on their investment. Two-thirds of companies are now using or planning to use IoT, according to a global survey by research firm Strategy Analytics. That’s up from just 32 percent last year. But 51 percent of those aren’t sure whether the new technology is paying off, said Laura DiDio, an analyst at the firm. That doesn’t necessarily mean the internet of things isn’t saving them money or improving their businesses, DiDio said. But many organizations evaluate and deploy new technologies in such a fragmented way that they don’t know the full effects of their actions. It's actually better with IoT than with most other new technologies, where an even higher percentage can't measure the benefits, she said. But a disorganized approach isn't helpful in any case.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Ask Some HTTP/2 Pros The Hard Questions

We're big fans of HTTP/2 and our customers make up the majority of HTTP/2 enabled domains today. HTTP/2 is a key part of the modern web, and its growth and adoption is changing how websites and applications are built.

On Thursday July 21, 2016, join web performance experts Ilya Grigorik (Web Performance Engineer at Google) and Suzanne Aldrich (Solutions Engineer at CloudFlare), as they discuss the latest in HTTP/2 and Server Push, the tools and resources you can use today to build fast and scalable web apps, and ways to speed up your content on any device.

When: Thursday July 21, 2016 from 1pm-2pm Eastern Time (1500 – 1600 UTC)

Who: CloudFlare’s own Suzanne Aldrich and Ilya Grigorik from Google

Need the basics of HTTP/2 and Server Push? Visit the CloudFlare HTTP/2 website.

Swarm Mode on a Raspberry Pi Cluster

Last week I sat down with Dieter Reuter from Hypriot. Dieter is a Docker Captain who spends a lot of time working with ARM and Raspberry Pis in particular. Dieter told me how excited he is by Swarm Mode in particular because of how easy it would be to set-up a collection of Internet of Things devices to work together securely.

So we took a look at how easy it is to set-up a Raspberry Pi cluster and run Docker 1.12 in Swarm Mode. Here’s how he ran Swarm Mode:

So if you want to set-up a cluster of your own, he’s provided this helpful guide with a bit more details on how to set-up a Raspberry Pi Cluster in 29 minutes.

Also a number of people have asked after the visualizer that he’s using in demo. This is a Node.js visualizer originally built by the Docker Cloud team for DockerCon Europe. I modded it for DockerCon in Seattle, and released the code in a GitHub repository. I welcome additional contributions.

Download Docker here www.docker.com/getdocker

Try out the new #docker Swarm Mode on a @Raspberry_Pi Cluster by @Quintus23M & @HypriotTweets!
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OurMine is now breaking into Minecraft accounts

The same hacking group that took over Mark Zuckerberg's Twitter account has now found a way to break into accounts connected to the hit game Minecraft.The group, OurMine, made the claim on Tuesday in a video demonstrating its hack. The attack is aimed at the user login page run by Minecraft's developer, Mojang.OurMine isn't revealing all the details behind the hack. The group said it works by stealing the Internet cookies from the site, which can be used to hijack any account. All that OurMine needs is the victim's email address.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

OurMine is now breaking into Minecraft accounts

The same hacking group that took over Mark Zuckerberg's Twitter account has now found a way to break into accounts connected to the hit game Minecraft.The group, OurMine, made the claim on Tuesday in a video demonstrating its hack. The attack is aimed at the user login page run by Minecraft's developer, Mojang.OurMine isn't revealing all the details behind the hack. The group said it works by stealing the Internet cookies from the site, which can be used to hijack any account. All that OurMine needs is the victim's email address.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The hacking group that pwned Zuckerberg’s Twitter account broke into Minecraft

The same hacking group that took over Mark Zuckerberg's Twitter account said on Tuesday it had found a way to break into accounts connected to the hit game Minecraft. The group, OurMine, made the claim in a video in which it demonstrated the hack, which was aimed at the user login page run by Minecraft's developer, Mojang. Later on Tuesday, Microsoft, which bought Mojang two years ago, said it had fixed the issue.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The hacking group that pwned Zuckerberg’s Twitter account broke into Minecraft

The same hacking group that took over Mark Zuckerberg's Twitter account said on Tuesday it had found a way to break into accounts connected to the hit game Minecraft. The group, OurMine, made the claim in a video in which it demonstrated the hack, which was aimed at the user login page run by Minecraft's developer, Mojang. Later on Tuesday, Microsoft, which bought Mojang two years ago, said it had fixed the issue.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft’s Azure cloud revenue doubles, but phone sales plummet

Microsoft's cloud push continued to pay off last quarter, with revenue from its Azure services more than doubling from the same period last year, the company reported Tuesday.Overall revenue for the quarter was down, however, thanks partly to a steep decline in Microsoft's handset business. Total revenue for the three months ended June 30 was $20.6 billion, Microsoft said, down from $22.2 billion last year. Net profit was $3.1 billion.Microsoft's retreat from the smartphone market hurt its device sales significantly. Phone revenue sank 71 percent, after the company back pedaled from its Nokia acquisition to focus on a few models of Windows phone.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Here’s all the gear you need for a Pokémon Go adventure

Here's all the gear you need for a Pokémon go adventureImage by Blair Hanley FrankPokémon Go is hotter than a Charizard right now, but the game asks a lot from players. It’s a huge battery hog, and long sessions require a lot of physical endurance. Here’s what you need in your Go bag to make your time in the field last, based on my year of experience playing Ingress, its predecessor.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Security teams consulted too late on digital transformation

IT decision-makers who have responsibility for security believe security teams are brought in too late to have a meaningful effect on digital transformation initiatives, according to a new study. Dimensional Research, commissioned by by Dell, recently surveyed 631 IT decision-makers with responsibility for security from companies with 1,000 or more employees in the U.S., U.K., Germany, Australia, Scandinavia and the Benelux region. Ninety-seven percent of respondents report their organizations were investing in digital technologies to transform their business: 72 percent of the respondents said their organizations had active projects in mobile, 68 percent in cloud and 37 percent involving the Internet of Things (IoT) — all areas commonly associated with digital transformation.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Security teams consulted too late on digital transformation

IT decision-makers who have responsibility for security believe security teams are brought in too late to have a meaningful effect on digital transformation initiatives, according to a new study. Dimensional Research, commissioned by by Dell, recently surveyed 631 IT decision-makers with responsibility for security from companies with 1,000 or more employees in the U.S., U.K., Germany, Australia, Scandinavia and the Benelux region. Ninety-seven percent of respondents report their organizations were investing in digital technologies to transform their business: 72 percent of the respondents said their organizations had active projects in mobile, 68 percent in cloud and 37 percent involving the Internet of Things (IoT) — all areas commonly associated with digital transformation.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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