US gains in mobile patents as IBM passes Samsung

The U.S. widened its lead in mobile patents last year and IBM took the top spot in new patents granted in that space, according to a report this week that analyzed data from both the U.S. and Europe.While the number of mobile patents granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) jumped by 17 percent between 2013 and 2014, the total fell by 4 percent at the European Patent Office (EPO), according to Chetan Sharma Consulting. The U.S. continued to gain on Europe as the place where mobile inventions are devised, a trend driven by software development in Silicon Valley and Americans’ heavy use of mobile data, the report said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The .onion address

A draft RFC for Tor's .onion address is finally being written. This is a proper thing. Like the old days of the Internet, people just did things, then documented them later. Tor's .onion addresses have been in use for quite a while (I just setup another one yesterday). It's time that we documented this for the rest of the community, to forestall problems like somebody registering .onion as a DNS TLD.

One quibble I have with the document is section 2.1, which says:

1. Users: human users are expected to recognize .onion names as having different security properties, and also being only available through software that is aware of onion addresses.

This certain documents current usage, where Tor is a special system run separately from the rest of the Internet. However, it appears to deny a hypothetical future were Tor is more integrated.

For example, imagine a world where Chrome simply integrates Tor libraries, and that whenever anybody clicks on an .onion link, that it automatically activates the Tor software, establishes a circuit, and grabs the indicated page -- all without the user having to be aware of Tor. This could do much to increase the usability of the Continue reading

DockerCon CFP Summary

Our DockerCon 2015 call for papers closed last week, and we’d like to sincerely thank the 338 individuals who submitted talks. These submissions are further proof of a bright, witty and extremely talented community that surrounds Docker. We are very … Continued

Your Docker agenda in April

March has been an incredibly busy month for the Docker Community with all of the birthday celebrations and open-source-a-thons, and it’s not over yet. You have until April 19th to make a contribution that counts toward Docker’s donation to the … Continued

Benchmark scores show performance gap between Surface 3 and Surface Pro 3, iPad Air 2

A handful of benchmark scores for Microsoft's not-yet-released Surface 3 tablet hint that it's between a third and half as fast as the company's older 2-in-1, the more powerful Surface Pro 3.The scores also show that Apple's iPad Air -- which starts at the same $499 price of the Surface 3 -- is between 36% and 93% faster than Microsoft's latest device.Five Surface 3 benchmark scores posted on Primate Labs' Geekbench in the last two days have ranged from 949 to 1009 for single-core, and from 3200 to 3430 for multi-core.The tests may have been run by people who have a review unit; like other hardware makers, Microsoft often seeds media outlets and influential blogs with machines prior to bringing them to retail, giving reviewers hands-on time so that they can publish their takes on or before the sale or ship date.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Senator wants bomb-making information removed from the Internet

After two U.S. women were charged this week with conspiring to build bombs in support of terrorist groups, a U.S. senator wants two publications that include bomb-making instructions deleted from the Internet.Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, called for the 44-year-old Anarchist Cookbook and al-Qaeda’s Inspire Magazine to be banished from the Web, notwithstanding the difficulty of removing material from the entire Internet or the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment. It’s not the first time that Feinstein has tried to ban publications that instruct would-be bomb-makers.“I am particularly struck that the alleged bombers made use of online bomb-making guides like the Anarchist Cookbook and Inspire Magazine,” Feinstein, a veteran member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a statement. “These documents are not, in my view, protected by the First Amendment and should be removed from the Internet.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Use software license optimization tools to get your money’s worth out of SaaS

This vendor-written tech primer has been edited by Network World to eliminate product promotion, but readers should note it will likely favor the submitter’s approach.

Software as a Service (SaaS) breaks the shackles of traditional software licensing approaches, but savvy users still optimize their SaaS environments to avoid undue costs.

SaaS subscription models typically require a one to three year commitment. Customers are invoiced, usually on a monthly basis, and the license typically uses some sort of billing metric based on resource usage, such as the number of end users that can access the product. The flexibility of SaaS licensing models enables organizations to expand the use of the product according to their needs during the term of the subscription.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Exporting RSA keys from Cisco ASA: Harder than it should be

Unlike Cisco IOS routers, which by default don't allow RSA private keys to be exported from NVRAM, Cisco ASAs don't protect private keys. But there's no command (of which I'm aware) to directly export the keys either.

Sometimes you need to squirrel away those keys. You can do it by getting a certificate that uses the keys, then exporting a certificate bundle (with private key included). Here's how.

First, create a key:
 crypto key generate rsa label mykey modulus 2048

Next, create a trustpoint which references the key, and generate a self-signed certificate:
 crypto ca trustpoint throwaway  
  keypair mykey  
  enrollment self  
 crypto ca enroll throwaway noconfirm

Now the throwaway trustpoint has a certificate. Export that certificate to the terminal.
 no terminal pager  
 crypto ca export throwaway pkcs12 <passphrase>

Save the blob of text including the begin/end lines. The blob is a PKCS12 bundle encrypted using the passphrase above and then base64 encoded. Be sure to save the encryption passphrase.
 -----BEGIN PKCS12-----  
 MIIJZwIBAzCCCSEGCSqGSIb3DQEHAaCCCRIEggkOMIIJCjCCCQYGCSqGSIb3DQEH  
 BqCCCPcwggjzAgEAMIII7AYJKoZIhvcNAQcBMBsGCiqGSIb3DQEMAQMwDQQI4KTD  
 ...etc...  
 ru1WrVnO7wFa+83BK8D+aQ7UedzQuU6NOiDrjPR0w8uWSLwKmmSVgnZN4BEwPTAh  
 MAkGBSsOAwIaBQAEFGA2bfp4y+a/R29RZ9TA8sCUSZ+jBBRvppgVbM8rBbW62096  
 L/HnJErexgICBAA=  
 -----END PKCS12-----

We no longer need the certificate or the throwaway trustpoint in which it's stored. Kill it. The private key will survive.
 no crypto ca trustpoint throwaway noconfirm

The easiest way to Continue reading

PlexxiPulse—Spotlight on SDN

Infonetics analyst Clifford Grossner recently released a SDN enterprise study which found that nearly 80 percent of medium and large size businesses plan to implement SDN technology in the data center by 2017. The survey of 153 businesses also revealed that 65 percent of respondents are currently conducting data center SDN lab trials or plan to do so in 2015. Marcia Savage of NetworkComputing cites the Infonetics data and names SDN as a top networking trend in a piece this week titled “What’s Hot In Networking: 7 Key Trends.” We’re excited to see SDN in the spotlight. Marcia’s piece and the Infonetics study are both worth a read before you kick off your weekend.

Interested in seeing Plexxi in action? Contact [email protected] to schedule a demo today!

Below please find a few of our top picks for our favorite news articles of the week. Enjoy!

Network World: How SDN will help earn money, not just save
By Ajay Malik
Software-Defined Networking (SDN) is transforming the network and giving network operators unprecedented network programmability, automation, and control. Network administrators are exploring it as it can help them not just optimize total cost of ownership, but do more with Continue reading

This is what an iPad vending machine looks like

Drexel University and the Free Library of Philadelphia have introduced a vending machine that doles out Apple iPad tablets for four hours at a time. The machine's debut follows that of a MacBook vending machine at the disposal of Drexel students around the clock. RELATED: Coca-Cola piloting free WiFi at vending machines | The iPad Kiosk: Landing at an airport near you The iPads are accessible to Drexel students and residents of Philly's Manua and Poweton Village neighborhoods. Borrowers must swipe either their student ID or library card to activate the vending machine.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Arista Jumps into Open Networking — or Do They?

On March 31 Arista announced it will offer its EOS operating system as a subscription license separate from its switch hardware.  While the rest of the industry is realizing disaggregation of hardware and software for the sake of customer choice and innovation, Arista’s “disaggregation” is only a new pricing model. Arista hardware and its EOS operating system remain locked. Customer choice is limited to pricing models.

That is not open networking. And it’s not what customers need. This is an open pricing model at the best.

Currently Arista sells its hardware and software as a single bundle, but with this new pricing model, Arista claims it gives customers a better way to balance their CapEx and OpEx budgets. Arista also says this will let customers scale their cloud deployments as they want, paying for their network resources only as they consume them and — given the subscription service — helping them avoid exorbitant upfront investments.

Disaggregation?

Is Arista opening their pricing model because of growing industry support for open networking? Their announcement nods towards a “disaggregated offering,” but EOS still requires Arista hardware, and Arista switches still require EOS. Customers can buy the hardware/software components separately, but they still can’t Continue reading

Hyundai Motor to release semiautonomous car this year

Owners of Hyundai Motor’s upcoming Equus will be able to take their hands off the steering wheel and feet off the brakes as they’re traveling down the highway, and let their car do the driving. The South Korea-based automaker plans to integrate a host of self-driving features into its premium sedan later this year, transforming it into a semiautonomous vehicle.Highway driving assistance features will allow the new Equus to stay in lane, slow down and speed up as necessary to avoid collisions. The price of the new Equus hasn’t been determined but should be similar to Hyundai’s current models, ranging from US $61,500 to $68,750, officials said.The main markets for the new Equus will be South Korea and the U.S., company officials said at a briefing ahead of the Seoul Motor Show, which opened Friday.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Show 231 – OpenFlow’s Possible Futures with Curt Beckmann

Seen as a unifier and enabler in its early days, OpenFlow has come up against some adoption barriers in the form of silicon challenges and vendor-specific extensions that has resulted in a marketplace of OpenFlow options awash in inconsistency. How does OpenFlow rise above this current state of things? Or does it? The Packet Pushers discuss with Curt Beckmann.

Author information

Ethan Banks

Co-host at Packet Pushers

Ethan Banks, CCIE #20655, has been managing networks for higher ed, government, financials and high tech since 1995. Ethan co-hosts the Packet Pushers Podcast, which has seen over 3M downloads and reaches over 10K listeners. With whatever time is left, Ethan writes for fun & profit, studies for certifications, and enjoys science fiction. @ecbanks
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The post Show 231 – OpenFlow’s Possible Futures with Curt Beckmann appeared first on Packet Pushers Podcast and was written by Ethan Banks.

Microsoft Surface team to brave Reddit on Friday

Microsoft's Surface tablet team, fresh off introducing a new lighter and thinner model this week, will take its chances with the Reddit crowd on Friday.Things got a bit rough for the team about a year ago when it dipped its toes into the sometimes dangerous waters of Reddit's Q&A free-for-all, dubbed Ask Me Anything (AMA) following the release of the Surface Pro 3 tablet. Among other things, Microsoft was taken to task for charging separately for the keyboard/cover. However, the Surface Pro 3 has become something of a hit, pulling in a reported $900 million-plus in revenue, according to market watchers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Windows forecast to gradually grab tablet market share from iOS and Android

Once considered a lost cause in the tablet market, Microsoft's Windows will take market share from Apple's iOS and Google's Android in the coming years, according to IDC. Android and iOS are the top two OSes for tablets, with 67.3 percent and 27.6 percent share, respectively, of the 229.7 million units shipped in 2014. Windows had just a 5.1 percent market share, according to research released by IDC on Thursday. But by 2019, Windows will have 14.1 percent market share, and the share of Android and iOS will gradually fall to 62.9 percent and 23 percent respectively. Tablet shipments in 2019 will total 269.4 million, indicating slow growth over the coming years, IDC said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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