All hail the next big job, the Chief IoT Officer

In the near future, you may hear about the appointment of a Chief Internet of Things (IoT) Officer. Before you roll your eyes and chortle at the thought of another chief-of-something, consider the problem.First, companies are beginning to make and implement smart, connected, data-producing products. That can be anything -- automobiles, assembly line robots, washing machines and even coffee makers. This data can be used in predictive analytics to avoid product failures, as well as to schedule maintenance around when a product actually needs it. These products, mechanical and electronic, will likely get ongoing software updates.INSIDER: 5 ways to prepare for Internet of Things security threats Second, connected products are now part of a broader system. Or as Michael Porter, a Harvard economist, pointed out at this week's ThingWorx conference, you aren't just selling a tractor, you are selling a tractor that is becoming part of a smart farm, a system. Things have to be able to work together.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

All eyes on Android at Google I/O

While Google is known for a multitude of technologies, including search and cloud services, it's the Android mobile development platform that will take center stage at the Google I/O developer conference in San Francisco the last week in May.Sessions at the conference will spotlight a multitude of topics related to Android, including Android application architecture, the Android Backup feature for backing data, Android Wear wristwatches, Android Auto, and TV technologies and application testing.[ 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. ] "One of the reasons over a billion users love Android is that they get to pick the device that's just right for them," reads one conference session description. "This can make it harder to test on all of your users' devices before release. Apps that are tested thoroughly get better reviews and make more money (fact!). We're here to help -- hear about the new ways Google can help maximize the success of your next app launch with cheaper and easier testing strategies."To read this article Continue reading

The Upload: Your tech news briefing for Friday, May 8

Surgical robot can be taken over by hackersThe dark underside of the revolution in medical technology is that security is usually an afterthought, if it’s considered at all. Now researchers at the University of Washington have proved another nightmare scenario by taking over a tele-operated surgical robot, Computerworld reports. One of the problems is that the device communicates with the remote control console using a publicly available protocol that’s easy to hijack.NSA data dragnet broke the law, appeals court rulesTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The Upload: Your tech news briefing for Friday, May 8

Surgical robot can be taken over by hackersThe dark underside of the revolution in medical technology is that security is usually an afterthought, if it’s considered at all. Now researchers at the University of Washington have proved another nightmare scenario by taking over a tele-operated surgical robot, Computerworld reports. One of the problems is that the device communicates with the remote control console using a publicly available protocol that’s easy to hijack.NSA data dragnet broke the law, appeals court rulesTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Once fighting for the low end, Chinese smartphone vendors focus on pricier products

This week when ZTE launched its latest phone, the Z9, the Chinese company wasn’t embarrassed to reveal its high price.The cutting-edge device will retail in the country starting at 3499 yuan (US$574), which is far more than the cost of low-end handsets that have flooded store shelves, and turned China into the world’s largest smartphone market.For years, Chinese handset vendors have been competing in the local market by offering cheap products that most people can afford. Prices have continually gone down, as rival companies have sought to undercut one another with Android phones at 599 yuan or even lower.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

New Linux rootkit leverages GPUs for stealth

A team of developers has created a rootkit for Linux systems that uses the processing power and memory of graphics cards instead of CPUs in order to remain hidden.The rootkit, called Jellyfish, is a proof of concept designed to demonstrate that completely running malware on GPUs (graphics processing units) is a viable option. This is possible because dedicated graphics cards have their own processors and RAM.Such threats could be more sinister than traditional malware programs, according to the Jellyfish developers. For one, there are no tools to analyze GPU malware, they said.Also, such rootkits can snoop on the host’s primary memory, which is used by most other programs, via DMA (direct memory access). This feature allows hardware components to read the main system memory without going through the CPU, making such operations harder to detect.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Google PageSpeed Service customers: migrate to CloudFlare for acceleration

Google PageSpeed Service customers: migrate to CloudFlare for acceleration

This week, Google announced that its hosted PageSpeed Service will be shut down. Everyone using the hosted service needs to move their site elsewhere before August 3 2015 to avoid breaking their website.

We're inviting these hosted customers: don't wait...migrate your site to CloudFlare for global acceleration (and more) right now.

Google PageSpeed Service customers: migrate to CloudFlare for acceleration CC BY 2.0 image by Roger
As TechCrunch wrote: "In many ways, PageSpeed Service is similar to what CloudFlare does but without the focus on security."

What is PageSpeed?

PageSpeed started as — and continues — as a Google-created software module for the Apache webserver to rewrite webpages to reduce latency and bandwidth, to help make the web faster.

Google introduced their hosted PageSpeed Service in July 2011, to save webmasters the hassle of installing the software module.

It's the hosted service that is being discontinued.

CloudFlare performance

CloudFlare provides similar capabilities to PageSpeed, such as minification, image compression, and asynchronous loading.

Additionally, CloudFlare offers more performance gains through a global network footprint, Railgun for dynamic content acceleration, built-in SPDY support, and more.

Not just speed

PageSpeed Service customers care about performance, and CloudFlare delivers. CloudFlare also includes security, SSL, Continue reading

German climate researchers prepare for rising seas of data

It’s nice to have the latest kit, but a supercomputer upgrade is about to bring the German Climate Computing Center, DKRZ, a big problem: a shortage of space.Not space for the computer itself, but for the data it generates.DKRZ runs climate models on its supercomputer, projecting how our planet’s weather will evolve over decades or even, in some cases, hundreds of millennia, from the last ice age and into the future.All those models generate huge volumes of data—40 petabytes of so far—that DKRZ archives for future reference, allowing researchers to analyze the models’ output in different ways. The center also offers to store the output from climate models run by other supercomputing centers, forming a world climate studies archive drawn on by researchers around the world.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Nintendo says its new smartphone games will drive console sales

Nintendo expects that its new games for smartphones, built in partnership with Japanese mobile gaming company DeNA, will help boost sales of its consoles, as users “become familiar with the charms of video games.”The Japanese gaming console maker expects smartphones users will want to explore more premium experiences on its dedicated game systems, President Satoru Iwata said in a presentation posted to the company website Friday.To aid that shift, the company is working on an integrated membership service that aims to provide a bridge between smart devices and consoles, including the upcoming game system code-named NX, by allowing a consumer to access multiple devices and services with a single ID, Iwata said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Startup Twistlock seeks to padlock Docker containers

As interest grows in applications deployed in containers, questions about their security are developing as well.The open-source platform built by Docker has seen quick uptake by developers. Applications are deployed in so-called containers, which can be easily updated and moved to other machines due to their small footprint.Many application containers can run on a single physical system and share an operating system’s kernel. That commingling of demands on the operating system can, however, have serious consequences for security.Jay Lyman, research manager with the analyst 451 Group, said the security and management tools for virtual machines are highly evolved, but container technology is relatively immature.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Uber said to bid for Nokia’s Here mapping business

Uber Technologies has bid for Nokia’s Here mapping business, in a bid to reduce its dependence on Google, according to a newspaper report.Nokia said last month it was considering a possible divestment from Here as it reviewed strategic options for the business. The Finnish company made the announcement on the same day it revealed plans to acquire rival Alcatel-Lucent, which led to speculation that the company would like to sell off Here to focus on its core business of equipment for telecommunications service providers.The ride-hailing company has bid as much as US$3 billion for the business, The New York Times reported Thursday, citing people with knowledge of the offer. The bid is in competition with one from a consortium of German automakers, including BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz, which also could have the backing of China’s Baidu, according to the report.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Hacked advertising platform sent users to the Nuclear exploit kit

A suspected malicious advertising attack turned out to be a much deeper compromise of an online advertising company, according to Trend Micro.The security company found that advertisements served by Mad Ads Media, based in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, redirected to websites hosting an exploit kit, which probed users’ computers for software flaws in order to deliver malware. The number of people affected peaked at 12,500 on May 2, Trend said.At first, the incident appeared to be another example of malvertising, wrote Joseph Chen, a fraud researcher with Trend. Advertising networks have occasionally seen malicious ads uploaded to their networks that redirect people to other malicious websites.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Install Gephi on the Mininet VM

This post describes how to install the Gephi graph visualization utility on the Mininet 2.2 virtual machine.

I want to investigate the node and link discovery function of OpenFlow and, to do that, I plan to experiment with some components of the POX SDN controller that interface with the Gephi graph visualization utility. Previously, I set up the Mininet network simulator, which includes the POX SDN controller. The final step is to install Gephi on the Mininet virtual machine.

Unfortunately, I found that the install instructions on the Gephi web site do not work. So, I used another procedure to solve the Java issue I encountered and complete the installation.

The Mininet virtual machine

Log into the Mininet VM via SSH with X forwarding. If needed, review my previous post about setting up the Mininet VM. Ensure both the NAT interface and the host-only network interface are connected.

Java

Gephi runs on Java but Java is not installed in the Mininet VM, which is based on a minimal installation of Ubuntu Server 14.04. So we must install Java.

The Gephi documentation states we need to use the Oracle version of Java, which is not available in the Continue reading

Fitbit’s IPO filing shows a strong pulse

Fitbit, the maker of wearable activity trackers, has filed to go public and revealed some strong sales numbers in its pitch.The company seeks to raise as much as US$100 million, according to a regulatory filing on Thursday, though the amount is subject to change. Fitbit plans to list its stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “FIT.”The filing reveals what seems to be a healthy business. The company sold roughly 10.9 million devices in 2014, more than double what it sold in 2013 and more than eight times as many as it sold in 2012.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Fitbit’s IPO filing shows a strong pulse

Fitbit, the maker of wearable activity trackers, has filed to go public and revealed some strong sales numbers in its pitch.The company seeks to raise as much as US$100 million, according to a regulatory filing on Thursday, though the amount is subject to change. Fitbit plans to list its stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “FIT.”The filing reveals what seems to be a healthy business. The company sold roughly 10.9 million devices in 2014, more than double what it sold in 2013 and more than eight times as many as it sold in 2012.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

AMD puts faith back in x86, downgrading its ARM effort

Two years ago, AMD tried to cut its reliance on the plodding x86 design by building server chips around ARM, the hot architecture driving mobile devices. That hasn’t worked out, and the company is now putting its faith back in x86.At an investor meeting on Wednesday, AMD further delayed its ARM-based server chip code-named Seattle and cut a major project that could have bridged the gap between its x86 and ARM chips. AMD executives also took responsibility for misreading the fast-growing server market, which is dominated by Intel x86 chips.AMD is still developing ARM-based server chips, but instead of mainstream servers, those chips will now be aimed mainly at storage, networking and other infrastructure equipment. That’s a downgrade from AMD’s focus over the last two years to make ARM servers the centerpiece of server rooms.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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