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How the Apple Watch is made
An interesting look at the processes involved in manufacturing the upcoming Apple Watch. Read More
WHITE PAPER: IBM
Information Governance Best Practices
When should you implement integration governance? According to this Gartner research note, you should start now if you are an IT professional considering an initiative like master data management (MDM), e-discovery, information archiving or cloud migration. Learn More
WHITE PAPER: IBM
3 Guiding Principles to Improve Data Security and Compliance
Data security is a moving target—as data grows, more sophisticated threats emerge; the number of regulations increase; and changing economic times make it difficult to secure and protect data. Learn More
Hilarious video of Apple engineer explaining the story behind the new MacBook
Apple's new 12-inch MacBook might be a point of controversy for some. In order to attain a certain level of thinness, Apple completely removed all of the familiar ports and replaced it with just one -- USB C.Now, in this hilarious spoof video, we get an insider perspective from an Apple engineer on what that development process was like. It's a must watch! To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More
Microsoft, Cisco extend their cloud and data center relationship
Microsoft and Cisco have expanded on their cloud relationship to provide new services and hardware. Dubbed the Cisco Cloud Architecture for the Microsoft Cloud Platform (yes, that is a mouthful), it combines Windows Azure Pack and Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (Cisco ACI) to help cloud providers deliver hybrid cloud services faster while simplifying operations and reducing costs.The Platform will provide the foundation for cloud providers to move beyond traditional infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) offerings to deliver infrastructure-, platform-, and software-as a-service with integrated management software.The companies claim the combination of Windows Azure Pack and Cisco ACI will allow partners to deliver services at DevOps speed, reducing total cost of ownership and accelerating time-to-revenue. Cisco will offer pre-packaged policy management libraries so cloud providers can implement applications more quickly with consistent policy management.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More
uTorrent, Oracle called out for unwanted software installs
It seems Lenovo's Superfish was the proverbial straw that broke the public's back, because people are starting to really call out software vendors that pull similar moves. In recent days, BitTorrent and Oracle, an unlikely pair if ever there was one, have been taken to task for similar shenanigans.BitTorrent's uTorrent software is the most popular and widely used torrent software, but it's also been criticized for getting bloated and filled with ads you can't remove for some time. Regular torrent users openly advocate shunning the newer versions of uTorrent in favor of the 2.2.1 release from 2010 because it doesn't have the ads and useless new features.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More
Why Aruba's promise not to change after HP buyout may be true
Last Monday, HP made a big splash when it announced a definitive agreement to acquire Aruba Networks. Coincidentally, that Monday was the same day that Aruba's annual customer and partner conference, Atmosphere, kicked off in Las Vegas.Although Aruba had some interesting announcements at the show, such as its new branch office product, most of the buzz at the show was about what HP's takeover meant to Aruba's channel partners and customers. As I pointed out in my previous post, HP's track record has been underwhelming when it comes to acquisitions, so anyone associated with Aruba was well-justified in their concern.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More
Ford, GM and Toyota sued for 'dangerous defects' in hackable cars
What if your car horn started blasting or your windshield wipers started wiping wiper fluid on their own? Even if you considered that to be a "prank," what if your car accelerated when you weren't pressing down on the gas pedal? What if you tried to stop but your brakes were non-responsive to continued stomping on the brake pedal? Should we wait until a terrible wreck happens before fixing flaws in cars that can be remotely hacked? Attorney Marc Stanley doesn't think so; he filed a class action lawsuit against Ford, General Motors and Toyota "for failing to address a defect that allows cars to be hacked and control wrested away from the driver.""We shouldn't need to wait for a hacker or terrorist to prove exactly how dangerous this is before requiring car makers to fix the defect," Stanley said. "Just as Honda has been forced to recall cars to repair potentially deadly airbags, Toyota, Ford and GM should be required to recall cars with these dangerous electronic systems."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More
: LogMeIn
eBook: 67 Tips for Building Live Chat Success
Expert tips to help agents and administrators alike provide superior service via live chat. Filled with practical tips, tweets and actionable items, these best practices will help businesses take chat to the next level. Read More.
Apple Watch: An overpriced, out-of-date status symbol
Yesterday I was subjected to all 95 minutes, 14 seconds of the Apple Watch announcement "keynote" video stream, and I am left with one clear notion:The Apple Watch is the stupidest piece of gadgetry I have seen in a long, long time.(I should note that I am not entirely unbiased here. I am a Linux user and an Open Source advocate. And, perhaps most importantly, I like freedom. Apple and I don't tend to see eye-to-eye on that front. But that doesn't make the Apple Watch any less pointless.)Let's start with the elephant in the room – the price.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More
3 big surprises from the Apple Watch event
Apple fans expected to learn more about the Apple Watch during yesterday's announcement, but to the surprise of the audience, Apple had more to talk about at its Spring Forward event on Monday.Apple bets on its retail stores to sell the Apple WatchApple's 453 retail stores give it an advantage in the smartwatch market. Apple has made its watch stand out with so many options and price points, starting at $349 with different styles, sizes, straps, finishes, and materials – even an 18-karat gold version starting at $10,000. But such a diverse product line doesn't lend itself to ecommerce sales. Given the complexity of choices, Apple's stores will be the consumers' starting point.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More
Apple Watch: The cloud gets scarier
I watched the presentation that Apple CEO Tim Cook delivered to a skeptical world yesterday that detailed the Apple Watch, along with an upgraded Apple TV. Both have astounding innovation. Both are ripe for difficulty.Let's take the Apple Watch demo first. Oh, they're lovely. Apple took much time to talk about their special case alloys, but nothing of their security. Siri, Apple's automaton bot, can now be directly addressed via the Watch. One app, from Alarm dot Com, allows you to both unlock your garage, open it, and watch the video of the entire process—on your watch.Another part of the demo showed how a locally embedded credit card could pay for a bill just by proximity to the watch. Ostensibly, go to a Whole Foods and wave your watch as you pass through checkout. Still another video demoed a flight itinerary with a requisite QR code that TSA security should be able to scan in line at an airport.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More
Some cybercriminals are improving customer service for their victims
The past two years has seen a dramatic increase in ransomware, malware such as the infamous CryptoWall that encrypts data on the infected device and demands a ransom payment for the decryption key. One interesting side effect has been an unexpected focus on the level service that the cybercriminals provide to their victims while trying to make sure they pay up.Ever since this strain of malware has been on the internet, security experts have universally urged victims not to pay the ransom. Part of the reason for this is that it perpetuates the scam, incentivizing criminals to get into this business and spread it to more victims. Another major reason – and the only one that the scam's victims are likely to care about – is that there is no guarantee that paying the ransom would persuade the scammers to return the files safely. They could just as well make off with the money or demand further payments. Meanwhile, the victim loses both their files and the money they paid to get them back.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More
Help files not helpful: Malicious CHM being used in CryptoWall 3.0 attack
Need a Help file? Hopefully it’s not one that includes ransomware. Malware researchers from Bitdefender Labs reported that Help files are the latest way cybercriminals are locking up PCs with CryptoWall, which is an advanced version of CryptoLocker.On the first day of a new and active spam campaign last month, hundreds of mailboxes were hit with infected Help files. Bitdefender explained that using the Help file format is a “highly effective trick to automatically execute malware on a victim’s machine and encrypt its contents.” CryptoWall 3.0 comes along with the Help files in the form of malicious .chm attachments.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More
WHITE PAPER: LogMeIn
Infographic: Mobile is Transforming Customer Engagement
This infographic provides a glimpse of the global research we gathered in our Effective Mobile Engagement report and highlights the current state of mobile engagement and how mobile habits are changing for both shopping and support interactions. Learn More
Is VMware's ESXi illegal in the cloud?
Might VMware's ESXi be illegal in the cloud—or anywhere? I asked my VMware contact as a reviewer, and was pointed towards VMware's Official Response, which amounts to: Mea Non Culpa. The GPLv2 is pretty clear, and one wonders what the fallout will be should the German courts find in favor of German developer Christoph Hellwig, the plaintiff in the litigation.The answer is: should Hellwig win, the problem is likely at the hands of VMware, and no other.The background is simple (see "VMware sued for alleged GPL license infractions"). Hellwig and others have written a set of tools called BusyBox. They're handy as can be, and have been around a long time. They're licensed under the GPLv2, and Hellwig has a number of copyrights easily seen in the BusyBox versions. He contributes to Linux kernels, too, and if you search through the latest version, 4.0, his name comes up very frequently. He's religious about his copyrights, as far as I can tell. I am not a lawyer and don't give legal advice. I use this stuff.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More
VCE expands its converged infrastructure portfolio
Software and virtualization continues to evolve the data center faster than ever before. As in the case with everything in life, there's never a free lunch, and the price for this rapid evolution has been increased complexity. Historically, data center infrastructure was deployed in nice, neat silos where every application had its own servers, storage, and network resources. The obvious downside of this type of deployment model is poor resource utilization. Now we innovate in software and make everything virtual to maximize utilization, but we also drive up complexity.An argument can be made that no company has been more successful at simplifying this complexity than VCE, particularly for multi-vendor environments. Late last year, VCE was rolled into EMC's federation of companies to give it a single owner and enable it to roll out new products that address a broader set of needs than just its flagship product, VBlock.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More
Windows 93 is a wacky and wonderful time waster
You may be looking for news about Windows 10, but artists/hackers Jankenpopp and Zombectro announced that they have completed the trippy Windows 93 for your major time-suck enjoyment. You can play with the Windows 95-esque operating system via your web browser.While there is no Internet Explorer in Windows 93, a spoof of Windows 95, there is instead a Cat Explorer; instead of Clippy there is a Virtual Girl who can stare at you from the desktop. The top image is what happens if you keep opening multiple instances of Windows 93 Virtual PC.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More
Digital transformation requires a different approach to IT
The digitization of information is impacting businesses faster than ever before. It seems every week a new company pops up and disrupts the status quo. Think of how fast Uber has disrupted the taxicab industry or how rapidly Airbnb is reshaping hospitality. Another good example is how Square has enabled point of sale to be offered on low-cost mobile devices instead of having to pay thousands of dollars for proprietary systems with long installation times.Business disruption used to take decades to happen. Consider how Walmart changed the face of retail over a 20-year period. This was considered fast at the time, but now think of how the companies I mentioned above seemingly changed their industry in just a few years. How is this possible? Well, businesses like Square, Airbnb, and Uber were born in the digital era, where agility is the norm. A traditional retailer using legacy systems can take months or even years to change direction.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More
March 2015 Patch Tuesday: 5 of 14 rated Critical and Microsoft issues a fix for FREAK
For March 2015 Patch Tuesday, Microsoft released 14 security bulletins resolving a plethora of security problems, five of which are rated critical, to fix flaws in Windows, Office, Exchange and, of course, Internet Explorer. Yes, Microsoft issued a FREAK fix, MS15-031 (see advisory), but rated it only as important. Of the 43 vulnerabilities addressed by the March 2015 patches, Microsoft acknowledged that 10 of the vulnerabilities are reliable attack vectors for remote code execution.“With 14 bulletins Microsoft seems eager to fix everything this month," said Tripwire security researcher Tyler Reguly. "From Remote Desktop to Exchange, Netlogon to Sharepoint, and Office to VBScript, everything seems to be covered. I was surprised that I didn't find a bulletin entitled, ‘Vulnerability in Kitchen Sink allows Faucet Leakage When Disabled’."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More
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