Network Infrastructure at Faithlife

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The network infrastructure powering Faithlife has seen a massive transformation in the last eighteen months. We’re really excited about all the cool new changes, and the measurable impact they’ve had on our employees, customers, and the products / features we’re able to offer. Given that, we thought that sharing our solution was a fun way to live our values and showcase what we think is pretty cool.

Philosophy

At Faithlife we value smart, versatile learners and automation over expensive vendor solutions. Smart, versatile learners don’t lose value when technology changes or the company changes direction, as vendor solutions often do. If we can use commodity hardware and open source software to replace expensive vendor solutions, we do.

Commodity hardware is generally re-configurable and reusable, and lets us treat our hardware like Lego bricks. Open source software allows us to see behind the curtain, and more easily work with other existing tools. We’re empowered to fix our own issues by utilizing the talent we already employ, not just sit on our hands waiting for a vendor support engineer to help us out (though we do like to keep that option available when possible). Additionally, combining commodity hardware with automation tools like Continue reading

Privacy advocates find Obama proposal lacking

A consumer privacy proposal from U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration gives people too little control over their personal data and companies too much latitude to use that information, a coalition of 14 privacy and digital rights groups said.The Obama administration’s consumer privacy bill of rights, released late Friday, allows companies holding personal data to determine whether consumers should be able to demand changes to the information, the groups said in a letter to Obama, sent Tuesday.The White House proposal contains several “shortcomings,” said the groups, including the Center for Democracy and Technology, Consumer Watchdog, Public Knowledge and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Privacy advocates find Obama proposal lacking

A consumer privacy proposal from U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration gives people too little control over their personal data and companies too much latitude to use that information, a coalition of 14 privacy and digital rights groups said.The Obama administration’s consumer privacy bill of rights, released late Friday, allows companies holding personal data to determine whether consumers should be able to demand changes to the information, the groups said in a letter to Obama, sent Tuesday.The White House proposal contains several “shortcomings,” said the groups, including the Center for Democracy and Technology, Consumer Watchdog, Public Knowledge and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Android users spammed with fake Amazon gift card offers

New malware spreading across Android devices via text messages promises free Amazon gift cards but delivers only spam to everyone on the device’s contact list.The “Gazon” threat, as it is called by IT security firm AdaptiveMobile, has already infected more than 4,000 Android phones in North America, making it the single largest text-based mobile malware attack against Android to date, according to the company. Gazon has also been seen on devices outside North America.Gazon has thus far spewed out more than 200,000 unsolicited SMS messages, luring some to click on a link promising free Amazon gift cards, an action that causes more messages to be sent out.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Intel CEO Krzanich: What we’re doing to succeed on smartphones

Intel has done well in PCs and tablets, but success in smartphones has eluded the chip maker for years. Cracking the challenging market is the next big task for Intel CEO Brian Krzanich , who is chasing an aggressive strategy to get its mobile processors into more handsets.At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week, Intel rebranded its Atom line with an easier-to-remember naming scheme for various models in the product family, to increase market visibility of the processors. The company also introduced the new Atom X3 chip, which will initially go into smartphones, and Atom X5 and X7 chips, which will be in tablets.A few handsets with the Atom X3 chip, code-named Sofia, were shown at Mobile World Congress. Sofia is the result of a speedier chip development strategy formulated by Krzanich to make Intel more competitive in smartphones. Krzanich sat down with the IDG News Service to talk about smartphones, wearables, services and the company’s plans in new markets. Below is an edited version of the transcript.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Intel CEO Krzanich: What we’re doing to succeed on smartphones

Intel has done well in PCs and tablets, but success in smartphones has eluded the chip maker for years. Cracking the challenging market is the next big task for Intel CEO Brian Krzanich , who is chasing an aggressive strategy to get its mobile processors into more handsets. At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week, Intel rebranded its Atom line with an easier-to-remember naming scheme for various models in the product family, to increase market visibility of the processors. The company also introduced the new Atom X3 chip, which will initially go into smartphones, and Atom X5 and X7 chips, which will be in tablets.+ ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD Follow all the stories from Mobile World Congress +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

SanDisk’s InfiniFlash is a new storage format that will sell for under $1/GB

SanDisk is hoping the $1/GB price of its new InfiniFlash storage platform will be enough to convince customers that all-flash systems can be viable for big-data applications, including content streaming and giant databases.The first InfiniFlash product, the rack-mountable IF100, will sell for less than $1 per gigabyte, with the exact cost depending on who’s buying, and how many, said Ravi Swaminathan, SanDisk’s general manager of systems and software solutions.Pretty much everything about the IF100 is hot-swappable, whether it’s the dual power supplies, the four fans, or the row of up to 64 flash storage cards each holding 8 terabytes. That gives the 3U (133 millimeter-high) box a capacity of up to 512TB.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Are Your Tweets Really Your Own?

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We’ve all seen it recently. Twitter bios and blog profile pages with some combination of the following:

My tweets are my own.

Retweets are not endorsements.

My views do not represent my employer.

It has come to the point where the people in the industry are more visible and valuable than the brands they work for. Personal branding has jumped to the forefront of marketing strategies. But with that rise in personal branding comes a huge risk for companies. What happens when one of our visible stars says something we disagree with? What happens when we have to pull back?

Where Is My Mind?

Social media works best when it’s genuine. People sharing thoughts and ideas with each other without filters or constraint. Where it breaks down is when an external force starts interfering with that information exchange. Think about corporate social media policies that restrict what you can say. Or even policies that say your Twitter handle has to include the company you work for (yes, that exists). Why should my profile have to include miles of disclaimers telling people that I’m not a robot?

Is it because we have become so jaded as to believe that people can’t Continue reading

Apple edges out Samsung in fourth quarter smartphone sales

Strong interest in the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus helped Apple sell more smartphones than Samsung in the fourth quarter of 2014.Apple sold 74.8 million smartphones globally during the fourth quarter, up from 50.2 million in the year-earlier quarter, according to Gartner. Apple’s decision to offer phones with larger screens paid off, the research firm said. U.S. and Chinese buyers are especially keen on the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus, said Gartner, adding that demand for the phones is still strong in both countries. The larger screens also gave Apple customers a reason to replace their older phones.Samsung, by comparison, sold 73 million smartphones in the fourth quarter, down from 83.3 million in 2013’s fourth quarter. Samsung had held the quarterly sales title since 2011.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Salesforce, SAP to get a shot of IoT data

The Internet of Things is really an Internet of data about things, and combining that information with other kinds of knowledge could add to its impact.At Mobile World Congress this week, data is starting to come together in new ways. One of the most powerful combinations may emerge from partnerships between IoT veteran Jasper Technologies and two software giants: Salesforce.com and SAP.Jasper sells a SaaS platform that companies use to monitor and control products or equipment in the field. It’s designed to handle all the functions involved in making money from a device or just using it within an enterprise, including setup, ongoing service and data collection. Jasper sells its SaaS through mobile operators, and the platform can be deployed through multiple carriers to give customers global reach.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Salesforce, SAP to get a shot of IoT data

The Internet of Things is really an Internet of data about things, and combining that information with other kinds of knowledge could add to its impact. At Mobile World Congress this week, data is starting to come together in new ways. One of the most powerful combinations may emerge from partnerships between IoT veteran Jasper Technologies and two software giants: Salesforce.com and SAP. Jasper sells a SaaS platform that companies use to monitor and control products or equipment in the field. It’s designed to handle all the functions involved in making money from a device or just using it within an enterprise, including setup, ongoing service and data collection. Jasper sells its SaaS through mobile operators, and the platform can be deployed through multiple carriers to give customers global reach.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Spock Encouraged Geeks to "Live Long and Prosper"

Spock Encouraged Geeks to "Live Long and Prosper"

by Brian Boyko, Contributor - March 3, 2015

When you think of how many ways “Star Trek” advanced society, there are a number of standouts. This includes everything from the treatment of then-modern social issues like civil rights and racism, to showing the irrationality of war when war with the Soviet Union seemed inevitable. But one that often gets lost in the shuffle is the idea that Star Trek started the ball rolling on what can be best described as “nerd pride.”

That is, while there were certainly smart, well-read, mathematical, logical people in 1966, before Star Trek, being a smart, technically minded person was - for most of society - a character flaw.

Indeed, being a “nerd” or a “geek” continued to be an insult first and foremost for decades afterwards. However, the thing about Star Trek is that it allowed some of our forefathers the ability to think of themselves as heroic. And that mostly had to do with giving young technical people a cherished role model - the character of Mr. Spock.

Spock was an enigma, because there was little on television or in any form of Continue reading

Spain’s Telefonica goes virtual with HP

The push to virtualize mobile networks is picking up speed at Mobile World Congress this week as carriers and vendors promise new services and faster connections.Telefonica, the big international carrier based in Spain, plans to roll out a virtualized platform from Hewlett-Packard across its whole network in the coming years, a significant vote of confidence in NFV (network functions virtualization) only about four years after the concept emerged.NFV changes the back end of a carrier’s network from a set of specialized appliances into applications running on virtualized servers. The same way virtualization gives enterprise IT more freedom to deploy new capabilities, NFV should help carriers roll out new services and meet capacity demands.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Spain’s Telefonica goes virtual with HP

The push to virtualize mobile networks is picking up speed at Mobile World Congress this week as carriers and vendors promise new services and faster connections.Telefonica, the big international carrier based in Spain, plans to roll out a virtualized platform from Hewlett-Packard across its whole network in the coming years, a significant vote of confidence in NFV (network functions virtualization) only about four years after the concept emerged.NFV changes the back end of a carrier’s network from a set of specialized appliances into applications running on virtualized servers. The same way virtualization gives enterprise IT more freedom to deploy new capabilities, NFV should help carriers roll out new services and meet capacity demands.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Spain’s Telefonica goes virtual with HP

The push to virtualize mobile networks is picking up speed at Mobile World Congress this week as carriers and vendors promise new services and faster connections. Telefonica, the big international carrier based in Spain, plans to roll out a virtualized platform from Hewlett-Packard across its whole network in the coming years, a significant vote of confidence in NFV (network functions virtualization) only about four years after the concept emerged. NFV changes the back end of a carrier’s network from a set of specialized appliances into applications running on virtualized servers. The same way virtualization gives enterprise IT more freedom to deploy new capabilities, NFV should help carriers roll out new services and meet capacity demands.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cisco unfazed by HP/Aruba

Cisco seems undaunted by HP’s nearly $3 billion acquisition of wireless LAN titan Aruba Networks. Cisco is the market leader in WLANs while HP gains a solid No. 2 position by acquiring Aruba.Said Jeff Reed, vice president of Cisco’s Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions Group: Enterprise mobility continues to be a key driver of growth in the networking industry. While some companies seek to bolt on wireless to their existing portfolios, mobility remains at the core of our networking business. As the clear market leader, we have delivered unified wired, wireless and cloud-managed platforms to our customers for years and will continue to do so.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How Samsung’s Galaxy S6 stacks up against Apple’s iPhone 6 line

Samsung hit its mark with its Galaxy S6 announcement at the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona this week.The company came prepared with an entirely new smartphone design and a concise explanation of the powerful hardware, rich display, strong security, great camera, and intuitive Android Lollipop software. The Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 Edge stood out as high-end hardware designed to compete with top-tier Apple and HTC smartphones.The S6's design and engineering afforded Samsung the luxury to concentrate on just the most important features during the announcement. It eliminated the temptation to add a bloated feature list that consumers often ignore and which mobile device companies are so often inclined to add during product announcements out of a desperation to differentiate me-too devices.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

AirWatch and Cisco help developers build enterpise-friendly smartphone apps

A group of companies, including Cisco Systems and mobile device management software vendor AirWatch, have joined forces to help enterprises take advantage of features that are integrated in Android and iOS.The companies have launched an initiative called ACE (App Configuration for Enterprise), which provides documentation for developers to help them build applications that can be more easily managed and secured.The first version of the ACE documentation covers six areas: remote app configuration, app tunneling, single sign-on, access control and security policies.There are tips regarding technical approach, security considerations, sample code and best practises. In addition to AirWatch and Cisco, development tool company Xamarin, online-storage vendor Box and ERP provider Workday are also helping get ACE off the ground. The group made the announcement Tuesday at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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