Gregarius » éléments par Anthony Spadafora

éléments par Anthony Spadafora

Amazon announces Business Prime Shipping service

Publié: octobre 27, 2017, 2:41am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Amazon Business users will soon be able to take advantage of free two-day shipping in a similar way to how Prime customers do to order a wide range of products right to their office. In 2015, the online retailer launched its B2B marketplace, Amazon Business, that included a number of business-specific perks such as purchasing analytics, bulk pricing and free-two day shipping on orders over $49. In just its first year alone, the program raked in over $1 billion in sales and now Amazon is looking to expand on that success by offering annual memberships in the US and Germany that provide… [Continue Reading]

Arm announces Internet of Things security platform

Publié: octobre 26, 2017, 1:43pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

As the adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) and other connected devices increases and is projected to reach over 50 billion by 2020, Arm has unveiled a new systems architecture aimed at securing and protecting these devices from being exploited by cyber attackers. The British semiconductor firm unveiled its new Platform Security Architecture (PSA) which is designed to serve as a common industry framework for developers and hardware manufacturers to increase the security of devices built on its system-on-a-chip (SoC) Cortex processors. By 2021, Arm expects to have shipped around 200 billion chips and by adding PSA the company hopes to… [Continue Reading]

Encryption blocks the FBI from accessing 7,000 devices

Publié: octobre 25, 2017, 7:44pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

The ongoing debate between law enforcement agencies and device manufacturers over customers' digital privacy was a major point of discussion during the San Bernardino terrorist attack in 2016 and now the FBI has revealed that it was unable to access almost 7,000 devices because of encryption in this year alone. At the International Association of Chiefs of Police conference in Philadelphia, FBI Director Christopher Wray brought up the issue in a speech to highlight how law enforcement agencies are still at a loss as to how to access the data on mobile phones protected with encryption. Wray shed further light on how… [Continue Reading]

Google defaults to prompts for two-step authentication

Publié: octobre 24, 2017, 1:48pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Text messages are often used as a means of implementing two-factor authentication on websites and in apps, but now Google is actively pitching its own alternative, known as Google prompt, to customers. Traditionally users would receive a one-time code on their mobile device contained within a text message which they would have to enter to gain access. With Google's solution though, they will receive a prompt asking if they are trying to sign in. Users trying to sign in will gain access while those not expecting the login prompt will be denied. Google first started to promote prompts within G-Suite during… [Continue Reading]

Investment in UK fintech startups exceeds $1 billion

Publié: octobre 20, 2017, 11:21pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Despite growing concerns over the impact that Brexit might have on fintech startups in the UK, new figures have revealed that the sector has seen record investment throughout the year so far. According to data from London and Partners and Pitchbook, over $1 billion has already been invested in UK fintech by venture capitalists which is more than double that of the same last year. In 2015, $1.16 billion was invested in the sector and this show of confidence helped establish London as Europe's fintech capital. However, this year could see investment in UK fintech reach over $2 billion for the first time after… [Continue Reading]

Qualcomm wants to ban iPhone sales in China

Publié: octobre 17, 2017, 4:44pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

In an effort to continue to charge Apple for the use of its patents in mainland China, Qualcomm has filed lawsuits against the company with the end goal of stopping the production and sale of iPhones in China. The suits were filed by the mobile chip manufacturer in an intellectual property court in Beijing. Qualcomm claims that Apple has violated its patents and the company is seeking injunctive relief over the misuse of its IP. Following the news of the lawsuits, Apple's shares were slightly up while Qualcomm's were slightly down. For its part, Apple argued that many of the patents involved in… [Continue Reading]

Many UK SMBs don't invest in security solutions

Publié: octobre 6, 2017, 2:58am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

A third of UK small businesses are risking their online safety by operating at or below the "security poverty line," according to new research from Duo Security. The cybersecurity company partnered with YouGov to survey 1,0009 senior decision makers across the UK to determine how much they are spending on cybersecurity and whether government initiatives such as Cyber Essentials and Cyber Risk Aware have been effective at protecting SMBs from cyber threats. The survey found that 38 percent of small businesses had spent nothing at all to protect themselves from cybersecurity threats this year and 30 percent of respondents said that less than… [Continue Reading]

Germany is the biggest source of botnets in Europe

Publié: septembre 28, 2017, 11:04pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Just a year after the Mirai malware infected connected devices to create the first IoT botnet, new research from Norton shows that global botnets have continued to grow and spread as a result of unaware users inadvertently infecting others. According to Norton, the top three countries responsible for hosting the highest number of bots in Europe are Germany at just over eight percent, Italy at 10 percent and Russia at almost 14 percent. The UK was Europe's 11th highest source of bot infections -- which is down from 2015 when it was ranked seventh. In terms of specific cities, Madrid in Spain… [Continue Reading]

UK businesses don't prioritize security training

Publié: septembre 28, 2017, 10:03pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

As the cost of dealing with the aftermath of a security breach has risen significantly in the past year alone, new research has revealed that staff training can greatly help reduce the risk of cyber attacks. A new survey from Accenture found that 55 percent of workers in the UK could not recall ever receiving training regarding cyber threats, meaning many of them are often unsure what to do in order to prevent, identify or respond to a cyber attack. Accenture says that average cost of cybercrime to businesses in the UK has increased by 19 percent over the last year to… [Continue Reading]

Equifax CEO to retire after massive data breach

Publié: septembre 28, 2017, 9:07am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Equifax chairman and chief executive Richard Smith has stepped down from his leadership role at the credit rating agency following the data breach that affected 143 million US consumers and 400,000 in the UK earlier this month. Equifax has released a statement in which it said that Smith will vacate the company after working there for more than ten years and that its Asia-Pacific president, Paulino de Rego Barros will now serve as its new chief executive. Trading of the company's shares was put on hold during pre-market trading leading up to the announcement, but Equifax board member Mark Feidler did his best… [Continue Reading]

Most smartphone users don't rely on security solutions

Publié: septembre 27, 2017, 7:16pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

British mobile users are putting their personal details at risk by keeping large amounts of information on unsecured mobile devices, new research has warned. Security firm Bitdefender has revealed a report showing that almost half of users in the UK store their sensitive personal and private information on smartphones that are often neither updated or protected. Interviewing over 500 UK users, Bitdefender found 61 percent said they kept private files and documents on their personal computers or laptops. More surprisingly, 45 percent admitted to keeping the similar sensitive information on their mobile phones. Bitdefender also found that four out of… [Continue Reading]

Cloudflare adds free DDoS protection tool

Publié: septembre 27, 2017, 6:52pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

In an effort to protect its users from the effects of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, Cloudflare has announced that its customers will receive a new protection tool for free. The Unmetered Mitigation feature, which will be available for both paying and non-paying users, will receive the new feature intended to protect against all DDoS attacks regardless of their scale. Company CEO Matthew Prince believes that is time for security firms to change the way they treat customers affected by an attack. In the past, Cloudflare and other companies would often raise their rates after a customer had suffered an attack, but with… [Continue Reading]

UK banks rally behind fintech startups

Publié: septembre 22, 2017, 8:22pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

In an effort to help Britain maintain its position as a world leader in the tech sector, UK banks and startups have come together to rally behind the fintech industry. A number of the world's leading banks have come together to show their support for fintech startups in the UK while entrepreneurs have promised to remain in the country in lieu of taking their businesses somewhere else in Europe. Over 20 financial institutions including Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and UBS alongside Canary Wharf's fintech hub Level39 have committed to the idea of helping the UK remain innovative and a place where startups can… [Continue Reading]

PC prices in the UK rise by 30 percent on account of Brexit

Publié: septembre 21, 2017, 2:06pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

PC prices in UK have increased by 30 percent since the Brexit announcement this year, according to distributor data. Channel analyst Context has revealed that the average sale prices for computers including desktops, notebooks and workstations reached £480 in July and August, which is up by a third when compared to the same time last year. A number of other factors such as memory shortages, decreased sales to lower-margin retailers and a shift towards machines with increased specifications may have also played a role in the jump in UK PC prices. Context senior analyst, Marie-Christine Pygott noted that these factors could have… [Continue Reading]

Juniper buys security startup Cyphort

Publié: septembre 4, 2017, 8:22pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Juniper Networks has announced plans to acquire security analytics software firm Cyphort. By acquiring Cyphort, Juniper will have access to its open-architecture platform that features a machine learning powered analytics engine that is capable of integrating with existing security tools to aid companies in detecting threats that have been missed by their first-line of security. The company's CEO, Manoj Leelanivas, is quite familiar with the goings-on of Juniper Networks as he spent 14 years there before moving on to Cisco. He also holds over 10 patents related to his work from both companies. Juniper Networks detailed the benefits of the acquisition in… [Continue Reading]

Western Digital buys cloud storage company Upthere

Publié: août 31, 2017, 3:47pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

In an effort to add a cloud component to its physical storage business, Western Digital has announced that it has acquired the cloud storage company Upthere. Upthere was founded in 2011 and its app Upthere Home appeared on the App Store and Play Store in 2015. Since then, though, little has been heard from the company and it appears as if its app had a difficult time competing against the likes of Google, Apple and Microsoft in the cloud space. Upthere will continue to operate on its own and Western Digital has yet to announce plans to integrate the company's cloud offerings with its… [Continue Reading]

BlackBerry will unveil full-touchscreen smartphone soon

Publié: août 31, 2017, 10:53am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

BlackBerry could be set for a sensational return to the world of business smartphones, according to parent company TCL. The manufacturer of BlackBerry's smartphones has announced that it will release a companion device to the KeyOne that will ditch the physical keyboard in favor of a full touch screen. The head of global sales at TCL, Francois Mahieu noted during the IFA tech conference in Berlin that "Two months from now, we will have a touchscreen solution to show." In February, TCL promised that it would launch as many as three devices by the end of 2017 but now the company has… [Continue Reading]

FBI wants US businesses to stop using Kaspersky software

Publié: août 25, 2017, 3:26pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

The FBI has admitted that it is actively discouraging businesses to not use security products from Kaspersky Lab. Rob Joyce, the US government's Cyber Security Coordinator, said that the agency has been actively trying to convince companies in the private sector to no longer use products from the Russian security firm following a number of recent concerns. The FBI previously raised issues over Kaspersky Lab's ties with the Kremlin, as it believes that data collected by the company's popular antivirus program is being sent directly to the Russian government. Kaspersky's CEO even went so far as to release its source code to… [Continue Reading]

Google Play apps spread malware through advertising SDK

Publié: août 24, 2017, 10:19pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Through the use of an advertising software development kit contained in 500 apps on the Google Play Store, cybercriminals were able to spy on users and even infect their mobile devices with malware. That's according to security firm Lookout, which discovered that the Android apps in question all had the lgexin ad SDK built into them which gave unauthorized third parties access to user devices. The apps themselves also managed to be downloaded over 100 million times from the Google Play Store as many of them fell into popular categories such as weather, health and fitness, travel and games. However, the app developers… [Continue Reading]

Google to reveal Titan security chip for cloud services

Publié: août 24, 2017, 10:59am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

In an effort to better compete against Amazon and Microsoft in the cloud computing space, Google will this week reveal the technical details of its new Titan computer chip designed to protected the data centers powering its cloud services. Apparently the chip is the size of a small stud earring and the search company has already installed it in many of the servers and network cards that comprise its own massive data centers. Titan scans network hardware to detect if any unauthorized changes have been made and if so the chip will prevent it from booting up. As most servers and… [Continue Reading]

Fujitsu wants to sell its smartphone business

Publié: août 23, 2017, 11:23pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Fujitsu is preparing to sell off its mobile phone operations as the company faces increasing competition from its larger rivals in the mobile phone space. Last February, the Japanese manufacturer decided to spin off both its mobile phone and PC businesses into separate companies in an effort to differentiate its offerings. Fujitsu's mobile division has already attracted a number of investment funds as potential buyers including Japan's Polaris Capital Group and Britain's CVC Capital Partners Ltd. The Chinese PC manufacturer Lenovo has also shown an interest in acquiring the company. The first round of bidding could start as early as September and offers… [Continue Reading]

There's a new speed record over a 4G LTE network

Publié: août 23, 2017, 11:29am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Verizon, Ericsson and Qualcomm Technologies have managed to exceed the Gigabit speed barrier over LTE. Together the companies were able to reach download speeds of 1.07 Gbps during an Ericsson lab trial using the Qualcomm Snapdragon X20 LTE Modem which is the first modem to support Category 18 LTE speeds. Verizon recently announced that it had reached Gigabit LTE speeds earlier this month and the new milestone builds on the previous achievement. Ericsson provided the Radio System and LTE software that ran in conjunction with a mobile test device based on the Snapdragon X20 LTE modem. The speed of 1.07 Gbps was… [Continue Reading]

Elon Musk and other tech leaders form The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots

Publié: août 23, 2017, 12:13am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Business leaders and artificial intelligence experts have come together to sign an open letter to the governments of the world warning them of the potential risks of autonomous weapons. The CEOs from 115 different technology companies, including SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk and DeepMind's Mustafa Suleyman, have joined forces to form The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots. The group's letter voices its concerns over developing and using fully autonomous weapons on the battlefield, and demands that urgent action be taken to prevent killer robots from being produced or used by the armies of the world. It adds that doing so would fundamentally change… [Continue Reading]

Hackers can steal smartphone data using a replacement screen

Publié: août 22, 2017, 8:12pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Having your smartphone's screen repaired could leave your device open to attackers, enabling them to steal your data and even compromise your device, experts have warned. A new study from researchers at Israel's Ben-Gurion University of the Negev has revealed that a replacement screen could be easily altered by potential hackers to gain control of smartphones running Android or iOS. Third-party touchscreens can be embedded with a malicious integrated chip that could be used to give attackers access to your device. During the course of the study, a Huawei Nexus 6P and a LG G Pad 7.0 were both fitted with a modified screen and the… [Continue Reading]

Bitcoin Cash breaks $1,000

Publié: août 22, 2017, 12:00pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

The new offshoot of Bitcoin has dropped in value after reaching a record high which saw the cryptocurrency peak at over $1,000. Last month, a group of Bitcoin miners implemented a hard fork of the blockchain and as a result Bitcoin Cash was created. On Friday of last week, the offshoot was able to surge by 40 percent in a single day and it reached $600. However, Bitcoin Cash has also been rather volatile during its short existence and it went as low as $293 on Thursday. The new cryptocurrency quickly become the third largest digital currency in the days following its launch, before… [Continue Reading]

IT professionals need more security training for DevOps

Publié: août 18, 2017, 6:14pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

New research has revealed that software developers are not receiving the training necessary to be successful at DevOps in their current positions. According to the 2017 DevSecOps Global Skills Survey sponsored by Veracode and DevOps.com, 65 percent of DevOps professionals believe that knowledge of DevOps is essential when starting a career in IT. However, 70 percent believe that they did not receive the necessary training through formal education to be successful in today's DevSecOps world, which integrates security into the development and testing of software. Despite the fact that nearly 80 percent of those who responded to the survey hold either a bachelor or… [Continue Reading]

Microsoft buys Cycle Computing to strengthen cloud business

Publié: août 17, 2017, 10:06pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Microsoft has announced its plans to buy HPC company Cycle Computing in order to allow its customers to do more in the public cloud. According to the company, the deal will enable its users to use high-performance computing as well as other "Big Computing" capabilities that will improve how they run their workloads in the cloud. Azure corporate vice president Jason Zander explained how Cycle Computing will fit into Microsoft's other cloud offerings in a blog post, saying: "As customers continue to look for faster, more efficient ways to run their workloads, Cycle Computing's depth and expertise around massively scalable applications make… [Continue Reading]

PowerPoint vulnerability enables malware spreading

Publié: août 17, 2017, 4:29pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Researchers have discovered that cyber attackers are exploiting a vulnerability that allows them to elude antivirus software to deliver malware via Microsoft PowerPoint. The flaw itself exists in the Windows Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) interface and attackers have previously used it to deliver infected Rich Text File (.RTF) documents. Trend Micro's researchers noticed that attackers have now infected PowerPoint files to deliver malicious code. The attacks begin with a spear-phishing email with a message from a cable manufacturing provider. So far, those behind the recent attacks, have targeted organizations that operate in the electronics manufacturing industry with messages that appear to be sent… [Continue Reading]

The Arctic will house the world's biggest data center

Publié: août 16, 2017, 6:09pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

The world's largest data center is set to be built in the Arctic Circle. Kolos, the firm behind the project, has chosen the site, in the Norwegian town of Ballangen, due to the abundance of local hydropower and the chilled air which will help naturally keep the data center's temperatures low. So far, the US-Norwegian company has raised several million dollars to help fund the project from private investors in the country. The data center would initially draw 70 megawatts of power, but, within a decade, Kolos is planning to have enough server modules to draw over 1,000 MW. Although the firm has… [Continue Reading]

Samsung browser will be available to most Android users soon

Publié: août 16, 2017, 2:05am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Samsung has announced that more Android users will soon be able to download and install its mobile browser on their smartphones. The news was announced in a blog post by a developer advocate for Samsung Internet named Peter O'Shaughnessy, who revealed that users running Android 5.0 Lollipop or later will be able to sign up to test out the Samsung Internet V6 app, saying: "The beta is being rolled out gradually and will become available worldwide over the next few days via the Play Store and the Galaxy Apps Store. It will receive multiple updates before the v6.2 stable release." The latest version… [Continue Reading]

Toshiba will build a $1.8 billion memory plant in Japan

Publié: août 7, 2017, 9:33pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Toshiba has announced that it is moving forward with its plans to build a new memory chip plant without its partner Western Digital. The company will spend $1.8 billion on the construction of Fab 6 of its new Yokkaichi semiconductor facility that will be located in Western Japan. Toshiba currently owns the land and buildings at the factor though it has divided investments in production equipment with SanDisk since the two companies began their joint venture in 2004. The fact that Western Digital acquired SanDisk early last year has led to an ongoing legal fight between it and Toshiba. Toshiba hopes to sell its… [Continue Reading]

US senators reveal bipartisan effort to secure IoT devices

Publié: août 4, 2017, 2:34am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

A bipartisan group of US senators have introduced a new bill to better secure Internet of Things (IoT) devices and to protect security researchers as they attempt to find vulnerabilities in these devices. The Internet of Things Cybersecurity Improvement Act 2017 will require manufacturers that supply the US government with connected devices to comply with industry-wide security practices. For instance, smart sensors and wearables must be able to be patched with security fixes and devices must no longer come with unchangeable usernames and passwords as this practice played a big role in last October's attack. The massive DDoS attack that brought down Dyn's… [Continue Reading]

LogMeIn buys Nanorep to offer personalized user experiences

Publié: août 3, 2017, 11:33pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

LogMeIn has revealed a major new deal which it says will help its services become smarter and more personalized than ever. The privacy firm has announced that it will acquire the digital self-service, chatbot and virtual assistant company Nanorep to provide more personalized experiences for its customers. The Israel-based company harnesses artificial intelligence and patented natural language processing technologies to create solutions that help make self-service more engaging and intuitive for its users. Nanorep's technology has already been deployed by some of the world's biggest brands including FedEx, Toys “R” US and Vodafone to improve their key customer service initiatives. LogMeIn recently… [Continue Reading]

Amazon suspends Blu smartphone sales over spyware concerns

Publié: août 2, 2017, 2:50pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Amazon has once again decided to suspend sales of the popular budget Android smartphone maker Blu as many of its devices came preloaded with spyware. The Miami-based company has been suspended from selling its phones on the e-commerce site after cybersecurity experts at Kryptowire revealed that software on its devices was collecting sensitive user data and sending it to China. The pre-installed software on Blu phones came from the Chinese company Shangai Adups Technology and was found on several of the device manufacturer's smartphones. The spyware leaves users vulnerable to remote takeovers, having their calls and texts recorded and other… [Continue Reading]

OpenAI framework used to create undetectable malware

Publié: août 2, 2017, 12:27am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Some of the most notable machine learning tools can be hijacked in order to create super-powerful malware capable of bypassing most anti-virus systems, researchers have claimed. At the recent DEF CON event, security company Endgame revealed how it created customized malware using Elon Musk's own OpenAI framework that security engines were unable to detect. Endgame's research was based around taking binaries that appeared to be malicious, and by changing a few parts, that code could appear benign to antivirus engines. The company's technical director of data science, Hyrum Anderson, highlighted that even changing some small details could allow it to bypass AV engines and explained… [Continue Reading]

Samsung Q2 2017 by the numbers: $54.8 bn revenue, $12.6 bn profit

Publié: juillet 28, 2017, 6:26pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Strong sales of its latest Galaxy S8 smartphone and increased demand for its memory have led Samsung to have a record second quarter. The company released its financials for Q2 today and the company earned $54.8 billion total with $12.6 billion in profit. All of Samsung's products performed exceptionally well with its smartphone and memory divisions leading the charge. The company's RAM and solid state drives were highly sought after as there is currently a shortage on the market. This strong demand did lead to Samsung paying higher component costs but there was still a large increase in the earnings of its mobile division thanks to… [Continue Reading]

IBM shuts down Bluemix Object Storage v1, so migrate your data now!

Publié: juillet 27, 2017, 8:56pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

There are a number of benefits to how quickly cloud technology has progressed, but now one of IBM's cloud products that launched in 2015 will soon become obsolete. The company's Bluemix's Object Storage v1 which launched in December 2015 will be switched off in August 2017 after receiving two updates in total. IBM is currently on version 3 of the service and it is urging all users to migrate to the latest version or risk losing their data. The company advised users that Bluemix V1 and V2 would soon be unavailable in a blog post, saying: "The Object Storage service v1 driver was made… [Continue Reading]

Ledger X is the first regulated cryptocurrency exchange in the US

Publié: juillet 27, 2017, 10:49am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

In just a few months, digital currency investors and miners will be able hedge their investments under US regulatory oversight. The cryptocurrency trading platform operator, Ledger X has been been granted registration by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission to become the first federally regulated digital currency options exchange and clearing house in the US. Paul Chou, Ledger X's chief executive noted how this is a big step for digital currencies that could affect the market worldwide, saying: "It's an important milestone for the digital currency market broadly. This will pave the way for others globally to look at this space and the appropriate… [Continue Reading]

AWS adds intellectual property protection to customer contracts

Publié: juillet 21, 2017, 1:02am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

In an effort to appear more user friendly, Amazon has removed a controversial clause from its AWS customer agreement that may lead to more businesses signing up for its cloud computing services. For quite a few years now, potential customers have been wary of a clause in the company's customer agreement that prohibited customers from suing it over patent infringement. Businesses chose other cloud providers instead as they were concerned over whether or not they could trust Amazon with the intellectual property of their companies. Not only has Amazon decided to remove the non-assert clause but it has also implemented a new policy… [Continue Reading]

IBM announces new data centers in Australia, California and England as cloud revenue goes up

Publié: juillet 20, 2017, 10:01pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

IBM has announced today that it will be launching four new data centers in England, Australia and California that will allow its customers to take advantage of its blockchain, big data and IoT offerings as well as have low-latency access to its cognitive services. The firm reported its quarterly earnings this week and despite the rest of its business performing below expectations, its cloud division saw revenue increase by 15 percent year-over-year and accounted for $3.9 billion of its total revenue. IBM's new data centers will help continue this growth by giving customers in more regions better access to its cloud… [Continue Reading]

Microsoft releases first of two Windows Server Insider builds in 2017

Publié: juillet 18, 2017, 8:38pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Microsoft is delivering on its plan to bring two updates per year to Windows Server and the company has revealed the first-ever Insider build of the operating system. Users who are registered with a corporate Active Directory credential can download Windows Server Insider Preview Build 16237. Microsoft has made sure that this update adds many new features that highlight the company's interest in microservices and containers. Other notable features include the ability to allow Hyper-V Vms to access non-volatile memory, improved networking between containers and a number of optimizations that significantly reduce the overall size of Windows Core by 20 percent.… [Continue Reading]

US border officials can't search your cloud data

Publié: juillet 17, 2017, 6:15pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

According to the United States Department of Homeland Security, border officials are permitted to search the devices of anyone entering the country with or without probable cause, though there is a limit to type of content they can view. Senator Ron Wyden sent a letter to Homeland Security in February seeking clarification regarding why US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has been conducting more searches than ever before. Kevin McALeenan, the acting commissioner of CBP, responded to the letter on June 20, revealing that while devices such as smartphones and laptops can be searched, files stored in the cloud are inaccessible to… [Continue Reading]

Apple will build a second data center in Denmark

Publié: juillet 11, 2017, 9:40pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Apple has just announced that it will build its second data center in Denmark powered completely by renewable energy. In total, the project will cost $921 million and the company expects that its new data center will begin operations during the second quarter of 2019. The data center will be located in Aabenraa in southern Denmark close to the German border and it will power all of Apple's online services across Europe, including Siri, Maps, iMessage, the iTunes Store and the App Store. The company is not alone in deciding to build data centers in Europe though. In January, Facebook… [Continue Reading]

Microsoft Workplace Analytics lets enterprises track employee productivity

Publié: juillet 7, 2017, 8:39pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

In an effort to help managers better understand just how productive their workers are, Microsoft has announced a new product for its enterprise customers called Workplace Analytics that utilizes the data collected by Microsoft Graph to provide valuable insight into how employees spend their workdays. This new product builds off of the company's MyAnalytics, which was released last year, that gave employees the ability to view their own individual productivity using data collected from their Skype history, calendars, emails and documents. The difference between this previous tool and Workplace Analytics is that now employers will also be able to view… [Continue Reading]

Samsung may become the world's largest chip maker

Publié: juillet 6, 2017, 11:58pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Samsung will soon be releasing its quarterly profits for the second quarter of 2017 and the company is expected to surpass Intel as the world's largest semiconductor manufacturer by revenue. This is the first time that the South Korean electronics giant has been able to outsell Intel as a result of increased memory chip sales from April to June. Demand has soared for smartphones and servers with more powerful chips and, as a result, their sales have gone up. Samsung also announced on Thursday that it plans to invest $18.6 billion into its home country in an effort to further extend its lead… [Continue Reading]

IBM launches new solutions and tools to get businesses ready for GDPR

Publié: juin 27, 2017, 1:03am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

IBM has announced new data governance and data science initiatives that will aid developers and analysts use cognitive computing to better understand and control their data. The company also unveiled new solutions and tools that would make it easier for organizations to comply with the EU's upcoming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Failure to comply with GDPR will be quite costly for organizations which has led to the creation of a number of tools to help prepare for when it goes into effect on May 25 next year. IBM has decided to offer its own solution to the compliance problem by creating the IBM Unified… [Continue Reading]

Cisco's new network can learn, adapt and overcome security threats

Publié: juin 22, 2017, 11:33am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Cisco has unveiled its network of the future designed with the ability to learn, adapt and evolve to combat security threats and manage the increased load put on networks by an ever-increasing number of devices. The company created its new network with the intent of developing an intuitive system that can anticipate actions, stop security threats and continue to evolve and learn over time. Cisco's network of the future will allow businesses to solve the challenges they face in a time of increased connectivity and distributed technology. Today, network engineers manage hundreds of devices, but they will be expected to manage one… [Continue Reading]

Dropbox plans to expand its network to improve speed and cut costs

Publié: juin 21, 2017, 1:32pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Following its decision to no longer use Amazon Web Services (AWS) last year, Dropbox just announced that it would be expanding its global network in an effort to cut costs and increase the syncing speed for its users. The company intends to move to the edge of the network with the aim of providing services as close to its users as possible. Dropbox began this endeavor by expanding its network across 14 cities in seven countries on three continents. Raghav Bhargava, a network engineer at Dropbox, provided further details on the company's expansion efforts in a blog post on its site, saying:… [Continue Reading]

Internet of Things investments will reach $800bn in 2017

Publié: juin 17, 2017, 2:56am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

The International Data Company (IDC) has just released its latest spending estimates for the Internet of Things (IoT), and the research firm predicts that investments will grow by 16.7 percent in 2017 to almost $800 billion. Global IoT spending is expected to hit nearly $1.4 trillion by the year 2021 as a result of enterprise investments in IoT software, services, connectivity and hardware. IDC believes that the largest investments in this emerging technology will be in manufacturing, freight monitoring and production asset management. There will also be an increase in investments related to smart building and smart grid technologies for electricity, gas… [Continue Reading]

Cisco and IBM overhaul VersaStack to add VDI and hybrid cloud functionality

Publié: juin 15, 2017, 2:34am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

IBM and Cisco recently announced a new partnership that would see both companies work together to bolster their respective cyber security offerings. Now the two companies have decided to overhaul their shared VersaStack to include new Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) and hybrid cloud capabilities. These new features are aimed at reducing costs and helping to increase the flexibility of hybrid cloud networks. VersaStack VDI will be beneficial to customers as it can help reduce data center costs while at the same time improving the security of data stored in hybrid cloud environments. The software is also now compatible with both the… [Continue Reading]

Is your business GDPR-compliant? This free tool will let you know

Publié: juin 14, 2017, 11:33pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Time is running out to ensure that your organization is prepared for the upcoming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and with less than a year to go now is the time to take action. In order to help organizations prepare for GDPR, the data governance firm DQM GRC has released a free online GDPR Self-Assessment Tool that provides insight into a company's compliance levels compared to the new regulation and offers practical advice on how they can overcome their biggest challenges. The tool consists of a series of 12 straight-forward multiple-choice questions that help gauge how prepared your organization is for GDPR. After completing… [Continue Reading]

Chinese company Rafotech believed to be behind millions of malware infections

Publié: juin 7, 2017, 10:11pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

According to extensive research from the Israeli cyber-security firm Check Point, a Chinese digital marketing company called Rafotech has infected millions of computers worldwide with adware that redirects user traffic to fake search engines. The fake search engines then divert their search queries through Google and Yahoo's affiliate programs to earn a commission for the company behind the adware. So far Rafotech has infected over 250 million computers according to a rough estimation from Check Point. The reason the adware has been able to spread so quickly to so many computers is that Rafotech often bundled its malicious software with… [Continue Reading]

Cisco and IBM team up to boost their security products

Publié: juin 2, 2017, 9:14pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Cisco and IBM have announced a new partnership that will see both companies integrate their security services, products and threat intelligence in an effort to bolster their cybersecurity offerings. Both companies already have sizable security businesses and the partnership will see them share research and services with one another. Cisco's security suite will integrate with IBM's QRadar across networks, end points and cloud while IBM Global Services will offer support in managed security services to the company. The two companies will also partner when it comes to cybersecurity research and Cisco Talos teams will collaborate with IBM X-Force on intelligence matters… [Continue Reading]

Gmail offers better malware and phishing protection for enterprises

Publié: juin 2, 2017, 1:38pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Google has updated Gmail with a number of new security features aimed at businesses that require better protection against malware and phishing scams. The company announced today that it is bringing early phishing detection to its email service by using machine learning along with click-time warnings for malicious links found in emails as well as unintended external reply warnings. Currently phishing detection and click-time warnings are available to those using the consumer version of Gmail, but now enterprises will be able to take advantage of these features as well. Google has already been leveraging the power of machine learning to… [Continue Reading]

EU has big plans for free Wi-Fi coverage

Publié: juin 1, 2017, 12:00pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Free Wi-Fi connectivity will soon be coming to public spaces such as parks, squares, public buildings, and hospitals all over the EU thanks to a new agreement. This comes after the European Parliament, Council and Commission have reached an agreement regarding the decision to fund the WiFi4EU project. The goal of the project is to provide "every European village and every city with free wireless internet access around the main centers of public life by 2020" and €120 million has been allocated to pay for the initial setup and operating costs of the project. 6,000 to 8,000 municipalities will be… [Continue Reading]

PC market could return to growth in 2019

Publié: mai 29, 2017, 3:50pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

The success of Windows 10 and the reception Microsoft's latest operating system has had from consumers could mean that the PC market will grow again in 2019. IDC's latest Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker has offered new insight as to why the firm believes the PC market is set for a growth period a few years from now. Detachable tablets such as Microsoft's Surface line and Apple's iPad Pro will lead the growth as consumers have turned away from laptops in favor of these more versatile computing devices. Last year, 21.5 million of these devices were shipped and the… [Continue Reading]

Ransomware revenue rises to $1bn

Publié: mai 26, 2017, 9:09pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

A new report from Trend Micro has revealed that the use of ransomware by cyber attackers increased by 752 percent in 2016. In the last year alone, the security software company estimates that Locky, Goldeneye and other malware designed to extort a ransom from its victims earned attackers $1 billion. Although ransomware did the most damage to businesses and individuals in 2016, the threat of falling victim to this type of malicious code was maintained by the recent WannaCry attacks and by the Eternal Rocks worm that has no kill switch and continues to infect users. For those unfamiliar with… [Continue Reading]

Microsoft buys cybersecurity startup Hexadite

Publié: mai 25, 2017, 6:22pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Microsoft is rumored to have acquired Israeli cybersecurity startup Hexadite in a deal worth around $100 million. The startup was founded in 2014 and its primary focus is identifying cyberattacks through the use of artificial intelligence (AI). By connecting a number of cybersecurity detection systems that are already in place, Hexadite then uses AI to analyze threats automatically as they present themselves. The company accepts alerts from a variety of sources including Syslog, email and APIs and this information allows it to aid cybersecurity teams manage and prioritize multiple potential threats. Last year, Hexadite was able to raise $8 million in its… [Continue Reading]

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Apple Pay now supports purchases over £30 in UK

Publié: mai 24, 2017, 9:08pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

The latest move from Apple may soon lead to consumers leaving their wallets at home, now that a majority of cash registers in the UK will be able to accept Apple Pay mobile payments over £30. According to the vice president of Internet Services at Apple Pay, Jennifer Bailey, more than half of the contactless payment terminals in the UK are now able to accept Apple Pay payments of any value. Previously they had been limited to £30, which is the limit for card readers when dealing with contactless card payments. This limit was set in an effort to prevent… [Continue Reading]

Most Internet of Things initiatives fail to gain traction

Publié: mai 23, 2017, 10:27pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Despite the rising momentum surrounding the Internet of Things and its practical applications, a new survey from Cisco reveals that 60 percent of IoT initiatives are failing to take off. While many projects fail to move past this initial stage, only 26 percent of companies have had an IoT initiative which they have labelled a complete success. A third of all completed projects in this space were not considered successful by the companies behind them. Cisco surveyed 1,845 IT and business decision-makers in the US, UK and India across a wide range of industries. The company's research also shed light… [Continue Reading]

Many users rely on VPNs to circumvent geoblocks

Publié: mai 18, 2017, 4:34pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

A new report has revealed that VPN usage in the UK has increased with almost one in six people now using a VPN alongside their internet connection. According to YouGov's "Incognito Individual" report, 16 percent of British adults have used either a VPN or proxy server. This up-tick in users trying a VPN was often the direct result of trying access region-locked content or websites. Of those surveyed, 48 percent of respondents admitted to using a VPN or a proxy to access content they would otherwise be unable to view. VPNs are often used by security conscious individuals who are concerned… [Continue Reading]

Facebook accused of stealing technology for Open Compute Project

Publié: mai 17, 2017, 12:56am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Facebook is set for a potentially explosive legal case after the company was accused of stealing proprietary technology. In a California district court, a judge has laid out a detailed timeline regarding the upcoming legal battle between Facebook and UK data center company BladeRoom over allegations that the social network stole the latter's server and rack technology for use in its own Open Compute Project. BladeRoom claims that the company intentionally stole and used its blueprints for server warehouses. Specifically, Facebook is being accused of using the company's modular data center layouts and designs for server racks and then repackaging them… [Continue Reading]

Tech giants support Google's fight against FBI in foreign data storage case

Publié: mars 16, 2017, 7:46pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

Following a ruling by a Pennsylvania court that Google would have to turn over emails stored overseas, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Cisco have come together to file an amicus brief in support of the company. Filing an amicus brief is a way in which companies or people not directly involved in a case can show their interest in it to a court. In this situation, it is in the best interest of the companies that filed the brief that US law enforcement remains unable to access customer data that is currently stored outside of the US. Although it is currently… [Continue Reading]

AMD details Zen-based Naples server processors

Publié: mars 9, 2017, 4:14pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

After the successful launch of its new Ryzen processors last week, AMD has announced the first details of its upcoming Naples CPUs intended for servers and data centers. These processors were designed around the same Zen architecture as Ryzen though they will be a great deal more powerful. AMD has described them as having "superior" memory bandwidth and some models will even feature up to 32 cores in order to handle a more demanding workload. According to the firm, its Naples processors have already surpassed Intel's own offerings in a number of key categories. For instance AMD's new CPUs contain… [Continue Reading]

ITU drafts 5G specs: 20Gbps downloads, 4ms latency per cell

Publié: février 28, 2017, 8:48pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

According to the latest draft report from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) published on Thursday, the upcoming 5G standard must support one million connected devices per square kilometer and each single 5G cell will be required to have a total download capacity of 20Gbps. Although the report is currently a draft, it is likely that the technical requirements for 5G will be approved this November. At that time, telecoms and chipset manufacturers can truly begin building the necessary technologies to power their 5G networks and devices. 5G will require at least 10Gbps uplink per each single cell. IoT is currently… [Continue Reading]

Cyber attacks against the UK are increasing

Publié: février 15, 2017, 8:17pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

The number of cyber attacks launched against the UK has increased significantly with 188 high-level attacks occurring within just the last three months. The news of the attacks came from Ciaran Martin, chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), who told the Sunday Times that a number of the attacks were sophisticated enough to threaten national security. State-sponsored hackers from both Russia and China were behind the hacking attempts aimed at obtaining information on UK government policy related to a number of sectors including energy and diplomacy. These attacks were quite similar in nature to those launched against… [Continue Reading]

Lloyds bank hit by DDoS attack

Publié: janvier 25, 2017, 12:03pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

The Lloyds Banking Group fell victim to a massive cyberattack this week, that was responsible for temporarily disrupting its services. The attack is being attributed to an international hacking group. It launched a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack against the company's online services that lasted for two days. During this time, customers were reportedly unable to make payments online or check their account balances. Although information regarding the attack has just been made public, the bank was actually targeted by hackers around two weeks ago. Lloyds was not the only high street lender targeted by the group, but it was… [Continue Reading]

Microsoft buys 3D optimization company Simplygon

Publié: janvier 19, 2017, 11:04am CET par Anthony Spadafora

As part of its new "3D for Everyone" strategy, Microsoft has announced that it will acquire the 3D optimization vendor Simplygon. The company's corporate vice president of Next Gen Experiences Kudo Tsunoda revealed the acquisition intended to help boost its own 3D efforts. The Swedish company Simplygon will play a large role in allowing Microsoft to simplify the process of allowing its users to capture, create and share in 3D. Simplygon's technology will supplement Microsoft's own Paint 3D software as well as its new online community for 3D creations called Remix3D.com as part of the upcoming Creators Update to Windows… [Continue Reading]

Chinese citizens can be tracked in real time

Publié: janvier 16, 2017, 1:56pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

A group of researchers have revealed that the Chinese government is collecting data on its citizens to an extent where their movements can even be tracked in real-time using their mobile devices. This discovery was made by The Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs who specialize in studying the ways in which information technology affects both personal and human rights worldwide. It has been known for some time that the Chinese government employs a number of invasive tactics to be fully aware of the lives of its citizens. Though Citizen Lab was able to… [Continue Reading]

Oracle donates $1.4 billion for IT training in Europe

Publié: décembre 5, 2016, 6:32pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

In an effort to foster increased digital literacy in Europe, Oracle has announced that it will donate $1.4 billion in both direct and "in-kind" support to ensure the continuation of computer sciences and skills in the region. These funds are part of a larger $3.3 billion worldwide initiative by the company to guarantee that in the future there will be enough skilled digital workers. Oracle plans to use its donation to train 1,000 European people to use CS, Java and Database to a high-enough degree that they will be able to teach others to do the same. Over a three… [Continue Reading]

Amazon launches DDoS protection service AWS Shield

Publié: décembre 5, 2016, 12:05pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

Following the massive attack that took down the servers of the DNS service provider Dyn and a number of high profile websites including Netflix, Twitter, Spotify and Reddit last month, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced a new technology to protect sites against distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. The new tool, which is called AWS Shield, was announced at the company's re:Invent developer event in Las Vegas. Amazon's own site was affected by the attack on Dyn and the company has now decided to launch its own DDoS protection service to ensure that its site and those that use AWS… [Continue Reading]

Many CEOs believe technology will make people 'largely irrelevant'

Publié: décembre 3, 2016, 9:20am CET par Anthony Spadafora

Although artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and other emerging technologies may reshape the world as we know it, a new global study has revealed that the majority of CEOs now value technology over people when it comes to the future of their businesses. The study was conducted by the Los Angeles-based management consultant firm Korn Ferry that interviewed 800 business leaders across a variety of multi-million and multi-billion dollar global organizations. The firm says that 44 percent of the CEOs surveyed agreed that robotics, automation and AI would reshape the future of many work places by making people "largely irrelevant". The… [Continue Reading]

Amazon unveils artificial intelligence platform

Publié: décembre 2, 2016, 12:37pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

During its re:Invent developer event in Las Vegas, Amazon announced its new Amazon AI platform which will make many the company's machine learning tools available to developers to use in their apps and websites. Andy Jassy, the CEO of Amazon Web Services, explains that the company has a great deal of background in machine learning, saying: "We do a lot of AI in our company. We have thousands of people dedicated to AI in our business". Amazon has decided to release three tools that take advantage of its AI to developers with the launch of its new platform. The first… [Continue Reading]

Mirai malware spreads to routers in new countries

Publié: décembre 1, 2016, 8:22pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

According to security firm Flashpoint, the latest strain of the Mirai malware responsible for infecting Deutsche Telekom routers has spread to devices in at least 10 countries other than Germany. The firm has discovered that the new strain of Mirai has infected routers in places like the UK, Brazil, Iran and Thailand. It is still unknown how many devices have been infected in total, but Flashpoint estimates that five million devices could be vulnerable to the malware. In a blog post on its site, the firm warns against how an existing botnet could grow significantly by infecting vulnerable devices through the… [Continue Reading]

Intel creates Automated Driving Group

Publié: décembre 1, 2016, 1:41pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

After announcing that it would supply Mobileye and Delphi with chips to power their autonomous driving systems, Intel has announced that it has created a new group that will focus solely on designing self-driving solutions. Intel's Automated Driving Group (ADG) will be led by Doug Davis who will move from its Internet of things (IoT) group to act as senior vice president and strategic lead. Kathy Winter from Delphi will work under Davis, handling day-to-day operations and will act as the VP and GM of the new group. Intel is betting big on autonomous driving and the creation of ADG… [Continue Reading]

SUSE buys HPE's Cloud Foundry and OpenStack assets

Publié: décembre 1, 2016, 12:19pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

SUSE has announced that it will acquire OpenStack and Cloud Foundry from Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) in a move to accelerate the company's growth and entry into new markets. The German company will integrate the assets of OpenStack infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) into its own SUSE OpenStack Cloud. SUSE will use Cloud Foundry and its platform-as-a-service (PaaS) assets to help it bring a certified, enterprise-ready solution to market for all of the customers and partners currently using its ecosystem. As part of the deal, HPE has agreed to making SUSE its preferred open source partner for all of its Linux, OpenStack and… [Continue Reading]

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BMW will invest €500 million in automotive startups

Publié: novembre 30, 2016, 8:27pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

BMW Group has announced that its i Ventures division will be investing €500 million over the next 10 years on new car technologies in an effort to bolster its progress in developing autonomous vehicles. The company's i Ventures division will use the money to invest in startups working on technologies such as autonomous driving and mapping that will allow BMW to improve its cars by making them both more intelligent and efficient. BMW made the announcement via its website this week and its decision to invest in new technologies comes at a time when the company has begun to lose… [Continue Reading]

AWS could become Amazon's biggest business

Publié: novembre 30, 2016, 3:25pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

Holiday sales from Black Friday and Cyber Monday could very well help Amazon hit its target of $134 billion in annual sales, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) could make up for $12 billion of it The company began offering web services to its customers over 10 years ago and in recent years this division has grown from a small to significant portion of the online retailer's business. AWS currently operates in 38 availability zones within 14 geographic locations and large companies such as Netflix, Adobe and Spotify have turned to the company for hosting and operating their websites and services. Andy… [Continue Reading]

Samsung considering advice to split in two

Publié: novembre 29, 2016, 12:45pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

Samsung is currently deciding whether or it not it should follow the advice of the US hedge fund management firm Elliott Management that has proposed that the company split its business in two, with one holding company for ownership and another for operations. Elliott first proposed the split in October with the aim of boosting shareholder value. However, this move would also benefit the Lee family that owns Samsung as it would grant them tighter control over the company. The proposal will be decided on by the company's board of directors on Tuesday, November 29. The Korean Exchange is eager… [Continue Reading]

HPE, IBM and T-Systems compete for Cern cloud platform contract

Publié: novembre 25, 2016, 8:52pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

Cern is currently searching for a potential supplier for its €5.3 million Helix Nebula hybrid cloud platform and T-Systems, IBM and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) have made it to the last round. Initially, 28 different firms from 12 countries submitted bids for the lucrative contract to develop a hybrid cloud platform that will be built upon commercial cloud services, publicly funded infrastructures and each firm's own IT resources. Cern has narrowed down its list of bids down to the four firms based on the design ideas they have submitted for the project. The scientific organisation will eliminate one more firm… [Continue Reading]

Many users don't want to deal with breached businesses

Publié: novembre 25, 2016, 1:26pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

We get plenty of reports on people being asked if they'd continue doing business with organizations that got breached. Sometimes, the reports are positive, saying people understand all the hard work organizations put into securing their data and that, sometimes, breaches can happen. On other days, these reports claim people would walk away from such companies, never to look in their direction again. Today is one of those days. A new report by The Internet Society, called 2016 Global Internet Report, says 40 percent of users would not do business with a company that suffered a data breach. In the same… [Continue Reading]

IBM will build four new data centers in UK

Publié: novembre 23, 2016, 8:17pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

IBM has announced its commitment to a multi-million pound project that will see the company construct four new data centers in the UK to increase its cloud capabilities in the region. The company revealed its new project ahead of the Autumn Statement, which offered a boost to the Government that has recently seen a number of large US technology companies increasing their operations in the country. IBM's decision to create four new data centers will triple its cloud computing capacity in the UK. Companies that use the US company's data centers will gain access to their large amounts of storage and… [Continue Reading]

Google buys Qwiklabs

Publié: novembre 23, 2016, 11:51am CET par Anthony Spadafora

Google has announced that it has acquired Qwiklabs in order to train developers how to use its cloud services. Qwiklabs is designed as a way to give developers and IT professionals a hands-on learning platform from which they can gain experience with cloud platforms and the way in which they operate. The company launched in 2012 and its primary focus is teaching its customers how to use the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud. In a company blog, Qwiklabs offers more details on its recent acquisition by Google, saying: "We will be joining the Google Cloud team to help deliver hands-on lab… [Continue Reading]

'BlackNurse' DDoS attack targets firewalls vulnerable to ping flood

Publié: novembre 21, 2016, 8:13pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

Security researchers have discovered a new distributed denial of service (DDoS) method that requires less effort to launch large-scale attacks that can bring down servers or firewalls from a single laptop. The new method of launching DDoS attacks called BlackNurse was discovered by researchers at the Security Operations Center of the Danish telecom operator TDC (TDC SOC). It operates by using attacks based on low volume Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) to overload firewalls to the point where they shut down. BlackNurse also specifically targets firewalls made by Cisco, PaloAlto and other companies that are vulnerable to a "ping flood attack"… [Continue Reading]

Intel will complete in the AI space with its Nervana platform

Publié: novembre 21, 2016, 2:53pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

Intel has announced its plans to develop artificial intelligence (AI) and the chipmaker has claimed that within the next three years it will reduce the time needed to train a deep learning model by up to 100 times. The company's AI development will be centered around its own Intel Nervana platform that is the result of its recent acquisition of Nervana Systems. Intel purchased the deep learning startup earlier this year for over $400 million and its technology will play a key role in its efforts to pursue AI. Nvidia is currently at the forefront of AI due to its GPU… [Continue Reading]

Google Cloud Platform will offer GPU options next year

Publié: novembre 18, 2016, 7:15pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

Google has announced that early next year it will be adding graphics processing units (GPUs) as a service to its Cloud Platform in order to better compete with its rivals. GPU as a service is already available on Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and IBM's Bluemix, but Google's Cloud Platform will seek to differentiate itself by offering a variety of GPUs for customers to choose from. The company will allow users the option to use two AMD FirePro S9300s or either a Nvidia Tesla P100 or K80. Google has also decided to change the way it prices GPU usage to… [Continue Reading]

OpenAI and Microsoft team up to create 'cloud brains'

Publié: novembre 17, 2016, 7:22pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

The artificial intelligence (AI) non-profit OpenAI has agreed to partner with Microsoft to develop "cloud brains" to test its experiments. The organization, which is backed by Elon Musk, has signed an agreement that will allow it to run large-scale experiments using the company's Azure cloud services. OpenAI aims to discover more about deep learning and AI, while Microsoft will use the partnership to create new tools and technologies that use AI. OpenAI was one of the first adopters of Microsoft's Azure N-Series Virtual Machines service that was designed to handle the intense computing workloads that are needed to run simulations and deep… [Continue Reading]

Google will offer digital skills training for free in UK

Publié: novembre 16, 2016, 9:47pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

Google has just announced that it will be offering free digital skills training to everyone in the UK with the aim of ensuring that the country's population is able to take advantage of its online tools. The company's CEO Sundar Pichai offered further details regarding Google's latest program, saying: "No matter where you live, no matter where you're from, no matter what your job is – you deserve access to all the information, education, and opportunity the web has to offer. Our aim is to make sure that every individual and business in the UK has the support they need… [Continue Reading]

Test email brings UK's NHS to its knees

Publié: novembre 16, 2016, 5:47pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

The entire email system of the UK NHS (National Health System) crashed on Monday after an IT contractor sent out a "test email" to all of the 1.2 million staff using the system. News of the crash first appeared after NHS staff began to complain about the test email they had received from an IT contractor in Croydon on Twitter. The email itself was sent to everyone in the organization and that along with the high number of replies sent out caused the entire email system to be overloaded and go offline. NHS digital has noted that 840,000 accounts were… [Continue Reading]

Samsung buys Harman for $8bn

Publié: novembre 15, 2016, 10:39pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

In an effort to expand into the auto market, Samsung has announced that it will purchase Harman for $8 billion to gain access to both its automotive and audio offerings. The American company Harman is best known for its audio equipment, though it also has a large presence in the automotive market. Last year, the company earned over $7 billion, of which its connected car devices and audio systems accounted for 65 percent of the total sales. Harman's products are installed in around 30 million vehicles worldwide which could really benefit Samsung as it has already lost a lot of… [Continue Reading]

Philips Hue lights can spread IoT worm

Publié: novembre 14, 2016, 2:51pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

Philips Hue light bulbs could be vulnerable to a cyber attack, according to researchers who have developed a proof-of-concept worm capable of spreading from bulb to bulb with the power to turn the lights on and off. The researchers efforts at gaining access to the connected light bulbs was detailed in their paper titled IoT Goes Nuclear a ZigBee Chain Reaction. The worm they created was able to gain access to the Philips Hue devices by exploiting hard-coded symmetric encryption keys that are used to control devices over Zigbee wireless networks. The worm is able to spread from a single… [Continue Reading]

Google updates its site verification process to flag 'repeat offenders'

Publié: novembre 11, 2016, 5:26pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

Google has decided to rework the way it classifies dangerous and harmful sites in an effort to better protect users from being infected by malware. The search engine has tried to protect its users for a number of years by displaying a warning when a link appears that could lead them to an unsafe site trying to infect their systems with malware or trying to obtain their personal information through phishing. However, sites were able to bypass Google's warning by making temporary adjustments that would allow their site to be successfully verified by the search engine. Once the verification process was… [Continue Reading]

GCHQ belives ISPs can prevent all DDoS attacks

Publié: novembre 9, 2016, 4:21pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

The head of of the GCHQ believes that distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks could be eliminated completely if internet service providers (ISPs) were to completely rewrite their software and its code. The technical director of GCHQ's National Cyber Security Centre, Ian Levy, is already preparing to engage in talks with ISPs, such as BT, over how they could be the key to ending DDoS attacks. After the cyber attacks that occurred as a result of the Mirai malware were made public, GCHQ made it a priority to prevent further attacks that could be launched using the same measures. In… [Continue Reading]

Google: EU commissioners don't understand antitrust law

Publié: novembre 7, 2016, 8:27pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

In an effort to soften the European Commission's inquiry into business practices, Google has claimed that those bringing charges against it do not fully understand antitrust law. Kent Walker, senior VP and general counsel, took to the company's corporate blog to respond to the commission's concerns over how it has prevented rival sites and services from competing in the areas of online advertising and sales. In his blog post, Walker was quick to point out that the Commission had failed to acknowledge the role that Amazon plays in how consumers shop online. Google's comparison shopping engine, "Shopping" is currently under… [Continue Reading]

US launches website to share open-source software code

Publié: novembre 7, 2016, 1:34pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

The US government has just launched its latest website, Code.gov with the aim of preventing the replication of code across government agencies in order to conserve valuable time and resources. The site, which was launched on Thursday, already contains almost 50 open-source projects from a number of government agencies. Code.gov is the product of the Federal Source Code policy that was first announced in August by the White House. The site's goal is to provide new custom source code that can be reused across government agencies to cut down on replicating code which is a waste of government expenses and… [Continue Reading]

Most IT pros change jobs for a higher salary

Publié: novembre 4, 2016, 9:57am CET par Anthony Spadafora

IT experts will be doing a lot of job switching with the start of next year, according to a new report by Spiceworks. Releasing the report during SpiceWorld 2016 Austin, the company says more than a third (37 percent) of IT professionals will start looking for a new job next year. More than a quarter (26 percent) plan on accepting an offer next year, as well. A vast majority (69 percent) want to do it in order to advance their IT skills, but 64 percent say they want a higher salary. Four in ten say they want to work in an organization where IT… [Continue Reading]

Google demos how neural networks can encrypt communications

Publié: novembre 1, 2016, 8:07pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

In an effort to demonstrate how AI could be used to boost encryption, researchers at Google taught two neural networks how to communicate with one another while keeping their conversation secret from a third. Researchers at the company's deep learning initiative, Google Brain, have successfully taught two neural networks, given the nicknames "Alice" and "Bob", to secretly communicate with one another while keeping the details of their conversations hidden from one called "Eve". Last week, the team behind this endeavor published a paper detailing the process of the experiment and its results. Neural networks operate by searching through copious amounts of… [Continue Reading]

Facebook introduces PayPal integration in Messenger app

Publié: octobre 26, 2016, 5:35pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

In an effort to make it easier for users to pay through its messaging service, Facebook has added PayPal as a new payment option in the Messenger app. The deal between the two companies will allow customers to use PayPal when shopping through Facebook Messenger -- and they will even be able to use the service to pay for items purchased through merchants' chatbots. The online payment service had added that it will also be making it easier for users to link their PayPal account to their Facebook account. For some time now, Facebook has been working with a number of… [Continue Reading]

Dyn DDoS attack used Chinese firm's unsecured IoT devices

Publié: octobre 25, 2016, 8:02pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Following the large scale cyberattack that took down a number of high-profile sites last Friday, a Chinese electronics component manufacturer has admitted that its products were used by the attackers behind the disruption. Hangzhou Xiongmai Technology, which produces DVRs and internet-connect cameras, has come forward to acknowledge that its products were exploited and that the attackers had taken advantage of security vulnerabilities resulting from weak default passwords. The Mirai malware was used to orchestrate the attack as it can quickly amass large numbers of connected devices. These devices are then used by cyber attackers to launch large-scale distributed denial of… [Continue Reading]

Few UK banks offer two factor authentication

Publié: octobre 24, 2016, 10:58am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

According to new research from the consumers' association Which?, a number of major UK banks have failed to protect their customers online by not adopting two-factor security, which greatly protects against online banking fraud. The association tested the customer-side security of 11 banks, revealing that over half had failed to implement two-factor ID checks on customers when they logged into their accounts. Lloyds Banking Group, Lloyds, Halifax, Bank of Scotland, Santander and TSB were the banks which scored the lowest on the tests conducted by Which?. To make matters worse, this is the fourth year in a row that these… [Continue Reading]

Stephen Hawking believes AI could be mankind's last accomplishment

Publié: octobre 21, 2016, 6:35pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

According to Stephen Hawking, artificial Intelligence (AI) and its possible implementations need to be managed with the utmost care in order to prevent its power from falling into the wrong hands or being used in a way that does not benefit mankind as a whole. The renowned physicist stressed the point that AI could be used to commit deplorable acts in the form of powerful autonomous weapons and other ways in which people in power could use the technology to oppress and control a majority of the population. Hawking even went so far as to suggest that the creation of… [Continue Reading]

When is a private cloud cheaper than a public one?

Publié: octobre 18, 2016, 9:19am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

According to new research, a private cloud can be much cheaper than using a public cloud service, though only when it's running on a large scale. The analyst firm 451 Research has released a new report exploring the costs of private, public and hybrid cloud services, revealing that when a private cloud is large enough, it can actually be cheaper than public cloud services. There are, however, upsides and downsides to both approaches. The report was written with the intention of giving potential cloud customers more transparency when it comes to understanding the complex pricing models used by cloud providers.… [Continue Reading]

Microsoft introduces compliance guidance for Azure Government users

Publié: octobre 17, 2016, 4:06pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

In an attempt to assuage concerns regarding how its cloud software and services designed for government agencies work, Microsoft has released new documentation for potential customers of Azure Government. Microsoft Azure Government has already earned quite a few certifications acknowledging that it meets the strict requirements of the US federal government. However, for customers that believe this is not enough, the software giant has created its new Azure Blueprint program to help users use its cloud platform in a way that is compliant with government guidelines. Microsoft Senior Manager, Nate Johnson offers further details regarding the new program, saying: "The… [Continue Reading]

HP will axe up to 4,000 jobs by 2019

Publié: octobre 17, 2016, 7:46am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

HP Inc will cut around 3,000 to 4,000 jobs over the next three years as demand for its PCs and printers has slowed in recent months. The company originally announced the job cuts in February as part of its restructuring program which will see some 3,000 jobs cut by the end of this year. Dion Weisler, the president and CEO of HP Inc, spoke out regarding how these cuts will affect every department of the company during a conference in New York. He argued that the restructuring plan would work out in the company's favor in the long run. "Although… [Continue Reading]

Microsoft officially releases Windows Server 2016

Publié: octobre 14, 2016, 11:03am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Microsoft has made the release-to-manufacturing (RTM) versions of Windows Server 2016 and System Centre 2016 officially available to enterprise customers. As revealed at its recent Ignite conference, Windows Server 2016 customers will also receive the commercial version of Docker at no additional cost. There are a number of Windows Server 2016 editions offered, including Datacenter, Essentials, Hyper-V Server, MultiPoint Premium Server, Standard and Storage Server. The Datacenter and Standard versions will carry per-core licensing, while Essentials, MultiPoint Premium Server, and Storage Server will have per-processor licensing. With the Datacenter Edition, users will be able to run an unlimited number of… [Continue Reading]

New hacker collective targets SWIFT system

Publié: octobre 13, 2016, 8:04pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Following the $81 million cyberattack in February, a second hacking group has emerged with the intention of exploiting the SWIFT money transfer system to rob banks. A report from the security firm Symantec has revealed that these cyberattacks have occurred since January and have targeted companies located in the US, Hong Kong, Australian and other countries. The firm has detected 74 different computer infections that suggest that around 100 organizations have been affected by these attacks so far. The attackers uses malware as a means of covering up the records of fraudulent transaction made over SWIFT which prevented the victims… [Continue Reading]

Microsoft will roll out Dynamics 365 in November

Publié: octobre 13, 2016, 1:43pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Microsoft's new Azure-hosted, combined CRM and ERP service, Dynamics 365 will begin its rollout on November 1 and the company will show off some of the features of its new service in a live-streamed event this week. In July, the company announced its plans for Dynamics 365 and began to inform its reseller partners regarding what the service would offer. At that time it was revealed that Dynamics 365 would be a combination and redesign of the capabilities of Dynamics CRM, Dynamics AX and Project Madeira which is now known to be a new small-business software as a service based… [Continue Reading]

Samsung cuts Q3 profit estimate by $2.3 billion due to Galaxy Note7 recall

Publié: octobre 13, 2016, 10:51am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

After the continued difficulties and now recall of its Galaxy Note7 smartphone, Samsung has cut its third quarter profits forecast by $2.3 billion after issuing much higher figures only last week. The company made the announcement that it would be cutting its profits forecast during a surprise regulatory filing after South Korea's financial markets had closed for the day. This week has been particularly bad for Samsung after it was forced to completely scrap the Galaxy Note7 as the replacement batteries it shipped to consumers were also prone to overheating and exploding. The financial burden caused by having to pull… [Continue Reading]

Huawei partners with UC Berkeley to develop AI

Publié: octobre 12, 2016, 4:50pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Huawei had decided to enter into a partnership with the University of California, Berkeley, in order to develop and apply artificial intelligence (AI) to our daily lives. Noah's Ark Laboratory, the company's research unit that specializes in the development of machine learning, AI and data mining, is responsible for setting up the partnership between it and the university. Huawei's AI researchers will be collaborating with those from UC Berkeley's new Artificial Intelligence Research lab. Together they will be working on a range of subjects related to AI such as natural language processing, reinforcement learning and computer vision. The partnership is… [Continue Reading]

UK bans Apple Watch from cabinet meetings

Publié: octobre 11, 2016, 10:31am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

In an attempt to block foreign hackers from compromising the devices of British politicians to access sensitive information, Apple Watches have been banned from use during official cabinet meetings. The UK's prime minister Theresa May has informed elected ministers that just as mobile phones are not allowed, high-end smartwatches will no longer be permitted as they pose a security risk. An inside source informed The Telegraph that "The Russians are trying to hack everything". Under David Cameron's administration, a few cabinet members were seen wearing smartwatches. Michael Gove was one such cabinet member who was responsible for disrupting cabinet proceedings when… [Continue Reading]

Consumers are 'overwhelmed' by the sheer number of security alerts

Publié: octobre 10, 2016, 5:52pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

A new study has revealed that many consumers are suffering from "security fatigue" as a result of relentless cybersecurity warnings which have led to many of them failing to protect themselves online. The study was conducted by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), by conducting in-depth interviews with a wide cross-section of Americans between the ages of 20 and 60 living in rural and urban areas in both low and high-paying jobs. A large number of participants ignored the warnings they received from a variety of sources when it came to staying safe online. Many were also… [Continue Reading]

Class-action age discrimination lawsuit against Google goes forward

Publié: octobre 10, 2016, 10:02am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

A class action lawsuit has been filed against Google accusing the company of discriminating against older job seekers and employees. The case against the company has been certified by the Northern California District Court, which is allowing aggrieved applicants aged 40 and older to join together to file a single suit. Now that the case has been certified, the court has given plaintiffs the right to challenge Google in court as opposed to individually which will make it easier to deal with the company's expert legal team. This move by the court also increases the chances of the company offering… [Continue Reading]

Systemd vulnerability crashes Linux systems

Publié: octobre 7, 2016, 6:49pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

A new vulnerability has been discovered that could shut down most Linux systems using a command short enough to fit in a tweet. Linux administrator and founder of the security certificate company SSLMate Andrew Ayer discovered the bug, which has the potential to kill a number of critical commands while making others unstable just by entering the short command: NOTIFY_SOCKET=/run/systemd/notify systemd-notify "". Ayer described the severity of the bug in an advisory, saying: "All of this can be caused by a command that's short enough to fit in a Tweet. The bug is serious, as it allows any local user… [Continue Reading]

Salesforce integrates Quip in its core products

Publié: octobre 5, 2016, 10:28am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Salesforce has released new updates for its core products that allow users to use the work collaboration app Quip right from within its own service. The company purchased Quip for $750 million in August for its collaborative word processing and spreadsheet apps that also include messaging features similar to those offered by Slack. After the latest updates, Salesforce users are now able to create and edit Quip documents directly from within the company's products. They are also able to link data from Salesforce to Quip spreadsheets. In a press briefing last week, Quip CEO Bret Taylor said: "All this free-form,… [Continue Reading]

Oracle loses appeal against Google in Java API case

Publié: octobre 3, 2016, 8:35pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Oracle has once again been unsuccessful in its latest effort to obtain a new trial in its Java API copyright claim against Google. Judge William Alsup of the San Francisco District Court has denied Oracle's latest motion to have its case reheard on the grounds of misconduct on the part of Google's lawyers. Since 2010, the two companies have been in an ongoing legal war that was ruled in Google's favor. However, in the six years that have passed Oracle has repeatedly appealed the ruling multiple times. The latest appeal is based around the fact that the search engine failed… [Continue Reading]

IBM buys Promontory Financial Group

Publié: octobre 3, 2016, 7:19pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

In an attempt to improve its financial capabilities, IBM will acquire the Promontory Financial Group which will be integrated with its global business and will aid in training its Watson artificial intelligence (AI) platform. The company announced the acquisition on Thursday but it did not disclose the financial terms of the deal. Promontory was founded by Eugene A. Ludwig, who is a former top banking regulator and a friend of of former President Bill Clinton from law school. The Washington firm became one of the leading financial organizations following the 2008 financial crisis. Promontory's current employees include many former financial… [Continue Reading]

Apple doubles down on the enterprise market

Publié: septembre 30, 2016, 11:43pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

In order to help boost sales of its mobile device amongst enterprises, Apple has announced a partnership with the consulting firm Deloitte & Touche LLP. On Wednesday, the two companies said that they had formed a new service called Enterprise Next, which would entail 5,000 consultants from Deloitte advising clients in a range of enterprises as to how they could put Apple devices to the best use within their organization. Apple's CEO Tim Cook said in regard to its deal with Deloitte that "enterprises need trusted advisers". The company has made previous deals with IBM, Cisco Systems and SAP in… [Continue Reading]

Spotify wants to buy SoundCloud

Publié: septembre 30, 2016, 8:13pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

In an effort to better compete against Apple Music and other music streaming services, Spotify may be considering purchasing SoundCloud. Apparently the two companies are in "advanced talks", that could result in Spotify acquiring its rival that has been valued at $700 million. Recently, Spotify has faced a great deal of competition from other subscription-based music streaming services, including Apple Music, Tidal, Amazon Prime and Deezer. In September, the company reached 40 million paying subscribers who shell out $10 a month for premium Spotify service. This upgraded version of the site allows users to play music offline and removes all… [Continue Reading]

Could Disney buy Twitter?

Publié: septembre 28, 2016, 11:13pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Last week it came to light that Salesforce was considering a takeover of Twitter. Now it appears though that Walt Disney is also interested in placing a bid on the social network which could be used to help deliver its content to even more consumers. So far it seems that Disney is interested in Twitter's ability to distribute video streaming to a large global audience. If the deal were to go through, it would give the company a new channel to distribute its content, as well as content from both ABC and ESPN which it owns. Now that consumers are… [Continue Reading]

Germany bans Facebook from collecting WhatsApp users' data

Publié: septembre 28, 2016, 7:01pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Germany has decided to ban WhatsApp and Facebook from sharing user data with one another as consumers did not agree to the data sharing deal between the two companies. Last month, it was announced that WhatsApp would begin sharing the data it collected from its users to Facebook. The social network would then use that data to help it better serve ads and generate more information from the people using the popular messaging app. When the agreement was made public, there was a great deal of outrage with many consumers arguing that the arrangement between the two companies should not be… [Continue Reading]

Why Salesforce wants to buy Twitter

Publié: septembre 27, 2016, 8:24pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Salesforce is reportedly considering purchasing Twitter in a move that would give the software company access to the huge amount of data generated by the social network and could help fuel its push to develop artificial intelligence. Marc Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce.com, has grown his 17-year-old company to compete against Microsoft, Oracle and other big players in the field. Lately, the company has acquired a number of startups working in e-commerce and artificial intelligence. Talks between Twitter and Salesforce are said to be at an early stage but an acquisition could end up helping both companies. Twitter's shares rose… [Continue Reading]

Hackers compromise nearly 16,000 WordPress websites

Publié: septembre 26, 2016, 1:10pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

According to security researcher Daniel Cid, at least 15,769 WordPress websites have been compromised this year by cyber-attackers who were able to evade Google's Safe Browsing checks. WordPress is the most popular content management system in the world, used by consumers and businesses to create and publish blogs. To conduct the research needed for the second 2016 Sucuri report on compromised web properties, 21,821 sites were studied with the majority of them using WordPress to manage and publish their content. The report also found that 3099 Joomla! sites were hacked during that time as well. Almost three quarters of the… [Continue Reading]

Leaked credentials affect the largest 1,000 organizations worldwide

Publié: septembre 23, 2016, 11:20am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Data breaches have become the norm in recent years with 2014 earning the nickname the "year of the data breach" and 2015 being known as the "year of the breach". So far in 2016, even more data breaches have been made public, including LinkedIn, MySpace and Dropbox and we will likely see more before the year comes to a close. For companies, being the victim of a breach is unnerving enough, but there also implications to their reputation, brand and finances. However, breaches also have an indirect impact on organizations and some end up facing the "collateral damage" of such… [Continue Reading]

Microsoft raises dividend, launches $40 billion share buyback program

Publié: septembre 22, 2016, 1:45pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Microsoft has authorized a share buyback program that will see the company reacquiring $40 billion of its own shares, just over nine percent of the company. This is the fourth $40 billion buyback program launched by the company, which said that it will complete the first round by the end of this year. Microsoft's most recent buyback was first announced in 2013 and is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2016. The company's decision to buyback its shares is a move that will likely be popular with investors as it will raise share prices. Microsoft also announced that it… [Continue Reading]

Oracle buys cloud security company Palerra

Publié: septembre 21, 2016, 10:25am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Oracle has announced that it will purchase the cloud access security broker (CASB) Palerra, making this the company's eight acquisition in 2016. The deal was announced at the beginning of Oracle OpenWorld in San Francisco and the amount which the company is paying for Palerra has yet to be disclosed. Oracle made the decision to purchase the company for its Loric software product as it "protects and assures compliance of applications, workloads and sensitive data stored across cloud services". Palerra's software is able to offer its users a combination of visibility into cloud use, data security, user behaviour, security configuration and… [Continue Reading]

Server sales are up, but revenue is down

Publié: septembre 20, 2016, 10:16pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

New research has revealed that despite increased server sales, revenue has continued to decline for the companies responsible for manufacturing and shipping servers worldwide. The analyst firm IDC brought this information to light in its new Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker report, which covered server market share and revenue from April to June 2016. In the report, the firm noted how a strong 2015 upgrade cycle was likely the cause of a dull year in 2016, saying: "Overall server market growth has recently slowed in part due to a pause in hyperspace datacenter expansion and is feeling the continued drag from high-end… [Continue Reading]

Salesforce launches Einstein AI platform

Publié: septembre 20, 2016, 3:30pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Salesforce has announced the launch of its new Einstein artificial intelligence (AI) platform that has already been implemented into a number of the company's existing cloud services including Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Analytics Cloud, App Cloud, Commerce Cloud, Community Cloud and IoT Cloud. The company has also announced that it has formed a new unit called Salesforce Research that will be exploring deep learning, natural language processing and computer vision. The new unit's aim is to improve Salesforce products and it will be led by the company's chief scientist Richard Socher, who is responsible for co-founding the A.I.… [Continue Reading]

Public cloud services market to reach $208.6 billion in 2016

Publié: septembre 16, 2016, 5:40pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Both businesses and consumers have embraced the cloud and Gartner projects that the worldwide public cloud services market will grow by 17.2 percent by the end of this year. In 2015, the public cloud services market was worth $178 billion. Gartner's projection that it will grow by 17.2 percent in 2016 will bring that number up to $208.6 billion, which is a testament to the way in which the cloud has matured and won over businesses and consumers. The area that will see the highest growth is cloud system infrastructure service which is projected to grow by 42.8 percent in… [Continue Reading]

Microsoft Azure Service Fabric coming to Linux

Publié: septembre 15, 2016, 11:01am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Microsoft has announced that it will be bringing Azure Service Fabric, which allows developers to run and manage microservices, to Linux. Azure's CTO Mark Russinovich is very enthusiastic about microservices, which the company has been using internally for seven years. Russinovich believes that the vast majority of apps even including enterprise apps will soon be built using this technology. Microsoft offers a variety of cloud services and developer tools to its customers and is eager to expand its reach in this area of the market. The company's Service Fabric offers users a service and tooling that simplify the process of running… [Continue Reading]

LG and Samsung facing class action lawsuit over alleged 'no poaching' agreement

Publié: septembre 14, 2016, 8:17pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

A civil lawsuit filed in a Northern California federal court has accused Samsung and LG of having a clandestine agreement not to poach each other's employees in the US. The suit was filed by a former LG sales manager who is accusing Samsung and LG of antitrust violations and believes the two South Korean companies have worked together to drive down employee wages. This case is reminiscent of the one which was filed against Apple, Google and other tech companies last year that resulted in a $415 million settlement. Samsung has declined to comment on the case, but an LG… [Continue Reading]

HP adopts Microsoft's Dynamics CRM

Publié: septembre 14, 2016, 8:24am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

HP is turning away from Salesforce and Oracle software to run its sales processes and now plans to use Microsoft Dynamics customer relationship management (CRM) software exclusively in its sales and support departments. The two companies have entered into a six-year contract and plan to roll out Dynamics CRM to 6,500 of HP's sales staff and 20,000 of its support personnel. Though the dollar amount of this deal is still unknown, around 50 percent of the company's workforce will now use Microsoft's software and services to manage their relationships with customers. This agreement is also a big deal for Microsoft,… [Continue Reading]

Employees sue Seagate over HR department's private data leak

Publié: septembre 13, 2016, 11:43am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

After falling victim to a phishing scam in March, Seagate is now being sued by its own employees whose sensitive data was exposed in the leak. The company's HR department was tricked into providing the operators of the phishing scheme with the personally identifiable information (PII) of 10,000 past and current employees and W-2 forms that include their Social Security numbers along with their wage, salary and tax information. Additionally, any spouse or beneficiary named in the W-2 documents likely had their personal information stolen as well. With this wealth of personal information, a scammer could easily commit identity fraud… [Continue Reading]

Google wants to buy cloud software company Apigee

Publié: septembre 12, 2016, 10:21am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Google has announced that it will acquire the cloud software company Apigee Corp in a move that will likely help boost its own cloud offerings. The deal is valued at around $625 million and Google has agreed to pay Apigee shareholders $17.40 for each share of the company's stock which amounts to a 6.5 percent premium on its closing price the day before the announcement. Apigee, which is based out of San Jose, creates software that aids companies' digital services in interacting with the apps used by both customers and partners. The company specializes in managing application programming interfaces (APIs)… [Continue Reading]

Intel Security will revert to the McAfee name

Publié: septembre 9, 2016, 6:32pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Intel has made the decision to sell off a majority stake in its security software arm, which was previously known as McAfee, to the private equity firm TPG. In 2010, the chip maker acquired the security software company for $7.6 billion and then four years later it decided to do away with the McAfee name entirely in favor of Intel Security. TPG, which will own 51 percent of the company after the sale, will be reverting the company name back to McAfee, likely due to the security software being a household name and having a large user base. According to… [Continue Reading]

Oracle buys LogFire to boost supply chain management tools

Publié: septembre 8, 2016, 8:10pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

In order to boost the features of its supply chain management cloud offering, Oracle will be acquiring the Atlanta-based LogFire that provides cloud-based warehouse management applications. Oracle believes that LogFire's applications will really help complement the logistics functionality of its own Oracle Supply Chain Management (SCM), through the addition of the ability to manage warehouses. The financial terms of the company's proposed acquisition have yet to be disclosed, but both LogFire's employees and management will be joining the Oracle SCM Cloud Team. Throughout the course of this year so far, Oracle has purchased a number cloud computing companies to help… [Continue Reading]

SoftBank completes $31.4 billion ARM acquisition

Publié: septembre 7, 2016, 8:29pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

In July, SoftBank revealed its plan to acquire the British chip designer ARM Holdings for $31.4 billion and now, less than two months later, the company has announced that the acquisition is officially complete. The Japanese telecom company has been expanding its company lately through a series of acquisitions and investments, including purchasing Sprint for $20 billion and investing $15 billion into the Japanese division of Vodafone. ARM is known worldwide for the chips it designs which are later licensed to large electronics manufacturers including Apple, Samsung and many other well-known companies for use in mobile phones and tablets. In just… [Continue Reading]

Three will continue with ad-blocking plan in 2017

Publié: septembre 7, 2016, 4:56pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

UK carrier Three is committed to its plan to offer ad-blocking for customers using its network at some point in 2017, despite opposition from the EU. In May, the carrrier first revealed its plan to block mobile ads for its customers for the entirety of one day in June. Three is of the belief that its users should not be forced to use their mobile data to display ads which are irrelevant to them and often invade their privacy. Now, Three is planning an even larger roll out of ad-blocking on its network in 2017. In its opinion, mobile ads are… [Continue Reading]

Google loses $895 on moonshot projects

Publié: août 1, 2016, 4:44pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Google’s parent company Alphabet is feeling pressure after the search engine’s so-called moonshot projects have lost the company nearly $900 million in just three months. Alphabet has invested heavily into a number of projects that may or may not even become actual products due to their experimental nature. The company’s moonshot projects and ideas include self-driving-cars, its superfast fibre internet and smart home technology. Though these ideas may eventually pay off, currently they are costing Google a great deal more than it is earning in sales. The company’s sales for last quarter, which ended in June, were $185 million from moonshot projects.… [Continue Reading]

Google loses $895 million on moonshot projects

Publié: août 1, 2016, 4:44pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

EU wants to create a database of Bitcoin users

Publié: juillet 29, 2016, 10:10am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

The end of anonymity for Bitcoin users may be fast approaching as the EU has put forth a proposal that would require anyone using the cryptocurrency in the member states to register on a database. The European Commission (EC) is behind the push to take away anonymity from Bitcoin and other virtual currencies with the hope that this could help prevent a number of crimes that use digital wallets as a means of avoiding a paper trail. The proposal would require all users of the cryptocurrency to register using their real-world identity and to provide the addresses of the virtual… [Continue Reading]

O2 customer information available for sale on the dark web

Publié: juillet 27, 2016, 7:12pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

O2 customer data has been found available for sale on the dark web, most likely as a result of a hack that occurred several years ago. The gaming website XSplit was hacked three years ago and those responsible for the hack were able to obtain usernames and passwords from the site. Through the process of credential stuffing, in which account credentials acquired through a hack are tested on multiple websites, the hackers were able to gain access and log into O2 accounts. O2 has contacted the police to report the case and is working to aid the authorities in their… [Continue Reading]

Europol's No More Ransom website helps ransomware victims unlock their files

Publié: juillet 26, 2016, 5:07pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

To help curb the global rise of ransomware, the European police agency Europol has decided to launch a new initiative and website to put victims of an attack in touch with the police. The initiative will be called "No More Ransom" and will be coordinated by Europol, but will also be receiving help from the Dutch national police, Intel Security and Kaspersky Lab. As cyber attackers using ransomware are discovered, details regarding the methods they use to trick users into paying fines to regain their encrypted files will be updated on the No More Ransom site which will better inform… [Continue Reading]

Hackers steal 1.6 million Clash of Kings forum accounts

Publié: juillet 26, 2016, 10:27am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

The official forum for the popular mobile game Clash of Kings is the latest to fall victim to a cyberattack after a hacker broke through its defenses and managed to obtain the user data of around 1.6 million accounts. The hack occurred on July 14 and the security breach was made known to the website LeakedSource.com by a hacker who wished to remain anonymous. The database of user account details taken from the forum contained the usernames, email addresses, IP addresses, device identifiers in addition to Facebook data and access tokens from those who signed in using their social accounts.… [Continue Reading]

One in ten UK computer science graduates don't have a job

Publié: juillet 25, 2016, 9:50am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

According to the latest figures compiled by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), computer science graduates are still at the top of the UK’s higher education unemployment rankings. During the academic year of 2014/2015, 10 percent of computer science graduates were unable to find a job six months after graduation. This figure is even higher than the 7.7 percent for students, who studied Mass Communications and documentation, Physical sciences, or Engineering and technology, that had difficulty finding work after graduation. However, the percentage is slowly improving as last year the HESA’s statistics showed that 11.3 percent of computer science graduates… [Continue Reading]

Intel's Q2 2016 by the numbers: $13.5 billion in revenue, $1.3 billion profit

Publié: juillet 22, 2016, 6:44pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Intel has certainly made progress on its restructuring initiative to focus on the cloud and the internet of things (IoT), but these key businesses have failed to deliver significant enough growth to boost slowing chip sales. The company reports revenue of $13.5 billion for Q2 2016, which is a three percent increase from the previous year. However, profit for the latest quarter is down by more than half (51 percent) to $1.3 billion, which is primarily a result of high restructuring costs of $1.4 billion. Intel announced its plan to cut 12,000 jobs (11 percent of its global workforce) at… [Continue Reading]

Microsoft Stream lets businesses securely manage and share videos

Publié: juillet 20, 2016, 7:58am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Microsoft has announced a new video service called Stream that will enable businesses of all sizes to securely manage and share videos. From today on, any user with a business email address will be able to sign up for the preview of the new service in seconds. With Stream they can then begin to upload, share and tag videos from their organization. It will also be simple to discover relevant videos since the company will employ machine learning to help users find trending videos and will also give them the ability to search by hashtag, most liked videos or other… [Continue Reading]

Security pros lack the necessary tools to thwart cyber attacks

Publié: juillet 19, 2016, 9:35pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

A new study from the Ponemon Institute reveals that external cyber attacks cost enterprises $3.5 million a year and that the majority of security and IT professionals lack the necessary resources and infrastructure to deal with these attacks, despite the growing risks and costs associated with them. A number of threats were examined in the report including executive impersonations, social engineering exploits and branded attacks that occurred outside of a company’s traditional security boundaries. To address these external threats, security professionals cited an ever-growing need for expertise, technology and external services. When it came to how their companies monitored the… [Continue Reading]

Qualcomm facing record fine in South Korea for breaching fair trade rules

Publié: juillet 19, 2016, 10:22am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Qualcomm is facing a $900 million fine in South Korea after its Fair Trade Commission found that the California-based chipset company had charged smartphone manufacturers unfairly for its mobile processors. The company was found guilty of breaching fair trade rules at the conclusion of the agency’s 17-month investigation. Qualcomm charged Samsung, LG and other South Korean smartphone manufacturers higher licensing fees than it should have for its mobile processors. The company used the wholesale price of a smartphone to calculate the fees as opposed to the actual cost of the chips. An official from South Korea’s FTC revealed how Qualcomm… [Continue Reading]

Amazon's AWS buys Cloud9 startup

Publié: juillet 18, 2016, 8:03pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has acquired the San Francisco-based startup Cloud9 for an undisclosed sum in an effort to add more development tools to its web services stack. The company was founded in 2010 and gives remote teams of developers the ability to work together to develop, edit and test code across 300 different browsers and operating systems. This is accomplished using its integrated development environment (IDE) which allows for developers to collaborate together whether they be working via the web or on their mobile devices. Cloud9 also supports 40 different programming languages as well as an online code editor… [Continue Reading]

Stampedo ransomware available for just $39

Publié: juillet 18, 2016, 11:31am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

A new variant of ransomware has been found for sale on the dark web for an incredibly low price that allows its victims 96 hours to pay a fee. This new piece of ransomware is called Stampedo and it is available for only $39 which includes a lifetime license. Once it has infected a user’s system, a fee must be paid within the allotted time in order to regain access. If a user fails to pay the fee, Stampedo begins to delete random files on their computer within six hour intervals. What sets this malware apart is that it is… [Continue Reading]

Jaguar wants to let you choose how your car drives autonomously

Publié: juillet 15, 2016, 7:27pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Just nine months after setting up a £11 million research fund into autonomous vehicle technology, Jaguar Land Rover announces that it plans to have 100 driverless cars out on the streets by 2020. In October, the company began working with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (ESPSRC) with the plan of creating fully autonomous cars. So far the partnership has been fruitful and Jaguar’s head of research Tony Harper is pleased with how much progress has been achieved in such a short amount of time, saying: "Our connected and automated technology could help improve traffic flow, cut congestion and… [Continue Reading]

CryptoDrop can stop ransomware early on in the encryption phase

Publié: juillet 15, 2016, 12:51am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

New software, designed by scientists at the University of Florida (UF), just might be the answer to thwarting the ever-growing problem of ransomware. Ransomware is a form of malware used by cybercriminals to exploit users into paying significant sums of money to retrieve their own files. When an infection happens, the files on a user’s system are encrypted by the virus and the only way to regain access to those files is by paying a ransom to the hackers behind the attack. However there could be a solution to this global nuisance in the form of new software called CryptoDrop… [Continue Reading]

Seagate cuts 14 percent of its workforce due to declining HDD sales

Publié: juillet 13, 2016, 6:04pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Dwindling demand for physical hard drives has already led Seagate to eliminate the jobs of 1,600 employees from its global workforce of 46,000 which spans across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas. Now, the company has announced that it is planning to cut another 6,500 jobs or 14 percent of its remaining staff. The employees who have lost their jobs will be let go over the next 12 months and Seagate will end up paying out $164 million as a result. The company blames a slowing desktop PC market for declining sales of its hard drives. Flash-based storage,… [Continue Reading]

Microsoft updates Skype Bots with new features

Publié: juillet 12, 2016, 2:32pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Microsoft has updated its Microsoft Bot and Skype Bot platforms with a host of new capabilities to ensure that its Bot Framework is ready ahead of its official launch at the end of 2016. The company first announced its Skype Bot Platform in March during its Build developer conference. Currently there are 30,000 developers building bots for its platforms according to Microsoft. The latest update update has given bots the ability to be part of group conversations which will make it easier to use them from both a business perspective and when having conversations with groups of friends online. Skype… [Continue Reading]

Google buys Moodstocks for its object recognition technology

Publié: juillet 7, 2016, 7:22pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Google has announced that it is be acquiring French startup Moodstocks, which has developed technology that aids smartphones in identifying the objects captured by their cameras. In 2012, the startup introduced on-device image recognition and has spent its time since working on object recognition through the use of machine learning and computer vision. This is what initially intrigued Google about the company as it, along with many other companies in Silicon Valley, has invested in teaching computers to better see and understand the world. Machine learning has found its way into a number of Google products including its search, translation and… [Continue Reading]

Microsoft introduces free Skype Meetings

Publié: juillet 7, 2016, 2:39pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Microsoft has launched Skype Meetings, a new and free version of its popular video and audio conferencing software designed with small businesses in mind. The company’s latest release will feel quite similar for users already familiar with its Skype for Business solution, albeit stripped down. Whereas Skype for Business allows for meetings with up to 250 people, Skype Meetings limits the maximum participants to 10 people. However after the initial two months of using the product, that number drops down to three people. Microsoft has also removed Skype for Business’ deep integration with its other products including Outlook and Word.… [Continue Reading]

BlackBerry readying three new Android smartphones

Publié: juillet 5, 2016, 2:11pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

In what might be a last ditch effort to regain some of its former glory, BlackBerry is planning to release three new smartphones running Google’s Android OS. Last year, the Canadian company launched its first smartphone running Android, the BlackBerry Priv. While it was well-received by critics for its implementation of Google’s OS, the smartphone with a slide-out keyboard was unable to sell well enough to turn the tide for BlackBerry, which has steadily declined since the release of Apple’s original iPhone. The company has been secretive about the Priv’s actual sales figures and has refused to make them available… [Continue Reading]

Oracle will pay HP $3 billion over Itanium server software

Publié: juillet 4, 2016, 8:41pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Oracle has been ordered to pay HP $3 billion after losing a lawsuit with the company regarding the software development for its Itanium servers. During the lawsuit, HP claimed that Oracle had violated a contract by continuing to develop support software for its Itanium chip. The trial ran for one month in a California state court in San Jose ending with HP being granted the original amount it claimed at the beginning of the case. In 2001, HP developed the Itanium chip in partnership with Intel. Oracle and HP then signed a contract that would see it writing software for… [Continue Reading]

UK government websites will default to HTTPS

Publié: juillet 4, 2016, 6:47pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Starting October 1, all government digital services (GDS) websites will be required to use HTTPS encryption, according to new security guidelines. All services will additionally have to publish a domain-based message authentication, reporting & conformance (DMARC) policy that will be applicable to their email systems. Dafydd Vaughan, a technical architect at the GDS, explained the government’s reasoning behind adopting HTTP encryption in a blog post, saying: "The service.gov.uk standards require all government services to run on secure connections, known as 'HTTPS'. This type of connection makes sure user data is encrypted and stays secure while users interact with your service.… [Continue Reading]

Most organizations don't have an IT security expert

Publié: juillet 2, 2016, 9:53am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

With cyber attacks on the rise, organizations are facing pressure to beef up their security to avoid falling victim to such an attack. However, a recent IT security report from Spiceworks shows that 80 percent of organizations were affected by at least one security incident during 2015. To compile its report, the company surveyed over 600 IT professionals from the US and UK. Shockingly, Spiceworks discovered that few organizations have either an in-house or third-party cyber security expert on call. According to the survey only 29 percent of organizations have such an expert working in their IT department and 23… [Continue Reading]

UK's mobile networks have the highest speeds but lack 4G LTE coverage

Publié: juillet 1, 2016, 6:58pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

The UK has the fastest mobile internet in the world, according to Akamai’s new State of the Internet report. The report found that during the first quarter of 2016, mobile users in the UK experienced average speeds of 27.9 Mbps. Of all the countries surveyed by Akamai, the UK has the highest average speeds. The UK's speed is far higher than the rest of Europe by about 10 Mpbs. It is also significantly higher than the US which has a recorded average speed of only 5.1 Mbps when tested through Akamai’s platform. It has been suggested though that the way… [Continue Reading]

Google's 60 Tbps undersea cable connecting US and Japan is live

Publié: juillet 1, 2016, 9:51am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Japan’s Internet is set for a large speed boost as Google’s 9,000km undersea Internet cable that connects the country to the United States is now officially up and running. In 2014, the company announced that it would lay an undersea cable connecting the two countries that would have a 60 terabits per second capacity. Google’s senior vice president of technical infrastructure, Urs Hölzle, said the cable has a capacity that is "more than any active subsea cable" and is "10 million times faster than your cable modem". The cable was completed through a partnership between Google, China Mobile International, China… [Continue Reading]

Cisco buys cloud security provider CloudLock

Publié: juin 30, 2016, 8:49pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Cisco has announced that it will be acquiring the cloud-based security provider CloudLock for $293 million in cash and equity. CloudLock makes use of application program interface (API) technology to allow enterprises to apply and monitor the security of documents and other content that is accessible via cloud-based applications. The service works with Office 365, Google Drive, Salesforce applications and thousands of other apps and programs. The focus of CloudLock is to protect documents and enforce security policies set by companies regardless of the device a user chooses to access their company’s files on. It even can be configured to… [Continue Reading]

HPE will lose its CTO and COO by 2017

Publié: juin 29, 2016, 8:39pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) will be losing its CTO Martin Fink and its COO John Hinshaw at the end of 2016. Fink, who was the head of HP Labs, is set to retire after spending over 30 years at the company. In a corporate blog post, Meg Whitman, the CEO of HPE wrote: "Martin has had a remarkable career, driving some of our most important initiatives including our cloud, open source and Linux strategies and leading the Business Critical Systems division". HPE Labs will shift to the firm’s Enterprise Group where it will now fall under executive vice president Antonio… [Continue Reading]

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Apple pays just £12.9 million in UK taxes

Publié: juin 29, 2016, 1:24am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

By booking sales through its international headquarters in Ireland, Apple was able to only pay £12.9 million in UK corporate tax during 2015. This is a nine percent increase from the previous year, in which it paid £11.8 million. The European Commission has been investigating Apple’s tax arrangements in Ireland for two years now and the results of the probe are set to be released as early as next month. If the company’s tax arrangements are found to be unlawful, it could end up repaying billions to the Irish state. The company is currently under pressure from its critics who… [Continue Reading]

Red Hat buys API management company 3scale

Publié: juin 27, 2016, 4:38pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

The open source software company Red Hat has just announced that it will acquire 3scale for its software which manages application programming interfaces (APIs). The deal is not crucial to Red Hat though it does plan to "open source the code in the Red Hat way", according to a blog post from the vice president and general manager of middleware at the company, Mike Piech. The company also said that its GAAP operating expenses will increase by $7 million during the 2017 fiscal year. Red Hat will continue operating 3scale’s existing cloud service and in addition it will launch an on-premise… [Continue Reading]

New ransomware targets Office 365 users

Publié: juin 27, 2016, 1:54pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

A new zero-day malware has been discovered in Australia that affects all of Microsoft’s Office 365 products including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook. The malware was discovered by the cyber security company Check Point and comes in the form of an invoice sent by email. The attack is designed to catch unsuspecting victims according to security analyst Raymond Schippers who said: "The email sent to Office 365 users via Outlook gives the appearance of an invoice in the form of an Office document. When they go to open it, a message will appear telling people the document was created with a… [Continue Reading]

Tech giants promise to diversify their workforce

Publié: juin 24, 2016, 4:18pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Intel, SAP, Lyft, Spotify and VMware are just some of the 30 Silicon Valley based companies that have signed a "Tech Inclusion Pledge" as a promise that they will promote diversity in their workplaces going forward. Two years ago, the civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson pointed out the lack of diversity in the tech companies operating out of Silicon Valley. He went so far as to press a number of companies to release their data regarding the number of African Americans, Hispanics and women employed at their organizations. Google and Intel both released their employee data which highlighted the… [Continue Reading]

Dropbox update introduces document scanning on Android, iOS

Publié: juin 24, 2016, 10:57am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Dropbox has just announced a host of new features that will hopefully help the service retain its current users and possibly attract some new users as well. The company has added many new features to its cloud storage software, but the most notable is the ability to use a mobile device’s camera to scan documents. Receipts, articles, whiteboard drawings and other text found in the real world can be captured with the app and then saved to Dropbox as a digital copy. Optical character recognition (OCR) will allow Dropbox Business users to search through the text of any documents scanned… [Continue Reading]

Docker Engine will get built-in container orchestration

Publié: juin 23, 2016, 2:56pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

During its developer conference in Seattle this week, Docker announced that container orchestration will now be built right into its Docker Engine, making the process of building, deploying and orchestrating containers far easier for its users. The company has basically taken the core features of Docker Swarm and Compose and has added them to its core Engine to simplify the process of using containers in production. Both of these standalone products only recently exited their beta phases last November and it is impressive that Docker has been able to add them to Docker Engine in such a short period of time.… [Continue Reading]

DoD's Hack the Pentagon will include more systems and networks

Publié: juin 21, 2016, 8:47pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

In an effort to find more security flaws in its defense systems, the US Department of Defense (DoD) has decided to expand its Hack the Pentagon program to include more of its systems and networks. The program pays hackers to find and report the vulnerabilities in exchange for payment from the US government. So far the program has proven to be quite effective with the the first bug in the DoD’s systems and networks being discovered a mere 13 minutes after its launch. Hack the Pentagon began as a pilot program that was only scheduled to run from April 18… [Continue Reading]

Oracle's cloud business skyrockets, but software sales dip

Publié: juin 20, 2016, 6:27pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

The success of Oracle’s cloud computing business this year allowed the company to post better than expected results during the fourth fiscal quarter. The company’s cloud business is made up of two parts: software as a service and platform as a service. Oracle’s customers pay to access its applications online as well as to have access to tools that allow them to program and manage apps and analyze data. Its software as a service segment added 1,600 customers and its platform as a service segment added 2,000 customers during Q4. These additional customers allowed Oracle to beat the previous growth… [Continue Reading]

Microsoft Azure will get blockchain through Project Bletchley

Publié: juin 17, 2016, 5:16pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

While many companies have been hesitant to adopt the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, the blockchain technology that made it possible is now being sought after by a number of companies due to the way it acts as a decentralized ledger that can be used to store data and keep track of how assets are exchanged. Microsoft has just released the first details into how it will use blockchain in its upcoming Project Bletchley, which will add the technology into Azure services through some new middleware. The director of bizdev and strategy for cloud and enterprise at the company, Marley Gray, said: "Project… [Continue Reading]

Samsung buys cloud company Joyent

Publié: juin 17, 2016, 1:43pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

In a continued effort to strengthen the software and services behind its mobile division, Samsung Electronics has decided to purchase US cloud services company Joyent for an undisclosed sum. The company plans on integrating Joyent into its own mobile business, but it will continue to operate independently with its top management remaining in charge of its day to day business. This is Samsung’s third major acquisition of a US-based startup over the last two years after acquiring SmartThings for its connected home technology and LoopPay for its contactless payment service. Samsung and other large companies are becoming increasingly interested in… [Continue Reading]

Hackers steal 45 million forum account credentials

Publié: juin 17, 2016, 10:22am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

The Canadian media company VerticalScope, which operates a number of support forums on a range of topics, was targeted by hackers who were able to obtain user information from around 45 million accounts. Although news of the massive security breach has just surfaced thanks to LeakedSource, which collects information on data breaches, the actual hack took place in February when over 1,000 support forums and websites on tech, sports and other topics were infiltrated by unknown attackers. Some of the most popular forums affected by the hack were Motorcycle.com, Pbnation.com, MobileCampsites.com and Techsupportforum.com. Luckily for the users of those and… [Continue Reading]

Nokia launches Internet of Things management platform

Publié: juin 16, 2016, 6:41pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Nokia has decided to unite all of its connected-device technologies and products to form a new Internet of Things (IoT) management platform called Impact. Impact, which stands for the Intelligent Management Platform for All Connected Things, is the company’s new tool for managing all of the devices powered by IoT technology. During its unveiling this week, Nokia pointed out the platform already supports 80,000 different device types. The company also showed off its new Smart Home Gateway which will combine a fiber modem with a router, dual-band gigabit Wi-Fi along with Zigbee and Zwave radios to enable home automation. Nokia… [Continue Reading]

Most of us rely on social media for news

Publié: juin 16, 2016, 10:39am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

In the lives of many consumers, social networks have begun to replace traditional news outlets as their primary source of news, making it much more difficult for publishers who still rely on a more traditional business model to earn revenue from their stories. In its annual report on digital news, the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ) highlights the rise of Facebook, YouTube and Twitter and how they transformed the way news media is consumed today. The institute conducted a study across 26 countries that found that over 50 percent of all the Internet users turned to social… [Continue Reading]

AT&T fends off 200,000 malware attacks every day

Publié: juin 15, 2016, 9:22pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

AT&T has revealed that its network is constantly under the threat of attack by cybercriminals looking for ways to breach its security. Each day the company detects over 30 billion malicious scans being deployed to find weaknesses in its network. Cybercriminals often use such scans to detect security vulnerabilities that could be exploited in future attacks. Researchers at AT&T also noted how the number of ransomware attacks increased significantly, with as many as 1.5 million new attacks occurring between 2013 and 2015. Jason Porter, the vice president of AT&T Security Solutions explained the inevitable rise of cyber attacks in a… [Continue Reading]

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UK businesses lose over £1 billion thanks to cybercrime

Publié: juin 14, 2016, 8:05pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

New figures released by Get Safe Online and Action Fraud, the UK’s national fraud and cyber crime reporting center, reveal the cybercrime cost for British businesses over in the last year. In total, businesses reported £1,079,447,765 in loses as a result of cybercrime, which is a 22 percent increase from the previous year. Each police force in the UK recorded around £19.5 million in losses but this number may in fact be slightly higher as some businesses may not have reported or disclosed the full extent of the losses they incurred to the authorities. Get Safe Online, the UK’s cyber… [Continue Reading]

Symantec buys Blue Coat Systems

Publié: juin 14, 2016, 6:57pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Symantec has decided to purchase Blue Coat Systems for $4.65 billion in a move that will allow it to more thoroughly protect its users from a variety of threats online. The deal will also see Blue Coat’s CEO, Greg Clark, become Symantec’s new CEO. This will help the company fill the role which has been vacant since its previous chief executive, Michael brown stepped down in April due to poor financial results. Symantec is widely known for its locally installed antivirus software whereas Blue Coat specializes in online security. Currently is used by over 15,000 companies to blacklist websites that… [Continue Reading]

Internet of Things devices are NSA's latest target

Publié: juin 14, 2016, 11:10am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

The Internet of Things (IoT) may be the US National Security Agency’s next potential target for spying and collecting data according to a comment made by its deputy director at a recent military technology conference. During the conference, which was held in Washington DC on June 10, deputy director of the NSA Richard Ledgett said that the agency is considering potential ways it could collect data from internet-connected devices such as smart appliances and pacemakers. According to the Intercept, Ledgett said: "We’re looking at it sort of theoretically from a research point of view right now". IoT technology has yet to… [Continue Reading]

Cisco: Internet traffic will triple by 2020

Publié: juin 10, 2016, 8:54pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

According to Cisco’s recently released annual Visual Networking Index (VNI) Complete Forecast for 2015 to 2020, global IP traffic will almost triple at a compound annual growth rate of 22 percent over the course of the next five years. A large part of this growth in IP traffic will be caused by the one billion new users that will join the global Internet community during that time. Currently there are three billion users on the Internet but by 2020 this number will grow to 4.1 billion. However, the adoption of connected personal devices and the rise in deployment of machine-to-machine… [Continue Reading]

Amazon Fresh now delivers groceries in London

Publié: juin 10, 2016, 10:22am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Amazon Fresh has arrived in the UK and starting this week the online retailer delivers groceries in London. This is the first time that the service will be available outside of the US and initially it will offer over 130,000 grocery items to consumers living in north and east London. A host of new items including thousands of fresh produce, dairy and bakery items will be available through the online delivery service. Amazon Fresh will be available for any Amazon user that has signed up for its Amazon Prime Subscription service. Any user that is willing to pay an additional £6.99… [Continue Reading]

Microsoft will increase commitment on Apache Spark

Publié: juin 8, 2016, 2:45pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Microsoft is preparing to increase its commitment to the open-source Apache Spark big-data processing engine this week at the Spark Summit in San Francisco. At the summit, officials from Microsoft will be offering further insight into its support for Spark with the company’s HDInsight, Cortana Intelligence Suite, Power BI and Microsoft R Server. Later this summer, R Server for HDInsight will no longer be in public preview and will be generally available. It will include Spark integration for both the cloud and on-premise version of HDInsight. Last April, Microsoft acquired Revolution Analytics for its R programming language that can be… [Continue Reading]

Microsoft introduces project management tool for Office 365

Publié: juin 8, 2016, 11:08am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

To help its users stay on task and manage their assignments more easily, Microsoft has just launched a new project management tool for teams using Office 365 called Planner. The company initially released a preview of its new tool in December 2015 and now it will begin rolling it out worldwide to all Office 365 users including those using Office 365 Enterprise E1-E5, Business Essentials, Premium and even its Education subscription plan. To access Planner, users simply need to open their Office 365 app launcher. Since it appears right within the launcher, it will not have to be configured or… [Continue Reading]

Bing now gives malware and phishing warnings

Publié: juin 7, 2016, 4:16pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Microsoft has changed the way it displays malware warnings in its search engine Bing to help users distinguish between the various forms of attacks that can appear in its searches. The company has decided to replace its generic warning for websites that could be potentially dangerous for users, and instead offer separate warnings for sites that are known to contain malware and phishing sites. Now when users go to a site known for spreading malware they will get the following message: If a site is known to be responsible for phishing scams Bing will display this message instead: Bing has… [Continue Reading]

Researchers remotely disable car alarm thanks to weak Wi-Fi security

Publié: juin 7, 2016, 9:27am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Security researchers at Pen Test Partners have discovered a vulnerability in Mitsubishi’s plug-in hybrid electric Outlander that could allow potential car thieves to disable the car’s anti-theft alarms. The security researchers investigate potential vulnerabilities in connected devices through the use of penetration testing and found that the Outlander’s Wi-Fi module can be accessed by anyone within range of the vehicle by connecting to it with their smartphone. They then discovered that it was possible to bypass the module’s merge security key by employing a brute force attack. In total, it took Pen Test Partners only four days to crack into… [Continue Reading]

Apple Pay struggling outside of US

Publié: juin 3, 2016, 7:03pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Apple Pay may be doing well in the US, but a new report from Reuters suggests that Apple’s mobile contactless payment service has not seen the same success rate outside of its home territory. The service became available for US consumers in October 2014 and has since gained a great deal of traction and users in its home country. Outside of the US, Apple Pay is currently available in the UK, Canada, Australia, Singapore and China. However in these countries technical issues, resistance from banks, and consumer indifference have plagued the service from the start. On a global scale, Apple… [Continue Reading]

Intel announces new Xeon E3 processors for multimedia workloads

Publié: juin 1, 2016, 6:08pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

At this year’s Computex show in Taiwan, Intel announced that it is adding new chips to its Xeon E3 1500 line of server processors to help service providers handle the massive amounts of online video-related traffic created by the "visual cloud". Webcasts, video-conferencing, digital TV broadcasts, cloud gaming, video transcoding and even the delivery of remote workstations all make up what the company and other chipmakers have begun to refer to as the visual cloud. The new chips that Intel is adding to its Xeon E3-1500 line have been created with extra capabilities that aid in accelerating video and multimedia workloads.… [Continue Reading]

UK carrier Three will block ads for a day

Publié: mai 27, 2016, 10:35am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

In an attempt to improve the daily lives of its customers, Three is planning to block ads for all of the customers using its network in the UK. The company will block all mobile ads for its users for one day next month. The trial will last for 24 hours but if it is received successfully by Three customers, the company has hinted that it would be willing to expand its experiment. Three has decided to block the mobile ads that its customers see because it believes that the current ad model is broken. Before beginning the trial, the company… [Continue Reading]

Google plans to replace your Android password with a 'trust score'

Publié: mai 26, 2016, 9:23pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Google wants to do away with traditional passwords on Android and replace them with "trust scores". The company outlined how it is planning to make the transition away from passwords on its mobile platform by 2017 during its I/O conference last week. By using a variety of different metrics, Google’s Trust API technology would be able to replace traditional passwords and pins used to unlock its smartphones. Typing speed, vocal inflections, facial recognition and how close a user’s device is to familiar Wi-Fi hotspots and Bluetooth devices are some of the metrics that the new system will use to determine… [Continue Reading]

Millennials value connectivity and electricity more than plumbing and heating

Publié: mai 25, 2016, 8:47pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

A new study from CommScope has revealed that millennials are so accustomed to constantly being connected that they would rather give up plumbing and heating before giving up connectivity and electricity needed to power their mobile devices. The millennial generation will place a large burden on global network operators who will have to plan for continued capacity growth, greater flexibility, a larger array of services as well as corresponding billing models if they hope to meet the demand of those born between 1980 and 2000. By 2025, three of every four people in the global workforce will be a millennial… [Continue Reading]

How much does a DDoS attack cost?

Publié: mai 25, 2016, 11:00am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Security researchers have discovered that DDoS attacks are now available to purchase on the Internet for as little as $5 an hour. The researchers, who work for the security firm Imperva, were able to find distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS) for as low as $5 an hour on the online professional services marketplace Fiverr. A year ago these same services cost $38 an hour and could only be found on the dark web. The providers of these DDoS attacks are offering them as a way for companies to test the strength of their own web servers in order to… [Continue Reading]

UK workers spend 2.5 business days away from the office

Publié: mai 23, 2016, 7:51pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

In today’s modern world working a traditional nine-to-five job is impractical and no longer necessary, according to a new report from TeamViewer. The company commissioned the report titled "The End of Nine-to-Five", which found that 72 percent of UK office workers believe that traditional office life is no longer relevant with almost two thirds (62 percent) of those surveyed currently working remotely at least one day a week. Even more surprisingly, UK workers on average spend 2.5 days or half of their working week away from their offices. TeamViewer’s report clearly showed that despite employees growing interest in working remotely… [Continue Reading]

Popular hacking site Nulled hit by cyberattackers, user info leaked

Publié: mai 19, 2016, 6:45pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

The email addresses and private messages of over 470,000 members of the popular hacking website Nulled have been leaked following a data breach. The website served as a marketplace where its users could buy and sell the account details they stole from users along with hacking advice and tips. The data that was leaked from Nulled contained over 5,000 purchase records that detailed how the stolen information available on the site’s marketplace was exchanged between users. Currently the site has been taken offline after the data breach and is apparently in the process of receiving "routine maintenance". According to researchers working… [Continue Reading]

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Google faces €3 billion antitrust fine in Europe

Publié: mai 17, 2016, 7:55pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Google may soon face a record €3 billion fine from the European antitrust authorities over how it abused its control of the online search market in the EU. This will be the highest fine the European Commission has ever issued as an antitrust punishment. In addition to the fine, Google will be banned from manipulating its search results to favor itself over its rivals. The fine against the company has not yet been finalized, but Margrethe Vetager and other EU officials are planning on announcing it and the other restrictions that will be brought against the company in June. However,… [Continue Reading]

Amazon will sell private-label brands to Prime subscribers

Publié: mai 17, 2016, 10:42am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Amazon is preparing to expand its business with the addition of several new lines of private label brands that it will begin selling in the coming weeks. The company’s private brands will initially be available to Amazon Prime subscribers and will include perishable foods, tea and coffee, vitamins and baby food as well as other household items such as laundry detergent and diapers. The names of a few of Amazon’s new brands have been released and they include Happy Belly, Wickedly Prime and Mama Bear. It is believed that the company made the decision to begin selling its own private… [Continue Reading]

Google will pay you $20 an hour to sit in a self-driving car

Publié: mai 16, 2016, 4:47pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

As Google prepares to deploy its self-driving car fleet to Chandler, Arizona, the company is hiring local drivers to test its vehicles. The company intends to hire local drivers in Arizona who will act as "vehicle safety specialists" that will be behind the wheel of its self-driving cars and ready to take over should an unforeseen problem or circumstance arise. Google is offering these new recruits $20 per hour to drive its vehicles for six to eight hours a day. They will have to sign a 12-24 month contract and provide written and oral feedback to the company’s engineers. Google… [Continue Reading]

Amazon's DSSTNE deep learning software now open source

Publié: mai 13, 2016, 4:37pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Amazon has decided to follow in the footsteps of Google and other technology companies by open-sourcing its deep learning software. The company has released its deep learning software DSSTNE (pronounced destiny) on GitHub under an open-source Apache license. Deep learning has gained a lot of traction in recent months and many tech companies are currently developing their own software to help teach computers. Around five months ago, Google made its own deep learning library TensorFlow open-source as well. Amazon included a frequently asked questions page along with its library to explain why it has decided to open-source DSSTNE: "We are… [Continue Reading]

Server virtualization market to reach $5.6 billion in 2016

Publié: mai 13, 2016, 11:21am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

New research from Gartner suggests that the worldwide server virtualization market is very close to reaching its peak. In 2016, the x86 server virtualization market is expected to reach $5.6 billion. This is an increase of 5.7 percent compared to 2015. However, this growth is not attributed to new software licenses which have declined for the first time in more than a decade. Instead this increased growth has been driven by maintenance revenue which is a clear indication of how the software market has begun to rapidly mature. With the Gartner Infrastructure, Operations & Data Center Summit in Sydney fast… [Continue Reading]

Popular business apps come with major security risks

Publié: mai 12, 2016, 8:34pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

The security firm Wandera SmartWire Labs has released a new report detailing how many popular business apps used by large enterprises leak data and present a multitude of security risks. The company assessed the threats that exist on popular business apps and how they could be potentially damaging to large companies in Europe, the US and Asia. Wandera’s report was able to shed light on 10 apps, widely used by enterprise employees, that failed to employ secure data storage and protect information that could personally identify users. However the firm did not reveal the names of the apps, which have… [Continue Reading]

Most enterprise Windows environments are not secure enough

Publié: mai 12, 2016, 8:39am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

A new survey, from the real-time IT management company ManageEngine, has revealed that 70 percent of global IT administrators believe that their Windows environments are at risk of malicious attacks. The survey, titled "Global Active Directory and Windows Server Security -- Trends and Practices Survey, 2016", gathered the opinions of over 325 IT administrators from organizations around the world. ManageEngine found that 70 percent of respondents were in agreement that their Windows environments were not completely secure from malicious attacks. However, 10 percent of those surveyed admitted to being completely unaware of the security standards for Windows environments. It is… [Continue Reading]

Anonymous teams up with GhostSquad to attack major banks

Publié: mai 12, 2016, 6:40am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Anonymous has joined forces with GhostSquad to launch successful cyberattacks on eight international banks that were forced to shut down their websites. The hacktivist collective alongside the hacker group GhostSquad have launched a new operation called Op Icarus which aims to punish corrupt banks and individuals in the financial sector. So far the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic, the Guernsey Financial Services Commission, the Central Bank of Maldives and the Dutch Central Bank were all offline for a brief period on May 6 after being hit with distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. A day later, the National Bank… [Continue Reading]

Few businesses have an Internet of Things implementation

Publié: mai 10, 2016, 8:18pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

According to research released by Computing, only eight percent of IT decision makers believe that the Internet of Things (IoT) will be of no consequence to their organizations. However over half (54 percent) of the respondents believe that IoT is ready to make its mainstream debut, despite their own organizations currently not having plans to adopt the technology. This corresponds with the 23 percent of IT decision makers who believe that the implementation of IoT is currently happening or will happen in the near future, although only 15 percent of them are actively involved with it at present. Although many… [Continue Reading]

New security vulnerability affects one in four Android devices

Publié: mai 10, 2016, 10:43am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

A security vulnerability on Google’s Android OS has exposed users’ text messages, call histories and other sensitive data for the past five years. The security firm FireEye has released a blog post detailing how it affects smartphones running Android 4.3 Jelly Bean as well as earlier versions of the OS. The bug, which has been indexed as CVE-2016-2060, allows apps to access sensitive user data by taking advantage of Android’s permission system. All of the apps on Google Play request permission from their users regarding whether they are able to use the system’s camera or have access to the device’s… [Continue Reading]

BBM finally gets video calling on Android, iOS

Publié: mai 5, 2016, 9:33pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

In an effort to remain competitive with rival messaging platforms, BlackBerry has decided to bring video calling to its cross platform BBM messaging apps. Last week, it was unveiled that the Android variant of BlackBerry Messenger would be receiving the ability to make video calls as a beta feature. Now the company has announced that this feature will also be appearing on Apple’s iOS. Video calls in BBM on Android and iOS will remain exclusive to North America and Canada until after July. Then video calling will exit its beta stage and become a fully fledged feature in BBM with… [Continue Reading]

Microsoft buys Internet of Things company Solair

Publié: mai 5, 2016, 9:01pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Microsoft has just announced that it has acquired the IoT service Solair -- based out of Italy -- though the financial details surrounding the transaction have yet to be released. The company was founded in 2011 and it uses Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing platform to deliver its services. This will allow Solair to easily be integrated into the Azure IoT suite. Microsoft has not clearly outlined its plans regarding how it will utilize the company’s services but it is "excited about their technology and talent -- and delighted to welcome them to the Microsoft team". Quite a few companies have… [Continue Reading]

Microsoft upgrades Operations Management Suite, releases new System Center 2016 preview

Publié: mai 4, 2016, 7:08am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Microsoft has upgraded its Operations Management Suite and has made a new preview of System Center 2016 available, in an effort to aid system administrators in tackling the increasingly complex cloud environments and data center resources. The company’s System Center is as a suite of systems management tools, that includes System Center Configuration Manager and System Center Operations Manage, all aiming to help companies manage on-premises data centers. Operations Management Suite on the other hand, is designed to aid companies in gaining control of hybrid cloud environments. Microsoft is launching a preview of System Center 2016 to provide its users… [Continue Reading]

Microsoft PowerApps public preview available now

Publié: mai 3, 2016, 10:53am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Microsoft has just made a public preview of its PowerApps service available, which will include support for its Flow data-sharing tool. A limited preview of this new service -- aimed at allowing business users to create their own custom business applications -- was released by the company five months ago. Now Microsoft has decided it is time to launch a public preview of Power Apps which has been available from 29 April. Originally codenamed Project Kratos, this new service will allow analysts and business users to develop custom native, mobile and Web apps. It will be easy to share these… [Continue Reading]

Microsoft looking into storing data using DNA

Publié: avril 29, 2016, 6:35pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Now that users are generating more data than ever before, Microsoft has begun to explore the idea of using DNA molecules to store data. To begin investigating the possibility of accomplishing such a complex task, the company will be purchasing 10 million strands of long oligonucleotides -- or lab made DNA molecules -- from a startup in San Francisco called Twist Bioscience. DNA molecules are an ideal storage solution because they do not degrade in the same way that Blu-Ray discs and other physical media do. Data stored this way could remain intact and still be readable anywhere from 1,000… [Continue Reading]

Boys aspire to work in IT, girls find it boring

Publié: avril 29, 2016, 2:28pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

The Internet organization Nominet, best known for running the .uk infrastructure, has compiled new research on the dream jobs of today’s students that shows how male students have begun to aspire for careers in technology while female students find the field less interesting. The top three dream jobs of young boys all pertain to the tech industry, with computer game developers being number one, app developers being number two and website developers being number three. Twenty-four point eight percent of school aged boys would like to develop computer games while 17.2 percent envision themselves developing apps and 15.1 percent hoping… [Continue Reading]

IT pros feel overworked and underappreciated

Publié: avril 28, 2016, 8:00pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

A new poll from Kensington, which produces computer accessories, has found that IT professionals feel undervalued and overworked in their organizations. Enterprises are under increasing strain to keep pace with the digital world and 32 percent of the IT decision makers that participated in the poll were frustrated that they were not provided with enough time to increase employee productivity and well-being through the use of technology. Rather, they often felt like firefighters in their organizations as they were constantly drawn away to deal with issues that arose and were rarely ever able to devote the necessary time to provide… [Continue Reading]

UK government looking to implement blockchain technology

Publié: avril 28, 2016, 6:38pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

The UK government is exploring the potential use of blockchain technology to aid it in dealing with the managing and distribution of grants. This technology first gained notoriety through its use in the bitcoin currency. Now many governments and financial institutions are interested in using blockchain as a decentralized ledger which can be verified and shared by a network of computers. It can also be used to store data and can keep track of how assets are exchanged. In a speech at London’s Digital Catapult, Cabinet Office minister Matt Hancock highlighted the ways blockchain technology could be implemented to improve… [Continue Reading]

Enterprise Microsoft Azure users get free one-year support

Publié: avril 28, 2016, 3:01pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

In order to hasten the transition from its traditional retail products to its cloud based products, Microsoft has just announced that it will be offering one year of free technical support to Azure users. From May 1, 2016 through to June 30, 2017 users who purchase Azure Services under an Enterprise Agreement (EA) will receive a year of free support from the company. According to Microsoft: "This upgrade is designed to give you an additional level of support on your journey to the cloud, and it comes at no charge". Customers who are eligible for this offer but choose not… [Continue Reading]

Skype for Business now available on OS X

Publié: avril 28, 2016, 10:27am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

In an attempt to entice enterprise Mac users, Microsoft has just released a preview of its new Skype for Business for OS X. This new version of Skype will be business-focused and is centered around creating an experience tailored to enterprise users. From today, you can request access to the preview from Microsoft. The company will be sending the Skype for Business Mac Preview out to IT administrators in order for them to familiarize themselves with the software before extending the preview to more users. Microsoft’s roll out of the new client will occur in three stages. The first of… [Continue Reading]

Malware compromises Swift system -- patch available

Publié: avril 27, 2016, 8:18pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

The Swift (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) system has apparently fallen victim to the same sophisticated hacking scheme that was used to disrupt the Bangladesh central bank last month. The cyberattack in Bangladesh resulted in a loss of $951 million from the central bank's account at the Federal Reserve in New York and it now seems likely, thanks to new research from BAE systems, that Swift was also compromised during the attack. During their investigation of the attack, security researchers at the company found a hidden piece of malware that lead to a loss of $81 million. It was… [Continue Reading]

Chip-enabled cards lead to a decrease in fraudulent transactions in US

Publié: avril 22, 2016, 7:30pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Credit and debit cards with embedded microchips have finally begun to become widely available in the US and, according to Visa, they have already prevented a great deal of fraud with some large merchants seeing an 18 percent decrease in counterfeit transactions. The company noted that 25 merchants had suffered heavily from fraud in 2014. Five of them decided to begin processing credit and debit cards equipped with EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa) technology and this led to an 18.3 percent decrease in fraud. Another five of those merchants did not have the necessary equipment to utilize chip-enabled cards and… [Continue Reading]

Nearly half of EU businesses don't know where their data's located

Publié: avril 22, 2016, 5:37pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

According to a survey by the cloud hosting firm UKFast, nearly half of businesses are clueless as to where their data is located. To come to its findings, the company surveyed over 300 IT decision makers in EU businesses, with 47 percent of them unaware of where their personal and company data was hosted. Lawrence Jones, the CEO of UKFast, sees this as a troubling issue for businesses in the UK. Not knowing where their data is stored leaves them unable to reassure their customers of its safety. Also if legal trouble arises, how will these businesses be able to… [Continue Reading]

More apps and websites leak credit card data on enterprise handsets

Publié: avril 22, 2016, 10:38am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

In its latest quarterly Mobile Data Report, Wandera has revealed a significant rise in apps leaking credit card data on enterprise mobile devices. The company, which specializes in mobile data security and management, compiled the report by analyzing the data usage trends and traffic patterns across its global network of enterprise mobile devices. Between Q4 2015 and Q1 2016, there has been a 17 percent increase in apps and mobile websites leaking credit card data. The CardCrypt security flaw that was discovered in December of 2015 has played a large roll in the amount of credit card data that has… [Continue Reading]

Google no longer lists its own site as 'partially dangerous'

Publié: avril 21, 2016, 6:19pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

According to Google’s online transparency report, Google.com had been considered a "partially dangerous" website. In the report under the Safe Browsing section, the company listed its own website as one that could be dangerous to its visitors followed by a list of site safety details along with testing details. According to these details, Google.com displays some pages that redirect visitors to dangerous websites that install malware on their computers: 7b726aeb-a-62cb3a1a-s-sites.googlegroups.com,polnu4ewtan4iwki.ws, and 40d0dfd9-a-62cb3a1a-s-sites.googlegroups.com. Other dangerous websites that can be reached through the site have sent visitors to: maeaflordapele.com,valeimaginar.blogspot.com, and bou7out.blogspot.com. Under the security and privacy tab on the the transparency report’s… [Continue Reading]

More UK adults taking online courses

Publié: avril 21, 2016, 3:32pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Adults in the UK are turning to online learning platforms in order to stay competitive in their fields and to learn new skills, despite their increasingly busy schedules. Coursera, which offers online courses from some of the top universities worldwide, has noticed that the number of new users registering for its educational platform has increased by 50 percent over the course of the past 12 months. In the UK, the company has over half a million users that are registered for a variety of courses. Coursera has noted that of those currently studying, 30 percent are using their smartphones to… [Continue Reading]

AI platform better predicts cyber attacks thanks to human experts

Publié: avril 20, 2016, 9:00pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have collaborated alongside the machine learning startup PatternEx to demonstrate how an artificial intelligence platform that makes use of continuous input from human experts would be able to predict cyber attacks better than the systems that exist today. CSAIL and PatternEx are calling their new AI platform AI² due to how it combines the intuition of analysts with artificial intelligence. Previously, "analyst-driven solutions" relied on the rules created by security experts which resulted in attacks that did not correspond to their rules slipping through the cracks. The machine learning approach… [Continue Reading]

Microsoft Azure's Container Service now generally available

Publié: avril 20, 2016, 2:50pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Microsoft Azure's Container Service in now available to help companies deploy and manage containers using their choice of software. Users of the service will be able to move their container workloads to the cloud easily and can still run their operations using open-source tools. The two most popular tools -- Mesosphere’s Data Centre Operating System (DC/OS) and Docker’s Swarm and Compose -- will be both be supported by Azure Container Service and users will be able to continue running their operations using the one they prefer. Mark Russinovich, Microsoft’s CTO for Azure, sees the support of both platforms as something… [Continue Reading]

ISPs offer inadequate DDoS protection

Publié: avril 19, 2016, 7:20pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

A new report from Corero Network Security, which provides security solutions against distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, shows that 85 percent of enterprise end users want their Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to offer better protection against DDoS attacks. To compile its research, the security company polled more than 100 ISPs and 75 enterprise customers in regards to their DDoS mitigation strategies. Corero found that a high number of ISPs still rely on outdated technologies to protect their customers from these attacks. Forty-six percent of ISPs divert DDoS traffic to scrubbing centers, which is not only an expensive way to… [Continue Reading]

PC Internet usage is dropping

Publié: avril 19, 2016, 5:38pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

ComScore, an online measurement specialist, has released new data that shows that less users are using desktop devices to access the Internet and are instead browsing on their smartphones and tablets. The company has noticed a steep decline in the overall time people have spent online in the US using both desktop PCs and laptops. In the past four months, desktop internet usage continued to fall and it has done so on a year over year basis. According to ComScore, it fell 9.3 percent in December of 2015, 7.6 percent in January, two percent in February and six percent in March.… [Continue Reading]

Google facing antitrust charges in Europe over Android

Publié: avril 19, 2016, 10:50am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Margrethe Vestager, the European Commission’s antitrust commissioner, is continuing to put pressure on Google in regard to its Android operating system. Vestager gave a speech at a conference in the Netherlands today in which she stressed how her department has now begun a close examination of the contracts Google has with mobile device manufacturers and mobile carriers. The European Commission is objecting to the requirements the company puts on its mobile partners to pre-load Google apps on devices. By making device manufacturers and carriers pre-load the company’s apps, Google is taking away their ability to choose which apps they install… [Continue Reading]

Apple could add paid search in App Store

Publié: avril 18, 2016, 1:49pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

In 2008 Apple debuted its App Store to help its users discover, purchase and download new apps for their iOS devices. While the store has seen many tweaks and upgrades over the years it has yet to have a complete overhaul. Now the company has formed a secret team to explore changes to the store, including a paid search model that could cause quite the stir amongst app developers and the way iPhone and iPad users discover new apps. The secret team consists of 100 employees and is being led by Todd Teresi, who was formerly in charge of iAd.… [Continue Reading]

Microsoft releases Project Madeira public preview

Publié: avril 15, 2016, 5:43pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Microsoft has finally released the details regarding "Project Madeira", its enterprise resource planning (ERP) client which many had speculated would be the next version of Dynamics NAV. Dynamics NAV is one of the company’s four different ERP products and it is aimed at small to medium sized businesses. While many thought that Madeira might be the next version of this product, it is actually a separate release. Microsoft has made its new Madeira app available for preview on Windows, iOS and Android over the past few days and it is not a client app for Dynamics NAV but rather a… [Continue Reading]

UK startups receive less in VC funding

Publié: avril 15, 2016, 5:11pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Venture capitalists have scaled back the size and amount of their deals across the world and UK-based startups received less funding during Q1 2016 than in Q4 2015 as a result. A new report from the analytics company CB Insights and the advisory firm KPMG Enterprise has revealed that, between January and March, startups in the UK were able to raise $1.3 billion across 105 deals. Across Europe as a whole venture capitalist (VC) funding totaled $3.5 billion across 338 deals. Thirty-six percent of all VC funding in Europe went to companies in the UK. Tech companies received 77 percent… [Continue Reading]

Demand for web developers rises in UK

Publié: avril 14, 2016, 8:51pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

developer laptop

New research from the contract recruitment company Sonovate shows that demand for contract web developers in the UK increased by 22 per cent between the last quarter of 2015 and the first quarter of 2016.

The company took a sample of 4289 listings on its job boards to compile its research. Sonovate found that postings for web developers, PHP developers, front end web developers, web application developers, senior web developers and website developers had all risen significantly.

Posts for web application developers were up by 127 percent, posts for senior web developers were up by 84 percent and posts for website developers were up by 206 percent. The increased number of job postings for all of these positions indicate steady and possibly even significant growth.

The Co-CEO of Sonovate, Richard Prime noted that the research clearly showed the increased need for qualified web development contractors across the UK and noted that now would be an excellent time for individuals in the field to enter or even re-enter the job market.

Innovatage was used to source the statistics and it made use of data from IT job postings across more than 180 global job boards and 500,000 employer websites. Currently the highest paid position overall is that of Web Solutions Architect at £650 and Senior Web Developer is the highest paid position by volume with a daily average rate of £389.

Overall Sonovate’s research shows that market for web development contractors is expanding and that their skills are in high demand across the UK.

Image Credit: alphaspirit / Shutterstock

Another quarter, another PC sales drop

Publié: avril 13, 2016, 12:18pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

PC decline graph

The PC market has started off 2016 quite poorly according to both Gartner and the IDC. Worldwide shipments have fallen 9.6 percent to 64.8 million units in the first quarter of the year, according to Garner’s estimates. This makes it the first quarter since 2007 that fewer than 65 million PCs have shipped globally.

Lenovo, HP, Dell, Asus and Apple were the top PC manufacturers in Q1 2016 with only Asus and Apple seeing an increase in the number of units shipped. Lenovo and HP have been hit the hardest this quarter with Lenovo shipments down seven percent and HP’s down nine percent.

The International Data Corporation (IDC) is estimating that the worldwide PC shipments are actually lower than Gartner’s estimate and have dropped 11.5 percent to 60.6 million units during Q1. The company also differs from Gartner in that its results see Lenovo, HP, Dell, Apple and Asus as the top five vendors during the quarter. IDC paints a much gloomier picture of global PC shipments and all of its top PC vendors are in the red, with Asus down eight percent and even Apple down two percent.

The strength of the US dollar is one of the main reasons that PC shipments have continued to decline according to Gartner. The firm also notes that many companies experienced an inventory build up as a result of sales offered during the holidays in the fourth quarter of 2015.

Another big factor in declining PC shipments is enterprise adoption of Windows 10. Many companies have yet to fully embrace the latest iteration of Windows and are merely test driving it to see if it will be a meaningful upgrade for their businesses.

Windows 10 may no longer be offered as a free upgrade come July 29 2016 and this could entice users who have yet to switch to do so albeit through purchasing new hardware. In 2016, we will learn without a doubt how Windows 10 will affect worldwide PC sales.

Photo Credit: Mopic/Shutterstock

BlackBerry will release two mid-range Android phones in 2016

Publié: avril 12, 2016, 5:12pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

BlackBerry will be moving back into the mid-range smartphone market in order to appeal to enterprise customers who were unable to justify the Priv’s $700 retail price.

John Chen, the company’s CEO, has revealed that BlackBerry is planning to release two mid-range Android smartphones during 2016. One will include a physical keyboard to appease fans of the company’s iconic handsets and the other will sport a full touchscreen to appeal towards consumers who have adopted the modern smartphone form factor.

BlackBerry announced last week that it had only sold 600,000 handsets since January which is significantly less than the 850,000 that many analysts had been forecasting. BlackBerry has also yet to release the sales data regarding how many Privs were actually sold since the device’s launch in November of 2015.

Chen regrets that the company’s first Android phone was a flagship device priced out of the reach for many enterprise customers. A $400 Android smartphone from BlackBerry might have made a bigger impact on sales and the company is aiming to recapture that share of the market with the two mid-range devices it releases this year.

BlackBerry was able to take the security features that made its handsets so popular among enterprise users and implement them successfully on the Android platform. Chen believes that his company is the only handset manufacturer that is able to truly make Google’s Android a secure platform.

Hopefully the two mid-range smartphones BlackBerry releases in 2016 will be able to make the company’s top-notch security and devices more accessible for more users.

Pieter Beens / Shutterstock.com

Internet of Things is now mainstream, Verizon says

Publié: avril 7, 2016, 2:56pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Internet of things

According to a new report released by Verizon, the Internet of Things is now mainstream. The report, titled State of the Market: Internet of Things (IoT), used the company’s customer usage data, research from Oxford Economics, customer case studies, and third party data to come to its conclusion in regard to the future of IoT.

Verizon’s experts see the combination of five macrotrends as the catalyst behind the IoT finally being embraced by consumers and businesses.

Smartphones have become a staple of modern life and now users are beginning to suspect that their phones are capable of doing a whole lot more. Verizon expects in the next three to five years that a higher level of automation will be present in the lives of all smartphone users. IoT applications and a simplified interface will allow this to take place. Currently, 81 percent of IoT adopters working in the public sector believe that citizens are growing to expect enhanced services and data from the Internet of Things.

The ability to monetize the use of data will be a requirement for businesses going forward. Almost 50 percent of businesses expect to use over 25 percent of their data over the course of the next two to three years. Data analytics will need to evolve to be more predictive in order for companies to gain meaningful insights to benefit their customers. Verizon also sees the regulatory landscape shifting to help establish industry standards at a much quicker pace.

The company’s experts see better network connectivity, low power devices and IoT platforms as a means of democratizing innovation. This will lead to the creation of more tools for developers as well as the creation of an environment that will let business scale the deployments of their IoT solutions from millions to billions of connections in a way that is cost-efficient and facilitates growth.

Growth in the IoT sector is being pushed by IoT startups who are now gaining investments faster than traditional consumer startup companies by 75 percent. Verizon predicts that enterprise IoT startups will be able to raise two to three times more capital than consumer focused IoT startups.

The Internet of Things had a big year in 2015 with new innovations and products dazzling businesses and investors. Perhaps 2016 will be the year that IoT gains the attention of the masses.

Image Credit: Ahmetov_Ruslan / Shutterstock

Nvidia announces Pascal-powered Tesla P100 GPU

Publié: avril 7, 2016, 10:44am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Nvidia Tesla P100

Nvidia has just announced a new GPU platform called the Tesla P100. However this new GPU is not intended for gamers, but rather for hyperscale datacenter applications.

The Tesla P100 platform will include the company’s Pascal GPU architecture along with the newest memory, semiconductor process and packaging technology to allow for the best graphical and computing experience from such a densely packed card.

Nvidia will be manufacturing the chip using 16nm FinFET manufacturing technology. The Tesla P100’s chip will have over 15 billion transistors and will include 16GB of second generation die stacked High Bandwidth Memory (HBM2). Nvidia has made it easy to link multiple P100 GPUs using its NVLink technology.

The company also unveiled the DGX1 which is a full server appliance platform that combines the power of eight Tesla P100 GPUs with two Intel Xeon Processors in 3U chassis that can easily be mounted in a server rack. The system will require 3500W of power and will cost $129,000 but with the high price tag comes 170 teraflops of performance.

The DGX1 will offer developers and researchers the necessary power to achieve new milestones in the deep learning projects that will pave the way for the future of AI applications. The system will be available directly from Nvidia in May.

Nvidia is widely know as a provider of GPUs for gaming PCs but the announcement of the Tesla P100, the DGX1 and its work in self-driving cars could have a real impact in reshaping what the company is known for.

Salesforce buys deep learning startup MetaMind

Publié: avril 6, 2016, 8:00pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

salesforce

Salesforce has acquired MetaMind and plans on ending the startup’s services on May 4. The deep learning company launched in 2014 with $8 million in initial funding from Salesforce’s cofounder and CEO Marc Benioff and Khosla Ventures.

MetaMind has really set itself apart from its competition through its image recognition capabilities. The site is able to identify the items in images and a demo called MetaMind Food Identification first gave users of the service a taste of what it was capable of.

Salesforce will be integrating MetaMind’s technology into its own platform. Unpaid users of MetaMinds products will be able to make use of them until May 4, when they will be discontinued. Paid users will have an extra month to use their products which will be discontinued on June 4. MetaMind is planning to delete all of the data that both paid and unpaid users have stored on its servers after April 11.

The cofounder and CEO of MetaMind, Richard Socher, published a blog post where he detailed the acquisition of his company by Salesforce. The company will have the opportunity to offer its deep learning technology to even more business users on a much larger scale and he has promised that it will continue its AI research as part of Salesforce.

Salesforce acquired the machine learning startup PredictionIO last month. Also, in May of last year the company purchased Tempo AI for its smart calendar app.

This latest acquisition of MetaMind shows Salesforce’s dedication to scaling both deep learning and machine learning technologies.

Ken Wolter / Shutterstock.com

Facebook Messenger now lets you manage your KLM flights

Publié: avril 1, 2016, 5:40pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Facebook Messenger is used by 800 million people globally and now KLM Dutch Airlines will be the first airline to allow its customers to check in, receive flight updates and change their travel itineraries right from within the app.

Facebook believes that customer service can easily be handled and even improved through its Messenger app. The company was inspired by popular messaging services in Asia such as WeChat, Line and KakaoTalk that give their users the ability to schedule many of their day to day activities right from within their apps including hailing taxis, making reservations at restaurants, shopping for shoes, playing games and sending gifts such as coupons for meals and coffee.

Last year Facebook launched Messenger for Business to begin exploring the idea of "conversational commerce" with companies which are interested in adopting the site’s messaging platform to communicate with customers. Walmart, Everlane and even the hotel chain Hyatt have all tried out the service as a new way to interact with their customers.

Messaging has quickly gained in popularity and analysts predict that it could one day overtake social media as the main way consumers spend their time online. Two and a half billion people have registered for at least one messaging app and it is estimated that this number could reach 3.6 billion by 2018.

In the past, companies scrambled to quickly develop and deliver their own apps to consumers with the advent of smartphones and app stores. Now they have come to realize that most people only use a few app throughout the day. By interacting with customers through Facebook Messenger it will be easier to reach their clients who are now no longer burdened with installing a separate app for every company they have interactions with.

Facebook is eventually planning to sell its own services to customers through mobile, but the company sees Messenger for Business and companies such as KLM adopting Messenger as a cautious way to capitalize on the success and widespread use of its messaging service.

Foxconn buys Sharp for $3.5 billion

Publié: mars 31, 2016, 10:38am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

business handshake

Last month Sharp announced that Foxconn would be acquiring the company for $6.2 billion. However Foxconn was concerned with the financial future of Sharp and decided to put the deal on hold in order to renegotiate some of the terms.

Now the deal is finally complete and Foxconn has acquired a 66 percent majority stake in Sharp for around $3.5 billion. This is the largest overseas investment in a Japanese company to date and its proposal caused quite a stir in Japan.

Innovation Network Corp, which is backed by the Japanese government, wanted to buy out the company instead in order to split Sharp and its display business. Its goal was to add the display side of the company to a joint venture between Sony, Toshiba and Hitachi, which produces LCDs called Japan Display. However Sharp rejected the deal in favor of the more lucrative Foxconn offering.

Foxconn is also gaining a lot from the deal by acquiring Sharp’s display technology, which it will use to produce LCD displays mainly for Apple. This will make it cheaper for the company to build devices from Apple as it will no longer have to rely on Samsung and LG to produce the displays it uses in the iPhone.

Foxconn has also began a push to manufacture electronics and sell them under its own brand. Currently the company produces TVs which it sells in Taiwan. Sharp’s television displays could help Foxconn expand its efforts in this market as well as in mobile.

Since 2010, Terry Gou the founder and CEO of Foxconn has been interested in either investing in or acquiring Sharp. He even made a personal investment of $617 million in a subsidiary of Sharp in 2012 to show his deep interest in working with the company.

Gou will now finally have the chance to work alongside Sharp and take advantage of the companies’ potential.

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Samsung Pay arrives in China

Publié: mars 30, 2016, 10:42am CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Samsung-Pay

Samsung Pay made its debut last year in South Korea in August and then launched in the US in September. At the end of 2015, the company announced that it was bringing its mobile payment service to China.

After a one month beta period, Samsung Pay is now available for local users with a Galaxy S6 edge Plus, Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 edge.

Apple was able to bring Apple Pay to China on February 18. Both companies are collaborating with China’s biggest bankcard company UnionPay to offer their services to more users. Samsung Pay will also have the support of many of China’s largest banks including ICBC, China Construction Bank and China Merchants Bank. The Bank of China and the Bank of Communications will also be supported at a later date.

In the United States and South Korea, both the Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 edge support Samsung Pay. However these two devices will not be supported during the initial launch of the service in China, but since they were involved in the open beta it is probable that they might be supported at a later date.

The launch of Samsung Pay in China has managed to come ahead of the launch of the service in Europe despite the initial news that European launch would coincide with the release of the Galaxy S7.

Samsung may have decided to move up the Chinese launch to better compete against Alipay and WeChat, which already have a strong hold over the country’s mobile payments.

Microsoft extends support for Intel Skylake systems running Windows 7, Windows 8.1

Publié: mars 22, 2016, 8:29pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

businessman thumbs up ok

Microsoft has decided to reverse its position regarding support of Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 on systems using Intel’s Skylake platform.

In January, the company said that it would only guarantee full extended support for Skylake systems running Windows 7 and 8.1 until 17 July 2017. Microsoft now plans to offer full extended support for these systems for one more year, until 17 July 2018.

The company has decided to prolong its period of extended support after receiving feedback from business customers who felt as though the company was abandoning their systems too quickly and thus forcing them to upgrade to Windows 10.

After the new deadline they will only receive critical security updates. Windows 7 will continue to receive security updates until 14 January 2020 and Windows 8.1 will receive these updates until 10 January 2023. However, only systems that appear on the official list that Microsoft released in February and OEM supported devices will be able to take advantage of the company’s extended support of previous iterations of Windows.

This is great news for many businesses who were planning to purchase new hardware running Skylake, but were reluctant to update all of their systems to Windows 10. Now it will be possible to downgrade supported machines to either Windows 7 or 8.1 and receive full support from Microsoft for at least the next few years.

Since its release in July, Microsoft has been trying its hardest to ensure that all Windows users make the switch to Windows 10. By allowing business users extra time the company will be able to retain its hold on the enterprise PC market and avoid alienating a large share of its professional users.

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Embracing Internet of Things will help businesses stay relevant

Publié: mars 16, 2016, 12:12am CET par Anthony Spadafora

Internet of things

The Internet of Things (IoT) has quickly gained a great deal of momentum and buzz amongst companies in a variety of fields over the past year. Up until now, the idea that all of our devices would be connected to one another and sharing data seemed like a far off idea that would take many years to come to fruition.

However due to new technologies quickly becoming more cost-effective and advances in the amount of environmental data that sensors are able to collect, the potential of IoT will likely come to be realized much sooner than many of us originally expected.

Morgan Stanley is projecting that within the next five years, as many as 75 billion devices will be communicating with each other using IoT technologies. As a result of this many companies are trying their best to prepare themselves to harness the power that a hyper connected world could bring to their businesses.

Nitin Rakesh, the CEO and president of the global IT and business solutions provider Syntel, believes that a tremendous amount of pressure is currently being put on companies to modernize and replace their legacy systems, because if they fail to do so they will be unable to handle growing consumer demand.

Rakesh sees legacy modernization as a means for companies to remain relevant as we shift towards a truly connected world. A gap will likely emerge between those companies that rely on legacy systems that are quickly becoming obsolete and those that have made the necessary investments to harness the power of the IoT in their businesses. This "Digital Disconnect" will make it especially harder for companies involved in healthcare, online insurance and manufacturing.

Syntel recommends a three-pronged approach for enterprises looking to modernize their operating systems and adopt new platforms. They should begin by evaluating legacy systems to see if automation can be applied to help manage business critical programs that can only be run on those machines.

Next, they should attempt to move all non-critical applications and assets to new more modern platforms. Finally in order to modernize their entire application environment the latest digital technologies should be overlaid on top of the entire environment.

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70 percent of UK tech businesses oppose a Brexit

Publié: mars 15, 2016, 10:31am CET par Anthony Spadafora

As the UK considers leaving the EU, tech businesses have weighed in on whether or not they are in favor of such a move in a new survey conducted by techUK.

70 percent of its members are in favor of the UK remaining within the EU while 15 percent want the UK to leave. The remaining 15 per cent of techUK’s members were undecided on the issue.

To collect its information, techUK surveyed 277 business leaders in technology of which 75 percent were SMEs. However, the organization found that both large and small businesses were in favor of the UK remaining within the EU. Of those that supported the decision to stay, many believe that EU membership makes the UK appear much more attractive to foreign investment.

Seventy-six percent also think that it allows companies to negotiate better deals on trading relationships with other companies within the EU. Many participants also believe that EU membership helps make the UK more competitive on a global scale.

A vote to leave could be devastating to the UK -- according to the companies that supported remaining within the EU -- and would create risk and higher levels of uncertainty for their businesses. They also believe that such a move would take away a great deal of the UK’s influence in regard to the issues that concern their businesses.

Fifteen percent of companies that are in favor of leaving believe that doing so would give the UK a greater degree of flexibility in the global economy and allow it to secure better deals in its relationships with other countries. Regulations imposed by the EU are the main drawback that they see as a hurdle if the UK decides to remain within the EU.

Even if the UK does decide to leave the EU on 23 June, most of the companies surveyed by techUK will continue to work closely with their customers and suppliers located within the EU. As such, they would still need to comply with EU regulations and the UK's exit from the EU would leave them at a great disadvantage.

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Here are the passwords cybercriminals are most likely to use in hacking attempts

Publié: mars 3, 2016, 10:14am CET par Anthony Spadafora

steal_password

The security group Rapid7 has released a new report that may prompt some alarm from web users who are heedless when it comes to choosing their online passwords.

Instead of using the passwords that internet users are the most likely to pick, the group took a different route and examined the passwords that cybercriminals are actually trying to use to hack into a number of systems including POS systems, kiosks, and computers.

The results of Rapid7’s study found that a majority of the top passwords used by cybercriminals to break into systems are incredibly simple, which shows that most internet users are using passwords that are not diverse nor complicated enough. Some examples from the report include the passwords "admin", "x", "Zz" and "1".

The easiest way to gain access to a user or business’ system is by guessing passwords. The software used by hackers will often try the most common passwords first. If a weak password is used between multiple accounts, cybercriminals will easily be able to gain access to many of a users’ accounts.

Rapid7 set up a number of "honeypots" in the form of websites that appeared as their normal counterparts, but were actually set up to entice cybercriminals into attempting to access them. The study ran for a total of 12 months and the honeypots set up had a total of 221,203 different log-in attempts that came from 5076 devices.

The attempts originated from 119 different countries and 1806 different usernames and 3969 passwords were used. Around 662 login attempts occurred each day by cybercriminals.

The top 10 most guessed passwords from Rapid7’s report were "x", "Zz", "St@rt123", "1", "P@ssw0rd", "bl4ck4ndwhite", "admin", "alex", "…….", and "administrator".

If you or anyone you know is using a weak password or the same password across multiple accounts, now is the time to get your passwords in order.

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Passive Wi-Fi promises major energy savings for mobile and Internet of Things devices

Publié: février 26, 2016, 5:15pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

Public wi-fi

Researchers at the University of Washington have found a way to lower the power consumption of Wi-Fi significantly. They have dubbed the new form of low power wireless internet "passive W-Fi". It could be harnessed to power IoT devices or to help improve battery life in mobile phones.

Passive Wi-Fi will require just 59 microwatts to transmit data between devices which is 10,000 times less than the power used by traditional Wi-Fi chips in personal computers and mobile phones.

However, there is a catch. Wireless routers and the devices they are sending passive Wi-Fi to will need new chips to make use of the technology which is still quite a number of years away from a consumer release. A spin off company called Jeeva Wireless has been created to help push the commercialization of this new form of Wi-Fi.

Currently, wireless routers and wireless devices have chips that allow them to send and receive data over Wi-Fi. Passive Wi-Fi works by replacing the wireless chips in our devices with new ones that are able to act like mirrors that can reflect the wireless data back to our routers. This allows the devices to save the energy they would normally send broadcasting their own signal back to the router.

The reflected data is able to reach a speed of 11Mbps or the speed of 802.11b Wi-Fi. The researchers at the University of Washington have been able to transmit data between 30-100 feet using this new technology. Passive Wi-Fi is also able to broadcast using line of sight or even through walls if necessary.

One possible flaw is that since it is a passive signal it is unable to actively alert a router that it is ready to send and receive data. To function, the router will need to give a command to the devices in order to enable them to send data at a certain time or when a certain condition is met.

Wi-Fi has become commonplace in many homes and offices over the past few years and a new passive form of wireless internet may reinvigorate interest in how businesses and consumers can make use of the technology in new ways.

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Google working with carriers to replace SMS

Publié: février 24, 2016, 10:50am CET par Anthony Spadafora

Brillo is Google's new IoT platform

In an effort to modernize SMS messaging, Google and a number of mobile service providers are working together to expedite the release and adoption of Rich Communication Services (RCS).

The company will be joined by the wireless standards group GSMA along with many global and regional carriers including America Movil, Bharti Airtel Ltd, Deutsche Telekom, Globe Telecom, Millicom, Orange, Sprint, Telenor Group, TeliaSonera, Telstra, Turkcell and Vodafone.

RCS is a continuing program that was developed by the GSMA to create a new cross-operator messaging platform that functions similar to way SMS does. This new communication service would incorporate many of the features -- such as file sharing, IP voice calls, and group messaging -- that drove users away from SMS and towards Internet based messaging platforms such as iMessage, Skype, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and Telegram.

In recent years, many users have shunned SMS messaging in favor of these new messaging platforms. As a result, SMS has lost the popularity it once had while WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger have grown their user bases significantly.

WhatsApp now has one billion monthly active users and Facebook Messenger is quite close to reaching that number as well.

Google has taken note of how its Android users have moved away from SMS and it understands the importance messaging platforms have to its users. This is why the company recently acquired the startup Jibe Mobile, which works to help mobile operators include support for a number of messaging features into their services.

Google will making the Jibe platform available to mobile operators to allow them to easily support RCS without having to develop their own infrastructure.

Android and its users could stand to benefit from the new messaging options that RCS will allow across carriers while at the same time Google will put itself in a better position to compete with Facebook, which currently owns and operates both Messenger and WhatsApp.

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Samsung Pay will be available in more major markets this year

Publié: février 23, 2016, 8:30pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

Samsung-Pay

After less than a year, Samsung Pay has reached 5 million users in South Korea and the US. The service has already processed over $500 million dollars worth of sales and this number is set to increase as Samsung is preparing to globally expand its mobile payment service throughout 2016.

The company will be launching Samsung Pay in China next month in partnership with China’s UnionPay. Support for the service will then be made available in Australia, Brazil, Singapore, Spain, the UK and Canada later this year.

Samsung is adding support for transit passes, coupons, and membership cards to further entice users to adopt Samsung Pay. Currently the service works with credit and debit cards from over 70 major and regional banks.

In its home country of South Korea, Samsung is positioning Samsung Pay as a secure, simple, and quick way to make online payments. The company will be partnering with BC Card, Hana Card, KB Koomin Card, Lotte Card, NH Nonghyup Card and its own line of credit cards to allow Korean users more flexibility when using the service. Fingerprint authentication can be used when making payments online to ensure security and to help protect users who have lost or had their devices stolen.

Samsung has just announced its latest flagship devices at MWC 2016, and both the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge will support Samsung Pay. The release of the latest versions in the company’s Galaxy Line could help spur adoption of the service.

Now that the company has coupled an increased list of supported banks and services alongside the release of the S7, Samsung Pay will likely continue gaining momentum and users.

Fujitsu, Toshiba and Vaio plan to merge PC divisions

Publié: février 17, 2016, 6:01pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

Boardroom handshake

Toshiba, Fujitsu and Vaio, which was recently spun off from Sony, have entered into the final round of negotiations to integrate their PC divisions.

If the three firms can reach an agreement, they plan on establishing a joint holding company with subsidiaries responsible for running each firm's PC businesses.

One of the main motivations for this joint venture is that will allow all three firms to keep their respective brands. Toshiba, Fujisu and Vaio are all well-known brands that have strong name recognition in the Japanese market.

Toshiba, Fujitsu and Vaio will be working together to improve their production systems. The three firms will also use their combined power to increase price pressure on their component suppliers. Toshiba, Fujitsu and Vaio will dethrone NEC Lenovo Japan Group when it comes to shipments in the Japanese PC market if they are successful in reaching an agreement.

The parent company of Vaio, the investment fund Japan Industrial Partners, will have a higher equity stake and will be taking more initiative in the new company. Toshiba and Fujitsu are both planning to have equity stakes that are lower than 50 percent in the new company. This will keep their PC businesses separate from their other businesses and will help mitigate some of the risk of continuing to manufacture PCs despite both companies seeing decreased sales in their PC divisions.

Toshiba, Fujitsu, and Vaio are aiming to reach a final agreement by March 31 which will be the end of the 2015 fiscal year.

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Intel may soon launch 10TB SSDs

Publié: février 16, 2016, 8:22pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

Intel’s SSDs may soon see a significant increase in their capacity and speed as a result of Micron’s latest chips, which could also be used to create competitive SSDs that are as small as flash drives.

Micron is responsible for producing the flash which is used in Intel’s SSDs and now it has begun manufacturing and distributing its 3D NAND flash in large quantities. The company’s 3D flash chips would allow tiny SSDs to reach a capacity of 3.5TB, and 2.5 inch SSDs could possibly hold even more than 10TB of storage.

Currently, the largest SSDs Intel sells offer up to 4TB of storage. Using Micron’s 3D NAND chips, the storage in these SSDs could be tripled. Although Intel has yet to offer any timeline as to when it would be releasing new SSDs possibly using Micron’s new chips to their full potential, the company’s enterprise SSDs are long overdue for an upgrade.

Besides providing flash for Intel’s products, Micron does produce its own SSDs. It is planning to release new drives in the spring and summer of this year. Hopefully Micron’s new drives will include its new 3D flash chips and offer consumers greater storage capacity in the form of a standard 2.5 inch SSD.

Micron is not the first company to produce chips using a 3D NAND flash structure. Samsung and Toshiba made the switch many years prior to help improve the storage capacity of their drives and to help lower production costs. Micron on the other hand does use a different production method than its rivals.

The company uses floating-gate cells to improve the capacity and reliability of its drives while Toshiba and Samsung use charge-trap technology to manufacture their 3D flash which may result in longer battery life.

Currently Micron is collaborating with Intel to develop a noticeably faster storage and memory technology called Xpoint. Whether or not the company’s new 3D NAND chips will be a part of this project is still unknown. Micron and Intel believe that Xpoint will be 10 times denser than DRAM and that it will produce SSDS 1,000 times faster and stronger than flash storage.

Micron and Intel’s upcoming SSDs might just be worth waiting for if you have been putting off the upgrade to an SSD because of storage limitations. Either way it will be interesting to see if Intel puts Micron’s new 3D NAND flash chips in its upcoming SSDs or saves them for Xpoint.

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App stores to generate over $100bn in revenue in five years

Publié: février 15, 2016, 9:48am CET par Anthony Spadafora

Streaming video service Hang w/ shares its profits with users -- others take note!

When apps first came to smartphones, it completely changed the ways users interacted with their devices. Mobile phones went from being just phones that could make calls and send short messages to devices that resembled miniature computers.

Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store saw a dramatic rise in the number and quality of the apps they offered almost instantly. For many users, apps have become commonplace and they no longer hold our interest or excitement as they once did.

However in other parts of the world, smartphone adoption is just beginning to ramp up. According to the data provider App Annie, based in San Francisco, global mobile app store revenue will reach $101 billion in five years. The decreasing cost of smartphones combined with data plans becoming more accessible will enable people in developing countries to own a smartphone for the first time which will in turn lead these new users to purchasing their first apps.

The user base of smartphones and tablets will reach 6.2 billion by 2020, which is more than double the current user base of 2.6 billion. India, Indonesia, China, Mexico, Brazil and Turkey will likely see some of the strongest growth. The revenue each device generates will increase to $16.2 in 2020 as a result of an increase in spending in Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East, while there will be a slight decline in the amount spent in the Asia-Pacific region.

Apps that stream video and music along with dating apps will lead the predicted increase in spending. Better hardware and cheaper data plans will allow services such as Netflix, Spotify, Tinder and iQiyi in China to expand significantly.

Games are where a majority of users spend money on mobile apps, and this will continue to be the case, but their share of the money users spend on mobile apps will likely drop from 85 percent currently to 74 percent in the future.

It is important to keep in mind that App Annie’s projections include subscriptions to streaming services while omitting money spent on e-commerce, which includes ride share apps such as Uber and in-app advertising.

Apple is likely to retain its lead in gross revenue over the next five years. However, the Google Play Store and other third-party Android app stores will gain greater market share.

As global smartphone adoption increases it is likely that new apps and services will emerge. Smartphone ownership will also further propel the idea of a truly connected world.

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Vaio's first smartphone runs Windows 10 Mobile

Publié: février 5, 2016, 7:43am CET par Anthony Spadafora

Sony Vaio Windows 10 Mobile

It has been over a year since Sony sold off its Vaio brand due to decreased laptop sales, but now it seems that the brand may be making a comeback in the form of a mobile device. The Vaio Phone Biz will be the company’s first smartphone and, surprisingly, it is running Windows 10 Mobile.

Vaio is trying to retain the design and build quality of Sony’s laptops by using high quality materials in its new handset. The Vaio Phone Biz features a very sleek aluminum build with a silver finish.

Not only has the new phone been designed well, but the company has also put the device through extensive testing to ensure its quality and that it will withstand daily wear and tear.

The Vaio Phone Biz will have a 5.5-inch 1080p LCD screen that will hopefully save battery life while giving users plenty of screen real estate. It has a 13 megapixel camera on the back and houses 3GB of RAM along with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 processor.

Though this is not the latest nor powerful chip from Qualcomm, it allows the Vaio Phone Biz to make use of Windows 10 Continuum desktop mode, which enables the phone to transition into a desktop mode when docked with a monitor, keyboard, mouse and other accessories.

Vaio is partnering with the leading Japanese telecom NTT Docomo to provide applications as well as network support for the Phone Biz. The device will go on sale this April for $424 and will come unlocked.

Launching its first smart phone will be a challenge for Vaio and doing so using Windows 10 Mobile as its OS may make this an even more risky venture.

Seagate faces class-action lawsuit over faulty 3TB hard drives

Publié: février 4, 2016, 10:31am CET par Anthony Spadafora

Hard Drive PC computer inside

Hard drive failure is inevitable, but manufacturers will generally provide an estimate of how long their products will last, giving businesses and consumers plenty of time to backup their drives. When a hard drive fails unexpectedly and long before it should, it can cripple a business.

A class-action lawsuit has been brought against the hard drive manufacturer Seagate after many users reported that the company’s 3TB drives were failing at an alarming rate. The law firm Hagens Berman and Sheller has filed a case in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

The firm claims that Seagate sold both their Barracuda 3TB internal and Backup Plus 3TB external drives under misleading terms and that the lifetime of the drives was greatly exaggerated by the company.

Although the drives were initially advertised as dependable with extremely low failure rates, many consumers have reported that their drives have failed well before Seagate’s projected failure time. Some of the company’s 3TB drives even failed after only a few days of use.

The integrity of Seagate’s drives has been questioned in the past as well. In 2014, a hard drive reliability report by the cloud storage company Backblaze indicated that the company’s 3TB drives had a 10 percent failure rate and that its 1.5TB drives had a 13 percent failure rate.

The report though was called into question because of the way in which Backblaze tested the drives. Although the company purchased consumer grade drives from Seagate, these drives were installed and used in servers running around the clock which is quite different than the way in which consumers would normally be using the drives.

The law firm involved in the dispute has requested that the case be made into a class-action lawsuit so that anyone in the US who purchased either of the drives can be included in the settlement.

If those who did purchase Seagate’s 3TB drives will be compensated they are likely receive a small portion of what they originally paid for the drives.

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Google Glass now only targets the enterprise market

Publié: janvier 27, 2016, 7:30pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

google_glass-800x450

When Sergey Brin first wore Google Glass on stage in April of 2012, it seemed like the future was upon us. Excitement and hype continued to build for its consumer release when early versions of the product were distributed to the lucky few who were accepted into the Google Glass Explorer program in 2014.

Sadly though after two years of #throughGlass posts, the social media accounts of Google Glass including its Google+, Twitter, Instagram and others were all shut down this week. However, Google Glass is not dead. Instead Google has shifted the products’ focus from consumers to enterprise.

The ideas and technology behind Google Glass are now in the hands of the Project Aura team. Currently the team is working on several devices and one of them is a new updated version of Glass that has taken on the nickname of "EE" or Enterprise Edition.

FCC images of the Enterprise Edition were released to the public by Google last month and it seems that the company is finally allowing Glass EE to come to light. Google launched a program called Glass for Work in 2014 to help realize the potential that Glass could have in the workplace. Several clients of Glass for Work partner groups have been able to try out Glass EE but they had to ensure that images and information about the new device did not get out to the public.

Google has now began to distribute and test this new version of the product and as a result more and more Glass for Work partner groups have had the opportunity to try it themselves.

While Google Glass was not the revolutionary consumer product that many tech enthusiasts once believed it had the potential to be, its technology and innovations may still end up shaping the future of enterprise.

Microsoft opens Office Insider program to Mac users

Publié: janvier 26, 2016, 10:34am CET par Anthony Spadafora

office_logo

Microsoft has decided to let Mac users participate in its Office Insider program. It gives users running the popular suite on an Apple computer the opportunity to test new features earlier than the general public.

Windows and Android users have been able to be a part of the Office Insider program for some time now, and Mac users are finally getting their chance to try it out.

In order to join the Office Insider program, Mac users can opt-in from the Microsoft Auto Update tool on their computers and can find more information at Office.com/insider. The new Office Insider program for Mac is quite different than the Windows version because it enables users the opportunity to test features that are much closer to the their final release, sometimes as early as one or three weeks away. Windows users who are a part of the Office Insider program are often testing new features for Windows 10 that are months away from their final release.

The Office Insider program is intended for Office client and app technologies. This is what sets it apart from the Office 365 First Release program which is intended for Office 365 Business and Enterprise users who are responsible for testing the software and services that work outside of the Office client.

Microsoft has also decided to add its digital inking tools to iPad and iPad Pro. These tools had only previously been available in Office for Windows since 2007. Now iPad and iPad Pro users will be able to use Microsoft’s digital inking tools in updated versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote that the company has just released.

Mac users of Microsoft’s programs and services have a lot to be excited about and the company’s dedication to Apple’s platforms has really increased recently.

Google is enabling Android app installs from search results

Publié: janvier 21, 2016, 9:31am CET par Anthony Spadafora

android_app_updates

Google may be simplifying the way Android users install apps on their devices. Some users have reportedly been able to install new apps directly from Google search results on their smartphones and tablets.

Typically a user is redirected from the Google Search app to the Google Play store when they are searching for new apps using the search engine. However, after a recent update to the app, an install button appears along with user ratings and information about the app that allows apps to be installed directly from search.

The addition of this function by Google could benefit both Android users and developers. For consumers, the process of installing new apps has been simplified as well as quickened. Developers may see more installs of their apps due to exposure from this update as well as more impulse installs from Android users.

At this time, the update has rolled out to a limited amount of users, but hopefully it will be deployed to more devices soon.

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Apple's iAd may soon allow developers to keep all the revenue

Publié: janvier 18, 2016, 5:54pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

apple_store_front

Back in 2010, Steve Jobs revealed Apple’s new mobile advertising platform iAd. The goal of this new venture into advertising was to make the mobile ads that appeared in iPhone and iPad apps interactive and more stylish.

Apple users would also be able to remain within the current app they were using without being forced out of the app and into their browser. The iAd platform was able to achieve this but it came at a high cost and required advertisers to relinquish power to Apple, which had final say over which ads were approved. The company was also reluctant to share the marketing data it acquired through iAd.

Apple has now decided to take a step back in regard to iAd after six years of running the mobile advertising platform. It is rumored that the company will soon allow publishers to take over the responsibilities of ad creation, sales, and the management of iAd.

Apple has already begun to disband the iAd sales force in preparation for the upcoming transfer of leadership and they will most likely receive buyouts. It has also updated the iAd platform to enable publishers to sell their ads through it directly and those who do so will be able to keep 100 percent of the ad revenue generated.

According to data from the firm EMarketer, iAd just had a 5.1 percent share of the total advertising revenue earned from mobile devices in 2015. This is quite a low percentage when compared to Google’s 9.5 percent and especially to Facebook’s 37.9 per cent.

Hopefully this new direction for iAd will give the advertising platform a chance at living up to Jobs’ original vision.

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Google becomes serious about VR

Publié: janvier 14, 2016, 9:25am CET par Anthony Spadafora

Virtual Reality VR Headset Man

The revival of virtual reality is nearly upon us and Microsoft and Facebook have both put a great deal of resources into carving out their place in this new form of entertainment.

Facebook is heavily invested in the Oculus Rift while Microsoft has spent years developing its own version of virtual/augmented reality with its HoloLens.

Google on the other hand has had only a minor presence in VR with its budget-minded Google Cardboard. This could be set to change in 2016 as the company has appointed Clay Bavor, VP for Product Management, to focus his efforts solely on VR.

Bavor has been responsible for running Gmail, Drive, Docs and Google’s other apps along with overseeing Google Cardboard. Google’s SVP Diane Greene will be taking over his duties so that he can expand the work he has been doing with VR.

Cardboard is Google’s attempt to get VR into consumers’ hands in an affordable way using the smartphones they already have. In the past year, the company has been able to deploy the product into schools and was able to solidify a deal with the New York Times. The team behind Cardboard also announced an integration with GoPro which would allow YouTube videos to incorporate virtual reality.

Google has been quite cautious in dealing with VR and AR technologies and products since Google Glass was unable to gain the support it needed from consumers and critics to really take off as a platform. It is possible that the company has been waiting for Magic Leap, an augmented reality firm in which it has invested in, to make AR possible in a more appealing way.

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Tesla meets Q4 2015 sales goal, but only just

Publié: janvier 6, 2016, 8:29pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

Tesla Model X

Elon Musk’s car company Tesla just managed to meet its low end production target during the final quarter of 2015. The company was only able to manufacture 17,400 of its luxury electric cars despite having previously projected that it would produce 17,000 to 19,000. Tesla did however reach its target for 2015 by delivering a total of 50,580 cars.

Tesla currently produces two models of electric cars: the Model S sedan and the Model X SUV. The Model S was introduced in 2012 and it has been well-received by both critics and consumers. The Model X SUV however, just began being delivered to consumers in September of 2015. Its production was delayed quite heavily due to various problems regarding how difficult it is to manufacture.

SUVs are once again growing in popularity among consumers and there has been a great deal of excitement in regard to Tesla’s Model X which is a much larger automobile and has the capacity to transport seven adults. Many analysts believe that this new model from the company will be very important to the company and could account for a large portion of its sales going forward.

The Model X is a challenging automobile to produce due in part to its distinctive gull-wing doors which Tesla refers to as falcon doors. Elon Musk even believes that it is a "particularly challenging car to build, maybe the hardest car to build in the world". The Model X’s second-row seat sets the car apart stylistically but also makes it a difficult vehicle to manufacture.

Tesla’s Model X has been a success so far but the company is still planning for the future by beginning work on what it refers to as a gigafactory in Reno, Nevada. This facility will be responsible for producing the batteries necessary to meet future demand for Tesla’s vehicles.

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Lenovo launches business versions of MIIX 700 and Yoga 900

Publié: janvier 5, 2016, 6:26pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

Lenovo Yoga 900 2

Lenovo has decided to relaunch the MIIX 700 tablet and the Yoga 900 convertible with added security to appeal to business consumers. The company is hoping to target users whose workplaces support the BYOD movement by offering Business Editions of these two devices.

The MIIX 700 Business Edition offers the portability of a tablet with a detachable keyboard which will entice users who prefer a physical keyboard. Lenovo has positioned the device as an alternative to Microsoft’s Surface. The Business Edition of this device retains the design of the original version but now includes a TPM chipset to allow for enterprise-level security. It also has support for Intel’s RealSense R200 3D camera.

This new model will be powered by Intel’s Skylake Core m7 processor and will weigh 3.2 pounds at only 0.77 inches thick. It will have a 12-inch FHD+ display with a resolution of 2160 X 1440 with a brightness of 400nits. The tablet can be outfitted with up to 256 GB of storage and 8 GB of RAM. Handwriting input will also be supported using Lenovo’s Active Pen technology.

The MIIX 700 Business Edition will only be available through special order and will begin shipping in February. Unfortunately Lenovo has not released pricing information on this device yet.

The Yoga 900 Business Edition will also resemble its consumer version with a 360-degree hinge that allows the laptop to be oriented in four distinct modes: laptop, tent, stand, and tablet. It will have a 13.3-inch QHD+ display with a resolution of 3200 x 1800 with a brightness of 300 nits. It will weigh 2.9 pounds and can have up to 512 GB of storage and 16 GB of RAM. What sets the Business Edition apart from the consumer version of the Yoga 900 is support for TPM modules.

The MIIX 700 and the Yoga 900 Business Editions are two of the many refreshed devices that Lenovo has announced at 2016’s CES.

Ford and Google team up to make autonomous vehicles

Publié: décembre 23, 2015, 10:40am CET par Anthony Spadafora

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Google and Ford have decided to join forces to build self-driving vehicles by forming a joint venture. Google’s technology will enable the cars to drive autonomously, while Ford will design and manufacture the vehicles being used.

The partnership between Google and Ford will be announced by Ford at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in January. This joint venture will take the pressure of designing its own vehicles off of Google while helping Ford gain valuable knowledge and insight into self-driving software development.

Ford has been developing its own self-driving system for years now, but the company lacks the real world testing that Google has been able to acquire. Currently Google is testing 53 vehicles publicly in California and Texas and, so far, the company has logged 1.3 million miles of autonomous driving.

If Google did not align with an automotive manufacturer, it would take a significant amount of money and time to gain the necessary manufacturing expertise to begin producing its own cars. Ford is not the only company Google has reached out to and Google co-founder Sergey Brin believes that one day its self-driving cars could greatly reduce the number of deaths on U.S. roads, which averages roughly 33,000 per year.

Neither company was ready to give exact details on their partnership, it was made clear that this new venture would be legally separated from Ford in order to protect the automotive company from possible liability. Volvo was the first company to publicly state that it would accept responsibility for crashes that occurred while its cars were driving in autonomous mode earlier this year. The company was quickly followed by Mercedes Benz and Google, which both pledged to take responsibility for any accidents that may occur.

The agreement between Google and Ford is non-exclusive in nature and Google has been in talks with several other automotive manufacturers in hopes to get its self-driving systems into their vehicles. The race to develop successful autonomous vehicles has gained momentum in the past few years and Nissan, Vovlo, and Mercedes Benz have all said that they will offer consumers the opportunity to purchase advanced vehicles by 2020.

Google and Ford’s new partnership could help accelerate the development and adoption of self-driving cars that are powered by Google’s technology which has already proven itself to be more than capable off of a closed course.

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Tim Cook: Apple will not budge on encryption

Publié: décembre 22, 2015, 4:26pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

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With many U.S. lawmakers calling for an end to encryption, Tim Cook has decided to reiterate Apple’s stance on the matter. Apple’s CEO believes that when it comes to encryption there is no trade-off between privacy and national security.

During CBS’ program 60 Minutes, on Sunday Cook defended the need for encryption and how it important it is to Apple and its consumers. According to Cook, there is no reason why Americans should not be able to have privacy while simultaneously protecting America’s national security.

Cook made the point that consumers should be able to protect their personal data on their smartphones. This data includes health information, financial information, private conversations, and private business information.

Whether or not encryption should be allowed has become a rising issue after the recent terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif. Lawmakers have come to believe that tech companies should play a greater role in the prevention of terrorist attacks by working more closely with law enforcement agencies and allowing them to access the encrypted communications of their users. Even President Obama has urged tech companies and law enforcement "to make it harder for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice".

Cook has stood firmly in favor for encryption despite these recent requests. He is willing to work together with law enforcement when a warrant has been issued, but in the case of allowing access to encrypted communication he has been unwavering. Apple also refused to give the passcode of an iPhone 5s to aid investigators in a lawsuit in October 2015, since this would have been a violation of that user’s privacy.

Lawmakers and others opposed to encryption are encouraging tech companies to build backdoors into their systems, which would allow law enforcement agencies a way to access encrypted communications.

Cook believes that such a move would jeopardize the security of Apple’s devices since putting a back door in would allow both law enforcement and criminals a means of accessing consumers’ personal information.

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iPhone sales will decline in 2016

Publié: décembre 16, 2015, 8:21pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

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According to a recent report by Morgan Stanley, iPhone sales are set to drop for the first time ever in 2016.

An analyst at the firm named Katy Huberty, who worked on the report, is responsible for this prediction. She said that Morgan Stanley thinks that unit sales of the iPhone will decline by six percent during this fiscal year.

Apple has had tremendous success with the iPhone brand since its beginning. The company has seen sales of the phones increase year over year since the launch of the original iPhone back in 2007 which sold 1.4 million units. Even the iPhone 5s was able to increase unit sales despite being an incremental release that did not revolutionize neither the OS nor the hardware.

In 2015, Apple was able to sell 231 million iPhones in part due to the success of the iPhone 6 and 6s. Morgan Stanley believes that this number will drop to 218 million in 2016. This would be a 5.7 percent drop in fiscal sales. Huberty had previously estimated a sales number of 247 million for the 2016 fiscal year.

The reason for this drop off in iPhone sales is due to higher prices on the international market and to the way in which smartphone adoption has tapered off now that most consumers who want an iPhone already have one or are planning on upgrading with the next release cycle. If Huberty’s prediction turns out to be true it could be quite damaging for Apple’s bottom line as iPhone sales account for more than two thirds of its total revenues and profits.

It is not surprising that iPhone sales might decrease after the tremendous success that Apple experienced with the iPhone 6. Since May, the company’s stock has declined from $132 per share to $113 where it is now.

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Here's why Apple's products are so popular in the enterprise

Publié: décembre 11, 2015, 9:51am CET par Anthony Spadafora

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In 2015, Apple was very successful in reaching users working in education and enterprise. JAMF Software, a company that specializes in Apple device management, conducted a survey in which it noted a large uptick in the adoption of Apple devices in both fields as a result of user preference.

Apple has secured a foothold in today’s enterprise environment and its devices are now integral to many businesses. Enterprise IT professionals have noted how strongly support has grown for the company’s various platforms with 96 percent of internal teams supporting Mac, 81 percent supporting iPad, and 84 percent supporting iPhone. As more companies have tried to reduce cost and appeal to the preferences of their employees, support for Apple’s products have increased as well.

Support for Apple’s platform is also very strong in the field of education with over 90 percent of those surveyed confirming that their schools or higher education institutions offer support for Apple’s devices and services. The number of Macs and iPads in classrooms has increased as well. JAMF software attributes this to Apple’s rich ecosystem, overall appeal, native security features, and the way in which using Apple devices reduces maintenance costs.

The continued growth of Apple’s presence in the enterprise market has helped create competition and growth in what was once a very stagnant field. Its products have also helped a greater adoption of the bring your own device to work movement.

Apple has had presence in the field of education since the company donated Apple 1s to schools in 1975 and it is impressive to see the company continue to have a presence there.

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Yahoo will keep Alibaba stake under its name

Publié: décembre 10, 2015, 9:13am CET par Anthony Spadafora

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Yahoo has decided against selling off its $32 billion stake in the Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba. Instead the company will shift its focus towards creating deals centered around its core business.

Originally the company had planned to place its 15 percent share of Alibaba into a separate company named Aabaco. Yahoo’s desire to spin-off its stake in Alibaba stemmed from the idea that this move would unlock shareholder value and increase the company’s business. Uncertainty over a possibly massive tax bill might have also influenced Yahoo’s decision to abandon its former plan.

With Yahoo now focusing on potential deals involving its core business, selling off most of the company could now be an option. The company has a market capitalization of $30 billion and is well known worldwide for its search engine. Yahoo has been struggling to compete with the likes of Google and Microsoft’s Bing when it comes to search and this has made it difficult for Marissa Mayer, Yahoo’s CEO, to turn the company around.

There is certainly an interest in Yahoo’s advertising technology, content assets, and online video platform Yahoo Screen. Lowell McAdam, the CEO of Verizon Communications, expressed interest in acquiring Yahoo’s assets if they became available. This coincides with his recent purchase of AOL for $4.4 billion in May of this year. McAdam believes that Yahoo’s assets would be useful for AOL.

Yahoo’s shares increased by 2.6 percent in after hours trading to $35.75 per share after the company decided against spinning off Alibaba.

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Toshiba may spin off its PC business following weak sales

Publié: décembre 8, 2015, 4:41pm CET par Anthony Spadafora

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Toshiba may be looking to spin off its PC division, and merge it with that of other computer manufacturers. The company has already stated that it plans to sell part of its semiconductor unit to Sony Corp.

Toshiba is aiming to cut out the least profitable units of its operation after an accounting scandal that occurred earlier this year.

Toshiba’s PC division has a rich history and was responsible for releasing the first commercially available laptop in 1985. Recently though, it has not been able to keep up with the other companies in the PC market.

Toshiba has a 2.3 percent share in the global market for laptops and tablets according to research done by the firm Euromonitor. The company has already stopped making desktops.

The decision comes as no surprise as many Japanese electronics companies have already begun to do similar things. Fujitsu Ltd announced in October that it had plans to spin off its PC business. Both Hitachi Ltd and Sharp Corp. also decided that the consumer market was no longer viable for them. Panasonic has turned its efforts towards the enterprise market and has been producing laptops with businesses in mind.

Talks of Toshiba’s possibly combining their PC division with those of other companies were reported by the Nikkei business daily. The paper suggested that Vaio Corp, formerly part of Sony’s PC division, might be considering absorbing Toshiba’s PC unit.

The rumor was quickly put down by a spokeswoman for Vaio. Toshiba most likely will be spinning off its PC division but the question of how still remains in the air.

Steve Ballmer: Windows 10 Mobile needs Android apps

Publié: décembre 4, 2015, 10:27am CET par Anthony Spadafora

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Microsoft held its yearly shareholder meeting this week in Bellevue, Washington. According to executive vice president and chief financial officer Amy Hood, the company did well during the fiscal year of 2015 and it has already reported a strong start when it comes to the current fiscal year.

However, former CEO of Microsoft Steve Ballmer was displeased with the level of disclosure at the meeting concerning Microsoft’s revenue. He believes that revenue is a key metric and that it should be reported as opposed to the run rate.

The margins for Microsoft’s software were very high while the margins for the company’s hardware and cloud services were much lower. The company did discuss the progress it has made in the cloud but the numbers offered by the company were picked to showcase the areas in which the company has been the most successful. This gives an unclear picture to the state of Microsoft’s progress in the cloud, making it hard to gauge its success.

Lately Microsoft has been pushing its vision of one Windows 10 across all devices. By allowing developers to write universal applications that work across a variety of platforms the company hopes to close the app gap that exists between Windows phones and their competitors. This would allow Windows Phone to have access to many popular apps already available on iOS and Android, for example Snapchat.

Ballmer believes that this course of action will not work and the easier way to close the app gap would be to allow Windows Phone to run Android applications.

Microsoft may be considering this has a back up plan being that the company already has two projects in place to try and accomplish this: Project Islandwood to port iOS apps and Project Astoria to port Android apps.

iOS 9's adoption rate dwarfs Android 6.0 Marshmallow

Publié: décembre 3, 2015, 9:41am CET par Anthony Spadafora

Samsung Android Galaxy S5 iPhone 5s Apple iOS

This fall we saw the release of iOS 9 from Apple just before the company launched the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.

The success of these new models along with an uptick in the adoption rates of iOS 9 showed how quickly Apple users were to upgrade their devices. So far iOS 9 has an adoption rate of 70 percent which is significantly higher when compared to Marshmallow’s adoption rate.

Apple recently posted the numbers of users who have upgraded to iOS 9 using data from its App Store. A mere three weeks after its release, the latest version of iOS has already hit an adoption rate of 50 percent. In contrast, Android 6.0 Marshmallow has an adoption rate of just 10 percent even though it was released two months ago.

Since Apple has tight control on the iPhone and iOS ecosystem, it is able to update a much larger number of phones with few to no issues. Google on the other hand works with a large number of device manufacturers and carriers that feel the need to differentiate their devices by preloading additional apps or even by skinning the latest version of Android. As a result of this, updates -- even incremental ones -- take longer on a majority of Android devices with some phones not receiving updates at all.

With the release of iOS 9, Apple was able to improve a great deal of the user experience and overall performance of the OS. Though this update was an incremental one that did not drastically change the look and feel of the software, it still had a high adoption rate across both new and older Apple devices.

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Dell announces Datacenter Scalable Solutions server line

Publié: novembre 27, 2015, 10:39am CET par Anthony Spadafora

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In an effort to expand its share of the server market, Dell has announced today that it will be launching a new line of servers targeting companies that do not require the server volume of a hyperscale data center.

Instead, Dell will be catering to companies involved in web technology, telecommunications, hosting, utilities such as oil and gas, and research institutions. Dell hopes to meet the unique needs of companies in these fields with its Datacenter Scalable Solutions (DDS) units.

The number of businesses that are just the below the hyperscale size is rapidly growing and this presents an opportunity for Dell to employ its global sales force and supply chain to meet their needs. This segment represents a $6 billion dollar addressable market and is growing three times faster than the traditional X86 server market.

Dell’s expertise in this field will allow the company to quickly respond to a variety of situations and it has the back end to deliver custom built servers. This is appealing because off the shelf servers are rarely able to meet the complex and individual needs of these businesses.

The Datacenter Scalable Solutions line will complement the Data Center Solutions (DCS) division. Dell launched the DCS line in 2007 to better meet the needs of their high volume customers. Together these two lines will allow the company to expand further into the data center space.

Dell is planning to ship the first servers from the DSS line later this fall. Their release could coincide with the annual Dell World conference in October.

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