A CIO’s guide to understanding analytics

Wherever you turn, businesses are putting analytics into action. Retailer American Eagle outfitters, for example, uses an algorithm to figure out how best to fulfill online orders with products shipped from physical stores. Insurance company Allstate calculates premiums using an algorithm that weights different risk factors. Even beverage maker Minute Maid is applying algorithms to its orange juice, taking into account not just consumer preferences but its supply chain.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

Confusion over cyber insurance leads to coverage gaps

Assessing damage after a major cybersecurity breach is one of the most harrowing things a CIO or CISO can face. There is plenty of blame to go around but rarely enough people to accept it evenly. And when it comes to recouping money from cyber insurance claims, this blame game is further complicated by confusion.A typical corporate cyber insurance discussion goes like this: The CEO or board chairman calls the CISO into the room and tells him that their insurers is going to pay out only 38 percent of a claim because "you didn't implement encryption on the affected applications."The CISO says: "First, I didn't know we had cyber insurance. Second, the impacted apps are running our ATM machines and if we would have encrypted them you would have fired me because our customers wouldn't have been able to access them. I wish you would have talked to me before you implemented these policies."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: We need a better Private Browsing Mode

Many web browsers have some variation of “private” browsing mode. In that mode, websites shouldn't be able to read cookies stored on your computer, nor should they  be able to place permanent cookies onto your computer. (They think they can place cookies, but those cookies are deleted at the end of the session.)Normally, you have two ways to use those modes: Deliberately decide to start a private session. On Firefox for the Mac, it’s File -> New Private Window. Ditto for Safari for the Mac. In Chrome for the Mac, it’s File -> New Incognito Window. The process is similar for Windows, and it is somewhat different on phones and tablets. The problem is that if you click a link in, say, an email, it will open in a regular, non-private window. Set a default that every browser session will be private/incognito. (The method varies widely based on browser and operating system.) This method will handle external link requests by opening them in private/incognito mode. But since everything else will open that way too, you’ll have to manually log into every website you visit. That is a real nuisance. (You can set browsers to block cookies, but that’s bigger nuisance because Continue reading

Microsoft lets AI experiments loose in world of Minecraft

Microsoft has published the source code for its Project Malmo, allowing anyone to conduct artificial intelligence experiments in the world of Minecraft with a little programming.It unveiled the project, then known as AIX, back in March, but at the time only a few academics had access to the code. On Thursday the company made good on its promise to open up the source code by publishing it on Github.Minecraft, the blocky world-building game that Microsoft paid US$2.5 billion for two years ago, is an ideal place to test how artificial intelligences will interact with one another and with humans.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Three Things You Don’t Want To Miss At AnsibleFest San Francisco

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AnsibleFest is returning to San Francisco on Thursday, July 28th, 2016 at the Westin St. Francis in Union Square. It's going to be a great opportunity to meet and connect with passionate Ansible users, developers and industry partners. Whether you're an experienced user or are just getting started, AnsibleFest is for you.

This year AnsibleFest will not be one to miss, featuring the latest and greatest updates on Ansible and Ansible Tower as well as use cases, technical deep dives and best practices.

As AnsibleFest continues to grow so does its offerings. For those who have never attended and for those wanting to know more, here are three things you won't want to miss:

1) Informative General Session

Kicking off AnsibleFest, this session will feature company updates, product roadmap and new directions as well as a featured customer presentation.  Attendees can:

  • Hear from Ansible leadership about company overivew and key areas of focus 
  • Discover more about the Ansible and Ansible Tower product roadmaps
  • Learn about the latest advancements in using Ansible for networking
  • Get up to speed on the Ansible Container project and see where it's heading in the future
  • Learn from our customer and master software engineer, Chris Weaver Continue reading

10 reasons why you shouldn’t upgrade to Windows 10

An offer you can refuseThe clock is ticking, folks. If you want to upgrade to Windows 10 for free, you only have until July 29, 2016 to do so. And most people should! Windows 10 is the best Windows yet, chock full of handy new features, sleek under-the-hood improvements, and headache-killing extras.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How IT outsourcing customers should prepare for HPE-CSC

How the recently announced “spin-merger” between HPE’s spun-off enterprise services unit and CSC to create a $26 billion global services giant (the third largest in the U.S) will actually shake out once its completed next spring is uncertain. What is clear is that the two service businesses had been struggling for some time.[ Related: HPE to spin out its huge services business, merge it with CSC ]To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: The Wi-Fi network edge leads in an SDN world

Two decades ago, the core was the place to be in campus networking. The networking battles of the 1990s concluded with the edge specialists humbled and assimilated by core product lines. Control the core, we declared, and the edge will fall into place.But now the edge is fruitful, and the core is sterile—and for two reasons. First, the wireless interface adds mobility and complexity to the edge. Second, the new architectures of software-defined networking (SDN) and IoT are based on centralized models that take sensed information, manipulate a software representation of the network, then send control signals back to network nodes. Nodes are peers under the controller. Their importance is based on the quantity and quality of the information they can report, as well as the sophistication of the control they can apply.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: The Wi-Fi network edge leads in an SDN world

Two decades ago, the core was the place to be in campus networking. The networking battles of the 1990s concluded with the edge specialists humbled and assimilated by core product lines. Control the core, we declared, and the edge will fall into place.But now the edge is fruitful, and the core is sterile—and for two reasons. First, the wireless interface adds mobility and complexity to the edge. Second, the new architectures of software-defined networking (SDN) and IoT are based on centralized models that take sensed information, manipulate a software representation of the network, then send control signals back to network nodes. Nodes are peers under the controller. Their importance is based on the quantity and quality of the information they can report, as well as the sophistication of the control they can apply.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

EU prepares to raise Privacy Shield over data transfers to U.S.

European Union officials are set to give final approval to a new EU-U.S. data transfer agreement early next week, after member states gave their approval to an updated text on Friday.Privacy Shield is intended to replace the Safe Harbor Agreement as a means to legalize the transfer of EU citizens' personal information to the U.S. while still respecting EU privacy laws.A new deal is needed because the Court of Justice of the EU invalidated the Safe Harbor Agreement last October, concerned that it provided Europeans with insufficient protection from state surveillance when companies exported their personal data to the U.S. for processing.The first draft of Privacy Shield agreement presented by the European Commission in January lacked key assurances from U.S. officials on the same matters that had concerned the CJEU about Safe Harbor.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Smartwatches not secure, give away PIN numbers

Sensors, such as accelerometers, found in wearable devices can be used to reverse engineer a human hand’s movements and trajectories while at an ATM, thus giving away the PIN code, researchers say.The findings bring into question the fundamental security of smartwatches.Malware installs on devices might be one way the newly discovered hack could work, the scientists say. The software would wait for a mark to use a secure system, such as a keypad-controlled enterprise server, for example, and then collect data from the gyroscope, magnometer, accelerometer and other sensors. (Devices use those sensors to measure fitness and so on.)To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Optimize Your Data Center: Use Distributed File System

Let’s continue our journey toward two-switch data center. What can we do after virtualizing the workload, getting rid of legacy technologies, and reducing the number of server uplinks to two?

How about replacing dedicated storage boxes with distributed file system?

In late September, Howard Marks will talk about software-defined storage in my Building Next Generation Data Center course. The course is sold out, but if you register for the spring 2017 session, you’ll get access to recording of Howard’s talk.

Watch the video

Deep Discounts on Amazon Leading Into Prime Day – Deal Alert

For today only Amazon has significant discounts on a few select items, just a small taste of what's to come when Amazon unleashes 100,000+ discounts on "Prime Day" this Tuesday, July 12th, for Amazon Prime members only. If you're not a Prime member, you should at least sign up for the free 30 day trial so you're ready when the deals start to drop: sign up here. The powerful 20000mAh PowerCore 20100 from Anker weighs just 12.5 oz, but fully charges most phones and tablets to 100% several times over without needing to be recharged. It charges the iPhone 6s seven times, the Galaxy S6 five times or the iPad mini 4 twice. Industry leading output of 4.8 amps provides enough power to simultaneously charge any combination of devices at full speed. Surge protection, short circuit protection and more advanced safety features keep your devices safe. For additional peace of mind, the Anker PowerCore 20100 comes with an 18 month warranty and easily accessible customer service. It currently averages 4.5 out of 5 stars on Amazon from over 4,500 people (85% rate it 5 stars -- read reviews). Its regular list price of $79.99 has been Continue reading

Google hopes to thwart quantum computers from cracking today’s Internet encryption

The encryption methods used to secure today’s Internet communications won’t be impenetrable forever. More powerful “quantum computers” on the horizon could very well crack them.That’s why Google is testing out new cryptography that computers in the future might not be able to break.  The processing power offered by "hypothetical, future" quantum computers could  be enough to “decrypt any internet communication that was recorded today,” wrote Matt Braithwaite, a Google software engineer in a company blog post on Thursday.This could affect the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol used when visiting websites. Old information, originally meant to be secured for decades, could suddenly become exposed, he added.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Google hopes to thwart quantum computers from cracking today’s internet encryption

The encryption methods used to secure today’s internet communications won’t be impenetrable forever. More powerful “quantum computers” on the horizon could very well crack them.That’s why Google is testing out new cryptography that computers in the future might not be able to break.  The processing power offered by "hypothetical, future" quantum computers could  be enough to “decrypt any internet communication that was recorded today,” wrote Matt Braithwaite, a Google software engineer in a company blog post on Thursday.This could affect the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol used when visiting websites. Old information, originally meant to be secured for decades, could suddenly become exposed, he added.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Google hopes to thwart quantum computers from cracking today’s internet encryption

The encryption methods used to secure today’s internet communications won’t be impenetrable forever. More powerful “quantum computers” on the horizon could very well crack them.That’s why Google is testing out new cryptography that computers in the future might not be able to break.  The processing power offered by "hypothetical, future" quantum computers could  be enough to “decrypt any internet communication that was recorded today,” wrote Matt Braithwaite, a Google software engineer in a company blog post on Thursday.This could affect the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol used when visiting websites. Old information, originally meant to be secured for decades, could suddenly become exposed, he added.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IT spending will shrink worldwide due to Brexit, Gartner predicts

Britain's vote to exit the European Union will depress global IT spending this year, as companies cut back spending over uncertainty about what the future holds, Gartner has predicted. "We're looking at a 2-5 percent reduction in IT spending in the UK," compared to Gartner's previous forecast of a 1.7 percent decline, analyst John-David Lovelock said in an interview. "That's going to be enough to tip the worldwide IT spending negative this year," he said. The "Brexit" vote has led to massive uncertainty about what the future holds economically for Britain and the entire European Union, which means that companies have scaled back on their strategic plans in the fifth-largest IT market in the world.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

When HPC Becomes Normal

Sometimes, it seems that people are of two minds about high performance computing. They want it to be special and distinct from the rest of the broader IT market, and at the same time they want the distributed simulation and modeling workloads that have for decades been the most exotic things around to be so heavily democratized that they become pervasive. Democratized. Normal.

We are probably a few years off from HPC reaching this status, but this is one of the goals that the new HPC team at Dell has firmly in mind as the world’s second largest system maker …

When HPC Becomes Normal was written by Timothy Prickett Morgan at The Next Platform.

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