Apple trying to discourage Apple Watch lines at launch

In many ways, new Apple product launches have become ritualistic affairs. The night before a new product goes on sale, enthusiastic consumers line up outside of Apple retail stores in lines that sometimes stretch out for blocks on end.With the Apple Watch slated to launch in a few weeks, that ritual may finally be coming to an end. According to an internal Apple memo obtained by Business Insider, Apple retail head Angela Ahrendts wants to put the days of waiting in line in the past, all in the interest of enhancing the customer shopping experience. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Salesforce revs up Pardot with two new B2B marketing-automation tools

It’s coming up on two years since Salesforce acquired Pardot, and on Thursday the company enriched its resulting Sales Cloud B2B marketing-automation product with two new key capabilities.Intelligent Engagement Studio, for instance, offers granular targeting, testing and reporting capabilities designed to help marketers and sales teams connect with prospects in new ways. For example, the new feature enables adaptive lead-nurturing campaigns that evolve based on more than 100 triggers.Previously, B2B marketers could see only basic behavioral data such as the rates at which prospects opened their emails; sales-stage data from their CRM systems was not integrated with it. Now, with Intelligent Engagement Studio, marketers can act on the combination of those data points. So, when someone advances to a new sales stage and also views a specific piece of content, Intelligent Engagement Studio will analyze those data points to proactively route the prospect to a new lead-nurturing path.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Salesforce revs up Pardot with two new B2B marketing-automation tools

It’s coming up on two years since Salesforce acquired Pardot, and on Thursday the company enriched its resulting Sales Cloud B2B marketing-automation product with two new key capabilities.Intelligent Engagement Studio, for instance, offers granular targeting, testing and reporting capabilities designed to help marketers and sales teams connect with prospects in new ways. For example, the new feature enables adaptive lead-nurturing campaigns that evolve based on more than 100 triggers.Previously, B2B marketers could see only basic behavioral data such as the rates at which prospects opened their emails; sales-stage data from their CRM systems was not integrated with it. Now, with Intelligent Engagement Studio, marketers can act on the combination of those data points. So, when someone advances to a new sales stage and also views a specific piece of content, Intelligent Engagement Studio will analyze those data points to proactively route the prospect to a new lead-nurturing path.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The first woman CEO to appear in a Google Images search is … CEO Barbie

The Ellen Pao-Kleiner Perkins trial shone a light on discrimination in the tech industry, but for a more immediate look at the challenges women face in corporate America, look no further than a Google Images search.Doing a search at the site for “CEO” reveals just one female face in the top results: CEO Barbie. The doll (which may not even be a real Barbie product) appears way down in the results, under a sea of male, mostly white faces.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

For Citrix & Extreme, Q1 Isn’t Coming Up Roses

Citrix's restructuring takes a toll; Extreme's customers postpone some orders.

Amazon offers network file storage in the cloud

Amazon Web Services continues to chip away at the enterprise storage market, with plans for a new service designed to be a nimbler alternative to network attached storage (NAS) appliances.The Amazon Elastic File System (EFS) will provide a shared, low-latency file system for organizations or project teams that need to share large files and access them quickly, such as a video production company.“The file system is the missing element in the cloud today,” Amazon Web Services head Andy Jassy said Wednesday at the AWS Summit in San Francisco. The service is not yet available for full commercial use, though a preview will be available shortly.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Pairing iPhones with Android Wear smartwatches may become possible

Google is said to be developing a version of Android Wear to let iPhone owners sync their phones with smartwatches running Google’s OS.Google is close to finishing the final technical details, according to a report in The Verge which cited one unnamed source close to the development team.A Google spokesman declined to comment.If Google is in fact working on this, it could boost its efforts to compete against Apple’s upcoming Apple Watch. Smartwatches running Android Wear currently derive much of their functionality via an integration with Android-based smartphones. Android Wear smartwatch sales haven’t been great.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How to overcome 3 hybrid cloud integration challenges

Cisco invests in mobile wallet

Cisco has invested in MobiKwik, an Indian “mobile wallet” company that offers payment for goods and services from a consumer’s desktop or mobile device. Cisco has taken an undisclosed minority stake in the company’s $30 million Series B round.The investment was led by Cisco’s India corporate development team. The lead investor was Tree Line Asia, and American Express and existing investor Sequoia Capital also helped fund the round.The funds will support user and personnel growth, expanding its merchant network, marketing and investments in data analytics. MobiKwik currently has over 15 million users and 25,000 merchants.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

What’s behind Microsoft’s not-so-crazy startup spending spree

Microsoft so far this year has been the most acquisitive company in enterprise IT, snapping up at least four firms on top of four others that it bought in the last two months of 2014. And while the buyouts might at first glance appear scattershot – we’re talking text analysis, calendaring and digital pen startups among others -- there does seem to be a grand plan here.Our regularly updated Enterprise Networking & IT Acquisition Tracker shows through the first calendar quarter that Microsoft has announced more than twice as many buyouts as any other company (not that all acquisitions are immediately made public and taking into account that our tracker is focused on enterprise-related acquisitions -- Google has bought at least four consumer-oriented companies).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Workday targets professional services with new suite

Anyone who’s ever worked in professional services knows that the focus there on people and billable projects can open up a world of specialized requirements from any supporting business software. With that very distinction in mind, Workday on Thursday unveiled a new suite of financial and human-resources tools designed specifically for professional services users.Offering functionality for both financial management and human capital management, Workday Professional Services Automation aims to give companies a unified alternative to the patchwork of often-disconnected solutions that many currently rely on. A single system delivers insights and analytics regarding people, revenue, expenses and profitability, allowing customers to optimize project performance, Workday said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Solving the Cloud Security Crisis

Will SDN be a key component?

Dell to ship Windows 10 tablet with USB Type-C port

Dell is looking ahead to Windows 10 and planning to release a tablet with the OS and other new technologies in September or October.A refreshed Venue 11 Pro will have the USB Type-C port, which first appeared in Apple’s 12-inch MacBook and in Google’s Chromebook Pixel last month, said Kelli Hodges, a manager at Dell.Although Microsoft hasn’t given a specific release date for Windows 10, Dell’s plans shed light on when PCs and tablets might start shipping with Windows 10 pre-installed. One thing is clear: PC makers are eager to move away from the unpopular Windows 8. Windows 10 will run in smartphones, tablets, PCs, wearables and other devices.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

DARPA wants software that adapts, lasts over 100 years

Researchers at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency said announced a new program aimed at building software systems that can adapt and survive more than a century years on the job.The program, called Building Resource Adaptive Software Systems, or BRASS is expected to lead to significant improvements in software resilience, reliability and maintainability by developing the computational and algorithmic requirements necessary for software systems and data to remain robust in excess of 100 years.The program looks to address the issues of high costs and frustration with current software systems which continue to grow in complexity and require users to become accustomed to constant update cycles.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

LinkedIn buys training site Lynda.com, enters professional development market

LinkedIn is acquiring online learning company lynda.com for US$1.5 billion in cash and stock, the social networking site announced Thursday.Lynda.com offers professional development courses on design, creative and business topics. Some of the courses, for example, teach how to write HTML, negotiate better, or use design software like Photoshop. The site was launched by Lynda Weinman and Bruce Heavin in 1995 as a way to teach Web publishing and design.Integrating lynda.com with LinkedIn would allow job seekers to know what skills are required for a position they’re interested in and immediately be prompted to take a course in that subject, Ryan Roslansky, LinkedIn’s head of content, said in a blog post. Further details on whether lynda.com would be combined with LinkedIn, or if the training site would continue to operate independently weren’t provided.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

LinkedIn buys training site Lynda.com, enters professional development market

LinkedIn is acquiring online learning company lynda.com for US$1.5 billion in cash and stock, the social networking site announced Thursday.Lynda.com offers professional development courses on design, creative and business topics. Some of the courses, for example, teach how to write HTML, negotiate better, or use design software like Photoshop. The site was launched by Lynda Weinman and Bruce Heavin in 1995 as a way to teach Web publishing and design.Integrating lynda.com with LinkedIn would allow job seekers to know what skills are required for a position they’re interested in and immediately be prompted to take a course in that subject, Ryan Roslansky, LinkedIn’s head of content, said in a blog post. Further details on whether lynda.com would be combined with LinkedIn, or if the training site would continue to operate independently weren’t provided.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The FTC is worried about algorithmic transparency, and you should be too

It’s no secret that algorithms power much of the technology we interact with every day, whether it’s to search for information on Google or to browse through a Facebook news feed. What’s less widely known is that algorithms also play a role when we apply for a loan, for example, or receive a special marketing offer.Algorithms are practically everywhere we are today, shaping what we see, what we believe and, to an increasing extent, what our futures hold. Is that a good thing? The U.S. Federal Trade Commission, like many others, isn’t so sure.“Consumers interact with algorithms on a daily basis, whether they know it or not,” said Ashkan Soltani, the FTC’s chief technologist. “To date, we have very little insight as to how these algorithms operate, what incentives are behind them, what data is used and how it’s structured.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Spotty indoor cell coverage is on its way out

The days of strolling down a street, smartphone connected to somewhat speedy mobile internet connection, only to have the connection thwarted when you enter a large building, may be numbered.Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) think that scalable "small cells" are the answer to a vexing building-penetration issue.For the end user, asking for a Wi-Fi password at every stop-and-call may become a thing of the past if these small cells take off and work as promised.What are they? Small cells are distinct from an MNO's macrocells, which are mounted on rooftops and other structures, and are served by a cellular base station. Macrocell antennas are the ones you see dotted around your neighborhood.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Use of Windows XP makes European ATMs vulnerable to malware attacks

For the first time, a country in Western Europe has reported that malware attacks were used by hackers to steal €1.23 million (US$1.32 million) from ATMs. One major problem is the continued use of Windows XP in ATMs, making them more vulnerable to attacks, a report on ATM fraud said.The report does not specify which country reported the malware attacks, said Lachlan Gunn, executive director the European ATM Security Team (EAST), an organization that aims to provide an oversight of trends in ATM fraud.However, it is the first time these attacks were reported in Western Europe. Malware attacks on ATMs have been used for some time in other parts of the world, including Eastern Europe, the Asia Pacific region and Latin America, Gunn said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Police operation disrupts Beebone botnet used for malware distribution

Europol, in collaboration with Dutch authorities, the U.S. FBI and private security companies, have seized the domain names used to control a botnet called Beebone.The police action Wednesday included a so-called botnet sinkholing operation that involved redirecting domains used by the botnet’s command-and-control servers to a server controlled by security companies.Such an action prevents attackers from controlling the botnet and also gives authorities a chance to identify victims whose computers are now connecting to the sinkhole server.Information about the botnet will be distributed to ISPs and CERTs [computer emergency response teams] from around the world so they can notify victims and help them clean their systems, Europol said Thursday in a press release.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here