Can Community Be Institutionalized?

CommunityPlanning

As technology grows at a faster pace, companies are relying more and more on their users to help spread the word about what they are doing. Why pay exorbitant amounts for marketing when there is a group of folks that will do it for little to nothing? These communities of users develop around any product or company with significant traction in the market. But can they be organized, built, and managed in a traditional manner?

Little Pink Houses

Communities develop when users start talking to each other. They exist in numerous different forms. Whether it be forum posters or sanctioned user groups or even unofficial meetups, people want to get together to talk about things. These communities are built from the idea that knowledge should be shared. Anecdotes, guides, and cautionary tales abound when you put enough people into a room and get them talking about a product.

That’s not to say that all communities can be positive ones. Some communities are even built around the idea of a negative reaction. Look at these groups that formed around simple ideas like getting their old Facebook page back or getting their old MySpace layout returned to them. Imagine the reaction that Continue reading

New SOHO router security audit uncovers over 60 flaws in 22 models

In yet another testament of the awful state of home router security, a group of security researchers uncovered more than 60 vulnerabilities in 22 router models from different vendors, most of which were distributed by ISPs to customers.The researchers performed the manual security review in preparation for their master’s thesis in IT security at Universidad Europea de Madrid in Spain. They published details about the vulnerabilities they found Sunday on the Full Disclosure security mailing list.The flaws, most of which affect more than one router model, could allow attackers to bypass authentication on the devices; inject rogue code into their Web-based management interfaces; trick users into executing rogue actions on their routers when visiting compromised websites; read and write information on USB storage devices attached to the affected routers; reboot the devices, and more.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Apple may have a 2-in-1 in the works

Is Apple planning some variation of a 2-in-1 device that would combine the iPad with a detachable keyboard?It's not completely far-fetched.If Apple did so, it would be keeping with a growing industry trend, analysts said. Apple wouldn't comment on this story, but that hasn't kept people from speculating.Of course, the iPad already works with various Bluetooth keyboards, including Apple's own and those from some third-party manufacturers. There are also various covers that can double as a way to prop up the tablet.+ ALSO: 20 best iPhone/iPad games +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Network Break 39

Take a Network Break! Grab a coffee, a doughnut and then join us for an analysis of the latest IT news, vendor moves and new product announcements. We’ll separate the signal from the noise--or at least make some noise of our own.

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Greg Ferro

Greg Ferro is a Network Engineer/Architect, mostly focussed on Data Centre, Security Infrastructure, and recently Virtualization. He has over 20 years in IT, in wide range of employers working as a freelance consultant including Finance, Service Providers and Online Companies. He is CCIE#6920 and has a few ideas about the world, but not enough to really count.

He is a host on the Packet Pushers Podcast, blogger at EtherealMind.com and on Twitter @etherealmind and Google Plus.

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The post Network Break 39 appeared first on Packet Pushers Podcast and was written by Greg Ferro.

BQ announces second Ubuntu phone and plans to build PC-smartphone combo

Against the odds, Canonical and Spanish company BQ are continuing to push Ubuntu for smartphones over Android and iOS. BQ’s second Ubuntu phone is a step up from its inaugural effort, and the two companies are also working on a smartphone that’s also a PC.Earlier this year, BQ started selling the Aquaris E4.5 Ubuntu Edition and will later this month start shipping the Aquaris E5 HD in Europe from its online store for €200 (US$220).The struggles of Samsung’s Tizen, Mozilla’s Firefox OS and Microsoft’s Windows Phone have shown how difficult it’s to compete with the dominant smartphone platforms of Apple and Google, but that doesn’t seem to scare Canonical and BQ.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Dell warms to AMD chips in new laptops, desktops

Dell’s PCs largely use Intel chips, but the company is once again warming to AMD processors for its new Inspiron laptops and desktops.The Inspiron 5000 laptops with 14-inch, 15-inch and 17-inch screens contain AMD’s new A-series chips, code-named Carrizo. The laptops are now shipping worldwide even though the chips aren’t due to be announced until Wednesday.The desktop-replacement laptops start at US$449.99 for the 15-inch model, $599.99 for the 14-inch model, and $699.99 inch for the 17-inch model.Dell once used AMD chips in a range of laptops, but slowly dropped them from product lines as the chip-maker dealt with quality and production problems. Hewlett-Packard has stayed loyal to AMD, but many other PC makers have dropped AMD’s chips over the years for not standing up to Intel’s chips in performance.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The Upload: Your tech news briefing for Tuesday, June 2

New Apple music streaming service expected at WWDCLook for Apple to finally come out with a rival to the Spotify streaming music service at its Worldwide Developers Conference next week, the Wall Street Journal says. Apple will likely offer unlimited on-demand streaming for $10 a month. And in an acknowledgement that the algorithm isn’t always king of finding you what you didn’t know you wanted, it’s expected to add Internet radio channels that are programmed by human DJs.Intel shows first Skylake tablet at ComputexTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Disconnect files EU antitrust complaint against Google after app ban

Disconnect.me, maker of an Android privacy app banned from the Play store, has filed an antitrust complaint with the European Commssion accusing Google of abusing its dominant market position.The complaint could add fuel to an ongoing European Union antitrust investigation of Google’s business practices.Google banned the Disconnect Mobile app last year, saying it violated its developer distribution agreement.Disconnect Mobile routes traffic through an encrypted Virtual Private Network (VPN) tunnel, which makes it harder to track users. By installing a special network profile, the app also blocks ads, tracking services and suspected malware sites, both inside apps and in Android’s browser.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Intel cranks up speed of Thunderbolt 3, builds in support for USB

Intel is giving Apple and other laptop makers a reason to put its Thunderbolt high-speed data ports back in their next ultrathin laptops: Thunderbolt 3.0 ports will use the same Type C connector as USB 3.1—but when connected to other Thunderbolt devices, will run up to four times as fast.Thunderbolt 3 can transfer data at a whopping 40G bps (bits per second), twice as fast as Thunderbolt 2, which was introduced in 2014.Found in Macs and some Windows PCs, Thunderbolt technology connects computers to peripherals such as external storage devices and even graphics cards. Laptops with Thunderbolt 3 ports will be released by the end of the year, said Kirk Skaugen, senior vice president and general manager of Intel’s PC Client Group, during a keynote at Computex in Taipei.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Intel shows first Skylake tablet

Intel is drumming up excitement for its upcoming chips code-named Skylake, showing the first tablet based on the architecture during a keynote at the Computex show in Taipei.The tablet had a 4K display that could display images at a resolution of 3840 by 2160 pixels, and was 7.8 millimeters thick.Tablets based on Skylake will be computing powerhouses that will manage high-resolution displays, said Kirk Skaugen, senior vice president and general manager for the PC Client Group at Intel.Skylake will go into tablets, laptops and desktops, including some that are on track to reach the market in the second half this year.Devices based on Skylake could incorporate a number of interesting features, including wireless charging and, in some mobile devices, Thunderbolt 3.0 ports. These will be able transfer data at 40Gbps (bits per second), close to twice the transfer speed of Thunderbolt 2.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Converged Cloud-Class Networking – The Next Frontier

Scale-out cloud-applications continue to be the most disruptive force to traditional network architectures in the data center. They demand an open and uncompromised cloud network, unshackled by monolithic and the prehistoric proprietary networks.

Our customers and partners are reshaping this traditional networking industry. Previously burdened by monolithic software and underperforming hardware, the new evolving bifurcation of computing architectures for modern cloud-based applications has resulted in key trends and drivers for this evolution including:

1. Unstructured data is everywhere. Whether from users, applications or machines, it is growing exponentially with no vertical or industry being spared. One current obstacle to working with large data sets is the use of relational databases and desktop statistics/visualization packages that require massively parallel software running on hundreds, or even thousands of servers.
2. New workloads are changing the notion of separate SANs. This impacts the role of networking and IP storage, where virtual machine mobility sustains multiple gigabits of throughput by default with multicore processors.
3. Cloud intensive applications such as content distribution, and new infrastructure technologies such as containers and Hadoop clusters are pushing the envelope of what is possible with massively parallel transactions. These new large-scale data analytics have given birth to converged Continue reading

USB 3.1 cables will see price drops as manufacturers prepare for demand

With the PC industry starting to adopt USB 3.1 technology, prices for cables that can connect to these products are also expected to rapidly fall, according to manufacturers.In March, Apple was among the first to come out with a laptop built with a single USB 3.1 port that used the Type-C connector.The USB 3.1 standard promises data transfer speeds of 10Gbps (gigabits per second), two times faster than USB 3.0. But given that the technology is still new, prices for USB 3.1 cables with Type-C connectors are hovering between US$24 and $29.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Qualcomm turns to China’s Allwinner to grow in low-cost tablet market

Qualcomm hopes to put its chips in more low-cost Android tablets through a partnership with Chinese chip maker Allwinner.As part of the agreement, Allwinner will push Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 410 and 210 chips with integrated LTE into low-cost Android tablets distributed worldwide. Allwinner mainly distributes Wi-Fi-only chips for tablets under US$200, and its LTE lineup will be filled up by Qualcomm Snapdragon chips.The deal offers an opportunity for Qualcomm to grow in the Chinese market, where the company was hit with problems in recent years. Qualcomm in February paid US$975 million to settle a fine imposed by the Chinese government for monopolistic business practices.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Hola browser extension should be uninstalled, researchers say

Security researchers contend the developer of a popular browser extension has not fixed vulnerabilities they found, and are recommending users should get rid of it.The free extension, from Israel-based Hola, is a peer-to-peer program that routes people’s Internet traffic through other Hola users’ computers. It can let users watch geoblocked content by routing traffic through the authorized region or offer greater anonymity, similar to Tor, when Web browsing. It has been downloaded millions of times.Last week, a group of nine researchers launched a website called ”Adios, Hola!” that describes several flaws affecting the Hola Unblocker Windows client, the extension for Firefox and Chrome, and its Android application.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

PC makers disclose plans to bring Windows 10 to PCs

With Microsoft ready to ship Windows 10 on July 29, PC makers are disclosing their plans to make the OS available to customers in new laptops and desktops or as a free OS upgrade from Windows 7 and 8.1.Dell will ship its first PCs pre-loaded with Windows 10 on July 29, said Raymond Wah, vice president of consumer product marketing at the company, during an interview at Computex on Tuesday.The company wants to roll out laptops and desktops as quickly as possible so back-to-school buyers can get hold of the new OS, Wah said. Microsoft is providing a free upgrade to Windows 10 from Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 for one year, which Dell plans to make a snap through customer support and tutorial videos.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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