Nokia wants to build data centers for mobile operators

Nokia wants to help mobile network operators launch new services and cut their costs with a new range of servers, switches and storage they can use to virtualize their networks.Enterprises have already adopted virtualization and cloud-based IT infrastructures, and now telecommunications operators are looking at doing the same thing. Meanwhile equipment vendors like Nokia are increasingly offering operators the hardware and software to provide telephony, messaging and mobile broadband as virtualized services.Telecommunications operators instigated the move away from dedicated, proprietary equipment to virtualized hardware. A group including AT&T, Verizon, China Mobile, Orange and Deutsche Telekom proposed a concept called NFV (Network Functions Virtualization), which is now being standardized by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Google’s new privacy settings page aims to gives users more control

Google has launched a centralized hub that lets users manage the privacy and security controls of all its services, and introduced a site with information about these topics.The hub, called My Account, is not the first effort from Google to centralize settings: in 2009, it introduced a dashboard to let users control settings on most services on one page.On My Account, people can control settings for Search, Maps, YouTube, Gmail and other products in one place, Google said in a blog post on Monday.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Facebook will send encrypted emails as users add PGP key to profile

Some Facebook users should soon be able to receive encrypted emails from the social networking site if they add PGP public keys to their profiles. Facebook called the PGP feature “experimental” and said it is slowly rolling it out, although a timeline wasn’t provided. The PGP key details will be added to the “contact and basic info section” of a person’s profile under “contact information.” Facebook sends messages to private email accounts to inform users when they have a private message or friend request, for example. It currently uses TLS to establish secure connections to a person’s email provider, but this won’t keep the details of an email private from prying eyes.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

New projected smartphone display could make device size irrelevant

As regular TechWatch readers (hi Mom!) readers know, I'm a big "phan" of giant phablet devices. That's not because I like to tote around comically large slabs of metal and plastic, but because I find smartphones more useful the more screen real estate they present.Last week, Chinese tech manufacturer Lenovo showed off its Smart Cast concept phone at its own Tech World conference in Beijing. Like a concept car, it's not clear if the Smart Cast phone will ever make it to production, but the technology has the potential to eventually shatter the connection between device size and screen size. By projecting the device's touch screen on to any convenient surface, smartphones may one day be able to have displays of any size. Critically, the Smart Cast technology lets you interact with the projected screen, so you can use it as a keyboard or other input channel, as well as a monitor. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Some Cumulus Linux Networking Concepts

As I’ve recently had the opportunity to start working with Cumulus Linux (running on a Dell S6000-ON switch), in this post I wanted to share a few concepts I’ve learned about networking with Cumulus Linux.

I’m not a networking guru, but I’m also not new to configuring network equipment—I’ve configured GRE tunnels on a Cisco router, set up link-state tracking, and enabled jumbo frames on a Nexus 5000 (to name a few examples). I’ve worked with Cisco gear, HP equipment, Dell PowerConnect switches, and Arista EOS-powered switches. However, as a full distribution of Linux, networking with Cumulus Linux is definitely different from your typical network switch. To help make the transition easier, I’ll share here a few things I’ve learned so far.

It’s important to understand that Cumulus Linux isn’t just a “Linux-based network OS”—it’s actually a full Linux distribution (based on Debian). Lots of products are Linux-based these days, but often hide the full power of Linux behind some sort of custom command-line interface (CLI) or shell. Not so in this case! I think this fact is perhaps a bit easy to overlook, but it shapes everything that happens in Cumulus Linux:

Ansible at IPEXPO: Simplicity – The Art of Automation

combbkgAnsible's Director of EMEA Business Development, Mark Phillips, presented at the recent IPEXPO. His talk Simplicity - The Art of Automation was recorded and he was able to combine the slides and the video.

IT infrastructures have grown in complexity over recent years as businesses seek every last competitive gain. Managing these complex infrastructures has become almost as complicated, but should it have? Could we actually gain more, by doing less?

 

9 ways to make the most of your Android device

When you stop and think about it, the word "smartphone" is starting to sound a little stale.Sure, these pocket-size gadgets we tote around are capable of making calls -- but for most of us, that's become a secondary feature compared to the range of data-centric functions the devices enable. In reality, we're carrying tiny, capable computers that also happen to work as phones.[ Get the best office productivity apps for your Android device, and explore 12 great Lollipop APIs every Android developer will love. | Keep up on key mobile developments and insights with the Mobile Computing newsletter. ] Android devices in particular offer advanced functionality when it comes to the computer-level task of managing and manipulating files. The Android operating system allows you to perform all sorts of PC-like tasks, from dragging and dropping files between your phone and computer to plugging a USB drive directly into your device and accessing its contents. Between what Android offers out of the box and the features that third-party apps add to the equation, that shiny little slab in your pocket packs serious productivity potential.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Intel to buy Altera for $16.7B, eyes IoT market

Pursuing opportunities in the Internet of Things market, Intel has sealed a deal to buy Altera in an all-cash transaction valued at about $16.7 billion, which would be Intel’s largest acquisition ever.News reports that the companies were in talks first surfaced in late March. However, those negotiations reportedly broke down in early April because Altera considered Intel’s offer of $54 per share too low.However, late last week the New York Post and other media outlets reported that talks had resumed after Altera reported disappointing financial results on April 23. Those reports were based on anonymous sources. The price of the final deal remains $54 per share.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The right tool for the job

This last weekend I set a toilet, replaced five faucets, and put together the beginnings of a workbench. No, I’ve not resorted to working in “the trades,” to make a living — I’ve been slowly but surely finishing and refashioning our “country house” to better accommodate the time we spend “in the country.” One of the faucets, and the toilet, were set in a new bathroom; the pipes had been stubbed up but not finished — which means there were no valves. After the adventure of finding the main water cutoff for the house (it’s buried under about three inches of dirt along one side of the foundation), I had to cut off the plugs and install valves.

The pipes in the country house are PEX. So are the pipes in the house we just moved from. In fact, so are the pipes in the house in Raleigh we just moved to. Odd thing, that — three houses, in different places, at different price levels, and they all use PEX piping. In fact, walking through some random retail store last week, I noticed they had PEX stub outs in a bathroom there, too.

Imagine walking into an apartment and Continue reading

Wearable security: Two-factor authentication apps for Apple Watch

The Apple Watch could become our central hub in a wheel of identity, in which all spokes rotate around our wrist. Some early Watch apps already have a high degree of utility. But we’re only scratching the surface of what’s to come.MORE: 10 mobile startups to watch In this roundup, we look at six apps that offer varying forms of authentication on the Watch. Three allow a tap on the Watch to unlock something: an account, a login, a computer, or more. The other three handle the most common form of app-generated second-factor authentication codes.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The Upload: Your tech news briefing for Monday, June 1

Once again, reports have Intel near a deal with AlteraIntel may announce a deal to acquire FPGA maker Altera on Monday, the Wall Street Journal reports, after the two companies returned to the bargaining table following a failure to come to terms earlier this year. The buy would strengthen Intel’s already dominant hand in the server market at a cost of about $17 billion.NSA surveillance powers expire as Senate delays voteA controversial program allowing the U.S. National Security Agency to collect millions of domestic telephone records expired Sunday night after the Senate failed to vote on a bill to extend the authority for the surveillance. But senators moved closer to bringing the USA Freedom Act to a vote; that bill gives the agency limited power to obtain data on American residents under investigation. Some are still calling for more reform and better oversight.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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