WordPress quickly patches second critical vulnerability

WordPress patched a second critical vulnerability in its Web publishing platform on Monday, less than a week after fixing a similar problem.Administrators are advised to upgrade to WordPress version 4.2.1. Some WordPress sites that are compatible with and use a plugin called Background Update Tester will update automatically.WordPress is one of the most-used Web publishing platforms. By the company’s own estimation, it runs 23 percent of the sites on the Internet, including major publishers such as Time and CNN.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

US trade judge rules against Microsoft in phone patents case

Microsoft has lost the latest round in a patent-infringement case that could lead to an import ban on its phones.Administrative Law Judge Theodore Essex of the U.S. International Trade Commission ruled on Monday that Nokia and Microsoft Mobile products infringed two patents held by R&D company InterDigital. Essex’s decision is preliminary and will be reviewed by the full commission, which is expected to announce its final ruling on Aug. 28. The final ruling could lead to a ban on importing the phones into the U.S.The ruling covers most of Microsoft’s mobile phones, according to InterDigital spokesman Patrick Van de Wille. Microsoft acquired Nokia’s devices business last year. The patents in the case cover technologies involved in powering up a phone and having it connect to 3G wireless networks. Even though most current cellphones use 4G LTE, they still have 3G capability for use where 4G isn’t available.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Free Networking Books

It’s hard to believe in our ‘you are the product’ monetized world but there are some really good, high quality, free networking books out there, with absolutely no strings attached (think Ultron). Here’s a quick list of the one’s I know about. Please do let me know about any others you are aware of in […]

Author information

Steven Iveson

Steven Iveson

Steven Iveson, the last of four children of the seventies, was born in London and has never been too far from a shooting, bombing or riot. He's now grateful to live in a small town in East Yorkshire in the north east of England with his wife Sam and their four children.

He's worked in the IT industry for over 20 years in a variety of roles, predominantly in data centre environments. Working with switches and routers pretty much from the start he now also has a thirst for application delivery, automation, SDN, virtualisation and related products and technologies. He's published a number of F5 Networks related books, is a regular contributor at DevCentral and was an F5 DevCentral MVP for 2014.

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The post Free Networking Books appeared first on Packet Pushers Podcast and was written by Continue reading

China, iPhone 6 help Apple to another record quarter

Apple achieved its second straight quarter of record results as demand for the new iPhone 6 surged and China became Apple’s second most important market after the U.S.The company sold 61.2 million units of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus during the the first three months of 2015, blasting past the 44 million [m] it shipped during the same quarter of last year when the iPhone 5S was still new on the market.Those sales helped Apple to a net profit of $13.6 billion [b], up by almost 33 percent, on revenue of $58 billion [b] for the quarter, up 27 percent. That’s above the $55 billion [b] Apple had said it was expecting and the $56 billion [b] consensus expectation from financial analysts.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

China, iPhone 6 help Apple to another record quarter

Apple achieved its second straight quarter of record results as demand for the new iPhone 6 surged and China became Apple’s second most important market after the U.S.The company sold 61.2 million units of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus during the the first three months of 2015, blasting past the 44 million [m] it shipped during the same quarter of last year when the iPhone 5S was still new on the market.Those sales helped Apple to a net profit of $13.6 billion [b], up by almost 33 percent, on revenue of $58 billion [b] for the quarter, up 27 percent. That’s above the $55 billion [b] Apple had said it was expecting and the $56 billion [b] consensus expectation from financial analysts.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

NASA exploring half-million dollar fast computing challenge

NASA is looking at developing a public competition that would pit competitors in developing fast, powerful computers that would help support advanced applications.According to NASA, despite tremendous progress made in the past few decades, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tools in particular are too slow for simulation of complex geometry flows, particularly those involving flow separation and combustion applications. To enable high-fidelity CFD for multi-disciplinary analysis and design, the speed of computation must be increased by orders of magnitude, the space agency said.+More on Network World: The zany world of identified flying objects+To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Massachusetts drafts regulations for car-hailing services like Uber, Lyft

Drivers for Web-based, ride-hailing services in Massachusetts would be subject to criminal background checks by the state and their company if a bill unveiled Friday by the state’s governor becomes law.That safety provision is just one outlined in a bill that is designed to regulate companies like Uber and Lyft without stifling themThe proposed law would place such services in a new regulatory category called transportation network companies” and require them to obtain a special license from the state Department of Public Utilities, which oversees other modes of transportation. To cover the cost of this oversight, the companies would be subject to a yearly tax based on the revenue they earn in the state. Details on how the tax would be calculated weren’t provided.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The hollow rhetoric of nation-state threats

The government is using the threat of nation-state hackers to declare a state-of-emergency and pass draconian laws in congress. However, as the GitHub DDoS shows, the government has little interest in actually defending us.

It took 25 days to blame North Korea for the Sony hack, between the moment "Hacked by the #GOP" appeared on Sony computers and when President Obama promised retaliation in a news conference -- based on flimsy evidence of North Korea's involvement. In contrast, it's been more than 25 days since we've had conclusive proof the Chinese government was DDoSing GitHub, and our government has remained silent. China stopped the attacks after two weeks on their own volition, because GitHub defended itself, not because of anything the United States government did.

The reason for the inattention is that GitHub has no lobbyists. Sony spends several million dollars every year in lobbying, as well as hundreds of thousands in campaign contributions. When Sony gets hacked, politicians listen. In contrast, GitHub spends zero on either lobbying or contributions.

It's not that GitHub isn't important -- it's actually key infrastructure to the Internet. All computer nerds know the site. It's the largest repository of source-code on the Continue reading

Facebook adds free video calling to Messenger

Users can now place free video calls with Messenger, as Facebook continues to extend the app beyond simple text-based chats.With the feature, Facebook is also taking a jab at competing products like Apple’s FaceTime, Microsoft’s Skype and Google Hangouts. Facebook previously allowed video calling through its site on the desktop, but not within its Messenger app.The video calling feature is available in the iOS and Android Messenger apps. iOS users will be able to video chat with Android users, and vice versa. It began rolling out Monday in the U.S. and more than a dozen other countries including Mexico, Nigeria and Uruguay, with availability in more regions slated for the coming months, Facebook said in a blog post.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

HP buys Aruba and next thing you know Dell is reselling Aerohive WiFi gear

Aerohive Networks announced Monday that Dell will begin reselling its wireless LAN and related management products -- not a shocker in light of longtime Dell OEM partner Aruba Networks being snapped up by HP in a multi-billion deal last month.Aerohive says Dell is a good fit in that the 802.11ac access points and HiveManager NG cloud-based management platform help to fill out Dell's line-up of products spanning from the data center to endpoints. "We believe there is a large demand from customers that like doing business with 'pure play' access layer solution providers vs. large networking companies like Cisco and HP," says Bill Hoppin, Aerohive VP of Business Development.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

HP buys Aruba and next thing you know Dell is reselling Aerohive WiFi gear

Aerohive Networks announced Monday that Dell will begin reselling its wireless LAN and related management products -- not a shocker in light of longtime Dell OEM partner Aruba Networks being snapped up by HP in a multi-billion deal last month.Aerohive says Dell is a good fit in that the 802.11ac access points and HiveManager NG cloud-based management platform help to fill out Dell's line-up of products spanning from the data center to endpoints. "We believe there is a large demand from customers that like doing business with 'pure play' access layer solution providers vs. large networking companies like Cisco and HP," says Bill Hoppin, Aerohive VP of Business Development.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

HP buys Aruba and next thing you know Dell is reselling Aerohive WiFi gear

Aerohive Networks announced Monday that Dell will begin reselling its wireless LAN and related management products -- not a shocker in light of longtime Dell OEM partner Aruba Networks being snapped up by HP in a multi-billion deal last month.Aerohive says Dell is a good fit in that the 802.11ac access points and HiveManager NG cloud-based management platform help to fill out Dell's line-up of products spanning from the data center to endpoints. "We believe there is a large demand from customers that like doing business with 'pure play' access layer solution providers vs. large networking companies like Cisco and HP," says Bill Hoppin, Aerohive VP of Business Development.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Going with the flow: The psychology of mobile app design

In psychology, flow, also known as being in the zone, is the mental state in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus: a writer writing an article, a professional athlete competing at peak performance, or even a shopper suddenly convinced to buy that random thing, and have the ability to buy it when the urge strikes. Understanding the flow of a person and how personalized applications and information seamlessly fits into the daily routines of people is quickly becoming a major part of information experience and design.The idea of flow was originally devised in the 1970's when Mihaly Csíkszentmihályi and his fellow researchers began researching the concept after Csíkszentmihályi became fascinated by artists who would essentially get lost in their work. During the interviews ,several people described their "flow" experiences using the metaphor of a water current carrying them along.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

3 new types of 3D printers

Although the cost of 3D printers continues to drop so that more people have them in their homes, it’s not like most homes have one. But innovative minds keep turning out new and improved 3D printers, such as the following three new types: one can print soft and cuddly objects from fabric; another includes actuators that allow an object to morph after being exposed to external stimuli; the last has a retrofit kit to change 3D printers into 3D food printers.Disney 3D-prints soft objects from fabric You know how little kids can be super attached to one particular item like a toy or a blanket? And if that item gets lost or destroyed, it’s a red alert unless you can find another exactly like the first. If that beloved object is a soft cuddly toy, wouldn’t be great if you could 3-D print another? Disney Research has come up with a 3D printer that can create soft interactive objects like a printed fabric bunny.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How JetBlue uses tech to help customers take flight

When you think of good customer service, Amazon and Zappos may come to mind, but a major commercial airline may not. JetBlue is working to change that perception by incorporating new technologies that focus on improving customer service, streamlining transactions and making flights more enjoyable.The customer-facing technology transformation at JetBlue ramped up three years ago with the appointment of its new CIO, Eash Sundaram. He says JetBlue needed to be about customer service and technology as much as it was about getting passengers to their destinations.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

HP switches fortify campus SDNs

HP this week strengthened its campus networking portfolio with modules for a switch chassis it announced almost a year ago, and an SDN-based management application.The additions are intended to improve an enterprise’s ability to support mobility, security, application performance and network monitoring in the campus. They are consistent with the industry trend in campus networking to better integrate wired and wireless infrastructure and applications.+ MORE ON NETWORK WORLD: Aruba Networks is different from HP’s failed wireless acquisitions +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

HP switches fortify campus SDNs

HP this week strengthened its campus networking portfolio with modules for a switch chassis it announced almost a year ago, and an SDN-based management application.The additions are intended to improve an enterprise’s ability to support mobility, security, application performance and network monitoring in the campus. They are consistent with the industry trend in campus networking to better integrate wired and wireless infrastructure and applications.+ MORE ON NETWORK WORLD: Aruba Networks is different from HP’s failed wireless acquisitions +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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