Microsoft spices up Surface Hub with Azure cloud services

Microsoft's supersize Surface Hub is often viewed as a computer for videoconferencing and digital whiteboarding, but it is emerging as more than just the centerpiece of a conference room.The Surface Hub is a one-of-a-kind, all-in-one PC with a 55- or 84-inch screen that started shipping a few months back. The device provides new ways for users to present, exchange, share and manipulate data from the Azure cloud, said Hayete Gallot, general manager at Microsoft Devices.Users are still exploring ways in which it can be used. The large screen and collaborative features can be powerful tools in visualizing data extracted from the cloud, Gallot suggests.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Worth Reading: Who’s world is this?

On both sides of the Atlantic, we are witnessing the dramatic expansion of government hacking powers. In the United States, a proposed amendment to Rule 41 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure would permit the government to obtain a warrant, in certain circumstances, to hack unspecified numbers of electronic devices anywhere in the world. Meanwhile, across the pond, the British Parliament is currently debating the Investigatory Powers Bill, which (among many other things) would authorize the government to hack the devices of broad classes of people without geographic limitation. The exercise of these powers will have significant implications for the privacy and security of individuals around the world and therefore commands our attention. —Just Security

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Save Hundreds On The Complete Linux System Administrator Bundle – Deal Alert

You don’t need a fancy college degree (and $100,000 in student debt) to land a tech job, as long as you can prove you’ve got the skills. And because Linux is such an in-demand skill, underlying everything from desktop performance to online security--it’s a great place to start. The Complete Linux System Administrator Bundle will more than get you up to speed, and it’s now only $69.Packed with over 100 hours of instruction, this bundle will help you dive into Linux, the popular open-source operating system. Throughout its 7 courses, you’ll make your way from Linux/Unix basics to more advanced concepts like penetration testing, bash scripting, and openSUSE system administration. With such a robust curriculum, this bundle has everything you need to become a Linux pro.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft touts $404 per user savings with Windows 10

Microsoft this week said enterprises and organizations could save up to $404 per employee over a three-year span by adopting Windows 10.That claim came from a company-commissioned analysis done by Forrester Research. After interviewing four Microsoft customers which have begun migrations from Windows 7 to Windows 10, Forrester created a hypothetical composite organization -- one with 24,000 Windows devices, and a large number of mobile workers among its 20,000 employees -- that it then used to model costs of rolling out Windows 10 and savings generated after the fact.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

26% off Miracle-Gro AeroGarden Bounty with Gourmet Herb Seed Pod Kit – Deal Alert

The Miracle-Grow AeroGarden, with room for 9 plants and 45 Watts of LED Lighting, the AeroGarden Bounty is the largest and most powerful AeroGarden to date. It comes with a Gourmet Herbs Seed Kit that will deliver fresh, flavorful herbs right at your fingertips. The easy-to-use Control Panel has an interactive LCD display that utilizes on screen prompts to guide you from set up to harvest. It automatically creates optimal conditions for your plants by turning the lights on and off and reminding you when to add water and our Specially Formulated Liquid Plant Food.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Samsung’s new UFS memory cards as fast as SSD drives

External storage cards that read more than five-times faster than normal microSD cards are being released by Samsung, the company announced.The cards, using the Universal Flash Storage (UFS) standard read at 530 megabytes per second. That read speed is comparable to SATA Solid State Drives or Disks (SSDs).Write speeds are about double the fastest microSD cards, with sequential write speeds of 170 megabytes per second, Samsung claims in a press release.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Google Glass takes flight at Boeing

Boeing, the largest aerospace company on the planet, builds a lot of planes. The organization manufactures aircraft for airlines and governments in more than 150 countries. And every one of those planes contains thousands of wires that connect its various electrical systems.These complex webs of wires don't weave themselves, and putting all the parts together is a monumental task. Each week, thousands of Boeing's U.S. workers construct "wire harnesses," or "people-size portions of the electrical systems" designed to help them join the various shapes and sizes of wires, according to Kyle Tsai, a research and development (R&D) engineer with Boeing Research and Technology (BRT), the company's central R&D organization. "Wire harnesses are very complex and very dense, and the technicians have to use what are, in essence, roadmaps to find the attachment points and connector pins," Tsai says. "There are so many that it can be information overload at times."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

MPI and Scalable Distributed Machine Learning

MPI (Message Passing Interface) is the de facto standard distributed communications framework for scientific and commercial parallel distributed computing. The Intel MPI implementation is a core technology in the Intel Scalable System Framework that provides programmers a “drop-in” MPICH replacement library that can deliver the performance benefits of the Intel Omni-Path Architecture (Intel OPA ) communications fabric plus high core count Intel Xeon and Intel Xeon Phi processors.

“Drop-in” literally means that programmers can set an environmental variable to dynamically load the highly tuned and optimized Intel MPI library – no recompilation required! Of course, Intel’s MPI library supports other …

MPI and Scalable Distributed Machine Learning was written by Nicole Hemsoth at The Next Platform.

33% off Logitech Z623 200 Watt 2.1 Home Speaker System – Deal Alert

The Z623 home speaker system has what Logitech describes as "200 watts of window-rattling power". Its THX certified audio is rich and loud with deep impressive bass. From music lovers to gamers, just plug in your gear and stand back as this compact system has no trouble filling the room and immersing everyone in it. The system has generated almost 3,000 reviews on Amazon, averaging 4.5 out of 5 stars (87% rate it 4+ stars -- read reviews). Amazon indicates that its typical list price of $149.99 has been reduced by a significant 33%, so you can buy the 200 watt 2.1 speaker system now on Amazon for $99.99.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How Facebook keeps you from hating its apps

An app has to do a lot of things for you to love it—and do only two things wrong to make you hate it: perform sluggishly and consume a lot of power.Facebook operations engineer Antoine Reversat revealed what Facebook does to prevent those two things and keep users from uninstalling its apps. He showed me the automated mobile testing lab, which has never before been disclosed to the public, that he designed and operates. The system automates testing of Facebook’s mobile apps, Messenger and Instagram for iOS and Android.Almost 2,000 Android and iOS smartphones are housed in 60 racks at Facebook’s Prineville, Oregon, data center. The standard-sized, specially designed racks hold 32 phones each, interconnected to a server. Linux servers interconnect Android phones, and Mac Minis interconnect iPhones. The phones are remotely controlled and monitored during the testing using an automated system that, like much of what Facebook does, will be open sourced for other mobile testers to use and contribute improvements.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Three popular Drupal modules get patches for site takeover flaws

The security team of the popular Drupal content management system worked with the maintainers of three third-party modules to fix critical vulnerabilities that could allow attackers to take over websites.The flaws allow attackers to execute rogue PHP code web servers that host Drupal websites with the RESTWS, Coder or Webform Multiple File Upload modules installed. These modules are not part of Drupal's core, but are used by thousands of websites.The RESTWS module is a popular tool for creating Rest application programming interfaces (APIs) and is currently installed on over 5,800 websites. Unauthenticated attackers can exploit the remote code execution vulnerability in its page callback functionality by sending specially crafted requests to the website.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Three popular Drupal modules get patches for site takeover flaws

The security team of the popular Drupal content management system worked with the maintainers of three third-party modules to fix critical vulnerabilities that could allow attackers to take over websites.The flaws allow attackers to execute rogue PHP code web servers that host Drupal websites with the RESTWS, Coder or Webform Multiple File Upload modules installed. These modules are not part of Drupal's core, but are used by thousands of websites.The RESTWS module is a popular tool for creating Rest application programming interfaces (APIs) and is currently installed on over 5,800 websites. Unauthenticated attackers can exploit the remote code execution vulnerability in its page callback functionality by sending specially crafted requests to the website.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cisco Live: Midweek Impressions

I’m at Cisco Live this week in Las Vegas; forthwith, some observations, thoughts, and… a long rant.

First, if you’re here, look me up. I normally hang out around the Certification and/or Social areas when I’m not in meetings/etc. I’m pretty easy to find, so drop by and say hi. It’s been like old home week for me—reconnecting with people I’ve not seen in years, catching up and friendships, etc. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the people I’ve worked with over the years in terms of friendships offered and skills learned. Seriously.

Second, I’m speaking on Thursday afternoon about understanding and managing network complexity. I’m pretty certain the session isn’t full yet, so come by and listen. It’s a 90 minute investment that could change the way you think about network design and operation. Seriously.

Third, The content seems to be deep and interesting this year, as always. This brings me to my first contrary point, though—this industry needs a show that compares with Live in depth of technical material, but isn’t tied to a particular vendor. Are you listening, Interop? I know, it’s hard to talk deep technology in the modern networking world—which leads me to Continue reading

Chinese hackers blamed for multiple breaches at US banking agency

Chinese government hackers were the likely attackers in three breaches in recent years at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the U.S. agency that insures bank accounts, according to a congressional audit.Breaches at the FDIC in 2010, 2011, and 2013 were caused by an "advanced persistent threat ... believed to have been the Chinese government," according to an interim report on the agency's cybersecurity from the House of Representatives Science, Space, and Technology Committee.In the 2013 breach, hackers gained access to the computers of 12 staff computers, including the former chairman, chief of staff and general counsel of the agency, the House report said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Chinese hackers blamed for multiple breaches at US banking agency

Chinese government hackers were the likely attackers in three breaches in recent years at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the U.S. agency that insures bank accounts, according to a congressional audit.Breaches at the FDIC in 2010, 2011, and 2013 were caused by an "advanced persistent threat ... believed to have been the Chinese government," according to an interim report on the agency's cybersecurity from the House of Representatives Science, Space, and Technology Committee.In the 2013 breach, hackers gained access to the computers of 12 staff computers, including the former chairman, chief of staff and general counsel of the agency, the House report said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Startups boldly challenge Internet, mass transit & password status quo

One startup pledged to “make passwords impossible to steal.” Another promised technology to "absolutely change the face of the Internet itself!” And an asphalt-hating CEO said his outfit’s zippy overhead pods will be a green replacement for gas guzzling vehicles in big cities within a couple of years.The 88th edition of Mass Innovation Nights on Tuesday gave the stage – at host LogMeIn’s airy Boston Seaport digs – to an idealistic handful of startups unfettered so far by venture capital and repetitive marketing lingo (I only heard the dreaded word “journey” once!). The founders eagerly answered questions posed by attendees – including precocious teens on summer break -- and collected certificates earned for winning a popular vote among audience members. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Startups boldly challenge Internet, mass transit & password status quo

One startup pledged to “make passwords impossible to steal.” Another promised technology to "absolutely change the face of the Internet itself!” And an asphalt-hating CEO said his outfit’s zippy overhead pods will be a green replacement for gas guzzling vehicles in big cities within a couple of years.The 88th edition of Mass Innovation Nights on Tuesday gave the stage – at host LogMeIn’s airy Boston Seaport digs – to an idealistic handful of startups unfettered so far by venture capital and repetitive marketing lingo (I only heard the dreaded word “journey” once!). The founders eagerly answered questions posed by attendees – including precocious teens on summer break -- and collected certificates earned for winning a popular vote among audience members. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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