Cisco will need to tackle these high-tech issues in 2016

As it sets its sights on becoming the No. 1 IT company in the industry, Cisco will continue to face challenges and opportunities in virtually every IT market. Here’s an arbitrary list of 10 areas that will impact Cisco in 2016 as the company evolves to address emerging trends that are shaping the industry in the coming year and beyond.The antithesis of Cisco is disaggregation, taking off the shelf switching hardware and mixing and matching multivendor and open source operating systems to run it. It decouples the dependencies and integration of the hardware and software, which Cisco argues is an integration and total cost of ownership nightmare. But the big cloud companies are using it and eventually the enterprise, so Cisco will need to continue to address it by offering compelling consumption options in addition to competitive product. Perhaps uncoupling its own? (Read all Network World's predictions for next year.)To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Developer claims ‘PS4 officially jailbroken’

If you have a PS4 and want to run homebrew content, then you might be happy to know developer CTurt claimed, “PS4 is now officially jailbroken.”Over the weekend, CTurt took to Twitter to make the announcement. CTurt CTurt He did not use a jail vulnerability, he explained in a tweet. Instead, he used a FreeBSD kernel exploit.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Google to revoke trust in a Symantec root certificate

Very soon, the Android OS, Chrome browser and other Google products will stop trusting all digital certificates that are linked to a 20-year-old Verisign root certificate.The announcement comes after Symantec unveiled plans to retire the Class 3 Public Primary Certification Authority from public use. This is a widely trusted CA that it acquired along with Verisign's SSL business in 2010.In an alert, the company said that as of Dec. 1, it no longer was using the root certificate, which is trusted by default in most browsers and operating systems, to issue TLS/SSL or code signing certificates.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Top 10 tech stories 2015: Transformation and transition

Cloud and mobile computing have created an imperative for the tech world: Change or fail. This year, legacy vendors like Dell, EMC and Microsoft all took major steps to reinvent themselves, sparking some of the biggest tech stories of the year. And all around us we've seen portents of big change at the intersection of tech and culture: self-driving cars, wearable technology, the use of drones for fun and profit. That's prompting increased attention on safety, privacy and public policy concerns as consumers and businesses alike figure out how to manage in this pervasively connected world. Here, not necessarily in order of importance, are the IDG News Service's picks for the top 10 tech stories of 2015.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Top 10 tech stories 2015: Transformation and transition

Cloud and mobile computing have created an imperative for the tech world: Change or fail. This year, legacy vendors like Dell, EMC and Microsoft all took major steps to reinvent themselves, sparking some of the biggest tech stories of the year. And all around us we've seen portents of big change at the intersection of tech and culture: self-driving cars, wearable technology, the use of drones for fun and profit. That's prompting increased attention on safety, privacy and public policy concerns as consumers and businesses alike figure out how to manage in this pervasively connected world. Here, not necessarily in order of importance, are the IDG News Service's picks for the top 10 tech stories of 2015.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Does AMP Counter an Existential Threat to Google?

When AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) was first announced it was right inline with Google’s long standing project to make the web faster. Nothing seemingly out of the ordinary.

Then I listened to a great interview on This Week in Google with Richard Gingras, Head of News at Google, that made it clear AMP is more than just another forward looking initiative from Google. Much more.

What is AMP? AMP is two things. AMP is a restricted subset of HTML designed to make the web fast on mobile devices. AMP is also a strategy to counter an existential threat to Google: the mobile web is in trouble and if the mobile web is in trouble then Google is in trouble.

In the interview Richard says (approximately):

The alternative [to a strong vibrant community around AMP] is devastating. We don’t want to see a decline in the viability of the mobile web. We don’t want to see poor experiences on the mobile web propel users into proprietary platforms.

This point, or something very like it, is repeated many times during the interview. With ad blocker usage on the rise there’s a palpable sense of urgency to do something. So Google stepped Continue reading

Open Office Floor Plan – Burn It!

Warning! This post is not technical in nature. This post covers personal opinions about an open office floor plan environment. Oh How I Hate Thee Open office spaces make me cringe! There are plenty...

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IDG Contributor Network: How iOS, Android apps share your data without notifications

The vast majority of tested Android apps share users' personal information like email addresses with third parties "behind-the-scenes," a report has uncovered. Many apps aren't required by the OS to notify users of the data being shared, the study finds. Out of 110 tested Android and iOS apps, 93% of the Android apps connected surreptitiously to a strange domain called safemovedm.com, for example. It's probably part of a background process, surmises the authors of a report published at the end of October on Harvard's open forum Journal of Technology Science (JOTS) website.The pillaging The study found that 73% of Android apps shared Personally Identifiable Information (PII), and that "47% of iOS apps shared geo-coordinates and other location data with third parties."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Worth Reading: Is your network This Old House?

Many information technology infrastructures are very similar to some of these old houses. Many of our customers have been adding on capability to their infrastructures, as their businesses require more IT capability, including advanced security, network bandwidth, storage, raw computing power, voice, data, and cloud. And many have done this without taking a look at the entire infrastructure to determine if the foundation is stable and can support all of the new capabilities – or whether there might be any cracks. via netcraftsmen

The post Worth Reading: Is your network This Old House? appeared first on 'net work.

IT hiring to increase while recruiting challenges remain in 2016

IT managers responsible for finding new talent can expect a busy first half of the year, according to the latest forecast for tech hiring.  A solid 78% of hiring managers anticipate bringing on more tech people in the first six months of 2016 compared to the second half of 2015, reports tech career site Dice. Among those who see more hiring on the horizon, 71% plan to boost their teams by 11% or more.  Meanwhile, it doesn’t appear to be getting any easier to find skilled talent. Nearly half (49%) of hiring managers said the time to fill open positions has lengthened relative to last year, Dice reports. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

GALAXY 2.0 – BETA RELEASE

We have been working hard on some exciting changes to Galaxy that we think you’re going to like. The changes are substantial, and we want your feedback, so today we are releasing Galaxy 2.0 in beta. 

Check it out and help us shape the future of Galaxy. Comments and bug reports can be filed at Galaxy Issues. Keep in mind that the beta site is purely a playground for trying out the new Galaxy. Any roles you import or remove will not be reflected in a future production Galaxy site.

What follows is a summary of some of the new features you’ll see on the beta site.

Tighter Integration with GitHub

Using your GitHub login, Galaxy now interacts directly with the GitHub API. This allows you to import all the repositories you collaborate on, including those in organizations you belong to.

To make it even better, we decoupled roles from the Galaxy username. Roles imported into Galaxy are now namespaced by GitHub user rather than Galaxy username. This gives you the flexibility of importing roles from your GitHub account or from an organization. The repo namespace in Galaxy will exactly match the GitHub namespace.

This might sound scary, Continue reading

GALAXY 2.0 – BETA RELEASE

 

We have been working hard on some exciting changes to Galaxy that we think you’re going to like. The changes are substantial, and we want your feedback, so today we are releasing Galaxy 2.0 in beta. 

2015-galaxy-blog-header.png

Check it out and help us shape the future of Galaxy. Comments and bug reports can be filed at Galaxy Issues. Keep in mind that the beta site is purely a playground for trying out the new Galaxy. Any roles you import or remove will not be reflected in a future production Galaxy site.

What follows is a summary of some of the new features you’ll see on the beta site.

Tighter Integration with GitHub

Using your GitHub login, Galaxy now interacts directly with the GitHub API. This allows you to import all the repositories you collaborate on, including those in organizations you belong to.

To make it even better, we decoupled roles from the Galaxy username. Roles imported into Galaxy are now namespaced by GitHub user rather than Galaxy username. This gives you the flexibility of importing roles from your GitHub account or from an organization. The repo namespace in Galaxy will exactly match the GitHub namespace.

This might sound Continue reading

AnsibleFest San Francisco 2015 Presentations

AnsibleFest-SF-15.jpgIf you missed our latest AnsibleFest in San Francisco you missed out connecting with over 450 members of the Ansible community and some amazing presentations from Splunk, NEC, Riot Games, J.Crew, SparkCentral and others.

Tickets are on sale now for AnsibleFest London and we are busy planning our New York event (details coming soon).

AnsibleFest San Francisco 2015 Presentations

 

 

CCIE Data Center Lab, v2 – iPexpert’s Plan

CCIE Data Center Lab, v2 – iPexpert’s Plan

The announcement of the CCIE Data Center Version 2 blueprint has changed the exam that we once knew. No longer are the MDS switches around, plaguing us with the perfectly rational fears of iSCSI gateway configuration, or FCIP configuration nuances. Gone too are the days of fighting the IP protocol stack running on the ever-finicky MDS switches. While some rejoice these facts, I take a step back and try to wrap my head around “what’s next?”

At iPexpert we strive to stay ahead of the proverbial curve within the training market; so immediately after analyzing the impact of the changes (and subsequently drinking quite a bit of beer), we began planning and calculating the changes that we would need in order to adapt to the new version of the exam.

We will most definitely be updating our product portfolio to accommodate the changes. This includes, but is not limited to our:

• CCIE Data Center, Volume 1 – Technology Workbook
• CCIE Data Center, Volume 2 – Full-Scale Mock Lab Workbook
• CCIE Data Center Lab VoD
• CCIE Data Center Written VoD
• CCIE Data Center Lab Bootcamps (Live and Continue reading

Twitter warns users targeted by state-sponsored hackers

Twitter has warned some of its users that they may have been targeted in an attack by state-sponsored hackers.This is the first time that the social media website has issued such an alert, but companies like Google and Facebook have issued similar warnings in the past to their respective users."We believe that these actors (possibly associated with a government) may have been trying to obtain information such as email addresses, IP addresses and/or phone numbers," Twitter said in its notification, which some recipients then posted on their Twitter feeds.It's unclear how many users were warned, but Twitter said that only a "small group of accounts" may have been targeted. Many users who acknowledged having received the message are privacy advocates and security researchers, some of whom tweet under pseudonyms.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Fear itself: Thinking through change and turmoil

Fair warning: this is going to be a controversial post, and it might be considered a bit “off topic.”

Maybe it’s just that time of year. Or maybe it’s several conversations I’ve been involved in recently. Or maybe it’s the result of following over 150 blogs on a daily basis covering everything from religion to politics to technology to philosophy. Whatever it is, there’s one thing I’ve noticed recently.

We’re really afraid.

I don’t mean “concerned about what the future might hold,” but rather — it seems, at least sometimes — sinking into a state of fear bordering on the irrational. Sometimes it feels like the entire world is one long troubleshooting session in the worst designed network I’ve ever encountered. Let me turn to a few completely different areas to illustrate my point. Some of these are going to make people mad, so hold on to your hats — and hear me out before you jump all over me or shut down.

We’re afraid of what the future might hold for us as engineers and as people. Maybe this entire software defined thing is going to destroy my entire career. Maybe I’ll end up like a buggy whip maker Continue reading

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