64722669
submission
jfruh writes:
The so-called Internet of Things (IoT), under which tens of thousands of smart objects will interact with each other seamlessly, has a problem: a lack of uniform communication standards that will allow all those things to speak a common language. The IEEE is embarking on an ambitious effort to solve this problem, creating a standards group to bring order to IoT chaos.
64722607
submission
jfruh writes:
The U.S. Navy isn't spying on you, supposedly, but they are testing their new MQ-4C Triton surveillance drone, which has unprecedented range. Last week the unmanned aircraft flew at 50,000 feet across the entire continental United States.
64636019
submission
jfruh writes:
Do you think sitting on a cold sidewalk for a few days in a true testament to how much someone wants to be the first to get a new iPhone? But people lining up outside an Apple Store in Tokyo have an extra hazard to deal with: Japan's first outbreak of Dengue fever in 70 years, spread by mosquitos making their home in a nearby park.
64634309
submission
itwbennett writes:
Apple has yet to say when the new iPhones might arrive in China, but grey market dealers in Beijing expect unofficial shipments of the iPhone 6 from Hong Kong and Australia to start arriving in China this weekend. Saying 'Chinese people will buy anything,' Beijing electronics dealer Wang Qingyun said he expects initial prices will reach over 20,000 yuan ($3,251) and perhaps up to 25,000 yuan, depending on how many iPhone 6 units actually make it to Beijing.
64601681
submission
jfruh writes:
Trying to prove that it's about more than just downloading movies, and taking advantage in a spike of interest in privacy issues, BitTorrent is now beta-testing Bleep, a distributed, peer-to-peer chat service. Users can download clients for OS X, Windows, and Android.
64601593
submission
jfruh writes:
You may think your IT department runs on copious amounts of caffiene, but according to one survey in the UK, nurses, cops, and even plumbers drink more coffee than techies. Maybe if Mountain Dew were factored into the equation?
64598951
submission
itwbennett writes:
As part of its work testing electronic components, the Japanese National Institute for Technology and Evaluation (NITE) tested batteries about the size of those used in cellphones. They were struck with a hammer then left on a work bench, unconnected from any apparatus. Later — the period of time is unclear from the edited footage — one of the batteries ruptures with a bang, flying across the laboratory. A second clip shows a similar battery erupting in a shower of sparks.
64595549
submission
itwbennett writes:
The Senate Armed Service Committee released on Wednesday an unclassified version of a report (PDF) commissioned last year to investigate cyberattacks against contractors for the U.S. Transportation Command (TRANSCOM). The report alleges that the Chinese military successfully stole emails, documents, login credentials and more from contractors, but few of those incidents were ever reported to TRANSCOM. During a one-year period starting in June 2012, TRANSCOM contractors endured more than 50 intrusions, 20 of which were successful in planting malware. TRANSCOM learned of only two of the incidents. The FBI, however, was aware of 10 of the attacks.
64576365
submission
jfruh writes:
As Microsoft's planned mass layoffs — which were announced months ago though no details as to exactly who will be laid off were clear at the time — kick into high gear, it is looking more and more like former Nokia staffers will be feeling the brunt of the purge. Rumor is that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella never thought the Nokia merger was a good idea inthe first place, and may be looking to get out of the handset business Microsoft so recently got into.
64576227
submission
jfruh writes:
Despite being largely manufactured in China, iPhones are still too expensive for most Chinese to afford — new ones, anyway. That's why thousands come to a bustling marketplace in Shenzen that specializes in older grey-market iPhones. Many of them are damaged phones that have been refurbished by enterprising merchants.
64560135
submission
itwbennett writes:
The use of forced labor is so prevalent in the Malaysian electronics manufacturing industry that there is hardly a major brand name that isn't touched by the illegal practice, according to a report funded by the U.S. Department of Labor and undertaken by Verité, a nonprofit organization focused on labor issues. The two-year study surveyed more than 500 migrant workers at around 200 companies in Malaysia's IT manufacturing sector and found one in three were working under conditions of forced labor.
64534641
submission
itwbennett writes:
The deadline for the public to comment on the FCC's proposed net neutrality rules passed Monday with more than 3 million comments filed, a record number for an FCC proceeding — and by far eclipsing the 1.4 million complaints the FCC received over Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction. The agency will now focus on reading and analyzing comments, said agency spokeswoman Kim Hart. Employees from across the FCC will be called on to read comments and technology tools will also be used to analyze comments, she said. But the record-breaking number of comments may slow the process and there's no set timeline for the FCC to act on net neutrality rules, Hart said.
64527121
submission
jfruh writes:
With a lot of debate over the value of a college education, here's a data point students can use: at one Texas college, students who took an elective COBOL class earned on average $10,000 more a year upon graduation than classmates who hadn't. COBOL, dropped from many curricula years ago as an outdated language, is tenaciously holding on in the industry, as many universities are belatedly starting to realize.
64489635
submission
jfruh writes:
2014 may be the golden age of smartphones, as handset companies have a handle on what people want and are selling it to them by the million. Ten years ago, though, the landscape was weirder and more interesting, with a host of Asian handset manufacturers trying to one up each other on new and sometimes bizarre features. Offerings ranged from the ahead-of-their-times (TV on your phone ... via a satellite connection) to the laughable (a phone you could hold against your forehead to take your temperature).
64488923
submission
jfruh writes:
Hewlett-Packard has admitted in a U.S. court that its Russian subsidiary paid millions in bribes to Russian officials in order to win a contract. The scheme involves selling HP products to a reseller and then buying them back, with money shuffled through various shell corporations and proceeds spent on 'luxury automobiles, expensive jewelry, clothing, furniture and various other items' by Russian officials. Ironically, the contract HP was going for was with the Russian federal prosecutor's office.
