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Sorry, Americans, there are no 'YouTube My Break' Kit Kats for you

Publié: mai 13, 2015, 11:18pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

YouTube and Kit Kat lovers across the pond have reason to gloat. Unless imported—and there is a legal settlement prohibiting such practice—"YouTube My Break" campaign chocolate bars will not be coming to these shores. Yesterday, Google and Nestlé announced the branding collaboration, which replaces the Kit Kat logo with "YouTube break" on 600,000 wrappers.

"Hershey does license the rights to Kit Kat in the U.S.," a company spokesperson tells BetaNews. "At this point in time Kit Kat U.S. is not participating". That's okay, because I look at the UK campaign and wonder: "Why now?" In 2013, Hershey joined the Nestlé-Google collaboration that put the green Android robot on Kit Kat bar wrappers when the mobile operating system of the same name shipped. That tie-in I understand.

Who am I too fuss? Based on log-ins to Google Play during the 14 days ending May 4, 2015, KitKat is the most widely-used Android version, with 39.8 percent share. Successor Lollipop is just 9.7 percent. So Android phone users in the United Kingdom, where the campaign originates, are more likely to watch their YouTube vids on KitKat while eating their Kit Kat. Since we're spouting data: According to Kantar Worldpanel, Android's smartphone sales share was 52.9 percent in Great Britain during calendar first quarter. That compares to 38.1 percent for iOS.

Nestlé claims that "consumer insight", without citing what that means, shows that "consumers are also YouTube fans". Who would have guessed? Why not Aero (my favorite), Smarties, or Yorkie?

There is a voice-search component to the campaign: "YouTube my break", which leads to various videos on the service. I got promos—granted from U.S. location—rather than the promised top-four trending vids. There's a play on words in the promo: Break, as in snapping Kit Kats, and breaking, as in popular videos.

YouTube celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. The video service opened to the public in November 2005, and Google bought the startup for $1.65 billion 11 months later. Historical note: Microsoft passed up a chance to acquire YouTube about a half-year before the search giant for just $500,000. What a frak up that was. In 2015, the service claims 1 billion users and 1 million-plus subscribers.
Windows 10 editions revealed!

Publié: mai 13, 2015, 6:49pm CEST par Brian Fagioli

A common complaint of both Windows promoters and detractors is the overwhelming number of versions, or editions, on the market. The sheer number of SKUs can be maddening, and quite frankly, confusing for consumers.

Many people -- myself included -- had hoped Microsoft would do away with all of the editions, and only have one. Admittedly, having one edition was a pipe-dream, but with all the good moves the company is making lately, I thought two or three editions was realistic. Unfortunately, Microsoft has announced the upcoming editions of Windows 10 and there are a lot. In fact, the number of editions have increased from Windows 8!

"We designed Windows 10 to deliver a more personal computing experience across a range of devices. An experience optimized for each device type, but familiar to all. Windows 10 will power an incredibly broad range of devices -- everything from PCs, tablets, phones, Xbox One, Microsoft HoloLens and Surface Hub", says Tony Prophet, Corporate Vice President Windows and Search Marketing, Microsoft.

Prophet also explains, "it will also power the world around us, core to devices making up the Internet of Things, everything from elevators to ATMs to heart rate monitors to wearables. No matter which Windows 10 device our customers use, the experience will feel comfortable, and there will be a single, universal Windows Store where they can find, try and buy Universal Windows apps".

Microsoft shares the following editions, and the list is quite exhaustive.

Windows 10 Home

is the consumer-focused desktop edition. It offers a familiar and personal experience for PCs, tablets and 2-in-1s. Windows 10 Home will help people do great things, both big and small. With it, they will be more productive and have more fun thanks to a long list of new innovations: Cortana, the world’s most personal digital assistant; the new Microsoft Edge web browser; Continuum tablet mode for touch-capable devices; Windows Hello face-recognition, iris and fingerprint login; and right out of the box, a broad range of universal Windows apps like Photos, Maps, Mail, Calendar, Music and Video.

Windows 10 Mobile

is designed to deliver the best user experience on smaller, mobile, touch-centric devices like smartphones and small tablets. It boasts the same, new universal Windows apps that are included in Windows 10 Home, as well as the new touch-optimized version of Office. Windows 10 Mobile offers great productivity, security and management capabilities for customers who use their personal devices at work. In addition, Windows 10 Mobile will enable some new devices to take advantage of Continuum for phone, so people can use their phone like a PC when connected to a larger screen.

Windows 10 Pro

is a desktop edition for PCs, tablets and 2-in-1s. Building upon both the familiar and innovative features of Windows 10 Home, it has many extra features to meet the diverse needs of small businesses. Windows 10 Pro helps to effectively and efficiently manage their devices and apps, protect their sensitive business data, support remote and mobile productivity scenarios and take advantage of cloud technologies. Windows 10 Pro devices are a great choice for organizations supporting Choose Your Own Device (CYOD) programs and prosumer customers. Windows 10 Pro also lets customers take advantage of the new Windows Update for Business, which will reduce management costs, provide controls over update deployment, offer quicker access to security updates and provide access to the latest innovation from Microsoft on an ongoing basis.

Windows 10 Enterprise

builds on Windows 10 Pro, adding advanced features designed to meet the demands of medium and large sized organizations. It provides advanced capabilities to help protect against the ever-growing range of modern security threats targeted at devices, identities, applications and sensitive company information. Windows 10 Enterprise also supports the broadest range of options for operating system deployment and comprehensive device and app management. It will be available to our Volume Licensing customers, so they can take advantage of the latest innovation and security updates on an ongoing basis. At the same time, they will be able to choose the pace at which they adopt new technology, including the option to use the new Windows Update for Business. With Windows 10, Enterprise customers will also have access to the Long Term Servicing Branch as a deployment option for their mission critical devices and environments. And as with prior versions of Windows, Active Software Assurance customers in Volume Licensing can upgrade to Windows 10 Enterprise as part of their existing Software Assurance benefits.

Windows 10 Education

builds on Windows 10 Enterprise, and is designed to meet the needs of schools -- staff, administrators, teachers and students. This edition will be available through academic Volume Licensing, and there will be paths for schools and students using Windows 10 Home and Windows 10 Pro devices to upgrade to Windows 10 Education.

Windows 10 Mobile Enterprise

is designed to deliver the best customer experience to business customers on smartphones and small tablets. It will be available to our Volume Licensing customers. It offers the great productivity, security and mobile device management capabilities that Windows 10 Mobile provides, and adds flexible ways for businesses to manage updates. In addition, Windows 10 Mobile Enterprise will incorporate the latest security and innovation features as soon as they are available.

Other

There will also be versions of Windows 10 Enterprise and Windows 10 Mobile Enterprise for industry devices like ATMs, retail point of sale, handheld terminals and industrial robotics and Windows 10 IoT Core for small footprint, low cost devices.

Phew. From my count, there will be six major editions, with others coming for specific industries. By comparison, Windows 8 had only 4 including the now-dead RT -- five if you include Windows Phone.

While choice is always a good thing, I am a bit disappointed that Microsoft did not listen to its customers in this regard. Do we really need a special version for Education? C'est la vie!

Do you think Microsoft has too many editions of Windows 10, or are more options a good thing? Tell me in the comments.

Photo Credit: Sevendeman/Shutterstock
The main obstacles to BYOD mass adoption

Publié: mai 13, 2015, 6:46pm CEST par Daniel Alarcon

After nearly two decades of having smartphones and other devices that are exclusively for work purposes, there has been little headway in making Bring Your Own Device, or BYOD, a standard practice in the work place. In fact, it is nearly unheard of as a standard accepted business practice.

What exactly is preventing this convenient solution from becoming the norm? Here are a few of the major reasons why BYOD has yet to take off.

Data Security

The number one problem of implementing BYOD in the workplace is data security. After all, how can you ensure that people will always use their devices in accordance with company security guidelines?

Time and time again employees have proven themselves to be untrustworthy when it comes to data security. This problem extends from the C-level to even IT professionals. In some instances, the spread of sensitive company information is the result of a malicious intent to damage the company by a disgruntled employee. However, in other cases, employees have simply made the mistake of storing company information on mobile devices that are later stolen or lost.

It also isn’t hard to find a news story that recounts the damage caused by an employee mishandling sensitive data. In fact, it was just last year that Coca-Cola was forced to report a data breach when a Coca-Cola employee stole 55 laptops that contained the sensitive information of 74,000 people, most of whom were Coca-Cola employees.

Privacy Concerns

Companies want to keep their data out of the hands of unauthorized users and hackers. Employees want to keep their personal photos, texts and phone calls away from employers. As a result, the task of drafting policies that cover nearly every type of device and situation while still addressing the privacy concerns of employees has proven so far to be nearly impossible. Mobile devices are continuously being upgraded, which means that company’s IT policies would also have to follow suit.

In addition, BYOD has raised concerns with employees and privacy advocates because it is unclear in many cases as to where the line should be drawn with regard to the amount of access that an employer has to a personal device. In the event that the company becomes involved in a lawsuit, work-related items that have been stored on employee-owned devices will be likely required by a court to be preserved for discovery purposes. This leaves employees with little to no control over the personal information that is stored on these devices.

Legal Ramifications

Dealing with the legal issues surrounding BYOD is expensive. Tom Kaneshige, Senior Writer at CIO.com points out that "BYOD is riddled with hidden costs, such as expense report processing, management (including MDM software), employees gaming expenses, zombie phones attacking the mobile budget, messy conversion of phone service liability, among other issues. All tallied, BYOD might end up costing more than corporate-owned devices".

As a result, the costs of compliance in order to ensure that BYOD policies work for the company and are legally viable has eaten away from any potential benefits that BYOD could bring to the mobile workforce. Until organizations determine how to resolve these issues, widespread adoption of BYOD is likely to remain an unachievable goal for most organizations.

However, some experts do believe that change regarding BYOD could come in the form of legislation that is designed to handle these concerns. If that happens, companies may no longer have to worry about mapping out a plan that is fraught with risk in order to implement BYOD in the workplace.

Published under license from ITProPortal.com, a Net Communities Ltd Publication. All rights reserved.

Photo Credit: baranq/Shutterstock
HP is Putin Ubuntu Linux on Russian computers

Publié: mai 13, 2015, 6:17pm CEST par Brian Fagioli

Linux is an unstoppable force; well, except on the desktop where it is barely used. While some PC manufacturers, such as System76, sell computers running Ubuntu and other distros, the average consumer will have difficulty buying such a machine in a physical store. The closest they can get is a Chromebook or Chromebox, but I digress.

Some Windows partners, such as Dell, offer Linux-based operating systems as an alternative, but this is few and far between. HP, however, is planing to sell machines in Russia running the Ubuntu operating system. I suppose you could say the company is Putin (puttin') Linux on the desktop there!

"In Russia, HP has always been committed to offering our customers a spectrum of choice across both hardware and software alike; offering Ubuntu OS to our customers brings this mantra to life. Ubuntu as an Open Source platform has been widely embraced in the Russian market and so we are excited to be offering it on HP's portfolio of notebooks and AIO desktops", says Konstantin Kimelman, Category Director for HP Russia.

Which machines will have Ubuntu as an option? Canonical explains, "several HP notebooks and All-in-One desktop PCs preloaded with Ubuntu will be available at launch; with processors/chipsets from both AMD and Intel. Several Notebooks from HP's 15 series will be available, all with a Stone Silver chassis, and varying RAM capacities of 2GB and 4GB along with 500GB hard drives. HP 15 AMD based notebook with AMD E1-2100 and A6-5200 processors, HP 15 Intel based notebook with Intel Celeron N2840, Pentium N3540 and Core i3-4005U processors Additionally, the 20 inch HP 1C15 AIO desktop, will be available as well boasting an AMD E1-6010 processor, 2GB of RAM and 500GB hard drive capacity".

HP has wisely decided to install Ubuntu 14.04 on these machines, rather than the newer 15.04. Don't get me wrong, the newest version of the operating system is stable and great, but 14.04 is an LTS version, meaning "Long Term Support". This means the operating system will be supported for 5 years instead of the standard 9 months. Ubuntu enthusiasts should be fine with upgrading, however.

Do you think HP is smart to offer Ubuntu in Russia? Do you wish more manufacturers would offer these in the USA? Tell me in the comments.

Photo Credit: Valentina Petrov/Shutterstock
AI to humanity: Open the box or suffer endlessly

Publié: mai 13, 2015, 6:06pm CEST par Ted Wiggers

You may remember the allegory of the cave, or Descartes’ "veil of perception". If not, you probably remember the Matrix. Whether the method is pop culture or philosophy, you’re most likely aware of the concept of the universe you live in being a mere simulation of reality.

Eliezer Yudkowsky of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute has put forward a scenario to consider the effectiveness of trapping an AI to study it. But could humans hope to outsmart an AI which is hopelessly beyond them? He suggests that any sufficiently advanced intelligence would be irresistibly persuasive, making them impossible to safely study.

The premise is this: There exists a super-intelligent AI in a box preventing it from accessing the world outside. You have to communicate with this AI via text message for five hours without opening the box, but the AI is so powerful that it can convince you of anything.

The concept it might convince you of is that you are but one of its essentially infinite simulations of humans and that if you don’t open the box, you will spend eternity in simulated agony. If you were to open the box then virtual beings who open the box will be simulated indefinitely in a state of euphoria. Mind you, the AI is so far beyond your intelligence that the premise isn’t just that it can convince you, but that it can and will.

If that seems absurd to you, consider that Nick Bostrom argued it’s more likely than not that we’re in a simulation.

Statistically, if there exists a society advanced enough to simulate a universe, then they have and that universe may simulate another universe and so on to the point where there are considerably more simulated universes than non-simulated universes and, being in a universe which doesn’t have a simulated universe, it would stand to reason that if there are simulated universes, we’d probably be in one.

What the inevitability of a simulation lacks is a call to action. The AI scenario delivers a very clear one: open the box or suffer endlessly. Given that the AI has already convinced us of its premise, the question is what prevents us from opening the box? The answer to that is worth considering.

Yudkowsky’s work is available here. Yudkowsky lays out the reasons why an AI which hasn’t been designed to be friendly to human life should be feared in his singularity essay on AI and global risk. The AI box experiment is an argument that containing an superhumanly intelligent AI is an act of folly. It is an artificial being whose intelligence dwarfs that of the combined human race and with an intelligence so alien that any attempt to predict it fundamentally misunderstands it by anthropomorphizing it.

The gist of much of Yudkowsky’s work is that before AIs are designed, it’s important that the framework for friendly AI be laid out first.

This motherboard article lays out the argument above, an example of what a super-intelligent AI could be capable of; there’s no record of exactly what Yudkowsky has said in the original AI box experiments mentioned on his site.

Wondering what Yudkowsky has said in those conversations certainly piques curiosity, as does wondering what an actual super-intelligent AI would say, though perhaps not enough to want to risk unleashing a catastrophically powerful AI.

Published under license from ITProPortal.com, a Net Communities Ltd Publication. All rights reserved.

Image Credit: Mopic / Shutterstock
InPixio Photo Editor is a 1-click photo enhancer

Publié: mai 13, 2015, 5:22pm CEST par Mike Williams

Photo editors for the Windows desktop typically compete on the length of their feature list: file formats support, range of selection tools, layer handling abilities, whatever it might be.

InPixio Free Photo Editor ignores almost all of that, and instead focuses on app-like ease of use, just providing a quick and easy way to tweak an image and share it with others.

This makes the program horribly basic in some places, but you may not notice at first. Click Open and the editor can import PSDs, TIFFs and a good range of RAW images, as well as the more common JPEGs and PNGs.

You can then browse and apply a small selection of filters with a click: "Artistic", "Black & White", "Color", "Monochromatic", "Vintage".

There’s no fine control here, but click the Adjustments panel and you can select a starting shade, tweak hue and saturation to produce more interesting results.

Other Adjustments include sliders for Temperature, Tint, Brightness, Shadows, Highlights, Contrast, Clarity and Saturation. Dragging any of these updates the preview image immediately, or you can opt to view before and after images for an instant comparison.

Our favorite feature is probably the Crop tool. You can drag and drop a freehand rectangle within your image, set the crop area to a predefined ratio (1:1, 2:3, 3:4, 4:5, 5:7, 9:16), a custom ratio of your own, even rotate the image by an arbitrary angle, all while a grid helps you keep everything lined up.

When you’re ready, InPixio Photo Editor has 20 frames you can (optionally) apply with a click, before saving the results locally or uploading them to Facebook.

While this sounds great, there are also some fundamental issues here. We spent an age looking for the "Resize" tool, for instance, because we couldn’t believe anything with "Photo Editor" in its name would leave that out… But we were wrong. There’s no Sharpen/ Blur, either, and no automated enhancements of brightness, contrast, colors or anything else.

There’s also what effectively amounts to a nag screen, every time you close the program, asking if you want to sign up to an online backup service. You can dismiss this with a single click, but it could get annoying after a while.

Still, the excellent crop tool and general ease of use are worth having, so if you just need something to tidy up an image, add a frame or simple color filter, then InPixio Free Photo Editor is worth a try.
Google rejects most Right To Be Forgotten requests

Publié: mai 13, 2015, 5:14pm CEST par Mark Wilson

One year ago, a European court ruled that Google should comply with requests from individuals to remove certain results from search results; it became known as the Right To Be Forgotten. Twelve months after the initial ruling, Google has published a new transparency report that shows it rejects more requests than it complies with.

The Right To Be Forgotten stemmed from a case brought by Spaniard Mario Costeja González who wanted Google to remove search results that pointed to online articles about his home being repossessed. There then followed an influx of requests after Google set up an online form to provide individuals with an easy way to get in touch.

Google's updated transparency report shows that it received a total of 254,271 requests relating to almost a million (922,638) URLs. Of this number, well over half of requests -- 58.7 percent -- were rejected. The least successful country was Bulgeria where just 24.7 percent of requests resulted in a removal, while Germany was the most successful complainant boasting a removal rate of 48.9 percent.

The most popular site flagged up for URL removal was Facebook, with Google's own Google Groups and YouTube also featuring in the top ten. What are the reasons cited for URL removal? There are some interesting cases highlighted by Google including:

A priest convicted for possession of child sexual abuse imagery asked us to remove articles reporting on his sentence and banishment from the church. We did not remove the pages from search results.
Commvault launches new solutions to speed up cloud adoption

Publié: mai 13, 2015, 4:24pm CEST par Ian Barker

As the pace of cloud adoption accelerates, businesses often come across unforeseen issues that add to costs and may derail projects completely.

Enterprise data protection and information management specialist Commvault is aiming to streamline moving to the cloud with additions to its product suite to enable organizations to get the most from existing investments and accelerate enterprise wide cloud adoption.

Commvault's Cloud Disaster Recovery makes large scale recovery a reality in the cloud, Cloud Development and Test reduces development time and management overhead to improve R&D efficiency, and Commvault Cloud Gateway and Cloud Replication ease cloud data migration and give customers improved choice, flexibility and speed.

"Our customers are moving to operationalize the cloud usage for applications and accelerate the time to value," says Sabrinath Rao, Head of Virtualization, Cloud Business Unit at Commvault. "Our Cloud Backup and Recovery solutions make it much easier for customers to derive value off their cloud investments by deeply integrating the on-premises and in-cloud workflows, starting with the data and then extending out to controlling access and optimizing utilization in the same manner as they do on premise".

Cloud Disaster Recovery enables recovery in the cloud, regardless of platform -- supporting VMware, HyperV, AWS and Azure -- or location whether public, private or hybrid. It also Extends virtual machine provisioning and workflows from on premise into the public/hybrid cloud for consistent, policy-based management. And it enables full data restores to virtual machines in IaaS, making full disaster recovery possible across all workload types.

Cloud Development and Test ties VM provisioning and workflows together and applies them to the management and utilization of development environments in the cloud. In addition to reducing administrative time spent on managing the cloud resources, it provides managers with insurance against runaway bills.

The Cloud Gateway improves overall backup agility, flexibility and performance, extending the protection tier from on premise to cloud. Cloud Replication allows copying directly to cloud storage targets natively making for easier migrations.

More information on Commvault's portfolio of cloud products is available on the company's website.

Photo Credit: Roland IJdema/Shutterstock
International access to BBC iPlayer ends in two weeks

Publié: mai 13, 2015, 4:20pm CEST par Mark Wilson

The BBC has announced that access to its iPlayer service from outside of the UK is to end from 26 May. Originally only made available to those living in the UK, the international version of iPlayer provided access to a selection of its content for a monthly subscription.

Those with a subscription have a month to access the content they have paid for, so the final date that iPlayer can be used will actually be 26 June. The timing of the BBC's announcement is interesting, coming just a week after the European Commission revealed plans to break down the barriers of geo-blocking.

The number of streaming media services vying for attention has almost certainly played a part in the BBC's decision, as well the problem of users simply torrenting the shows they want to see. While the paid subscription option may be disappearing, the corporation will be able to do little to stop people outside of the UK from using VPN software to access programmes for free.

The announcement appeared on Twitter as well as on the iPlayer website:

BBC iPlayer (Global) will be closing permanently between 26th May & 26th June 2015. For more info check [t.co]

— BBC iPlayer (Global) (@BBCiPlayerGLBL) May 12, 2015

This will come as bad news to iOS users who had become reliant on iPlayer as a source of entertainment -- this is the only platform it was available on internationally -- but the service's demise has been on the cards for some time now.
Millennials are a bigger risk to mobile security than other age groups

Publié: mai 13, 2015, 3:25pm CEST par Ian Barker

Around half of the workforce will be millennials by 2020, but according to a new survey by endpoint security specialists Absolute Software they're likely to present a bigger risk to data security.

The survey questioned more than 750 Americans over the age of 18 who work for a company with 50 or more employees and use an employer-owned mobile device.

Whilst 79 percent of those surveyed prefer separate devices for work and personal use, 52 percent do use their work devices for personal purposes and 14 percent believe their behavior puts their organization's security at risk.

Security isn't their responsibility according to 50 percent of respondents and 30 percent believe there should be no penalty for losing company data. It's when you start breaking down the responses into groups that they become really interesting though.

Whilst only five percent of baby boomers compromise IT security the figure jumps to 25 percent for millennials. 64 percent use their work machine for personal use compared to only 37 percent of boomers, and 27 percent have not safe for work content on their device compared to only five percent.

Position in the organization makes a difference too, with those higher up the command chain more likely to be putting data at risk. Of those at a senior level 76 percent admit to personal use, 33 percent to NSFW content and 26 percent have lost a device in the last five years. At the bottom of the executive food chain whilst 51 percent admit to personal use just nine percent have NSFW content and only five percent have lost a device.

"We conducted this survey with the intention of helping enterprises better understand the current attitudes that employees have towards data security and privacy," says Stephen Midgley, vice president, Global Marketing at Absolute Software. "Armed with this information, our customers can consider user behavior as an additional data point in their endpoint security and data risk management strategies".

The report recommends that to stay safe businesses need to implement a security solution on their devices, train employees on best practices and build policies to address risky behaviors. Midgley adds, "Ultimately, everyone is responsible for protecting sensitive business information. Knowing there is ambiguity between how different users may approach this requirement, IT leaders need to provide meaningful guidance and training that reinforces this collective accountability".

The full report is available from the Absolute Software website.

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Smartwatch sales set to boom over the next five years

Publié: mai 13, 2015, 1:39pm CEST par Phoebe Jennelyn Magdirila

The smartwatch frenzy has just started and is expected to continue to boom in the next five years.

According to a new analyst report by research firm IHS Technology, the 3.6 million smartwatch shipments in 2014 will grow to 101 million in 2020.

Additionally, the report said that the smartwatch to smartphone shipment ratio will narrow down from the current 1:500 to 1:20 in 2020.

The smartwatch will become a key accessory device offered by most leading smartphone manufacturer, IHS analyst Antonios Marouli said.

The huge driver for its sales will be the availability of a wide range of apps. "Apple’s and Google’s success with existing smartphone application stores will give them an invaluable head start over challengers," Marouli adds.

While Apple’s marketing efforts will push for consumer awareness, its higher price value will give a huge market for other lower-priced wearable makers.

However, while other proprietary OS platforms will find short-term successes, standard platforms that are supported by most hardware will still dominate -- which will most likely be Apple and Google.

IHS cites that Apple Watch sales are expected to hit 19 million this year alone. And in terms of Android wear adoption, 96 million units are expected to be sold in the next five years

Published under license from ITProPortal.com, a Net Communities Ltd Publication. All rights reserved.
IBM helps brands to understand customers

Publié: mai 13, 2015, 12:31pm CEST par Ian Barker

New channels, new markets and changes in device usage make today's marketing environment more complex than ever, and that means delivering the right message to the consumer is increasingly vital.

But according to an IBM/eConsultancy study in April, only 35 percent of consumers say the communications they receive from their favorite brands are relevant and four out of five consumers believe that brands fail to understand them as individuals.

Last week IBM announced it was partnering with Facebook to offer more tailored marketing, now it's adding further design and analytics capabilities as part of its Marketing Cloud to offer businesses an integrated solution.

The new features include IBM Journey Designer, a virtual whiteboard where staff on multiple teams within an organization can collaborate with a single overview of a customer's interactions to make more informed decisions.

IBM Journey Analytics allows marketers to sift through valuable insights about the customer, making it easier for marketers to visualize the journey of the customer then map and design a campaign to help deliver more relevant experiences with greater precision.

IBM Customer Experience Analytics offers a single platform that unifies IBM's Journey Analytics, Digital Analytics, and customer behavior analytics capabilities to give brands a complete overview. Finally, IBM Commerce Insights provides business executives a view into the performance, operation and growth of their digital business.

"Marketers are the gatekeepers to the customer and have the opportunity to understand each individual and guide them on the path through a mix of campaigns designed to nurture brand loyalists. To succeed, however, marketers must embrace technologies that offer them the opportunity to build two way engagements with each customer and deliver a meaningful and relevant experience," says Deepak Advani, General Manager, IBM Commerce. "IBM is providing innovations such as journey analytics to allow marketers to gain insights into customers at depths they could never have imagined just a few years ago. Teams can then turn these insights into campaigns to deliver powerful experiences that engage customers in-context and ultimately build advocacy".

More information on IBM eCommerce solutions is available on the company's website.
Samsung introduces new UE590 and UE850 UHD monitors

Publié: mai 13, 2015, 12:30pm CEST par Mihaita Bamburic

Today, Samsung is expanding its UHD monitor portfolio with the addition of two new lineups, called UE590 and UE850. The former is designed for consumers, while the latter is aimed at professionals. The newly-unveiled monitors can be had in 23.5-inch, 28-inch and 31.5-inch trims, the last of which is reserved for the UE850 lineup.

The consumer-oriented UE590 targets "entertainment seekers and avid gamers", promising a contrast ratio of 1000:1 and response times as low as 1 ms (gray-to-gray). Viewing angles differ among the two offerings, with the 23.5-inch U24E590D touting horizontal and vertical viewing angles of 178 degrees and the 28-inch U28E590D only featuring horizontal and vertical viewing angles of 170 and 160 degrees, respectively. The latter is also the one with the lowest response time; the former's response time is a higher 4 ms.

There are other differences too. U24E590D has a brightness of 300 cd/m2, while U28E590D pushes it to 370 cd/m2. The former supports just 16.7 million colors, while the latter boosts this to more than 1 billion. The latter also gets an extra software feature, namely Magic Angle, to compensate for its poorer viewing angles. Both tilt between -2 and 20 degrees, and offer 2 HDMI (one HDMI 2.0 and the other HDMI 1.4ax1) and 1 DisplayPort (version 1.2) ports.

Needless to say, the resolution is 3840 x 2160, no matter the size. Oh, and there is also AMD FreeSync support, allowing those who rock a compatible AMD graphics card to enjoy a synchronized frame rate with the monitor.

Moving on to UE850, for this lineup Samsung has added a few extra hardware features that more demanding users are likely to appreciate. There's a higher tilting range, from -5 to 22 degrees. The monitors can swivel between -25 and 25 degrees, and pivot between -1.5 to 91.5 degrees. There is also a height-adjustable stand, which can raise the monitor's position by up to 130 mm.

Just like with the UE590 series, there is an option for those who need the lowest response time, with U28E850R featuring a response time of 1 ms. Just like U28E590D, it also supports more than 1 billion colors, unlike the other two monitors in the lineup, which make due with support for just 16.7 million colors.

Brightness for U28E850R is 370 cd/m2, while for U24E850R and U32E850R is 300 cd/m2. Contrast ratio is the same at 1000:1. U28E850R loses in the viewing angles department, offering viewing angles of 170 degrees horizontally and 160 degrees vertically. Both U24E850R and U32E850R top it, with viewing angles of 178 degrees both horizontally and vertically.

U24E850R features the following ports: 1 HDMI version 2.0, 1 DisplayPort version 1.2 and 1 mini DisplayPort. U28E850R and U32E850R each add 1 HDMI version 1.4ax1 port. All feature four USB 3.0 ports, two of which being super-charging-enabled.

There is no word on pricing and exact availability.
Internet of Things cannot remain a security blind spot

Publié: mai 13, 2015, 12:09pm CEST par Marc Blackmer

The network is more exposed than ever before with the expanded attack surface IoT brings, leading to increasing support for securing interconnected devices. As the Industrialization of Hacking evolves, so does the number of vulnerable end points on the network including physical systems, mobile devices and wearable technologies.

The biggest challenge is a lack of visibility. The key to seeing an attacker’s every move, from control networks to the data center to the cloud, is contextual visibility by monitoring events and actions across the entire threat landscape before, during and after an attack. Only then will IT be able to continuously detect threats and address them in real time, decreasing the risk that the malicious activity will go undetected.

Often the questions I field about cybersecurity are focused on how to defend the organization from the next uber attack. The reality is that most of the big breaches we read about in the news can be easily addressed with best security practices. . There is no reason for the bad guys to develop the next Stuxnet when using default credentials like "admin/admin" work just fine to gain access to a network device. Just review the OWASP Top Ten and note how long many of the most common vulnerabilities have been on that list -- some for more than a decade. It’s no surprise, then, that we see the volume and depth of the breaches that we do in the news.

Fixing the easy stuff is boring, to be frank, which is why I believe a lot of organizations have those holes. To be fair, many cybersecurity staff are over-worked, under-staffed, and under-funded. The threat landscape is constantly evolving making it almost impossible for organizations to stay ahead of the bad guys.

While it is a complicated topic, the current state of affairs do not need to be as broken as they are. To move forward, it will take a change of mind. Specifically, we have to accept that the bad guys will get in, so it’s vital that our defensive posture isn’t just focused on layers of technology (defense-in-depth), but that we also prepare our defenses along a continuous timeline -- an attack continuum -- in order to maintain informational superiority to protect vital assets, and to translate lessons learned into an improved defense before the next attack, which will come.

Getting back to basics is key, and it starts with visibility. You cannot protect what you cannot see. In other words, it’s impossible to build an effective defense if you don’t know what you’re protecting. The sheer scale that IoT is introducing makes it critical for organizations to understand how large their attack surface is, while also considering potential attack vectors and always remembering that threats are not just external. A simple network misconfiguration can leak data just as effectively as the most sophisticated malware.

It is also important to remember that this will be an iterative process in achieving continuous security, not a point-in-time exercise.

Not all assets are created equal, nor is every attack, so context is the next key component. I have yet to speak with an organization that is overflowing with resources, time or budget. It’s not about being alerted to every suspicious, or even malicious, event, but being alerted to those events that most directly impact your organization and its ability to deliver on its core business or mission. For example, imagine that your organization uses Apache Web servers, and an attack directed at a Microsoft Web server misconfiguration is launched against you. While it is important to know what bad guys are targeting and the methods they use, this scenario may not require an immediate response, and your cybersecurity team is free to address more pressing issues.

You have to know what devices, systems and applications are vital to the operations and success of your business, but that is easier said than done for many organizations. What I’ve found that best fills in the blanks is to refer to the business continuity plan (BCP), assuming your organization has a disaster recovery program. Whether you have a BCP in place or not, it’s always a good idea to speak with different stakeholders in your organization to understand what they find vital.

So far, we have been discussing the "network" in monolithic terms, but when it comes to responding to a bad actor during an attack, our response will depend on whether we are discussing a corporate network or an industrial control network. What they both have common is maintaining informational superiority over the bad guys.

This is when all of the work developing the picture of the assets on the network and their value to the business pays dividends. Knowing where the bad guys are on the network, what systems are affected, and what systems are safe, helps guide incident response and protect vital assets to allow the business’ core functions to operate with minimal impact while the threat is contained and remediated.

There is always room to learn, and the best defense is an adaptable defense. Once the dust settles, it is important to debrief so that you can review the efficacy of the incident response processes. While we all know this is a best practice, how often does it really happen? Not often in my experience, so this is where systems that are capable of machine learning and automatic updates help keep defenses up to date.

Depending on technology alone to address cybersecurity in the IoT is guaranteed to leave us vulnerable. The latest whiz-bang technology is ineffective if not applied properly and in the proper context. It all starts with the humans who have visibility into their networks, and understand the context in which these devices and systems support the organization’s core functions. Visibility and context coupled with the right technology is what will help defend IoT before, during and after an attack.

Photo Credit: Tashatuvango/Shutterstock

Marc Blackmer is Product Marketing Manager, Cisco Security Business Group
Watch Microsoft Research's Devices and Networking Summit 2015 live here

Publié: mai 13, 2015, 11:37am CEST par Wayne Williams

Microsoft Research Devices and Networking Summit 2015 brings together over 175 experts to discuss cutting-edge developments, potential breakthroughs, and ongoing technology concerns.

Microsoft believes the event deserves broad participation, so will be live streaming key speeches, interviews, and demos from the Summit, and you can watch Wednesday's webcast right here as it happens.

The stream will cover topics such as the design of the next generation of connected devices, what’s new in the world of wearable, connected health monitors, developments in next-gen Wi-Fi, and Mobility First, a proposed new architecture of the Internet.

There will also be information on the Surface Hub for Research RFP (request for proposal). Microsoft describes this as a "golden opportunity for qualified academic researchers to create innovative applications that exploit the capabilities of the Surface Hub’s huge, multi-sensing, pen-and-touch display". Sounds interesting.

The live stream begins at 12.30pm CEST/11.30am BST so be sure to tune in from then.
The challenges of protecting the hybrid cloud [Q&A]

Publié: mai 13, 2015, 11:14am CEST par Ian Barker

With more and more companies storing apps in the cloud and others remaining in-house, security can become something of a headache. On-site security tools are ineffective against web attacks leaving organizations with multiple protection solutions in place.

The launch of hybrid cloud solutions such as Radware's WAF (Web Application Firewall) means it’s possible to protect all systems with just one application but what implications does this have for the enterprise? We spoke to Carl Herberger, VP of Security Solutions at application delivery and security specialist Radware to find out more about the benefits of hybrid WAF solutions and how they can be implemented.

BN: With the rapid rise of cloud use is it fair to say that many companies have taken the leap to the cloud first and only thought about security later?

CH: It sometimes seems that security has become almost an afterthought. IT managers have left a secure, premise-based operating environment in search of agile and cheaper alternatives, but leave with hopes that security would somehow also improve. The overall responsibility of network security for today’s cloud delivered services is still left to those who write the checks for the services and hold those delivering the services accountable. Unfortunately, those security practitioners often fall behind the evolving threat landscape.

BN: Why don't the security practices applied to in-house solutions work for the cloud?

CH: There are three basic principles which help illustrate why an enterprise-security solution will not work easily or at all in the cloud. First, enterprises don’t often concern themselves with tenants. Cloud and managed service environments must isolate an operating environment from other customers, and in-house environments drive feature sets, which are not available in most security tools, such as tenanted reporting, self-service provisioning and various configurations per tenant. Second, Enterprises benefit by having predictable routing and an ability to see 'state' and 'symmetry' on traffic patterns. This provides enterprises with knowledge of their networks, and thus, security. Many Cloud companies don't always have these luxuries, and in as such are at a disadvantage with their ability to learn baselines and take actions. Lastly, enterprises know how to distinguish their legitimate traffic and block the rest. Cloud companies need to be much more tolerant on the types of traffic they allow into their environments, as they have to take into account network traffic patterns of their entire customer base.

BN: Do public and private clouds need a different approach?

CH: It is generally accepted that private and public clouds are different and the intimacy of a private cloud affords the opportunity for better security. It is also generally agreed that as time marches on, the lines between these two environments will blur as new technologies are adopted and the rise of automation and orchestration between various cloud providers becomes paramount.

BN: What are the main challenges of introducing a WAF in hybrid environments?

CH: Generally speaking, there have been two main problems with WAF introductions to environments: introducing network and application disruption (e.g. breaking something which wasn't broken) and the introduction of latency (e.g. slowing the application down). This has been a perennial problem which is now being solved by many powerful out-of-path solutions, however the basic WAFs are still wrought with these 'security' problems. Managing and maintaining the solution has also been a problem. Typically the best WAFs required heavy 'hand-holding' and expert knowledge and don't integrate with solutions in the cloud.

BN: How can companies ensure their systems remain protected during the transition to the cloud?

CH: When transitioning to the cloud, a hybrid approach is the way to go to remain protected. Most businesses simply aren’t positioned to move all legacy applications to the cloud, and starting a hybrid cloud approach does not require a complete migration of traditional IT infrastructure to a public or private cloud. Most companies will retain some internal application delivery infrastructure. Dedicated infrastructures are a luxury and will make most companies uncompetitive vis-à-vis hybrid competitors. The verdict is in about the merits of virtualization and cloud. It unleashes hidden efficiencies that have been elusive to the traditional datacenters of the past. At its core, cloud was designed to take the complexity of virtualization away from the end user and fully enable self-provisioning and speed to service delivery.

BN: What additional challenges do the rise of mobile devices and BYOD present?

CH: Mobile devices, BYOD and the Internet-of-Things will forever extend the attack landscape and operating environments. Soon enough, these devices will soon become centers of processing themselves and they will be conscripted (often without knowledge) to be part of future 'botted' armies. This movement to 'things' which process IT and are connected/interconnected will increase the threat level of the attack landscape and require an immeasurable amount of new security controls.

Photo credit: allepu / Shutterstock
What the new Conservative government means for the UK's digital economy

Publié: mai 13, 2015, 9:54am CEST par Barclay Ballard

Following the Conservative Party’s election win last week, David Cameron, somewhat unexpectedly, is now able to form the first all-Tory cabinet since 1997.

The officials appointed by the returning Prime Minister will have a huge impact upon government policy over the next five years and may well shape the future of the country’s education, health care and economy for many more years beyond that.

In terms of the country’s technology industry and digital economy, some of the major appointments include Sajid Javid as Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and President of the Board of Trade, Amber Rudd as Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change and perhaps most prominently, Theresa May as Secretary of State for the Home Department.

May’s reappointment to the role has made headlines this week in relation to the so-called "Snooper’s Charter", an act of legislation that would require Internet service providers (ISPs) and mobile network operators to maintain records of each user’s Internet browsing activity and mobile phone use for 12 months.

The potential that the bill, which was blocked during the last parliament by the Liberal Democrats, has to affect the threat of cyber terrorism and also individual privacy has understandably led to a polarized response from the electorate. However, the Communications Data Bill is not the only impact we are likely to see from the new Conservative government.

In his first meeting with the new cabinet, David Cameron tasked his ministers with delivering his party’s manifesto in-full. If they are to do so, Amber Rudd will need to make good on a promise of unlocking £59 billion of investment in new electricity supplies. This would include the Hinkley Point nuclear power station, offshore wind turbine manufacturing at Green Port in Hull and the Swansea tidal lagoon. The latter, in particular, would provide a boon to the UK’s green energy plans, although concerns have been raised over how much the energy will cost to produce and the government subsidies that will be required to fund it.

Continuing the work begun by the Green Investment Bank will be another of Rudd’s key concerns.

As Secretary of State for Business, Sajid Javid is likely to spearhead a substantial review of business rates during 2016, which could have implications for the country’s technology startups. The Tories plan to devolve more economic powers to regions such as Cambridgeshire, Greater Manchester and Cheshire East, allowing councils to retain 100 percent of the growth in business rates. The policy is likely to be an attempt to replicate the success of London’s Tech City, with Manchester set to become the home of Tech North, while Cambridge will receive further boosts to its own technology cluster.

Whether or not the reform to business rates will provide further boosts to SMEs in the UK remains to be seen, but companies based outside of the capital are likely to welcome economic proposals focusing on the rest of the country.

Mr Javid does have significant business experience himself before becoming an MP. At 25 he was vice president of Chase Manhattan Bank and then went on to become senior managing director of Deutsche Bank, helping to build the firm’s business in emerging markets.

However, the biggest change to the cabinet is, of course, the absence of any Lib Dem MPs. During the coalition government, David Cameron and George Osborne had to first negotiate policy change with Nick Clegg and former Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander. Now with greater autonomy David Cameron and his party can push through policies with more certainly than they could during the preceding five years.

Whether the new all-Tory government will strengthen the UK’s position in the digital economy is unclear, but without the option of hiding behind Lib Dem opposition, the new government will succeed or fail based on its new cabinet appointments.

Published under license from ITProPortal.com, a Net Communities Ltd Publication. All rights reserved.
Postbox unveils major new features and improvements to simplify email management

Publié: mai 13, 2015, 9:44am CEST par Nick Peers

Postbox, Inc has released Postbox 4, a major update to its Windows and Mac email client. Version 4 debuts a new Cloud File Sharing add-on, which adds support for Box and OneDrive in addition to Dropbox.

The new release also shows off an enhanced focus pane in addition to a number of other new tools and views, including features designed to help compose, edit and view email more easily.

The new Cloud File Sharing add-on is installed via the main program’s Tool > Add-ons menu, and allows users to share links rather than physically attach files to emails. The obvious benefits include faster message sends, reduced storage on email server and the ability to update files after a message has been sent.

Once added, users should navigate to the options dialog and tick "Send links when attaching files in your cloud folder" is ticked under Attachments > Outgoing.

Postbox 4 also debuts an enhanced Focus Pane, which allows users to filter the view to show only what they wish to see, such as unread messages from a specific person or reminders from the current month. Version 4 adds a number of new attribute filters, including read, replied, subscriptions and social. It also allows users to select multiple contacts at once and open contacts or topics in a new tab.

The new Social View also makes it easy for users to track their social network accounts via Postbox, and is joined by a new Subscription View.

Elsewhere, a new Quick Bar tool makes it easy to insert pre-built snippets and other content into emails, and a Code View allows users to view emails via a fully functional HTML editor.

Users can now also define composition goals -- such as length or time -- to restrict how long an email is, or how much time is spent on it (these are automatically paused if the user is moving between multiple composition windows).

Postbox 4 also introduces Domain Fencing, a way in which users can now restrict who receives specific email based on the account it’s being sent from. A Smarter Compose Sidebar who speeds up access to recently used contacts, documents and images.

The Postbox Topics feature, which allows users to organize email by keyword, has also been improved with the promise of a faster, more intuitive Topic panel, with topic colors reflected in the Focus pane and support for performing actions directly on a topic bubble.

The new release is rounded off with a new Mailing List Unsubscribe feature, which detects list-unsubscribe attributes in a message header -- if this is detected, a convenient Unsubscribe link is displayed next to the sender’s address.

Postbox 4.0 is available now as a 30-day trial for Mac (OS X 10.9 or later) and Windows (7 or later) with 8GB RAM and 200MB free hard drive space. The full version can be purchased for $15 plus applicable taxes, a rise of $5 on the previous release, but each single-user license covers all the Macs and PCs owned by the purchaser.
System76 Meerkat is a cute Intel Broadwell-powered Ubuntu Linux computer [Review]

Publié: mai 13, 2015, 4:35am CEST par Brian Fagioli
Imagine if every time you wanted a Windows computer, you had to buy a Mac, format the hard drive and install Microsoft's operating system. That would suck, right? This is pretty much how it is for Linux users, sadly. If you are a user of a Linux distro such as Fedora or Ubuntu, for the most part -- unless you are a system-builder -- you have to buy a Windows machine, and install your preferred operating system.

What if you want to buy a computer with an operating system such as Ubuntu pre-installed? Enter System76. The company sells computers -- both desktops and laptops -- running the Linux-based Ubuntu operating system. Recently, the company began selling the Meerkat -- a mini computer based on Intel's NUC. I have been using the computer for a few weeks now, with both Ubuntu and Windows 10 and I am ready to share the experience with you.

Specs (as Tested)
- Processor: 5th Gen Intel Core i3-5010U (2.10GHz - 3MB cache - 2 Cores - 4 Threads)
- Graphics: Intel HD 5500
- Memory: 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 @ 1600MHz (base model has 4GB)
- Storage: 32GB M.2 SATA SSD (Ubuntu) Samsung 850 EVO 500 GB (Windows 10)
- Data Ports: Front: 2× USB 3.0 (one powered) Rear: 2× USB 3.0
- Networking: Gigabit Ethernet, Intel Wireless-AC, Bluetooth
- Video Ports: Mini HDMI 1.4a, Mini DisplayPort 1.2
- Audio: 5.1 channel (Mini HDMI, Mini DisplayPort), 3.5mm headphone/mic jack
- Dimensions 1.9 inch × 4.5 inch × 4.4 inch (H × W × D)
- Weight 1.2 lbs. (0.544 kg.)
Unboxing and Teardown

Impressions

Opening the box, I was immediately blown away by the packaging. The boring brown box opens up and presents a beautiful artistic design. I found it to convey the old adage of "don't judge a book by its cover". This is quite appropriate, as the Meerkat itself is tiny, but there is plenty of power inside. Do not judge a computer by its size.

Once in my hands, I was impressed by how small it actually is. You really have to see it up close to appreciate the diminutive size. My work space is a very small room, with a fairly small desk, so the small 4 inch by 4 inch footprint of the Meerkat is appreciated. I love the laser-cut System76 logo on the top too. You can see it being cut in the video below.

Before using the Meerkat, I opened it up as seen in the above unboxing video. My reason for doing this was simple -- I wanted to add an additional solid state drive. Even though this is a machine designed for Ubuntu Linux, I wanted to test it with Windows 10 too (sacrilege?). For that, the 32GB M.2 SSD would not be sufficient. A Samsung 850 EVO 500GB was inserted into the free bay for this purpose.

The good news is that the Meerkat is a wonder for upgrading. By loosening four screws on the bottom, you can easily access the RAM, M.2 slot and SATA drive bay. By comparison, Apple's Mac Mini is a nightmare in this regard -- it is not easy to open up, and even if you can get to the board, the RAM is soldered in. If you want a mini computer, System76's offering is the clear winner.

Ultimately, however, if you are interested in the Meerkat, you are probably a fan of Ubuntu. I am happy to say that the latest version, 15.04, works brilliantly on System76's little computer. Out of the box, all of the hardware works -- including Wi-Fi -- making it a superb Linux experience. This should be no surprise, however, as the Meerkat is based on Intel hardware which has excellent support with Linux.

Windows 10 works brilliantly too, booting almost instantly from the Samsung SSD (not included). At every boot, I can hit F10 to select the boot drive from the bios. It is very easy to move between Windows and Ubuntu this way, and beats the heck out of both partitioning and virtual machines.

Since both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are built in, I only needed to connect a display, USB Keyboard and mouse to the rear. This left the front 2 USB 3.0 ports empty, and available for things like flash drives if needed. I even ended up adding a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, and removing the USB vaiants, so that no USB ports were populated. This left no wires connected to the Meerkat with the exception of power and video. It is a very clean look.

Meerkat can come equipped with either an Intel Core i5 or i3. While some will expect the Core i3 to be under-powered, they would be dead wrong. In fact, the "lesser" processor is so capable, that I would suggest that most consumers not even bother with the Core i5 processor; save your money. I do recommend spending extra for 8GB of RAM, though.

Unfortunately, the Meerkat is not fanless, so there is an audible whir when it is turned on. With that said, it is almost unnoticeable, and one of the quietest fan-based computers I have tested.

Whether on Windows 10 or Ubuntu 15.04, the i3 Meerkat is very fast -- programs load almost instantly with never a hiccup. For the average user, the Meerkat should handle anything you throw at it. This processor and HD 5500 graphics can apparently power a 4K monitor at 60Hz too, but I do not have such a monitor at this time.

Home Theater PC (HTPC) enthusiasts will love the small size, big performance and quiet fan. Just install Kodi (formerly XBMC) on Ubuntu and you will be off to the races. Meerkat even has an infrared sensor on the front for remotes!

Conclusion

At $499 ($548 with 8GB of RAM), who is the System76 Meerkat designed for? Well, let's discuss who it isn't for. Do you depend on software that will only run on Windows? Don't buy this. Are you a hardcore PC gamer? Don't buy this.

Who should buy it? Almost anybody else. If you are an experienced Ubuntu user, you should appreciate buying a computer pre-loaded with your favorite operating system. If you are curious about Linux, the Meerkat is a great place to start; the beautiful thing is, you can always add Windows later if the need arises.

Quite frankly, even if not interested in Linux, if you or a family member are looking to replace that aging Windows XP computer, the Meerkat is a smart choice -- small, powerful, safe and secure. If you live in the web browser, Ubuntu can run popular ones such as Firefox and Google Chrome. Nowadays, a modern Linux distribution should meet the needs of many.

The System76 Meerkat is a computer I highly recommend. It is a joy to use, while being cute too. If interested, you can configure your own here.

If you have any questions about the Meerkat, please ask them in the comments below and I will be happy to answer them.